Jian Dan was quite eager to try it out; this kind of life was something she had never experienced in her previous life.
"Really? I'll have to go check it out later. I've heard it's a good thing before, so I'll get some for my sister and uncle to try."
"You've never eaten it before?"
He simply shook his head. The original owner came from a wealthy family, and even after handing over all the family property, their standard of living didn't drop much. He really had never eaten it.
"Oh dear, I don't have any relatives in the countryside, and no one will mail it to me. I've heard it's delicious, so I'm going to eat my fill this time."
"Ha ha,"
Old Master Liu's smile revealed black holes where several teeth were missing.
"It really is delicious. It's sticky and filling."
Families with plenty of food would indeed use glutinous rice mixed with regular rice, or even just regular cornmeal, to wrap red beans inside. These red beans would be cooked, mashed, and then sprinkled with white sugar or saccharin. The bean buns would have a sweet rice flavor on the skin, and they would be chewy and sticky. That's what made the authentic version.
Oh dear, when I was still in the army, I went out with my leader once and was lucky enough to have that meal.
In our village, a few years ago, some families would mix some sticky sorghum with a little bit of glutinous rice and make rice cakes. They tasted pretty good. After making the cakes, they would freeze them outside and store them in the granary. When they wanted to eat them, they would just put them on a bamboo mat and steam them. Or they could steam several batches at once and freeze them. When they wanted to eat them, they would just put them on a bamboo mat and steam them.
This stuff is convenient; if we eat it sparingly, it can last until the first month of the lunar calendar.
"Really? Then you'll definitely wrap them all, right?"
"That's true. Which of the old women in the village can't do it? This isn't a job for one person. Usually, after preparing the dough and cooking the bean paste, two or three families get together, sit on the kang (heated brick bed), and wrap the filling while chatting. If it's just a bowl of dough, it's all done in a morning."
Steamed buns are so convenient! Just add some vegetables to the bottom of the pot and you have a pot of soup—cabbage strips, shredded potatoes—it's piping hot and delicious, no need to prepare anything special.
He simply tilted his head and glanced at the old man.
"Third Master, judging from your words, you actually quite like this kind of thing?"
The old man grinned.
"This stuff is soft and filling, everyone loves it."
In her previous life, Miss Jian's family was involved in organized crime, but they were well-off. She had eaten this before, but it was always a taste of the natural, unprocessed food. She always enjoyed delicacies from land and sea, and she quite liked the occasional meal of coarse grains prepared with care.
As the oxcart swayed forward, Jian Dan tried to recall what was in the base's warehouse. This kind of coarse grain was definitely not a staple food, and there probably wasn't much of it.
After searching around, sure enough, there was no sorghum rice at all, but there was plenty of glutinous rice, which was prepared for cooking in the kitchen as an ingredient.
They arrived at the commune after a leisurely stroll, but there were indeed no large vats or anything like that. After a quick search, they found that many things were out of stock, so they had to go to the county town.
"No, right?"
"There really aren't any, and many counters are empty."
The old man was used to it.
"That's normal. The supply of materials is also focused on towns. It's not just here; it's the provincial capital and county towns above that are also experiencing shortages."
Simple, I understand. The place is too small to be worthy.
The county town is simply the place where you get off the train; it's just a county town, and I hadn't looked at it closely before.
Well, I didn't have time to look at it carefully today.
The two went straight to the supply and marketing cooperative after entering the county town. Fortunately, the county town was much better than the commune. The pedestrians on the road were not as thin and listless as those in the commune, but they were not much better off.
It was already past noon, and there were really not many people at the supply and marketing cooperative. When they heard that the young girl who came in wanted to buy a large vat, the sales clerks were all stunned. Given the situation this year, no one had really asked about this thing that was neither edible nor drinkable. For a moment, no one answered.
Jian Dan was stunned. It's either there or it isn't. What kind of reaction is this?
"elder sister?"
She was young, had a delicate face, and spoke very politely, so calling her that made the women, who were all mothers, a little embarrassed.
"Hey, hey, what do you want?"
"Little sister, what did you want again?"
"Oh, I'd like two large vats for pickling sauerkraut, and a few small jars for pickling salted vegetables. Oh, and do you have any glutinous rice here?"
The sales clerks looked at each other in bewilderment. They had ordered several items, all of which were unpopular. Whose spendthrift child was this?
However, they don't necessarily have to dig into the details; being able to sell the goods is a good thing.
"Little sister, are you sure you want these things? Once you buy them, you can't return them if you want to back out?"
These are the main items. They're not cheap, and although the large jars and pots can be used for many years, buying them outright is like buying a bulk order. They don't want their family to come looking for them later; they'd rather not sell them than cause that trouble.
“I won’t go back on my word, sister. I was a sent-down youth who settled down in the countryside. These things were purchased because I needed them for my life. I can make the decisions myself.”
"That's fine. We happen to have both large vats and jars here. As for sticky rice, we only have sticky corn. Come and take a look over here."
To be honest, among whole grains, corn is the most palatable.
"Sister, is this this year's new grain?"
She didn't know them, but she had learned some of their jargon.
"It's quite a coincidence. These were brought over by villagers from the lower-level brigade. They also suffered a disaster today. They were originally planning to plant some sticky corn to satisfy the children and the elderly, but they didn't harvest much. They were already struggling to make ends meet, so they didn't care about anything else and brought it all over to exchange for regular grain."
Simple didn't care about anything else; seeing that it only weighed a few dozen kilograms, she simply waved her hand.
"Sister, I want them all."
"You want them all?"
This is a question raised by three or four voices simultaneously.
"You really want it? It weighs almost 100 pounds! You can't waste it."
The simple reasons are readily available.
"Sister, I also want to bring some back for the other educated youth who went to the countryside with me. We'll share them and send them home to try after they're done."
The group then looked away. After all, this was a common reason. Educated youth sent to the countryside often went out to buy things by themselves, using the money for work points and transportation expenses to make ends meet.
Another thing is that when children go to the countryside, they send some local specialties home. This is very common, and if parents receive such a package, they can brag about it for a long time.
Several sales clerks helped pack the bags, telling jokes as they did so.
"Little sister, you're so young, yet you have so many things on your mind."
"Yes, you're too young. How come you're going to the countryside at such a young age?"
Simple, honest words are obviously out of the question, but clichés are readily available in abundance.
“My family members are all contributing to the country’s development in their respective positions, and I can’t fall behind. I hope to use my own hands to contribute to the country’s development in the countryside as well.”
The term "educated youth" was glorious, and it was quite a prominent one in the early years.
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