Chapter 047
Everyone else was ready and waiting for Chaozi and Guogai in the yard.
Going to the fair in such a lively festive atmosphere, everyone was naturally happy, their voices were filled with joy, and they were laughing and chattering in the yard.
Just when I was happy, the pot lid suddenly popped its head out from the kitchen door.
His face didn't look good, and he called out, "Brother Ting."
Hearing the sound of the pot lid, everyone turned to look towards the kitchen.
Han Ting looked at him and said, "Have you weighed it? Once you've weighed it, let's go."
Guo Gai hesitated for a while and said, "You guys better come in for a moment."
Han Ting stood there without moving. "What are you dithering about?"
Han Ting didn't move, so naturally the others didn't move either.
The pot cover had no choice but to say, "We are out of food. Come in and take a look."
No food?
Everyone had a stunned look on their faces.
Han Ting walked to the kitchen first, and the others came to their senses and hurriedly followed him in.
After entering the kitchen, everyone followed the pot lid to the sack in the corner.
Chaozi still held the dried gourd ladle in his hand, and looked at Han Ting helplessly and said, "Brother Ting, I've already looked for it, and this is all the food we have left."
Everyone looked towards the sack in the corner, and someone reached out and picked up the sack to take a look.
There was still half a sack of dried sweet potatoes left, a little less sorghum rice, and the corn was almost gone.
After reading it, Li Qiao asked, "Are they all here? There's nothing else?"
Chaozi nodded and said, "They are all here, there is nothing else."
Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
Li Qiao muttered again: "We thought there was more besides these..."
Because a lot of food was distributed at one time and they had no experience in living, they were always confused, so they never paid attention to how much food they had eaten or how much food was left, and always thought they had a lot of food.
Also, because we subconsciously feel that there is plenty of food, we have no concept of budgeting and saving in our minds. We have no planning when eating, and waste occurs from time to time, so the food that should have been eaten until the end of the autumn harvest is eaten up ahead of time.
In fact, if whole grains weren’t so unpalatable, I wouldn’t even be able to make it this far.
Chaozi took a deep breath and said, "All the food we have left is here. If we carry the coarse grains to exchange for the fine grains today, the remaining food will not last for a few days. Even if we don't exchange them for the fine grains, according to our normal food intake, we probably won't last more than a week. The autumn harvest hasn't even started yet, and we have to wait until the end of the harvest before we can distribute the food again."
After hearing this, everyone naturally realized the seriousness of the matter.
No matter what they do, the food they have left won't last until the autumn harvest.
Everyone looked panicked and looked at Han Ting at a loss.
Han Ting didn't panic when something happened, but he kept a slightly gloomy expression and eyes and didn't say anything.
After a moment of silence, Guo Gai looked at Han Ting and couldn't help asking, "Brother Ting, what should we do?"
Han Ting was silent for a while, then said, "Let's celebrate the festival first, and then we'll talk about it after the festival. I'll come up with a solution then."
After hearing what Han Ting said, everyone subconsciously felt relieved.
Chaozi looked at Han Ting and asked another question: "So do you want to exchange this fine grain or not?"
Han Ting said confidently: "It's time to change and celebrate the festival."
During a festival like this, it is impossible for everyone in the village to eat well while they are the only ones suffering.
Han Ting is like a magic needle that stabilizes the sea.
Seeing him speak with such confidence, others naturally felt more reassured.
Chaozi and Guogai no longer had bitter expressions on their faces and continued to scoop sorghum rice into the snakeskin bag.
After weighing the sorghum rice and taking it away, there was almost nothing left in the sack.
Of course, they don’t worry too much about this now. They go to the market together and focus on the festival.
In order to have a good Mid-Autumn Festival, they not only pooled money to buy some moon cakes at the market, and took coarse grains to the grain station to exchange for fine grains, but also brought rapeseed to the oil mill to squeeze oil.
Because I got up a little late, I had to prepare things after getting up.
By the time they reached the market, the sun was already high above their heads.
There are a lot of people coming to the market today, and the street is much longer than usual.
Before I actually walked into the market, there were already more people around me, and it was crowded with people.
Han Ting and the other ten people were mixed in the crowd and followed the flow of people to the market.
I had just walked into the market for a short while, before I had time to take a closer look at what was being sold at the stalls nearby, when I smelled a fragrance in the air.
Guogai sniffed hard and said, "Fuck, what's that smell?"
Others followed suit and sniffed, saying, "It smells so good, is there a new restaurant in front?"
Han Ting naturally smelled it as well, and smelled it very clearly.
He said aloud, "The taste of noodles with soybean paste."
To be more precise, it is the taste of noodles made in early summer.
The taste he is most familiar with.
After he said this, the others were stunned for a moment, and then they naturally understood.
Chuxia and Lin Xiaohan had been setting up a noodle stall at the market for more than two months. This was no secret in the village. Everyone knew about it, including them.
It’s just that they have never been here to see it, so they didn’t think about it for the time being.
Since it was the taste of Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan’s noodle stall, they naturally wouldn’t say anything.
They continued walking forward together, occasionally looking up to see what was being sold at the stalls next to them.
As I was watching, someone suddenly came hurriedly over and squeezed into the street.
Seeing that it was someone he knew in the village, Li Qiao subconsciously reached out and pulled her and asked, "Auntie, what are you doing? Are you selling something good up front?"
Aunt Wu, who was being held by her, turned her head and took a look.
Seeing that it was the educated youth from the village, she smiled and replied, "Comrade Xiaoxia and Comrade Xiaolin have set up a noodle stall in front. We are all planning to order a bowl to try."
I actually went to the noodle stall in early summer.
Gu Yuzhu smiled and said, "Is it really that delicious?"
It’s not like it’s free to go to the noodle stall to eat noodles in such a hurry.
Aunt Wu looked at her and said, "Can't you smell it? We didn't plan to eat it at first, but after smelling it and watching others eat, we couldn't walk anymore, so we decided to order a bowl each and share it among the family members to taste it."
Li Qiao loosened his grip on Aunt Wu's hand and said, "Does this require food coupons?"
Aunt Wu nodded and said, "A bowl of noodles costs three taels of grain coupons, with meat forty cents, and without meat for twenty cents. We are going to the grain station to exchange for fine grains, and we can get three taels of grain coupons at the same time. If you also want to go and don't have grain coupons, you can also go to the grain station to exchange them."
After saying this, Aunt Wu didn't want to stand there anymore.
Then he smiled and said, "I won't talk to you any more. You can find out when you go to the front. We have been craving for it for quite some time. Now that we have the food coupons, we will leave first."
After Aunt Wu finished speaking, she followed the others and left.
Han Ting and the others naturally did not follow.
Gu Yuzhu muttered, "I won't eat it. It's not like I haven't eaten noodles before..."
No one else responded.
Chen Sisi immediately swallowed her saliva.
The noise she made while swallowing was so loud that it attracted everyone else's attention.
Chen Sisi smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "It smells so good..."
Ever since she saw Chuxia cooking after going to the countryside, she has been envious of Chuxia's cooking skills.
No one else said anything and acted indifferent to the smell.
They continued to walk forward slowly, glancing at the stalls nearby from time to time.
But in fact, all ten people's minds are on the noodle stall.
They thought the other stalls were just for show, so when they walked to the corner of the street and stuck their heads out to see Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan’s noodle stalls, all ten of them stopped subconsciously.
They all moved aside so as not to hinder others from walking.
I stretched my head and looked towards the noodle stall, only to see Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan busying around there in an orderly manner.
There was always a crowd at the table under the shed, with groups coming and going after eating.
Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan were not at all flustered and seemed to be very skilled at it.
In addition to the two of them, there was also a little girl from the village helping out.
The little girl helped to clean up the dishes, taking them away, washing them, and bringing them back.
I watched from a distance for a while.
Guo Gai couldn't help but say, "Business is so good, you must make a lot of money in this day, right?"
Gu Yuzhu said from the side: "The brigade's noodle stall is not theirs."
Guo Gai still stretched his head out and looked: "Even if you rely on more work and more pay, you can still make a lot of money."
No one spoke anymore.
Han Ting looked at Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan working together in tacit understanding, and did not say a word.
It's really funny to say.
The things he used to eat for granted, he could now only smell and watch from afar.
If you want to eat, you have to give 40 cents and 30 grams of food coupons.
Not in the mood to look any further, he simply turned around and walked back.
Chaozi and Guogai were the first to react and turned around to follow him, and the others followed one after another.
Chen Sisi looked back every few steps.
Unable to hold back, she mustered up the courage to ask, "Can we order a bowl so we can try it together?"
Li Qiao actually wanted to try it too.
Gu Yuzhu directly replied: "Can you be more promising?"
Chen Sisi didn't dare ask any more questions.
Then he murmured in a voice that only he could hear: "But it smells really good..."
***
"call……"
Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan sat down on the small stools and breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
As expected, there are a lot more people coming to the noodle stall to eat noodles today than before. I have been busy since I arrived here in the morning until now when the sun is setting, and I finally have time to take a break.
After Wang Xiaoyan came back from washing the last of the dishes, she also sat down to rest.
She is now quite familiar with Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan, but she still seems rather reserved next to them. Most of the time she just works and rarely speaks.
She was called in by Chuxia to help, but she didn't work for nothing, the team would give her work points.
They hadn’t caught their breath yet, and Chu Xia and Lin Xiaohan didn’t say anything.
The old man at the stall next to him waited for the opportunity and said, "Comrade Xiao Xia, take a break first. When you are done, tell me. I have brought food coupons today. Please make me a bowl of noodles."
This uncle is naturally the same uncle who sold watermelons before.
He used to sell melons from a cart, but now he has started selling apples and pears.
Every time there was a market, he had to endure the smell of noodles all day long. Today, he finally managed to collect enough food coupons.
Chu Xia looked at him and smiled, "Okay, I'll get it done for you after I rest for a while."
The old man was not that tired when setting up the stall, and he added: "I just saw that you were very busy and didn't want to cause you trouble, so I endured it for most of the day. Now that you are free, I told you that your business is really good."
Chu Xia still smiled and said, "It's mainly because there is a big market during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there are many people coming to the market."
The old man waved his hand and said, "It's not about the number of people, it's just that your skills are good."
Then he pointed again, "Look at the guy selling mutton soup."
The stall selling mutton soup is opposite.
This was set up after the noodle stall was set up in early summer, and then other teams came to set up a stall.
I probably came here because I saw that the noodle stall was doing good business in early summer.
Of course, there were no other similar stalls on the street later, probably because the commune did not allow them.
The mutton soup business across the street is really not that good.
However, Chuxia had never competed with him, so naturally she didn't say much in response to the old man's words.
She just smiled and asked the old man: "Uncle, do you want to eat it with meat or without meat?"
The old man snorted and said, "I've been waiting for more than two months, of course I have to eat meat!"
Chuxia took a break and then went to cook noodles for the grandfather.
Everything is ready-made and can be made quickly.
Cook the noodles and blanch the vegetables, put them in a bowl and add fried sauce, and a bowl of noodles is ready.
The old man almost shed tears when he ate the noodles he had been thinking about for more than two months.
After finishing the meal, he exclaimed in satisfaction: "It was not in vain to wait for more than two months, and the forty cents were not wasted!"
***
No matter how big the market is, there will be no one there when it gets dark.
When the few remaining stalls had all closed down, Chu Xia, Lin Xiaohan and Wang Xiaoyan also packed up their noodle stalls and pulled the cart back to Tanxi Brigade.
Walking on the road, Chu Xia asked Wang Xiaoyan: "Are you tired?"
Wang Xiaoyan shook her head and smiled, "I'm not tired, I'm very happy."
She grew up in the countryside, and her life was the same every day, cutting grass for pigs, collecting manure, doing housework and taking care of her younger siblings. She had never done anything like today, and had never been as happy as today.
Chu Xia smiled at her and said, "I'll bring you here next time when there's a big market."
Wang Xiaoyan said gratefully: "Thank you, Teacher Tang!"
Chuxia didn’t know whether Wang Xiaoyan was really not tired, but she was almost dead from exhaustion.
So after returning to the brigade headquarters, she and Lin Xiaohan went back to the educated youth point without even settling the accounts.
After returning to the educated youth center, I didn't do anything else. I just washed up and fell asleep.
I slept until the early morning of the next day, got up on time, washed, fed the chickens, and prepared to go to school.
Sitting at the table with Lin Xiaohan and eating breakfast.
The early morning was quiet. Lin Xiaohan didn't speak, and Chuxia didn't make a sound to break the silence either.
It was a bit boring to just eat, so Chuxia just glanced around the kitchen casually.
Then, as he glanced around, he saw that many of the sacks that were originally placed in the corner were gone.
He chewed the steamed bun slowly and was stunned for a while.
Chu Xia looked at the corner and asked, "Have they finished eating their food?"
She is usually busy and didn't pay much attention to it, but only today she noticed the changes in the corner.
Hearing Chu Xia talking, Lin Xiaohan followed her gaze and glanced at the corner of the wall.
He only glanced at it once before looking away, and said calmly, "Isn't this expected?"
In early summer, I slowly took a bite of the steamed bun.
Lin Xiaohan didn't know what she was thinking, so he looked at her and asked, "Are you going to be kind enough to help them?"
In other words, thinking that her brother Han Ting was really going to suffer this time and her will was weakened, she couldn't help but help her brother Han Ting.
How is this possible!
Chu Xia immediately came back to her senses and said, “Of course not!”
She looked at Lin Xiaohan, "I was thinking, the money we earned during the summer vacation, plus the money we earned from the big market yesterday, plus the subsidies for the past few months, should be enough to build a house, right? If it's still not enough, we can advance some work points from the production team, that should be enough, right?"
Lin Xiaohan looked at Chu Xia silently for a while and asked, "Do you want to build a house and move out quickly?"
Chu Xia nodded heavily to Lin Xiaohan: "The sooner the better."
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