Chapter 583
Zhu Guoming's house was allocated by his wife's unit. It is an old villa in a good location.
On the old wall of the street, the faded slogan "Carry forward the proletarian Wenhua Pavilion's mission to the end" has been covered with white paint, and the bright red words "Development is the hard truth" have been newly painted.
This old house is divided into various parts, just like many large courtyards in the capital, and is home to nearly twenty families.
The original garden courtyard has been occupied by various facilities, including clothes drying racks, public toilets and public kitchens.
Zhu Guoming's house is on the second floor, about 30 square meters, and he has separated it into a bedroom and a living room.
The ten-square-meter room inside was given to the son, and the couple's bed was placed in the living room. With the addition of furniture such as the sofa and coffee table, the living room seemed very crowded.
"The house is small, don't be disgusted."
Su Yuanzheng looked at the house and said, "Is this the house allocated by the company? It's good to have a company. Housing is taken care of. I just heard from the hotel staff that this area is the best."
Zhu Guoming smiled bitterly and said:
"Brother Su, there's no need to comfort me. Don't I know what it's like to live in this house? Hands touching hands, feet touching feet, it's nowhere near as comfortable as the big houses you self-employed people buy.
This was allocated by my wife's unit. I work in a garment factory and am at best just an employee.
If I could be as capable as my senior brothers, I could open a clothing store and improve the lives of my wife and children."
Zhu Guoming took out a large basket of ingredients from the refrigerator and went to the public kitchen downstairs to cook, letting them rest at home.
Naturally, the father and daughter didn't want to just sit there and do nothing, so they came together to help.
"I heard from Senior Brother Si that, Brother Su, you run a big restaurant, so your cooking skills are definitely better than mine. But I've lived here for so long, I'm sure I'm better at cooking local dishes."
When they arrived at the kitchen, an auntie was just bringing food home. When she saw Zhu Guoming, she said:
"Guoming, let me help you turn off the fire."
"Hey~ Grandma Zhao, thank you so much~"
Several families were busy crowding the public kitchen, stewing soup and frying vegetables on the stove, and the air was filled with the smell of life.
Zhu Guoming lifted the lid of the soup pot, and the delicious aroma gushed out along with the steam: "It takes time to make soup, so I stewed it in advance and asked my neighbor to help watch the fire.
The weather isn't right now. If spring comes, I'll make you pickled bamboo shoots with preserved vegetables. Winter bamboo shoots are not as suitable as spring ones."
Today he is going to make braised pork, sweet and sour spare ribs and casserole fish head with fermented soybean sauce to entertain the father and daughter.
Su Yuanzheng was unfamiliar with the seasoning of local cuisine, but he could help with cutting and preparing, while Zhu Guoming was responsible for cooking, which made things much more efficient.
Su Miao noticed a yellowed "Kitchen Usage Agreement" taped to the kitchen wall, densely written with the locations and times of use for each household. Coal stoves from various households were piled in the corner, and numbered vegetable baskets hung on the wall.
Amid the sizzling sound of hot oil being poured into the wok, Zhu Guoming flicked his wrist, and the sugar-coated pork belly created amber ripples in the wok. He stir-fried the food with deft movements. He usually cooked at home, and these were the dishes his wife and children loved.
Su Yuan was leaning against the mottled cement stove, slicing ginger. The sound of the knife hitting the chopping board, mixed with the aroma of sautéed green onions wafting from next door, filled the cramped kitchen.
After all, he had run a restaurant for several years and had excellent knife skills. He had prepared all the ingredients that needed to be prepared in a short while and came over to watch Zhu Guoming cook.
Zhu Guoming was not stingy and told him how to make this dish: "You must fry the sugar color first, and add the soy sauce in three batches."
He tapped the seasoning jar with a spatula, and the dark brown liquid shone with an oily sheen in the sunlight.
"Our cuisine is all about rich oils and sauces, unlike your Nancheng cuisine, which has a variety of flavors, including both light and sour and spicy. No! This is our Nancheng!"
He suddenly paused, his eyes sweeping over the honeycomb coal tied with hemp rope in the corner:
"Speaking of which, back in Yongcheng, my master's sour bamboo shoot and old duck soup was a must-try. I still get cravings just thinking about it now."
Su Miao squatted in front of the tap to pick vegetables, and the cold water washed the shepherd's purse roots.
She looked at the floral sheets and gray suit fluttering in the wind on the clothesline outside the second-floor window, and suddenly caught a glimpse of the tin biscuit boxes stacked at the base of the wall. The lids were printed with faded peony patterns, exactly the same as the box in her own cupboard that contained the old food coupons.
"Guoming, are you entertaining the guests? The aroma of the braised pork today is making my little girl's saliva water."
The door curtain next door was lifted, and a woman wearing a floral apron poked her head out, the rice in the aluminum lunch box in her hand still steaming.
Zhu Guoming smiled and picked up the plate, put a few pieces of fried pork ribs into her lunch box, and said:
"The braised pork isn't done yet. Sister Wang, please try the ribs and let me know what you think."
"Oh no! You don't even need to taste it. Everyone in the building knows your cooking skills."
She stuffed an apple into Zhu Guoming's hand and turned back.
Zhu Guoming handed the apple to Su Miao and explained, "We are all employees of the same factory. If someone cooks a good dish, we often share it with each other. We are even stricter than the chefs in state-owned restaurants.
Miaomiao, this apple is for you. It's time to eat. Don't fill up your stomach. Eat the fruit after dinner."
Zhu Guoming opened the casserole, and the milky white mist from the fermented fish head in the casserole instantly blurred his glasses:
"Try this fish head. I specially marinated it with rice wine. It's more flavorful than the ones sold in restaurants outside."
Just then, there was a quarrel upstairs, followed by the sound of a door slamming.
Zhu Guoming shook his head: "It's the two elderly neighbors on the third floor who are arguing every day over the bathroom. This building doesn't have a private bathroom."
On the dining table, the braised pork in the enamel plate was trembling with oil, and the sweet and sour spare ribs were coated with amber sugar.
The food was delicious. The three of them ate and chatted. Zhu Guoming asked about Uncle Si's business in Yongcheng, and asked whether the Su family father and daughter were used to living in the capital.
Zhu Guoming sighed and said, "Everyone thinks life is much better now than before, but I always feel like something is missing."
He poked the rice in the bowl with his chopsticks, looked up at his son's award certificate on the wall, and said:
"It's like this old house. They demolished one wall to repair another. No matter how much they renovated it, it's still not in one piece.
Working in the factory, you can see the end of the world at a glance. Maybe the whole family will be squeezed into this small house for the rest of their lives, but if they leave, they are afraid that they will not even have a place to live in this house.
Su Miao bit into a piece of tender pork ribs, and the sweet and sour taste spread on the tip of his tongue.
Suddenly, the sound of children chasing each other and laughing could be heard downstairs, mixed with the shouts of the scrap collector and the Shanghai opera singing on the radio.
She also looked at the award certificate for Zhu Guoming's son on the wall. The corners of the certificate were yellowed by coal smoke, but it was still firmly fixed with thumbtacks.
Just like the people living in this old house, they are trying hard to bloom their hope for life in the cramped environment.
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