Chapter 378 Contracting Five Projects
As Zhou Yong listened to Li Caiyun's words, his thoughts gradually drifted away.
"What are you thinking about?"
Zhou Yong came back to his senses and shook his head slightly, meaning that he was not thinking about anything.
Li Caiyun looked at the time and slowly sat up: "You lie down for a while, I'll go stew the ribs in the pot..."
Zhou Yong stood up and said, "Let's stew the duck as well!"
The couple went to the kitchen while talking. The pork ribs and duck had been blanched in water. Zhou Yong lit the fire, and Li Caiyun skillfully stewed the two dishes in two large iron pots.
Zhou Yong was lighting a fire while Li Caiyun was kneading dough to make dumplings.
"Zhou Yong, you steam the pork belly, and I'll take out the fish..."
The couple has a clear division of labor, Li Caiyun is the main force and Zhou Yong is responsible for assisting.
Beer duck, poached chicken, braised spare ribs, pork belly, steamed sea bass, crab, shrimp, cumin lamb chops, braised beef, sauced large bones, dry-fried silkworm pupae, stir-fried pork intestines, pig's trotters, and lion's head.
In addition to the fourteen meat dishes, there were four stir-fried dishes and two cold dishes, and the couple also made dumplings.
Twenty dishes were served on the table, and the whole family stared at each other, each one envious and hungry.
"Why aren't you moving your chopsticks?"
Everyone ate a good meal at lunch, and neither adults nor children were hungry.
Li Baotian looked at it again and again with his chopsticks, then picked up a piece of sea bass and put it in his mouth.
Everyone started eating, but none of them had much food.
Li Caiyun took one look and said: "Let's just make some dumplings in the middle of the night. We don't even have to cook any dishes."
I haven't even taken a few bites of the food on the table, so it would be a waste to keep cooking.
Zhang Guifang agreed: "Okay, let's eat this tonight."
The dishes were removed from the table one by one, and before they could clean up, the sound of music and dancing was heard from the door.
"Grandma, Grandpa, someone is performing acrobatics."
When everyone heard this, they put down their work and went out the gate one by one.
Wow, an acrobatic troupe came from somewhere and is performing for everyone with drums and gongs!
Zhou Yong stood in the crowd, staring at the fire-breathing acrobatics performance.
"Dad, I can't see."
Zhou Yong bent down and picked up the little fat boy Li Jingan. The boy stretched his neck to look.
In just a moment, the streets were packed with people and the cheers were louder and louder.
There are quite a lot of people in this acrobatic troupe, more than a dozen, and the performances are very diverse.
Everyone watched the show for more than an hour. At the end of the performance, someone from the acrobatic troupe said auspicious words and walked towards everyone with a gong to ask for tips.
In order to have a happy New Year, the villagers donated generously. Some gave two cents, some gave five cents, some gave ten or twenty cents, and some even gave fifty or one dollar.
In the blink of an eye, paper bills piled up high on the gong. Some people even put their money into the gong without waiting for the reward to come over.
Zhou Yong took a quick glance at the money in the gong and roughly estimated that there were at least dozens of yuan. The fact that they could earn so much money by performing in just over an hour was enough to prove how easily and quickly they made money.
However, it didn't really end here, as the acrobatic troupe packed up their belongings and moved to another street to perform.
Many people followed, and Zhou Yong and Li Caiyun pushed Zhang Guifang back home.
The Spring Festival Gala began at eight o'clock. Zhou Yong, Li Caiyun and Zhang Guifang made dumplings while watching the TV program. There were smiles on their faces.
It was past ten o'clock when Li Baotian brought Zhou Kexin and her siblings back home. They went into the house to warm up, and the family began to eat the New Year's Eve dinner.
Coins are put in the dumplings made for the New Year’s Eve dinner. Whoever eats it will have good luck in the coming year.
Therefore, the nine members of the Li family didn't eat much of the food, and they all stared at the dumplings.
There are only three coins in total, and who gets to eat depends entirely on luck.
Zhou Yong ate the first coin, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he watched everyone scramble to eat the dumplings.
Li Caiyun couldn't eat any more, so she put down her chopsticks: "I clearly put three coins in there, but I didn't get any of them..."
Zhang Guifang put down her chopsticks and said with a smile, "It depends on who among the five of them can eat it."
Li Baotian had also finished his meal, and only five children were struggling with the dumplings.
Soon Zhou Kexin ate a coin, and the guy was so happy that she stood up and jumped.
Then Zhou Kerou found another coin in her food. Li Jingchu and his two brothers looked at each other and prepared to eat the rest of the dumplings. Zhou Yong was afraid that his three sons would get sick from eating too much, so he took out the coins he had hidden.
Li Jingen was extremely depressed: "Dad, I can't stand you being like this. You didn't even tell us when you got a coin, and you made us eat dumplings all the time."
Zhou Yong raised his eyebrows and scolded Li Jingen with a smile: "You little bastard, if I wasn't afraid of hurting you, I wouldn't have taken out the coins!"
Li Jingen was not angry at being scolded, and said with a smile: "Next year I must eat dumplings with coins in them."
The whole family celebrated the New Year with laughter and joy, and did not go to bed until one o'clock in the morning.
On the first day of 1985, Cao Biao, Xing Laoqi, Liu Dazhuang and Ma San came to visit the Li family.
Each of them brought a gift, and each of them gave each of the five children two yuan as a New Year's gift.
While eating, Zhou Yong glanced at the four of them and said with emotion: "We have all grown old in a blink of an eye."
Cao Biao nodded: "But if he's not here, my grandson can already help with cooking..."
Xing Laoqi ate a bite of food and said, "I never thought in my life that I would be able to walk out of the ravine one day, and I never thought that I would be able to wear this dress..."
Liu Dazhuang nodded and looked at Zhou Yong, his heart full of gratitude towards him.
It can be said that no matter in the past life or this life, Zhou Yong is worthy of the four of them.
Ma San picked up his glass and said, "I hope we can continue to shine in our field in the future..."
Cao Biao nodded vigorously: "A cultured person is a cultured person, and what he says is pleasant to hear."
Ma San rolled his eyes at Cao Biao who was teasing him, and the five of them raised their glasses and took a sip of wine together.
It's rare for five people to get together, so naturally they will drink a lot of wine.
Finally, they drank and fell asleep one by one. The five of them slept until the evening before waking up.
Because he drank too much at noon, when Zhou Yong brought the wine to the table during dinner, there was no one to arrange for everyone to drink.
They didn't go back until after seven o'clock. The next day was the second day of the Lunar New Year. Brothers and sisters Li Hongjun, Li Hongliang and Li Caixia came to visit their third uncle's house with four boxes of gifts.
Before the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhou Yong was either attending various drinking parties or on his way to drink.
It was not until after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month that various social engagements gradually decreased. On the first day of February, Huaixi Village Construction Company was contracted to build residential buildings for the Electric Power Bureau.
Not only that, with the help of Director Zheng, Zhou Yong signed the projects of the staff building of the Qingmu County Industrial and Commercial Bureau and the staff building of the Tobacco Company respectively.
In addition to these three projects, Director Yuan also requested two more projects for Zhou Yong in the neighboring county.
Compared to later generations, the project at that time was not only easier to do, but also had fewer complications.
Neither Director Yuan nor Director Zheng gained any benefits from the project.
But Zhou Yong knew how to deal with things. During the Chinese New Year, he bought good cigarettes and wine and visited Director Yuan and Director Zheng's homes respectively.
It cannot be said that there were no corrupt officials among the officials of this era, but they were fewer than in later generations.
Most officials value their own power and would not dare to do anything illegal or disorderly easily.
Of course, it is true that I have received some cigarettes and alcohol in private, but it depends on who gave it to me…
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