Chapter 20 Braised pork ribs with winter vegetables.
The next evening, when it was time to rest, He Susu went to the state-owned restaurant again. She walked in familiarly and looked at the blackboard to see what was on offer today: fresh meat wontons, braised chicken, and stir-fried Chinese cabbage.
He Susu ordered a bowl of wontons without hesitation, spending 87 cents and 3 taels of food coupons.
Nowadays, a pound of pork only costs 86 cents, and of course you need a pound of meat ticket. The price of this bowl of wontons is almost as much as a pound of pork, but I don’t know how many wontons are in the bowl, He Susu thought.
She found a table and sat down to wait. When she heard the staff calling out the names of the dishes, she hurried over to bring them over.
State-owned restaurants use noodle bowls to serve wontons. One bowl can hold quite a few. The skin of each plump wonton is as thin as paper, floating in the noodle soup. The chopped green onions added a little color to this plain bowl of wontons.
He Susu scooped a wonton with a spoon and ate it. The wonton skin was so soft and thin that she could hardly feel its presence. She took a bite and felt her mouth was full of meat. The meat filling was salty and fragrant, and the noodle soup was a little salty. She took a bite of the wonton and a mouthful of the hot noodle soup. It was so comfortable.
With her appetite worked up, He Susu ate one wonton at a time and soon finished the whole bowl of wontons.
Now she no longer thought that the bowl of wontons was too expensive. It was indeed delicious. Moreover, she counted and found that there were ten wontons in the bowl, which was a good portion.
After eating and drinking, He Susu got up and went back to the cinema to continue working.
In the evening, it was He Erge who came to pick her up. He said, "My eldest brother originally said he would come to pick you up, but I don't want to. This person has to take a turn to pick you up one day."
Even if the older brother is married and has children, he sometimes can't help but try to show off in front of his younger sister.
He Susu smiled and said, "Second brother, you are right. I have to work night shifts many days this month. It would be fine if each of you takes turns to pick me up once."
Brother He and Brother Two are very steady when riding bicycles. Even when passing through bumpy roads, they will slow down in advance to avoid making the little sister sitting on the back seat uncomfortable.
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The troops here.
When He Lianzhou returned to the dormitory, he heard his comrade say, "I just passed by the information booth and saw your package, so I took it back."
"Thank you." He Lianzhou thanked him and walked to his desk to look at the package on it. At first he thought it was sent by his wife. The couple had a good relationship even though they lived in different places. They had been exchanging letters recently, and Su Yu would also send him some long-lasting food.
When he looked at the address on the package, he realized it was sent from his home.
He Lianzhou opened the package and found a lot of things inside, including two cans of his favorite fermented bean curd and three cans of what looked like meat sauce.
He first opened the envelope and read the letter. As he read, a smile appeared between his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth slowly rose.
It was good that my younger sister bought a bicycle, and she seemed very motivated. It seemed that going to work had really made her grow up a lot. When he saw his parents' instructions again, every word seemed to be spoken in his ears, and He Lianzhou missed them a little.
The eldest and second brothers' words were as concise as ever, and he could feel the concern.
Looking at the three glass bottles again, it turns out that they were filled with mushroom meat sauce.
My younger sister said that these three cans of mushroom and meat sauce were specially made by my mother. They can be used to mix with rice when there is not much meat in the canteen. They can be kept for about half a month at most. I asked him to eat them as soon as possible. If he thinks it tastes good, he can write to her and she will ask my mother to make it again and send it to him.
In the past, when his younger sister wrote to him, it was mostly about what she liked and wanted him to give her money to buy it. Now, the letters were full of these soothing instructions, and He Lianzhou was quite happy.
He put away the two cans of fermented tofu and three cans of mushroom and meat sauce, planning to take them with him to training tomorrow.
There will be a group-level sparring tomorrow, which will end rather late. By then, the meat and vegetables in the cafeteria will probably be gone. The food my little sister sent over comes just in time.
The next day at noon, after training, He Lianzhou went to the canteen to get food, but the meat and vegetables had indeed been sold out. He ordered some green vegetables and rice, and asked Uncle Zhang, the cook, to help heat up the can of mushroom and meat sauce he brought with him.
"Wow, you actually brought your own meat and vegetables. This jar of mushroom and meat sauce looks delicious." Uncle Zhang is one of the best cooks in the kitchen team. He can tell the general idea of the dish by looking at the color through the glass bottle.
Heating is simple. Just put a whole can of mushroom and meat sauce next to the hot stove and it will heat up in a moment.
He Lianzhou smiled and said, "My family just sent it to me."
After serving the dishes and the heated mushroom and meat sauce, he found a table and sat down to eat. The mushroom and meat sauce became fragrant after being heated, with the mushroom and meat flavors blending together and oozing with oil. He Lianzhou scooped three spoonfuls and poured them on the rice, which tasted so delicious.
After taking a bite, I felt my mouth was full of meat, even the mushrooms became a backdrop.
"Brother He, your food is really good. There's even mushroom meat sauce!"
"I can smell the fragrance from a long distance away."
"Can we have some?"
They were all familiar comrades, so He Lianzhou was generous and let them each scoop a spoonful to taste.
The mushroom and meat sauce was cooked to a delicious taste, which was incomparable to the big pot of meat dishes often fried in the canteen, not to mention that it was late and there was no meat dishes. When these comrades tasted the aroma of the mushroom and meat sauce, they kept praising it for being delicious.
Seeing Cheng Shi coming over with food, He Lianzhou asked him, "Cheng Shi, I have some mushroom meat sauce here, would you like to try some?"
He Lianzhou was not familiar with Cheng Shi, the deputy commander of the neighboring regiment.
He signed up for the army in his hometown, and was promoted step by step by earning military merits. Now he is only at the deputy company level. Cheng Shi was born in a military family and graduated from a military academy. When he came to the army, he had a high rank and strong ability. He completed several missions with excellent results, earned military merits, and then was promoted to deputy regiment level.
The little sister wanted a bicycle ticket, and he asked around among the people he knew but couldn't get one, so in the end it was Cheng Shi who exchanged it with him, and he didn't ask for anything extra. That's why He Lianzhou took the initiative to greet people at this time.
The man next to Cheng Shi responded first: "That's great, we were just talking about how tiring the training is, but there's no meat for lunch."
He Lianzhou scooped a spoonful of meat sauce and gave it to his comrade.
Cheng Shi originally wanted to refuse, but seeing that his friends had accepted it, and the mushroom and meat sauce smelled really good, he simply said, "Thank you."
The two of them sat down at the table and started eating.
After dinner, He Lianzhou returned to the dormitory and thought of Cheng Shi's reaction when he ate the mushroom and meat sauce just now. He must have liked it.
The other party was willing to exchange the bicycle ticket for him, after all, he owed him a favor. He Lianzhou thought about it and simply took out a can of mushroom and meat sauce from the drawer and went to the other party's dormitory.
Cheng Shi was about to take a lunch break, but when he heard a knock on the door, he came over to open it. Seeing that it was He Lianzhou, he was a little confused: "What's the matter?"
He Lianzhou: "This is the mushroom and meat sauce that I cooked at home. I'm giving you a can."
Cheng Shi really liked the taste of mushroom meat sauce, but he was not familiar with He Lianzhou: "No, I have tasted it at noon."
He Lianzhou: "Yes, the bicycle ticket you exchanged for me last time helped me a lot. My younger sister also bought a bicycle and then she thought of sending this mushroom meat sauce over."
Knowing that the other party was thinking about this matter, if he didn't accept it, he would probably keep it in his heart, so Cheng Shi accepted it calmly: "Okay, thank you."
Seeing that he accepted it, He Lianzhou went back to the dormitory to rest.
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He Susu successfully paid back the four rest days she owed Sister Chen, and she felt a little more at ease. She felt comfortable enough to tell her when she wanted to take a rest.
To be honest, she was still a little tired after working a whole day. After taking a shower at home at night, she fell into bed and fell asleep. She almost didn't wake up on time the next day.
He Susu felt that she had to treat herself. She was still thinking about the braised pork ribs with preserved vegetables that she had been reluctant to eat at the state-owned restaurant last time, so when she was about to reach the village entrance on her bicycle after work, she opened the shopping system and exchanged a pound of pork ribs and a pound of preserved vegetables.
I originally thought that preserved vegetables like winter vegetables might not be available in the shopping system, and I would have to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy them. Before leaving work, He Susu checked the shopping system and was relieved when she saw that one kilogram of winter vegetables only required 1 point of diligence.
Thinking that a pound of ribs could be eaten quickly, He Susu exchanged for another pound of pork.
After taking all these things out and putting them in the bag on her back, she rode her bike home.
After putting the bicycle away, He Susu carried the package to the kitchen and took out the things inside: "Second sister-in-law, I bought a pound of pork, a pound of spare ribs and a pound of winter vegetables. Let's make a stew of spare ribs with winter vegetables tonight."
Qian Chunhe frowned rarely when he saw his sister-in-law bought a pound of pork ribs, but he didn't say much.
My family has never bought spareribs before. Meat coupons are hard to come by, so when we buy meat, we try to buy fat meat that can be fried into lard, or at least lean meat. The bones account for most of the weight of these spareribs. Wouldn't it be a waste of money and meat coupons if we bought them?
But my sister-in-law was willing to spend money to buy these ribs. I guess she had her reasons. After all, ribs are meat, and it's great to have meat to eat.
Qian Chunhe asked: "Aunt, for this braised pork ribs with winter vegetables, should we first blanch the pork ribs and put them in the pot to stew, and then add the winter vegetables to enhance the flavor when they are almost done?"
Dongcai is pickled vegetables. Although she has never eaten it, she has seen it when she went to the supply and marketing cooperative before. She heard that it is very good for enhancing the flavor of stir-fried meat.
He Susu couldn't figure it out either, thinking that it should be like this from the name of the dish. She nodded: "Let's cook it like this. With your cooking skills, it will definitely taste good."
Qian Chunhe was delighted to hear the compliment: "Aunt, you think too highly of me. Okay, I'll cook right away."
After He Susu left the kitchen, she first put a pound of pork into the well to cool it down, then went back to the kitchen to get a knife to cut a whole rib into pieces, then boiled water in a pot and put the ribs in to blanch them.
When the He family came back from work, they smelled a faint salty fragrance, like the smell of meat and vegetables.
When He's mother learned that her daughter had bought a pound of spareribs, she couldn't help but mutter, "The bones alone weigh half a pound. It's not worth it. Susu, don't buy these spareribs next time."
She feels sorry for the money her daughter has to spend.
He Susu smiled and explained, "I only buy it occasionally to try. Last time, I saw braised pork ribs with winter vegetables in a state-owned restaurant. It smelled so good, and I was thinking about buying some back home to cook and eat together."
The He family was moved by these words. Their younger sister went to the state-owned restaurant to eat even though she was working the night shift, but she still thought of them.
Qian Chunhe felt ashamed after hearing this. He shouldn't have looked down on his aunt for buying ribs. His aunt must have known that buying ribs was not cost-effective, but she still wanted everyone to taste the braised ribs with winter vegetables.
She was cooking in the kitchen just now, and when she smelled the aroma of the stewed winter vegetables in the pot, she already felt that the dish was very delicious.
Soon the He family started to eat dinner.
The dish of braised pork ribs with winter vegetables on the table is undoubtedly eye-catching. The pork ribs are tender and light-colored after braising. The small pieces of winter vegetables are a bit like sauerkraut, and the salty and fragrant smell mixed together is particularly attractive.
He Susu was the first to pick up a piece of pork ribs to eat. The meat on the bones was stewed until it was soft and fell off the bones easily when bitten. The taste was very light at first, but the salty and fragrant flavor of the winter vegetables could be tasted slowly. It was perfect with white rice.
After the others tasted the pork ribs, no one could say a word of disgust and they all silently quickened their eating pace.
During this time, He Susu also ate some winter vegetables, which were tender and a little salty, and quite novel.
The braised pork ribs with preserved vegetables produced a lot of soup, which Qian Chunhe served separately, gave a bowl to his sister-in-law, and shared the rest among the five children.
He Susu drank the bowl of soup. The essence of the ribs was probably boiled in it. It tasted meaty, accompanied by the salty fragrance of the winter vegetables, and a bit of sweetness. No wonder the state-owned restaurant would serve this dish.
The children slurped up the soup at the bottom of their bowls and sighed with satisfaction.
Even He's mother couldn't help but sigh: "If it weren't for the fact that the ribs are made up of so much bone, it would be nice to eat this braised ribs with winter vegetables from time to time."
He Susu smiled and said, "It's just some spareribs, it's not that complicated. You can buy them and cook them whenever you want."
He's mother laughed and shook her head. Her daughter could make money now, so she would spend money lavishly. When she had more things to spend money on in the future, she would gradually learn to save money.
After eating a meal of pork ribs and satisfying her appetite, and sleeping for a night, He Susu went to work at the cinema full of energy. After about a week, she told Sister Chen that she wanted to take a day off.
Sister Chen responded readily: "Okay, you've been working full days for four days and haven't had a break yet, so take a good rest tomorrow."
"Thank you for your hard work, Sister Chen." He Susu said happily.
She rode her bike home from work and couldn't help but redeem a pound of biscuits in the shopping system. She hadn't eaten snacks for so long, so she was a little greedy.
During dinner in the evening, He Susu talked about her plan to take a rest the next day.
He's mother nodded: "It's time to rest. Don't exhaust yourself by working for so long."
He's father ate his meal in silence. His daughter was a promising young woman. The job at the cinema was not bad. You could decide your own rest time as long as you discussed it with another colleague.
But He Erge remembered what he had done with the children and said, "I'll take a day off tomorrow afternoon and take the two children to the county town on my bicycle. They've been missing me."
Kejie had made a fuss before, and although Kerou didn't say anything, the child loved to go to a county town he had never been to, even if it was just for a stroll.
After hearing what their father said, Kerou and Kejie suddenly became excited.
He's mother didn't stop her: "Just make your own arrangements."
Those who work in the fields have basically never had a break. My two sons get full work points all year round, so it doesn't matter if they take an afternoon break occasionally.
Seeing the envious looks in his three children's eyes, Brother He suddenly became smart and said, "Then I will wait for my younger sister to take an afternoon off next time she is on vacation and take the children to the county town to have a look."
He's mother: "It's up to you."
Guifang was fine. Guixi and Guimian were so excited that they screamed and began to look forward to their aunt's next rest.
At night, He's mother thought for a moment, took out two dollars and some tickets from the drawer, and sent them to the second room first: "I'll give you one dollar and these tickets. Go to the county town tomorrow and buy whatever you want. Return the unused tickets to me."
She was in charge of the family's money and bills, and the first and second wives didn't have much money in their hands. It was not good for the second son, a grown man, to go to the county town with his children, and the children wanted to buy something, but he couldn't even take out half a penny.
He Erge took it with a smile: "Okay, thank you mother."
Qian Chunhe was listening at the side, feeling a little happy. With this dollar, the child could buy whatever he wanted to eat tomorrow. If there was any money left, he could save it himself according to his mother's suggestion.
Needless to say, Kerou and Kejie are already planning to buy some candy tomorrow.
He's mother left the second room and walked to the first room, handing a dollar to the eldest son: "Take this dollar first. Next time you take the children to the county town, you can buy whatever you want. As for the tickets, I will give them to you the night before you go to the county town."
After explaining, she turned around and went back to her room, not caring about the reaction of the eldest brother's family.
Mother He lay down on the bed, thinking about things: "When the money is divided at the end of this year, we will give some to the eldest and second sons. They can keep it for themselves and decide how to spend it."
In the past, I managed the family's money because I thought that since there wasn't much money, we could save it for use together, and I was also afraid that the eldest and second sons would spend it recklessly when they were young. Now that I think about it, I still have to give them some money and stop managing them like children.
He's father didn't care about these things. He just bent down and worked on the farm. He listened to his wife's arrangements at home. He nodded and agreed: "I'll listen to you."
The couple didn't say much. They fell asleep quickly because of the fatigue from working on the farm during the day.
He Susu had no idea that her second brother's decision to take the children to the county town would cause her mother to think about how to manage money.
After dinner, she habitually swept the yard with a broom. After successfully earning 1 diligence point, she went to wash up and then went back to her room to lie down on the bed to sleep.
The next morning, I indulged myself in sleeping until I woke up naturally. When I got up and walked out of the room, the sun was already high in the sky.
After washing up, He Susu went to the kitchen to get breakfast. She looked at the sunny weather and decided to go out to breathe some fresh air.
There was almost no one in the alleys at this time, as everyone was working in the fields. She walked to the side of the field, and the aunties saw her and greeted her.
"Susu, you don't have to go to work today?"
"Well, take a rest today."
"Susu, you need to take a break and walk around. Your parents are working over there. Go and help them. It will be easier for them."
"Okay, I'll go over and take a look."
He Susu greeted these aunts and couldn't help but quicken her pace. If she delayed any longer, she didn't know what they would say to her.
Soon they arrived at the field where He's father and mother were working.
In fact, according to the shopping system, working can also earn diligence points. However, in He Susu's opinion, working is much more difficult than other jobs.
Just thinking about her clean shoes stepping into the fields and coming out covered in yellow mud was hard for her to accept.
When Father He saw her, he stood up and asked, "Susu, why are you here?"
He Susu: "I had breakfast and wanted to go out for a walk."
He's mother called her, "Go somewhere else. You'll get tanned if you stay out in the sun here."
He Susu had just promised those aunts, but she hadn't really thought about going down to the fields to help. For a fake farmer like her who had never done farm work, if she really went down to help, it would be more trouble than good.
If the crops were destroyed, it would be her fault.
He Susu replied, "Okay, I understand. Dad and Mom, take your time. Take a rest when you are tired."
Father He nodded: "I understand."
Mother He waved her hand and said, "Go back quickly."
After a stroll, He Susu felt satisfied and went back home obediently.
After lunch in the afternoon, Kerou and Kejie were so impatient that they pestered He Erge to skip their nap and ride their bicycles to the county town one after another.
He's mother stood at the door and watched, shouting, "Ride slowly, don't fall."
She couldn't help but mutter, "Really, what's so good about this county town? It's just a waste of money."
He Susu was used to going to the county town, and she felt that there was nothing to see, and she had to spend money to buy anything. At this time, she comforted He's mother: "The child just wants to see something new, mother, you should go back and take a nap."
"Okay, you go back to your room and get some sleep too." Mother He yawned and went back to her room.
It was almost evening when He Erge came back with the two children and bought them some paper-wrapped candies.
Ke Rou and Ke Jie were also generous people. Although they could have kept the pound of paper-thin dumplings for themselves and eaten them slowly, they still gave two dumplings to Gui Fang, Gui Xi and Gui Mian respectively, and He Susu also got two dumplings.
"Aunt, this paper-skinned tang is delicious. I'll give you two."
He Susu took it with surprise, and thought it was funny. She also thought that this was the life she should have had. She smiled and said, "Okay, thank you Kerou and Kejie."
In front of the two children, she tore open the candy wrapper and put the candy into her mouth. Mm, very sweet!
After a day of rest, He Susu continued to go to work.
In the following days, she and Sister Chen took turns choosing the time to rest. When it was He Susu's turn to work a full day, Brother He and Brother He would take turns riding their bicycles to pick her up after work. It was a very tiring day, and the only consolation was probably that she could go to the state-owned restaurant to improve her meals.
Soon, He Susu received her second month's salary.
She thought about what to bring home, and pork was a must. After looking at the shopping system screen for a while, He Susu exchanged five kilograms of refined rice.
When she came home with two kilograms of pork and five kilograms of refined rice, He's mother saw it and felt distressed: "Oh, you kid, you have money in your hands like it will burn your butt. Not only did you buy pork, you even bought five kilograms of refined rice."
Since yesterday, my daughter was happy to say that she would get paid today, and she was happy with me. But now she has to buy pork and five catties of refined rice, I don't know how much it will cost.
He's mother opened the bag of rice and saw: "The rice inside is round and plump, it is top-quality rice."
Every year after the rice grown in the production team’s fields was harvested, it would first be handed over to the commune. What was finally distributed was the rice that had been sifted by the factory’s machines, mostly broken rice.
He Susu smiled and said, "The refined rice I asked my classmate to buy is of course good quality. Mom, the lunch you usually bring me is mostly white rice. We live frugally at home, so I can buy some rice to supplement our expenses."
Her mother was a particular person and was afraid that she would bring sweet potatoes or corn dumplings to the cinema to eat, which would make others laugh at her if they saw her, so she usually cooked white rice for her.
Of course, this meal was cooked with brown rice, otherwise the food stored at home would not be enough for her to eat. Her mother would also be more or less concerned about the whole family, as they still had another half year to live.
He's mother sighed after hearing this: "Susu, you are really sensible. I will use this rice to make lunch for you to eat at the cinema."
She confessed, "Last month you said it was your first paycheck, so I took the 18 yuan. This month you bought meat and rice, so you can keep the rest of the money. From now on, keep all the money you earn for yourself."
He Susu smiled and agreed. She had to keep some money in her hand, otherwise she would have no excuse to buy meat and rice. "But you can also cook rice with these rice, fill your stomach and work better."
After hearing this, He's mother agreed. Since her daughter would not go into the kitchen to cook anyway, she and her two daughters-in-law would know where the rice would be used.
On this day, He Susu was working at a movie theater. Before another movie started, she was busy writing movie tickets and collecting money. She looked up and saw that the next customer was her high school classmate Zhu Yun. She smiled and asked, "Zhu Yun, what movie do you want to watch?"
Zhu Yun looked around to see that there was no one around, so he spoke a little embarrassedly: "Susu, I bought a lipstick from you before and put it on before going to work. Many female colleagues in the office asked me about lipsticks. They wanted me to ask you if you could help buy this lipstick, even if it costs a little more."
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