◎Third update◎
On the day of the college entrance examination, there seemed to be a lot more people on the street. Everyone was in a hurry. Every household, whether they took the college entrance examination or not, was discussing this matter.
All the major schools were packed with people. Many parents went outside the examination halls to wait for their relatives to come out. Many children also waited outside for their parents to come out after the exam.
This year's college entrance examination had the largest age gap among candidates. There were high school graduates in their teens and middle-aged people in their forties. But when they were sitting in the examination room, the age gap disappeared as they took the same test paper and performed based on their own abilities.
Those who had not taken an exam for a long time were particularly excited when they walked out of the examination room. Some people cried as soon as they walked out, as if they had answered some questions wrong and suddenly felt that there was no hope in life.
Luo Hongmei's daughter Yao Haoyun came back to the city after taking the college entrance examination. She had not been home for three years. Liang Baozhen happened to run into her and Yao Guangrong on their way home from get off work as they were buying things.
Liang Baozhen had never met Yao Haoyun before. When she saw her this time, she found that she was a pretty lesbian, the same age as herself.
"Xiao Liang, did you just get off work?" Yao Guangrong was holding a piece of meat in his hand. He specially asked Sun Zhiqiang to save the meat for his daughter when she came home. Sun Zhiqiang was at the food station, so it was sometimes convenient for him.
But Luo Hongmei would definitely scold him if she saw him.
"Yes, Uncle Yao, this is Haoyun, right?"
"Yes, my daughter Haoyun, she just took the college entrance examination, so she came back to visit." Yao Guangrong's eyes warmed up when he saw his daughter who had not been home for three years. Life in the countryside was hard, and the daughter had lost a lot of weight.
"Yunyun, this is your grandmother Zhou's granddaughter-in-law. Do you remember the eldest brother of the Xu family? His wife."
"I remember, hello sister-in-law." Yao Haoyun had some impression of her. When he saw Liang Baozhen, a flash of surprise flashed in his eyes. He didn't expect that she was such a beautiful young wife. When he looked again, he saw that her belly was slightly bulging. "Sister-in-law, are you pregnant?"
"Yes, more than four months." Liang Baozhen exchanged a few pleasantries with the father and daughter before going home.
Xu Shengjie bought two pig's trotters today, and Liang Baozhen cooked pig's trotters stewed with soybeans. The skin and flesh of the pig's trotters were firm and smooth, and they were cooked in the soup. Every bite was full of aroma.
Not only the Xu family had a good meal in the big compound today, but Luo Hongmei's family too. However, when Yao Guangrong brought the meat home, she was scolded. She said that after all, the meat coupons for this month were to be saved for the New Year, and she disliked her husband for using the coupons indiscriminately.
"Now that we're eating well, let's see what to do during the New Year." Luo Hongmei grabbed the chopsticks and slammed them on the table to make them neat. As she spoke, she picked out the fattest piece of meat from the basin and gave it to her son Yao Haoyu before starting to eat. "It's too extravagant and wasteful. Yunyun should understand that we don't have the conditions to eat meat casually in our family."
"What are you talking about?" Yao Guangrong was eating his meal in silence. He glanced at his wife when he heard this. He was really biased towards the moat.
"Mom, I still have a meat ticket on me. I'll give it to you later..." Yao Haoyun won a prize when she participated in the Agricultural Learn from Dazhai activity in the countryside. The prize was two meat tickets worth a total of four kilograms. She brought them with her when she came back this time.
"That's great!" Luo Hongmei's eyes lit up when she heard it. She immediately reached into the braised pork bowl with her chopsticks and picked out a piece of lean meat for her daughter. "Yunyun, you eat too. Remember to give your meat ticket to mom after dinner."
"Yao Haoyun, how did you do in the college entrance examination?" Yao Haoyu ate a few pieces of fat meat and felt that his stomach was finally full, so he spoke. He knew that his sister wanted to pass the college entrance examination and return to the city. Not only her, but thousands of educated youth had this plan.
"I don't know. Let's wait and see the results."
"Yunyun has good grades, so there will be no problem." Luo Hongmei thought to herself, as long as she doesn't empty her family's savings like Zhou Qingdang to buy a job and return to the city. She doesn't have that much money.
Yao Haoyun came back from visiting her relatives and left after staying at home for four days. Yao Guangrong helped her carry her luggage bag to the train, but Luo Hongmei and Yao Haoyu did not go to see her off.
When Yao Guangrong returned to the compound, he saw a group of people running out.
"What's wrong?" he grabbed Sun Zhiqiang and asked.
Sun Zhiqiang has been very happy since his marriage, and his life has become more enjoyable, especially after he had a wife to take care of him. He dresses up like a decent person every day, and whenever he sees his neighbors coming back, he will immediately say, "Let's go fishing!"
It turned out that someone was fishing in the river outside the city today, and they said that the catch was quite good. When some people with connections heard about it, they rushed over. If they could catch a few fish, it would also improve their food.
Sun Zhiqiang hurried out, worried that he would miss the baby if he was too late.
"Oh, I'll go too!"
Xu Shengjie heard about this when he entered the compound. Normally, he would have followed suit. However, things are different now. After Baozhen became pregnant, the first smell she couldn't stand was the smell of fish. So his family has been completely isolated from fish for a while.
"You're back?" Liang Baozhen was standing at the entrance of the yard with her big belly. She was very happy to see the man coming back.
"Why don't you take a break?"
"Go fishing now. Follow them. If you go too late, there might be nothing left."
Xu Shengjie looked at his wife suspiciously, "Catching fish? You can't smell that smell."
"Now I can!" Liang Baozhen thought of the fish she hadn't eaten for a long time, and she swallowed her saliva. She was so greedy, "Go and get some, I want to eat it!"
Xu Shengjie: ? Is this the fickle pregnant woman that Lu Yuan mentioned?
Xu Shengjie finally joined the fishing army. Before setting off, he specifically reminded them, "Don't go. Just stay at home. The ice is slippery and you can easily fall."
"I understand." Liang Baozhen wanted to go and take a look, but for the sake of her children, she had to stay in the big courtyard.
The river surface in the north was frozen in winter. Amid the howling north wind, a group of people were using ice picks to pick at the ice surface. The handles of the ice picks were made of wood, and the sharp heads at the bottom were quite heavy. Sun Zhiqiang picked at the ice picks for dozens of times before taking a break. He was wearing heavy clothes in winter, and his hands were not flexible. He felt restrained when he raised his arms.
"Brother Sun, let me do it." Xu Shengjie took off his cotton jacket and let Sun Zhiqiang hold it, while he took the ice pick and started to dig.
He was wearing a thin sweater, and his strong muscles were hidden under the sweater, but he could still feel the full heat. Xu Shengjie had experienced winter training in the army before, and even participated in winter swimming. He chiseled the ice surface again and again, and his strength was heavy. After a while, the sparkling ice surface cracked and cracks appeared.
"Young people are still good. They are strong and resistant to freezing." Sun Zhiqiang said to Yao Guangrong, "Look at Xiao Xu's speed."
"He was a soldier, so he must be better than us."
A hole was dug in the ice, and Lu Yuan and Fang Hongming helped to shovel the floating ice with a shovel. The fishing net sank into the water, and soon a group of fish swam over.
When I pulled in the net, I saw dozens of fish jumping happily in the net.
Liang Baozhen poked her head out to look outside. She didn't know what was wrong. In the past few months, she felt uncomfortable just thinking about fish, let alone smelling it. It seemed as if the fishy smell was lingering around her, making her feel like vomiting.
But these few days I've been craving for food again. Today I heard about a fish-catching event, and my mind was full of steamed fish, braised fish, sweet and sour fish...
How delicious!
"Why haven't you come back yet?" Liang Baozhen whispered as she stood at the door.
Zhou Yun was sewing a shoe sole. He looked at his grandson's wife and said, "It should be soon. The weather is good for fishing. We will definitely catch a lot."
"Grandma, what shall we eat today..." Liang Baozhen and Zhou Yun were about to discuss what to cook when they suddenly heard a noisy noise at the courtyard gate.
The fishing team is back!
A group of men came in from the gate of the courtyard. Sun Zhiqiang was holding an ice pick, Lu Yuan was holding a fishing net, Xu Shengjie, Zhou Qingdang and Fang Hongming each held a large bucket filled with large fish.
The wooden barrel was filled with melted glacial water, and lively fish were swimming around in it, but there were too many of them and they could not move freely.
"Are you back?" The women in the yard came to greet him, each holding a bucket or large basin, ready to divide the fish.
This time they caught more than 100 kilograms of fish. Each family got three or four fish. After a while, they divided them all up. Xu Shengjie carried the three fish in his bucket and went home with Liang Baozhen.
There was one grass carp and two crucian carps left in the bucket, both of which were quite heavy. Considering that Xu Shengjie had contributed a lot, everyone gave the big ones to him.
"Kill the grass carp. Let's have braised fish for lunch today." Liang Baozhen was very excited. She hadn't eaten fish in a long time. She wanted to have a live fish on the table right away. "I'll go wash some potatoes. Xiaowei, go get some cabbage."
"Okay." This year, everyone stockpiled hundreds of kilograms of cabbage as usual, waiting to eat them slowly during the winter.
"You take a rest." Zhou Yun put down his shoe soles and prepared to go over to operate. Her granddaughter-in-law's belly was getting bigger and bigger, and she didn't want to tire her out.
"Grandma, please take a rest. I haven't moved much today, so it's a good opportunity for me to help him." Liang Baozhen put the potatoes into the basin, twisted the faucet, and the tap water quickly filled half of the basin.
"Add some hot water." Xu Shengjie picked up the thermos in the room and poured a small cup of hot water into the basin. The vegetable washing water mixed with hot water instantly became less icy.
He himself doesn't care, he is resistant to freezing, but his wife has delicate skin and tender flesh, she might get frostbite from washing vegetables.
Zhou Yun felt relieved when he saw his grandson's thoughtful look, and sat back to continue sewing the soles of shoes. "Baozhen, you should stop doing anything. If you have anything to do, tell Xiaojie to do it."
"Know."
Liang Baozhen was indeed preparing to be a military advisor. She watched Xu Shengjie cooking from the side. A grass carp weighing nearly four pounds was slammed onto the chopping board with a thud. The fish's head hit the board and it fainted instantly. Xu Shengjie killed the fish neatly, cut open the belly to clean out the internal organs, and then sliced it into fillets after it was cleaned.
"Your cooking skills are so good?" Liang Baozhen saw that he could slice fish as well as her mother Song Chunhua.
"I learned it from practice before." Xu Shengjie didn't even raise his head.
"Let's braise it. Put enough ingredients and some chili peppers. The weather is too cold and eating something spicy can drive away the cold." Liang Baozhen stood beside the stove and watched Xu Shengjie put the fish into the pot. The aroma gradually seeped out of the red base. Xu Shengjie's cooking skills were average, but his fish slicing technique was good.
"Pour the potato slices and cabbage leaves in." She cut the potato slices into thin slices so they would be cooked in a short while, and the cabbage leaves could be eaten after just a little blanching.
The fire was roaring on the stove, and in the iron pot was a large pot of braised fish. The fish soup was delicious, and with some chili added, it was bubbling.
When the pot is taken off, there is a large pot of braised fish, which is full. The fish slices are thin and tender, and look even whiter and more tender in the red sauce. Under the fish is a layer of potato slices and cabbage leaves, with yellow and white dots in the red soup, which makes people's appetite grow.
"Eat."
Five pairs of chopsticks were quickly put into the basin!
The author has something to say:
Liang Baozhen: Just because I didn’t want to eat it a few months ago doesn’t mean I don’t want to eat it now QAQ
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