Chapter 177
Yu Wanxia and the others also took their meat and moved forward. The aroma of the meat, mixed with the aroma of the marinated seasonings, spread out. Wang Qianjin took a deep, exaggerated sniff and said, "This is so fragrant."
His actions were exaggerated, but he was speaking the truth; the smell was indeed tempting.
The grate was full of meat, and Zhou Jiani estimated the heat and turned it over. Several pairs of chopsticks also reached out to join in the fun, picked up a corner of the meat and turned it over to continue grilling.
Zhang Huihui squeezed in among her brothers and sisters and waited obediently.
Zhou Jiani said, "Don't just wait to eat the barbecue. Roasting takes time. The chicken will be stewed until it's boneless and soft. Don't leave it there." She dug out the chicken, left a bowl for herself and put it in a casserole to keep it warm.
So, everyone still sat around the stove, but with a bowl in their hands. The chicken soup was hot, so everyone held a bowl, and their fingers moved back and forth at the bottom of the bowl like dancing.
The slices of meat in the middle were cooked. Zhou Jiani picked up a piece and placed it in Huihui's bowl. "How about trying it?"
The other slices were quickly divided up by Yu Wanxia and the others. Zhou Jiani also picked up a roasted piece and tasted it. It was well-marinated and very delicious. She nodded with satisfaction, "Not bad."
"Sister Jiani, you're too modest. This isn't just good, it's absolutely delicious!" Xiao Min said. "I'm going to learn how to make it this way when I go home for Chinese New Year and let my parents try it."
Not only delicious, but also fun.
Wang Qianjin: "When you were marinating it just now, I was wondering why you added onions. Now I'm surprised to taste the onion flavor mixed in with the barbecue, but it's delicious. This taste is very fresh."
He usually doesn't like onions, especially fried onions, but the meat marinated with onions mixed in with the seasoning turned out surprisingly well when grilled.
Everyone was grilling and eating at the same time, and they were becoming more and more skilled. Sometimes the grate was too hot, so they would use two chopsticks to pick up some vegetables and move them to the side to cool down before using them. Zhou Jiani then put the vegetables cut in the morning into the marinade and coated them with some soup, and then grilled them on the grate.
The salty and fragrant seasoning mixed with the slightly sweet sweet potato slices, roasted until crispy and soft, is surprisingly delicious.
There were also onions and potato chips. It was the first time for Yu Wanxia and her friends to eat grilled ones, and they all praised them highly.
This meal took a long time, but it was not only satisfying but also fun.
After dinner, I didn't have time to clean up and took them to the construction site.
Just as Zhou Jiani said, everyone was shocked when they first saw Li Jingdang, but more of them admired his tenacity.
Including these comrades from the construction company, they braved the severe cold, shouted slogans, and worked hard.
After touring the construction site and sending them to the car, they were all reluctant to leave. Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I'm planning to go back to Xihe Commune in the next few days. I'll come visit you then."
After waving goodbye to everyone, Zhou Jiani returned to the dormitory.
Because she was worried that she would not have enough time to clean up after dinner, Zhou Jiani went back to boil a few pots of hot water, took out the detergent, washed what needed to be washed, and brushed what needed to be brushed. It took her more than an hour to finish.
Just as I was about to take a break, I saw Sister Dai and her family returning through the window.
She clearly saw a person's face change - when Sister Dai walked over, she was holding her two sons' hands, chatting and laughing. When she got closer, her face suddenly fell and the smile disappeared. Then Zhou Jiani heard Mrs. Song's voice: "Why don't you come back after the New Year?"
This is because Sister Dai and the others came back late.
Secretary Song quickly tried to smooth things over.
Zhou Jiani knocked on the window and waved to Sister Dai.
Sister Dai didn't want to go back and see her mother-in-law's old face, so she asked her two sons to go back to the house with their father, and she lifted the curtain and went to Zhou Jiani.
Zhou Jiani: "I stewed chicken for lunch and left a bowl for you. I'll pack it for you in my lunch box."
Mrs. Dai didn't expect this to happen. She said embarrassedly, "It's not easy to eat meat these days. Just keep it for yourself."
Zhou Jiani scooped the chicken nuggets from the casserole into an aluminum lunch box, filled it with soup, and said with a smile, "I left it all for you, why are you being polite?"
Mrs. Dai smiled and said, "Then I won't be polite to you."
Zhou Jiani went to the kitchen and picked up some vegetables, put them in a net bag, and handed it to Sister Dai: "A few friends from the Qianjin Brigade came over today, and I asked them to help bring it."
Although more greenhouse vegetables were being grown this winter, the supply was only slightly better than a few days ago, but they weren't always available for purchase. Dai Saozixi uttered an "ouch" and said with a smile, "I was just about to rude you. This chicken and vegetables are really too expensive..."
But there was a smile on his face.
Zhou Jiani asked her a few questions about her return to her parents' home, but did not mention the incident of her mother-in-law prying open the door. It was not the first time that her mother-in-law pried open other people's doors and windows. Sister Dai felt ashamed to bring it up, but she could do nothing about it and just got angry.
The two chatted for a few minutes, and Mrs. Dai thanked him, took her things and went back.
That night, Zhou Jiani set up a small table next to the stove and buried her head in writing a letter to Qiu Zeming. She wrote about Yu Wanxia and the others' visit that day, the barbecue they had for lunch, and even the marinating method. She concluded by saying, "If it's convenient, you might want to try it. It's very delicious. Or maybe we can have a barbecue together when you come back one day."
I put the letter in an envelope, put a ready-made stamp on it, sealed it, and sent it out the next day.
Two days later, Zhou Jiani called Xihe Commune and made an appointment with Secretary Zhai. She took out several boxes of apples and pears collected from the group, put a few of them in a net bag, and put two cans of food and a can of malted milk in it.
He packed several half-pound bags of tea and two large bags of melon seeds and put them in the warehouse for storage. He hung the green backpack on his shoulder, took a bus back to town, and as usual, went to the restaurant to buy food.
The people in the restaurant were already familiar with her, and since they hadn't seen each other for so long, they were all a little friendly.
Wang Liping asked, "Jiani, would you like some freshly baked meat buns?"
"Yes, ten of them, please." Zhou Jiani said with a smile, "This meat hot pot in our restaurant is amazing. You don't know it. I haven't had it in such a long time, but I still miss it so much."
Although the state-owned restaurants in the county also have meat hot pot, everyone has a different way of preparing the filling, the time it takes to let the dough rise, the strength of kneading the dough, and the control of the baking temperature, so the taste is really different.
Hearing her say this, Zou Kai and the pastry chef in the kitchen were happy, and Zhou Jiani also ate a freshly baked pastry on the spot.
The taste of freshly baked fire-baked bread is different from that after it has been left for a while. It is still more delicious and fragrant when it is freshly baked!
Zou Kai poked his head out and said, "If you're not in a hurry to leave, just wait for ten minutes. I'm just about to fry the meat..."
Zhou Jiani immediately thought of the crispy and fragrant fried meat, and she wanted to say "all for me" generously, but she also knew that resources were scarce these days, and she didn't know how many people were waiting to have a bite of meat, so she reservedly asked for two pounds, but she also grabbed the big white flour buns and the fried dough twists she had made in the morning, and asked for about ten of each.
After leaving the hotel, I didn't go directly to the commune. Secretary Zhai had a meeting in the morning and agreed to go directly to the Qianjin Knitting Factory to find her in the afternoon. It was a good opportunity to call on the cadres from the factory to discuss the recruitment of workers for the county knitting factory.
Zhou Jiani returned to the Advance Brigade.
When entering the village, she happened to meet a truck carrying goods. Zhou Jiani took a special look at the driver, but she didn't know him, so she walked straight past him and went to the factory.
Everyone was very happy to see her and greeted her chatteringly. Zhou Jiani took out the two large bags of melon seeds, divided them among themselves, and left half a pound of tea for the fourth uncle and his friends. She smiled and asked about the production situation in the factory during this period.
The fourth uncle and his friends were also happy to see Zhou Jiani, and couldn't wait to show her the new woven products designed by the people in the factory.
Zhou Jiani went to the booth and took a look around. She found that the coasters and pot holders that were not selling well in the early days were made again, and the subtle color differences were made by using the original color and brushing with tung oil, which increased the beauty.
Bai Haoyang smiled and said, "Foreigners like it. They like to order large sizes and put a set of coffee sets on it as decoration."
Zhang Laosi said, "We also need oval and rounded square ones. We just sent out a batch at the beginning of the month."
"Not bad, not bad." Zhou Jiani praised sincerely, "This wicker pen holder is also good..."
A young man scratched his head sheepishly and said, "I saw the bamboo pen holder used in the factory director's office. It was cracked, so I suddenly thought of trying to make a weaving one."
The air here is dry, especially in the tungsten house where there is a stove, making it even drier. Things like bamboo tubes and bamboo cups are particularly easy to crack. The ones she used outside were all cracked and had been burned as firewood, but there were still some in the warehouse, which were well preserved.
"Not bad, not bad. This is really good. I'll place an order for twenty. If you don't have time, report to the commune and let other teams do it." Zhou Jiani.
The young man was so excited to receive Zhou Jiani's recognition that his face flushed: "Thank you, Team Leader Zhou!"
Zhou Jiani smiled: "Why are you thanking me? I should thank you."
After chatting for a while, Zhou Jiani went out to check on Zhao Mei. Zhao Mei was in good condition. Knowing that Hui Hui had told Jiani about her pregnancy, she saw Zhou Jiani looking over and glancing at her belly. She whispered, "I'm fine. This child is very sensible and doesn't bother me much."
Zhou Jiani said lightly, "That's good. You must not be so stubborn. Some work should be done by yourself, while some things don't need to be done by yourself. You should learn to let go when you should."
Then he whispered, "I brought you some apples. I'll bring them to you at noon."
It would have been fine if Zhou Jiani hadn't said anything, but as soon as she mentioned apples, Zhao Mei seemed to instantly smell the sweet aroma of apples and thought of the sour, sweet and crisp taste of apples. Before she could even say a polite word of refusal, her mouth secreted a lot of saliva. She swallowed it embarrassedly and said with a smile, "It seems that I have to eat this apple. I feel like I'm especially greedy now that I'm pregnant. Why did you tease me?"
Zhou Jiani laughed.
Zhou Jiani felt at home here after not being here for a long time. Yu Wanxia, Sun Ping and others were also there, so she walked around and chatted for a while, then prepared to go to the brigade headquarters.
Yu Wanxia said, "Shall I give you the key?" She was worried that Zhou Jiani would not want to come to the factory again after finishing her work, so she went home to rest.
Zhou Jiani waved her hand: "No, I'm going to talk to the captain, I guess I won't be able to go back soon."
"Then wait for you to eat!"
"good!"
Zhou Jiani carried two bags of tea to the brigade headquarters. When she entered the courtyard, Zhang Baosheng came out and said with a cheerful smile, "I heard they said you were here, so I was just about to go to the factory to look for you."
"Captain!" Zhou Jiani shook the tea leaves in her hand and said with a smile, "How can I let you come to me?"
Zhang Baosheng: "Hahahaha." He didn't bother to be polite with Zhou Jiani. He took the tea leaves from her hand and sniffed it. "Jasmine tea, fragrant, really fragrant. I like this one."
Zhou Jiani followed him into the room with a smile. Liu Tong was also there. Just as he was about to make a joke, Zhou Jiani threw a bag at him. He caught it with both hands and said with a chuckle, "I said, Comrade Xiao Zhou can't be partial."
Back at the familiar brigade headquarters, Zhou Jiani felt at home and comfortable. She took out a teacup from her bag. Liu Tong smiled and poured some for her, then brought hot water to make a splash. The three of them then sat down to talk.
After a brief chat, Zhou Jiani talked about recruitment and also said that the secretary would come over in the afternoon for everyone to discuss it together.
Zhou Jiani said, "I plan to recruit a few experienced people from each team and give them regular positions directly. I will also allocate the remaining regular positions to the new recruits, and determine the remaining positions through assessment and evaluation."
Zhang Baosheng's heart skipped a beat, and he said with a hint of excitement, "This is good news!"
The factory in our village has limited vacancies for regular workers, and it is not yet the turn of the young craftsmen.
Who doesn’t want to be a formal worker?
What's more, he can work in a big factory or in the city. This is a great thing!
Liu Tong was also somewhat moved, and said again: "Jiani, it is really a blessing for our ancestors to send you to our team..."
Even he knew that Zhou Jiani was giving some rural children a chance to go out, and Zhang Baosheng was the first person to think of it.
"Okay, okay, let's discuss this in detail with the secretary this afternoon, and then we'll decide who to choose." Zhang Baosheng said, "Don't worry, Jiani. I can't control the other brigades, but I will definitely pick the best for you from our village."
Not only must you have good skills, you must also be a good person, hardworking and capable, and you must not bring shame to Zhou Jiani or the Qianjin Brigade.
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "In addition to the existing technical personnel, I will try my best to get some informal workers for each team..."
It is impossible to recruit workers only from the city. She will try her best to obtain a certain proportion of rural household registration. Whether they can stay in the city in the future and whether they can be converted to regular employees depends on their own performance.
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