After Li Xiangdong finished washing up and went to bed, Liu Changhai asked, "Xiangdong, who made that bottle of maltose you handed to Manager Xie at lunch today?"
I've never heard of the brigade going into the maltose business!
"My third sister made it."
Five or six days ago, Li Xiangdong estimated that the malt had grown enough, so he rode his bicycle to Quanshui Village to watch his third sister make malt sugar.
When he arrived, Li Ying was cooking sweet potatoes in a large pot, and the room smelled sweet.
The flood was about to throw the malt into a small millstone to grind it into a paste.
The two elderly ladies sat in the main room watching Daxia.
Li Xiangdong helped mash the sweet potatoes into a paste, then poured in the malt extract and stirred it well. After waiting all afternoon for the reaction to be complete, they began filtering. The filtered water could then be used to make maltose.
Put the water in a pot, bring it to a boil over high heat, then simmer over medium heat. During this time, you need to stir it constantly with a spatula. When the water in the pot becomes viscous, darkens in color, and starts to bubble, you need to turn the heat down to low. Once the water has completely turned into a viscous, yellowish-brown liquid, the maltose is completely made!
This process takes an entire afternoon.
By the time this pot of maltose was ready, it was already dark.
Li Xiangdong picked out some sugar with chopsticks, then used two chopsticks to pull and stir it back and forth. After a while, it hardened and turned a little whiter, so maltose is also called "stirred sugar".
If you stretch the maltose into a whole block until it's white and hard, you can tap it off with a small hammer when you want to eat it. The candy makes a "ding-ding" sound when you tap it, so it's also called "ding-ding candy".
The sticky sugar can also be used to blow sugar figures and make sugar melons...
"Second Uncle, give me some! Da Xia wants some!"
Daxia, a small and soft little girl, jumped into Li Xiangdong's arms and begged for candy.
Li Xiangdong affectionately patted her little head and handed her the candy.
Li Ying was quite excited about the flood; she never expected that ten pounds of sweet potatoes could produce so much maltose!
Li Xiangdong was also very excited; the people of Huichuan County were saved!
Perhaps it was because he had been reborn as a human, but when Li Xiangdong looked at these people, whether they were old or young, good or ordinary, he always felt a sense of pity.
He hoped that because of his rebirth, some people could be spared a miserable fate, even if only slightly.
Perhaps Li Xiangdong is a soft-hearted person who easily forgives others because he sees even a little bit of good in them.
He wasn't a purely good person, but he wasn't the kind of ruthless, vicious person who only cared about life or death.
He may not amount to much, but at this moment, he feels it's all worthwhile to give the people of Huichuan County even the slightest chance to survive this year of disaster.
"Third sister, keep some for the family to eat, and give me the rest. I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative and see if I can sell it! If I can make money, the people who have suffered from the disaster can use it to earn money, and it will be enough to last until the autumn harvest, so they won't have to go out begging for food." Li Xiangdong's expression was somewhat excited.
Grandma Jiang glanced at Grandma Hong with a smug look, as if to say, "Look, this is the person I've chosen. How outstanding he is!"
Grandma Hong was speechless. What does Xiang Dong have to do with you? I don't know what you're so proud of!
Grandma Jiang didn't feel that she was being proud for nothing. Could the apprentice she had chosen possibly escape her?
Li Xiangdong sold maltose to the county supply and marketing cooperative at a price of four cents per pound. Ten pounds of sweet potatoes cost one cent, and he made four and a half pounds of maltose, which he sold for one dollar and eighty cents!
When Li Xiangdong gave the money to Li Ying and Hong Shui, the two were overjoyed and immediately started making maltose from the remaining sweet potatoes.
However, Huichuan County alone cannot consume all the maltose produced by the entire county; a stable sales channel must be found!
So, taking advantage of the flushed faces and warm atmosphere at the dinner table, Li Xiangdong successfully sold the maltose again!
After Li Xiangdong finished speaking, everyone fell silent.
They were very proud of their brigade's bumper wheat harvest this time, but for the brigade with many relatives nearby, this harvest was a huge loss!
If Li Xiangdong's method works, they can get through this difficult time on their own, saving us the trouble of nagging them. After all, no one is rich.
...
Lijiapo Brigade Headquarters.
The work team has been here for three days. Sun Zhiqing tossed and turned on the kang (a heated brick bed) in frustration, like a pancake being cooked.
The kang (heated brick bed) at the brigade headquarters is so damn hot!
It was the height of summer, and Sun Zhiqing felt like a fish on a hot plate, about to be cooked.
I've been here for three days, but neither the team leader Li Jin nor the accountant Wang Zhenbo have shown up.
When Li Tang, the production team leader, asked to check the accounts, the other team leader said that the account books had been locked up by Wang Zhenbo and could not be retrieved.
When I tried to talk to people face-to-face to find out what was going on, they all had gloomy faces. Some were so good-tempered that they didn't say a word, while others were so bad-tempered that they would scold me.
This is absolutely outrageous!
Openly defying the working group is outrageous!
President Hu is right, they are a bunch of troublemakers!
Thinking back to Deputy Director Zhang's instructions before he left, they knew that if they wanted to overcome this difficulty, they had to start with the Lijiapo Brigade!
Therefore, I can only succeed, not fail.
But where to begin?
Lijiapo is now like an impenetrable wall, completely sealed off, leaving no room for maneuver.
Sun Zhiqing was somewhat annoyed and angry. Deputy Director Zhang had gone to the city and hadn't returned yet. How could he explain himself if his work made no progress before Zhang came back?
...
Apart from Sun Zhiqing, who was still awake, the other group members were also too hot to sleep.
In order to maintain a clear boundary with the Lijiapo Brigade, Team Leader Sun refused to eat at the villagers' homes. Instead, he sent people to buy rice and flour and cooked for himself at the brigade headquarters.
The brigade headquarters only had one kang (heated brick bed), and cooking three meals a day there was bound to be hot.
There used to be a bed in another office, but that guy Li Kang moved it away the day before yesterday!
The group members were very resentful. They had thought they would be treated to good food and drinks when they came to the village, but now they were being treated like dirt. They had to buy groceries and cook for themselves, and they couldn't even get a good night's rest.
For a time, the investigation team's work reached a stalemate.
On the other hand, Zhao Sufang's life was also not easy. The work team was watching her husband and son with covetous eyes, and the villagers were keeping a close eye on her.
No matter what she thinks in her heart, she has to put on a show. If she collapses first, it will give others an opportunity to take advantage of her.
The villagers breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the brigade leader's wife calmly teaching everyone how to make canned goods, and Li Kang continuing to lead the joint defense team on patrols as usual.
Some people hope for peace and stability in the village, while others hope to stir up trouble.
Every time Aunt Niu and Li Wanshi meet again after their last fight, they both turn their heads away simultaneously, spit out a curse, and say, "What bad luck!"
Aunt Niu kept an eye on the work group for several days and was pleased to find that they were serious and targeting Li Jin.
When they met Li Wanshi again, she said in a sarcastic tone that Li Jin was doomed. It was all because Zhao Sufang insisted on making canned goods to sell, but the higher-ups didn't agree. Soon, Li Jin would be removed from his position as brigade leader and would be prosecuted!
Li Wanshi spat fiercely, turned and left, but she was still worried about her disobedient eldest son!
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