Upon hearing the school bell, Zhang Hongmei quickly focused her attention and began to concentrate on the lesson.
Song Zigan would come to find Zhang Hongmei after class whenever he had nothing to do, but Chen Sheng noticed and stopped him.
"Now is a crucial time, don't come and disturb Zhang Hongmei."
Seeing Song Zigan's embarrassed expression, Zhang Hongmei laughed unkindly.
Every day, teachers from each subject would write questions on the blackboard, which Zhang Hongmei would then copy down and work on. She felt like her fingers and wrists were about to break, and she was using two bottles of fountain pen ink a week.
Every day is filled with doing exercises. The only time to relax is when listening to the news. Now is a critical moment on the battlefield. All the boys dream of joining the army, and they are all eager to fight to the death with the enemy.
The teacher's words instantly deflated them. "You need to know what you're supposed to be doing right now."
Zhang Hongmei saw that the students in front of her were all staring blankly. Had they returned to reality?
Wednesday arrived, and today was the fifteenth of August. As Zhang Hongmei walked home, she remembered a saying: "The moon is fullest on the sixteenth."
However, the moon is also big and round today, and it feels like I could jump up and reach it.
During festivals, I miss my loved ones even more. Thinking of my parents from my past life doesn't hurt me as much as it used to. Time is the best healer.
She took out a mooncake she had brought with her from her spatial storage, along with a large pear, a bunch of grapes, and an apple.
In my past life, this was the size of my family's house for the Mid-Autumn Festival.
He took out another bottle of red wine and poured himself a drink. After feeding the mosquitoes in the yard for more than an hour, he finally managed to cultivate a festive mood, so he tidied up and went back inside to sleep.
Wang Hongxi came over after fetching water on Saturday morning.
"Hongmei, we won't be delivering vegetables tomorrow; it's time for the autumn harvest at home. This is some vegetables and cured meat I brought for you. I've also brought your bicycle over; we've discussed it, and we'll send you a new one later."
"No need. If I really get into university, the bicycle will be given to the brigade anyway. There's no need to buy me a new one. I need to ride it to school for a while, so just leave it here. Can you deliver it today?"
"Well, your third uncle organized everyone to go up the mountain to harvest sweet potatoes today. I have to go back too. Don't worry about home, just focus on your studies. Everyone is waiting for your good news."
"Uncle Village Chief, this is the 360 yuan from the meat sale last time."
“This is yours, keep it yourself. The village hasn’t saved up enough money to lend you the thousand yuan yet, we’ll give it to you when we have enough.”
“Uncle Village Chief, you should take it back. And the thousand isn’t urgent. It’s almost New Year, so we should distribute some money to everyone, right? I heard from the older women that a few families are getting married, and they can’t do that without money.”
Wang Hongxi wiped her face. "Okay, I'll take it back, but consider it a loan." She was too ashamed to stay any longer. What kind of situation was this? She put the money in her pocket, picked up her basket, and left.
Zhang Hongmei stared blankly at Wang Hongxi's departing figure for a while. Looking at the bok choy, spinach, and radish greens that had been delivered, she thought she could make steamed vegetable buns for tomorrow. There was also a piece of cured meat weighing over ten pounds hanging in the storeroom.
I rode my bicycle to the post office to pick up the newspaper, and also got some bok choy and spinach for Huang Ying. When I arrived at the post office, I was warmly greeted by the staff.
Although meat is quite expensive, it's a blessing to be able to buy it. We haven't had any meat or oil for over a year, but at least we can finally see meat. It's worth the extra cost.
I started stewing the meat as soon as I got back. I didn't leave any of the twenty-odd pounds of meat behind. I cut it into chunks, boiled water, and blanched it. In another pot, I caramelized sugar and put the blanched meat into it, stirring constantly. Once the oil had rendered out, I added soy sauce and spices, stirred it for a while longer, added water, brought it to a boil over high heat, then reduced the heat to low and simmered it slowly.
Another potsticker, and the rice will be made later tonight.
The eggplant and dried green beans are soaked, but it still doesn't look like enough. I'm thinking of adding some glass noodles. There are too many people and not enough dishes; it won't be enough to eat.
I could pick a few more cucumbers from the yard, but that's too few, and there's nowhere to buy any, so I chopped up some pickled vegetables and a few scallions. Oh, and I can also put some wood ear mushrooms in there, so I soaked a small bowl of wood ear mushrooms.
This combination of one meat dish and one vegetable dish is acceptable.
The aroma of meat filled the entire yard, and even Zhang Hongmei, who often sneaked cravings, couldn't resist. Luckily, it was just her family; it would have been troublesome if there were neighbors.
I added another piece of firewood, and the aroma became even stronger when I lifted the lid. I poked it with chopsticks, but it was still too tough. Wild boar meat is naturally tougher than domestic meat, so I'll just simmer it slowly over low heat.
No need to watch the fire, there's plenty of water in the pot, so grab the newspaper and get to studying. I wonder how the first year's political exam will go without a textbook?
Time flies when you're focused. When I remembered there was still meat stewing in the pot, I quickly added another piece of firewood.
I ate half a pancake and a bag of pickled vegetables for lunch. If there are too many people, I'm too lazy to serve them; if it's just for myself, I'm too lazy to cook.
When the meat was tender and the fire was turned off, it wasn't taken out of the pot. Instead, a large bowl was ladled out. This was to be sent to Liu Changhai tomorrow. The whole village lived in the city. Although they didn't lack these things, they couldn't leave anyone out. Better to leave a whole group out than one person out.
In the afternoon, I reviewed the key points of modern history again, and also went over the parts that differed from my past life.
At 5 PM, I started cooking. First, I cleaned the steamer and set it aside, then boiled water and cooked the rice.
I put in more than ten kilograms of rice, just in case it wasn't enough to eat.
Remove half of the meat, then add half a pot of water, along with the eggplant, green beans, and salt. Add the glass noodles only when the stew is almost cooked, otherwise they'll become mushy.
Place the steamer basket on the pot, cover the pot, and simmer slowly.
The cakes are placed on the steamer rack of the second batch.
Shred the cucumber, shred the pickled vegetables, and cut the scallions into sections. We'll mix them together when it's ready to serve.
Take out a plate and put the remaining fifteen mooncakes on it; it looks like it's going to have a festive feel now.
They arrived together at 6:30. Two tables were put together and filled to capacity.
They were very satisfied with the meal. They usually ate in the canteen, which was not even as good as the food in the village. They felt like they hadn't eaten enough for the past few days, but today they finally ate their fill. And it was rice and stewed meat. They hadn't had such a good meal even during the Spring Festival.
"Hongmei, your cooking is delicious."
"If it's delicious, eat it all. Take the rest back with you, otherwise I'll get sick from eating it."
Zhang Hongmei ate too much today, a bowl of rice and a big bowl of vegetables, especially the eggplant in the meat hot pot. It tasted just like the meat and wasn't greasy at all. She should dry more eggplant in the future; it's even tastier than fresh eggplant.
"We'll definitely finish it. We didn't eat lunch or dinner, we've been waiting for this meal." After Erlinzi said that, everyone burst into laughter.
Everyone chattered away, sharing their happy work-related stories.
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