Chapter 58 I want a handful of chocolate beans.
Qin Xiangxiang and her husband paid to have the photos printed. They printed all the photos first, and then Qin Xiangxiang selected about ten more that she thought were good and printed them again before sending them to her parents in Shanghai.
Of the thirty photos taken, at least twenty featured Qin Xiangxiang, with two solo photos of Li Jianzhi, several solo photos of Li Qingfeng, and a photo of him and his son.
"Your photos are pretty good." Qin Xiangxiang liked these photos. She wanted to print each one twice, but it was too expensive. Each print cost six cents, which was about the same as a small fried yellow croaker.
No matter how carefully I selected them, I ended up printing fifteen extra copies, which cost me ninety cents, to send to my parents.
Seeing this, Li Jianzhi urged his wife to buy two more blank rolls of film, saying he wanted to take pictures of the bread oven, chicken coop, and vegetable garden at home. Qin Xiangxiang couldn't stand him, so she had no choice but to agree.
Li Jianzhi called his father-in-law from his office and arranged in advance to have the letters and photos delivered by boat that evening, so that Qin Wutong could go to the port the next day to pick them up from a security guard.
"Photos? Great, great! I haven't seen my daughter in so long, and my little grandson too."
When Qin Wutong told Zhou Aodong what had happened, the couple were both quite agitated. Their daughter, who had been by their side for over twenty years, had suddenly passed away, and they both felt a little resentful towards their son-in-law. Fortunately, they could still keep in touch every month.
"This young couple even bought a camera and took photos specifically to bring back; they really put their heart into it."
Qin Wutong: "When asked how much she spent on the camera and whether she had enough money, she wouldn't say."
"We'll know when we see the photos tomorrow."
Qin Wutong went to wait early in the morning. The ship hadn't even docked yet. He rushed into the cabin to get the letter and eagerly opened it to read his daughter's letter and photo. After reading it, he was satisfied and rode his bicycle slowly to the factory, not caring if he was late. He had told the factory in advance that he was going to pick up his daughter's letter.
"Old Qin, did your daughter send back a letter?"
"Hmm." Qin Wutong couldn't help but reveal a hint of smugness on his face.
"Can I see the photos? Did you send one or two?" These days, a photo costs five or six cents, so sending one or two is already considered a big expense; two photos would cost the price of a pound of pork.
Qin Wutong held up a number.
"How much? It can't be ten sheets, can it?" The factory workers' eyes widened. Ten sheets, five yuan, a huge sum of money!
Qin Wutong: "Fifteen photos! There are photos of my son, my grandson, my son-in-law, and a group photo. They are all taken at the beach. The scenery is beautiful, and the family looks very happy."
"Fifteen cards! My God, they're really willing to spend that much."
“They bought a camera and took the photos themselves. They said they would send us photos every month. Now I can still watch my little grandson grow up. The child has been gone for a while, and he looks even more robust.”
The people in the factory were stunned: "Wow! This is the seaside!"
"Just think, this girl has been beautiful since she was a child."
...
After talking to the factory workers for a long time, Qin Wutong's face turned red with excitement. He wasn't usually a talkative person, but now he was so excited talking about his daughter and grandson that he couldn't contain himself.
"Old Qin is envious of you. You two used to spoil Xiangxiang too much. We were worried that you would raise a money-losing child. But now it seems that Xiangxiang is the best."
"The most tragic thing is Old Jiang's daughter. She studied hard and diligently since she was a child. She was capable and even got into university. How could she have done this? Sigh."
Raising a daughter in the city isn't about anything else, but about the fear of her getting pregnant by someone else after being raised properly. Old Jiang's daughter from their factory was the most outstanding child, even getting into university. But then, a male classmate got her pregnant while she was in university, forcing her to drop out. The man didn't acknowledge the affair and showed no responsibility. I heard he even knelt down and begged her not to reveal the father's name so they wouldn't both be expelled. In the end, she dropped out and ran off to the countryside, too ashamed to go home and see her parents. It's like raising a daughter with such a bright future was a waste. What else can you say about her but that she's chosen to be a bad person?
Then there's the Zeng family's daughter. She was studying diligently when a male teacher at her school got her pregnant. The teacher was dismissed from school and sent back to the countryside to work as a farmer. The Zeng family's daughter had no choice but to go and become a farmer's wife in his rural hometown. She was originally a pretty girl, but she ended up serving a whole family in the countryside for nothing. Her parents never got to enjoy her care and upbringing. She was forced to serve others for some love and romance.
In the village, at least you get a dowry when you raise a daughter. But in the city, you get nothing. She gets cheated by a man and ends up as a slave to another man's family. What can parents do? They can only pity her misfortune and be angry at her lack of self-respect.
"If it were Old Qin's daughter, she wouldn't have done these things. She's so stubborn and unwilling to endure any hardship."
"Girls should be raised like this, otherwise they'll be easily fooled by a few kind words and a couple of sweet words from men."
Qin Wutong brought the photos home, and Zhou Aodong was also happy to see them. People from the Xu and Ding families came to watch the excitement.
Wow, so many photos.
The Xu family members were a little sour: "Don't tell me it's just a matter of taking a few photos to appease them."
“My daughter said she’ll send photos back every month, and I’ll put them up on the wall at home.”
"Looking at it this way, my son-in-law is really good. It's true that he insisted on buying a camera, and no matter how she tried to persuade him, she couldn't stop him! In the end, she had no choice but to buy the camera. Look at what this kid has done."
The Xu family: "??????!!!" Pshaw, you must be kidding me.
The Xu family members went back into the house and whispered among themselves, "Old Qin next door is always bragging. Doesn't he know what kind of temper his Qin Xiangxiang has?"
"He said his son-in-law wanted to buy a camera, and Qin Xiangxiang couldn't stop him no matter what she tried—nobody would believe that. I think it's just that little drama queen who insisted on buying the camera, and her husband couldn't stop her no matter what he tried... Wait, why are you all looking at me?"
At this moment, the Xu family members all had the image of Li Jianzhi in the kitchen in their minds.
Just in case, well, maybe, this man insists on buying a camera.
The Xu family fell silent.
After receiving the letter, Qin Wutong was so excited that he wanted to go to the Central Department Store every day to buy all the accessories for his daughter's floor fan. In the end, he couldn't wait any longer, so he went to the electric fan factory's store and managed to buy a product with some cosmetic defects after much persuasion.
After gathering everything, they entrusted a boat to take the things to their daughter.
Qin Wutong himself started learning to assemble radios, just like those young people. He also collected some bicycle frames, especially bicycle frames. He saw the goods that others had been waiting for a long time to find, and although his family didn't lack bicycles, he felt it would be a waste not to buy them. So he bought them. He bought the most difficult part, the main frame, and decided to assemble a bicycle himself.
Anyway, I often go to the mall and can always buy all the parts, which is a kind of fun in life.
Qin Xiangxiang raised her chicks for a month, but one of them died unexpectedly. The other seven chicks grew up and the sexes could be clearly distinguished. There were three hens and four roosters among the seven, which was just enough to keep all the hens. The rooster chicks were all eaten before the registrar came to the door.
Li Jianzhi found it absurd to kill the young rooster; these regulations were disheartening. However, his wife's rooster stew was delicious, though it didn't have much meat.
The vegetables in the garden were growing vigorously, and the bread oven was dry enough to be used. Li Jianzhi took photos of the garden, chicken coop, and bread oven as he wished. The chicks came out to keep watch and jumped around in their garden.
To encourage the hens to lay eggs sooner, Li Jianzhi would specially feed them small shrimp and snails.
His bread oven was still usable, and he baked bread for his wife and children once. The bread was successful, but a crack appeared in the bread oven, so Li Jianzhi applied some mud to patch the crack.
Because he felt sorry that his wife couldn't eat cream cake on the island, Li Jianzhi specially made baked egg tarts for his wife and children.
The egg tart crust uses the most basic flour, oil, and sugar, while the egg tart filling uses eggs, milk, and granulated sugar. This method uses a lot of oil; two ounces of oil were used to make the egg tart crust because more oil is necessary to achieve a flaky texture.
Layer upon layer of oil paste is needed to achieve the layered effect. Qin Xiangxiang watched as he used two ounces of oil with such a small amount of dough, feeling both worried and impressed.
This man is really generous with the oil.
If it tastes really bad, give it to Little Fatty!
I made twelve egg tart shells using half a pound of flour, two ounces of oil, and half an ounce of sugar. The egg tart filling used two egg yolks, two ounces of milk, and half an ounce of white sugar.
When you do the math, the cost is quite cheap, only about 40 cents. As long as it doesn't go wrong, you can make twelve egg tarts for 40 cents, which is more economical than the cream cake that Qin Xiangxiang bought for 1.2 yuan.
Before using the bread oven, a fire was lit. Three pieces of firewood and some charcoal were placed in and burned for about an hour to allow the insulation layer to absorb enough heat. Once the temperature inside the fire pit was sufficient, a little charcoal was left in before putting the egg tarts in to bake.
In the end, I successfully baked twelve egg tarts that were full of the aroma of eggs and milk, with a few of the edges slightly charred.
The twelve egg tarts had just come out of the fire pit, and the whole area around the vegetable garden was filled with a rich aroma of milk and eggs, driving all the children in the residential compound crazy.
Qin Xiangxiang quickly picked out the egg tarts, placed them on parchment paper, and packed them into a layered lunchbox. Li Jianzhi held the chubby boy beside her, while a group of children watched them intently, like zombies attacking a city.
"Uncle Li, I want to eat one."
"Little Fatty, I want to eat."
"Aunt Qin, the prettiest aunt in our compound..."
Qin Xiangxiang carried her lunchbox upstairs. The egg tarts were too hot to eat yet. When she returned home, a group of children followed her. Some of them squatted near the bread oven, trying to smell the lingering aroma inside.
The children in the compound didn't come from impoverished families; at least they weren't hungry. But they had never tasted anything so delicious and milky, not even the steamed cakes bought outside.
Back home, the egg tarts had cooled down a bit, but Qin Xiangxiang took a bite. They tasted delicious, like eating eggs with added sugar, and had a milky aroma. The crust was so crispy and crunchy, with layers, that you couldn't help but lick the oil off your hands after eating them.
There were only twelve in total. Each person in the family got three, and Qin Xiangxiang took one of the remaining three to give to the children outside so they could share them. If they couldn't finish them, there was nothing she could do, since there weren't any left. She gave one each to Aunt Huang and Zhou Lu next door.
When Qin Xiangxiang went to Zhou Lu's house to deliver things, she was bound to take advantage of the situation, since the family had been eating quite well for the first half of the month!
Qin Xiangxiang: "Zhou Lu, hello, I'd like a handful of chocolate beans."
Zhou Lu: "..."
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