Chapter 348 Educated Youth Sent Down to the Countryside in the 1960s (10)
"We've saved money on oil, and we even have blood sausage and cabbage!"
"Well, the cabbage was a free gift with the purchase, so why not take it?" Since no one knew, Jiang Yue wasn't afraid of being exposed for making things up.
"Their cabbages are so well preserved, they look like they've never been frozen. I'll ask them how they do it sometime, ours have all been frozen and don't taste good anymore."
"The products are good, but the public funds have been emptied this time, so we have to find a way to make money."
"There's always a way out. We can worry about the future later. Let's separate the things and cover them with some grass to prevent others from seeing them and being envious."
On the way home, Jiang Yue wondered how long their food supply would last. Unlike the others, although the four of them were newcomers, they had never been hungry. Moreover, they had oil, vegetables, and occasionally meat. With more of these things, their staple food supply would definitely be less. However, they would definitely consume more food during the period from Qingming Festival to the autumn harvest in October.
Although they bought a lot of meat during the Spring Festival, they couldn't bear to eat it more than a few times. Unlike in later years when they could eat whenever they wanted, Yao Ling and the others even made a schedule for eating these things. Unfortunately, this little bit of food wouldn't last until spring planting, mainly because the weather would be hot then and there were no ways to preserve it.
That's what having friends is like. If Jiang Yue were alone, she wouldn't have to worry about these things. She could eat whatever she wanted. Why would she have to eat pickled cabbage and radishes every day? She'd lost her only hobby. She was thinking about all sorts of things along the way. When the oxcart arrived at the brigade, Jiang Yue was still standing there in a daze.
"Xiaoyue? Xiaoyue! Is she asleep?"
"Huh? I wasn't thinking about anything and just drifted off."
"I'll think about it when I get back. I'm packing my things and going home."
"They're here! They're here!"
The first thing Jiang Yue did after getting home was to start a fire to warm up the house, otherwise the temperature inside would be almost the same as a freezer. After that, Jiang Yue rendered the lard and put away the pork knuckle and cabbage. Today she planned to eat braised pork belly with sauerkraut and blood sausage. She put away the pork cracklings and cabbage and planned to make dumplings tomorrow to eat during the Chinese New Year.
It was already late after dinner, and everyone was tired from walking all day, so they went to bed early. The next morning, Jiang Yue made some sweet potato porridge. After breakfast, we made dumplings and froze them. We didn't want to eat them today, so we planned to eat them on New Year's Day. After finishing our chores at home, we went up the mountain with Xiao Hu's dad.
After searching for ages, Jiang Yue still hadn't managed to snare a single rabbit. She was speechless. Some of the snares were ones she had set herself, and even the Hunting Master couldn't catch them. How ridiculous! There was nothing she could do but wait... no... help me, puppet!
Everyone had smiles on their faces as they descended the mountain. Jiang Yue was no exception, with the two rabbits belonging to the family. They were inconspicuous to each other, and as usual, they hid the rabbits inside their clothes when they were almost at the bottom of the mountain. With firewood on their backs, they could be easily missed if you didn't look closely. However, not many people came out at this time, as everyone stayed at home in such cold weather.
After processing the rabbit, they delivered the rabbit skin to Xiaohu's house. The rabbit skin could be sold for money after processing, but none of the four of them had that skill, at least not in a presentable way. After tidying up the firewood, Wang Liang and Zhang Wei returned. While hanging up the rabbit, the two of them secretly watched Jiang Yue and Yao Ling.
Yao Ling rolled her eyes and snapped, "What are you looking at? Just say what you want to say! Stop dawdling."
"Hey, well, this is the first time we've caught a rabbit, how about we celebrate with a meal?"
Yao Ling glared at them, then looked at Jiang Yue: "Xiao Yue?"
"Then let's save half of it to stew with potatoes for tomorrow." After Jiang Yue finished speaking, the two cheered and happily went to chop up the rabbit.
The next morning, Jiang Yue stewed the rabbit and added some potatoes, so there was no need to cook rice. Stewing rabbit with potatoes was a good way to save on the amount of potatoes. Not long after they finished eating, it started snowing. The house was quite dark, so the two of them read books by the window in the light. At noon, they went out to shovel the snow. They couldn't wait until the snow stopped falling before shoveling, because then the broom would be too heavy to sweep.
In the following days, Yao Ling stayed home because Wang Zhi was at home, and Jiang Yue stayed with her. The two boys also stayed home because they saw that they were not going out. Before they knew it, it was New Year's Eve. The four of them got up early. The chicken and pork had been brought inside to thaw the night before. Around 1 p.m., Jiang Yue started cooking.
What to eat was planned long ago. The fish we bought was braised, and then we decided on three main dishes: pork stew with vermicelli and chicken stew with mushrooms. We unanimously decided to eat the braised pork knuckle later, before going to the fields, so it would be a good way to nourish our bodies.
Then, make a cold dish of shredded radish, stir-fry some eggs, shredded potatoes, and cabbage, and finally, make a stir-fried mushroom and meat dish. That completes the dishes for the New Year's Eve dinner. For the main course, there are dumplings that were made a few days ago. Of course, fruit is also essential after the meal, along with a can of canned fruit in syrup.
After the last dish was brought out of the pot, Wang Liang quickly added two ladles of water to the pot. The fire on the stove couldn't be turned off, otherwise it would be too cold to eat here. Before eating, everyone raised their bowls of sugar water and clinked them together. There were no outsiders in the house, so they started eating right away. In the end, they finished all three main dishes. There were still some vegetables left, mainly because they were too full. Chef Jiang Yue's cooking was sure to be delicious.
After finishing their meal, everyone looked at each other, all of them full and not wanting to move. Wang Liang suggested going back to the room to rest for a while before cleaning up, and the other two agreed. They went back to the room and lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed), which was incredibly comfortable. After lying there for a while, they started talking about going home.
"Yes, you can take a family visit leave once every two years."
"real?"
"Um."
"That's great, so we can go home next year, right?"
"We're a bit late, so we might not be able to get leave until the year after next."
"Yeah, you're right."
"I miss home." Yao Ling's words silenced everyone. Yes, who doesn't miss home, especially during holidays like this? Except for someone like Jiang Yue, who always complains.
After a while of being quiet and resting, the three of them worked together to wash the pot. If they left it any longer, the water in the pot would cool down, and if the fire went out, they would waste firewood to start a new one. Since it was New Year's Day, they didn't go to bed early. Instead, they played cards. There were some dried goods such as melon seeds and peanuts on the kang (a heated brick bed).
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the children got up before dawn, changed into their new clothes, and came in groups of three or five to wish each other a Happy New Year. Although Jiang Yue and her friends went to bed late, they were used to getting up early every day. After tidying themselves up, Xiao Hu and the neighbor's children came to wish each other a Happy New Year.
Nowadays, people don't say things like "Wishing you prosperity" during the New Year. They just say "Happy New Year" in a simple way. Jiang Yue and the others don't give them anything else, just a few pieces of candy and a handful of melon seeds. That's enough to make the kids happy for half a day. They took the time to visit their neighbors and Hu Zi's house.
After returning home, Jiang Yue reheated yesterday's food. There were still some dumplings left, so she divided them into five portions for each person and that was it. In the afternoon, she went to visit the old educated youth. After all, they were all educated youth and didn't usually keep in touch, but they still had to visit each other during holidays.
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