Chapter 337 Proposal
In mid-January, counting down the days, Song Lubai felt that the pickled chili and cabbage should be ready, so she lifted the lid.
When she opened the lid and smelled that odor, she felt that something was seriously wrong.
There was a black spot on a piece of cabbage she picked out, and she held up the bowl for Wei Yang to look at it closely.
After looking at it and smelling the odor, Wei Yang said, "This is bad."
The earthenware jar was the one Song Lubai had left over from making watermelon sauce and beans; it only contained one and a half cabbages.
She figured out the recipe for kimchi on her own.
In addition to coating the cabbage with an extra layer of chili peppers, she also boiled it in a pot with Sichuan peppercorns, scallions, and ginger. After the boiled broth cooled, she poured it into a jar, covering the cabbage completely.
Apart from adding seasonings to the water, she followed Master Zhai's instructions for all the other steps.
It's cold outside, and the jar has been sitting on the windowsill inside the house. How could it have broken?
Although it was spoiled, the cabbage coated with chili powder looked really tempting, so Song Lubai took a little and put it in her mouth to taste it.
Although it has a strange smell, the base flavor is sour and spicy, which is much better than pickled cabbage that has only been salted.
She spat it out and then let Wei Yang try a bite.
After spitting it out, Wei Yang said, "This is flavorful enough. If it hadn't gone moldy, it would be better than that jar of other flavors."
Song Lubai's cooking was always praised by everyone, and she became so arrogant that she thought she could develop an upgraded version of pickled cabbage with even more flavor. As a result, this jar went bad.
Wei Yang said, "Go ask Master Zhai again and let him see what's going on."
Song Lubai felt sorry for the chili peppers Zhao Hongying had given her; they had all gone bad in this jar.
If we didn't have pickled vegetables, these chilies would last us a long time.
"I'll go to the division headquarters tomorrow. Let's buy some things for your mom and the others and send them over. It's almost Chinese New Year."
With only about twenty days left until the Chinese New Year, Song Lubai hadn't even thought about sending anything to her mother if Wei Yang hadn't mentioned it.
Before she could speak, Wei Yang suggested, "How about we go together after the New Year and see how they're doing over there?"
A woman with two teenagers over there might get bullied, so Wei Yang felt it was necessary to go there.
Song Lubai shook her head: "It will still be cold after the New Year, and it won't be convenient to travel, so let's not go."
Wei Yang thought she would be happy, but he didn't expect her to react like this.
It was already strange that she arranged for people to be in Shicheng in the first place, and now she doesn't even want to visit them during the New Year. Wei Yang thinks there's something going on between Song Lubai and her mother.
The sweet potatoes on the stove were roasting and smelled delicious. After peeling one, Song Lubai shared half with him.
"Take some money with you tomorrow and buy whatever you can. We have some apples and pears at home, so send half of them to Mom."
Wei Yang leaned closer to her and asked, "You really don't want to go? I have time after the New Year."
Song Lubai pushed his head away: "I'm not going, I'll just send some things."
Wei Yang still managed to ask "why".
This question had puzzled him for a long time. Song Lubai didn't want to see her mother after the New Year, which further confirmed his suspicion that there was a rift between her and her mother.
Song Lubai said nonchalantly, "My mother favors boys over girls, that's the reason."
Wei Yang gently rubbed her temples with one finger. "It's okay, we're family now."
With limited coal, the stove would burn out around 2 or 3 a.m., and the indoor temperature would drop lower and lower.
Fortunately, Wei Yang was very virile, and Song Lubai could sleep soundly until dawn every day by sticking close to him.
Wei Yang always gets up very early. The first thing he does when he wakes up is to light the stove, so the room is warm every morning when Song Lubai gets up.
At the end of January, another incident of educated youth escaping occurred in the 16th Regiment.
In fact, after the arrival of the educated youth, the various production teams were never really stable.
The food was terrible and people were never full; the living conditions were awful; the monthly wage of three yuan was too low; the work was heavy and demanding; and in winter, there wasn't enough coal, causing many people to fall ill from the cold…
There were too many problems. Every now and then, groups of educated youth would go to surround the company's public housing, and some would even cause trouble at the government offices.
However, given Chen Weiguo's example, even when these educated youths caused trouble, they did so within limits, their aim being to fight for more rights for themselves.
The team will resolve what they can, and there's nothing they can do about what they can't.
In the past few months, some educated youth have tried to escape, but they were all caught and educated, and nothing serious happened.
As the year drew to a close, one of the educated youth who had escaped fell into an ice hole and froze to death.
The educated youth who escaped were filled with remorse, and Wei Yang was criticized after reporting the matter to the division headquarters.
After Wei Yang and his group returned from the division headquarters, they convened a meeting of the company leaders. After the meeting, the company commander and political instructors returned to the company and informed the entire company about the incident of a runaway educated youth freezing to death.
The educated youth were terrified, feeling both apprehensive and extremely fearful.
The journey home was long and arduous, and they were filled with anxiety, unsure how much longer they would have to endure this kind of life.
At the end of January, Song Lubai received a package and a letter from her mother.
Zhang Cui sent Song Lubai a bag of apples and pears, two cans of watermelon sauce beans, and a piece of dark blue cloth.
Back in her hometown, it wasn't easy to get fruit, but after coming to Xinjiang, Song Lubai's family never lacked apples and pears during apple season because Wei Yang would always bring home fruit grown by the group. She didn't expect her mother to send apples and pears as well, which was a complete waste of the shipping fees she had paid before.
Zhang Cui's watermelon sauce was made with soybean oil, while Song Lubai's was made with lard. The sauce made with lard would solidify into a white color at room temperature, and had to be heated to melt it every time she ate it, unlike the sauce her mother sent, which would turn back to normal after being left in the room for a short while due to the room temperature.
The fabric is a thick material for making autumn and winter clothes. This color is suitable for making trousers that can be worn by both men and women, but unfortunately, only one pair can be made.
As Song Lubai gestured with the fabric, Zhao Hongying arrived carrying the prepared dried radish strips.
The dried radish strips were mixed with chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, and glistened with oil. Song Lubai took just one bite and thought it was the best pickled vegetable she had ever eaten.
"It's still a bit too sweet; let's balance it out."
Zhao Hongying spent a huge amount of money making dried radish strips.
She added soybean oil, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, soy sauce, sugar, and so on. Her husband was so reluctant to eat it, even though he felt bad about it. Although Zhao Hongying also felt bad, she still gave Song Lubai a small jar of it.
Without Song Lubai, she wouldn't get a good job, so she was willing to give half of it to Song Lubai.
"I added sugar, but not enough. We have a lot of sugar saved for the New Year, so we can't let it all go to waste."
After Zhao Hongying shared her tips on making pickled radishes with Song Lubai, she whispered, "Have you heard? Someone died in the ditch next to the mechanized farming unit."
Song Lubai only knew that the educated youth who tried to escape fell into an ice hole and froze to death, but this happened a week or so ago.
"Sent-down youth?"
Zhao Hongying shook her head like a rattle-drum. "It wasn't an educated youth. I've heard about the educated youth too. The one found today is new. Ask your husband when he comes back. I heard the dead comrade was from the armed forces department."
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