Chapter 014 Current Dilemma
Wen Jiajia slept very deeply this time. When she woke up it was already afternoon. She heard the sound of team members going to work outside the house.
The sun shone on the patio, and she took out the quilt to dry in the sun. After it swelled up in the sun, she used a wooden stick to hit it vigorously, and only when it swelled up could she sleep comfortably.
Maybe it was because she had a good sleep that she wasn't so depressed anymore. She felt happier and was able to think about food.
The eel I caught a few days ago is still alive. To be more precise, it is half dead and has no energy. I have to kill it and eat it quickly.
How to cook eel in a simple and delicious way?
Of course it's porridge.
She loves to cook soup and porridge, and is adept at making many kinds of porridge.
It is not difficult to make eel porridge. As long as the eel is fresh, it won’t be too bad.
Wen Jiajia took out the clay pot she had just bought today, cleaned it several times, and then placed it on the charcoal fire.
The simple stone stove in the backyard has not been pushed down yet, so it is just the right place to put the clay pot.
Kill the eel, clean it, marinate it with salt, ginger and rice wine. Wash the rice twice and soak it in clean water.
In the past, she would add salt and cooking oil to the rice, but now that conditions are simple, she naturally keeps things simple.
The freshly slaughtered eel was still moving at this time. Wen Jiajia suddenly remembered that the last time she ate eel was at a hot pot restaurant. She couldn't help but feel hungry and swallowed her saliva.
After traveling here, she thought that she would not have spicy beef hot pot for the next ten years, which was really heartbreaking. She missed the few packets of hot pot ingredients in her refrigerator.
The sun shifted and gradually left the backyard.
When the charcoal fire was burning, the eels were already marinated. She scooped a spoonful of oil into the casserole, and when the oil was hot, she put the eels in to fry.
Logically, the next step is to pour boiling water.
However, there was no thermos pot at home, so Wen Jiajia could only scoop some water that was hot but not too hot from the pot and pour it into it.
The water is boiled, the eels are taken out, and the soaked rice and the shredded ginger used to marinate the eels can finally be put in. The rice for cooking porridge is also very important, and it is best to use glutinous rice.
This kind of rice is mostly produced in the north. In her previous life, she would ask someone to buy rice from rice production bases to cook porridge. After eating rice from several regions, she finally felt that the rice from the northeast was the best.
But the locals grow indica rice, which is longer and less sticky than japonica rice. It tastes good when cooked into rice, but not so good when cooked into porridge.
It’s the same old saying, conditions are limited, so I won’t be picky.
Once the rice is in the pot, the porridge is almost done.
The sunlight completely left the backyard. The originally wilted weeds seemed to be slowly growing stronger. Even the wind blowing from the distant mountains carried a hint of coolness.
Wen Jiajia sat on the chair and slowly picked the meat off the eel.
After picking, I went to the vegetable garden to pick some vegetables and picked and washed the vegetables for tomorrow morning.
Water kept seeping out from the mountain wall, and it was freezing cold. She didn't dare to wash for too long, and just washed twice.
Wen Jiajia thought that her top priority right now was to find a way to get some medicine to solve the menstrual pain in this body.
I can't say that it can be completely solved, but at least half of it can be solved. Otherwise, if you feel pain every month, what's the meaning of life?
Time passed quickly, the birds returned to the forest, and the sunset in the sky arrived as expected.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan came back earlier than usual today. They went straight to the kitchen and only felt relieved when they saw Wen Jiajia in the backyard.
Wen Jiajia found it funny and waved: "What do you have on your face? Are you afraid that I will eat you?"
Wen Chun walked over bravely and said softly, "Aunt, are you still going to cry?"
Wen Jiajia glared and said, "Don't talk nonsense, when did I cry?" Just kidding, she is a steel girl. Even if she cries, she won't cry in front of others.
Wen Chun's tense little face finally relaxed, as if he knew that Wen Jiajia was in a good mood at the moment, so he bravely moved his feet and leaned closer to her.
Wen Jiajia just felt dirty and sour in her heart, and bubbles were gurgling out of her mouth. She waved for Wen Xuan to come over and pinched and kneaded the two girls' faces before she was done.
The two little guys must have been pretty scared last night and today.
Wen Xuan seemed to be really worried about her. She didn't even care about the steaming porridge in front of her. She lay on top of Wen Jiajia and said seriously, "Aunt, don't die like mom. If you don't cry, I will."
Wen Jiajia nodded, feeling angry, amused, and sad at the same time, all kinds of emotions mixed together and rising up to her throat.
She was speechless and choked with sobs.
Children can actually understand death. In their eyes, death means "gone" and never seeing each other again.
Isn’t it true? Death means we can never see each other again.
The porridge is cooked. The porridge cooked in a clay pot is thicker than that cooked in an iron pot.
Wen Jiajia mashed the eel meat and poured it into the pot, then poured in the chopped vegetables and added some salt. After the vegetables were stewed, they were ready to eat.
As the sky gradually darkened, one could occasionally hear the voices of village ladies calling their children back home for dinner.
Wen Jiajia took out the steamed buns that had been heated in the pot in advance and planned to eat them with the porridge.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were obviously very surprised and shouted in unison: "Auntie, buns!"
Wen Jiajia was surprised: "You two also know about steamed buns. Have you eaten them?"
Wen Chun nodded, holding the bowl tightly in both hands: "Grandma made buns for us to eat."
Wen Xuan added: "It's from bamboo shoots!"
Wen Jiajia understood that the original owner's mother had made bamboo shoot stuffing buns not long ago.
However, it is not the bamboo shoot season recently, so the dumplings are probably made with dried bamboo shoots. She did find a sack of dried bamboo shoots in the attic.
There are many bamboo forests in the area, which are rich in bamboo shoots.
Bamboo or bamboo shoot factories were established in the county town and many communes. It is said that the bamboo shoot factory in the county town has more than 200 workers.
For a bamboo shoot factory, 200 people is considered a large scale. The products produced can be sold not only to nearby counties and cities, but also to the provincial capital. This makes it easy for local people to make extra money.
Every year during the bamboo shoot season, villagers go up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots and then sell them to buyers who go to the countryside to buy them. In a year, they can earn more than ten yuan just from the bamboo shoots.
Of course, more than 10 yuan is the income of the whole family. It is an income that only families with strong working ability can have.
It is impossible for a family like Wen Jiajia's to earn this amount of money. It would be better to hope for more food at the end of the year.
Because of the buns, eel porridge is not as attractive to the two children.
Wen Jiajia thought to herself that they didn't know how to eat delicious food, but she couldn't help but eat a bun.
The buns were as big as an adult's fist, but the two girls finished them and even drank half a bowl of porridge.
Wen Jiajia felt scared when she touched their bulging bellies, and spent the whole night worrying whether they would have food accumulation. Finally, she found a small half-can of hawthorn cake from the original owner's parents' room and let them eat a few pieces before she felt relieved.
It's hard to keep secrets in the countryside.
Who sneaked into the haystack, who stole the neighbor's chicken, and who had a relationship with whom, almost nothing could be hidden from the team members.
Since that day, everyone in the brigade and the commune seemed to know that Wei Dai had sent her back.
This is actually quite normal. After all, everyone was working at that time and there were fields on both sides of the road, so it was impossible not to see them.
However, because of this, people still don't think Wen San and Wei Dai are a couple. We won't talk about this now.
For example, some old educated youths first came to the village in the 1960s when there was no educated youth home yet, so they slept in an old house at the end of the village.
It was a rare year with heavy snow, and one of the houses collapsed in the middle of the night. Because it was dark and they did not dare to walk on the snowy road, the educated youth did not report it to the village cadres. That night, men and women lived together, and everyone called it revolutionary friendship.
Giving a ride to someone you know for a while is nothing.
The fourth day of the seventh lunar month is the beginning of autumn.
As the saying goes, with the beginning of autumn, cool winds arrive and cicadas begin to chirp.
The leaves of the tung trees on the roadside began to turn yellow, and the tung nuts gradually became full and plump. If any naughty child tried to pick them, he would be beaten by the adults.
Wen Jiajia was also giving Wen Chun and Wen Xuan some advice. She pointed at the tung tree at the door and said, "You are three years old now. You are big kids now. From now on, you are not allowed to eat wild fruits outside. Do you understand? Especially the fruits growing on that tree. If you bite them, you will have to go to the hospital! Then your stomach will hurt and you won't be able to eat meat or candy."
Wen Chun frowned, touched his stomach and assured, "I definitely won't eat it."
Wen Xuan felt a little guilty. She grabbed her sister's hand and nodded eagerly: "I am the same as my sister."
She didn't eat either.
Of course, she still has to eat August fried food.
Well, and Xiaomaoer.
Wen Jiajia was relieved. Tung nuts are very poisonous. In her previous life, she saw a child who ate tung nuts so much that he had to go to the hospital for gastric lavage. There was no place to do gastric lavage here. She didn't know how someone could eat something so bitter that it was deadly.
"Jingling bells——"
A series of car bells rang.
Wen Jiajia looked up outside the yard and saw that it was Wei Dai.
She was stunned for a moment, blinked, stood up and walked to the door: "Why are you in our Fuyang Brigade?" She was still wet.
Wei Dai sighed: "Send fish."
Wen Jiajia understood immediately. Because Hegou Township is close to the river, it can catch a lot of fish almost every year.
These fish are not kept just for their own consumption, but a portion is also set aside for trading with neighboring communes.
Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "Then there will be fish for sale in the commune supply and marketing cooperative these two days." Then she thought of something and her face turned depressed again. There were fish, but unfortunately she didn't have a ticket to buy them.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan also ran out at this time, staring at the bicycle.
They saw Xiao Gang touching this car.
They wanted to touch it, but Xiao Gang wouldn't let them.
"Are these your two nieces?" Wei Dai looked at the two girls and asked, "They look a bit like you."
Wen Jiajia nodded: "That's normal. But what do you want to talk to me about this time?"
Wei Dai immediately said, "There is something. I want to exchange a few kilograms of Castanopsis kusnezoffii with you."
Wen Jiajia frowned in confusion: "Castanea? Do we have it at home? I don't know what it is."
Wei Dai explained: "They are bitter pearls. Just now, an aunt from your village said that your family has some. She said that your mother...picked up a lot last year. If it's convenient, I would like to exchange some with you."
Wen Jiajia gestured for him to come in: "Why don't you come in and look for it yourself? I don't recognize this thing."
The dry goods in the house were all in the attic, and there were indeed many foods she had never seen before.
Wei Dai thought about it and went in.
The house was very clean. The main room was paved with stone slabs, and there was not even a speck of dust in the gaps between the slabs.
There was a bamboo chair next to the main room, and next to the chair was a small wooden table, on which were two newspapers and a pen.
Wei Dai suddenly remembered what he had just heard from the people in the commune: Wen Jiajia was a high school student.
He couldn't help but ask: "Are you going to find a job?"
Wen Jiajia led the way, took him up the stairs, pushed open the attic door, and after hearing this, turned around and waved: "Comrade Wei, it's so hard to find a job nowadays. I can't find one just by looking for it."
The attic was dark until Wen Jiajia pushed open the door of the small room in the attic. Wei Dai said, "There are not many high school students in the commune. If you set your sights on the commune, there should be suitable jobs available."
Wen Jiajia corrected him: "There are very few high school students among the members."
There are quite a few high school students working in those positions in the commune.
There is no need to say much about the Commune Department. They have their own organization. In a few decades, they will be county government officials. Today, the lowest level of cadres in the department is high school students, many are technical secondary school students, and some are even college students.
As for the radio studio, health center, animal husbandry station and other places under the commune department, what matters is the technology and the craftsmanship.
She might be able to get a job in the radio studio, but the announcers there are as eloquent as her, and the studio is already full. There are even two temporary workers who are eyeing the opportunity to become regular employees.
The job she is most likely to get now is actually the commune school, but as far as she knows, the school will not recruit new teachers until the year after next at the earliest, and the target group will also include educated youth from various brigades.
Wen Jiajia was not a graduate of a teaching college, so she was not sure she could stand out in the Progressive Commune, which was full of talented people.
This small room has the only glass window in the house. The sunlight from the terrace shines in through the window, making the room extremely bright.
There were bags and bamboo baskets of various sizes piled on the ground. Wen Jiajia began to search according to Wei Dai's description.
"When you said it looked like a chestnut, I had some impression of it." She buried her head in the paper and said, "At that time, I was wondering if you brought something this small back to make a bracelet. It turns out it's a Castanopsis."
She had never eaten Castanopsis before, so she decided to find time to try this new food.
Wei Dai searched with her, and they soon found a sack full of oak trees.
Wen Jiajia patted the dust off her hands and said, "Take whatever you want. Just consider it as an offset for the buns I bought a few days ago."
Wei Dai was not polite and scooped five scoops of food with a bamboo ladle, which weighed about five or six pounds. He then put the other sacks in their places and went downstairs with Wen Jiajia.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were still playing in the yard, the two sisters running around on their bicycles.
When they saw Wei Dai, the two sisters stopped moving, feeling guilty and afraid that he would know that they had just touched the bicycle.
Wei Dai smiled, took out a handful of candy from his pocket, stuffed it into Wen Chun's pocket and said, "Share it with your sister."
Wen Chun swallowed her saliva, but didn't dare to take it, and just looked at Wen Jiajia. After Wen Jiajia nodded, she happily took it and whispered "Thank you, uncle".
Wen Jiajia saw him out and asked in confusion, "How do you know this is my sister?"
Wei Dai touched his nose. Could he say that he had seen a great show of his aunt educating her nephew before he entered the door?
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Wen Jiajia didn't know what to say, so she said, "Then... goodbye?"
After saying this, she put her hands in her pockets, as if waiting for him to leave.
Wei Dai pursed his lips and got on the bike, but he didn't pedal. He turned around and looked at her and said, "Can I ask you a question?"
Wen Jiajia was stunned, looked around, and when she saw no one was around, she nodded, "That's convenient."
Wei Dai hesitated for a moment and said, "Are you unwilling to go on a blind date with me or..."
"Oh no, uh, wait..." Wen Jiajia had a complicated expression and controlled her hands from covering her face. "I just feel that I'm not suitable for talking about marriage now."
She just knew it!
She knew that Auntie Tian had mentioned this matter to Wei Dai that day!
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