Chapter 008: Bathing in the Pig Pen
A scrap yard is a good place to look.
Although it is not like other period texts where you can easily find treasures, it is still possible to find a few pounds of scrap iron.
Wen Jiajia even wanted to buy a used bicycle to take home. She had a hunch that the synthesis of the bicycle might bring her rich returns.
But she looked at her legs that were about to threaten to strike, and decided to give up. There was no way, she couldn't take it with her, the 28-inch bicycle at that time was much heavier than the bicycles of a few decades later.
"Do you really need these?" The comrades at the scrap yard were incredulous. "We bought these from outside. No one wants them anymore. Why are you buying them home?"
At that time, waste collection stations no longer waited for people to come to them to deliver their sales, but had to ride tricycles and go door to door to collect waste.
Iron products are usually sold for money only when they are no longer usable. Scrap recycling stations do not repair them again after purchasing them because they have no value. Instead, they send the scrap iron to be melted down and refined into other things.
It's really rare. They have only received iron and never sold it in all their time.
Wen Jiajia just laughed dryly and said nothing. She couldn't find any reason to explain.
The comrade did not ask any more questions, mainly because these scrap irons could not do anything bad. Otherwise, he would definitely report such a strange comrade to the public security bureau to let the police check whether he was a spy.
Wen Jiajia left dragging nearly 10 kilograms of scrap iron. All she bought were iron products that were so rusted that they could hardly be transformed into recycled iron, so the comrades at the scrap recycling station happily gave her a low price, and she bought these things for less than a dollar.
Wen Jiajia was sweating profusely after walking and stopping all the way. The sweat on her forehead was like the water on the mountain wall of the back vegetable garden. Before one drop fell to the ground, another drop came, making her hair look like it had just been washed.
She finally got home before collapsing from exhaustion, and lay down for half an hour to soothe her broken throat.
In the evening, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan would come back with the older children from the commune primary school, so she would not need to pick them up.
Wen Jiajia waited until everyone got off work, then took the household registration certificate to find the village party secretary. She stopped the village party secretary on the road, and then took her to the brigade headquarters.
This was her first time at the brigade headquarters, and there were indeed lights and a radio.
However, their village does not often broadcast radio, because Fuyang Brigade is close to the commune, so they can borrow the radio from the commune.
Just like now, they can hear the song "The Sea Sailing Depends on the Helmsman" being played on the Commune Radio.
The village party secretary took the certificate, signed his name and said, "I will go to the commune to help you get it done later, and you can go to work directly tomorrow."
Wen Jiajia: …
There is no need to be so anxious.
The village party secretary was actually doing this for her own good. After all, if she got one day's work points earlier, she would get an extra pound of grain, and the Wen family needed grain the most.
Wen Jiajia left with a smile on her face, but when she got home her shoulders slumped and she felt that tomorrow would be even worse than today.
In summer, cicadas chirp and the wind carries heat waves.
Fortunately, all the meals for the day were prepared in the morning, otherwise she would need hot meals tonight.
But she still needed to make a fire, so she bought some soap and couldn't wait to take a bath! Her whole body was sticky and she couldn't sleep at night if she didn't take a bath.
Not only that, you also have to make soup.
However, she did not plan to eat the pork bone soup tonight. She planned to stew it before going to bed and eat it tomorrow morning. After all, she had to go to work tomorrow and needed some oil to strengthen her body.
Wen Jiajia was very efficient. She carried two buckets of warm water to the pigsty in the backyard... uh, yes, the pigsty.
The pigsty is the only place in the house with a cement floor.
Wen Jiajia was really relieved, so relieved that she was almost amused. Anyway, even if she was beaten to death, she would never have thought that she would have to take a bath in the pigpen one day.
Fortunately, the pigpen was very clean. Perhaps because the Wen family loved the only cement floor in their home, there was not a single residue left after pig farming in the pigpen.
The key is that the pigpen is located in a hidden location. Wen Jiajia only needs to cover the entrance of the pigpen with a straw curtain to feel safe, and there is no wind, so she can wash even in winter.
A rustling sound came from the pigsty. About three minutes later, Wen Jiajia, looking refreshed, opened the curtain and came out of the pigsty. She seemed to have come alive at that moment.
"Comfortable!" she sighed.
The pigsty is a great place.
A few minutes after Wen Jiajia finished her shower, the two sisters also returned home. She carefully observed the two sisters' condition and found that they were much more energetic than the previous few days, so she felt relieved.
She tapped the rice bowl with her chopsticks: "Eat, and I'll help you take a bath after dinner."
Wen Xuan sucked her fingers and asked in confusion: "Aunt, didn't you take a bath yesterday?" Aunt even rubbed out a black loach for her, she remembered it very clearly. Today the teacher praised her for not having a black loach on her neck, saying that she was a good child who loved to be clean, Meihua had that.
Wen Jiajia heard a "tsk" sound, pulled her finger out of her mouth and said, "Stop sucking your finger, or you'll get worms in your stomach."
"Bugs?"
Wen Jiajia threatened her: "Yes, it is a worm that looks like an earthworm. All the candy you eat will be eaten by it!"
Wen Xuan was almost scared to death. She touched her belly, frowned, and said in disbelief, "Chong Chong is so mean." He even ate the candy she hid in her stomach.
Wen Jiajia wanted to laugh, but she held it back and said, "I bought a bar of soap today. It smells so good after washing. Are you really not going to wash?"
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan couldn't wait to raise their hands: "Wash!" The two sisters said in unison, they loved fragrance the most.
Today's dinner is still simple, sweet potato porridge with stir-fried pickled vegetables.
What is pickled vegetable?
This is a dish pickled with red wine lees. Every winter, local people pickle several jars of pickled vegetables to be eaten next year. Generally speaking, the amount is enough to last a year.
Wen Jiajia also thought it was delicious after taking two bites. She was very good at cooking and even added chopped green pepper and onion to stir-fry it, which enhanced the taste.
The most important thing is that pickled vegetables can be stored for a long time after being fried. Even in such hot weather, they can be kept for two or three days. She likes this kind of vegetable that saves her trouble.
After dinner, the two children helped to clean the table. Although they did a bad job and there were water marks on the table, Wen Jiajia did not stop them at all, but encouraged them instead.
There is no other way. She needs her two children to learn how to do housework as soon as possible, otherwise she will feel that her future days will be bleak and she will have no desire to live.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan really love soap.
They washed in the wooden tub again today. When Wen Jiajia took out the soap and rubbed it on them and made bubbles, the two girls were stunned and their eyes widened.
"Aunt, it smells so good!" Wen Chun's face flushed and she rubbed her lips excitedly, "It smells better than sugar!"
Although Wen Jiajia didn't understand the relationship between sugar and fragrance, she still explained seriously: "Soap can't be eaten, bubbles can't be eaten, and water can't be eaten!"
Wen Xuan put down her hand that was about to reach her mouth with a guilty conscience: "Really can't I eat it?" Is it not okay to just lick it and taste anything?
"Really! I'll have diarrhea after eating it, and if I have diarrhea I won't be able to eat sweets or meat."
The two children suddenly became dispirited.
They have forgotten what meat tastes like, but they still remember what candy tastes like. Not being able to eat candy is like poking at their vital points and soft spots.
This time they took a thorough bath and Wen Jiajia rubbed off all the old dirt on their bodies.
To put it bluntly, the surface of the water is covered with dirt.
Wen Jiajia couldn't bear to watch it, so she could only take them out of the wooden barrel, pour out the dirty water, clean the wooden barrel, and then change another bucket of water to continue washing.
You’re not done until all parts of your body are rubbed red.
It was late at night and the moon was sometimes visible and sometimes invisible.
A small lamp was burning quietly in the kitchen, and there was a figure busy in front of the stove.
Without a clay pot, soup can only be stewed in the pot.
After thinking about it, Wen Jiajia stuffed a thick and hard piece of firewood into the stove.
In her previous life, she copied dishes from famous books for the purpose of making videos. One of the dishes, roasted pig's head, was very special because it was cooked over a single firewood. The pig's head was soft, glutinous, fragrant and not greasy at the end of the cooking, and it also brought her more than 300,000 likes.
After a while, Wen Jiajia lit the firewood and waited for the flame to penetrate into the firewood. After making sure that it would not go out, she put the washed pork shank bones into the pot to cook.
In fact, she wanted to steam it, so that the bone soup would taste better. But she didn't know that there was not even an iron basin at home, not only an iron basin, but also a larger ceramic pot. Wen Jiajia had to give up.
Return to the room.
As the night progressed, the temperature dropped.
This is the good thing about wooden houses: they are warm in winter and cool in summer. Nowadays, when there is no greenhouse effect, staying in a wooden house is almost like sleeping in an air-conditioned room.
It would be better if there were no rustling sounds of rats on the roof.
Wen Jiajia turned over and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day.
With something on her mind, Wen Jiajia woke up very early the next morning. She looked at the panel in her mind and found that the synthesis function was working again.
She suddenly came to her senses, ran excitedly to the kitchen, took out the small double-handled pot from the cupboard, and then ran to the woodshed to get some scrap iron.
Most of the scrap iron was broken pots and stoves that were unusable, and there were even two kettles whose function was unclear.
Wen Jiajia didn't dare to get closer to smell it, for she was afraid it was a urine pot.
She passed the scrap metal around, and sure enough, three options came to mind:
Mini wheelbarrow, medium pot with two handles, kettle.
Wen Jiajia chose the double-handled pot and the kettle without hesitation. Choosing even a second later would have been disrespectful as it would have been like piling up two items.
This time, the pot is of normal size, similar to the iron pot she used in her kitchen in her previous life. If it can be preserved for a few decades, it may still be used on an induction cooker or a natural gas stove.
Of course, it’s still small compared to the one in the kitchen now.
The Wen family's pot is for eight people. When the pot was bought, it was because there were many people in the family. After half a year of discussion, Wen's father and mother tightened their belts and bought this pot. A pot is passed down for three generations, and the pot still exists after the people are gone. This is something that can happen in this era.
Therefore, nowadays, iron pots are valuable items in the home. Whoever has a pot that can cook for eight people will be envied by the neighbors, and if they can have another one, they will be very happy.
Wen Jiajia instantly felt that she had a chance to make money. She could earn at least tens of dollars by selling an iron pot. The profit was so huge that even the capitalists would cry. It was almost pure profit.
For a moment, her breathing became rapid and her cheeks turned red.
Can……
People these days can't be treated as fools. How foolish can people who have gone through the Anti-Japanese War and the War of Liberation be? After the founding of the country, many spies were caught by the masses. To put it bluntly, if she had eaten meat for two more days without any income, the police would have to come to her house.
Don't disbelieve it, there were spies who were caught by ordinary people because they ate too well.
The same goes for the meat, not to mention the pot.
There were only a few supply and marketing cooperatives in the entire county, and everyone knew exactly which supply and marketing cooperative had the new pot. If they really investigated, they would compare the supply and delivery orders, and nothing would be hidden.
You said you bought the pot from someone from outside the area?
This is impossible. The population movement is restricted now. You need a letter of introduction to go anywhere. Who did you find? Who can you find as a high school student who just graduated?
So selling pots to make money is just like going to the black market. It sounds feasible. It seems that within a few years, you can earn thousands or tens of thousands, and then go to the capital to buy a courtyard house, and then embark on a brilliant life path...
In fact, it is not feasible at all. You will be happy to get a silver bracelet, eat the government's food from then on, and then be assigned to a farm deep in the mountains and forests to open up wasteland. If you are lucky, you can still get out, but if you are unlucky... you will die of exhaustion on the farm!
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