Chapter 60: First Hot Pot
The night before departure, the educated youth site held a simple celebratory dinner to echo the first night.
In the cold winter months, it is perfect to eat hot pot.
Generally speaking, a fresh soup is enough, but their main ingredients such as wild boar, wild boar offal, rabbit meat, pheasant meat, etc. have a strong fishy smell and are not suitable for cooking with their original flavor. At Ye Yu's suggestion, a spicy hot pot was cooked.
Han Jing and Hua Feifei didn't like spicy food in the past, but after staying in the educated youth center for a while, they were completely influenced by Xu Fei from Xiangjiang and Ye Yu who could tolerate any taste.
Hua Feifei started making the hot pot soup base in the afternoon. She poured in a relatively large amount of oil, heated the pot, added chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, garlic, soybean oil, rock sugar, and some Sichuan seasonings exchanged from Yang Xiuxiu, and started stir-frying.
The fragrance was really overbearing, so strong that the whole yard was filled with the sound of people groaning.
After the aroma is fried out, add water and salt, and a little cooking wine. Because some meat with bones is not easy to be cooked, add them in and cook together.
As for the knife skills required to cut out the dirt inside the meat slices, Ye Yu never disappoints. Hua Feifei simply mentioned it, and after the flash of swords and sabers, every pot of food had been processed cleanly.
Yes, pots and pots.
Taking into account Ye Yu's appetite, wooden bowls are no longer suitable, and wooden basins are the final destination. You have to pick a few big ones that can hold most of a wild boar.
In order to avoid going hungry during the Spring Festival, Ye Yu treated everyone to a hot pot. She bribed Hua Feifei, Han Jing and Xu Fei to help make a lot of dried meat, meatballs, diced meat, meat sauce and the like. She also got a few roasted wild boars and other barbecued meats on the mountain and threw them into the space.
It’s not that Ye Yu has to eat so much, but he has become accustomed to eating every meal, so how can he bear to be a little hungry again?
The main ingredients are meat. There are few types of vegetables but the added quantity is quite large, such as potatoes, corn, bean sprouts, tofu, radish, cabbage, winter wheat, etc.
These were exchanged with local villagers.
The village was well-informed. Ever since Ye Yu, Hua Feifei and Han Jing asked for leave from the team leader, the villagers already knew that the three of them would go home for the Spring Festival this year and even knew the time they would go home. This meal was equivalent to the educated youth's advance New Year's Eve dinner, so of course they would not be stingy.
In addition to vegetables and grains, I even replaced them with some frozen pears and cooked a big pot of rock sugar and snow pear soup to clear away heat and moisten the lungs.
The cold winter months are not suitable for gatherings in the yard. In order to relieve the pressure on the small kitchen, a temporary small living room was built next to the kitchen while the bathroom was being renovated.
Why is it temporary? Because this is a pure mud house, and the thatch on the roof needs to be replaced at any time. There is also the risk of leaking in heavy rain or even hail.
Fortunately, the living room is mainly used for eating, so not too many things are placed in it. An earthen stove is set up in the middle of the living room, the fire is lit, the pot is placed on it, and the table next to it is piled with ingredients. The four of them sit around the hot pot and immediately feel like they are eating New Year's Eve dinner.
And quite abundant.
Han Jing asked: "Do you want to say something first?"
Hua Feifei, Han Jing, and Xu Fei all looked at Ye Yu, but before Ye Yu could speak, they all said in unison: "Man is made of iron, and rice is made of steel. If you don't eat for a meal, you'll be hungry!"
Elm leaves:6.
Then they all laughed together. Ye Yu commented that they looked like a bunch of fools, and then he couldn't help but smile. How should I put it? He was infected with the fool virus.
Let’s do it!
The spicy hotpot is really delicious, spicy and numb, and you can sweat even in winter. The rock sugar and snow pear soup is icy and sweet, just right to relieve the greasiness after eating meat.
Hua Feifei, Han Jing and Xu Fei had never thought that there would be a day when they would need to relieve their boredom.
Hua Feifei has decided to go home and complain to her parents about how miserable it was to eat all-you-can-eat meat in the countryside and not have any vegetables to eat (Hua's parents:...is this child crazy?).
This dinner was less strange and awkward than the first day, and was much more harmonious and lively.
The next day, the four of them set out together. Xu Fei planned to go to the town to buy New Year gifts and also give them a ride.
There were also villagers who came out to "accidentally" meet them, especially the children, who naively asked whether they would go back to the city and never come back.
Han Jing and Hua Feifei said no reflexively, but they realized what they had said after they had said it.
At first, they were eager to go home, but now they are a little reluctant to go home. They can't bear to leave the green mountains and rivers, the local people, and more importantly, their companions.
When we arrived in town, we went to the post office first. Xu Fei and Hua Feifei had received replies from the newspaper.
Xu Fei still received a lot of replies, not only from Yanjing but also from newspapers in other cities. Hua Feifei also made progress. To everyone's surprise, Han Jing finally broke through the zero mark and was so happy that he smiled like a landlord's idiot while holding the letter.
Xu Fei couldn't help but ask Ye Yu:
"You really don't want to write?"
Having seen Ye Yu's handwriting and occasionally heard strange but unexpectedly sensible words coming out of her mouth, he didn't think she was someone who couldn't write.
On the contrary, if Ye Yu wrote an article, he would definitely sign up to be the first reader.
"No."
Ye Yu rationally and resolutely refused. She didn't need the royalties, and she had no interest in becoming a literary giant. She wished them more prosperity in the new year.
Several people paid attention to other articles in the newspaper.
As expected, there were indeed other educated youth authors from the same batch, especially in Youth Daily, where the articles written by educated youth together almost occupied the majority of the publications.
Most of the content of the article is positive and praises the motherland and the people, but there are also some extremely critical contents, which is indeed related to Xu Fei's article about the current situation of the supply and marketing cooperatives.
Because Xu Fei's first submission was of very high quality, the newspaper editors were looking forward to receiving his second submission. The main reason was that at this moment, the bigwigs were either reported or were hiding and dared not to come forward, and they were really in urgent need of articles!
At first glance at the content, every article is good, but the most memorable one is a critical article.
"Should we publish this?" The editor is inclined to publish it, but he has to consider the entire newspaper and even his own family and submit the article to the leadership for review.
The leadership was also unsure, so the newspaper held a meeting overnight regarding the article, during which many editors engaged in a heated debate.
The result was a newspaper article.
Firstly, the supply and marketing cooperatives had nothing to do with Z; secondly, although the content of Xu Fei's article was a criticism of reality, the language was not sharp, and he still expressed good wishes for the future of state-owned stores, and his words were filled with the patriotic heart of an aspiring person; thirdly, of course, it was Xu Fei's identity as an educated youth who went to the countryside.
After the article was published in the newspaper, it indeed sparked heated discussion.
In this era of suppressed commodity economy, everyone would go to state-owned stores to buy things, and the salespersons described in the article seemed to be right next to them, even the way they rolled their eyes and the tone of their voice were exactly the same.
This is really lifelike, and anyone who can speak can join in the conversation.
The intensity of the spread suddenly increased.
The result is encouraging. All state-owned stores across the country have made rectifications as a result. Regardless of whether it is temporary or not, many people have reported that the attitudes of the sales clerks or waiters in state-owned stores and even state-owned hotels have improved a lot. At least, not all of them act like big shots anymore.
The discussion and changes caused by this article made the educated youth see that rural development could be this good! And to be honest, the countryside is indeed poor, and earning some extra money from writing can improve their lives.
As a result, both articles praising and criticizing the party emerged in an endless stream.
Putting aside the praises of the articles, it is definitely a good thing if the educated youth get along well with the local villagers, or if they accomplish great things in the countryside.
The critical chaos was not limited to the salesperson in the supply and marketing cooperative. An article describing how local evil forces joined forces with local cadres to bully and humiliate educated youth became a new hot topic.
This should have happened in the 1970s, when the educated youth going to the countryside was coming to an end. Many educated youth were forced to stay in certain villages forever, or even lost their lives.
Especially young women from disadvantaged groups.
However, due to the enthusiasm for article submissions, the article was exposed in advance and attracted the attention of many people. After all, documents about educated youth going to the countryside came out one after another. Even if the authorities wanted to ignore the difficulties encountered by the educated youth who went to the countryside, they still had children.
Even though Ye Yu was mentally prepared, he did not expect the butterfly effect to come so quickly.
But how to say it?
This is not a bad thing.
Of course, there were also educated youth who wanted to take advantage of the situation, but the more educated youth who submitted their articles, the more intense the competition became. Not every article could be published, and the editors would review it, so sensitive topics would still be blocked.
"It's getting late. You should get in the car. When Feifei gets home, remember to send us a safe telegram."
After leaving the post office, they went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some things. Finally, it was time to say goodbye. Xu Feishi promised Ye Yu that he would take good care of Chickens No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, and would also reserve food.
There is no train station in Hiraizumi Town.
The nearest train station is in the county, and the next closest is Jibei City. However, in terms of distance, Jibei City is farther than Yanjing City. Therefore, Hua Feifei decided to go to Yanjing City first with Ye Yu, Xu Fei and others, and then take the train back to Shanghai.
Because the population mobility is very low nowadays, factory jobs in cities are very limited, and it is normal for distant relatives not to visit for ten or eight years these days, so there is no need to worry about the embarrassment of not being able to buy tickets for the Spring Festival.
The three of them got on the same bus.
The minibus drove into Yanjing City. Hua Feifei looked around through the window with curiosity on her face. She was especially excited when she saw some ancient buildings.
As for the people, I don’t see much difference between Yanjing City and Shanghai. Maybe the dialects are different?
Finally arriving in Yanjing City, Ye Yuhan Jing had told his family that he would go home for the Spring Festival, but he did not send a telegram of the date in advance, so no one came to pick them up.
After getting off the train, they first took her to the train station opposite to buy a train ticket.
Ye Yu didn't want her younger brothers and sisters to be one less this year, so she reminded her before she got on the bus: "Talk less, sleep less, drink less water, and go to the toilet less."
Han Jing also replied: "If you encounter any problems, find the train attendant."
"knew."
Apart from other things, Hua Feifei, who had just read about the unfortunate experiences of some educated youth in the newspaper, also realized the evil of human nature and she may not forget it for a long time.