Chapter 346 Educated Youth Sent Down to the Countryside in the 1960s (8)
After tidying up the purchased items, it was already quite late. The oil refining and wall plastering would be done tomorrow. The most important task now was to start a fire. This freezing room was going to freeze people to death. After the fire was lit, it was Jiang Yue's turn to cook. While she was cooking, Yao Ling also lit the kang (a heated brick bed).
Today we ate braised radish. We'd been eating cabbage and pickled cabbage for a few days, so it was a change of pace. The main dish was leftover cornbread from this morning. Everyone ate with great relish. On a cold and hungry day, a hot meal is a welcome treat.
After finishing dinner and washing the pot, Jiang Yue chopped up the pork fat. Doing the prep work today would save her some trouble tomorrow. After finishing, she and Yao Ling cleaned the house to prepare for wallpapering the walls tomorrow. After cleaning the room, they crawled into bed to go to sleep.
Jiang Yue got up early the next day. Instead of making breakfast, she chose to render lard. The aroma of the rendered lard attracted the neighborhood children. Yao Ling asked Wang Liang to bring a small bowl of lard cracklings for the children to eat. After rendering the lard, it didn't need to be put outside; it would solidify in a few hours inside.
After rendering the oil, we mixed the dough and, while the dough was resting, we covered the walls with newspaper. The room wasn't big, but with many people, we were able to cover the walls. By the time the dough had rested, the walls were covered too. After washing our hands and taking off our dirty clothes, we started today's main event: making dumplings.
Jiang Yue prepared the dumpling filling, Yao Ling made the dumpling wrappers, and two boys assisted her. When making the dumplings, Jiang Yue deliberately made a few extra to give to the two neighbors. It wasn't that Jiang Yue was being extravagant; it was just that the neighbors had previously given the four of them a bowl of dumplings.
It's only right to reciprocate gifts, right? If it weren't for the dumpling incident, Jiang Yue wouldn't have given the dumplings away. You know, these days, people only eat dumplings a few times a year.
The four of them quickly finished making the dumplings, and soon the steaming hot dumplings were ready. They scooped out two bowls and had Wang Liang and Zhang Wei deliver them to their two neighbors. The two of them walked slowly when they left because they were carrying the dumplings, and when they came back, they had to run into the yard. After they came in, Jiang Yue served each of them a bowl, and then scooped out the rest of the dumplings.
When Jiang Yue returned to her seat, everyone was waiting for her. Seeing everyone's unbearable gaze, Jiang Yue smiled and said, "Eat up, what are you waiting for me for!"
"The chef hasn't even set up the table yet, how can we possibly start eating?"
Jiang Yue slapped Yao Ling: "Eat up, stop joking! Try it and see if it's good."
After Jiang Yue finished speaking, everyone started eating. They didn't seem to feel the scalding hot dumplings. The two boys finished a bowl in no time. Luckily, they made a lot today, otherwise there wouldn't have been enough. After finishing the dumplings, each person ladled out a bowl of dumpling soup to cleanse their palates. Jiang Yue felt that she could eat more since coming to this world.
"I feel like I'm eating better in the countryside than at home. The ingredients are simple, but the taste is really good. It's a good thing we eat with Xiaoyue. Otherwise, I'd be lucky if I could even cook it properly, let alone make it this delicious."
"Xiaoyue, Xiaoyue, I need to talk to you about something. From now on, you'll be in charge of cooking, but don't worry, the three of us will take care of washing the vegetables and dishes. What do you guys think?"
"I agree!"
"Me too! I agree!"
"Okay, as long as I don't have to wash the dishes, I'm fine with it. I like cooking, but I don't like washing dishes and pots."
"Okay, it's settled then. Just thinking about having your cooking tonight makes me feel like I can keep going through the farm work during the day!"
"Haha, that's an exaggeration."
After chatting for a while, the group helped clean up the table. There were still some newspapers left to paste on the wall, which they used to pass the time. This time, they had two kerosene lamps, so they could splurge a little. After reading for a while, they prepared to go to bed. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy.
The next day, Jiang Yue and Yao Ling went to Grandpa Xu to order a wooden bathtub. Can you believe they hadn't taken a bath in more than half a month? During the most tiring days, they just wiped themselves down and got by. The main problem was that there were no facilities for bathing. In the first few days, everyone was not very familiar with each other and they were too embarrassed to talk about it.
Jiang Yue could run the Wizard Tower, but sleeping with Yao Ling every day, what would Yao Ling and the others think if she suddenly took a bath and smelled nice? After all, reality is different from novels; reality is based on logic. Jiang Yue could only endure it. After returning home, she looked at the house. She estimated that the house wouldn't last ten years. When she replaced the roof, she would see if she could add a room to solve the bathing problem.
I glanced at the window while idling around. It was a bit drafty. I covered it with newspaper, which helped a lot, but I still felt a draft blowing in at night. They should have plastic sheeting now, but I don't know if it's easy to buy. Or maybe I could weave a straw curtain to cover it up. I'll ask when I go to the commune next time.
A week later, Grandpa Xu brought over the wooden basin. He wasted firewood to boil a pot of water, and the four of them took a good bath. The two girls, Jiang Yue and Yao Ling, were fine, but the two boys wore the black rings around their necks. When pouring the water, they chose a place they didn't often walk in, so as not to slip and fall if it froze.
After the snow had mostly melted, taking advantage of the good weather, the four of them followed Xiaohu's father into the mountains to collect firewood and check if any of the snares they had set had caught rabbits or pheasants. They checked the snares and found one with marks, but since they didn't check every day, they didn't know if it had escaped or been taken away. In the end, they collected firewood for two days.
It wasn't a wasted trip up the mountain if they could gather firewood. Although they didn't get to eat the rabbit they had caught, they still managed to get a meal at Xiao Hu's house and had some rabbit meat, so they didn't eat for nothing. They even gave Xiao Hu a can of yellow peaches that they had passed by. In the end, Xiao Hu's mother felt bad and gave them a lot of dried mushrooms. In the end, no one lost out.
While there was still meat, Jiang Yue ate a bowl of noodles and made a mushroom and meat soup. It was a bit of a shame that the noodles weren't made of pure white flour. They were reluctant to eat the refined grains they had before they replenished their supplies. In case someone got sick, eating some refined grains could help them recover.
......
The days spent at home during the winter passed very quickly. The time passed slowly as the four of them studied. They were studying books that Yao Ling had bought from a recycling station. After all, they had nothing to do anyway, so studying gave them something to do.
When the weather is nice, the four of them go to the river to collect stones, planning to pave the area in front of their house. They also plan to pave a path from their front door to the gate, because once the snow melts, the muddy road will be too difficult to walk on. And this is before it has even rained.
The stones were easy to find, there were plenty along the riverbank, but the ground was too hard to level in the dead of winter. The four of them weren't in a hurry, so they took their time and worked for a month before finally finishing the road.
As February arrived, the festive atmosphere of the Lunar New Year grew stronger. The village's oxcarts went to the commune almost every day. Every household bought New Year's goods and cloth to make clothes. The neighbors slaughtered a pig for the New Year and invited Jiang Yue and the others. The four of them didn't help much, but they did eat a lot of food.
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