Chapter 022: First Collection
After working hard for a whole year, the Wen family received 68 yuan and a number of coupons.
Don’t think 68 yuan is a small amount of money. You should know that in the past few years when the economy was bad, some families even owed money to the production team because they used their money to buy food from the production team.
The brigade headquarters was extremely lively today, with ninety-nine percent of the people in the village gathered here. Wen Jiajia didn't stay long, she took the money and left.
68 yuan is a huge sum of money.
The combined strength of the three people in her family is not even as strong as that of an underage man, so it is best to develop quietly.
Fang Baoguo, who was distributing money, wanted to call her, but after much hesitation, he let Wen Jiajia leave first.
evening.
The evening breeze has been quite chilly lately, and Wen Jiajia has to dig out the cotton-padded jacket of the original owner's second sister to wear.
The bedding at home was also changed to thicker ones.
She had been allocated 6 kilograms of cotton some time ago, but because she already had cloth and cotton at home, Wen Jiajia didn't touch it.
She actually tried synthetic cotton.
A ball of cotton, a piece of rag, a towel with its threads frayed, a cotton shirt, a cotton coat.
What is the result of the combination?
It is a long cotton coat, a piece of cotton cloth, and a long cotton skirt.
Does Wen Jiajia dare to click on the synthesis? Of course not!
Who knows what material the outer surface of a cotton coat is made of? She doubts that the synthetic system will give her polyester fiber.
Unless a cotton shirt comes along someday, she will consider whether to synthesize it. After all, if she can synthesize a cotton shirt directly, she won't have to find someone to make clothes for her.
But a piece of cotton cloth is fine.
But she didn't want the cotton long skirt. Even if she made it, it could only be used as a nightgown.
The weather is getting colder, there is no heating, and not even a kang, so why would I need a nightgown?
Okay, just leave it there for now.
Half a month ago, taking advantage of the good weather, Wen Jiajia moved several quilts from her home outside to dry them in the sun.
The quilt of the original owner's parents seemed to be a five-jin quilt, and it was actually a bit lumpy. Wen Jiajia didn't know how to fluff the cotton, so she could only hit it hard with a wooden stick under the sun every day.
Not to mention, after beating for more than a week, there is not much dust left and the whole quilt is not much fluffier.
After being dried in the sun, the quilt of the original owner's parents was used by Wen Jiajia as a mattress.
The mattress was placed on the straw mattress, and the originally hard bed instantly became soft, and it felt extremely warm when lying on it.
The quilt of elder sister Wen was given to Wen Chun and Wen Xuan, while Wen Jiajia covered the quilt of second sister Wen.
After doing this, I no longer feel cold when I sleep at night. I can sleep soundly every night on the warm and soft bed.
It’s not enough to just dry the quilt, you also have to take out the cotton-padded jacket to dry.
It was evening, the moon was up, and the night wind was cool. Wen Jiajia was putting away her cotton quilts when she saw Fang Baoguo walking towards her home.
"Captain, what's the matter?" Wen Jiajia asked.
She thought to herself that she had already paid back all the money she owed to the captain's wife, so could it be that the couple had not communicated with each other?
Fang Baoguo did not enter the house, but stayed in the yard. When he saw no one was outside the door, he said, "You did a great job catching thieves in the mountains that day. Because we had to keep it secret, the county and the commune will not praise you in a big way."
Wen Jiajia shook her head quickly.
Do you think you have lived too long? Anyone who could do such a thing probably has accomplices behind him, and who knows if there are any fish that have slipped through the net. If she is really praised with great fanfare, she will probably have to live in fear every day.
Fang Baoguo showed a look that showed that Wen Jiajia was a teachable kid. In his opinion, Wen Jiajia was really a smart person.
He took out a bill from his pocket and said, "30 yuan, plus ten tickets. This is a reward from the county and the commune."
The higher-ups had actually investigated Wen Jiajia and knew what this girl needed most before giving her what she wanted.
You can tell what he was thinking from what he said.
Wen Jiajia:!!!
She was so scared that she couldn't help but investigate her if they really wanted to.
There was no way to check the two jugs that were sold.
Wen Jiajia felt guilty, so she took the money obediently and put it in her pocket without even looking at it.
But as soon as Fang Baoguo left, Wen Jiajia couldn't wait to close the door and went back to the house to count the money.
The money was indeed 30 yuan, so she earned 98 yuan today. Not bad, almost three figures.
As for tickets, there were the most common ones, grain tickets and meat tickets. The total weight of grain tickets was 12 kilograms, and the total weight of meat tickets was 8 kilograms.
There were also two industrial coupons and five kilograms of oil coupons, but what made Wen Jiajia most excited was that there were two soap coupons!
You know, the soap at home is almost gone. She has been saving it again and again, and now there is only a thin layer left.
Wen Jiajia decided to go shopping tomorrow, not only to buy soap, but also meat.
She is craving fatty meat now, especially the fat and tender braised pork!
No wonder people these days love to eat fatty meat. When people don’t consume enough oil for a long time, they really can’t resist fatty meat.
But Wen Jiajia was unable to go to the county town the next day.
Because the big market of Hongji Commune is about to open, it is said to be held on Wednesday next week. In this case, Wen Jiajia will wait for the market with peace of mind.
The big market is almost the only place where private transactions can be carried out nowadays, so that farmers can circulate the supplies in their hands, buy less and sell more, and reduce the material pressure on the city.
The first big market after the autumn harvest is the busiest market of the year, even the market before the New Year cannot compare to it.
The weather is getting colder and colder. It seems that as soon as winter comes, the temperature drops off a cliff like a bungee cord.
Some of the oranges in the village are sold and some are distributed.
The Wen family was given two wooden boxes of oranges. Oranges would not last long if they were not soaked in medicine, so Wen Jiajia simply put the two boxes of oranges in the main room so that she could eat them whenever she wanted.
Oranges these days really do taste like oranges, but they are not necessarily sweet.
Some are so sour that they make you grimace, while others are sweeter than rock sugar and can sweeten people's hearts.
The key is that this orange is a mandarin orange, not a pomelo. It has plenty of moisture and tender flesh. Wen Jiajia can eat ten of them a day.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan also obviously liked oranges, but the two girls had weak stomachs, so Wen Jiajia often had to heat the oranges on the brazier before giving them to eat.
Wen Jiajia synthesized a grill during this period. Since she couldn't tell where it came from, she used violence to dismantle it. In the end, only the iron mesh for food was left. She recycled the rest and synthesized other things.
After working hard for dozens of days, she decided to have a barbecue at the end of the year to reward herself.
Jiang Province, Linhe City.
There is a military unit stationed in the suburbs of Linhe City. Because the unit is going to build a family home recently, the area around the unit is more lively than ever.
The family compound was naturally not built inside the troops, but outside the troops.
The first thing Wei Dai did after receiving the reply was to read it, and the second thing he did was to run to the planning area of the family compound.
The family area is indeed outside the military base, but the location is first-rate. The family area is surrounded by a U-shaped valley, and the military base is at the entrance of the U-shaped valley. There is no need to worry about thieves and traffickers because it is difficult for them to break through the military base and enter the family area.
"Wei Dai, what are you doing here?" asked Lao Wang from the logistics department. "By the way, I heard that you also want to apply for a separate room. What kind of room do you want as a single man?"
Wei Dai was dissatisfied when he heard this: "Singles are not allowed to have partners. I used to be, but I am not now."
Wang Sihua said, "Ouch!" and asked, "Are you dating?"
Wei Dai's expression was calm, but the corners of his mouth were slightly curved.
"When are you getting married?"
Wei Dai froze for a moment, but quickly responded: "How can I talk about getting married if we haven't divided the house yet?"
Wang Sihua seemed to see through it, and smiled and said, "Then you have to wait. This batch of houses is probably not enough, and can only be distributed to married people. But if you are married, you can really catch up and get the house because of your great contribution. It may not be the case next time."
He was pointing this at Wei Dai, telling him to get married as soon as possible, otherwise they might not be able to have separate houses in the next ten years.
Wei Dai was stunned for a moment, then he walked forward and asked in a low voice, "Lao Wang, you said I wanted a bungalow, can I get one?"
"A bungalow?" Wang Sihua was surprised. "Of course it's OK if you want a bungalow. But everyone wants a building, why do you want a bungalow?"
Because the bungalow is big?
In fact, the area of bungalows is strictly controlled. The yard is 50 square meters and the house is 100 square meters. It is impossible to build a house as big as a rural family.
Wei Dai: "I just like it. My partner likes it."
Originally, he did want the building, but after Jia Jia wrote in a letter saying that the sound insulation in the building was not very good... ahem, he decided to give up.
Wang Sihua understood that Wei Dai was actually a henpecked man.
Since he said he wanted a bungalow, he would take Wei Dai to have a look.
There are not many bungalows, there are 16 here, built against the foot of the mountain and divided into two rows. Many families with too many people to live in a building will choose a bungalow as the next best option.
"Do you know the second team leader Zhao Xiaogang? He has six children, and the birth order is like walking up a flight of stairs, with almost every child being two years older. His family wanted to live in a building, but his rank only allowed him to live in a house of more than 30 square meters. In the end, he had no choice but to choose a bungalow."
Wei Dai took a walk around and thought the geographical location here was average.
The building is not far away. Standing in the corridor of the building and looking out, you can see the scenes in many bungalow courtyards clearly.
His house can't be like this. There is too no privacy and Jia Jia won't like it either.
Wei Dai thought for a moment and asked, "I heard there are eight more bungalows in Beishan?"
"Yes, they are all newly built houses. The 16 houses here are all 50+100 square meters, and the eight houses in Beishan are 50+120 square meters. Although the area there is larger, it is far from the building and there is no running water. You can only fetch water. But if you are willing to pay part of the money yourself, you can also get it."
As he said this, he took Wei Dai to Beishan.
The bungalows in Beishan are obviously larger, and the distance between rooms is wider.
The house faces south and there is a large open space in front of it. The key point is that it is closer to the canteen and the infirmary than the previous bungalow.
He looked around again and found that he couldn't see the situation in the courtyard even if he stood on the mountain, so he nodded secretly.
Satisfied, really satisfied this time.
Wei Dai walked around and looked twice, and finally set his sights on the house on the far right.
He noted down the layout and location of the house and decided to draw it for Wen Jia when he got back.
——
The temperature kept dropping, and the dew condensed into frost. It was one month after the Frost Descent that the land finally welcomed the Frost Descent.
Another day I woke up holding Wen Chun.
Because it's cold, Wen Jiajia always likes to rub against Wen Chun and Wen Xuan's quilts recently.
Children have hot tempers, and sleeping with two girls makes them even hotter. The whole quilt seems to be heated by fire, and Wen Jiajia will be attracted to it unconsciously.
There's no way, this body is like a lump of ice.
Her feet would only be warm after being soaked in hot water. Even if she put a kettle of water under the quilt, she would still have icy feet when she woke up the next morning.
Even though Wen Jiajia has been taking medicine prescribed by Doctor Fang for some time, there has not been much improvement.
Wen Jiajia was dawdling and didn't want to get up.
The room was dark. Usually when she got up, there would be a glimmer of light coming through the cracks, but today there was none, which meant it was still early.
Sleep a little longer?
Wen Jiajia lay down again with her eyes narrowed, but less than ten seconds later, she struggled to sit up again.
"Can't sleep!"
Going to catch the bus.
I have to go to the market today.
Today is the day when the Hongji Commune market begins. Wen Jiajia made an appointment with Fang Mingyan yesterday to go to the market together.
Hongji Commune is far away. If you walk there on foot, you won’t be able to finish the journey from now until 11 o’clock in the morning.
So you have to take a car, a donkey cart.
Wen Jiajia ruffled her hair irritably, and after lying down and getting up three times, she finally got up.
What do you eat in the morning?
Eat rice noodles. The rice noodles are steamed yesterday.
Wen Jiajia suddenly got into the mood yesterday and ground this year's new rice into rice paste, which she then steamed on a steamed rice cake tray.
The local people love to eat rice cakes, so Wen Jiajia doesn’t need to make it herself. She found the iron plate in the original owner’s parents’ room.
Making this rice cake is also simple. Pour rice paste on an iron pan, rotate the iron pan to make the rice paste evenly distributed, and then place the iron pan in hot water.
Bring the hot water to a rolling boil and steam the rice paste in the iron pan.
The steamed rice cake can be eaten with fillings, just like spring rolls.
It can also be cut into strips and eaten together.
Add soy sauce, balsamic vinegar and chopped pepper sauce, cut some dried radish and pickled vegetables, scald some greens, add a little lard and mix together, the taste is no worse than stuffing.
Wen Jiajia prefers this method because it is simple.
In order to save time this morning, I naturally mixed rice milk with rice noodles to eat.
The rice milk rice noodles are soft, glutinous and white, with the aroma of both rice milk and seasoning.
The soy sauce was newly brewed this year. The commune had a soy sauce mill not far away, less than 1,000 meters away from Wen's home.
It is said that this batch of soy sauce produced by the soy sauce shop uses the first batch of beans this year, and it was brewed for 180 days before it was opened.
The delicious flavor wafts around for miles!
No kidding, Wen Jiajia could smell that smell at home that day.
She was attracted by the delicious aroma of soy sauce at that time. After learning that the soy sauce from the commune had been opened, she hurriedly took her soy sauce jar to the commune to get soy sauce.
Fortunately, as members of the Fuyang Brigade, they only needed money to make soy sauce, not food. Wen Jiajia ran back and forth three times and only finished when she had filled three cans of soy sauce.
She doesn’t use all the soy sauce for cooking. When she has completely free time, she will pickle radishes.
The local way of pickling radishes is pretty good. They are marinated with soy sauce and wine, and then some garlic and chili are added. They are very delicious when eaten with porridge.
Well, "嘎嘎" is an onomatopeia, meaning crispy!
As for the chopped pepper sauce, Wen Jiajia made it herself some time ago.
The chopped pepper sauce uses red peppers, but the Wen family didn’t have them, so Wen Jiajia asked Aunt Zhang next door to get some for her.
Aunt Zhang next door is from Hubei Province and she knows best how to make chopped pepper delicious.
Under her guidance, Wen Jiajia successfully made a pot of chopped peppers. It has been pickled and fermented for exactly seven days, and it is just right to eat.
Wen Jiajia loves spicy food, and taking the two girls out has improved their tolerance for chili peppers a lot.
"My aunt has to go to school today, and the nursery is closed. You two should stay at home or go play with Meihua."
She asked as she quickly finished a big bowl of rice noodles.
Wen Chun picked up the chopped peppers and put them in the bowl to mix them, saying, "Aunt, I want to stay at home."
Meihua's house is not fun. The few times they went there, Meihua's brother always kept an eye on them, afraid that they would secretly take food from her house.
Wen Xuan also nodded and continued chewing, her cheeks like a squirrel with food hidden.
Okay!
Wen Jiajia opened the door of the room and let them play in three places: the room, the kitchen and the living room.
"You are not allowed to go to the terrace, the backyard, or even the front yard, do you understand?" she said sternly.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan should be good.
"Don't touch the kitchen knife, don't touch the kerosene lamp, and don't touch the matches."
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan still agreed obediently.
Wen Jiajia put on thick clothes for them and told them not to take them off. She also put straw mats on the floor of the room and laid out building blocks. She also prepared some rice noodles to warm in the pot and put a pot of hot water on the table before leaving with a lingering feeling.
Finally, he said, "No one is allowed to open the door!"
"I know, auntie!"
Wen Jiajia still believed in the two girls. Children without mothers mature early, let alone those without fathers and mothers, who should be more mature and sensible.
As we get closer to the winter solstice, the daybreaks get later.
When I went out, it was daybreak, and the moon was still hanging in the sky, appearing and disappearing from time to time.
"Jia Jia, come quickly. We only need a few of you." Fang Mingyan waved when she saw her. "Do you have enough bags? Go and gather them. Make sure you bring enough."
Wen Jiajia turned around and revealed the bamboo basket behind her. She patted it with her backhand and said, "I've got it. I've got three."
One auntie shouted, "Jia Jia, can you please hurry up? It will save us from having to bring another man."
Because there were not many donkey carts in the village, women usually rode in the carts when they went to the market. But what about men? If they wanted to go, they would just walk.
When Wen Jiajia heard this, she agreed of course.
She touched Daqiang and took out some carrots from her pocket to feed it.
Daqiang remembered the colleague who often brought him carrots. He ate them with a crunch and then stood there obediently while Wen Jiajia put the saddle on him.
Wen Jiajia jumped in front of the car and said to everyone, "Ladies, get in the car."
She was the one who overtook Daqiang, but Chen Xiong shamelessly took away the right to overtake Erqiang.
Wen Jiajia took the lead and drove the eight people towards Hongji Commune.
The mountain road was bumpy, but fortunately she was skilled at driving and didn't cause much pain to everyone's buttocks.
It was getting light.
The morning sun broke through the clouds, leaving a tiny gap, and the sunlight sprinkled on the land.
The morning sun is hot but not scorching. Wen Jiajia's face is bathed in the sun, and she feels the vigor of the morning. Her mood becomes very good, and all the depression from getting up early disappears.
"Everyone hold on tight, I'm going to speed up."
Wen Jiajia waved the whip and shouted "Drive!"
"Okay!"
Then a series of strong jolts came.
When Wen Jiajia said it was fast, it really was fast. Chen Xiong behind her was left with nothing but dust.
"Damn it! I'm a real man, but I can't drive as fast as her?" Chen Xiong glared, got angry, and hurriedly sped up.
So in less than two hours, before 7:30, the two cars of people arrived at Hongji Commune.
As soon as Wen Jiajia got off the car, she was stunned by the bustling scene in front of her.
There are so many people. Especially so many.
The huge square was filled with densely packed heads, and as people walked around, it looked like a sea of black hair flowing.
Wen Jiajia can guarantee that people with trypophobia will definitely run away after seeing this scene.
Fang Mingyan held Wen Jiajia's arm and said, "Let's go. Don't be fooled by the crowds. There are actually divided areas. For example, food is in the upper left corner, clothes are in the lower left, tools are in the upper right, and other sundries are in the lower right."
As he spoke, he pointed to Wen Jiajia.
Wen Jiajia understood it immediately, the four quadrants.
She decided to go to the second quadrant first, that is, the area where food is sold.
The crowd is so crowded that even if you don't move, the people behind you will hug you and push you forward.
Wen Jiajia held Fang Mingyan tightly, and both of them reached their destination with their hair all messed up.
"Haha, it's lively enough." Fang Mingyan is a crowd-freak. The more people there are, the more excited she gets.
Wen Jiajia nodded, her eyes rolling around, feeling that everything was new and fresh.
The two were fascinated by the steamed buns that had just come out of the pot. They saw steam rising from the buns not far away, and when the lid of the steamer was opened, white mist rushed straight into the sky.
The two of them took a deep breath in tacit understanding. It smelled so good.
"Do you want to eat?" Fang Mingyan asked, staring at him.
Wen Jiajia was so angry that she said, "Eat!"
She has 30 yuan in her pocket!
The two held hands, grinning and squeezed together, and finally squeezed to the bun stall.
Seeing the plump white buns, Wen Jiajia's eyes sparkled, "Uncle, are the buns meat or vegetables?"
The man running the steamed bun stall said: "There are ones with pickled vegetables and bamboo shoots, ones with mushrooms, beans and dried meat, and ones with bamboo shoots and meat." But there's no pure meat ones.
This is normal, as meat is hard to buy. There is only a little bit of meat in each bun to make it taste better.
Wen Jiajia was very generous. She paid and said, "Give me two of each flavor."
Then he saw some oil cakes next to him and said, "Give me six more oil cakes."
Fried cakes are made from soybeans and rice. After being ground into rice paste, chopped green onions are added and seasoned. Finally, they are slowly fried in a pan with a small spoon.
The bean and rice paste should be fried until it separates from the spoon, turns from white to yellow, and becomes puffy.
Wen Jiajia likes this very much. She has liked eating pancakes with pot-side hu all her life. Now she thinks of it and decides to eat pot-side hu tomorrow morning.
The two of them bought the buns, but they were reluctant to eat them right away.
But the bun hanging in front of her chest was too tempting. Wen Jiajia couldn't help it. She pulled Fang Mingyan to the edge, squatted on the ground and started eating slowly.
"What are you going to buy later?" Fang Mingyan asked vaguely. After chewing for a while, she said, "I have to buy two pieces of cloth to make clothes."
Wen Jiajia was surprised: "You can make clothes?"
Fang Mingyan was surprised: "Why can't they do this? Most girls in our village can do this."
Wen Jiajia: “…I’m not really good at it.”
She immediately smiled, pinched Fang Mingyan's arm, and said flatteringly, "Teacher Yanyan, teach me."
Fang Mingyan puffed out her chest and coughed twice: "Since you call me teacher, I will accept you as my student."
Wen Jiajia immediately pulled out a pancake and stuffed it into her mouth: "It's a gift for apprenticeship. You are not allowed to return it after you eat it." No matter how stupid or clumsy she was, she was not allowed to return it!
Wen Jiajia finally figured it out. In this day and age, there are some skills that one must learn.
Especially sewing crafts.
Otherwise, she would have to wait every day to see what the synthesis system could give her. If it couldn't synthesize anything, she would just be helpless and stare.
Fang Mingyan was so enchanted by the aroma of the pancake that she was speechless and could only nod vigorously.
After rewarding their stomachs, the two continued shopping.
No matter how hot the winter sun is, it’s not that hot, especially at this moment when it’s so hot that Wen Jiajia didn’t pay any attention to the time.
She shuttled between the stalls, and by the time her chest and back were piled with things, it was already noon.
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