Chapter 059 1974

Chapter 059 1974

The holiday was approaching, Wen Jiajia packed her things and went home with a bag of frozen pears given by Hao Qingying and some New Year's goods distributed by the factory.

The pharmaceutical factory had a lot of New Year's goods, plus she bought a lot of food ingredients for herself, so Wen Jiajia was undoubtedly the most conspicuous person on her way home from get off work.

The bicycles at that time were really sturdy. Wen Jiajia felt that her bicycle was comparable to a small tricycle.

There was a large bamboo basket on the front basket, a large package tied to the back seat, and she was also carrying a bulging backpack, which made people traveling with her wonder what she was carrying back home.

Fortunately, as night fell, the visibility dimmed and the people who were spying could not see clearly what was going on.

I wanted to ask, but heard that Jiajia has a bad temper.

Although most people in the family compound said that she was always smiling like a child, after being sarcastically scolded by Wen Jiajia at the military gate last time, those who commuted with her unanimously believed that Wen Jiajia's good temper was just an act.

This person might be pretending!

When those eyes look at you, it feels creepy. So for a moment, no one dared to be the first to speak out, until Wen Jiajia passed them and took a step ahead, then they showed a look of regret.

When Wen Jiajia came home, he was sweating all over.

Bicycles have a strong carrying capacity, but they also consume a lot of energy.

Wen Jiajia's legs were shaking at this moment, as soft as two noodles. She sat on the sofa, gasping for breath, and only after drinking gulps of hot water did she recover.

Wei Dai came out of the room after hearing the noise, and Wen Jiajia pointed at the car in the yard and said, "You come and move it."

"Where did you get so many things?" Wei Dai looked at them in amazement. He walked around the bicycle twice and felt that his wife was much better at getting supplies than he was.

Wen Jiajia was like a fish out of water, waving her hands and not in the mood to talk. You will know when you move, so why are you asking me?

Wei Dai began to unload the truck, starting with the large bamboo baskets.

He moved the bamboo basket to the door and looked down in the light from the house. Wow! There were so many things inside that it was dizzying.

Wei Dai was really shocked: "No wonder you are so tired, you even bought three live fishes."

The fish were in a small bucket with water in it. It was amazing that she managed to carry it back without tipping over.

Wei Dai saw that the fish were still energetic, so he moved the three fish to the water tank next to the laundry sink.

In addition to the fish, there was also a killed duck in the bamboo basket. The feathers had even been plucked off. Wei Dai held up the duck's head and asked, "Where's the feathers?"

Wen Jiajia rummaged around in her pocket and pulled out a few candies: "Change the candies."

As he said that, he threw the candy towards Wei Dai. Wei Dai caught it and stuffed the candy into his mouth. It was still a ding ding candy.

Dingding candy is actually maltose, and it is called the same here as in her hometown. But when she was a kid in a scenic spot in her previous life, it was still called white sticky candy, which shows that this kind of candy has many different names.

Decades later, Ding Ding Candy is rarely seen. Perhaps it can only be seen in some alley corner of a small county town during the Chinese New Year or in a bustling ancient town scenic area.

But at this time, you can find them on every street, and you can exchange chicken feathers, duck feathers, and goose feathers for candy.

Even old clothes will do.

But nowadays, who would be willing to exchange old clothes for candy? Everyone’s old clothes have been worn out to the point where they can no longer be repaired.

The candy was very sticky in Wei Dai's mouth. He ate it with a grin on his face, which made Wen Jiajia laugh.

She half-lying on the sofa, giggling, and felt a little more refreshed. She then instructed Wei Dai to put the duck in the "refrigerator", and then told Wei Dai to quickly take out the eight-treasure rice pudding from the bamboo basket.

"Is my lunch box crushed? Oh, this lunch box has been suffering for me. After half a year, it's like someone has used a lunch box for five years..."

There are bumps and bruises all over it, and dents and dents here and there.

Wei Dai picked up the heavy lunch box and weighed it in his hand. It weighed at least three kilograms.

He opened the lid and took a closer look. The sweet aroma of rice wafted in, and he could also see ingredients such as red dates, lotus seeds, and longans.

"Where did you get the Eight Treasure Rice Pudding?" This thing is easy to make, but it is not easy to get the ingredients together.

"It's made by Chef He from the state-owned restaurant at the entrance of the pharmacy. He's selling it recently, so I reserved one. Look, one serving is so much. If it weren't for the purchase limit, I would have bought two and kept them for later."

Anyway, the weather won’t be bad.

Wei Dai put the eight-treasure rice pudding in the cupboard, ready to eat it on New Year's Eve.

There was nothing left in the bamboo basket, so he began to unpack.

The package was tied up with ropes, and Wen Jiajia didn't allow him to use scissors, saying that the ropes would be useful later. He could only untie them with a frown.

Wei Dai squatted on the ground for half a minute and finally found the knot. He had to untie three knots in succession before he could move the package into the living room.

"What's in it?" he asked.

Wen Jiajia sat up and covered herself with the blanket. "It's a welfare from the factory. Oh, the frozen pears in your hand are not frozen pears. The frozen pears were given to me by Qingying. I don't know where she got them. In fact, she gave them to me yesterday, but she put them in the cupboard and forgot to take them back when she came back. Fortunately, the weather is cold, otherwise the frozen pears would be spoiled."

Actually, I eat apples quite often in my life, but pears are quite rare. I have never even seen pears in department stores.

Wei Dai thought about it and put the frozen pears in the "refrigerator".

The rest of the things in the package were all New Year's goods from the pharmaceutical factory, including four apples the size of a woman's fist, which were placed in the room.

There are two cans of canned yellow peaches. After eating, the glass jars can be used to store salt and sugar.

There were also two pairs of gloves, two towels, and two pairs of socks. The gloves came just in time because the gloves at home had just torn.

Then there are two taels of tea leaves and two taels of soybean oil. The tea smells like this year's tea, but it definitely doesn't taste as good as the tea from my hometown. As for the soybean oil, it's golden yellow. For such a large factory to give each person two taels of soybean oil is pretty good.

Finally, Wei Dai took out a brand new work uniform, two rolls of toilet paper, and two sanitary belts.

"Not bad." Wen Jiajia kicked off her shoes, proudly put her feet on the sofa, hugged her knees and said, "There is quite a bit of humanistic care in the factory. We female comrades even have more sanitary belts than male comrades."

Wei Dai didn't dare to put the sanitary belts, socks and clothes directly into the bedroom closet, but put them aside to be washed: "I don't know how many hands these things have passed through before they can be used."

The last thing was the backpack, which Wen Jiajia placed on the sofa. Wei Dai did not touch it, waiting for her to unpack it herself.

Wen Jiajia weakly carried the backpack over. After opening it, there were butterfly cookies, fried peanuts and melon seeds, pastries from time-honored shops, a bag of mung bean cakes, and a bag of magnolia cakes. They were still warm to the touch.

Just as she took it out, she heard some noise coming from outside the door. Wen Jiajia hurriedly said, "Put it away quickly, put it on the top shelf of the cabinet. The two greedy ghosts are back."

If they knew there was so much food at home, they would find ways to get food from her every day.

Wei Dai was quick with his hands and eyes, and he stuffed all the food into the top shelf of the living room cupboard, a shelf that the two children couldn't reach even if they stood on tiptoe.

But the two adults obviously forgot how sensitive a child's nose can be...

Wenchun sniffed on the left, Wenxuan sniffed on the right, and then they said in unison: "There's food!"

The couple: "..."

It’s really enough. Can you smell the whistling of the wind?

Wen Jiajia refused to admit it: "No!"

Wen Xuan said firmly: "No, there must be!"

Wei Dai pushed the two children to the kitchen: "Wash your hands and get ready to eat. There must be food. The smell of food is so strong that anyone with a nose can smell it."

What we had today was stewed lamb. Lamb and radish were stewed in a casserole. Needless to say, the taste was excellent.

In the winter, I like to eat this kind of hot soup.

night.

When the two children were called to the room to sleep, they walked slowly, turning back every three steps, obviously still thinking about the snacks in the cupboard.

"Go away!" Wen Jiajia hurried them away, "I'm also going to turn off the lights and go back to my room to sleep. Are you guys still dawdling?"

The two girls went back to the house with pouting lips.

The lighting in the house was a little dim, and Wen Jiajia suddenly noticed it when she was lying on the bed and looking up.

Wei Dai lifted the quilt and lay down: "This is normal. Lamps will behave like this after being used for a long time. When it gets dimmer, we can just change the bulb."

The lights at this time are incandescent lamps. Although their name contains white, the light they emit is warm yellow.

The longer you use it, the yellower it becomes, and gradually it turns dark yellow.

It's easy to become sentimental if you stay under this kind of lighting for a long time. Wen Jiajia always feels depressed and her emotions are much more fragile.

"Let's change the light tomorrow," she said. "It's almost New Year, so we have to change to a bright light."

Wei Dai didn't care, as he had several spare light bulbs at home.

"What's wrong with you these two days? I feel like you seem to be hiding something in your heart." Wei Dai turned off the lights and hugged his wife. The two snuggled up to each other in the dark.

"Ah? You figured it out."

"Yes, she is half-hearted. She is in a daze from time to time, absent-minded when taking a bath, and even distracted when eating. How can we not see it? It is too obvious." Wei Dai rubbed her head and started to comb her hair again.

If you want to relax, the best way is to empty your mind and body, lie down quietly and let someone help you comb your hair.

Wen Jiajia sighed deeply and told her about the new factory and the conversation between her and Director Xue.

Wei Dai laughed: "This is a good thing. What are you worried about? Family? You don't need to worry about family. I'm busier than you. Chun'er and Xuanxuan have Yuhong class. You just do your own thing."

Wen Jiajia pinched his face: "It's not all because of my family. I'm also... I'm quite scared."

How should I put it? It was a state-owned enterprise, and a pharmaceutical enterprise at that. Director Xue said that if she went there, she would at least be promoted to a team leader or director, which means she would be an official of some size, in charge of more than a dozen people. Wen Jiajia was afraid that she was not capable enough and was not worthy of the position.

Wei Dai touched her head and wondered, "This shouldn't be the case." His wife was usually so confident that she was about to burst, so why was she so timid at this moment?

Wen Jiajia said honestly: "I don't know much about this industry! This is about human life, how can I be careless."

She was an internet celebrity in her previous life, and she was an internet celebrity of the lifestyle and handicraft types.

She knows a little bit about this and that, but she has no contact with medicine or medical care. It's okay for her to be a small employee who does things assigned by others.

But as a small leader who assigns tasks to others, she is afraid that "disaster will befall her."

"So do you want to go?" Wei Dai asked again.

Wen Jiajia nodded sincerely: "I want to go."

When she was talking with Director Xue, her blood started boiling and her ambitions grew. She imagined herself showing her talents and making the new factory bigger and stronger.

However, when the cold wind blows, the passion cools down and then the fear comes. I have the idea, but I don’t have the ability yet.

Wei Dai said, "Don't underestimate yourself. Director Xue wants you to go because she thinks you are qualified for the position. In my opinion, Director Xue is a serious and rigorous person. If you are not qualified, she would not recommend you."

"..." Wen Jiajia seemed to want to say something but stopped.

Director Xue was satisfied with her because she was usually well-behaved and obedient, and would do whatever she was told to do. She was also very good at writing articles, but writing articles was different from being a leader on the front line.

Also because she can work like a horse, even though she has never been an employee in her life, she often stays up late to edit videos and uses all her free time to edit videos.

In general, she possesses the "good" qualities of a corporate slave, so it's no wonder that Director Xue, as her boss, likes her.

Wei Dai: "Why, is there something you can't tell me?"

Wen Jiajia had a complicated expression: "No... maybe I should give it a try. At worst, I can just quit my job."

Wei Dai praised: "That's right. No matter what, we should get the opportunity first."

——

Lunar New Year's eve.

Early in the morning, there was a "bang" outside.

Wen Jiajia thought it was firecrackers, but Wei Dai said, "It's burning bamboo. We can't set off firecrackers here, so we prepare a bamboo to burn on the morning of New Year's Eve."

This is truly "celebrating the new year amid the sound of firecrackers".

There is no leisure on New Year's Eve, even children have to help with the work.

"Chun'er, don't listen. Go find Aunt Bao and ask her to give us two eggplants. They must be purple..."

She wanted to make eggplant boxes, but she didn't have purple eggplants at home. But Sister Bao had some, and she told her she could go to her house to get them.

She is not the only one who grows vegetables indoors. Her family only grows a few boxes of leafy vegetables. Sister Bao's family can even grow eggplants and cucumbers successfully. Wen Jiajia is very impressed.

This is the most primitive greenhouse vegetable.

Wen Chun reluctantly left the sofa and told Xuanxuan to listen carefully and he would tell her the follow-up when she came back.

The radio started telling a new story. Wen Jiajia listened and found that this time it was about fishing in the northeast.

It's a bit like an audio-only version of A Bite of China.

Wen Chun quickly came back with two eggplants. After a while, Wen Jiajia asked Wen Xuan to borrow plum vinegar from Teacher Shen.

Early summer is the season when plums ripen. Wen Jiajia's family makes plum wine, while the Xie family next door makes plum vinegar.

The berries used in berry wine need to be picked in the nearby village, but plums can be found around Beishan.

Plums are sour, and even the most greedy kids won’t eat them.

But plums can be made into preserves, wine and vinegar. So the Xie family, who were not afraid of the trouble or the waste of sugar, bought several nearby plum trees, half of which were used to make preserves and the other half to make vinegar.

It's true. In July and August, Wen Jiajia drank a cup of plum vinegar. When the vinegar went into her throat, the stuffiness brought by the hot summer was directly washed away by the vinegar. It also relieved greasiness and stimulated appetite.

Xuanxuan borrowed most of the bowl of plum vinegar, and Wen Jiajia took one third to make the dipping sauce.

What to dip it in? Dip it in barbecue.

Lamb chops, pork belly and pork belly are fried in a frying pan until crispy and crispy, then dipped in a sauce made with plum vinegar. The taste is absolutely amazing.

Wen Jiajia still felt it was not enough, so she roasted the pork skin on the charcoal fire.

This is the skin of a local pig. After being roasted, it is dipped in the sour, spicy, salty and sweet dipping sauce. You can imagine how delicious it is.

A barbecue platter is considered a dish.

After roasting, they are fried, fried eggplant boxes, fried crispy meat, fried pumpkin, fried vegetarian meatballs...

The two sisters were bewildered by the fragrance and ran to the kitchen every now and then saying that they wanted to taste the dishes for Wen Jiajia.

"I tasted it and found out whether it was salty or bland." Wen Xuan said.

Her tongue is the most accurate measure!

Wen Jiajia was too busy to argue with them, so she just gave them one if she didn't fry anything. The two children ate so much that they gulped down water.

After frying the food, make the pork ribs with sauce.

I cut the fresh pork shanks I bought yesterday into sections, blanched them in water, and stewed them in a pot with soybean paste. The stew was done only after the meat became crispy and the aroma lingered for a long time.

Next is the steamed fish. There are too many dishes with strong flavors, so we have to make a lighter dish.

After cooking the fish, start stir-frying the meat.

It was getting dark. I had been busy all day and the fire in the stove had never gone out.

What about lunch? I didn't eat. Anyway, I had the spatula in my hand, so I took a few bites here and there. I wasn't too hungry until now.

The two kids did too, but they were eating snacks.

It was New Year’s Eve, the important Chinese New Year, so Wen Jiajia put out the snacks and let them eat whatever they wanted.

The tea table was filled with all kinds of food, and the radio was placed in the middle of the tea table, surrounded by snacks. They wore thick cotton clothes and nestled on the straw-padded sofa, which was extremely soft. There was also hot goat milk at their hands, so they could drink it when they were thirsty...

The two children will never forget this feeling.

Wei Dai came back and the several casseroles were almost done.

In order to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner, Wei Dai specially bought a few more small ceramic stoves some time ago, and Wen Jiajia also bought a few more clay pots.

Now there are two large iron stoves and three small ceramic stoves at home.

One iron stove was used to steam rice, another iron stove was used to steam various dishes, and what about the other three earthenware stoves? One had chicken soup, one had mutton soup, and one had sweet candy.

A row of stoves were placed under the eaves at the entrance to the living room, emitting white smoke from them. At first glance, they looked quite spectacular.

"You're back! Have you seen the leader?" Wen Jiajia asked hurriedly, with curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

A leader came to the troops today to express his condolences. He is said to be the top leader in their war zone.

Wei Dai: "I saw it. He even patted my shoulder. Do you want to pat him too?"

Wen Jiajia was eager to try, and after hesitating for a moment, she actually reached out and patted him on the shoulder.

Wei Dai: “…”

He laughed out loud: "I should have taken you there."

Wen Jiajia raised her eyebrows: "Can the family members still go?"

“Several family members were definitely present.”

Wen Jiajia sighed and felt deeply regretful.

"Hey, what you said kept me awake for three days... Stop talking and bring all the dishes on the stove to the table." Wen Jiajia waved her hand and continued cooking.

Add some emerald green spinach and some tender yellow cabbage, and the New Year’s Eve dinner is ready!

The table was large, but filled with food.

In the middle are two casseroles containing chicken soup and mutton soup.

Surrounding the two soups are various dishes, some of which are stir-fried by Wen Jiajia in the pot, and some are steamed in a steamer.

There is a spicy platter, eight-treasure rice, steamed tofu, steamed pork with preserved vegetables, and steamed pork with rice flour.

Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were obviously stunned by the scene. Poor children, they had never seen so many dishes on the table before.

"Are we the only ones eating, Auntie?" Wen Chun's voice was light and full of disbelief.

Wen Jiajia: "Yes, for the New Year's Eve dinner, everyone eats at home."

Wen Chun bit his chopsticks and said, "It will take several days to finish it!"

Wen Jiajia smiled: "I'm afraid we'll have to eat it until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month."

She really didn't lie. What was on the table was only part of the dishes. There were still ingredients in the cabinets and water tanks at home that hadn't been cooked.

"Eat, eat. Eat whatever you want today, as much as you want!"

Outside, it was quiet, the starry sky was vast and unchanging. 1973 left, and 1974 arrived quietly.

New Year's Day.

The sun is very generous today, generously casting its rays on this land.

Wen Jiajia was woken up by the noise of the children. She had been very busy recently and today was a rare day when she could stay in bed.

Wei Dai was gone. When I got up, there were only vegetarian dishes on the table.

According to the custom in my hometown, we have to eat vegetarian food on the morning of the first day of the new year.

We ate too much oil and fat yesterday, so this vegetarian meal was quite enjoyable. Especially the Amaranth soup mixed with rice, which was green and slippery, and the rice seemed to slide into the stomach without chewing.

After eating, I grabbed a handful of melon seeds and went out for a walk.

First go to Teacher Shen's house. Wen Jiajia would go to her to study from time to time, and Teacher Shen looked at her with more and more helplessness.

As a college student of this era, Mr. Shen is undoubtedly a person of high intelligence.

She couldn't understand why someone couldn't solve a simple high school chemistry problem. She had done the same type of problem before, but she couldn't solve it in a different way.

This made her very distressed, but Teacher Shen did not think that she was a bad teacher, but that Wen Jiajia was not studying seriously.

Obviously I learn very quickly in the beginning, which shows I'm not stupid, but later on I learn slower and slower, and there's no other reason except that I'm not serious enough.

Wen Jiajia cried out in injustice after hearing this. She was a liberal arts student so of course she had studied chemistry. For her, who had taken the college entrance examination and got an A, the basic knowledge of chemistry was of course no problem.

But if we go deeper and ask her to do questions that are filled with numbers and letters, she has no idea where to start.

If she was good at science, she couldn't study liberal arts. Looking back at the original owner's school days, it seemed that liberal arts courses were easier to learn.

So it was painful for Teacher Shen to teach, and it was equally painful for Wen Jiajia to learn.

The two of them tacitly put the matter behind them, thinking that they should just talk to each other occasionally as good friends and not destroy their direct friendship.

Wen Jiajia was open-minded and didn't have to learn it. At that time, she thought she could go to a pharmaceutical factory and try to synthesize drugs. Now she found a new goal, a new goal that could make more money.

There were a lot of food at Teacher Shen's house during the Chinese New Year. Wen Jiajia ate a cake at her house. Although it was without cream, it made her want to eat cream cake.

I don’t know when I can eat all kinds of cakes again.

After leaving Teacher Shen’s house, we went to Sister Bao’s house.

The matter of the new factory was basically confirmed. Wen Jiajia was almost certain that after the Chinese New Year, everyone in the factory would know about it.

Such a big thing, once the news spreads from the pharmaceutical factory, it can't be kept secret. The family compound is not isolated from the outside world. People go to the city every day, so it will be known within two or three days.

So Wen Jiajia told Sister Bao about this using the excuse that she "heard it from someone". Sister Bao was really shocked and her breathing became more rapid with excitement.

"This, this, this is great news!" Sister Bao grabbed Wen Jiajia's hand, "Jiajia, did you say this new factory was opened by your pharmaceutical factory?"

Wen Jiajia corrected: "It was jointly opened by a pharmaceutical factory and a chemical factory. They both own it."

Sister Bao slapped her thigh and said, "Oh, I was wondering why I heard the chirping of magpies in the yard so early in the morning. The new year is really auspicious and auspicious. It's only the first day and it brings me good news."

“…”

Although the sun was shining brightly, the wind was also chilly. Wen Jiajia looked outside the house, but the magpie was nowhere to be found.

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