Chapter 83
The new chopping board was exactly what Zhou Jiani wanted. They wanted to buy one too, but when she offered money to Grandma Meng, she refused to take anything. So Zhou Jiani gave her half a pound of honey and borrowed a steamer, a vegetable washing basin and a kitchen knife from Grandma Meng. When she came back with them and walked in, she saw Bai Haoyang standing there with a water bag, trying his luck.
She laughed and said, "Hey, Comrade Xiaobai is practicing martial arts?"
Bai Haoyang: ...even more angry!
He put the bucket down, rubbed his shoulders, and muttered, "He's heartless!"
Zhou Jiani knew at a glance that the brother was being criticized by his sister, but Yu Wanxia could handle Bai Haoyang, so it was inappropriate for her to get angry. Besides, Yu Wanxia even brought water. She smiled and said, "Comrade Xiaobai, you've worked hard. We've used a lot of water today. I was thinking of borrowing a bucket from a neighbor to bring some water to the kitchen..."
Bai Haoyang acted quickly and efficiently. Zhou Jiani asked him to leave one bucket outside and bring the other bucket to the kitchen.
After putting the bucket away, Bai Haoyang asked, "Is this location okay?"
"Okay, this makes washing and rinsing much more convenient." Zhou Jiani said with a smile. "Thank you!"
"Comrade Zhou, there's no need to be so polite." Bai Haoyang came in and took a look at the stove. There were quite a lot of vegetables, including cucumbers, eggplants, spinach, tomatoes, loofahs, kidney beans, and dried mushrooms. There was also a green-skinned winter melon and two small pumpkins on the ground next to them.
He was surprised and asked, "Were they all given by our neighbors?"
Zhou Jiani nodded.
Bai Haoyang was convinced. His popularity was indeed excellent.
Except for pumpkin and winter melon, the quantity of other vegetables was not much, just enough for one or two meals. But they did not receive such preferential treatment. Instead, many aunts and sisters looked into their yard, but no one knew what they were looking at.
Zhou Jiani did not expect that the neighbors nearby would come to deliver vegetables. She also mentioned that she had helped everyone sell vegetables before, including the vegetables she is still delivering to state-owned restaurants, to express her gratitude.
When someone gives her something, she has to express her gratitude.
But it was not practical to invite so many people to dinner at once. Zhou Jiani thought about it and decided to make a big pot of kelp soup in the evening and send a bowl to each family. That was more or less the idea.
Zhou Jiani first soaked the kelp in advance, and then soaked some dried mushrooms.
Brush the steamer clean, cut a few pieces of pumpkin and put them on the grate, put water under the big iron pot, put a rack, put the steamer on it, and prepare to steam the pumpkin.
When it was time to light the fire, Bai Haoyang went into the house to find Yu Wanxia, and Zhou Jiani took out the arc stick and pressed the button. There was a crackling sound, and small flames started from the dried corn husks in her hand. It was really easy.
Place the lit corn husks in the stove and slowly ignite the wood inside.
Sun Ping strode in. Zhou Jiani quickly stuffed the arc stick into her pocket and said nonchalantly, "Then the brother and sister are still awkward?"
Sun Ping didn't notice Zhou Jiani's little movement. She rolled up her sleeves, ready to help, and said with a smile, "Haha, Wanxia is unilaterally scolding her brother..." She stretched her neck to look into the pot, "What are you going to do?"
"Steam some pumpkin puree so I can make pumpkin pancakes for dinner when I entertain guests."
Sun Ping was surprised: "The pumpkin can be eaten directly after steaming. Why do we need to fry it again?"
This approach is quite Western.
"We have a child, so I made this for Huihui to try." Zhou Jiani said with a smile.
Another neighbor came over and called Zhou Jiani's name. Sun Ping pushed her and said with a smile, "Go quickly. We are all benefiting from you."
I had originally planned to buy vegetables from fellow villagers nearby, but I didn’t expect that the stove would be piled up with a bunch of this and a bunch of that.
It was Aunt Zhang who came, holding a small flour bag in her hand. She said, "Jia Ni, I made some fried noodles. I mixed white flour and cornmeal. If you don't have time to cook in the morning, just add some hot water and drink it as porridge."
Zhou Jiani declined: "Auntie, how can I do this? Take it back and save it for the children."
"Aren't you a child too?" Aunt Zhang said with a smirk. "You're still a child, yet you're already running around doing work for the village. Your fourth uncle specifically asked me to make this for you. Take it now."
Zhou Jiani had no choice but to take it and let Aunt Zhang go into the house.
Bai Haoyang was sitting on the storage stool with his legs crossed. When he saw someone coming in, he quickly stood up to greet her and called out "Auntie".
"Comrade Bai is here too!" Aunt Zhang said, looked around, and asked Zhou Jiani, "Didn't I hear you guys made the furniture? Isn't it finished yet?"
Zhou Jiani went into the house, rummaged through her handbag, and took out the half jar of honey.
I have to find a chance to fill another bottle and put it in my bag. It can be used to repay the favor.
He casually replied, "Not yet, but it will be soon."
The house is nice, but a little too spacious. I need to get a few more stools, otherwise there will be nothing to sit on when guests come over.
Aunt Zhang turned around and prepared to leave, but Zhou Jiani stuffed half a bottle of honey into her pocket, and they inevitably started to argue again.
After sending Aunt Zhang out, Zhou Jiani turned around and heard Sun Ping calling from the kitchen: "Jiani, where did you put the matches?"
She didn't use matches just now.
Zhou Jiani took a box from the warehouse, brought it in and asked, "Is the fire out?"
Sun Ping said dejectedly, "It went out after just a few tries."
"It's okay, I'll do it."
Sun Ping took all the vegetables out to wash. They had to start cleaning up the food they would eat at noon and for the dinner party in the evening.
Yu Wanxia was also busy. She came over to discuss with Zhou Jiani and called Bai Haoyang to go to the supply and marketing cooperative together to buy a working surface and a new basin. After washing them clean, she prepared to knead the dough. When she was not kneading the dough, she used it to wash vegetables and dishes.
Zhou Jiani looked at the enamel basin with a sigh. She had it ready on the shelf in her warehouse, but she had been stockpiling it and hadn't started buying it yet, so she forgot to take it out in advance.
Without a stool, she sat on a wooden block while making a fire, looking at the stove while checking her phone and reading messages in the group chat.
Lactic acid bacteria, one box of four versions, a total of 20, I bought three boxes.
Can be consumed in place of milk.
There is no need to buy disposable bath towels.
A helmet is not even needed.
You can buy dried longan. Zhou Jiani bought several big bags.
Bluetooth speaker, pass; ice cream… looks really tempting, but they sell it in boxes, so forget it, pass.
Wok pancakes, a set of four boxes, four flavors, this one can be kept for three to five days without going bad and is still edible, so she ordered a set. When choosing the delivery method, she quickly glanced outside the kitchen. Sun Ping and Yu Wanxia couldn't see this side, so she took it directly, left one box at random, scanned and put away the others first, and opened the lid very carefully.
It comes in a plastic storage box, so it makes a little noise when you open it, but if you’re careful it shouldn’t have much of an impact.
The one she left outside was the spicy one. Zhou Jiani wiped her hands, pinched a piece and put it in her mouth. It was crispy and after a few bites, the spicy and fragrant taste burst out. It was really delicious!
Zhou Jiani ate half a box like a little hamster, then with a slight hiss of reluctance, she snapped the button to scan it and put it into the warehouse.
I took the kettle next to me and took a few sips, then looked outside and saw the two children arguing about whether to put more or less flour.
Well, if conditions permit, the joy of feeding is no less than the joy of stealing food, but if conditions don’t permit, then I’d better eat it stealthily!
The pumpkin was steamed. Zhou Jiani picked it out and put it in a bowl to cool. She took out a few steamed buns left over from the previous few days and put them in to steam. She adjusted the wood in the stove and got up to go out.
Yu Wanxia held the basin with one hand and worked hard to knead the dough with the other. Sun Ping was about to refresh the counter and asked the two, "Do you have loofah? Scrub it with some."
Zhao Mei happened to come over, raised the loofah in her hand, and said with a smile: "I brought two."
Thinking about the small things they were short of, and the fact that the processing workshop was not producing finished products that quickly, she told her fourth uncle, went home to pack up some small things and brought them over. She also brought two stools and a bundle of dry mugwort for them to use to fumigate the house.
"Sister-in-law, you're just in time." Zhou Jiani also decided to move in with her luggage on a whim. She realized she needed a lot of things, so she asked, "Where can I get a couple of kitchen knives made?"
Wang Qianjin happened to come over to see what was going on. Hearing this, he said, "Don't worry about it. Brother Qiu hired someone to fight a couple of times. He went to town for something and just happened to bring it back this afternoon. Oh, he also ordered two large aluminum pots from the supply and marketing cooperative. I don't know when they'll arrive, so I'll borrow them from a fellow villager for the next two days."
Zhou Jiani said, "That's great. When Comrade Xiao Qiu comes back, we'll settle the money and tickets with him."
Wang Qianjin glanced at her with complicated eyes, still feeling a little weird. Did his Brother Qiu really like Comrade Zhou Xiao?
In terms of appearance, Comrade Zhou is indeed handsome, but his brother Qiu is not the kind of person who looks at faces. If he wants to find someone, he must find someone who can keep up with him.
Well, Comrade Zhou meets this condition. It would be even more perfect if his family background was better.
Wang Qianjin came in and took a look around, and was about to go back to clean up their nest when he saw his brother Qiu coming in with two fish and some ribs. His eyes widened immediately.
Just now, Qiu Zeming packed his things and went out. Judging from the previous chat messages, he should have gone to the town. Why is he back now?
In response to Wang Qianjin's question, Qiu Zeming said confidently, "Why would I go there so early for something that happened at 3 p.m.?"
Wang Qianjin: "Then why didn't you, didn't..." come to fetch water?
His brother Qiu ignored him and went over to hand the fish and ribs to Zhou Jiani, saying gently, "Add a dish to the dinner tonight. You don't have to save all the fish for dinner. You can eat one at noon and save the rest for dinner tonight."
Since they were the ones ordering more food, Zhou Jiani didn't hesitate and took it with a smile.
Now there are three fish and an extra piece of pork ribs, so there is more room for dinner.
Wang Qianjin, who was behind him, didn't bother eating the melon. He turned around and ran home. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted, "Lao Bai, the fish should be braised. We don't steam it. There are also spare ribs. Why don't we learn from others and salt them and hang them up to dry..."
Bai Haoyang came out of the house: "What fish? What spare ribs?"
Wang Qianjin said excitedly, "Brother Qiu brought these fish. He sent two to Comrade Zhou and left a few for us."
Bai Haoyang was surprised: "Brother Qiu didn't go to town? And, what fish?" There were even ribs.
Qiu Zeming returned and met the angry glares of his two close friends. He calmly said, "We're having dinner tonight. Are you really planning on going there with your heads on your shoulders?"
The two of them thought it made sense. After a simple lunch and a nap, Bai Haoyang sat up from the kang and loudly protested: "No, wasn't that dinner tonight to thank us for helping to clean up the yard?"
But Qiu Zeming had already gone to town, this time he really went to town, and the only response to him in the house was Wang Qianjin's snoring.
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