Chapter 90 Going to the Capital
In a sense, Wen Xiaomei is the third child in the family. So when she was still young, Wen Jiajia paid more attention to Wen Chun and Wen Xuan, fearing that the two sisters would feel that the family no longer paid attention to them after Wen Xiaomei was born.
Wen Jiajia even went to the two sisters' room every now and then to watch them do their homework or read picture books with them.
Wen Chun and Wen Xuan were indeed very happy at the beginning, but they didn't know that their aunt's love was so fierce and hot that it almost burned them.
Because my aunt is a bit troublesome, whenever I meet her when doing my homework, the homework time will be extended by half an hour.
When doing math problems, you must pay attention to whether the numbers are written nicely. If they are not nice, rewrite them.
Then there are the picture books… My aunt has told all the picture books at home, and even they are tired of them and don’t want to listen anymore, but since my aunt has told them all, they have no choice but to listen anyway.
At this moment, the two sisters showed the same expression of despair. They had already smelled the smell of food outside the room. If it weren't for their aunt staring at them, they would have finished writing and ran to eat.
Summer water chestnuts are in season, and our family rarely bought them before. When the two girls served the dish, they didn’t even know what it was.
Zhong Huisheng: "It's calledèŒç™½, a vegetable that grows in water. It's the young stem of wild rice. Wild rice grows when the stem is infected with a disease. We grow wild rice next to our farm. You can see it even when you stand next to your school."
Wen Jiajia understood that the water chestnuts at home today were probably picked by her aunt from there.
So I asked curiously, "Is anyone else picking them?"
Zhong Huisheng smiled and said, "There are so many! I went to pick them just because Xiaobao next door told me to. When I went there, the ones near the water were almost all picked. I think we can pick another batch tomorrow, but they will be all picked by the day after tomorrow at the latest."
Just like the lake, since fishing was allowed, there are fewer and fewer fish in the lake. In the past, if you put down a fish basket, you could catch several fish in one night, regardless of size.
But it is very difficult nowadays. Even if you leave it for three or four days, there may not be any movement. Even if you take it out, in most cases you will only find some minnows.
What's the use of this extremely small and bitter fish? Even if you feed it to ducks, they will refuse it because its bitterness will contaminate the meat.
Wen Jiajia felt that fishing in this lake would soon be banned again.
"Uncle-in-law, come and have dinner!" Wen Chun shouted towards the yard.
"Okay! You guys eat first." Wei Dai was feeding his daughter mashed carrots.
Comrade Wen Xiaomei may be small, but she has a bad temper and insists on eating outside.
Wen Jiajia ignored the father and daughter, divided the dishes and chopsticks on the table, and let Wen Chun and Wen Xuan serve their own food.
Her appetite, which had been suppressed by the dry biscuits, was aroused by the aroma. After getting the rice, she scooped two spoonfuls of egg custard, mixed it, took a few bites, and then ate the water chestnuts.
I haven't eaten it for a long time, and I found it delicious.
The two sisters Wen Chun and Wen Xuan accepted the water bamboo well. They ate it quite often and seemed to like it very much. Even the lean meat fried with it was not as attractive to them as the tender water bamboo.
After they finished their meal, Wei Dai fed the child and ate up the three large bowls of rice in the rice bucket with the leftovers.
No matter how many times she has seen it, Wen Jiajia is always shocked by Wei Dai's appetite. A person's stomach is only so big, how can his stomach hold so much?
night.
The wilderness in early summer is not quiet. Insects are already rustling outside the house.
Fortunately, Wen Jiajia planted catnip, mosquito repellent, fragrant wood and magic grass at the base of the wall last year.
They are planted in a circle around the houses and their branches are trimmed from time to time, so the plants grow particularly well.
Thanks to several mosquito repellents and even Cordyceps repellents, there are no flying insects coming into the house this year.
Wen Jiajia originally wanted to grow lavender. Not only can lavender repel insects, it can also be used to synthesize essential oils that help you sleep.
Anyway, the environment has been much more relaxed this year, so even if you plant some flowers and plants in the yard, no one will say you are being petty bourgeois. Some smart people have even taken the money and fled across the river, fearing that they will be punished later.
Unfortunately, lavender seeds are not easy to get. She went to several supply and marketing cooperatives and even seed stores last year but couldn't buy any.
Wen Jiajia opened the window at this moment, and the scent of various plants and trees immediately floated into the room.
The heaviest smell turned out to be that of Aoki, but luckily she quite liked it.
The moon was right above the yard and could be seen through the window.
The moon was like a jade disk, but not quite round because it was not yet 15 degrees. But it was exceptionally bright, so bright that it could be seen from the residential area of ​​the family compound and even from the opposite mountain.
After taking a shower, Wen Jiajia stood by the window for a while, enjoying the fragrant night breeze. She dried her hair that had accidentally gotten wet while taking a shower before turning around and going to bed.
The lights were off because Wen Xiaomei had fallen asleep, sleeping soundly next to her father.
The little girl now needs someone to play with her before going to bed, and she has also been practicing rolling over recently.
Lift your arms, push your calves, hold your breath and push hard. You will be able to turn over on your own once out of three times.
After turning over, he can't turn back, and has to raise his head to learn to crawl. When he gets tired of crawling, he needs help, otherwise he will cry.
Children have little energy and can fall asleep quickly after playing.
Wei Dai loved his concubine's daughter very much. In his own words, he could never see enough of her in his lifetime.
But Wen Jiajia seriously suspected that he would be slapped in the face when the child grew up to an age where people hated dogs. After all, most children would be naughty for a while.
Wen Jiajia patted Wei Dai on the bed and said, "Take your daughter to her bed."
The bed is so hot, how will she lie down later?
This is how it is in this era. No matter whether it is hot or cold, you have to bear it or adjust it by yourself. Compared with the extremely cold winter, Wen Jiajia is actually more afraid of the scorching hot summer.
Wei Dai carefully picked up the girl and placed her in the crib next to him, then covered her with a mosquito net.
Wen Jiajia was riding her aerial bike on the bed when Wei Dai suddenly put his hand on her waist and asked, "Are you feeling comfortable with work?"
Wen Jiajia sighed when talking about this: "I have adapted to it, but I am really tired." After all, I am almost bored at home, and it takes time to get my body back into shape.
Recalling something, Wen Jiajia asked again: "Oh, by the way, did you know that Fang Hongjun is getting married?"
Wei Dai nodded: "I know."
"Hey, you know? Did he tell you? If he did, why did he tell me again today?" Wen Jiajia put down her legs that were kicking in the air, turned around and looked at Wei Dai in confusion.
Wei Dai smiled and said, "He is now living in your factory dormitory. I haven't seen him since the end of last year. My mother mentioned it in the letter, saying that Red Army's mother asked her about the dishes we had for the banquet that year, and that's how I found out about it."
Wen Jiajia suddenly realized: "So that's how it is! Actually, I know his wife quite well. She is an educated youth in our team."
Wei Dai: "That's good. The educated youth are originally from the city and can adapt to the life in the city."
In fact, it is very difficult for rural people to adapt to city life, especially housing. Now let Wen Jiajia live in a building, and she will also find it difficult to get used to it.
In addition, in the city, you have to buy even a single green onion. Every time a farmer buys green onions, he or she probably gets a pain in the chest. Sometimes, it’s painful to buy vegetables yourself, and that’s when you have a vegetable garden at home.
Wen Jiajia asked again: "How much gift money should we give? I heard Fang Hongjun said we should hold the wedding in his hometown. How much did Fang Hongjun give us?"
Wei Dai thought for a moment and said, "I don't know. I need to ask my mom. I'll let her help me pack it when the time comes."
Wen Jiajia: "That's fine too."
So he turned over again.
After a while, Wen Jiajia remembered something and turned the page again, laughing: "Our factory is going to the capital to participate in a solo exhibition. I wonder if people from our department can go."
Wei Dai was now alert: "The capital?"
She was so surprised that she managed to suppress her voice and not wake up Wen Xiaomei who was sitting next to her.
Wen Jiajia hummed twice and said, "Our department has been busy with this matter recently. I went back at this time and ran into the gun muzzle. Director Gao pulled me like a donkey and ordered me around."
Wei Dai said, "Take care of your health. Have you been feeling dizzy recently? Carry some candies and biscuits with you. If Director Gao assigns you too many tasks, you must decline them. Don't be afraid of offending others. Your health is the most important thing."
My wife has had low blood sugar since she gave birth. She went to the hospital for several checkups but couldn't find the cause. It happened that Dr. Peng was out of town to see a doctor during that time. When he came back, I asked him to prescribe medicine for half a month and the low blood sugar condition improved a lot.
Wen Jiajia said angrily, "Of course I won't joke about my own body. The body is the capital of the revolution. Haven't you seen that I leave work on time every day? There is no one in the whole factory who can leave work on time better than me."
This was true, and even the security guard teased her, saying that seeing her was like seeing a clock - people who entered the factory after her were late, and people who left the factory before her were early, and they had to record all of this in a small notebook.
Wei Dai was relieved, and changed the topic to the capital again, and said with envy: "If your department can go, you should try to go, and we can go together again in the future."
"Oh, bring back a roast duck." Wei Dai added.
Wen Jiajia was puzzled. How could one of them be so fond of roast duck?
She said, "If I really go, it will be a hot day and the roast duck will go bad in the car. Besides, doesn't this kind of food taste good only when it is freshly roasted?"
And she actually felt that the roast duck was a bit average, especially the most famous one, which was not as delicious as the roast duck from Siji Moufu which was established later.
But who knows what the roast duck at that time was like? After all, the duck at that time was not feed duck, the charcoal was authentic fruit charcoal, and even the sauce was real ingredients. The taste was probably several levels better than a few decades later.
"That's right." Wei Dai didn't force it, "But you can bring some cakes from Daoxiang Village back."
Wen Jiajia nodded in agreement. She thought some of the cakes in this shop were pretty good, but she wondered if they had been developed yet.
But... no matter how much I say, she has to go.
The couple both had beautiful dreams about traveling to the capital that night, but they both felt lost when they woke up the next day.
——
May goes, June comes.
The weather was getting hotter, and the family had prepared several palm-leaf fans. Wei Dai also made two small ones that could fit in their schoolbags, and asked Wen Chun and Wen Xuan to take them to school.
Moreover, there are more mosquitoes when the weather is hot, not to mention that the troops are near the mountains and water, so there are even more insects.
Every day when Wen Jiajia passes by the river on her way home, she can see mosquitoes circling and flying in a circle. Although mosquitoes are small, they are very poisonous. Once bitten by them, red bumps will appear on your body, and the itching will be severe and will not go away in a short time.
Every day when the two sisters came back home, they could always see red bumps on their legs or hands. Wen Jiajia felt very distressed when she saw this, so she went to the department store and bought some floral water, and their condition improved a lot.
That wasn't enough, Wen Jiajia later synthesized some peppermint essential oil for them to apply, causing the two of them to smell like peppermint for a while. It is said that they even got a new nickname - Peppermint Candy.
The first solar term in June is Grain in Ear.
During the plum rain season, every household has rain, and frogs are everywhere in the green grass ponds.
The "yellow plum season" in Zhao Shixiu's poem refers to April and May in the lunar calendar, which is May and June in the Gregorian calendar.
The local plum season begins after the Grain in Ear season. The plums are red and the rainfall has increased recently.
The villagers nearby would check the weather and pick the waxberries as soon as they were ripe, and would never wait until it rained. After all, who knew how long the rain would last? If it rained for the entire second half of the month, the taste of the waxberries would be compromised.
Wen Jiajia brought Lin Yunfei and others to the village early to "exchange" for Yangmei.
What to exchange? Fabric.
After all, she was a big buyer of fabrics, so Lin Yunfei and others used other tickets to exchange some fabrics from her, and then used the fabrics to exchange for Yang Mei.
At that time, the common people were really short of cloth. A few feet of cloth could be exchanged for a basket of poplars. But the villagers still thought they were making a profit.
However, Wen Jiajia compared the prices of the two items decades later and found that the price difference was not much.
It seems that the villagers did not just take the cloth mindlessly when they saw it, they also had their own criteria in mind.
Wen Jiajia bought three baskets of poplar berries, one basket for her to eat at home, one basket for her to share with friends in the family compound, and Dong Qi and others in the factory. The other basket was naturally used to make wine.
She has been craving for mulberry wine for a long time, but she can't drink it during breastfeeding. However, she can drink it after weaning at the end of the year, and it's just the right time to drink the freshest mulberry wine brewed this year.
After making the bayberry wine, the Dragon Boat Festival is coming.
Three days before the Dragon Boat Festival, Wen Jiajia smelled the fragrance of rice dumplings on the street. She followed the scent and found that there was a state-owned hotel selling rice dumplings.
Upon asking, she found out that they had both red bean paste and meat dumplings. Wen Jiajia didn't care how expensive they were and bought five of each flavor.
Her decision was correct, because the rice dumplings were sold out in no time! The waiter at this state-owned hotel said that this was their first time making rice dumplings, so they didn't prepare a lot, and once this batch was sold out, they would be gone.
Wen Jiajia was also lucky as she happened to wait until the dumplings were out of the pot, so she was able to buy 10 of them.
After buying the rice dumplings, she ran away. After all, she bought the most and others might think she was jealous.
When I got home, I put the rice dumplings on the table.
The two sisters could not resist the temptation and ate their portion of red bean paste and meat dumplings on the spot.
"How does it taste? Is it better if we make it at home or if we buy it outside?" Wen Jiajia asked the two of them. Their family had made rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival before, but she didn't know if the two sisters still remembered it.
"Homemade ones are delicious." Wen Xuan carefully licked the rice grains off the leaves. "I think the dumplings made at home are more sticky and glutinous."
Wen Jiajia understood, and went over to look at the rice dumplings that Wen Chun hadn't finished eating and said, "Maybe the store didn't cook them long enough."
Zhong Huisheng said: "Some glutinous rice is like this, it is difficult to cook it into a sticky state. If you like sticky food, you should use long glutinous rice, which will be sticky when cooked. As for round glutinous rice, it should be more chewy and elastic, and round glutinous rice is used for making Tangyuan."
Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "Yes! I also used long glutinous rice last time. How about we make it again this year?"
It just so happened that I had some meat coupons at home.
The meat coupons were the ones Hao Qingying had exchanged with her last time when she bought Yangmei. Her family had no shortage of meat, so sometimes they would have some meat coupons left over. It seemed that the meat coupons were for one jin of meat, which was enough to make zongzi.
Zhong Huisheng nodded: "Okay! I'm free at home anyway. I have glutinous rice and beans at home, so I'll make it the day after tomorrow."
After eating two rice dumplings, the two sisters drank some egg and rice soup and were full.
He didn't go back to the room, but played with his little sister. He couldn't help but kiss her lotus-like handicraft. Then Wen Chun sighed: "My little sister is so cute, and she has so much meat."
"Is that so?" Wen Jiajia also felt that she had too much flesh, and she started to gain weight as soon as she was fed complementary food. Fortunately, the doctor in the hospital said that this weight was normal, and also said that her younger sister was in unusually good health, so she felt relieved.
As the Dragon Boat Festival draws closer, the aroma of rice dumplings becomes stronger.
Wei Dai had been free these two days, so he went out in the rain to pick some bamboo leaves and brought back some mugwort.
The weather cleared up the day before the Dragon Boat Festival, so Zhong Huisheng prepared the red bean paste and soaked some peanuts. The peanuts tasted very good when cooked and mixed with glutinous rice.
Wen Jiajia also asked Wei Dai to bring the meat back. Wei Dai was going to the city with her today, so he could take the meat home to marinate it first.
The meat is leg meat, and it is leg meat with fat. Cut the leg meat into small pieces and marinate with soy sauce and rice wine. When it is marinated in the afternoon, you can wrap it and put it in the pot to cook.
Leaving aside the taste, the rice dumplings made by Zhong Huisheng are much better than those made by Wen Jiajia.
She wrapped it tightly so that water would not get into the rice dumpling through the gaps. This way the rice dumpling would not lose its flavor and would not fall apart.
When Wen Jiajia returned home from get off work, the aroma of the rice dumplings had already wafted over ten meters away, it was so tempting!
"Aunt, can I eat now?" she asked as soon as she got home.
Zhong Huisheng was shaking matches in front of the stove: "Not yet. We have to wait for at least another hour."
Wen Jiajia smiled and said, "I'll save some food for dinner so I can eat the rice dumplings."
Because the pot is cooking rice dumplings, today's dinner will be simpler.
What? Fried rice with egg.
The rice is the leftovers from the morning, with six eggs, some chopped greens, cucumber and carrot, stir-fried in two pots.
There was no other way. The pot was a small iron pot, the kind you put on the stove, and it couldn't hold much rice. For someone with the amount of rice Wei Dai had, he would have to eat most of the pot.
Wen Jiajia's estimation was correct; Wei Dai had indeed eaten most of the pot.
Because I had nothing to do, I asked Wen Jiajia to make fried rice. As a chef, I love to have people support me.
Seeing Wei Dai and his two sisters eating so happily, Wen Jiajia unconsciously ate half a bowl more.
So when the rice dumplings were cooked, Wen Jiajia only ate one meat rice dumpling.
My cousin's aunt not only makes rice dumplings well, but also cooks them well. They are not too salty and are cooked just right, just the right softness and just the right stickiness.
How soft and sticky is it? It is so soft and sticky that you can even pull the leaves apart.
The next day, Wen Jiajia brought some rice dumplings to Director Gao. It was not that she was trying to curry favor with him, but because Director Gao had given her some salted duck eggs and glutinous rice balls today.
She brought back the salted duck eggs, but they were not cooked and we didn't know how they tasted.
But the glutinous rice balls are really delicious. The dough is dipped in sugar and then fried in a pan until it turns golden brown and becomes fluffy balls. When you pick them up, the taste is really amazing! It tastes so greasy and fragrant.
If there wasn't much oil left at home, she would have wanted to make a few more.
"The rice dumplings made by your cousin? They taste really good, and the red bean paste is very sweet." Director Gao is a sweet person, so Wen Jiajia only brought her sweet rice dumplings.
Wen Jiajia nodded: "This year's beans are very sandy and contain a lot of sugar."
Director Gao finished the rice dumpling in just a few bites, then went back to work and assigned a series of tasks to Wen Jiajia.
After the Dragon Boat Festival, the factory workers withdrew from the festive atmosphere. The machines were running at high speed. One product after another was produced from the assembly line and then transported to various pharmaceutical factories.
Wen Jiajia has been troubleshooting machines recently, and those with problems have to be repaired.
Some problems cannot be solved by the factory repairmen and need to be repaired by the machine manufacturer.
Once this was done, it was the end of June.
"Director Gao is calling you." Liang Mu knocked on her office.
Wen Jiajia responded "OK", then got up and went out. Liang Mu was still waiting outside the house.
"You got married at the end of March? That's fast. Before I went on vacation, you were still yelling that you didn't have a wife." Wen Jiajia said with a smile.
Liang Mu spread his hands and said, "My family is pushing me hard, and I finally met someone I like, so I have to seize the opportunity." Otherwise, it would take a long time to meet someone I'm compatible with.
Wen Jiajia was curious: "Is your wife at work?"
Liang Mu: "Yes, she is working at the pharmaceutical factory where you used to work. She works at the radio station."
Wen Jiajia was surprised: "Amazing! All the female comrades in our pharmaceutical factory radio station are high school students."
Moreover, the coils are smooth and beautiful, and the sound is pleasant.
It must be said that when she was working at the pharmaceutical factory and heard the voices of the lesbians on the radio station, it seemed as if she could get rid of some of the fatigue in her body.
As soon as the words fell, the two arrived at the door of Director Gao's office.
Wen Jiajia knocked on the door and entered, followed by Liang Mu.
Director Gao was delighted: "As you wished, this time it is our department that will be going together."
Wen Jiajia was shocked: "Really?"
Then there was excitement: "When do we leave? How many people from our department will go? How many days will we be gone?"
"Hey, problems come one after another!" Director Gao said. She thought for a moment and said, "I will definitely go. Who of you will stay in the department for me?"
Wen Jiajia immediately turned to look at Liang Mu: "Team Leader Liang, you can't abandon your wife when you're newlyweds. After all, you'll have the opportunity to go to the capital in the future, but this is the only chance for you to be newlyweds."
She spoke earnestly, as if she was doing it for Liang Mu's own good.
Liang Mu: ...
Although I was speechless, I couldn't help but retort: ​​"You have a baby who is only a few months old. Logically, you need to stay at home more than me."
Then he added, "Forget it, you can go. My wife is pregnant. It's only been a month and I don't feel comfortable leaving her at home."
Wen Jiajia smiled and immediately felt that Liang Mu’s child came at the right time.
Director Gao also preferred Wen Jiajia, so he said, "We'll set out on the 10th of next month and will only be gone for six days. Note that this includes the time spent on the road."
Wen Jiajia made a rough calculation and found that the maximum time she would stay in the capital would be two days.
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