Chapter 59: Mushrooms
Zhou Xian took some time to visit the Qiao family again and asked about Qiao Caiyun's health. He was relieved to know that she was completely fine.
The health of the female supporting characters is not that strong, especially a character like Qiao Caiyun who is destined to die in the book. Zhou Xian is really afraid that she will lose her life because of some small problem.
Even if she signed in, she was the one who saved him. If something happened, it would be a waste of her efforts to save him.
The Qiao family was even more hospitable than last time and insisted on inviting her to dinner. Of course, she couldn't eat their food for free, so this time she gave them money and tickets directly.
Cai Guixiang said she couldn't accept it no matter what. After all, she still felt a little guilty about this matter.
She also couldn't tell the comrades from the Women's Federation that her daughter actually jumped into the river on her own, causing them to go into the river to rescue her. I invited someone to dinner, and they gave me money and tickets.
This really makes me feel uneasy.
After a struggle, Zhou Xian stuffed all the money and tickets into Cai Guixiang's hands and gave up.
After the people left, Cai Guixiang said with emotion, "Director Zhou's hands are really strong."
Seeing that there was nothing to do at the Qiao family's place for the time being, Zhou Xian also informed Director Ji about the work at the Women's Federation and did not visit the various teams for the time being.
The mushrooms in the greenhouse are ready to be picked, and the focus now shifts there.
When Director Ji found out, he readily approved the leave.
Zhou Xian had no experience in growing vegetables. He relied entirely on the knowledge gained from the system. Everyone followed what was written in the book and did not dare to be careless at all.
But when the harvest comes, I am still excited.
"Girl, what should we do now?" Zhou Jiefang was so excited that he couldn't make up his mind.
I never thought that mushrooms could be grown before. Looking at those straw mushrooms, I felt a sense of pride in my heart.
"I'll pick some tomorrow morning and send them to the commune to show the leaders and tell them that we have achieved results."
Mushrooms spoil very easily, especially after they are picked and come into contact with water. They are basically inedible the next day. If you store it carefully it will be fine for a few days, but it is better to pick fresh ones and let everyone see them with their own eyes, which is more convincing than anything else.
Zhou Jiefang nodded, and the next morning, he went to the greenhouse to pick a basket of straw mushrooms.
Looking at the full basket of straw mushrooms, I was so excited that I didn’t know what to say.
I put it on the bicycle and watched Zhou Xian take the basket of straw mushrooms to the commune. I suddenly felt nervous.
When he turned around, he saw that the accountant and the branch secretary were even more nervous than he was. "Brother, why is my heart beating so fast all of a sudden?"
Zhou Jiefang was no longer nervous and waved at them, "Go, go, don't delay anything, go and see how the vegetables are growing."
Although the straw mushrooms can be harvested, the vegetables have not yet borne fruit.
But this also gave them hope.
On the other side, Zhou Xian brought a basket of straw mushrooms to the commune. When she entered the commune, the old man looked at her twice and said, "Secretary Zhou, what is this? Why are you covering it so tightly?"
"I'll tell you later. I have to go find Director Ji first."
"Okay, go ahead." Seeing Zhou Xian's anxious look, the old man didn't say anything more.
Zhou Xian parked the cart and went to the office carrying the basket.
"Xiao Zhou, why are you so late today?" Director Ji looked at Zhou Xian in confusion.
Zhou Xian was unexpectedly late today. Director Ji felt that based on Zhou Xian's personality, he would definitely not do such a thing. He might have encountered some problems. However, the Taohua Brigade had no phone and he could not contact him, so he was very anxious.
This person is her right-hand man, and nothing can happen to him.
Secretary Chen and Secretary Li still didn't get along, but when they saw Zhou Xian was late, they kept looking towards the door. When they saw her coming, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhou Xian put the basket directly on Director Ji's desk, "Director Ji, look what I brought you?"
"What is this?" Director Ji had a vague guess, but he didn't say it out loud. It would be embarrassing if he made a mistake.
Seeing this, Zhou Xian didn't keep the secret any longer and opened the cover on the basket, revealing the straw mushrooms that had just been picked this morning.
"The mushrooms have grown. How come they are growing so quickly?" Director Ji looked at the straw mushrooms in surprise. He couldn't help but grab some and turned them over and over in his hands.
“These mushrooms are growing really well.”
"Who said it wasn't? They are all grown in greenhouses." Secretary Chen also looked delighted.
We all come from Taohua Brigade, so of course we hope that the members in the brigade can have a better life.
"This is growing too fast. What about the other vegetables?" Secretary Li also came over.
"The growth cycle of straw mushrooms is relatively short. As long as the environment is suitable, mushrooms will be produced in about a month. For others, we have to wait a little longer."
Director Ji nodded and said, "This half-acre greenhouse can produce a lot of mushrooms."
"We can sell them, but I guess if we really want to take them to the city, there won't be enough mushrooms in this greenhouse to sell."
Director Ji nodded in agreement. The county town had a large population, and the mushrooms in half an acre of greenhouse would definitely not be enough for the people in the city to eat enough.
Zhou Xian smiled again and said, "Director Ji, mushrooms can't be kept for too long. I think we should take this basket of straw mushrooms to the cafeteria and add some to the dishes for everyone today."
"You little girl." Director Ji nodded at Zhou Xian with a smile, "You can't eat it now. You have to take it to Secretary He first."
"That's fine. Send it to the cafeteria later. I'll go talk to the chef."
Director Ji smiled at Zhou Xian, then took the basket and went to find Secretary He.
When she picked it up in her hands, she realized how heavy it was. She couldn't even tell the weight. It was a bit difficult for her to carry it. It was hard for Zhou Xian to bring these straw mushrooms from the production team to the commune.
Secretary He was even more excited than Director Ji when he saw the straw mushrooms. He had gone to see the plastic greenhouse during the days when it was completed. After all, vegetables need time to grow, so he didn't go there every day afterwards. He thought he would go and see it when he had time. He didn't expect that the mushrooms would come out before he knew it.
When he learned that the other vegetables did not come out, Secretary He felt a little disappointed, but soon he started laughing again. The plastic greenhouse was not a magic weapon, and it could not make vegetables appear all of a sudden. He was just too excited to think so.
It’s good enough if the straw mushrooms can be successful.
After looking at the straw mushrooms, Director Ji said, "I see there are quite a lot of them. Xiao Zhou said this is the first batch. I suggest that our commune should try some of the mushrooms grown by our team first. If people ask about it later, we can talk about it."
Secretary He nodded in agreement. "Okay, send it to the canteen. We'll have it for lunch. Tell Chef Qu in the canteen that this is something grown by our brigade. Ask him to prepare it well."
After finishing the conversation, Director Ji went out with the mushrooms. Seeing that Zhou Xian was so happy, he gave the task of delivering the mushrooms to the cafeteria to her.
Zhou Xian went to the cafeteria carrying the straw mushrooms.
"Master Qu."
When they arrived at the kitchen, Zhou Xian was the first to greet everyone.
The chef in the cafeteria is a slightly plump middle-aged man with good cooking skills. I heard that he has a cousin who is a chef in a state-owned restaurant.
When Master Qu saw Zhou Xian calling him, he looked up and glanced at her, "Secretary Zhou, what's the matter?"
"Secretary He asked me to give this to you. Please do it at noon."
Chef Qu came over with a spoon. He had just opened the lid casually, but when he saw the straw mushrooms inside, his eyes widened. As a cook, he could still tell the quality of the ingredients.
"Where did this mushroom come from?"
"Our team grew them. The commune built a greenhouse for vegetables a while ago. Now the finished products are out."
Master Qu's attitude towards Zhou Xian became better. He reached out and grabbed a handful of straw mushrooms and took a look. They were gray with brown on the outside and round in shape. One could tell at a glance that they were of good quality.
"Okay, I understand."
Seeing Master Qu carrying the mushrooms and about to leave, Zhou Xian hurriedly stopped him and asked, "What are you going to do with these mushrooms?"
"Let's cook two dishes." Chef Qu thought for a moment and said.
Zhou Xian, however, waved to Master Qu with a mysterious look on his face. When Master Qu came over, he took out a book from his bag, which was naturally also processed by Tongzi.
"Master Qu, I saw a recipe for cooking this mushroom in this book. How about we make this?" Zhou Xian said as he flipped the book to show Master Qu.
Master Qu was originally very unhappy. After all, he was a great master and how could he let a little girl tell him what to do?
But when he saw Zhou Xian taking out a cookbook, he immediately swallowed back the words he was about to say.
The fact that he can be a chef is a skill passed down from his ancestors.
It is no exaggeration to say that my ancestor was a master chef in a restaurant, and in the past there were many people who came to dine there.
Later, my grandfather was traumatized and his mind was not very clear. He actually burned the family's ancestral recipes. He and his cousin learned some of them, but they did not grasp the essence.
Now Zhou Xian suddenly took out a cookbook, and Master Qu immediately became interested, but after all, this thing belonged to someone else, and he couldn't get his hands on it.
People in their line of work take inheritance very seriously. Things like this are family heirlooms and are also their livelihood, so they won't be passed on to others easily.
Even if he doesn't like to talk to people on weekdays, he would never do something to cheat a little girl.
But he really wanted to know, so he asked, "Where did you get this?"
"I found it at a scrap collection station when I was in the county town for a meeting last time. The cover was torn, but the inside was fine, with no damage."
Master Qu paused, looked around, and asked tentatively in a low voice, "Will you sell this recipe?"
"I can't cook, why would I sell this?"
The reason I bring this up is to lay the groundwork.
The recipes in it were indeed rare at that time, but in later times, a simple search on the Internet would reveal more than ten different methods of cooking.
When Master Qu was disappointed to hear that he would not sell it to him, Zhou Xian simply said that he would give it to him as a gift. He also wanted to do Master Qu a favor so that he would not have to trouble him if he had any problems in the future.
But Master Qu refused to accept it for free.
Zhou Xian changed the topic and said, "How about I copy down these two pages of recipes, Master Qu, and you can try making them and see how they taste?"
"Okay, thank you then." Master Qu struggled internally for a moment, but was finally moved.
It's just copied down, the original version is still in other people's hands, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Zhou Xian copied all the recipes related to straw mushrooms to Master Qu. There are actually not many recipes, just stir-fry straw mushrooms with pork slices, and there just happens to be meat in the recipe.
Another dish is stewed tofu with straw mushrooms. Tofu is not a rare thing.
Master Qu pondered over the recipe for a while, then carefully folded it and put it on his body. The method was not difficult for him, the main thing was to make it delicious.
At noon, everyone went to the cafeteria and was surprised to see the straw mushrooms.
"Old Qu, where did this thing come from?"
"It's grown in the greenhouse of Taohua Brigade. It's the first crop. Secretary He said that we're bringing it to everyone to taste. After all, it's what our commune applied to grow."
After Master Qu’s publicity, everyone knew that the mushrooms in the greenhouse of Taohua Brigade had come out.
With this mentality, the food will inevitably taste different.
The straw mushrooms have a smooth and tender texture, thick meat, and especially the wonderful taste that blooms on the tip of your tongue. The weather is getting a lot colder now. Drinking a sip of straw mushroom and tofu soup can warm your heart and stomach.
"Old Qu, your craftsmanship is pretty good."
They felt that the food today tasted particularly delicious.
Chef Qu had tasted the dish when he was cooking, so he knew that the recipe was quite good. By following the seasoning, the dish was taken to a higher level.
Of course, the straw mushrooms themselves taste good, which is why he cooked them so well.
"It's all thanks to the straw mushrooms grown by the Taohua Brigade, otherwise I wouldn't be able to make it."
Without these ingredients, his skills would be useless.
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