Chapter 058 A Difficult Choice
Wen Jiajia didn't like eating old tofu, so she moved the stone away at night.
The tofu was as white as snow, and was carefully cut into 25 small pieces with a knife. Each piece of tofu was as big as a palm, and frying two pieces would make a dish.
The next day, Wen Jiajia put the tofu in the oil pan again and fried some big ones and then some small ones.
The big ones can be used to make stuffed tofu, and the small ones can be fried.
After frying the tofu, Wen Jiajia didn't rush to stir-fry the stuffing. She asked Wen Chun and Wen Xuan to stay at home while she rode her bicycle to the city.
The Hao family had already prepared the meat for her and tied it with a rope so she could take it away directly.
Wen Jiajia first went to the vegetable market before arriving at the Hao family.
Hao Qingying said, "I knew you would come today. Here they are. Did you bring a bag? If you don't have a bag, you will probably attract too much attention."
Wen Jiajia patted the back seat and said, "I brought it!"
The bags are stacked and hidden on the back seat. You can take them off when you need them, and they can also serve as seat cushions when you don't need them.
Hao Qingying helped put the bacon and sausage into the bag. Seeing that there was another basket of meat and vegetables in the basket in front of her, she asked, "Do you want to put them in together? I have some oil paper at home."
Wen Jiajia waved her hands: "No need."
She took out a bowl with a lid from the basket and handed it to Hao Qingying: "Here's some tofu that I made yesterday. Have some. Oh, and some freshly fried bean curd. Stuff some meat in it and it'll taste really good."
As he spoke, he took out an oil-paper bag from the basket. The bag was hot, and once he opened it, a deep-fried aroma could not be stopped from escaping.
Hao Qingying took a deep breath, took the bean bubble and stuffed it into her mouth, and said vaguely: "Then I won't be polite, I will give you something good tomorrow!"
She hurriedly took the bowl to the kitchen, carefully took out the tofu inside, washed the bowl clean and returned it to Wen Jiajia.
Wen Jiajia didn't stay long. After saying a few more words, she left.
This time she came back with a lot of stuff. Fortunately, it was the end of the year and everyone was thinking of ways to buy things, so no one said anything about it.
When I got home, I hung the bacon, bacon sausage and bacon ribs on the beams in the kitchen. There were no mice in the winter, so I could hang them there without worry.
Then cut the fresh meat I bought today into three portions, put one in the cupboard, and the other two in the water tank outside the house.
Wen Jiajia made a homemade "refrigerator" using a water tank. As the weather was cold enough, the ice in the tank was very solid. Logically, as long as the ice did not melt the meat, it could be preserved.
Cook the fresh meat, chop it into small pieces, and stir-fry it with bamboo shoots. Add minced garlic after stir-frying. Then poke a hole in the large tofu puff and stuff the stuffing into the tofu puff.
Wen Jiajia fried 60 soybean bubbles in total, and the filling was just right. After stuffing them with 60, the cake was empty. Wen Jiajia had hoped to have some stuffing left to make pancakes, but since there was none left, forget it.
After making fermented tofu, I started making fried dough twists.
Mahua is simple to make, the most important thing is the dough.
Wen Jiajia did this often in her previous life and would send them to her fans after finishing them, so she is now quite familiar with it.
It is best to choose all-purpose flour. Crack a few eggs, add sugar and salt, then pour the water with dissolved yeast into the flour, knead it into a ball, and put it in a pot to rise for half an hour.
After the dough has risen, roll it into long strips, cut it into small pieces, and then twist it into a twist shape and fry it in a pan.
The aroma of fried carbohydrates was like a nuclear bomb. Wen Chun and Wen Xuan, who were playing basketball next door, came back soon and lay on the stove, sniffing hard.
"Aren't you afraid of getting splashed with oil if you're so close?" Wen Jiajia threatened them.
Wen Xuan was very smart. She raised her chin and said, "I'm not afraid. As long as there's no water in the pan, the oil won't splash. When water gets into the pan, it will sink to the bottom of the oil and lift up the oil... and the oil will splash out of the pan."
"Wow! You know this? Who taught you?" Wen Jiajia was surprised. This is common sense that everyone knows, and children aged three or four will also know it in a few decades.
But now, before experiencing the information explosion, it is already surprising enough that Wen Xuan knows this.
Wen Xuan was beaming with joy and said proudly, "It's what the radio said. Auntie, you need to listen more. The grandfather on the radio said that if you listen to more scientific knowledge, you won't get hurt in the kitchen."
Wen Jiajia understood, and because it contained the word "kitchen", she remembered it particularly well.
After being fried, the fried dough twist is golden yellow and extremely crispy. The sweet taste blooms in the mouth when you take a bite. If it weren't for her prone to getting a sore throat, Wen Jiajia could eat more than ten in one breath.
"Here, one for each of you." Wen Jiajia pinched a dough twist with each hand, and Wen Chun and Wen Xuan immediately reached out to take one.
Wen Jiajia packed some more food in oil paper bags and asked the two children to give it to the Xie Yi brothers who lived next door.
As for Sister Bao's house, she will go there herself.
Sister Bao's house looks smaller than hers, but in fact the area is the same, except that Sister Bao's house has sheds built on both sides of the yard, and gradually the sheds have turned into wooden houses.
The logistics department said that adding more covers is not allowed, but now that it has been built, how can we ask them to take it down?
So Sister Bao's house became a sanheyuan, of course, it can only be considered a prototype for now.
The families living in the bungalows in Beishan thought they were pretty good, so they started to add roofs to their houses. Now, among the families in their row, only Wen Jiajia and Xie's family still maintain the original layout of their courtyards.
Ultimately, it's because there aren't that many people in the family. If there were five, six, seven or eight people like Bao Jie's family, she would have to add a roof even if she didn't want to.
"Sister Bao!" Wen Jiajia knocked on the door and shouted outside the door until Sister Bao inside the house responded before she walked into the yard.
Sister Bao has a great sense of lifestyle. She specially paved a gravel road leading directly to the doorways of several houses, and the rest of the space was planted with commonly used vegetables such as leeks and green onions.
"Hey! Why are you here? I smelled the smell coming from your house and thought you were cooking something to eat." Sister Bao patted the flour on her hands and said with a smile. She was also kneading dough at the moment.
Wen Jiajia put the oil paper bag on the table and said, "I fried some fried dough twists for your kids."
"You're already that old, where ..."
Wen Jiajia interrupted her with a sigh, "No matter how old you are, you still like to eat fried dough twists. It's just that they are very hot when they are just fried, and they can make you irritated. Don't eat too much at one time."
"Okay!" Sister Bao said cheerfully, "I'm preparing to make steamed dumplings now. I'll let you taste them when they're done. What a pity, we don't have sea sausage here. In my hometown, dumplings are mostly filled with sea sausage. Jiajia, you haven't tried it. It tastes better than meat!"
Wen Jiajia swallowed secretly. She thought to herself that she had eaten it before. When she traveled to the Northeast in her previous life, she had eaten their sea sausage dumplings. At first glance, they were indeed better than meat.
"Logically, we are near the sea here," Wen Jiajia said, "but we didn't see any sea intestines."
"Yes, it's because the sea is far away. It takes four or five hours to get to the seaside by car. Oh, I went there once when I went to visit my daughter. I was so shaken that my heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys almost came out. I almost died in the car... After getting off the car, I had to take a boat. It took more than an hour to get to the island. Tsk, tsk, no wonder my daughter asked me not to go."
Wen Jiajia laughed: "Is it edible to eat the seafood on the island?"
"I don't know about other things, but I can often pick clams, oysters, and sometimes even razor clams. But there are no big crabs or lobsters. I've been there for about half a month and I haven't seen a crab bigger than my palm." Sister Bao was quite disgusted. It was not like this in her hometown. There were many things to pick up, and fish could often be picked up.
Sister Bao kneaded the dough as she spoke. Her kneading technique was obviously much better than Wen Jiajia's.
Wen Jiajia came this time for another reason. She said to Sister Bao, "Sister, you asked me to help you pay attention to work last time... The pharmaceutical factory is not planning to recruit workers, and there is no OEM work. But the chemical factory said they are hiring. I asked, and they will start recruiting in the spring of next year."
Chemical plant...
The last time there was an explosion at a chemical plant, Sister Bao felt a little nervous when she heard this name.
"Does the chemical plant hire a lot of people?" Bao Jie asked again. She felt that she couldn't miss this opportunity. It was the boiler room that exploded, and this explosion should wake up the chemical plant. I believe that such a thing will not happen again.
After all, even if leaders don’t consider their employees, they still have to consider their own careers.
Wen Jiajia thought about it and shook her head: "I don't know. How many people will be hired? How can we know until the last minute? Sister, please let Jiaming prepare first. Read more books. You may not be assigned to the workshop when you go to the chemical factory. You may go to the logistics department or the radio station."
Sister Bao sighed: "If only I could listen to what you say."
Wen Jiajia wanted to say something, but swallowed the words back.
She learned a piece of news from Director Xue the day before yesterday that the pharmaceutical factory might be cooperating with the chemical factory to open a new factory.
But the news was not true. She only knew about it when she glanced at the document on Director Xue’s desk. The document only said “planning to set up a factory”. Who knew when it would be done?
Wen Jiajia couldn't talk about such uncertain things.
Firstly, she didn't know it through formal channels, and secondly, the pie was too big. If Sister Bao leaked it out, I'm afraid all the unemployed people in the entire family compound would have to come to her.
That’s a new factory, built from scratch, requiring at least several hundred employees!
Wen Jiajia talked for a while and then left.
When I got home, Wei Dai was there, eating a fried dough twist.
"Why are you here so early today?" Wen Jiajia raised the corners of her lips and quickened her pace.
"I've finished my work a few days ago, and I don't have any missions today. You want to eat yam, but I didn't find many..." Wei Dai paused and pulled her into the kitchen: "But I brought back half a sheep, think about how to eat it."
Wen Jiajia opened her mouth slightly and said in disbelief: "Wait, where did you get so much mutton?"
Did you buy it?
No, the meat coupons are all in her hands. It is very difficult to buy half a lamb with money alone.
So it could only be hunted in the mountains. After a little thought, Wen Jiajia came up with this possibility.
Wei Dai smiled and said, "You guessed right, it was hunted. We just got it two hours ago, and killed it directly on the mountain. Feel it, is it still warm? As for the remaining half, it has been distributed, just as a year-end gift. Anyway, this sheep is big, half of it weighs 14 pounds, which is enough for us to eat."
Wen Jiajia was terrified and slapped him on the chest: "You are so brave, you dare to kill in the mountains, and you are not afraid that other animals will smell the smell and come!"
"What's the big deal? I'm not afraid of wild animals, but I'm afraid of people." Wei Dai actually thought that he was too risky at this moment, but suddenly a sheep jumped out and stupidly bumped into a tree, and was tripped.
That would be fine, but the key point is that he was carrying a rope and a machete. How could we tolerate this?
If we don't hunt it, wouldn't that be wasting this opportunity given by God?
The sheep was killed a little roughly. The head was still there, the wool was not shed, the sheep's blood was all over the pelvic floor, and even some of the internal organs were still hanging in the abdominal cavity. It was bloody and looked very horrifying.
Wen Jiajia didn't dare to look at it a second time after the first look. It was as scary as it could be.
"Hey, hurry up and clean up, don't let people come to our house following the smell of blood." Wen Jiajia pushed Wei Dai. After living in the army for a long time, she knew that some people had a very sensitive nose.
Wei Dai thought that the cold wind was blowing so hard that even if he could smell the blood, he wouldn't be able to tell where it was coming from.
But leaving it like this was not the right thing to do, so Wei Dai took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves and asked Wen Jiajia: "Do you want some sheep's blood?"
Wen Jiajia wanted to save some for cooking tofu, but she was so dirty that she shook her head and said, "No, a piece of wool and sheep's blood would be so dirty. Besides, there isn't much."
Most of the blood has already soaked into the soil in the mountains, waiting to become nutrients for plant growth next year.
"What a pity! I should have brought a basin to collect the sheep's blood." Wei Dai said as he moved half of the sheep outside the kitchen. "By the way, where is our boning knife?"
Wen Jiajia went to the utility room to get it: "I took it to cut vegetables."
When I opened the utility room, I saw that the inside had changed drastically.
Apart from a row of medicine cabinets and dry containers, there were wooden boxes that filled half the room.
The wooden box is filled with soil, and vegetables are planted on the soil.
Most of them are green leafy vegetables, but because of the low temperature, the green leafy vegetables grow poorly. Except for lettuce and spinach, other vegetables grow very slowly.
Wen Jiajia found the boning knife next to the wooden box, closed the door to block out the air conditioning, and handed it to Wei Dai: "The knife I usually use to cut vegetables is very blunt. Sharpen it when you have time."
Wei Dai nodded: "Grind it after the mutton is ready."
He was processing the mutton. Wen Jiajia had nothing to do, so she simply brought in the clothes hanging outside to dry.
Soon, the mutton was deboned and chopped into small pieces, and the internal organs were washed clean.
Wen Jiajia called Wei Dai to warm her hands. She took the mutton, divided it into several portions, and put it in the cabinet and water tank.
"Let's have...mutton offal soup tonight!" Wen Jiajia licked her lips.
When the wind is howling, a bowl of hot mutton soup can warm your body from the inside out.
The closer we get to New Year’s Eve, the slower time feels like it’s passing.
Most of the employees in the pharmaceutical factory are not interested in production, as they are all thinking about the New Year benefits.
Even in Workshop 6, which was under the high-pressure management of Team Leader Wei, a wave of impetuous atmosphere broke out. Wen Jiajia felt that it was a bit like her class on the eve of the holiday when she was in school.
It’s like you are still sitting in the classroom, but your heart has already flown out of the school gate.
The same is true for Wen Jiajia.
The four people in the office have been very idle recently and have not had much work to do.
Li Haijun worked hard for a while to get the position of director, and he was very active during that time. Later, perhaps he saw through it, or his relatives pointed out that he had no chance, so he returned to his original state.
But these few days... he seemed to be excited again, always running to the chemical plant, and even neglecting the work at hand.
Wen Jiajia guessed that it was probably because of the construction of a new factory.
Although it is a new factory, we cannot recruit all new people. Therefore, the pharmaceutical and chemical factories will definitely send some people to the new factory. This is a rare opportunity.
Wen Jiajia glanced at Qiao He. He seemed to be the same as usual during this period, so he probably didn't know about this yet.
Then he looked at Shayue who was dozing off with her head supported. Shayue was getting heavier and heavier. Apart from the work in her hands, she didn't care about anything else. I guess she didn't know.
While Shayue was about to go to the toilet, she followed her out.
"What's the matter?" Sha Yue asked, holding her waist and yawning, "Aren't you unwilling to go to the toilet?"
It's strange to say that Wen Jiajia can go to the toilet only once a day, and she would go after the toilet cleaner finishes cleaning. Sha Yue admires her deeply.
Wen Jiajia: "You go first, I'll talk to you after class."
"What's up?"
"Yeah!" Wen Jiajia nodded.
Sha Yue's steps became faster. A few minutes later, she came out of the restroom and hid at the corner of the corridor with Wen Jiajia. With gossipy eyes, she approached and asked, "What's the matter?"
"Hey! Don't show that expression, it's not fun." Wen Jiajia put her finger on the forehead and said, "I heard... I heard that our pharmaceutical factory is going to cooperate with a chemical factory to open a new factory. Did you know about this?"
Sha Yue was stunned: "I don't know. Wait, is this true? Is there really a new factory?"
Wen Jiajia: "I'm not sure, but there must be a plan. Also, judging from Li Haijun's performance during this period, he may also know."
It was because Li Haijun's behavior was too obvious that Wen Jiajia dared to tell Sha Yue.
After all, Li Haijun knew about it, so people who have connections and channels in the pharmaceutical companies probably know about it too.
Sha Yue patted his chest and murmured, "Oh my God, how many positions will be vacated? This is a big piece of fat meat."
She turned to Wen Jiajia and asked, "Jiajia, do you know what kind of factory you want to open?"
Wen Jiajia sighed, "I don't know, it can't be a pharmaceutical factory. But I guess it's related to medicine, otherwise our pharmaceutical factory can't be involved in such a thing."
Maybe it's medicine glass? Or chemical machinery?
She just had a "surprised glance" at Director Xue and couldn't guess it for the time being.
Sha Yue took her hand and said, "I understand. I won't tell anyone about this."
Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "It's just to let you be prepared. The new factory will probably still have to recruit, so it's a big advantage to prepare early." Who doesn't have an unemployed relative?
After talking, the two returned to the office.
After a while, Wen Jiajia was called away by Director Xue.
Director Xue’s office is much colder, like an ice cave.
Wen Jiajia was also familiar with Director Xue, so she spoke boldly, "Director, why didn't you close the window? I heard you coughing a few days ago."
As he said that, he helped to close the window.
Director Xue: "Hey, opening the window makes people more awake. Otherwise, it's easy to get lazy."
Where did you find such a statement?
"It has been around since ancient times, like hanging one's head on a beam and pricking one's thigh with a needle. This is a good example that has been passed down through the ages, but you don't know about it?" Director Xue said after taking a sip of water.
Wen Jiajia closed the door again: "Whatever you say is fine, but I'm cold, so I have to close it."
Director Xue pointed forward and said, "Please sit down."
Wen Jiajia sat down.
Director Xue: "We have a big event coming up in our factory. Do you know what it is?"
Wen Jiajia looked puzzled: "I don't know."
Director Xue snorted and laughed: "Li Haijun is in and out all day long, didn't you guess anything?"
Wen Jiajia: “…”
"...Um, are you building a new factory?"
Director Xue suddenly smiled and gently put down the cup, "I knew you knew."
This was a bit confusing, but Wen Jiajia understood it.
Perhaps Director Xue showed her the document on purpose, otherwise how could such a strict Director Xue make such a mistake?
She was startled, but after seeing the smile on Director Xue's face, she was certain that Director Xue had no intention of blaming her.
Director Xue said, "But do you know what factory it is?"
Wen Jiajia's mind raced, "Cooperating with chemical plants... I heard that our factory is in great need of pharmaceutical glass, and we used to buy it from plants in other provinces. The factory director mentioned this issue at the last meeting, saying that we could have increased our production due to the limitation of glass, but we couldn't. And several new drugs we're developing all require pharmaceutical glass tubes... It's probably medical glass."
Director Xue tapped the table with the pen in his hand and praised: "You are very smart."
Wen Jiajia: "Really a doctor?"
Director Xue: "Yes. The factory is located on Fengliu Street, which is not far from here."
Wen Jiajia thought, not only is it not far, it can be reached in more than ten minutes' walk, it can be said that it is as close as it can be.
"What about the scale?" she asked again.
"The tentative number is 300. We need to transfer 100 people from our two factories combined."
Wen Jiajia thought thoughtfully: "It's not that big actually."
"This is just a new establishment. As it develops, more and more people will naturally come."
That's right.
But why should I ask her to do this?
Director Xue asked, "Are you willing to go?"
Wen Jiajia was stunned for a moment: "I'll go?"
"Yes. You are good at writing. If I recommend you, the factory will definitely be reluctant to let you go. The factory is even planning to let you write a few more manuscripts to improve the reputation of the factory." Director Xue said, leaning back in his chair, "But... I also know your ability. You are a person who can get things done and is more pragmatic than empty. You know, this is a brand new factory. There will be many things waiting for people to do to build it from scratch."
It is easier to gain credit for a new factory than for a pharmaceutical factory.
I have to say, Wen Jiajia was moved.
It's not because of wanting to gain credit, or in other words, the purpose is not based on gaining credit.
It may seem a bit silly to say it out loud, but Wen Jiajia really wants to gain a sense of accomplishment, to be respected and recognized by others, and to pursue spiritual satisfaction and happiness.
That's normal, isn't it? She was active online all her life because she loved being praised and loved others' love for her.
In a sense, she is a little vain.
Therefore, only society can provide her with the needs she needs, and only work can enable her to realize her self-worth.
This is a new factory...
"I can't send you directly, so you should go back and think about it carefully. This opportunity is rare. If you don't plan to go, then I will recommend someone else. If you want to go, just fill out the application report and I will help you." Director Xue said finally.
After saying that, he let Wen Jiajia leave.
After she returned, she sat in her office in a daze, Director Xue's words playing in her mind over and over again.
Should I choose stability or advancement?
At the pharmaceutical factory, she probably spent the next few years working in the office.
There is not much room for advancement in the office, as can be seen from Li Haijun's frequent movements, unless he jumps to the workshop like Team Leader Wei.
Going to the new factory would definitely be very busy and would mean starting over. Wen Jiajia's head ached from thinking about work to family.
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