Chapter 77 Enjoying Meat
Song Lubai and her friends were lucky today; Liu Fengshou's Uyghur friend had recently caught three rabbits.
Each of Song Lubai and her group readily paid 15 cents.
At this price, eight people can eat three rabbits, which is practically free.
Liu Fengshou's Uyghur friend is named Tuluhong. He can understand a lot of Mandarin and is very hospitable. When Song Lubai and her friends arrived, he first offered them naan bread and apricots.
Although the naan bread wasn't so tough that it was impossible to chew, it was indeed too dry to swallow. You had to eat it with water to make the dry bread go down smoothly.
At this moment, the group was sitting under the big willow tree behind the fence of Tulu Hong's house, eating naan bread and apricots around the stove.
Liu Fengshou was very skilled at setting up a fire, and soon he had a fire burning under the tree.
Two of the three rabbits had been caught a while ago. After slaughtering them, they were salted and left to air dry in the shade. Turhong cut the dry and tough-looking meat into pieces and threw it into a pot to cook. The remaining rabbit was still relatively fresh and was roasted over a fire.
The stove was low, made of clods of earth, but the fire inside was very strong, and soon the aroma of meat wafted out.
The rabbit was turned over and over on the fire, and the aroma of the meat grew stronger and stronger, arousing the mouths of Song Lubai and the others.
Tuluhong, who had been talking to Liu Fengshou, stood up, went into the house, and took out honey that still had the honeycomb attached.
A layer of glossy honey was spread on the surface, sizzling as it was heated over a fire.
When it was done, I sprinkled some unknown spices on it, which brought out the best flavor of the roasted rabbit.
Liu Fengshou grimaced from the heat of the meat, but he still managed to tear the rabbit apart while it was still hot and gave a piece to everyone.
Everyone eagerly took a bite, sizzling as they scalded it.
Turhong sat leisurely to the side, smoking a cigarette.
Wang Qun reminded Tulu Hong to eat with them, but Tulu Hong just waved his hand and said, "You eat, it's all yours."
With his mouth greasy, Liu Fengshou said, "Uyghurs don't eat much rabbit, and many of them don't eat it at all. Their favorite food is mutton. Whether it's roasted or boiled, the way they arrange it is absolutely delicious."
Liu Fengshou recalled the delicious roasted wild goat he had at Tulu Hong's house a few years ago, and took a big bite of the roasted rabbit meat in his hand.
Roasted rabbit tastes quite different from roasted mutton.
Fresh, fatty roasted lamb bursts with juice when you bite into it, unlike this rabbit meat, which is so dry.
Although every household in Tuluhong's Uyghur village lives on the ground and their houses are surrounded by fences, the houses are low mud houses, or adobe houses, and the straw mixed in the walls can be seen at a glance.
According to Liu Fengshou, this Uyghur village is like a Han Chinese settlement in this area, and further in, many people still live underground.
One roasted rabbit was shared among eight people, and each person couldn't eat much. Fortunately, the rabbit meat in the pot cooked quickly.
Although there weren't many seasonings in the soup, only chili and salt, it didn't stop everyone, who hadn't eaten meat like this in a long time, from considering today's rabbit meat a delicacy.
On the bazaar.
More and more Han Chinese gathered, and the companies below the Sixth Farm all knew that there was a bazaar here today. Although it was the hottest time of day, it couldn't stop everyone's longing for the bazaar.
Lu Shuangshuang and a group of comrades from Shanghai gathered around a stall, which displayed many grayish-brown soap-like products.
This stuff has a strong mutton smell as soon as you pick it up, unlike the stuff sold in department stores.
Seeing Liu Gao and the others passing by, Lu Shuangshuang waved and called out, "Comrade Liu, the women from your area all have lice on their heads. This soap is made with mutton fat and it's somewhat effective against lice, but it doesn't smell good. I saw Song Lubai and the others on the street earlier, but I don't know where they are now. This stall was just set up, and they won't be able to buy any if we're late. Do you want to help them buy a few bars of mutton fat soap to take back?"
Liu Gao and the others didn't see Song Lubai and her group in the crowded bazaar, so they thought it would be nice to bring them some back.
In the camp, the veterans of the military reclamation unit got along best with each other; the young people from Shanghai got along best with each other; Song Lubai and her group from the Commerce Department were originally two groups, but they all came from Henan Province, just from different cities. As people from the Commerce Department, they naturally got along the closest.
The veterans of the military reclamation team and the young people from Shanghai all knew that this group of people from the Commercial Department would leave after their labor training. Although they would take care of these female comrades on a daily basis, they would not have any other thoughts about them.
Liu Gao and his group were different.
They're all from the same province, and there's a high chance they'll be assigned to the same work unit in the future. Forming a family with the women who traveled with them along the way would definitely be their first choice.
So how can you win a woman's heart? Giving her a small gift is the best choice.
Turhong family.
Song Lubai and the others ate so much meat that they started burping.
The three rabbits were divided up completely by the eight people, and not even the soup in the pot was left.
They hadn't eaten this much since they came to XJ.
Before leaving, Turhong gave them a bunch of small white apricots.
These apricots have a white skin tinged with red, and a sweet and sour taste that makes your mouth water.
The women were very satisfied with today's experience and strongly requested to come back with Liu Fengshou next time.
Liu Fengshou led the way, smoking a cigarette. He said, "Tulu Hong just said that a few ex-convicts and convicts have been wandering around the area and have been stealing food from the village. For safety reasons, we won't come back next time, but he will save the rabbits he catches for us. We pay for them, and he can also make some money for his own family. He still wants us to come and eat."
"A convict in a labor camp or reformatory? How did he determine that he was a convict in a labor camp or reformatory?"
Liu Fengshou explained to the group, "Our farm headquarters and engineering team have laborers and prisoners. They all wear all black, have shaved heads, and wear chains on their feet, which rattle when they walk."
Thinking of Liu Mei's family, Song Lubai asked, "Where did these convicts and ex-convicts come from?"
Liu Fengshou: "They're everywhere. We're short of people for construction here, so many people who did bad things are sent over from other places. After the labor reform and re-education, they won't be sent back to their hometowns. Besides these kinds of people, during the famine years, many blind and migrant workers also came to our area. Many factories that needed manual laborers didn't refuse anyone. As long as they put in the effort, they would be fed. If they performed well, they could even become employees. But it's not like that in recent years. The checks are stricter than in previous years. Employees can't be given away so easily anymore. Those units that provide manual labor take people in and provide them with food. It's like giving those blind and migrant workers a place to stay."
These were things that Song Lubai and the others had never heard of before, and they all felt that they had learned something new after hearing them.
"Shouldn't those people be under tight surveillance? How did they manage to escape?"
Liu Fengshou: "Even tigers have their moments of weakness. I've been outside the adobe factory. The guards there are armed soldiers and police. The labor camp inmates and ex-convicts all have shackles on their feet. In theory, it shouldn't be easy for them to escape, but there are always loopholes they can find."
Wu Zhaodi couldn't help but say, "You know so much."
Liu Fengshou was pleased, but he humbly waved his hand, saying, "It's just that I've been here for a long time."
Liu Fengshou felt that talking to this group of young women made him feel younger.
He has never had a wife and doesn't care much about anything. He just works, eats, and sleeps. He has no goals in life. But recently, things have changed. These new people have made him feel needed, which makes him feel that he still has some sense of existence.
Not bad, these young comrades are really good.
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