Chapter 52: Treating Political Commissar Zhang and his family to dinner
It was almost noon, and the family compound was filled with the smell of cooking from each household.
The pungent smell of coal smoke, the bland smell of vegetable stems, and the occasional hint of oil aroma mixed together.
Shen Lingning carried the heavy boundary marker and walked home step by step from the logistics department, with beads of sweat oozing from his forehead.
As I passed by the row of bungalows next door, a burst of harsh curses came into my ears.
"You useless thing! You can't even lay an egg! And you still have the nerve to eat?! You're so hesitant even to pick some spinach! Why are you pretending to be so dead? I think you're just trying to starve our Zhou family to death!"
An old lady with gray hair and high cheekbones was standing with her hands on her hips, spitting and scolding a young daughter-in-law who was squatting by the vegetable patch at the door.
The daughter-in-law was wearing a patched old jacket, with her head lowered almost to her chest. Her fingers were trembling as she pulled out the sparse spinach on the ground. She didn't dare to say a word, her shoulders shrugged slightly, but she didn't dare to say anything back.
Shen Lingning paused and looked over in surprise.
Aunt Sun was sitting on a small bench at the door of her house picking wild vegetables. Seeing this, she curled her lips and said to Shen Lingning who was walking over in a low voice: "Old Zhou's family is very fierce!
My daughter-in-law hasn't gotten pregnant in three years since we got married. She's never been nice to me, doesn't even let me have enough food, and treats me like an animal! What a sin!
Shen Lingning frowned, feeling very upset, but he had just arrived and was not familiar with the situation. If he stepped forward rashly, it would only cause trouble.
She withdrew her gaze, silently hugged the boundary marker and continued walking home.
As soon as they entered the courtyard, Wang Shufen came up to them holding Fubao, with a smile on her face: "Oh, you're finally back! Put it down quickly, this stone is so heavy! Fubao is so well behaved, she didn't make a fuss at all. I just fed her half a bowl of egg custard, it smells so good!"
She handed the babbling Fubao back to Shen Lingning.
Shen Lingning took his daughter and sat down on the small stool tiredly.
Wang Shufen looked at the half-broken boundary marker on the ground and asked curiously, "Lingning, are you in such a hurry just to move this old stone? That place in the back mountain has been abandoned for years. What's there to see there?"
Shen Lingning was in a low mood and didn't want to talk about the bad thing about his application being rejected. He just said vaguely: "Nothing, I just heard about it from Damao, and I was curious to go and see the old tea mountain."
"Old Tea Mountain?"
Wang Shufen was stunned for a moment, then seemed to remember something and slapped her thigh, "Oh! You're talking about that! Now that you mention it, I remember something!"
She pulled a small stool over and sat down, lowering her voice, "That was not long after I came here with the army, and I heard it from an old logistics officer.
It is said that in the 1950s, in response to the call, the army really organized people to plant tea in the back mountain!
It seems that they even hired technicians from the south!
It is said that the land in Qinnan contains some rare metals.
It was said that the business was very prosperous at that time. The tea leaves were even sent to the higher-ups for tasting and they all said it was good!
Shen Lingning's eyes suddenly lit up!
She sat up straight immediately. "Sister-in-law! Really? Do you know more details? For example, which department was in charge at the time? Are there any files left behind?"
Wang Shufen tried to recall, then shook her head. "Who was in charge... I can't really say for sure. It's been so long. The files... I think they moved offices a few times, and a lot of old calendars got lost..."
She suddenly remembered something: "Oh right! It seems... there seems to be an old photo! It's a group photo of model workers taken when we were clearing wasteland and planting tea!
The old logistics officer mentioned it once when he was drunk, saying that an old comrade of his had the photo, and then… it seems nothing happened after that. She sighed, "Alas, that was a long time ago. Our camp was built on the site of this tea plantation. When we arrived, it had been abandoned for years, and no one was there."
Hearing this, Shen Lingning was a little disappointed, but not surprised, so he could only make another plan.
The sun is high in the sky, it's time to make lunch.
Wang Shufen helped Shen Lingning look after Fubao for the whole morning, doing her best.
Shen Lingning looked at the sky, then at Wang Shufen, and knew clearly that it was unreasonable to let someone go back home and cook on an empty stomach at this time.
She took Wang Shufen's arm and spoke in a sincere and unyielding tone, "Sister-in-law, it's already noon. It's troublesome for me to cook with Fubao alone. You and Political Commissar Zhang should stay here and eat!"
Call Damao over too, let’s have some fun together!”
Wang Shufen waved her hands when she heard this, her face showing a sincere refusal: "No, no! This won't work! How can I bring my whole family to eat at your place? We're not well off..."
These days, food is precious and oil, salt, sauce and vinegar all have to be calculated. How much food rations will it cost for a family of four to come over for a meal?
She felt bad.
Shen Lingning didn't let go, but led her into the house, lowering her voice with a bit of joy at sharing something good: "Sister-in-law, don't be polite with me! I've wanted to thank you and Political Commissar Zhang for taking care of me for a long time. It's better to do it today than to wait for another day!
Today, by chance, I asked someone to bring back some goodies from the foot of the mountain!"
She leaned closer to Wang Shufen's ear, her voice softer but with immense allure: "...a pound of top-quality pork belly! Three layers of fat and lean! For lunch...we'll have braised pork!"
"Red... braised pork?!"
Wang Shufen's eyes widened instantly, and her throat rolled slightly uncontrollably.
Those three words seemed to have magic power, and a rich meaty aroma that seemed to be able to penetrate the memory seemed to have penetrated into the nostrils.
The political commissar's family is relatively well-off, but they can rarely eat pure meat throughout the year, let alone braised pork that consumes a lot of oil and sugar!
Just as she was about to take a step forward, her foot seemed to be nailed to the ground and she couldn't move it at all.
The words of rejection rolled around on the tip of his tongue, but he finally swallowed them back, leaving only an embarrassed yet expectant smile on his face.
"Okay, then the three of us will shamelessly eat here."
Shen Lingning saw it, smiled, and pulled her into the kitchen.
Da Mao, who had come all the way outside to look for his mother, heard the good news from Wang Shufen that they were going to eat braised pork, and he shouted happily, "Ah? Really? Then I'll go call Dad to come over for dinner."
Then he shouted towards the kitchen: "Auntie, I'll light the fire for you later! Wait for me to come back!"
Shen Lingning smiled and stuck his head out, and replied: "Okay, I'll wait for you!"
As he said that, Damao trotted off to call for help.
Rhythmic "knock knock" sounds soon rang out in the kitchen.
Shen Lingning put on an apron and moved briskly. She placed the red and white pork belly, a finger's worth of fat, on the chopping board, the blade touching the skin, and with a few "swish" strokes, scraped off any remaining hair roots and cleaned it.
Then, with a flash of the knife, the meat was precisely cut into evenly sized cubes, with the fat part trembling and shining in the sunlight.
Wang Shufen held Fubao in her arms while watching Shen Lingning's movements.
Watch her chop the onions, ginger and garlic, and take out the hidden spices from the cabinet (actually in the kitchen of the villa).
He took out another small paper bag, which contained precious rock sugar.
It was exactly the same, which made Wang Shufen amazed. She usually just poured the meat into the pot and cooked it.
Who would have thought there were so many preparations?
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