Afterwards, I rode my bike back to the post office.
Zhang Hongmei pulled Huang Ying aside and asked, "Sister Huang Ying, should I deliver this gift to your uncle now?"
“Go ahead, he’s home today. I’m not finished here yet. My boss and three colleagues are on leave today, I need to make room for them.”
"Sister Huang Ying, there are some holiday gifts for you over there, mooncakes and meat. If you leave before I come back, remember to take them with you."
"Alright, I won't stand on ceremony with you." Huang Ying said, then went back to distributing the meat. It was so satisfying; she still had one more day to host this. Looking at the big chunks of meat, she felt happy.
Wang Hongxi helped Zhang Hongmei load the baskets onto the cart. "Uncle Village Chief, I'll be back in a bit. If it's not possible tomorrow, you can have someone else deliver the vegetables; it's too late now. Also, I haven't discussed the price of the meat with Huang Ying yet. You can talk to her directly about it later."
"It's alright, you can go ahead."
Zhang Hongmei arrived in fifteen minutes after getting on her bike. The leader looked at the things Zhang Hongmei brought with delight.
"Leader, this is a wild boar that we hunted in our village, and these are mooncakes we made ourselves. Thank you again for taking care of our village."
"Still calling me 'leader'? From now on, call me 'uncle'."
"Okay, Uncle, I have to go back now. I'll come see you again when I have time."
“Go ahead, I’ll take care of the people in your village, treat them like my own children.”
"Thank you so much. With you taking care of things, the adults in my family are at ease."
When Zhang Hongmei arrived at the post office, the meat had already been distributed, and the driver and ticket seller had also bought meat and gone home.
Huang Ying pulled Zhang Hongmei into her office. "Uncle Village Chief, come in and rest for a while."
Hongmei, this 100 pounds of meat is a real lifesaver, it's solved a big problem. Before, when you came to get the newspaper, people would always say sarcastic things, but she definitely won't say it next time.
"This meat, I've calculated at three yuan per jin (500g), here's three hundred yuan, Uncle Village Chief, please keep it safe. And these mooncakes are really delicious, I ate one of each, I can't eat anything for dinner."
"Eat more if you like it. We'll make it again when we have the chance. It contains goat milk."
"Hongmei, take this money first, I'm going back now."
"Wait a minute, here are some sugar buns. Uncle, have two so you won't go hungry."
"Of all the things, my daughter is the most considerate."
Zhang Hongmei declined Huang Ying's offer to give her a ride and went home on her own.
This day was like a battle; it was truly difficult.
I'll deliver the mooncakes to Liu Jianguo and Liu Changhai tomorrow at noon; it's too late today.
The next day at noon, Zhang Hongmei borrowed a bicycle from Song Zigan and went to the municipal government. The gatekeeper recognized Zhang Hongmei and did not stop her.
Upon seeing Liu Changhai, Zhang Hongmei was startled. "How come he looks so old?" she exclaimed. "Third Master, I've brought you mooncakes."
"Hongmei's here. Quickly sit down and have some water. Did you make this at home?"
"Hmm, there are four kinds of fillings. The dough is made with goat milk and eggs. I think it tastes better than what you buy. You should try it."
Liu Changhai picked up a piece, took a bite, and said, "Mmm, delicious. This is red bean filling."
"Third Master, I have to go back. I have to go to school this afternoon. The exams are coming up soon, and the teachers are being very strict."
"Go ahead, come find me if you need anything."
"Okay, I understand."
Zhang Hongmei rode her bicycle to the cotton mill again and gave Liu Jianguo ten yuan, mainly because she was worried that he would have nowhere to put it.
“Brother Jianguo, we still have some left for you at home, including wild boar meat. Wednesday is the 15th, so come home for dinner on Saturday night and I'll stew some meat for you.”
"Really? We're having wild boar meat again? Okay, I'll go over after get off work during the day."
"I'm leaving now, I still have to go to school."
As for Dashan and the others, they'll have to deliver it tomorrow at noon.
She hurried and made sure she wasn't late, otherwise the teacher would have given her another dirty look.
As for the teacher's holiday gift, let's wait until the Lunar New Year; it's not convenient to send it now.
Song Zigan came over after the first period. Zhang Hongmei called him outside and said, "Come to my house at eight o'clock tonight, I have something good for you."
Song Zigan immediately became excited: "It's meat, isn't it?"
"That's clever, and there's a reward. I'm going back to class now."
When Zhang Hongmei got home that evening, she went into her spatial dimension and cut off a piece of meat weighing ten and a half pounds. What's left is probably enough for them to eat on Saturday.
They took out another piece of packaging paper and wrapped two more pieces, one extra for the brown sugar and peanuts. They couldn't possibly give eight pieces to three people.
I ate a plate of fried rice and drank a glass of milk in my room before coming out.
After waiting for a while, Song Zigan arrived.
"This is ten catties of meat, just give me thirty. This is a mooncake, made by the elders in our village. Take it back and let the elders try it."
"Okay, but ten pounds is too little."
"Just make do with this. I squeezed this out for you; otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten any."
"I knew you'd think of me when something good happened. I'm going back now, you should get some rest too."
"Let's go, I need to use my bicycle again tomorrow at noon."
"Use it however you like. You can ride it every day, or I can walk to school."
"No need, I'll be going out tomorrow and then I'll have to stay put when I come back. The teachers will probably get annoyed with me."
The next day, under the teacher's puzzled and helpless gaze, Zhang Hongmei rode her bicycle to the power supply bureau.
After waiting for quite a while, Dashan finally came out. He was wearing well-fitting work clothes and looked quite presentable.
"Brother Dashan, these are mooncakes, four per person, four different fillings."
"Wow, there are so many this year!"
"That's because you're out there, while the family members at home each get a piece of food. Alright, come home for dinner Saturday night, and Jianguo will come too. I'll stew some meat for you."
"Hongmei, you've gone up the mountain again?"
"Well, otherwise where would the meat come from? This meat isn't mainly for you guys to eat; it's for me to give as gifts. Just for your leaders, there are twenty-five pounds of meat and forty mooncakes. You guys better work hard."
"I was wondering why. We were only planning to keep five people behind, and the rest would have to go dig holes for the utility poles. But this morning, they suddenly made all ten of us stay behind to study."
"Thanks to Hongmei, otherwise we wouldn't have had such a great opportunity!"
"Alright, just be more filial to your elders in the future. Also, that leader said he would treat you like his own children, so you all need to be more mindful."
"Okay, we'll go over for meat on Saturday night."
"Alright, I'm going back to class now." Zhang Hongmei rode her bike back to school, finally returning early this time.
Zhang Hongmei counted that she had about ten mooncakes left, enough for one for each person that night. She had less than thirty jin of meat left; she'd keep ten jin and stew the rest that day, along with some other vegetables, otherwise it wouldn't be enough. Because it was a festival, they'd be steaming rice, which would require two large basins and still not be enough, but the pot was only so big. Perhaps she could steam a pot of steamed buns beforehand; at least everyone should have enough to eat.
Add dried eggplant, dried green beans, and glass noodles to the stew; two large pots are enough to feed everyone.
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