Xu Xiangjuan: "There's no need to rush. Aning, you can prepare the egg noodles and fried vermicelli first. We can prepare the rice when the weather cools down."
Zhou Chengning: "Juan, I understand."
Thinking of Guagua's bed, "When will Guagua's bed be ready?"
"My bed!" When Guagua heard the word "his bed", he immediately became excited. Niu Niu followed suit and threw away the small palm-leaf fan.
Zhou Chengning picked up the palm-leaf fan for Niu Niu and said, "Carpenter Chen originally said that it would be delivered to us at the end of the month."
"OK."
Guagua's joy was beyond words. "Mom, can I let Sister Xixi and Miaomiao sleep with me in my room?"
Guagua felt that her bed must be bigger than Niu Niu's. Miaomiao had a bed, so there was still space for her and Miaomiao to lie down. Then, when the time came, she, Miaomiao, and sister Xixi could sleep together, and it would definitely be spacious.
Xu Xiangjuan: "Of course, but only if Xixi's parents agree."
Gua Gua: "Sister Xixi's parents will definitely agree, right, Dad."
"I don't know." Zhou Chengning always felt that his daughter wanted him to plead with Teacher Wang, but no, this was not possible.
Guagua felt that his father was unreliable. "I'll talk to Uncle Wang."
"Little adult." Xu Xiangjuan pulled her daughter's pigtails.
My income this afternoon was only 20 yuan. I sold 23 bowls of cold skin and 2 bowls of cold noodles. I took them all away and didn't eat them here.
Zhou Chengning didn't feel any psychological gap and happily put the money away.
Mid-July.
It normally opens at 3pm, but because it gets dark later in the summer, it closes at 6pm and is only open for three hours.
"Whatever food there is, have some."
At around four o'clock, three guests came over, three men and one woman. The middle-aged man who spoke was the village chief, Xu Aiguo.
"Everyone bring one" sounded too general. Xu Gensheng was usually a talkative person, even with the village chief. But when the village chief brought three respectable people here and seemed to be having dinner here for business, he knew better and kept quiet.
Xu Xiangjuan pushed the wooden board with the menu over and said, "We have a menu here. You can order whatever you want. We currently have cold noodles, cold noodles, fried vermicelli, and egg noodle soup."
Village chief Xu Aiguo had never come here to eat, but the child’s mother came twice to buy cold noodles to take home. When reminded, he did not ask for one portion for everyone this time, but asked the other three what they wanted to eat.
The only lady ordered a bowl of egg noodles, and the other three ordered cold noodles.
Xu Xiangjuan asked her mother to make three bowls of cold noodles while she went in to cook egg noodles.
Zhou Chengning went to make a fire, while Gua Gua and Niu Niu stayed in the shed with their grandparents.
Fortunately, a few people were chatting, Xu Gensheng was helping Wu Caifeng make cold noodles, and Guagua was playing with his brother, so the atmosphere wasn't too awkward.
After a bowl of cold noodles was ready, Xu Gensheng remembered the taste and sent it over. Three bowls of cold noodles were ready, but the egg noodles were not yet ready.
Egg noodles need to be cooked over a fire. Recently, Xu Xiangjuan makes soup every day after lunch. Today she made mushroom soup. After the soup is cooked, it will be served in a bowl in a basin of well water. Although there is no meat, with the addition of seasonings and other vegetables, it tastes delicious and not greasy.
Although the three men, including the village chief, had already eaten half a bowl of cold noodles when the egg noodles came out, it was not a wasted wait.
Since there is no meat in the soup, there is no floating oil foam on the surface of the soup. Even if there is meat, Xu Xiangjuan will skim off the oil foam.
The egg noodle soup is slightly white and clear, the noodles are not mushy, each strand is distinct and not tangled together. Two blanched green vegetables and a sunny-side-up egg are placed on the noodles, which looks pretty good.
"This is a side dish, served with noodles. You can add vinegar and chili oil according to your taste." The side dish Xu Xiangjuan mentioned is actually the dried radish at home cut into small strips.
Today I was the first customer to order egg noodles. The vinegar bottle and chili jar were not on the table, but luckily they were prepared.
The female guest had her period and had to come today because she had work to do, so she had to bear with it. She didn't order the cold noodles like the other men, but chose egg noodles. She had no appetite all day and was planning to leave, but the village chief tried hard to keep them here for dinner, so they had to stay here for dinner before riding away. The taste of the noodles really surprised her, "Is the soup made from simmering meat?"
Although this shed is simple, it looks clean and bright, and does not affect the sight. The noodles are cooked carefully, with spoons and chopsticks. Side dishes and vinegar are also prepared, and there are cut paper towels on the table.
Xu Xiangjuan: "The meat is not overcooked. The main ingredient is mushrooms. You can see mushrooms in the soup."
Not everyone can eat shiitake mushrooms, but fortunately, people’s lives are hard these days and they are not picky about food, so she didn’t step on the customer’s landmine.
"It tastes good. I thought it was simmering meat."
After saying this, the female guest concentrated on eating her noodles.
"Give me another plate of fried vermicelli." Village chief Xu Aiguo ordered fried vermicelli when he was almost finishing his cold noodles.
Xu Xiangjuan went to the kitchen to cook, and Zhou Chengning followed her, being responsible for lighting the fire.
This is how we do it at home now. We make soup and half-cooked vermicelli after lunch for the whole family. If no customers order noodle soup or fried vermicelli, we will eat the vermicelli soup ourselves in the evening.
Vermicelli can be made into soup, but now Xu Xiangjuan plans to only make dried noodles, and will think about vermicelli later.
After the fire stabilized, Xu Xiangjuan asked Zhou Chengning to serve three bowls of herbal tea to the guests outside. She saw that the female guest had drunk a lot of noodle soup, and it was not good for her to drink her herbal tea as it would easily make her feel bloated.
The vermicelli is now added with eggs and cowpeas and greens. When it is fried and served, the male customer has already finished the cold noodles. He has cleaned the bowl and there is no cold noodles soup left.
The same thing happened to the guests who had eaten here before. Xu Xiangjuan did not rush to collect the bowls, but waited until the guests left.
While the village chief and two male guests were eating fried vermicelli, the female guest finally finished half a bowl of noodles. They didn't talk when they started eating, but now they started chatting about the harvest in the fields.
Xu Xiangjuan hadn't listened to a few words when Niu Niu called her. She knew the little guy wanted to go to the toilet.
Zhou Chengning picked up Niu Niu and went home to clean up his pee and feces. This time he didn't follow his lover, but sat next to Gua Gua.
Gua Gua listens to her mother and doesn't talk loudly when guests come. Now she just sits quietly and doesn't react even when her father sits next to her.
After these customers arrived, a few more individual customers came to buy cold noodles. Wu Caifeng was able to take care of them all by herself, and it was an easy job.
When it came time to pay the bill, the village chief wanted to pay for everyone, but the other three insisted on paying for their own... After pushing and shoving, in the end the village chief paid for his own bowl of cold noodles and fried vermicelli, and the remaining three paid for their own food.
When they came, the four of them all rode bicycles. The village chief Xu Aiguo watched them leave and stayed in the shed to talk to Xu Gensheng for a few words.
Xu Aiguo: "There were three of them just now, two deputy county heads. The shorter man is the town head. The deputy county heads came down to inspect the work."
Xu Gensheng was surprised: "Why should we inspect the land when we are farmers?"
Xu Aiguo: "Now the agricultural leaders pay much attention to it. I specially brought them here for dinner. The food was delicious and did not disappoint them."
The leader enjoyed his meal here, and he, as the village chief, was happy from the bottom of his heart.
Xu Xiangjuan had never seen the mayor in her previous life, so she didn't know what he looked like. But from the way she spoke to several of them today, she knew that he was not a farmer and his identity was similar to what she imagined.
Xu Xiangjuan was calm, but Xu Gensheng was not. "The leader came to check. Is there anything wrong with our village?"
"What problem can there be? We are honest farmers. We don't steal or rob... It's just that someone reported something to the county about Wang Qiang's family." The county leader mentioned Wang Qiang's matter and didn't say anything else. But his words and deeds made it clear that he should go to their home to do some work. It was a headache.
There are many fields in the village, and as the village chief, he is mainly responsible for the work in the fields. Although the fields are now contracted out, there is still a great demand for food, which is related to the villagers' income, and he is concerned about it.
As for Wang Qiang's business, he didn't care much. What's the point of caring about it? Can outsiders share the money with the villagers? Now that something has happened, it's really causing trouble for him.
Xu Xiangjuan knew that the village chief needed to wipe his ass, but this ass could never be wiped clean.
Xu Gensheng knew something, "Aiguo, are you going to ask for the workers' money?"
Xu Aiguo: "How can we get it? The eldest and second sons of the Wang family are not at home, and the third son is just a playboy. They got divorced a while ago. The leader said we should do our best. We still have to ask for it. Whether we can get it or not is another matter."
Xu Gensheng: "His family's luck ran out quickly."
Xu Aiguo: "That's right. If you don't have a conscience, you can't keep your money in your pocket."
The village chief talked to Xu Gensheng for a while, and then rode away on his bike when it was almost dark.
When the family was having dinner in the evening, Wu Caifeng was surprised by the guests who came in the afternoon. She didn't dare to say anything outside, "The deputy county magistrate is a big official, why did he come to our small shed?"
"Mom, isn't the deputy county magistrate a human being? It's normal for a human being to eat." Xu Xiangjuan couldn't stand what her mother said.
Xu Gensheng has never met a senior leader in his life, let alone one from the county. Today he also felt it was unreal. "The food in our house is no worse than the state-owned restaurants in the early years. It tastes even better. The village chief bringing the leader here is also a recognition of us."
Wu Caifeng: "We are the only one doing food business in the village now, so they can only come to our house... I didn't expect the county magistrate to come to our house for dinner."
There is a big difference between a county magistrate and a deputy county magistrate, but Xu Xiangjuan was too lazy to correct her mother's omission of the word "deputy". She had never had much contact with the current village chief in her previous life, but she knew that he was a simple and hospitable man. She could always see him in the fields. She felt that the food at home was not good enough to entertain guests, so it was normal to bring it here.
Xu Gensheng: "Don't tell anyone. A senior leader is here and we can't tell anyone. If we tell anyone, it won't be good for us if the leader hears it."
Wu Caifeng: "Oh, how dare you tell anyone that the leader is here? Don't bring trouble to your family in the future... Guagua, don't tell anyone that the leader is here, understand?"
Guagua still didn't know what a leader meant. She treated the few people there this afternoon as just ordinary guests. But when grandma mentioned it, she remembered the word "leader". "Grandma, what is a leader?"
Xu Xiangjuan knew that her mother's words had aroused Guagua's curiosity, "Guagua, the leaders are always working ahead of us."
"Is our dad a leader?" At home, my dad is always the first to do the work.
Zhou Chengning originally thought that it was good that he had a very weak presence, but his daughter's words almost made him choke on his saliva.
Why did Guagua say such “treasonous” words again!
"Yes, Dad is a leader, he always takes the lead in work."
"Oh." There was nothing strange about the leader, so Gua Gua stopped worrying about it.
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