Chapter 57: The mouth is spoiled
When doing collective work in the production team, only a few people are really active, and most people are just slacking off, so there is endless work to do throughout the year, but the real gains are not much.
But after the land was divided and everyone worked on their own, things were completely different.
For example, now, because the fields in the village are planted with rice seedlings, most of the villagers have free time, unlike before when they still had to do this and that and could not rest for a whole day.
Of course, this leisure is not the kind of doing nothing in later generations. There are still some miscellaneous tasks, but the whole family does not need to work together.
With more people free time, naturally more people came to help Deng Shirong build a house.
As a result, Deng Shirong's new house changed every day, and the progress far exceeded expectations.
Similarly, the meat in Deng Shirong's system space and the rice at home were also being consumed at a very fast rate.
After entering the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the rice in the house was the first to be cleared out. After all, there were dozens of people eating every day, and the little food distributed by the production team would definitely not last long.
The current price of rice is not high. The national price is 0.19 yuan per kilogram, which averages out to less than 1 cent per kilogram.
But this thing requires food coupons, so for Deng Shirong, no matter how cheap it is, it is useless. If he wants to buy rice, he can only go to the market. And now the market price of rice is almost double the national price, which is 1.8 cents per pound.
Ten kilograms costs one dollar and eighteen dollars, and one hundred kilograms costs eighteen dollars.
There are dozens of people feeding every day, and a hundred kilograms of rice can't last for a few days.
There is also the meat in the system space. Although Deng Shirong has been saving again and again, using fish, shrimp, eels, frogs, snails and other things to make up for the lack of meat, the daily consumption is still not small. When the Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, the hundreds of kilograms of meat that had been accumulated before were all consumed.
Including the eleven pieces of five flavors that Deng Shirong got when he arranged for the woman to come to Deng Changwang's house to look after the house a few days ago, all of them were thrown in.
Fortunately, at this time, not only the blue brick walls of the new house were built, but also the beams were all ready. All that needed to be done was to lay the roof tiles, and the main body of the house would be completed. The next step was to enter the decoration stage.
On July 14th, Deng Yuntai was busy transporting goods to Beihai with Deng Yungui to sell, so he was unable to stay at home to celebrate the festival. Now it is Mid-Autumn Festival, and the tile factory is busy firing kilns, so Deng Yuntai is unable to stay at home to celebrate the festival with his father and younger brothers and sisters.
Mooncakes appeared a long time ago, but the custom of eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival did not appear until the Ming Dynasty. This is recorded in historical materials such as "Zhuo Zhong Zhi", "Wan Shu Za Ji" and "Di Jing Jing Jing Wu Lue".
So why did the custom of eating mooncakes suddenly emerge during the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Ming Dynasty?
There are many folk legends about this, but the most popular one is that it is related to the people's courageous resistance against the Mongolian rule at the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty. Although there are many versions of the details, the general meaning is the same.
Generally speaking, it was the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Mongols ruled brutally, the people were living in misery, and they rose up in rebellion. The instigators made round pies as a token of trust, and hid a note inside that said "Kill the Tartars on the 15th of August", and distributed them to every household, agreeing to revolt on that day.
Eventually the uprising was victorious and the Ming Dynasty was established. Mooncakes became a custom of the Mid-Autumn Festival as a testimony of victory.
However, this statement cannot be found in official history. It is just a folk legend and its authenticity is difficult to tell.
Nowadays, people’s lives are difficult, so naturally they don’t have the conditions to buy or make mooncakes. Therefore, eating mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival does not exist in Naye Village.
Of course, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival in my country after all. No matter how difficult it is, we have to celebrate it. If there are no moon cakes, we can use other things as substitutes.
As a result, in Naye Village and several nearby villages, there was a custom of making long tofu (which means grinding tofu) on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. This custom was maintained until the 1990s, when people's living conditions gradually improved and they could afford moon cakes, and then it was gradually abandoned.
There is only one stone mill in Naye Village, which is placed at the entrance of Azugong Hall. Everyone knows that there will be a lot of people ordering long tofu today, so they soak the soybeans in advance and then line up in front of the stone mill before dawn.
Tofu is not expensive nowadays, at least not for Deng Shirong. He can buy it for a few cents and the whole family can’t finish it. There is no need to grind the soy milk himself.
But now every household makes it by themselves. If they don’t make it themselves but just buy it with money, or exchange it with soybeans, it would lack the festive atmosphere. So the eldest and youngest daughters were busy running around, and Deng Shirong did not stop them.
In the afternoon, the fragrance of tofu wafted over the entire Naye Village. Those who could afford it would add a little vermicelli when rolling the tofu. For people of that era, the taste was no less than delicacies from land and sea.
Deng Shirong's family started eating vermicelli rolled tofu.
Deng Yunzhu felt something was wrong while eating, and couldn't help but say, "Dad, this vermicelli roll with tofu doesn't taste as good as the one I made on August 15th last year. Is it because the tofu wasn't made well today?"
Deng Yunsong swallowed the food in his mouth and said, "I was just about to say that today's vermicelli rolled tofu doesn't seem to be as delicious as the one I made on August 15th last year."
Deng Yunhua and Deng Yunheng also nodded, they had the same feeling.
Deng Shirong smiled and said, "It's not that today's vermicelli rolled tofu is not as delicious as the one we made on August 15th last year. On the contrary, it tastes even better. You think it's not as good as last year because the food you've had during this period is too good. Think about the meat that made you drool in the past. Even if it's placed in front of you now, wouldn't you be able to eat much?"
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After hearing this, the children suddenly understood.
Deng Yunsong sighed, "It's true. In the past, if I could eat as much as I wanted, I could easily finish a large bowl of pork by myself. But now, if you give me another large bowl of pork, I'm afraid I can't even eat half a bowl."
Deng Yunzhu nodded and said, "If dad hadn't told me, I really wouldn't have thought of it. It seems like we have been spoiled!"
Deng Yunzhen felt the same way. Ever since her father and brother Yungui contracted out the brigade's tile kiln, the family's food standards had changed drastically. They used to only eat pork once or twice a month, and each time it was only a few dollars.
Now, it may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that we are sick of eating pork, but we can eat meat every day and there is no limit on the number of pieces per person. The difference is really huge!
She was a little worried. If the family conditions of her future in-laws were not good and the food standard was reduced to the same as her own family's before, how would she live then?
Deng Shirong smiled and said, "We are currently building a house, which is quite costly, so we keep eating these dishes. When the house is finished and the pressure at home is not so great, I will prepare other delicious dishes for you brothers. I guarantee you will like them."
The children's eyes lit up when they heard this.
They all had no objection to their father's cooking skills, and the delicious food their father described must be rare delicacies, so they couldn't help but feel full of anticipation.
(End of this chapter)