Chapter 57: The taste of happiness is not spending any money.
Li Jianzhi took his son to pick purslane. They picked a large pile and brought it back. Qin Xiangxiang directed the father and son to soak the purslane in the water while she kneaded dough to make steamed buns.
Li Jianzhi: "Are you really going to eat wild vegetable buns?"
Of course!
Wash and chop the purslane, add salt and baking soda and squeeze out the water. Then add flour and start kneading. Soon, one pound of flour was kneaded into four large dough balls, making four very simple wild vegetable buns.
Qin Xiangxiang put it on the pot to steam, and Li Jianzhi and his son waited curiously beside her.
Qin Xiangxiang: "..."
If you don't consider anything else, eating wild vegetable steamed buns is quite convenient. Steaming the vegetables is pollution-free. After the water boils, steam them for about ten minutes, then let them simmer in the pot for a while. When you open the lid, you'll find bright green dumplings with a very beautiful color.
Four steamed buns were placed in a bowl. Qin Xiangxiang took out rose-flavored fermented bean curd. The family of three each had half a piece of rose-flavored fermented bean curd with wild vegetable steamed buns.
And you know what—oh my god, it smells so good!
Rose-flavored fermented bean curd is Qin Xiangxiang's favorite condiment to eat with rice. The square-shaped rose-flavored fermented bean curd is coated with rose petals. When you first taste it, there is a spicy wine flavor, followed by a sweet rose fragrance, and finally a salty and savory fermented bean curd flavor. The taste is delicate and very tempting.
The wild vegetable steamed buns in her hand were also delicious. Qin Xiangxiang used high-quality whole wheat flour, and the addition of wild vegetables made them not rough at all. They also had a fresh spring flavor with a slight bitterness.
Eating this kind of wild vegetable steamed bun on its own would definitely be unpalatable, but when paired with rose-flavored fermented bean curd, it transforms the rotten into the magical. Dip your chopsticks in the fermented bean curd, and the stimulating spicy and sweet flavor spreads on your tongue. Then take a bite of the bland steamed bun, and the taste is immediately neutralized. You can eat it one bite after another.
Li Jianzhi: "Wife, you really know how to eat!" He found that this combination was quite delicious. However, while wild vegetable steamed buns were healthy, rose-flavored fermented bean curd, which had a high salt content, did not meet health standards.
Little Fatty: "Mom's wild vegetable steamed buns are so delicious!"
Qin Xiangxiang also found it delicious. There was no way around it; a little fuss like her would never let herself go without food. She couldn't eat anything that tasted bad.
A pound of high-gluten flour cost 25 cents, two pieces of rose-flavored fermented bean curd... 20 cents, wild vegetables were free, and the cost of other utilities like water, electricity, and honeycomb briquettes wasn't included. This meal cost 45 cents.
Li Jianzhi gave his wife a suggestion: "If we replace the 25 cents high-quality flour with 18 cents a pound of ordinary flour, and the 10 cents a bottle of rose-flavored fermented bean curd with 30 cents a bottle of ordinary fermented bean curd, our family of three will only spend less than 20 cents on this meal."
If a family of three only has one yuan a day for food, they really have to live very frugally. As Li Jianzhi said, if they are frugal, they can spend only two mao per meal, six mao a day, and only eighteen yuan a month.
Qin Xiangxiang said, "Let's eat it like this. The rose-flavored fermented bean curd is from Shanghai, so it didn't cost any money."
Li Jianzhi: "The flour was bought beforehand, it didn't cost any money."
The couple exchanged a glance: "So we didn't spend a single penny on this meal today!"
The chubby boy exclaimed, "I didn't spend a single penny!"
Li Jianzhi now understands: the pickiest eater in the family is his wife, Qin Xiangxiang. She can't bear to deprive herself of good food and always wants to eat well. Being with a wife like that, his mouth is blessed.
These wild vegetable steamed buns were indeed quite delicious. Qin Xiangxiang was a bit obsessed with making them, but she didn't have much high-quality flour left at home. So she put her mind to it and used about eight ounces of flour, adding two ounces of "chicken feed." She still had plenty of cornmeal left over from buying for the chicks, enough to feed them for a month, so it wouldn't hurt to give some to humans.
"Li Jianzhi, I've learned how to manage a household after marrying a man like you!" Qin Xiangxiang said, hands on her hips, feeling inexplicably proud. It was unbelievable that she had learned to be frugal.
Praise Think!
Li Jianzhi chuckled: "You mean living a simple life by misappropriating chicken feed?"
"If you mix eight ounces of flour with two ounces of 'chicken feed,' and eat it a few times, you'll have a pound of flour left over. Aren't I clever?"
"Smart, so smart. My wife really knows how to manage a household." Li Jianzhi's eyes were filled with a gentle smile. He never thought that one day he could be so happy eating cornbread.
Qin Xiangxiang mixed flour and cornmeal to make steamed buns with hot water. This dough was made by mixing boiling water with a small spoonful of sugar. She made twenty small steamed buns from just one pound of flour, which looked like little mushrooms. She spread some brown sugar syrup on five of the buns and steamed them together. They were fragrant and soft when they were cooked.
Little Fatty likes brown sugar steamed buns, while Li Jianzhi praises the plain steamed buns with added cornmeal. Qin Xiangxiang also enjoys them. A large bowl contains twenty steamed buns, along with a steamed dried fish, a plate of cold wild vegetables, and a small seafood noodle soup with shellfish, shrimp, and crab (which they picked themselves and didn't need to pay for). No other seasonings were used; after cooking, it was sprinkled with chopped green onions and three drops of sesame oil.
Qin Xiangxiang felt a great sense of accomplishment: "We didn't spend a single penny on this meal."
And the food was pretty good!
The flour was leftover, the cornmeal was chicken feed, the brown sugar was earned from making fake collars, the dried fish was a gift from Lai Yiu-wai and his wife, the wild vegetables were dug up in the courtyard, the small seafood was picked up, and the noodles were also earned from making fake collars.
Take a cornbread, put some fish and wild vegetables inside, and after eating it, drink a sip of savory seafood noodle soup. It's truly heavenly.
The biggest advantage of living by the sea is that it's convenient to make seafood noodles. Just add some small seafood to the soup, and the taste is so fresh it'll make your tongue tingle. Add some lard or sesame oil, sprinkle with chopped green onions, and even the picky eater Qin Xiangxiang can finish a bowl of noodle soup.
Because I cooked seafood noodles, there were ten steamed buns left over. I put them in the refrigerator overnight, and then heated them up the next day to make breakfast for the whole family.
Li Jianzhi brought four steamed buns to the office. To be honest, these reheated steamed buns were surprisingly delicious.
Political Commissar Wang was shocked when he saw him and said, "You...you've been eating cornbread ever since your wife came."
Li Jianzhi: "This is the taste of happiness."
Commissar Wang: "..." What's enviable isn't anything else, but that you actually have a city wife who's willing to eat cornbread with you, and the two of you haven't even argued about it yet.
And so, the news that Comrade Li and his wife had started eating wild vegetables and cornbread as soon as they moved into the family compound spread like wildfire.
"These two are going to have a hard time getting along from now on."
"But her child is raised very well, he looks quite sturdy."
"Pfft—Does Zhou Lu live across from his house? Did Zhou Lu manage to borrow money from him?"
Qin Xiangxiang took her son to call her parents. She chose a time when Qin Wutong was free and called the public phone number near the workers' quarters. After a while, she called Qin Wutong over, and the father and daughter talked on the phone.
Qin Wutong asked expectantly, "Think about it, how have you been?"
"I'm doing alright. How are you and Mom doing in health?"
The father and daughter exchanged a few pleasantries.
"Dad, when you have time, go to the Central Department Store and buy some parts for me. Li Jianzhi said he wants to assemble a floor fan himself. Go and check from time to time to see if there are any parts. If you do, buy them and bring them over to us."
Qin Wutong immediately said, "Okay! Then I'll go check on it every day from now on."
"Li Jianzhi said a simple frame with blades would be fine, but he also wanted to make an exhaust fan..."
Qin Wutong's work is not busy, and he has a leisurely job at the factory. He used to pick up and drop off Li Qingfeng in the morning and evening. Now that his daughter and grandson have left, he suddenly feels "empty". His wife is busy with work, and there is no one for him to buy breakfast in the morning. There is less laughter around him, and when he hears other families having a lively reunion, he feels particularly sad.
Now that his daughter suddenly has a need, it's as if his stagnant heart has been stirred. Life seems to have regained a goal: to save up enough money to build a standing fan for his daughter and grandson.
Saving money is a time-consuming process. Many people are waiting for parts, so you need to go early and have the right timing to buy everything you need. For example, when assembling a bicycle, the hardest part to wait for is the triangular main frame; some people wait several months to buy it.
Summer is almost here, and before it arrives, many people will repair their fans in advance. Also, a lot of defective products and parts from factories will be released. He has to keep a close eye on things for his daughter.
It was from this time that Qin Wutong developed the habit of going to the Central Department Store to hunt for bargains. He also learned some repair techniques from the repairmen there. After spending a long time at the repair shop, he could see many novel appliances. He especially liked watching others repair televisions.
Because these TVs break down in interesting ways—either they won't turn on for a long time, the image is distorted, or there's only a wavy line in the middle—watching the repairman fix them is much more interesting than those model operas, and many people come to watch.
The most unusual thing is encountering a color TV for repair. These color TVs are not found in individual homes; they only exist in various government agencies and public institutions. They are only brought in for repair when there is a problem. Every time, finding the problem is like solving a riddle. A group of technicians are also gathered around, worrying and offering their opinions, which is quite interesting.
Qin Wutong sighed, wondering when his family would be able to own a television.
Liu Xiaoyun has become much more popular at school recently and is now in high demand.
"Teacher Liu, could you ask your relative to cut in line for me and make me a lace detachable collar in advance? I want this kind of pattern to wear with a skirt in the summer."
"I'd like to add some lace trim to the neckline. Could you alter it for me? It's not a complicated thing..."
...
"No, no, she has a lot of things to do at home, and she only makes three things a month. I'm really sorry."
Liu Xiaoyun truly admired Qin Xiangxiang's skills. There were others who could make it, but none of them could make it look as good as Qin Xiangxiang. She would rather wait in line than settle for something less.
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