Chapter 052 Winter Solstice Glutinous Rice Balls
Late autumn seemed to pass in just a few days. In the blink of an eye, the leaves on the trees fell one after another, and winter had arrived.
Although Wen Jiajia prefers cold to heat, she has to admit that working in winter is much more painful than working in summer.
Every morning when she was about to get up, she wanted to quit her job immediately.
There was no way, the quilt was so warm that she was reluctant to leave.
For Wen Jiajia, this is more painful than getting up at 8 a.m. in college. After all, when she was at 8 a.m., she could get up at 7:30, but now she has to get up at 7 a.m. at the latest.
Wen Jiajia has recently evolved a new function. She skips the time for breakfast. After getting up, she puts on clothes and washes up. After washing up, she puts on a scarf and hat and goes out.
Wei Dai couldn't stand this.
It's okay to skip lunch or dinner, but skipping breakfast is simply too much.
But he couldn't win the argument with Wen Jiajia. If a cow doesn't want to drink water, you can force its head down. If a person doesn't want to eat, can you force him to eat?
So he could only remind Wen Jiajia to buy some steamed buns or steamed bread or other food to fill her stomach when she passed by the state-owned hotel when she went to work every day, otherwise her stomach would sooner or later get hungry.
Wen Jiajia often said that he upset his stomach by eating too fast, and now she also upsets her stomach by skipping breakfast every now and then. It shows that people are always double-standard.
It was the day before the winter solstice. A cold wind was howling outside the window, and the aloe trees outside the windowsill were almost blown down by the strong cold wind.
Wen Jiajia quickly opened the window and brought the aloe plant in. This was one of the few flowers she had successfully grown, and she couldn't let it die in the wind.
Bring the aloe vera in, pour some water on it and place it on the table.
Rubbing her hands that were cold from the wind, she always felt that it was going to snow soon.
It's already cold, and snow will only make it colder.
Wei Dai really did not lie to her. The winter here is much colder than in his hometown. The temperature is at least 6 or 7 degrees lower.
Dark clouds had unknowingly occupied the sky; the sun had disappeared, and there was no trace of sunset glow over the Tianshan Mountains in the west.
"Oh!" Wen Jiajia sighed. It was only four o'clock and she still had an hour before she could get off work.
Shayue walked in with a cup of hot water. When the door opened, cold wind rushed into the room, and the other three people in the office shivered.
She was pregnant, and said she was almost three months pregnant, but Wen Jiajia couldn't see it at all, and couldn't even feel it. Her belly was obviously very flat, but there was a child inside.
Wen Jiajia asked her, "Is it your Feng Yu who came to pick you up today, or are you staying at your parents' house?"
Sha Yue put the cup down heavily, with a helpless look on her face: "Don't mention it, I'm going home with Feng Yu today."
Wen Jiajia remembered that Shayue had been living at her mother's house these days, and it seemed that something bad had happened there.
She didn't ask any more questions, only said to Sha Yue: "The weather is getting colder day by day, and it gets dark so early. Your belly will continue to grow bigger day by day. Why don't you go and apply to Director Xue? See if you can also leave work early at five o'clock."
Sha Yue sighed: "Director Xue will let me apply for a dormitory in the factory to stay temporarily, or live with my parents."
"How would you know this would happen if you didn't ask?" Wen Jiajia frowned.
Sha Yue: "Forget it. After all, it can be finished by the end of the year. After the New Year, I will hire someone to take over my shift."
She had a very severe reaction during pregnancy. Some time ago, she would vomit if she smelled any strange smell.
As it happened to be winter, the doors and windows of the office were tightly closed, so there was always a strange smell in the room throughout the day.
For example, the waxy smell of Li Haifeng's hair and the smell of green onions and garlic in his mouth.
Li Haifeng had to use hair wax every day, and he didn't know where he got so much hair wax from. Before December was over, the can of Panda brand hair wax in his drawer was almost empty.
That would be fine, he has to have garlic or green onions with almost every lunch.
The smell was real. Sha Yuewen vomited for a while. She vomited all over the place and used up all the water in the cup, so she went to the water room to get more water.
Qiao He actually pays more attention to his image, but recently for some reason he started to get busy with ink and practice calligraphy every day.
The smell of ink is light, but for a pregnant woman, even the slightest smell can be magnified by her nose.
So when the smell of wax, onion, garlic and ink blended together, Shayue felt the darkness of life.
Wen Jiajia moved her nose and opened a small crack on Shayue's window, then handed her the hand warmer: "I just filled it with hot water, it's still warm, you can use it first, and put it in the drawer when you get off work and give it to me tomorrow."
Shayue took the hand warmer without hesitation.
"Where did you buy this? I can't buy it." Shayue placed her hands tightly on the hand warmer.
The hand warmer is actually the most common plastic hand warmer. Wen Jiajia specially made a cotton cover to wrap it so that the water in the hand warmer cools down slowly and the hands will not be burned.
Don't underestimate these hand warmers because they are so common. They are actually hard to find. The supply and marketing cooperatives basically sell out in seconds, so if you want to buy one, you have to queue up.
The department store's insiders would grab all the money before the products were even sold out, so Wen Jiajia had a hand warmer, a bright red one at that, which was really enviable.
Where did Wen Jiajia buy it?
She didn't buy it, she made it out of rubber.
Where does the rubber come from? Waste rubber from chemical plants.
With just one dime, you can buy hundreds of old, useless, discarded rubber joints and pipe seals. Wen Jiajia then used these rubber products to make three hand warmers, two green and one red. She is planning to try making the fourth one soon. After all, it is cold in winter, so of course the more of these things the better.
The synthetic hand warmers are no different from those sold outside; even the patterns on the surface are exactly the same. Wen Jiajia is not afraid of being discovered at all, so she also came up with the idea of selling hand warmers.
After all, now is the perfect time. The weather is cold, the raw materials are available, and they are cheap...If you don't take what heaven gives you, you will suffer the consequences!
Wen Jiajia thought for a moment and whispered, "I bought this from my friend. If I have extra in the future, I'll leave one for you."
Sha Yue was surprised and said quickly, "A million, two or three won't be too much for me."
"... Two or three more, you really are." Wen Jiajia was speechless, "Okay, if I had any, I would definitely keep them for you."
Shayue was satisfied. She took a deep breath of the fresh air coming in through the window gap, touched the warm hand warmer, and felt much better.
It was almost five o'clock, and Wen Jiajia packed up and prepared to leave.
She put the forms she hadn't finished today into her backpack, ready to take them home.
Before leaving, he put more than 10 kilograms of coal that he asked Hao Qingying to buy on the back seat of the bicycle.
This is fruit wood charcoal, suitable for barbecue. She bought it specially from Hao Qingying's father.
It was already dark, but fortunately many people were leaving the city. Wen Jiajia rode slowly and was not in a hurry to overtake. She just followed the wheel tracks of the person in front of her.
It took her nearly an hour to ride home. It was now completely dark and she even needed to use a flashlight to guide the way.
Wei Dai has not been busy recently, and Wen Jiajia has a hot dinner every night when she comes home.
"What should I eat today?" She ran to the kitchen to wash her hands. She soaked her hands in hot water and sighed comfortably, "Oh, it feels so good. My hands are finally alive again."
It’s cold at work and it’s cold after get off work.
The evening breeze was still blowing when she got off work. The road out of the city and back home happened to be a windy place. There was a large plain in front of her, and no tall mountains blocked the way, so the north wind prevailed. Even with gloves, a hat and a scarf, she could not completely block the biting cold wind.
The head and neck were fine, as the body temperature of these two places was quite high. But the hands were terrible, they were frozen like chicken claws, and almost stiff.
"Let's eat the chopped pepper fish head." Wei Dai said.
Wen Jiajia cried out in frustration, "Again! This is the sixth time, no, the seventh time I've eaten chopped pepper fish head. Do you guys love it so much?"
Wei Dai went into the kitchen, touched her face, and felt relieved when he felt that it was still quite hot.
Then open the lid of the wooden barrel to reveal the chopped pepper fish head. After lifting the chopped pepper fish head, you can see the snow-white rice underneath.
The old rice in the house was finally eaten up, so we steamed new rice today. Jiajia could smell it just by smelling it.
"It must be new rice. It smells so good." Wen Jiajia sniffed.
"Yes, we just bought new rice a few days ago. The rice here tastes better than the one at home." Wei Dai said. He was serving rice and asked Wen Jiajia, "Are you hungry today? I'll give you a full bowl."
Wen Jiajia snorted: "You're making chopped pepper fish head, so of course you want a full bowl of rice."
This is a famous dish that goes well with rice.
Wei Dai laughed out loud and put another spoonful of rice into the bowl, which immediately overflowed.
The chopped pepper fish head is really delicious. After peeling off the red chopped pepper on the top, the fish meat underneath is revealed.
The fish meat is tender, like garlic cloves. When you eat it, you can taste the freshness of the fish meat and the spiciness of the chopped pepper.
Chopped peppers are also delicious. Wen Jiajia likes to mix chopped peppers with rice. The steamed chopped peppers are shiny and oily. When mixing them with rice, scoop two spoonfuls of soup. The taste is even better than meat mixed with rice.
In addition to the chopped pepper fish head, there is also a plate of vegetables.
Although it is colder there than in my hometown, vegetables can still be grown there, though the variety is not as many as in my hometown. However, precisely because of the cold weather, the vegetables grown there taste better.
After dinner, Wen Jiajia hid in her room and didn't even listen to the radio.
Wei Dai was washing dishes while listening to the news. When the news was over, Wen Chun quickly switched to the storytelling channel.
The two sisters really love listening to stories. They have told the story of the Three Kingdoms several times. Wen Jiajia has listened to it so many times that her ears are wired, but they still enjoy it.
"Want to take a shower?" Wei Dai asked as he pushed the door open.
Wen Jiajia was doing a spreadsheet. She nodded and said, "Wash! Help me get some water to the bathroom. I'll come out and wash right away."
After a while, Wei Dai shouted in the yard: "It's ready, come quickly."
Wen Jiajia tied her hair up, took off her coat, leaving only her tight autumn clothes and pants, then ran out holding her pajamas.
Seeing her like this, Wei Dai hurriedly pulled her into the bathroom.
It's really not my fault that I always scold him. It's really that my daughter-in-law's behavior has tested his patience.
The temperature was only two or three degrees, and the cold wind had almost made the date trees sway to 90 degrees, yet she actually ran out wearing only thin autumn clothes and autumn pants.
You complain about being cold all day long. How can you not be cold?
Wei Dai was furious: "Don't brush your teeth after taking a shower. I'll make you two bowls of ginger soup. Drink it before brushing your teeth."
Wen Jiajia hung her clothes on the wall and shivered as she took them off: "No, why would I drink ginger soup for no reason?" She didn't have a cold. After drinking this stuff, her mouth was bitter and spicy all night.
"Then why did you take off your clothes and run out for no reason? Why couldn't you come here and take them off?" Wei Dai glared at her while the flashlight in the bathroom was not turned on and it was still pitch dark.
When Wen Jiajia turned on the flashlight and the light illuminated the small bathroom, he quickly looked away.
Wen Jiajia ignored him because it was convenient.
Besides, it’s just a short distance and the wind can’t make it that cold.
After she took off her clothes, Wei Dai also took off his.
The two were not in the mood to have a bathroom party. There was no heater or bathroom heater. What kind of party was there? It was too cold.
It was so cold that I couldn't even take a shower for long.
The bathroom was filled with mist, and soon, the two finished their bath.
Wen Jiajia began to wipe her body and put on her clothes tremblingly. At this moment, she just wished she had a bath towel so that she could wrap herself up and go out and return to her room.
"In my opinion, we should have built the bathroom next to our bedroom." Wen Jiajia said as she got dressed, "Then open a door so that we can go directly into the bedroom after taking a shower."
Wei Dai put on his clothes before her and then wrapped his coat around her. The moment he opened the door, mist rushed into the darkness and dissipated completely in less than three seconds.
"It's hard to drain there."
He had thought about this at the time, but the drainage ditch was too close to the bedroom and attracted mosquitoes, so he gave up.
Wen Jiajia thought about it and agreed.
The couple went out, Wei Dai turned the bucket upside down at the door to dry, and Wen Jiajia hurried back to the room.
I ran back to the house and put on Wei Dai's old coat. The cotton coats at that time were really warm, and it felt like a quilt when I put it on.
She sighed and rubbed her hands. After her hands were warm, she turned on the desk lamp and continued working.
Wei Dai washed clothes outside. In winter, he only changed underwear, and since he changed clothes every day, it was not difficult to wash.
The washed clothes were hung in the yard, and then the cold clothes from yesterday were brought into the house and placed over the brazier to dry.
Although the temperature is low in winter, the wind is strong. The wind blows all day long, and clothes will actually dry out.
It’s just that the dew is heavier and there will inevitably be moisture on the clothes, so they need to be dried.
After the heat from the baking clothes has dissipated, they are folded and the two sisters' clothes are placed on the bedside table. It is true that the two of them will dress themselves tomorrow, but they need someone to help prepare the clothes.
He and Jia Jia took them into the room and put them in the closet.
After a busy day, it was already nine o'clock.
He heard Jiajia's "click" and stopped writing to close the pen cap. Then he stretched his waist and yawned a lot due to his sleepiness.
"Did you put the hand warmer in the quilt?" Wei Dai felt a warmth as he entered the quilt.
Wen Jiajia pounded her shoulders, took off her coat, quickly hid under the quilt, tucked her feet between his legs, and said with a smile, "Keep warm, I took it from Wen Xuan and Wen Chun's bed."
They were really not afraid of the cold. The quilt was so hot that it was almost steaming, so they took out the hot water bottle, refilled it with hot water and put it on their beds.
Wei Dai reached into the quilt and moved her legs to his abdomen to warm them up. He then touched her feet which were like lumps of ice and sighed, "They are so cold. Do you want to get some medicine?"
Wen Jiajia was surprised: "What kind of medicine did you take? Girls' feet are so cold."
Wei Dacai didn't believe it. He thought that cold feet must be a sign of something being unhealthy. There were always girls in good health who didn't have cold feet.
"Really? I'm not lying to you. After your first period, your feet will slowly become cold."
In her university dormitory, everyone had cold feet. If they didn't warm up with a hot water bottle before going to bed and wore coral fleece socks, their feet would be cold all night.
Wei Dai thought for a moment and said, "That means you are deficient in Qi and blood. You should eat more of our red dates in the future. I remember that my hometown has longans. I will write a letter and ask them to send some to me."
“…That’s not necessary.”
This is just a minor problem, Wen Jiajia had it in her previous life.
Wei Dai insisted: "Prevent small problems before they develop. Big diseases all start from small ones."
Wen Jiajia looked at him sideways, "This guy...if you weren't watching over me in the summer, you would take a cold shower."
But now her feet were still on the other person's belly, so Wen Jiajia didn't say anything.
Wei Dai's body was very warm. If it weren't for his muscles and bones being too hard, he would be the best pillow to hug in winter.
The next day, the winter solstice,
People eat dumplings and glutinous rice balls during the winter solstice.
People from all over the world come to the family compound, and some eat dumplings and some eat glutinous rice balls.
After asking the two children, they both decided to eat glutinous rice balls on the Winter Solstice.
Wen Jiajia asked: "Why?"
Wen Xuan said as a matter of course: "Because we often eat dumplings at home, we can only eat glutinous rice balls today." On her birthday, her aunt made noodles and dumplings.
Wen Chun added: "You can also eat glutinous rice balls during Yuanxiao."
Wen Jiajia was speechless and got up to go to work: "Okay, you guys are really cunning."
We do eat dumplings often at home because they are convenient, especially in winter. We spend an hour or two wrapping hundreds of dumplings, put them outside the window to cool, and bring some in to cook when we want to eat them. It is more convenient than making noodles.
Glutinous rice flour is needed to make glutinous rice balls, so Wen Jiajia bought three pounds of glutinous rice flour from a friend at a state-owned hotel after dinner today.
The state-owned hotel is selling rice dumplings today, and naturally they also have glutinous rice flour.
I also went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy two kilograms of black sesame seeds, and asked the hotel to grind them into sesame powder. Then I went to the vegetable market to buy some pork and other vegetables.
She was running around the entire afternoon, and Director Xue couldn't find her when he wanted to see her.
"Looking for me? What do you want from me?" Wen Jiajia returned to the office with a basket in her hands, her legs shaking from the cold.
Sha Yue drank the hot water and said, "I don't know. Later, Li Haijun went to Director Xue's office."
Wen Jiajia: "Then it shouldn't be a big deal."
After all, Li Haijun has no ability to do big things.
After spending a long time together, Wen Jiajia completely understood that this guy was stupid.
Strictly speaking, dumber than George.
Qiao He's emotional quotient is not very good, but her IQ is still acceptable. But Li Haijun is so stupid sometimes that it's really funny. She actually thinks that after Director Xue is promoted, Director Xue's position will be hers.
Lian Qiao He understood that after Director Xue was promoted, there was a 99% chance that the position of director would go to Team Leader Wei next door.
What about the remaining 1%? Send someone in from the sky.
But it is basically impossible for a leader to be parachuted in. Team leader Wei has been working diligently on the front line for so many years, and he has made contributions and worked hard. If Director Xue had not been promoted, he would have been the director long ago.
Li Haijun couldn't understand why she was trying her best to compete for the position of director during this period and regarded her as a stepping stone.
However, he had high goals but mediocre abilities, and after two or three months of jumping around, he didn't accomplish any of the tasks.
But Wen Jiajia was wrong this time, as he actually got the task from Director Xue.
What? I went to the purchasing department with Director Xue to have an argument. The workshop needs raw materials to produce.
There have been several kinds of raw materials in workshop six that have been in short supply for a long time. In addition, the imported machines this time are only for workshops three and seven. Director Xue, who has a bad temper, simply can't stand it.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon. It's not a good time to quarrel during the holidays, so of course we should take this opportunity to argue and curse.
Sha Yue covered her mouth and laughed. After Li Haijun left with great enthusiasm, she said to Wen Jiajia, "Director Xue really is... using people's talents according to their abilities."
Qiao He shook the newspaper and said, "That's called tailoring to the individual."
Wen Jiajia really wanted to go and see the excitement. Director Xue was really good at scolding people. She had never seen anyone who was better at scolding than Director Xue in her two lifetimes.
"You can't see it even if you go. When the people in the purchasing department see Director Xue coming, the first thing they do is close the door and drive away the people who have gathered." Sha Yue said.
"Really?" Wen Jiajia was surprised.
Shayue nodded: "Really? I'm afraid of being embarrassed." She had been there before.
Director Xue is barefoot and is not afraid of those who wear shoes. Even if the factory director provokes her, she will dare to confront him head-on.
Wen Jiajia didn't dare to go and check again until the evening, when she was about to go back, when Li Haijun came back.
Look at how high-spirited he is, the two of them fought quite well.
Li Haijun picked up the cup, took a sip of water and said with emotion: "Next year, our workshop will also have new equipment."
Wen Jiajia: "Did Director Xue get it?"
Li Haijun: "With Director Xue and I both involved, there's no way we won't get it."
Wen Jiajia: "That's great. Team Leader Wei keeps asking for equipment replacement."
After saying that, she left with her bag and basket.
After leaving, I didn't leave the city directly. Instead, I went to a chemical plant. I had the opportunity to synthesize something today but I haven't used it yet.
She spent another dime to buy some discarded rubber products. When she was about to leave, Chen Xiangjun, who was selling rubber products, asked in confusion, "What's the point of buying these things?"
Wen Jiajia had come to her to buy things four or five times. When Wen Jiajia made a purchase for the third time, she became suspicious.
She also asked the old masters in the factory, but they, and even the researchers, did not think rubber products could be of much use.
But hearing Jiajia's repeated purchases, Chen Xiangjun always felt that she was at a disadvantage.
However, Wen Jiajia just smiled and didn't answer. She took the things and left. When she left, she thought that she couldn't buy from her next time and had to find someone else.
On the way, Wen Jiajia clicked on synthesize.
This time I was lucky. The three things I got were rubber gloves, a rubber basketball, and a hand warmer.
Wen Jiajia asked for a basketball ball and hand warmers. She put the hand warmers in her backpack, preparing to give them directly to Shayue tomorrow.
Take the basketball home; department stores and supply and marketing cooperatives sell footballs and basketballs.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were very happy about the arrival of basketball. They had never played with a ball that bounced when hit. Before, they had seen other people playing from afar and were extremely envious.
Wei Dai also held the basketball in his hand and looked at it over and over again. It was not until Wen Chun and Wen Xuan urged them to play that he reluctantly gave the ball to them.
Wen Jiajia laughed dumbly: "You like it too? Then I'll buy you one some other day."
Wei Dai: "That's right, isn't it normal for me to like it? But there's no need to buy it, there are basketballs in the army too."
There are even two or three basketball courts.
As he spoke, he pulled his sleeves up to his elbows and started making glutinous rice balls with Wen Jiajia.
There are two kinds of glutinous rice balls, sweet and salty. Because the sesame seeds are ground, the sweet glutinous rice balls are made very quickly.
Half an hour later, the salty glutinous rice balls were also ready.
The house was brightly lit and filled with aromas. Four people sat around the table eating freshly cooked glutinous rice balls.
When you bite through the glutinous rice dumpling skin, the sweet black sesame seeds will immediately flow out from the hole.
Wen Jiajia was startled by the heat. When she stood up to pour some water, she looked out the window and was stunned. "It's snowing."
Snowflakes like pear blossoms fluttered and fell in the yard.
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