Xiao Jiu was awakened by the crowing of a rooster. She lifted the bed curtains and found the room a bit dark. She glanced at the open curtains and saw that it was a cloudy day.
She rolled over, sat up, and stretched. Yuan Yuan heard the noise and looked down: "Awake? Are you hungry?"
Xiao Jiu picked up the alarm clock and exclaimed, "Oh dear, it's almost ten o'clock? Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Your first good sleep after surviving this ordeal should be until you naturally wake up. Ju-jie and I have already eaten. We left you a steamed bun and an egg in the pot. If you're hungry, get up quickly, and we'll quickly tidy up and prepare lunch!"
Xiao Jiu got up and saw Yuan Yuan studying on the bed. She blushed. Compared to Yuan Yuan, she was really much lazier.
I ate a steamed bun and an egg with some pickled vegetables, and drank a big bowl of cold boiled water. Now that I had energy, I kneaded a big lump of dough.
While the dough was rising, Xiao Jiu greeted Yuan Yuan and went out. When she came back, her small vegetable basket was filled with seasonal vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, green beans, and peppers.
Although the old lady planted them in the yard, she had these things in her own space, so there was no need for her to ask others for them.
As for her warehouse, there's one thing she hasn't noticed all along.
The various ingredients on the shelves of the space warehouse will change with the seasons, but the shelves will be empty after they are eaten.
For example, if it's summer now, the shelves will have more seasonal vegetables than off-season vegetables, and more seasonal fruits than off-season fruits.
The only constant is the pre-frozen products and various meat products in the cold storage warehouse.
The varieties may change, but the quantities will not; if they are gone, the market will be empty.
Over the years, she has eaten two shelves of vegetables and reduced the amount of grain in the warehouse by one-tenth.
The frozen food was the least consumed because there were very few opportunities to eat meat, and everything had to be kept hidden, which was quite frustrating.
Now that we have a garden at home, we have to be more careful about what we eat. Forget about meat; even having some eggs occasionally feels like a luxury.
Even though she was only eating seasonal vegetables and fruits, Yuan Yuan was still quite surprised when she saw the vegetables she had bought!
"My goodness, where did you buy this? When did the vegetables at the market become so fresh?"
If you go late, not only will they only have bad quality produce left, but it's also ridiculously expensive, not cheap at all.
That's why some people queue up all night just to buy the freshest vegetables.
Your dish looks amazing! There's not a single bad part, and it's so beautiful!
I've never seen such beautiful vegetables in my entire life!
Xiao Jiu looked at it with surprise and asked, "Is it that difficult? They were serving the food when I got there, so I guess I was just lucky?"
"Oh my god, isn't that just good luck?"
My sister and I can never buy such fresh produce. You're more than just lucky.
Once they're sold out, they're gone; there's no chance they'll be available again. How much did you spend on tickets and money?
ticket?
Holy crap, when did we start needing ration coupons for vegetables? Didn't we already get through the toughest times?
It wasn't until Yuanyuan pulled out the scallions, ginger, and garlic that Xiaojiu suddenly realized that this was exactly what the scallion coupons were all about.
Fortunately, the vegetables she bought were strictly in accordance with the rations for her two officially registered family members. At the most difficult times, the ration was two ounces, with no restrictions on the type of vegetables. Now, the ration has been increased to five ounces, and the excess is naturally...
"I was afraid there wouldn't be enough to eat, so I paid a high price to buy extra from people who had leftovers. I didn't care how much it cost; I just wanted to eat my fill first."
Yuan Yuan looked at Xiao Jiu disapprovingly: "No, Jiu, we have to be careful with our money. If we keep buying groceries at high prices every day, we'll soon be broke, especially since summer vacation is still a long way off. Otherwise..."
At this point, Yuan Yuan paused, and under Xiao Jiu's questioning gaze, she still mustered up the courage to say something.
"How about we wait until sunset and try our luck in the surrounding rural areas?"
I heard some people are selling it secretly. They have so many vegetables at home they can't possibly finish them all! And the price is reasonable.
Judging from what she's heard, it's probably more than just hearsay. Besides, there's already a wide variety of food available in the middle of summer, and eating something so restrictive wouldn't suit her lifestyle.
She had already tried to keep a low profile in other aspects, but she couldn't skimp on the food.
In addition, the vegetables grown by rural people are much tastier than those grown in greenhouses in her warehouse, or even those grown with pesticides.
Then his eyes lit up: "Is it reliable?"
"Don't worry, it's reliable. We can buy more and dry them into dried vegetables to improve our meals when there are no vegetables in winter."
Seeing Yuan Yuan's confident demeanor, Xiao Jiu said, "Then what are you waiting for? Hurry up and cook, we'll go after sunset."
"We can buy two baskets woven by farmers in the countryside and put them on either side of the bicycle. That way, we can carry quite a lot on one trip."
In this hot weather, I have no appetite for anything.
At midday, Xiao Jiu showed off his skills by kneading dough, washing it, steaming gluten, and steaming cold noodles on a plate.
The success of this series of operations was due to the development of short video teaching in later generations.
Of course, this is also related to the fact that I was idly eating things during that unbearable sealing day.
This was the first time Yuanyuan and Cuiju had witnessed the birth of liangpi (cold skin noodles). Afterwards, with the addition of garlic juice, seasoning sauce, sesame oil, chili oil, and cucumber shreds, it became even more magical.
"It would be even more refreshing without the mung bean sprouts,"
She does have some in her warehouse, but... it's not convenient to take them out, and there's no bean sprouts for sale at the local vegetable market, otherwise she would have smuggled them over long ago.
"Jiu'er, you're really something! You even came up with such a delicious snack!"
"This is just one way of eating it. Later I'll make some jelly noodles, beef tendon noodles, cold noodles and stuff like that. These are the things that are perfect to eat in the summer."
He ate two bowls of cold noodles and was so full he kept burping.
After dinner, Xiao Jiu went to wash up, while the two of them went inside to study. They went over another set of math problems during the midday break.
Although Cuiju also wanted to rest, the older she got, the more she felt that time was tight. When it became a habit, she no longer felt bitter.
When Cuiju left for work at 2 PM, Xiaojiu had already fallen asleep without a care in the world, and later Yuanyuan also succumbed to sleepiness.
She slept until four o'clock. When Xiaojiu woke up, Yuanyuan had already filled their respective water bottles with the mung bean water that she had cooked at noon and let cool in the afternoon.
"If we help pick the vegetables, the price will be cheaper. Bring plenty of mung bean water to prevent heatstroke. Wash your face as soon as you wake up, and we'll set off right away."
Yuan Yuan, acting like a little adult, went out to check the tires and brakes of her bicycle.
Xiao Jiu thought it was just a nearby rural area, how far could it be? But she didn't expect it to take her an hour and a half to get there.
“I’ve bought things from Grandma Li before. To outsiders, I’m just a distant relative or something. You can just call her Grandma Li when you come.”
Their village is called Shangyuan Village, located upstream of this river. They make a living by growing fruit trees. She has four sons and two daughters—a large family!
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