Chapter 292 Vegetable Growing Class
The couple tossed and turned until midnight. Before drifting off to sleep, Song Lubai thought there could be a next time.
Satisfied, Wei Yang got up before dawn the next day and went to the Armed Forces Department in high spirits.
While the people at the regimental headquarters were sound asleep, the shouts of slogans from the men of the armed forces department who were exercising early in the morning echoed for miles around.
Song Lubai got up lazily, washed up, lit the stove, and added two ladles of water to the mung bean soup pot.
The longer you cook mung beans, the softer they become, and the better they taste.
Yesterday, she traded chili peppers with residents from other areas for three eggplants.
Eggplants aren't grown in their area, so they eat the same few dishes every day, using only a few kinds of seasonings. She really can't come up with anything new, and she's getting a bit tired of it.
The eggplants are small and long and thin. After steaming them, they are shredded and mixed with minced garlic, vinegar, salt, and soy sauce.
It's a pity there was no sesame oil; this dish would taste even better with it.
The meal was ready, and the mung bean soup was served and left to cool on the table, but none of the three children had gotten up yet.
When Song Lubai came into the house to call for people, Wei Yang returned carrying a piece of pork belly.
"Commander Wei, did the regiment slaughter a pig?"
The neighbors who were cooking at the door saw the meat and their eyes lit up.
Wei Yang said, "The company has been busy with the autumn harvest recently. The regiment slaughtered five pigs today, most of which were sent to the company. Some were also reserved for the supply and marketing cooperative. Those with meat coupons can go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy meat today."
Wei Yang knew that Song Lubai was going to make watermelon sauce, so he specially bought a piece of pork belly that could render a lot of oil.
Having exercised in the morning, Wei Yang was in excellent spirits. After washing his hands, he asked, "Want some soy milk? The restaurant has soy milk and fried dough sticks today."
He could smell it when he passed by.
Song Lubai said, "Let's buy it tomorrow. I've already cooked the food, let's eat quickly."
He went to bed in the middle of the night and got up so early, yet he still had so much energy!
Seeing her yawn, Wei Yang said, "You're not used to exercise. From now on, you'll exercise with us in the mornings. Starting tomorrow, I'll wake you up with me."
Song Lubai shook her head frantically: "I can't get up, don't wake me. If I go to bed earlier, see if I'm still sleepy! If you dare wake me, I'll sleep with Dongyang from now on."
Hmph, she knows exactly what he's up to!
Wei Yang quickly said, "Okay, okay, I won't call you."
He felt a little guilty, knowing that he had gone a bit too far last night.
The three children came out and saw the meat hanging on the wall; their eyes lit up immediately.
After eating vegetables for so long, we can finally have some meat.
The cold steamed eggplant salad in the morning tasted quite good, and all three kids enjoyed it.
Chen Jingwen tried to run away after finishing his meal, but Chen Shaohua grabbed him, saying, "It's your turn to wash the dishes. Don't even think about escaping."
Wei Yang went to the government office, and Song Lubai planned to make watermelon sauce with soybeans today, soaking the soybeans in advance.
The little girl, Chen Dongyang, approached him shyly and said, "Auntie, can I not go to the supply and marketing cooperative with you today? My brother and the others are going to pick mushrooms, and I want to go with them."
Chen Shaohua approached and gestured quietly, saying, "Dandan and the others found such big mushrooms before, and said that they taste even better than meat when stir-fried. We won't go far; we'll just go to the woodland over there."
Song Lubai said, "You can't go. All three of you are coming with me to the supply and marketing cooperative today."
Although the wooded area wasn't far, it was still three or four miles from the regimental headquarters. If something happened, she wouldn't be able to explain it to Wei Zhao.
All three children pouted.
Song Lubai said, "I'll leave work early at noon, and the four of us will go together. You'll all come with me this morning."
She was afraid that if she didn't take them with her, they would run away behind her back, and if they got lost, where would she find them?
The children were happy then.
After preparing the fermented soybeans and bringing the meat inside, she took her three children to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Everyone heard that there was meat to buy today, and the neighbors with meat coupons all went to the supply and marketing cooperative to line up.
The group recently set up a vegetable-growing team. Once the vegetables are ripe, they still need to be distributed through the supply and marketing cooperative. Song Lubai is now serving as the deputy leader of the vegetable-growing team.
Today, instead of picking vegetables in the group's vegetable garden, she took her child and walked two miles to the vegetable garden of the planting team.
The vegetable garden was located between the regimental headquarters and the seed production company. This area was originally a large reed marsh, covering about twenty acres.
After these days of hard work, the weeds have long been cleared away, and the irrigation ditch has been dug.
The soil has been tilled, and the vegetable seeds have been planted.
The vegetable-growing team was almost entirely composed of women, some of whom were selected from the teams that dug the irrigation canals, and others were newly arrived female educated youth.
All the group leaders and class leaders are very experienced comrades who know how to grow crops and vegetables.
The construction team built a batch of mud-brick houses nearby, which were specially built by the regiment for the female comrades in the vegetable planting team.
The mud-brick houses are being built quite quickly; the foundation was laid just a few days ago, and now six rooms have already been built.
Seeing Chen Jingwen jumping and playing by the low ditch, Song Lubai chose to ignore it.
Chen Jingwen has no sense of cleanliness; he goes wherever there is dirt. She washes his pants every two days on average, and they're already worn out from all the washing.
She hasn't even become a mother yet, but she's already experienced the pain of motherhood. If she ever has a naughty child like Chen Jingwen, she'll beat him at least once a day!
Squad Leader Cao walked up and said, "Comrade Song, the houses are almost finished. Ask Director Liu if we can get another batch of daily necessities for our vegetable planting team, such as basins, pots, bowls, and water tanks. We'll be settling down here and guarding this land. What will we do without these necessities? We'll also need to dig another well, otherwise getting water will be too much of a hassle."
Before the houses were built, everyone lived in makeshift huts, ate from communal pots, and had to carry water for two miles. Everything was inconvenient.
Squad Leader Cao knew that Song Lubai and the regimental commander were related, so it was more accurate to say that he approached the regimental commander rather than the supply and marketing cooperative.
Song Lubai said, "The supply and marketing cooperative has been sending a lot of things to the company recently. I will tell Director Liu, but whether I get them or not is not up to him."
The supply and marketing cooperative in the group also bears the responsibility of supplying materials. Recently, a new batch of educated youth arrived, and the supply and marketing cooperative is in dire need of daily necessities.
After talking with Squad Leader Cao for a while, Shen Lingyu, covered in sweat, came over with a hoe.
"Comrade Song, you've arrived."
Squad Leader Cao knew the two were from the same hometown, so he went to the construction team's area to cool off.
"Comrade Song, come here, I have something good."
When Shen Lingyu saw Song Lubai while she was working here, she knew at first glance that Song Lubai was the reason she was able to get here.
Compared to digging sand in the river, coming here is much easier, and I feel safer sleeping at night.
In the future, they will be able to live in mud-brick houses, which is a significant improvement in living conditions.
Song Lubai followed Shen Lingyu behind a grove of jujube trees and asked, "What good stuff?"
Under the jujube tree, there was a patch of loose soil. Shen Lingyu bent down and cleared away the weeds that were in the way, revealing a patch of white chicken leg mushrooms.
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