Chapter 44 Delivery
The twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month.
Before seven o'clock in the morning, Chu Dan rode his bicycle with Chu Hong to the town.
The cyclist in front was pedaling his bike very quickly, not afraid of the biting cold wind.
Chu Hong sat astride the straw mat in the back seat in an indecent posture, with a scarf wrapped around her and her face buried in her sister's back. She also wore her father's old cotton trousers over her cotton trousers, but she didn't feel cold at all.
If the yellow mud road hadn't been so bumpy, she suspected that she would have dozed off.
The New Year was approaching, and even if all the ox carts in every village were deployed, there would not be enough space for the people who wanted to go to the town.
Therefore, along the way, Chu Dan would shout to people from time to time: "Aunt, are you going to town too?"
"Hey, let's go buy some melon seeds and peanuts." Aunt looked at the basket Chu Hong was carrying and couldn't help gossiping: "What are you going to buy?"
Chu Dan pretended to be calm: "Grandpa asked us to buy some wine, and my father asked us to buy red paper."
My aunt slapped her thigh and said, "I have to buy some red paper and ask Secretary Song to write a couplet for my family."
Secretary Song in the village is the best at calligraphy, and almost every household asks him to write for them during the Chinese New Year.
It's not a wasted effort, as they will also bring two eggs, or a handful of celery, or maybe half a bowl of peanuts.
Chu Hong could only agree enthusiastically: "Okay, we'll leave first, see you later."
After saying that, he patted Chu Dan's waist and signaled her to leave quickly.
Chu Dan said goodbye loudly and pedaled hard to move forward.
Whenever he sees people from Lingxia Village again, Chu Dan will greet them warmly.
Chu Hong admired Chu Dan's enthusiasm. If it were her, she wouldn't want to pay attention to anyone.
But she also understood that it was right to be as enthusiastic as Chu Dan.
Otherwise, the villagers would definitely say behind her back that she was unsociable. She felt that she should learn something from them, as being polite would never be a problem and being sweet-talking would never be a loss.
Chu Hong had been to the steel plant last time, and she had a good memory, so she didn't need to look for it and just rode eastward.
Chu Hong didn't have a deep impression of this place.
The main reason is that the supply and marketing cooperative is on the west side, the black market is on the north side, and is in the opposite direction of the steel plant on the east side, so naturally they won’t come here to hang out.
Now Chu Hong took a closer look and found that there were not only steel mills, enamelware factories, garment factories, towel factories, textile factories, etc., but also large residential buildings for families, and the population was very dense.
If I could open a store here in the future, I would definitely be able to make money.
Unfortunately, it will take another seven or eight years before it can be realized.
After getting off the car at the destination, Chu Hong took off her outer cotton pants first, otherwise it would be too bulky and difficult to walk.
Chu Dan knocked on the window again and smiled at the doorman: "Uncle, I am a relative of Director He of the labor union. Can I go in and look for him after I register? Or can you please go and call him for me?"
After saying that, he grabbed two handfuls of peanuts from his pocket and put them on the table: "These are homemade fried peanuts, uncle, please try them."
The old man smiled and said, "Young comrade, you are too polite. Director He said earlier that relatives from her mother's side are coming. You can register and go directly to the trade union to find them, right?"
Chu Dan registered as he requested, thanked him again, and then pushed the bicycle in with Chu Hong.
Following the direction pointed by the old man, we soon found the union office.
It just so happened that Aunt He had been thinking about them, so she came out and was about to check at the door. She saw them coming and greeted them with a smile to follow her home.
The family building is just on the left side of the gate and has its own courtyard.
Aunt He likes to talk: "They all like high-rise buildings, but we still think bungalows are better and more down-to-earth."
"It's just that the house is a bit old, and we paid someone to lay the cement floor inside."
There are only three rooms in the house, and the small yard is paved with cement. There is a kitchen in the corner. The door is open, and you can see an earthen stove and a coal briquettes stove. There are also a lot of coal briquettes piled in the corner.
Chu Hong immediately praised: "Aunt is right, that building is too noisy, we can hear the loud voices of people upstairs, downstairs and neighbors."
"Your house with a yard is so nice. Not only is it spacious, but once the door is closed, no one will disturb you."
Chu Dan also followed suit: "This brick and tile house is warm in winter and cool in summer, and it has a cement floor. Isn't it the same as a building?"
Aunt He smiled happily and said, "Then come often in the future."
After that, he asked anxiously, "Did you bring all the taro dumplings?"
"They are all here. Auntie, please weigh them." Chu Hong took out a bag of taro dumplings from her backpack. "I made them yesterday afternoon. They won't stick together when they are cold."
He pretended to accidentally bring out a lotus root.
Then, fearing that Aunt He would see it, he quickly put it back into the backpack.
Unfortunately, Aunt He had already seen it, and was too embarrassed to pick it up, but she looked at her and asked, "Anything else?"
Chu Hong then took out the enamel basin from the bottom of the backpack, a little shyly: "We made some lotus root stalks yesterday and planned to send them to the black market to see how they sell."
"Oh, it's too much trouble to take it over there, just give it to me." Aunt He looked at the two golden lotus root dumplings and her stomach started to grumble: "How can I heat this up?"
"You can steam it and eat it. It's soft, sticky and delicious."
"You can also heat it in a pan to make the skin crispy and fragrant."
Aunt He said, "I'm so busy today that I didn't have time to eat breakfast. There's fire in the coal stove. Can you heat up the oil pan for me?"
Of course Chu Hong would not refuse. After following her in, she took the iron kettle off the coal stove, removed the stove seal, put the iron pot on the stove, and poured some soybean oil.
After the oil was hot, the lotus root sandwiches were put in. In less than five minutes, Aunt He was eating them with a sizzling taste.
Decades later, people might think fried foods are too greasy, but nowadays most people are short of oil and prefer foods rich in fat.
Aunt He ate two and still felt unsatisfied. If she didn't want to put on airs in front of the sisters, she would have wanted to stand with five.
"I want them all. How much is it?" Aunt He said, and took out a handful of tickets from her pocket and handed them to Chu Hong: "These are what I have saved over the past few months. There are six toilet paper tickets, seven sanitary belt tickets, and also candy tickets, soap tickets, biscuit tickets, candle tickets..."
Now only premium foods do not require tickets, but the prices are so high that ordinary workers dare not even look at them.
The more than 30 tickets she took out at this moment was considered a large sum of money.
She stuffed all the tickets into Chu Hong's hands, then asked with a smile, "How much is this lotus root dumpling?"
This made Chu Hong feel embarrassed to ask for a high price, so she simply pretended to be good: "I don't know what price to sell this lotus root, just give it to me according to your opinion, Auntie."
Aunt He hesitated for a moment before she spoke: "I want 30 kilograms of lotus root stalks. How about we charge one yuan per kilogram?"
She felt that the lotus root sandwich contained meat, noodles, and lotus root, and more importantly, it was fried, so it tasted delicious.
But the lotus root clips are heavy, with only a few in a pound.
When the time comes, I will give some to my leaders. They should not be so expensive that they would not want to accept them, but should be delicious enough to make them remember them.
Chu Dan beside him wanted to agree immediately.
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