Chapter 98 Broken Rice
When the family was having dinner, Uncle Song came again: "I'll add a delicious dish for you."
Chu Hong saw him coming in empty-handed and thought he was here to eat for free, so she smiled and said, "Uncle, there is still rice in the pot."
She didn't know whether she accidentally cooked too much or her family was used to eating whole rice, so when she ate broken rice with rice bran, she felt that the texture was a little rough and her appetite decreased.
Song Lao Er took out a small package wrapped in zong leaves from the pocket of his cotton coat, tore off a little meat and stuffed it into Chu Hong's mouth, looking for praise: "Is it delicious? Isn't it fragrant?"
The fragrance was really good, and the meat was very tender. Chu Hong nodded repeatedly: "What is fragrance?"
My second uncle is a specialist. He catches a lot of frogs, eels and loaches. Not only does he satisfy his appetite, but he also makes some money.
Chu Hong was still thinking: Where can I get frog meat in this cold winter?
Doesn’t the old saying go that frogs will only appear after spring begins and the spring thunder has sounded?
Song Lao Er put the rice dumplings on the table and said warmly, "Try them all. I caught two big rats this afternoon and wrapped them in rice dumplings and cooked them in the stove. Isn't the aroma overwhelming?"
Chu Hong now understood what she had eaten. Her face changed and she almost vomited.
But Secretary Song tore off a piece of meat and ate it with a normal expression: "Not bad, I haven't eaten it for a long time."
Then he looked at Wu Xiu and asked tentatively: "Do you want to eat something?
Wu Xiu shook his head calmly: "You guys eat, I'm full."
During the famine years in the past few years, these were all delicious things that made people covetous, and she had naturally eaten them.
But now that she can eat and drink enough, and can have some meat every now and then, she doesn't want to force herself to eat this.
Chu Tong and Xiao Yuer also ate along.
Chu Hong also remembered that she had indeed eaten this thing.
Although it's a bit hard to accept, it tastes really good.
And now catching mice depends entirely on cats or simple mousetraps, without those messy medicines.
So much so that everyone regards it as a delicacy.
However, Chu Hong still didn't want to touch it anymore, and there was not much meat, so in the end she gave it all to Xiao Yuer.
Secretary Song said to his brother, "Why don't you take a bag of broken rice and a few bags of bran back now?"
Song Lao Er was not happy: "I came here to visit you. When you said that, it seems like I am afraid that you will default on your debt and I am here to ask for benefits."
Chu Hong couldn't help laughing when she heard this: "Uncle, we can't put it in our cupboard anymore, and we're worried that it will be eaten by mice if we leave it outside, so we asked you to take it back."
After all, rats nowadays are very rampant. Not only can they bite through a sack, but even if the food is put in a bamboo basket, they can bite through the basket itself.
Xiao Hei couldn't stay at home, so he let his uncle take it back first.
Uncle Song stood up after hearing this: "That's fine, push it over with your wheelbarrow first."
He even said with a joking face, "I want to get a few more bags of rice bran. Not only can I mix it with wild vegetables to feed the chickens, but I also want to use it to make more fertilizer for the land."
Secretary Song certainly had no objection. He helped him load the things onto the wheelbarrow and then left home to go to the carpenter's house in the village to ask for help in making two large wooden cabinets.
Nowadays, people in the countryside like to make large square wooden cabinets about one meter high. The top panels can be opened. They can not only store food, but also two large wooden cabinets connected together and padded with quilts can be used as beds.
Secretary Song also believes in not showing off his wealth.
No, it should be the idea that even the smallest detail cannot be revealed. He directly said that his eldest daughter had come back with her granddaughter and had no place to sleep, so he used the cabinet as a bed.
Actually, carpenters cannot take jobs openly now, but they can help privately. After all, there is plenty of wood in their countryside, and they definitely don’t want to spend money to buy furniture from furniture stores.
Although the work done by the country carpenter is a bit rough, it is usable, practical, and saves money.
Of course the carpenter agreed immediately: "You don't have to work yet. I have two children at home who can help. Just give me the wood and it will be done in three to five days."
Secretary Song nodded: "I'll push the wood over to you later."
Even if everyone agrees to this, we cannot do it in broad daylight as it will have a bad impact.
I can only come here when it's dark and sneak in like a thief.
Even though Secretary Song's family had no shortage of rice or broken rice, he did not plan to use it to pay his salary in order to avoid giving people a reason to criticize him. Instead, he asked, "Is it still the same price?"
He remembered that he used to pay five dollars for a large wooden cabinet.
Carpenter Song smiled sheepishly: "The eldest in the family wants to find a partner. If there is food, it would be even better if your family could have cloth coupons, cigarette coupons or cigarettes, bottled wine or something like that."
Then he flattered him: "You are a capable person in our village and you know many leaders. I am sorry to trouble you."
You need a ticket to buy cigarettes now.
If the boss of our family can really find a partner, he must prepare cigarettes, alcohol and other things when he comes to visit.
He was making furniture for others privately, and his family had enough money to prepare a dowry for their son, but the ticket was hard to find.
Even though they know that the black market exists, due to the strict investigation in the past two years, and they have witnessed people being killed to scare others, and in the countryside they can still make a living from the land and not go hungry, most people are now unwilling to go to the black market.
People in towns have wages but nowhere to spend them, so they often go to the black market.
No wonder they say the timid will die of starvation and the bold will die of gluttony.
But now Secretary Song was very happy to hear his words. A few days ago, Gu Ci sent some good cigarettes and wine. If he gave them to him, he wouldn't have to spend any money.
"Okay, my nephew wants to find a partner, so I have to help him, right?" Party Secretary Song also said something very nice: "We are a family, so we don't have to talk about our differences. If you have any problems, just come to me."
On the other hand, when Gu Ci returned to the educated youth site in the afternoon, he found that all the male educated youth had gone to the reservoir to work and earn work points.
However, the female educated youth all came back and gathered together to discuss exchanging food for the defective washbasins.
When Miao Qingqing saw Gu Ci, she wondered how she could remind him.
Before she could come up with a solution, Chen Mei came forward to ask about Gu Ci's well-being: "Gu Zhiqing, you are finally back."
"I heard that you saved several children regardless of your own safety. You are really brave."
"Even our village party secretary heard about it and asked you to come over during dinner time."
Even though Chen Mei was still a little unwilling when facing Gu Ci, it was already a foregone conclusion that she would marry Su Hongqi.
And she also didn't think that Gu Ci would refuse the Su family's request to let him marry Su Jinxiang. In this way, the two of them would be relatives in the future.
Besides, she wanted to marry in style and was counting on his betrothal gift?
At this moment, Gu Ci did not expect that even though he had rejected Su Jinxiang, the Su family would still not give up.
I really thought that it was Secretary Su who wanted to know how I saved people, so I thanked him politely: "Thank you, I'll be there later."
Chen Mei was afraid that he would go to the brigade headquarters to look for Secretary Su right now, so she reminded him, "Wait until dinner time, or Secretary Su will be busy."
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