Chapter 21 (Catching Bugs)
The private plots of the educated youth were not adjacent to those of the villagers, but were not far from the educated youth site.
It was a wasteland at that time.
Although I had seen the conditions of the educated youth's private plots in my previous life, I was still shocked today by the fact that the grass was taller than the vegetables. Only a small part of the area was well maintained.
But packing is very convenient. No rope is needed. Just pull out some weeds to tie the vegetables. Some male educated youth even called it "using local materials."
The aunt who came to watch the fun laughed and scolded: "You say such nice things, but it's just because you're lazy!"
It was only four o'clock in the morning. Zhou Jiani was stunned as she watched the members gradually gathering around.
"Auntie, what are you doing here so early?"
The aunts and the ladies all chattered, "We have nothing to do anyway, so we came over to watch you cook."
I am mainly curious about Zhou Jiani's confidence in making such a big promise. Where does she get it from?
Yesterday, many people came to Zhou Jiani, hoping to hitchhike and asked her to take their own vegetables with her and sell as much as she could.
Zhou Jiani declined for a long time, and finally Zhang Baosheng called all the team leaders to a meeting, explained the situation, and asked the captains of each team to notify their subordinates.
No one knows how well the educated youth will sell this batch of vegetables, and Comrade Zhou Jiani herself is under a lot of pressure. If this is successful, she will help the members solve the problem.
Even though everyone has agreed not to bring them this time, it doesn't prevent them from coming and joining in the fun.
"Shake off the dirt from the spinach roots. Divide them into bundles of about two kilograms each. Discard any damaged leaves. I'll check before weighing," Zhou Jiani supervised, emphasizing the importance of the instructions again and again. "When bundling the leeks, arrange them neatly and remove any damaged leaves. If there are too many damaged leaves in a bundle, reject the entire bundle!"
"Don't use overripe eggplants. Arrange them neatly. Same with the peppers. Arrange them neatly." She pulled out a loofah as thick as her arm from the basket. "The flesh of this loofah can be used directly to wash dishes. Who do you want me to sell it to?"
Sun Ping and Yu Wanxia also came to help, working as quality inspectors with bloodshot eyes.
Yu Wanxia was deeply resentful of these old educated youth. In her eyes, these were not vegetables, but "gifts" from Zhou Jiani's cookbook. So when she saw a male educated youth picking several old loofahs and trying to mix them into the basket, she said bluntly, "Comrade, our requirements are very clear. You are being unkind."
The educated youth smiled nonchalantly and said, "What's wrong? Can't we eat this loofah?"
"Of course you can eat them yourself, but these vegetables are meant to be sold at the market. Do you think people will buy such old loofahs?" Yu Wanxia said angrily. "Do you know that Jiani even took out her ancestral recipe to help you sell these vegetables? She's planning to use the recipe to trade for sales channels. Are you guys just trying to fool her like that?"
Several old educated youth who were picking vegetables nearby were stunned.
Even the aunt who came to help was stunned and asked Yu Wanxia: "Miss, what's the recipe?"
Zhou Jiani was on the other side, and she didn't know that she had a family recipe. She was busy inspecting, weighing and loading.
There is also Qiu Zeming here.
Hadn't Zhang Baosheng suggested finding someone to keep her company? She'd thought he'd just pick Uncle Liu or Uncle Zhang, or at least someone else from the village, but she'd unexpectedly arranged for Qiu Zeming.
While they were busy, Han Yang came over with several educated youths. He looked a little embarrassed and asked, "Comrade Zhou, did you really take out the family recipe for us?"
Zhou Jiani was stunned for a moment before she realized what was going on. She guessed that either Yu Wanxia or Sun Ping had told them something. She said with a mixture of laughter and tears, "Well, it's not really a family heirloom, but... it was collected by my family."
She couldn't say that she brought it from the afterlife.
The two aunts who came with the educated youth said with distressed expressions, "That's quite a lot of money."
Those old educated youths were a little embarrassed and kept thanking and apologizing.
Zhou Jiani waved her hand and said, "Don't say anything more. Just hurry up and ensure the quality. If you can make it look good, you'll be doing me a favor. This batch of vegetables will serve as the image of our vegetable army of the Qianjin Brigade."
Zhang Baosheng, who came over to check on the situation with his hands behind his back, paused, then took three or two steps forward and said, "Xiao Zhou, why didn't you tell us earlier? We should have found the most beautiful one in the village. Who in our village grows better vegetables than these lazy guys?"
Han Yang and the others were unhappy and said, "Captain, Comrade Zhou is helping us solve the problem."
Of course Zhang Baosheng knew it, so he just said that.
However, in this case, the old educated youth who were picking vegetables did not dare to fool around. They all looked embarrassed and picked the ones that looked good. Anyway, they would eat the rest, so it didn't matter whether they looked good or not.
Zhang Baosheng also knew about Zhou Jiani's 'sacrifice', but looking at the dishes that had already been packed, he felt it was useless to stop her now, so he said, "Whether it works this time or not, the team will give you a credit."
At the very least, Zhou Jiani is really trying to help solve the problem.
This record of merit does not mean that she will be compensated with work points or money, but rather with experience.
It is much more valuable than work points and money.
Zhou Jiani smiled so hard that her eyes curved. She said crisply, "Thank you, Captain!"
The total amount of private plots owned by more than 30 educated youths is not small.
Even though some vegetable plots were not well taken care of and the crops were sparse, we easily harvested more than 300 kilograms of vegetables, all of which were picked from the most beautiful, tender and juicy ones.
Looking around the field, there are still a lot of fruits hanging on the vines or branches, some are not ripe, and some are ripe but of average quality.
These more than 300 kilograms are all eggplants, autumn beans, lentils, spinach, peppers, loofahs, leeks and the like, not including the pile of old pumpkins on the ground.
Some of the older educated youth had initially planned to take advantage, since Zhou Jiani had already said she'd take as many as she could, and any leftovers would be hers. Even before bed last night, some were muttering to each other, suggesting picking any nearly ripe fruits and counting them in, leaving the unripe ones to grow later.
It's rare to be taken advantage of. What if there's no next time?
But after being spitted at by Yu Wanxia just now, she felt a little embarrassed. Even looking at the food in the car, she felt pressured for Zhou Jiani.
Everyone said, "Comrade Zhou, if we really can't sell all the goods, it's still ours. Just return it to us and we'll take care of it."
"Yeah, we'll sell as many as we can. I'm really sorry about yesterday."
"Comrade Zhou, don't feel pressured. No matter what happens, none of us will forget your kindness."
Zhang Baosheng also said: "Xiao Zhou, that's all, let's try it first."
Zhou Jiani didn't try to be stubborn and said, "Okay, everyone has worked hard. Let's settle the bill. Comrade Qiu Zeming and I will set off."
Including the eight or nine old pumpkins on the ground that are all over half a meter long, it weighs nearly 500 kilograms.
But these 500 kilograms of vegetables cost less than ten yuan.
Zhou Jiani felt a little embarrassed after finishing the calculation. She'd made the price yesterday with some emotion in her heart. Now that everyone was trying to talk things over, she said, "If I can find a regular buyer, I'll try to negotiate the price up, every penny counts. But this time, I need to add some extra stuff, which increases the cost. So, if I sell it at a penny or two higher, I won't make up the difference. From now on, I'll just use the new price."
No matter how much I can't bear it, I won't change the set price casually, otherwise my words in the future will seem powerless.
Everyone thought she was talking about the recipe, and they all expressed their understanding, some even thinking that being one or two points taller was nothing compared to the recipe.
After loading the car and settling the payment for the vegetables, we set off.
Everyone stood at the entrance of the village, waving and watching Zhou Jiani leave in her ox cart. This farewell scene was actually quite spectacular.
As an accompanying person, Qiu Zeming naturally sat on the ox cart. After walking some distance away from the village, he asked, "What's going on with the menu?"
Zhou Jiani took out a notebook from her army green shoulder bag and handed it to Qiu Zeming. Qiu Zeming was stunned for a moment before taking it: "Let me see it?"
If the recipes recorded in it are really uncommon, does this girl know their value?
"No, no, no." Zhou Jiani quickly denied it and handed over a new notebook and a pencil. "Don't just read it, turn to the last few pages and copy the seven ways to eat eggplant, the five ways to eat loofah, and the several ways to cook spinach. The more the better. If you can only sell it at the market, I can tear it off and give it to others."
Qiu Zeming: ...
The ox cart swayed slowly into the town, and the state-owned restaurant had already started selling breakfast.
Zhou Jiani parked the car at the door and glanced at Qiu Zeming. The latter shook his sore wrist and said consciously, "I understand. I'll watch the car and you go in to eat."
Zhou Jiani said with a smile: "It saves trouble to have a smart comrade following you."
When dealing with such a clever comrade, she would feel very stressed; but she had to admit that normal cooperation made her feel less worried.
Qiu Zeming curled his lips: "Thank you for the compliment!"
Zhou Jiani said, "I'll go in and buy you some steamed buns and porridge. You can eat them in the car. I might have to stay in here for a long time."
Qiu Zeming nodded, guessing that she was looking for an opportunity to discuss cooperation with the person in charge.
He thought that if Zhou Jiani couldn't be negotiated, he would go in and try again.
Zhou Jiani didn't know Qiu Zeming was ready to help her out. She went into the restaurant and ordered two steamed buns, two steamed buns, and a bowl of tofu pudding. Qiu Zeming gave her money and coupons. Zhou Jiani whispered, "Just give me the food coupons. The money will come from the profits. Let's just consider it an official business trip."
Qiu Zeming did not act pretentiously and took back the money and gave it as food coupons.
Zhou Jiani went back, ordered a bowl of wontons and two pan-fried buns with meat filling, found an empty seat and sat down to eat slowly.
There are quite a few people coming to the state-owned restaurant for breakfast.
Some stayed in the hall to eat, some brought aluminum lunch boxes to get a portion to take away, and some just ordered two steamed buns to eat with the pickles they brought with them.
She quickly finished the rest of her meal while the waiter was not busy, went to the front desk, and said with a smile, "Comrade, do you have steamed flower buns here?"
Zhou Jiani did not directly mention that they were discussing cooperation or anything like that.
Places like state-owned enterprises have fixed partners.
If you suddenly show up and say you want to sell vegetables to someone, it would be strange if they would pay any attention to you.
So, first break into their kitchen and see the chef who has the final say.
The waiter said indifferently, "What kind of steamed bun is it? What kind of steamed bun can't be eaten?"
Zhou Jiani smiled and pointed outside, saying, "Our gay relative's brother is getting married. Aren't we planning to go to the banquet? I'd like to get some flower buns with good meaning as gifts."
"For example, the five-fruit flower bun is shaped like a pomegranate, symbolizing fertility and good fortune; the peach shape symbolizes health and longevity; the persimmon shape symbolizes everything going well. Others include the Buddha's hand shape and the ingot shape, which are designed for good luck."
The waiter found it somewhat new, and his tone of voice was no longer as indifferent as before. He shook his head and said, "We don't seem to have such a mold in the kitchen, but we do have carp."
Zhou Jiani waved her hand and said with a smile: "It's not a mold, it's directly made from dough."
The waiter asked curiously, "Flower rolls? You mean flower rolls?"
But it wasn't what she described.
"It's either flower rolls or flower buns." Zhou Jiani said sweetly, "Sister, can I borrow your kitchen to steam a pot myself? Aren't you steaming steamed buns? The dough is already kneaded. I'll just go in and shape them and take them away. The money and the receipt are calculated as you wish. You can charge a little more."
The waiter hesitated and said, "Well, even if I say so, it doesn't count..."
"Sister, can you help me discuss this? Otherwise, you can ask for me. If the chef here can make it, I will order a pot immediately. If the chef here can't, in return, I will teach them. How about that?"
The waiter hurriedly said, "I'll go ask."
Zhou Jiani went out to say hello to Qiu Zeming. After all, she had arranged a relative for him. If the waiter came out and asked him about this, it would be bad if he was exposed.
Qiu Zeming: ...
In the time it takes him to eat a meal, he has a new relative in the local area?
But the girl didn't ask him if it was okay, she just informed him and then went back.
Zhou Jiani successfully broke into the kitchen.
There was a master chef, an apprentice, and two aunts in their early forties in the kitchen.
These two aunts can make simple flower rolls, and are good at making buns, fire cakes, and wontons, but they cannot make complex flower buns.
Seeing that Zhou Jiani was a young girl, one of the aunts asked, "Comrade, can you make flower buns?"
They had heard of flower steamed buns and knew that some areas would steam them during the Chinese New Year. They were said to be made very beautifully and in all kinds of shapes, but they had only heard about them and had not found a way to learn how to make them.
Zhou Jiani smiled and said, "I can't guarantee anything too complicated, but I can do something simple."
The kneaded dough was ready, so Zhou Jiani washed her hands and started to work. She kneaded the dough and used her fingers to deftly pinch it into a rough shape. She then used scissors to cut out the crown shape on the top and cut out small fish-scale-like holes at the bottom, which she pressed carefully to represent pomegranate seeds.
Finally, pinch off a piece of dough and roll it into thin strips, shape it into a flower, and circle it around the pomegranate as decoration. A beautiful pomegranate flower bun is ready.
The two aunts who were watching were amazed.
Then he took a new piece of dough, pinched it into the rough shape of a peach, and used the back of a knife to cut a slit in the middle. He also made leaves separately and pasted them on. A vivid peach fell on the panel.
Then I started making persimmons. When making persimmons, I also asked for a chili stalk, washed it, and inserted it into the top of the "persimmon" as a persimmon handle.
Then start doing the remaining two.
The two aunts watched intently, and when the flower buns were ready and they started to make them themselves, they started calling him "Master Zhou" one after another.
The prepared flower buns were placed aside to rise, and then steamed. Zhou Jiani took this opportunity to instruct the two aunts and chat with the chef.
The chef is called Zou Kai, about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, not tall and slightly plump.
No matter what era, people are particularly willing to communicate with those who have some skills.
Especially at that time when information flow was not well developed, Zhou Jiani's skill was, in their opinion, no exaggeration to say that it was a unique skill.
Naturally, when Zhou Jiani asked about their vegetable supply, Zou Kai not only did not show any resentment, but instead explained the situation here, saying, "We don't use a lot of vegetables every day. What we lack most are grain and meat. We're always short of money every month."
Then he smiled friendly and asked, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, you're actually here to sell vegetables, right?"
Zhou Jiani touched her nose embarrassedly.
Zou Kai and the two aunts all laughed and joked.
"It's you young people who have the most active brains," said Aunt Wang with a smile.
Not only do they not dislike this sales method, but they find it quite interesting and they make a lot of money from it.
Zou Kai said, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, I'm afraid I'm going to disappoint you. We all get our vegetables delivered to us from the farm, and we've been collaborating with them for a long time. However..." He pointed at the steamed buns still waiting to be cooked, "Comrade Xiao Zhou, thank you for your kindness. I'll keep thirty pounds for you today."
Show your support.
"That's great, thank you, Master Zou." Zhou Jiani expressed her gratitude and then said with a disappointed smile, "I thought we had a chance to achieve long-term cooperation."
Zou Kai smiled and shook his head.
Even if there is no farm, there are Majia Brigade, Licun Brigade and other brigades that are closer to the town. It is definitely not the turn of Qianjin Brigade.
Next, they talked about the price. Different dishes have different prices. Zou Kai asked, "What dishes did you bring today?"
"There are several varieties. They were all picked this morning, with dew still hanging on them. The car is parked outside. Master Zou, come with me to take a look and I'll help you pick."
Normally, the apprentice would be sent out to pick a few things at random, but Zou Kai was shocked and regretful that Zhou Jiani took the initiative to teach the technique of making flower steamed buns in order to sell vegetables.
He also wondered if this little girl had been fooled by someone in the village?
Feeling a bit reluctant, he followed her out to look at the vegetables himself.
When Zou Kai saw the baskets full of vegetables on the ox cart, he was shocked but also felt an inexplicable sense of comfort - it was so neat.
The vegetables are fresh, uniform in size, and most importantly, neatly arranged. They are much better than those crooked and cracked vegetables brought from the farm.
There was no way around it. They were just a town-level state-owned restaurant, and they had to wait until the higher-ups had selected the restaurants before they could be theirs.
"Comrade Xiao Zhou, are the dishes in your Qianjin Brigade so good?"
Of course not, she only chooses the good ones!
Zou Kai looked at the big, smooth eggplant that was translucent purple, then at the fresh, green spinach with particularly clean roots next to it, and then at the leeks, beans, kidney beans and so on over there. As a chef, he felt so refreshed.
I feel like it would be a shame not to keep any of them.
Finally, he waved his hand and said, "Leave me ten pounds of each."
He will transfer some of the vegetables from the farm to other places later.
Ten kilograms of each, that's more than thirty kilograms. Zhou Jiani said with a beaming smile, "Thank you, Master Zou, for supporting our forward team." She extended her hand toward Qiu Zeming and said, "Comrade Qiu, please hand me the notebook and pen so I can write down the dishes Master Zou ordered."
Qiu Zeming raised his eyebrows and handed over the 'original recipe'.
Zhou Jiani frowned and sighed again that it was so much easier to have a comrade who could cooperate with her.
Then she flipped the pages of the notebook next to Zou Kai, making a loud noise. She had to make sure that the speed was neither too fast nor too slow so that people who glanced over could catch a few key words.
Zou Kai was looking at the vegetables. He picked up an eggplant and weighed it. It was good, the flesh was firm, and it was indeed fresh.
I took two more peppers, looked at them, and smelled them. The peppers had a strong smell, which was good.
When he turned around and was about to call someone in the store to come out and move the dishes, his eyes swept across the page Zhou Jiani was flipping through and froze.
"Comrade Zhou, what you wrote above is..."
Zhou Jiani said casually, "Oh, I memorized the recipe." She smiled modestly and said, "Well, it's a bit of a novice to talk about this in front of you."
"No, no, no, I just saw a loofah steamed with pork, winter melon meatballs, and maybe... chicken slices in lotus sauce? Comrade Zhou, did any of your ancestors cook?"
It’s no wonder that Zou Kai was shocked. At that time, what a chef could do depended entirely on what his master could do and what he taught.
If you meet a master with real skills, you can learn according to the cuisine. If the master you apprentice to is also half-baked, then the apprentice will have to reduce the skills by half.
Another thing is, it depends on whether the master will teach him everything he knows.
Many masters will hide some skills when teaching their apprentices, and the apprentice may not be able to learn all of the master's skills even if he serves the apprentice until he is old.
So even though he is a chef in a state-owned restaurant, if we don’t talk about his skills but only about his knowledge, Zou Kai may not know more than Zhou Jiani.
Zou Kai: This is a bit of bullying!
He knows several ways to stir-fry loofah, but even Zou Kai finds this loofah steamed with meat new.
He can make winter melon meatballs, and his master knows how to make chicken slices with lotus leaves, but his master didn't teach him. He taught it to one of his senior brothers instead.
He learned another specialty dish from his master.
But now I have seen the method of making lotus chicken slices from Zhou Jiani.
Even though he saw it, and Zhou Jiani really wanted him to take a closer look at the dish, he didn't dare to learn it. If his master misunderstood that he was stealing her skills, he would be in big trouble.
But he was really curious about the dish of steamed pork with loofah.
Zhou Jiani was invited back into the store, and Zou Kai seemed hesitant to speak.
When people come to sell some vegetables, he has already taught them how to make flower buns. If he asks them for the recipe, he really can't open his mouth.
Zhou Jiani held her composure for a moment, not wanting to be dragged out for too long before saying, "Master Zou, besides the flower buns, can I use two more recipes in exchange for our long-term cooperation?"
Zou Kai scratched his head and said, "Comrade Zhou, if we want year-round supply, we'll have to ask our superiors, and it'll be difficult to get approval. But I can make the decision for two or three months. I promise you, I'll ask you for two or three months of vegetable supply every year. The quantity won't be too large, just 20 kilograms a day."
After saying that, he added, "You don't need two recipes. I'll just take a look at the steamed pork with loofah."
Hua Mo cannot be ignored. He started out as an apprentice and knows better than anyone how difficult it is to learn some skills from a master.
So he really couldn't ask for two recipes against his conscience.
"make a deal!"
Zhou Jiani tore off the page and handed it over, saying, "I wrote down three kinds of fillings for this dish... Well, I'm telling you this, you don't know any better than me!"
Both of them felt they had earned something.
Especially Zhou Jiani, she thought the steamed loofah with meat was too simple, and was thinking that if Zou Kai regretted it, she would read the catalog and let him pick another one.
But Zou Kai took a quick look at it, put it away as if it were a treasure, and wrote a short-term cooperation agreement by hand.
In terms of purchase price, only spinach is 1.5 cents, while other vegetables are 1.6 cents, 1.7 cents depending on the type. The highest is autumn beans, which are 1.8 cents.
But we send whatever is available in the village, and make sure it is fresh.
After the dishes to be kept for today were weighed and the bill was paid, someone from the kitchen called Zhou Jiani and said the steamed flower buns were ready.
Taking advantage of the current warm relationship, Zhou Jiani glanced at the bartender guiltily, forgot what she had said before, and negotiated to buy it without a ticket and at a high price.
Zou Kai went to the front desk to ask about the food coupon allocation for this month, and approved it with a wave of his hand.
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