"It's time for dinner. I guess everyone must be hungry."
The old lady looked at the scenery along the way with curiosity. After the curiosity wore off, she naturally thought of the most important thing at the moment.
She touched her grandson's belly and found that it was no longer round, so she asked the people in the box.
Jiang Dahai and Huo Wu were lying on the top bunk when they heard the old lady's question: "It's time to eat. I just asked the train attendant and they can help heat up our dry food for only 10 cents. There is also a restaurant on the train that serves steamed buns, rice and noodles. All you need is food coupons and money."
Jiang Dahai and Huo Wu had just inquired carefully, after all, the next few meals would have to be spent on the train.
"Why spend that money? I heard from my former colleagues that things on the train are more expensive than those sold elsewhere. We can't waste money." The old lady began to rummage through the big cloth bag on her back. "It's full of big steamed buns. Although the taste is average, it's convenient and filling. I brought a lot, so let's eat together."
The old lady brought a whole bag of steamed buns, which were probably made of a mixture of white flour and corn, and were a little yellow. But these days, steamed buns mixed with white flour are rare.
The old lady was willing to share her food with them, which was very generous. However, it can be seen that the old lady's family was well off, otherwise old ladies would not be so wasteful.
"My mother also brought us a lot of food when we went out. Auntie, let's share it when the time comes."
Jiang Dahai took out the package that Old Lady Miao handed to him before he went out. He was in such a hurry on the way that he didn't even have time to see what his mother had prepared for them.
The dark blue cloth bag was opened, revealing two small tin biscuit cans inside. The lids of the biscuit cans were carefully wrapped with another layer of yellow paper, as if there was a fear that the lids of the cans would leak open along the way and the contents would spill out.
Jiang Yilu took one of the biscuit jars and opened the lid. Inside was a full jar of deep red chili sauce with a lot of chopped bacon cubes. As soon as the lid was opened, an overbearing aroma of chili oil swept everyone's sense of smell.
"Mom is so thoughtful. She was afraid that we might not be used to it, so she also brought some chili sauce." Jiang Dahai looked at the thick stack of pancakes in the cloth bag and swallowed his saliva. Pancakes taste best with chili sauce.
It’s a pity that there are not enough ingredients here, otherwise it would taste even better if you roll scallions, black fungus and three shredded vegetables in the pancake.
The pancakes made by Grandma Miao are chewy and fragrant, with the aroma of grains. A round pancake as big as a chopping board, a thin slice, is spread with the sauce prepared by the old lady herself. Even Ruan Ruan, with a small stomach, can eat two whole pancakes.
"And mushroom sauce." Ruan Ruan can't eat spicy food very well, and her favorite is the jar of mushroom sauce made by the old lady herself.
Mrs. Miao’s most proud soybean paste paired with various wild mushrooms is salty, fragrant and delicious, leaving a long-lasting aftertaste.
"Let's have pancakes and steamed buns for lunch. You two can go to the restaurant and see what dishes are available. Sauces alone won't do. The kids are still struggling."
Ruan Yuanjiang looked at the things on the table and said, "These pancakes and steamed buns are cold. Heat them up together."
It's just one day, so don't be pretentious and differentiate between you and me, just eat together.
The old lady happily agreed, and Jiang Dahai and Huo Wu took enough food for them to have one meal, put away the remaining dry food, and walked towards the restaurant on the train.
"Dad, wait a minute."
Jiang Yilu stopped the man. The chili sauce could be spread directly on the pancake, but the mushroom sauce could not. The unheated mushroom sauce would appear a bit cold and hard. Ruan Ruan had a bad stomach, and eating cold mushroom sauce in the middle of winter would definitely get her stomach upset.
Ruan Yuanjiang smiled. As a grandfather, he was not as attentive as a child.
Jiang Yilu estimated their appetite and poured a small jar of mushroom sauce on the lid of the biscuit jar. The lid of the biscuit jar was just half the thickness of a thumb. He covered the mushroom sauce in the jar with butter paper first and then put the lid back on after they finished eating.
Not long after they left, the young couple came back.
"Bang——" Fang Qianqian slammed the door, without even looking at the people in the room, and sat down on her bed.
"The food on this train is awful, salty and spicy. I just want to eat a bowl of braised pork, but it's all fat, so greasy that even a dog wouldn't eat it."
The delicate little girl pouted and kept complaining to her partner.
"We will arrive in Haicheng tomorrow. Auntie will definitely prepare a table of delicious food for you. Just be patient today."
What else could Pei Qing say? He had to tell her that the fat meat that even dogs wouldn't eat was a delicacy that he had never been able to eat before!
Perhaps people from different families are really different. A gleam of light flashed in Pei Qing's eyes under the glasses. This life is what he wants. Fang Qianqian's father is the director of the Haicheng Revolutionary Committee. He has made a lot of money in this position over the years. Her mother is the deputy director of the food factory. She is the only daughter in the Fang family. When the time comes, everything in the Fang family will be hers.
Pei Qing thought of what Chang Zheng said to him before he left Haicheng. So what if he was a son-in-law? He had had enough of that hard life.
What's more, Fang Changzheng himself was also a son-in-law who married into the family. Back then, Fang Qianqian was called Huang Qianqian. It was only after he became rich and got lucky that he became the leader of the rebels and defeated several celebrities in Haicheng that he climbed to his current position. The once high-ranking Huang family had to rely on him, and he was able to change his daughter's surname back and bring his family members who lived in the suburbs to the city and arranged jobs for them.
Pei Qing felt that he was no worse than Fang Changzheng. If he was given a chance, he would be able to do what Fang Changzheng could do.
His eyes flashed, and his look towards Fang Qianqian became more affectionate.
"My parents love me the most and will definitely prepare a table full of food for me."
Fang Qianqian snorted complacently and looked at the Jiang family members who were sitting there in silence. Judging from their appearance, they definitely couldn't even afford the disgusting braised pork on the train.
She hated these country people who dressed in rustic styles. They were just country chickens and shouldn't dream of becoming a phoenix.
Fang Qianqian became furious when she thought of her two cousins who had moved in last year and had been living in her house, especially the cousin who had always pretended to be clever and well-behaved.
"I'm going to kick that woman out when I get home. She's just a bumpkin from the countryside. It's great that she got recommended to college. Ever since she came to my house, my life has never been smooth."
Pei Qing knew who she was talking about. After all, Fang Qianqian had complained to him a lot. But at the moment, that woman was still better.
Yes, for a woman who could climb from a sent-down youth to a recommended university student, how could she be an easy person to deal with?
Fang Qianqian felt that she and the woman named Fang Xiuxiu were simply incompatible. Ever since she came to the family, she looked ignorant, unintelligent, and unfilial. Her father had scolded her countless times for the two siblings.
Aren't they just relatives from her hometown whom she hasn't seen for a thousand or eight hundred years? She has only seen her grandparents in Dalian a few times since she was a child. Why should she have feelings for the children of these two uncles who died early?
"The meal is here—"
Jiang Dahai came in with a tin lunch box. The heated steamed buns and pancakes gave off the aroma of rice and flour.
The heated mushroom sauce was emitting bursts of hot smoke, and the fresh fragrance of the wild mushrooms and the salty aroma of the soybean sauce were intertwined together, making people unable to help but salivate.
"The chef at the restaurant liked our pancakes and traded them for three pancakes with the green onions and shredded vegetables cut by the kitchen, and also served us a big bowl of pork stewed with vermicelli."
Jiang Dahai placed a bowl full of vermicelli on the table, with several slices of pork on top, which lived up to its name at all.
It was really Mrs. Miao’s cooking skills that were good. When the chef in the kitchen was heating up the pancakes for them, he asked them for a bite of the pancake to try. They were immediately captivated by the chewy dough. After changing the pancakes, they even scooped two spoonfuls of mushroom sauce for them. While eating, they also welcomed them to go to the restaurant to heat up the pancakes for every meal, free of charge.
Jiang Dahai couldn't help but get excited when talking about this. In the past, they all knew that the old lady was a good cook, but they had never had such a clear understanding of it. Look, even the chef on the train praised her.
Exchanging three pancakes for this table full of toppings was a good deal for everyone.
Jiang Yilu helped to put the chairs together, put the dough and buns on the table in the carriage, and placed the heated mushroom sauce, freshly opened chili sauce and shredded green onions on the chairs. You can add more if you want to eat. Pork stewed with vermicelli was also placed in the middle of the group.
"Brother Ruan is so lucky. My sister-in-law's cooking skills are amazing." Old lady Weng took a pancake and tore it into two halves. She spread mushroom sauce on the smaller piece, wrapped it with three shreds and carefully rolled it into a roll and handed it to her grandson Chouchou. She took the remaining half, spread it with the chili sauce that people in Yuchuan County loved the most, wrapped it with green onions, and started to eat it.
After taking a bite, the old lady couldn't help but think in her heart, we are all women, why is there such a big difference in their cooking skills? Her pancake-making skills are even better than those of the master chefs in the supply and marketing cooperatives in the city. No wonder the chef was willing to exchange her pork stewed with vermicelli for it.
Jiang Dahai was somewhat embarrassed by what Old Lady Weng said. His mother was his father's wife and had nothing to do with Uncle Ruan.
"Auntie, you misunderstood. I am not Uncle Ruan's son. This cake was made by my mother." Jiang Dahai thought that even though his old man was not around, he had to clarify the issue first.
"I thought so. You don't look like Brother Ruan and Xiaobao. You look too rough."
Rough!
The old lady spoke her mind without thinking, and she stabbed Jiang Dahai in the heart.
"Xiaobao is my son." Jiang Dahai was almost in tears. It would not be good if his son looked like his handsome brother-in-law, because when he went out, others would think he was not his biological son.
"Oh, I'm old and my memory is not good. I forgot it again." The old lady patted her head and remembered the oolong scene this morning.
Jiang Yilu was making wraps for Ruan Ruan, and the ones were just small enough for her to eat one at a time.
Jiang Yilu felt uncomfortable when he thought about having to cooperate with Grandpa Ruan to send away this little girl who trusted him.
Jiang Yiliu looked at Ruan Ruan with mushroom sauce on the corner of her mouth, smiling sweetly at him, and smiled bitterly in his heart, reaching out to wipe the sauce off the corner of her mouth. Now, he could only try to be nicer to her, so that Ruan Ruan would not hate him so much next time they met.
They ate with relish, but the other two people were not feeling well because the food on the train was not to their liking. Fang Qianqian ate two bites and refused to eat anymore. She not only refused to eat herself but also made a fuss and refused to let Pei Qing eat. She insisted on going back to the carriage, causing Pei Qing to not eat enough.
Now the aroma of Jiang family's food was drilling into their noses, making the saliva in their mouths secrete faster and faster, and their stomachs seemed to be rebelling.
But these were obviously the dry food that people brought with them, and there was nowhere to buy them if they wanted to.
Fang Qianqian still remembered the argument she had just had with the other party, and she was too embarrassed to go buy cakes from him. She could only mutter a few words, kicked off her shoes angrily, lay down on the bed and covered herself with the quilt.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Pei Qing picked up the shoes that Fang Qianqian had kicked to the other side, placed them neatly at the foot of the bed, and nodded to apologize to them.
After doing all this, Pei Qing also climbed onto his middle bunk.
The days on the train passed quickly. With the food prepared by Old Lady Miao, no one felt uncomfortable eating. At each meal, they could exchange pancakes for a few dishes with the chef in the kitchen. After a few meals, they tasted all the delicious dishes on the train without spending a penny. Old Lady Weng's steamed buns were not wasted either. In the next few meals, everyone ate them with chili sauce and mushroom sauce.
Fang Qianqian and the others learned their lesson and avoided going to the restaurant at their meal times. Although the two sides didn't talk to each other for the rest of the day, they didn't have any of the small disputes they had when they first met, which made everyone feel relieved.
After more than thirty hours, the train finally arrived in Haicheng. Jiang Yilu looked out the window at this future metropolis, which unveiled its veil in the dust raised by the train.
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