It was dinnertime, and since there were no classes that night, everyone wanted to eat some dry food to tide them over. This dry food was brought from home, and if they didn't eat it soon in this hot weather, it would probably spoil. If it wasn't hard and dry enough, it would probably taste bad.
For these children from poor families, every meal they can save is a meal, and in the end, they might be able to have a thicker meal.
Xiao Jiu noticed this time when she entered the classroom. Apart from Pang Weiwei, there was only one boy in the class whose complexion looked normal. Even the teacher looked sallow and weak.
She did want to invite them to dinner, but if she did, how would they feel? Would she have to invite them back?
This would only increase their burden.
So Xiao Jiu offered up her pickled vegetables: "These were made by my grandma, you should try them."
Pang Weiwei hadn't brought any dry food, so she asked Xiao Jiu, "Are you going to the cafeteria?"
Xiao Jiu had a boxed lunch for lunch and wanted something porridge for dinner, so she nodded, and the two of them said goodbye to their roommates and went to the cafeteria together with their lunchboxes.
Although it was called a canteen, it was actually just a relatively large room, similar to the large canteen of the production team. The tables, chairs and benches were very old and worn, and the kitchen environment was also very rudimentary.
However, those two large steamers looked really tall, probably because they brought quite a lot of food. So the steamers alone in the large kitchen were more than two meters tall. Of course, the stoves below were also large. She thought these two large steamers were the most expensive tableware in the canteen.
In the evening, the cafeteria put a steamer on. Since they don't steam rice, students who bring their own food can directly line up to buy cornbread.
Everyone is organized by class. Why is it organized by class?
It's to prevent someone from impersonating another person. Everyone in the class knows each other, and they can also supervise each other.
In the evening, I steamed a pot of vegetable dumplings, made some garlic sauce, and prepared a cold salad of bean sprouts and shredded potatoes. I also cooked a large pot of sorghum rice soup that I could see the bottom of.
The garlic sauce was free, and she saw many children take two steamed buns, dip them in the sauce, and eat them like that.
The sorghum rice soup was free because it was quite thin and contained very little rice, just like the cornmeal soup we made in the morning – it was a benefit provided by the school.
Upon closer inspection, I discovered a pot of thick noodles, made from wheat flour and containing various vegetables; it looked quite appealing.
A bowl of noodles costs five cents and two ounces of grain coupons. There's no meat in it, just vegetables, but they're made with lard. This is considered a small-batch meal.
The two of them discussed it and went to get noodles. A serving of cold dishes cost five cents, no coupons were needed, and they could also order two dishes mixed together.
Pang Weiwei glanced at Xiao Jiu somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm a little hungry."
In the end, the two of them each got a bowl of noodles, and a sizable portion of vegetables was piled on top of the lunchbox lid. They paid a total of one cent and two ounces of grain coupons.
Two ounces of noodles is quite a lot. With the vegetables, it fills a whole lunchbox, and it's thick and sticky, looking delicious.
The two sisters ordered a mix of bean sprouts and shredded potatoes. They found a place to sit down, slurped down a mouthful of noodles, and picked up a bite of vegetables. It was incredibly satisfying.
"Hmm, it tastes pretty good, it's sour and spicy, not tough, and delicious."
Both bean sprouts and shredded potatoes need to be cooked to the right temperature; if they're overcooked, they won't taste good. Just by looking at Pang Weiwei, you can tell she's someone who has high standards when it comes to food.
The "Hutu Noodles" contain diced celery, celery leaves, soybeans, peanuts, wood ear mushrooms, and vermicelli bits. It tastes very fragrant, especially after the two of them ordered chili oil, which elevated the whole bowl of noodles.
"I had rice here for lunch. The cafeteria served stir-fried shredded potatoes with sour and sour sauce, garlic greens, and stir-fried green beans with meat. It tasted pretty good. It seems our school's chefs are quite good. I've got my meals sorted for the next two years, haha."
Seeing Pang Weiwei's satisfied expression, Xiao Jiu chuckled, "Sister Wei, were you worried that it wouldn't suit your taste?"
Pang Weiwei nodded shyly, "My mom's cooking is absolutely terrible, really. If it weren't for my grandma, I don't know how I would have survived all these years. My dad is also pitiful, suffering from my mom's cooking for so many years, and he still has to lie and say it's delicious. No wonder my brother always mooches off other people's meals. I used to dislike fish, thinking it was so fishy. How could anyone like eating something so fishy? Later I realized it wasn't the fish that was fishy, it was just that my mom's cooking was so awful..."
Seeing Pang Weiwei's furrowed brows, Xiao Jiu couldn't help but laugh: "I totally understand."
Upon hearing this, Pang Weiwei felt as if she had found a kindred spirit. "Right? Right? Is your family like that too?"
In her past life as Ning Meng, her mother wasn't good at cooking, so her father was forced to hone his skills. Her mother ate ready-made meals every day until one day, a story straight out of a joke happened in their family. She came home from school to find the two of them giving each other the cold shoulder. When she asked, she found out that her mother had actually passed the Level 2 Pastry Chef Certificate exam.
"Look, look, is this fake? You've been fooling me for so many years! How can you be so cunning? You could win an Oscar just to get me to cook for you! Your acting is so convincing!"
Mom would coax Dad, and Dad, who was easily appeased, finally got to eat the snacks Mom made. He was as happy as a child, and his mouth was full of sweet words. Later, he would beg Mom to cook a better meal for him whenever he had the chance. The couple's affection level soared to the point that she felt superfluous.
Thinking back to the past, her eyes involuntarily welled up with tears; she missed her mother.
Although her current parents treat her very well, she misses Ningmeng's mother.
I also miss the cakes she baked for me and the Western-style pastries she made herself. That's the taste of my mother, something that money can't buy.
In contrast, my parents in this life are more like the traditional generation of parents, with the woman taking care of the home and the man working outside. At least whenever my mother is home, she does the cooking, while my father is busy tidying up the house. For example, if the table is crooked, the stool is broken, the windows are drafty, or the tools are not working properly, he is the one who tinkers in the yard. Although he doesn't go into the kitchen, he neatly chops the firewood and stacks it up, and he immediately turns the coal he brings in into briquettes...
They are both protecting this family in their own ways. You can't say he's not a good husband just because he can't cook.
Every couple has their own way of getting along. If one is willing to give and the other is willing to receive, isn't that enough?
"Hey Peach, what are you thinking about? You're even crying?"
Xiao Jiu suddenly snapped out of her daze and quickly explained, "The chili peppers are a bit spicy today. I'm not crying. I always get like this when I eat spicy food, like tears are streaming down my face. Let's eat quickly and have some soup later, so we don't eat too much salt and get thirsty when we go to sleep."
"Yes, yes, the soup will be gone soon, so hurry up and drink it." She changed the subject just like that.
Looking at the bean sprouts in her bowl, Xiao Jiu sighed again how wonderful it was to live in an era without any additives. The bean sprouts were homemade, incredibly delicious, and especially refreshing. In Ning Meng's time, one had to go through special channels to buy such pesticide-free bean sprouts, but now she could buy them with money. How lucky she was.
When the two sisters returned to their dormitory after a good meal and drinks, they found that their clothes had already been washed and they were squatting at the dormitory entrance enjoying the cool air!
It's better in this era; there was no military training. Back then, whether it was junior high, high school, or university, the first thing they did upon entering school was military training.
"Our dorm is great in every way, except we don't have any stools. We have to squat here, which is really unseemly."
Hearing Peng Juan's complaints, Xiao Jiu couldn't help but laugh: "Don't you get dizzy and your vision goes black from squatting for so long?"
These words immediately resonated with the other women: "Oh, you feel the same way? Me too!"
"Me too. I didn't feel it before, but it's become especially noticeable in the past few years of famine. If you dare to go to work without eating in the morning, you'll immediately feel weak all over, break out in a cold sweat, and feel like you could faint at any moment. I fainted once, which scared my mother to tears."
"You're having a hypoglycemic episode," Gao Mingxia said, prompting Xiao Jiu to subconsciously chime in.
"What is hypoglycemia? Is it diabetes?" These words startled Gao Mingxia.
Xiao Jiu quickly shook her head, "No, although people with diabetes are more prone to it, sometimes it's caused by a variety of reasons such as insufficient protein intake, excessive carbohydrate intake, and insufficient exercise. Logically speaking, people these days shouldn't have this disease very often..."
Seeing everyone looking at her with confusion, Xiao Jiu explained again, "Uh, I don't know how to explain it either. Does this only happen when you're hungry?"
Gao Mingxia nodded vigorously, "Yes, yes, it's when I work on an empty stomach that my mom always says I'm being dramatic and that I'm faking it. Until that time I fainted in front of her, it scared her to death. No one in my family has diabetes, isn't that a disease that only rich people get? How could I have low blood sugar? Later, I drank water and ate something before I recovered."
"Did you drink any sugar water?" Gao Mingxia shook her head. "I forgot. Anyway, my mom said I recovered after drinking water. The people at the production team's clinic repeatedly told me to try not to go hungry, saying that my condition was prone to flare up. Although it wasn't serious, I needed to be careful. From then on, no matter how hungry I was, my mom never skimped on me. She would give me even a peanut first."
When Gao Mingxia talks about her mother, her face is full of smiles, which shows that her family is very open-minded; otherwise, she might not have been able to reach such a high level.
"Simply put, it means your body has a nutritional imbalance and lacks high-quality protein, such as meat, eggs and dairy products."
Meat, eggs, and dairy?
Gao Mingxia's eyes widened. "It's hard enough to even get enough to eat, let alone meat, eggs, and dairy! No wonder the people at the clinic only told us to eat our fill and that the rest wasn't a big problem. If they had told us the cause of the illness, my mom would have given me a real dressing down!"
Pang Weiwei covered her mouth and laughed, "Auntie might say you don't have the life of a princess, but you've got princess syndrome?"
Xiao Jiu glanced at Pang Weiwei in surprise, while Gao Mingxia was already laughing along.
"Yes, yes, that's exactly what I mean. They'll even say things like, 'How dare you be so shameless! Do I look like a piece of meat? Do you want me to cut a piece off for you?'"
Pang Weiwei laughed along, "Same world, same mom! My mom often says that to me too."
Xiao Jiu felt that Pang Weiwei's words sounded so familiar. Weren't these all internet slang terms from later generations? How did she know them?
"Sister Weiwei, what you're saying is so interesting! Where did you hear it from?"
Pang Weiwei: "I heard it when my mom went to the capital during summer vacation. It's called 'Same World, Same Mom.' It's about two middle school students talking about their moms and finding that they are all the same. The 'princess syndrome' thing was in the Forbidden City. An aunt said that her daughter can't walk and is lazy, etc. I thought it was a very novel thing to say, so I remembered it immediately."
Xiao Jiu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that another fellow villager had come. It turned out to be just a coincidence.
"Wow, Weiwei, I'm so envious of you! You've been to the capital! Is the Forbidden City huge?"
"Yes, it's huge. Otherwise, why couldn't that lady walk around? It's so big that there are so many places we can't even go in. If you really wanted to walk through it all, it would probably take you two or three days."
...
Taking advantage of the change of topic, Xiao Jiu quickly fetched water to rinse off, changed into a set of dry clothes, and took her dirty clothes to the washroom.
It was still very hot and humid at night, but fortunately they went to bed before dark. The doors and windows were open, and a little breeze could blow in, which made it a bit cooler. However, the mosquitoes were quite scary. Luckily, she had a mosquito net, but the other sisters were not so lucky. Everyone was covered in bites.
We have to do morning exercises at 5 a.m., and there's usually some noise in the dorm around 4:30 a.m. Many people like to wash up after morning reading, but Xiao Jiu can't stand it. Whenever there's a noise outside, she secretly checks the time on her social media and then quickly gets up to wash up.
None of her roommates were lazy; they all got out of bed to wash their faces and change clothes. However, only she and Pang Weiwei had the facilities to brush their teeth in their dorm.
After washing her face, she still had to hurry up and comb her hair. She usually didn't put anything on her face in the summer because she was young and had a lot of collagen. Besides, the face cream of this era felt sticky and uncomfortable, so it was better not to put anything on.
They ran to the playground before five o'clock. Some of the boys hadn't arrived yet. The homeroom teacher stood at the assembly point early. When it was time, she counted the number of students and took attendance. Each person who was absent would have five points deducted. The first person to have all 100 points deducted would be removed from Class 1. No matter how well you did on the test, Class 1 would not accept you again.
Such a stern statement made Xiao Jiu's heart leap into her throat.
In terms of height, Zhou Shengnan and Gao Mingxia were the tallest. There were three of them in a row, and they were in the third row. Xiao Jiu, Peng Juan, and Zhu Hongqi were in the first row, and Pang Weiwei and two shorter boys were in the second row. When the whistle blew, they started running. They couldn't be too slow because everyone behind them had long legs. Although their legs were short, they had to be fast.
The homeroom teacher was also a busybody, running alongside them, no matter how many meters they ran, only checking the time, and returning to the classroom after half an hour.
In summer, it gets light as early as five o'clock, and the morning air still carries a hint of dust. Especially now that the playground is all dirt, when everyone runs together, there's dust everywhere. Even Xiao Jiu wants to wear a mask.
The half-hour run wasn't exactly tiring, but it wasn't easy either. After the run, there was no time to rest. We immediately returned to the classroom for two morning reading sessions, each lasting forty minutes with a ten-minute break in between, totaling ninety minutes and an hour and a half.
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