Meng Pingchuan has worked in the machinery factory for half his life and has made many friends among the old co-workers in the factory. Moreover, with his qualifications, he started taking apprentices a few years ago. All new workers in the factory will be trained under him for a period of time, so there is some master-apprentice relationship between them. Every Chinese New Year, many people come to pay New Year's greetings, and more or less they will bring some local specialties from home, which makes Meng Pingchuan feel a little embarrassed.
Moreover, the machinery factory is not a small factory, and the interpersonal relationships here are also a science, so Meng Pingchuan simply invites his good friends and sensible and motivated apprentices in the factory to dinner at home before the Chinese New Year every year, and prepares a sumptuous meal to serve meat to relatives and friends at home who are in financial difficulties.
Working in the same factory, Meng Pingchuan, who has no brothers to support and only two children, does not live a very leisurely life compared to his co-workers who have many brothers and sisters and four or five children of their own. This is why they did not refuse him, as some of them live a tight life just waiting for this meal every year.
Qu Ying had been busy since early morning, killing chickens and butchering fish.
Jiang Dahai brought the big rooster before dawn. At that time, Jiang Yilu was still snuggling in bed with his cousin. When they went downstairs, Jiang Dahai had already rushed back to the village to work. Qu Ying and his wife boiled a large pot of hot water and prepared to kill the chicken in the kitchen.
Even though Qu Ying lives a comfortable life now, he also went through hard times in the past, so he is very efficient when it comes to killing a chicken.
Jiang Dani poured the boiled water into a tin bucket nearby and covered it to prevent the water from cooling down too quickly. Jiang Dazhen helped to grab the rooster's wings. The rooster probably knew what was going to happen to it, and its two claws kept moving and clucking.
"This rooster is very fat. Look at its strength." Qu Ying praised. Nowadays, people are reluctant to feed chickens with grain. Feeding them some bran is considered good enough. In some places, people can only survive by eating bran. It is rare to feed chickens so fat like the Jiang family.
Qu Ying grabbed the rooster's head, clasped the rooster's sharp beak with his thumb and index finger, and used his other hand to pluck some of the hair on the chicken's neck, exposing the skin on the neck. Then he reached out and used the kitchen knife that had been sharpened long ago to cut the rooster's neck. The bright red chicken blood flowed into the porcelain basin that had been prepared long ago.
"Great, we have blood tofu to eat today." Meng Xiangxue and Jiang Yiliu walked into the kitchen and saw the scene of chicken blood. They shouted happily, "Grandma, I want to eat spicy blood tofu. Remember to add more hot sauce. I can eat two more bowls of rice."
Meng Xiangxue said happily, licking his lips, as if he had already imagined the spicy and smooth taste. Jiang Yiliu was infected by him and couldn't help but feel a little greedy.
"Okay, I don't know what you taste, go wash your face and brush your teeth." Qu Ying spat at his grandson and said happily to him.
Many people in Yuchuan County love spicy food, and every household grows a small piece of chili seedlings in their yard for making chili sauce. The Meng family never makes chili sauce. The chili sauce they eat at home is brought by Jiang Dazhen from home. This thing is free, but it takes some effort, so Mrs. Miao is naturally not stingy. Moreover, every time she comes to get the chili sauce, her daughter's mother-in-law always takes some candy and cakes back, which is a bargain for Mrs. Miao.
"Knock, knock, knock--" Meng Xiangxue was looking at the bowl of chicken blood, looking back every few steps, when there was a knock on the door.
Qu Ying and the others were busy, so they asked Meng Xiangxue to open the door.
"Sister Qu, I heard that your family has killed a rooster--" An old lady in her fifties or sixties walked in with a bamboo basket in her hands, smiling. When she saw the dying rooster and half of the chicken blood, she exclaimed, "Your family has already started killing chickens. Alas, I'm a step late." The old lady patted her thigh, looking regretful.
"Grandma Qianqian, what are you doing?" Qu Ying asked curiously, not quite understanding the purpose of her visit. The visitor was a neighbor of the Meng family, living in the small building next door, but the conditions were not as good as the Meng family's. There were three families living on the second floor of the small building, and the old lady's family occupied the first floor of the second floor, but there were twelve people living in one room, with no room to move around.
"It hasn't been long since the bloodletting started, so it should still be useful." The old lady muttered to herself for a few words, then said to Qu Ying, "Sister Qu, I want to exchange eggs for rooster blood. You know my husband's health is getting worse and worse. The doctor said that rooster blood can be useful, but we haven't been able to buy roosters in the supply and marketing cooperative for a long time. I heard that your in-laws sent a rooster, so I thought--"
The old lady said embarrassedly that although roosters were rare, they could still be bought occasionally at the supply and marketing cooperative. It was just that a whole big rooster was too expensive, and it was difficult for their family to afford it. So when she heard that the Meng family was killing chickens, she hurried over.
Jiang Yilu frowned when he heard the old woman's words.
This treatment method of injecting chicken blood became popular during the Cultural Revolution. Almost everyone regarded it as a panacea for curing diseases and saving lives, and praised it as miraculous. Even in 1965, when the Ministry of Health had issued a notice prohibiting medical personnel from injecting chicken blood into patients, there were still people who tirelessly bought roosters, injected chicken blood privately, and worshipped its efficacy as if it were a god.
Even in later times when technology has advanced, there are still many people who believe in this superstition.
It is no wonder that everyone believes in this folk remedy. It is because when the human body is supplied with a small amount of blood, the body will produce a stress response, creating the illusion of emotional excitement, making people think that the chicken blood really has a therapeutic effect. In fact, the bacteria and viruses in the chicken blood can cause many side effects to the human body. Excessive administration of chicken blood will instead put a burden on the body.
"Grandma Qianqian, the newspapers all said that chicken blood injections are not credible. Doctors now forbid it. Don't believe these things. Master Qianqian is not in good health, so he should go to the hospital to get some medicine."
Qu Ying is now idle at home. In addition to doing some housework, she also likes to read newspapers. She has seen this method of chicken blood injection in the newspaper a long time ago. The newspaper said that chicken blood injection is not good for the body, so she naturally wants to stop it.
"Sister Qu, you are reluctant to let go, right? I won't take it from you for nothing. I even brought eggs with me." The old lady's expression faded. She lifted the lid of the bamboo basket in her hand, revealing three round eggs in it.
Qu Ying was both angry and amused, but they were neighbors after all, and she couldn't really let their relationship become strained. Although giving him chicken blood might not be very useful, she had never heard of any problems. Qu Ying shook her head and handed the bowl over to her grandson as he looked at her eagerly.
"Grandma Qianqian, you'd better take your child's grandfather to the hospital. It's the right thing to do to get medicine and see a doctor."
The old lady didn't listen to Qu Ying. Their family was not as well-off as the Meng family. Qu Ying's words sounded nice, but she was not the one paying for them.
In the end, Qu Ying did not accept the three eggs, saying that she was asked to give them to her husband to nourish his body. The old lady seemed to have gotten a great deal and left happily with the porcelain bowl in her hand.
"I lost the blood tofu and a porcelain bowl. It's a failure." Meng Xiangxue shrugged. The bowl was taken away by the old lady and he probably couldn't get it back.
"You are a little brat. You should respect your grandson's elders." Qu Ying tapped his grandson's head and lectured him with a stern face.
Meng Xiangxue pursed his lips, not knowing whether he had heard it or not.
Meng Dachang and Meng Pingchuan never come back for lunch. The machinery factory is doing well, and old masters like them receive a food allowance every month, not too much, not too little, just enough for the two of them to have one meal every time they are in the factory.
Because they were busy preparing the dinner, for lunch they just ate some leftovers from the previous day with some hot sauce.
When Meng Dachang and his colleagues got off work, it was already getting dark.
At this time, a large round plate was placed on the square table in the Meng family's restaurant. The space that could originally seat only seven or eight people instantly became a large dining table that could accommodate sixteen or seventeen people.
There were a lot of food on the table, including cold dishes such as tofu with green onions, hot and sour cabbage, candied tomatoes, and cold tofu skin. There were also two plates of peanuts and melon seeds for the men to drink with.
The hot dishes were still heating in the pot in the kitchen. When Qu Ying heard the noisy footsteps and conversations outside, he immediately knew that his son had returned, and urged his wife and Dani to bring out the cooked dishes.
Spicy stir-fried chicken offal, braised carp, silver carp stewed with tofu, as well as a plate of boiled lamb and a plate of stir-fried lamb with green onions made with the marinated lamb bought the day before. As soon as these hard dishes were served, the aroma made the men who had just followed Meng Pingchuan in swallow their saliva.
When Jiang Yiluo came in, he focused his attention on the young guys who looked younger. He looked them up and down like a searchlight, wondering which one was the legendary Xiang Qianjin.
"Auntie, sister-in-law, I'm sorry to come here to eat and drink for free again." A middle-aged man standing with Meng Pingchuan said happily.
"What are you talking about? You can come to my house whenever you want. I want to thank you for taking care of Pingchuan." Qu Ying replied with a smile, her eyes narrowed into slits: "Hurry up and sit down. Don't be polite. I still have food in the kitchen. Pingchuan, you have to take good care of me."
Qu Ying gave instructions to her son, and then went to the kitchen with her daughter-in-law and Jiang Dani.
"Everyone, please sit down. You are not outsiders, so don't be polite." Meng Dachang sat in the main seat and greeted his son's friends and apprentices.
Meng Xiangxue had already pulled his cousin to sit next to his favorite food, and asked Meng Pingchuan to help him open a can of yellow peaches and pour half into a bowl for each of them.
Jiang Yilu was no longer thinking about the food. Soon, his attention was focused on the man sitting opposite him.
He was very tall, sitting on a chair he was half a head taller than the person next to him, with dark skin and a simple and honest look, although not handsome, but with regular features. At this time, he was wearing a dark blue cotton jacket, the same as all the workers around him, which was the factory uniform, but it was very cold, everyone else was wearing a turtleneck sweater, only he was wearing a thin shirt, probably because he sweated a lot while working, Jiang Yilu 2.0 eyes could see the yellow stains on the collar.
Moreover, when everyone was happily drinking and eating meat, that man, although he had meat on his chopsticks, did not eat it for a long time and his eyes never moved away from the kitchen door. At this point, even a fool would know that there was a problem.
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