Chapter 34 Chef Li doesn't know the cost of firewood and rice until he's in charge of the household!
“When the weather is clear, there are ships going between Shanghai and the island every day. It’s convenient for you to go home to visit your parents, and it’s also convenient for your parents to send you things. I know a few crew members. You can talk to them and ask them to put your things in the lower-class cargo hold. You can bring some things over once a month. Everyone is willing to help.”
Li Jianzhi wanted to give his wife a more comfortable life. Shanghai was a convenient place to live, where she could buy more goods. Parents in many cities often sent things to the children of educated youth in the countryside, and many organizations would do them a favor.
Qin Xiangxiang was completely moved. Now she took the initiative to go to the island to join the army. She could still contact her parents every month. It only took one night for the ship from Shanghai to come. Her parents did not have a holiday when they came, but it was very convenient to ask someone to bring things and send letters.
Sea freight is the cheapest mode of transportation because the road is the ocean, which requires virtually no maintenance and is not subject to mountainous or narrow passes. As long as the weather is clear and the waves are small, it can be traveled without hindrance.
However, when typhoons hit and the weather is bad, it's common for boats to be unavailable for several days.
"Wife, how about you come with me to the military base? We can be a family of three together, and I'll try my best to transfer back to Shanghai later."
Qin Xiang thought to herself: I don't need you to be transferred back. I'll divorce you, or give up following you to the military base. I can go back whenever I want. I'm very free.
“Your grandma’s influence on our child is not good. Let’s take Qingfeng away and correct his personality while he’s still young. We need to teach him to respect and love his mother. Not to mention his grandma taught him a bunch of nonsense, and... your father-in-law spoils the child too much.”
“You’re right.” Qin Xiangxiang sat up straight. “Alright then, I agree to go with the army, but there’s a condition: you have to tell our factory that it’s like I’m on unpaid leave, but I’ll keep my position. If I don’t like staying on the island, I can transfer back.”
"If I go back, the factory has to accept me."
"Of course, I'll take care of everything." Li Jianzhi suppressed his inner joy. His wife had agreed, and he could finally enjoy a life with his wife, children, and a warm bed.
Very good!
He couldn't help but hug the woman in front of him; his wife was, in his mind, the most understanding woman in the world.
Qin Xiangxiang was held in the man's strong chest, and feeling his heartbeat, she couldn't help but feel her heartbeat quicken as well.
Li Jianzhi lowered his head and touched her forehead to hers, gently kissing her lips and savoring them for a long time. It was like a bowl of cold jelly on a summer day, but it couldn't dispel the heat in his body at all; instead, it made it even worse.
With great difficulty, he let go of the woman in his arms, got up, locked the door, and drew the curtains, dimming the room several shades. His eyes also became dim and ambiguous.
Qin Xiangxiang took a step back, saying incredulously, "It's broad daylight!"
She had worked the night shift for three days, and they hadn't done "that" for three days, but looking at the man in front of her, something was wrong. Could he be...?
"We're not from ancient times."
"Day and night are the same." Li Jianzhi also thought that he shouldn't be so beastly, but he had already endured it for three days. He felt sorry for his wife who worked the night shift and came home in the early morning. For three days, they had shared a bed but he just looked at her without touching her. How could he endure this?
I finally got to see my wife on vacation, and we were so passionate that I couldn't resist going out that night.
He's now just like those people whose eyes light up at the sight of pork, craving the meat in front of him. He hasn't eaten meat for three days, and he feels sorry for his wife and his little brother. He's already mistreated his brother for the past thirty-odd years, and he can't mistreat his brother anymore.
He doesn't know how he got through these three days. He couldn't touch the beautiful woman beside him. During the day, he ran and ate very bitter wild vegetables to cool down. In order to distract himself, he was already writing an in-depth plan, scheming about the happy life he would have with his wife at night after she went on vacation.
He had even planned out the posture he would adopt in advance, and he had also calculated the subtle patterns in his mind countless times, just like a rehearsal. Now he urgently needed to "practice as the sole criterion for testing truth".
Now is the time to verify the results of the exercise.
Of course, he also seriously criticized himself in his heart: You're so vulgar.
Qin Xiangxiang slept until 1 p.m. When she got up, she wiped the tear stains from the corners of her eyes and wondered if there was something wrong with the feng shui of her room. Otherwise, why would her frigid husband suddenly change like this?
Moreover, he was quite skilled; he didn't use brute force, but would alternate between heavy and light blows, or suddenly speed up, making it impossible for people to resist, and many were forced to shed tears.
Once we get to the island, he'll probably revert to being the frigid husband he used to be.
Thinking about it that way, I'm a little reluctant to give it up; I have to do it once or twice a month.
Qin Xiangxiang got out of bed and opened the curtains. Hearing the noise outside, someone called out to her, "Xiangxiang, come out for dinner."
Qin Xiangxiang's stomach had been growling, but now she had lost her appetite.
At noon, only the three of them were there; Qin Xiangxiang's parents weren't there, so the person cooking was naturally—"Chef Li".
This Chef Li is skilled at killing chickens and fish. He's tall and imposing in the kitchen, unafraid of the Xu family next door glaring at him. He ignores their veiled insults with a cold face, using water and gas however he pleases.
Just a few days have passed, and Qin Xiangxiang guesses that in the eyes of the Xu family, her husband Li Jianzhi has far surpassed her, becoming a thorn in their side and a thoroughly disliked "extremely awful person".
If she's a little bit of a drama queen, then Li Jianzhi is a big drama queen, a phoenix man, tsk.
"Honey, I made borscht and seaweed rice."
Hearing about borscht, Qin Xiang felt much more relaxed. It's generally hard to cook this stuff badly. Just add canned tomatoes and shredded sausage, along with some potatoes and greens, and it'll taste delicious. Plus, Li Jianzhi is such a connoisseur that he's generous with the tomato sauce and shredded sausage, so it would be a shame if it tasted bad.
Besides borscht, there was also rice with seaweed flakes. Qin Xiangxiang had never heard of seaweed before, but Li Jianzhi called laver seaweed "hai tai," perhaps it was a name used on some islands? Sea moss?
These past few days, Li Jianzhi has been trying to make some seaweed snacks. I heard that he really angered the Xu family next door. He cut the dried seaweed into pieces, soaked it in boiling water, then poured in cold water. He then laid out a piece of gauze, poured the seaweed water onto the gauze, and filtered out square seaweed sheets. However, the sun hasn't been strong these past few days, so it's not convenient to dry them. Therefore, he directly dried them in the kitchen by roasting them over a fire, brushed them with seasoning water, and then pan-fried the seaweed sheets in a pan like pancakes.
In the end, he only made a few pieces of seaweed sheets. He wasted a lot of water and gas in the process. He made what he called "seaweed sheets," which were fragrant and crispy. They tasted pretty good, but they were gone in two or three bites. It was all a waste of effort.
When Qin Xiangxiang overheard the Xu family complaining to her parents during the day, she really wanted to laugh; it was just too funny.
"Old Qin, is there something wrong with your son-in-law?"
"Is his hometown really in the countryside? Or is he not from some cadre family?"
...
Because making so-called seaweed sheets was too much of a waste of time, Captain Li chose to give up. Compared to factory industrialization, making them by hand was simply a waste of effort.
In the end, Li Jianzhi chose to make seaweed flakes, which is simpler and doesn't involve as many steps. He simply stir-fried the seaweed flakes, added some sesame oil, salt, and sugar, which is much simpler than seaweed sheets and tastes great with rice.
"This smells so good!" Qin Xiangxiang poured a spoonful of seaweed flakes into her bowl to mix with her rice. It was fragrant, crunchy, and went very well with the rice. "It smells like sesame oil... Did you stir-fry it with sesame oil?"
"Honey, you can tell? Yes, I used sesame oil to stir-fry it."
Qin Xiangxiang: "..." This spendthrift man! Who would be willing to use sesame oil to stir-fry seaweed! How could it not taste good when it's stir-fried with sesame oil? And he even added so many white sesame seeds.
Extravagant! Extravagant! Too extravagant!
You're the one who's such a drama queen!
Qin Xiangxiang felt her fists harden. She finally understood how her mother, Zhou Aodong, disapproved of her. She herself was frugal and could not stand this spoiled brat's extravagance and wastefulness.
That's not right, she wasn't always so frugal...
"You like this borscht? Then let's bring more canned tomatoes." Li Jianzhi also thought that canned tomatoes were very good at this time. They were suitable for cooking fish and making tomato soup, which was very convenient. Moreover, "They're so cheap, only two cents each."
A can of tomatoes costs 22 cents, and no extra ration coupon is needed. Buying 30 of them would only cost 6.6 yuan, which is less than a month's electricity bill for the refrigerator.
But the thought of cooking fish with canned tomatoes every day is rather disgusting.
“Let’s buy more of these red sausages so you can use them to cook seafood in tomato soup at home.”
Qin Xiangxiang: "...How many cans of tomatoes do you plan to buy?"
Li Jianzhi: "How about we buy a hundred of them first? A hundred cans of tomatoes are only twenty-two yuan, that's so cheap!"
Qin Xiangxiang: "Then you'll be arrested and suspected of speculation and profiteering."
Li Jianzhi: "..."
"Four or five a month is enough. My parents can buy some and have someone bring them over." Qin Xiangxiang really couldn't stand this man. Did he want to buy a hundred cans of tomatoes and eat tomatoes every day? She really wanted to clear his head.
Qin Xiangxiang: "You really don't know the value of money when you're not in charge of the household! A can of tomatoes costs 22 cents, while a pound of tomatoes only costs 5 cents in the summer! You can buy so many fresh tomatoes with 22 cents, do the math yourself, and you still have the nerve to teach your son math!"
"I'm truly impressed by you!"
The chubby boy next to them got excited and echoed his mother's words, "I really admire you! My dad doesn't know the cost of firewood and rice when he's not in charge of the household!"
Li Jianzhi's expression remained unchanged, without the slightest hint of shame; this was the benefit of developing a poker face.
It's not that he's bad at math; it's that he's used to a comfortable life and hasn't adapted to this era of scarcity. In the future, when everyone shops online, who won't stock up on large quantities of goods? Many people's purchases from this year's Singles' Day will last them for three years.
"Wife, you are so virtuous."
"A skillful homemaker!"
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
At that moment, Xu Ruwei, who was on the same floor and in the same corridor, suddenly shivered. She began to feel that her ears were hallucinating.
One day in this world, the pretentious girl next door, Qin Xiangxiang, will also be able to say, "You don't know the cost of firewood and rice until you're in charge of the household," and her husband will praise her, "Wife, you are so virtuous."
That's amazing.
She's also a good homemaker!
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