Chapter 195 Daily Life
On this day, Lin Qi was busy making stone mortars and millstones, while Xu Hexiao was making cabinets and the like.
It was not until five o'clock in the afternoon that Lin Qi finished making the mortar and millstone, and she was covered with a layer of dust.
"The water has been boiled for you in advance. I'll fetch you some water and help you get your clothes. You can go take a bath first." Xu Hexiao said. They brought the wooden bathtub from the Anliang Brigade. Now with the bathtub, it was very comfortable to take a bath.
"Didn't Brother Cao say there's a bathhouse here? Let's go see it one day?" Lin Qi was curious about what the bathhouse here looked like.
Xu Hexiao thought about it and thought it was okay, "Let's go check it out in a couple of days."
Lin Qi came out of the shower and then gave the four children a bath. It was cold today, so she had to put a stove next to them to keep them warm while bathing them.
Dinner was scrambled peas with bacon, scrambled eggs with peppers, and a winter melon soup.
"We don't have much smoked meat left, but we still have a few pounds of meat coupons. I will go to the pork stall to queue up early tomorrow morning and use all the meat coupons." Xu Hexiao said.
"At the rate we consume meat, the few meat coupons we have each month probably won't be enough. It will take time for rabbits and chickens to breed, and we don't raise pigs and sheep. If we want to eat meat every day, we'll probably have to go to the black market." She could get any grain, fruit, and vegetable that was available in the growing area, but she had no way to get meat.
Xu Hexiao also knew that the two of them had no jobs and the tickets they received each month were limited. If they wanted to live a better life, they had to go to the black market. "When Brother Cao comes, we can ask him about the location of the black market."
"I'll go after I've found out." Lin Qi said.
Xu Hexiao was somewhat helpless. "My skills are not bad now. You give me energy every day, and I feel that I am getting stronger day by day. Now I can fly over eaves and walk on walls without any problem."
Lin Qi thought about it seriously and said, "Okay, then you go."
Just as they finished their meal, there was a knock on their door.
"It should be Brother Cao. He said he would come over in the evening." Xu Hexiao got up and opened the door.
After a while, he came back with a bucket. "Do you want to raise live fish and shrimp?"
Lin Qi shook her head, "There's no water in the rice fields, so they can't grow rice."
"Then I'll put them in a basin and keep them until tomorrow, and then make pancakes to eat tomorrow." Xu Hexiao said.
Lin Qi had no objection, "Did you ask about the location of the black market?"
"No, he said he would come and take me to buy lime tomorrow. I will ask again tomorrow."
The next morning, Brother Cao came to the house early, and Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao were having breakfast.
"Come and try the fish, shrimp and cakes from the flour stall that you brought yesterday." Xu Hexiao invited Cao Zheng.
Cao Zheng waved his hand, "No need, I came here after eating at home."
Xu Hexiao came over and pulled him to the table, advising him, "Don't be polite. If you don't eat something, I'll be embarrassed to ask you to help lead the way. Besides, we need to expend energy to transport the lime back, so we can't do without eating enough."
Cao Zheng had indeed eaten breakfast, two sweet potatoes. If he was going to do hard work, two sweet potatoes would definitely not be enough to satisfy his hunger. He was no longer polite, took a pancake and ate it in big mouthfuls.
After breakfast, Xu Hexiao and Cao Zheng went out, while Lin Qi stayed at home to pound rice and grind flour.
The stone mortar and stone mill were in the warehouse. Four vines were entangled with the four children, as if they were being held upright by an adult. Wherever Lin Qi went, the four vines would go.
The children held onto the vines and looked around, having the illusion that they were walking. They did not cry or make a fuss, and would even shout "ah ah" when they saw something they were interested in.
Lin Qi was doing several things at once, controlling the vines to pound rice and grind wheat at the same time.
When the mortar and millstone started moving, the children opened their eyes wide. They looked at the mortar and then at the rotating millstone without blinking, they were extremely curious.
Lin Qi was touched by their cute looks and couldn't help but kiss their chubby faces. Working and taking care of children, things that others found difficult to balance, she managed with ease.
When Xu Hexiao went out, he didn't say whether he would come back for dinner. At eleven o'clock, Lin Qi fed the children and changed their diapers. Then she let Tengman rock the children to sleep and went to cook.
Cao Zheng has a big appetite, and so does she and Xu Hexiao. Worried that there wouldn't be enough food, Lin Qi put six bowls of rice into the pot.
This morning, Xu Hexiao went to the pork stall to queue up before dawn and bought three pounds of pork, a pig's trotter and a pig's bone. At this point, the meat coupons they had exchanged from Boss Mo were used up.
Lin Qi planned to use two pounds of pork to make a braised pork, stew pig's trotters with soybeans, stir-fry a plate of Chinese cabbage, and make a scallion and egg soup.
Her cooking skills are only average, but she relies on the good ingredients to make food that is both delicious and tasty, and is no worse than the chefs in state-owned restaurants.
Cao Zheng and Xu Hexiao pushed a cart of lime in. When they smelled the rich aroma of food, they swallowed their saliva reluctantly.
"You guys did a good job of modifying the door. The car can come in directly." Cao Zheng tried hard to divert his attention away from the food.
"It's just a random change. We plan to replace the door in a couple of days." This door is so rotten that it seems like it may die at any time.
"Wash your hands and come over to eat." Lin Qi began to set the table.
Xu Hexiao pushed Cao Zheng, who looked embarrassed, and said, "Let's go. You work for me without asking for wages, but I can't just skip meals. If that happens, wouldn't I be a capitalist who exploits workers?"
Cao Zheng smiled and said, "He Xiao and his sister-in-law are the kindest people I have ever met. They have nothing to do with capitalists."
There were only three dishes and one soup on the table. There were not many dishes, but the portions were large enough.
Lin Qi scooped three bowls full of rice and said, "I cooked a lot of rice, so eat as much as you want."
Cao Zheng looked at the white rice and felt even more embarrassed. "Sister-in-law, I am one of your own. You can just cook some rice with mixed grains. You don't have to be so polite."
Lin Qi nodded without explaining, "Then I will cook mixed grain rice tonight. Today is the first time we have dinner together with you, Brother Cao, so it should be a little more substantial. There won't be such a meal in the evening, so don't be disgusted by it then."
"No, no, it's good to have something to eat. Nowadays, no one will dislike food." Cao Zheng said sincerely. His family even eats rice bran. They grind the rice bran into fine powder, mix it with cornmeal, and steam it to eat.
Seeing that Cao Zheng's chopsticks kept falling on the plate of cabbage, Xu Hexiao picked up a few pieces of braised pork for him and said, "Eat more meat, Brother Cao, you've become unrecognizable because of your skinny appearance."
Cao Zheng nodded repeatedly and took a bite of the braised pork. The braised pork melted in his mouth, and the taste of fat and sugar spread in his mouth. It was so fragrant that he almost swallowed his tongue.
I really want Han Shuang and grandma to have this kind of braised pork.
Cao Zheng had a goal in mind and planned to go to the black market to help again.
Four dishes and a pot of rice were all eaten up. At first, Cao Zheng planned to eat only one bowl, but before his bowl was empty, Xu Hexiao added rice to his bowl five times in a row. The same was true for the meat. Xu Hexiao put pieces of it into his bowl and fed him until his belly was full.
The two sat by the fire for half an hour, then got up and went out.
"One truckload of lime is not enough, we may need two truckloads," said Xu Hexiao.
After Lin Qi waited for them to leave, she went to check the ingredients in the kitchen. There was really not much meat left. There was only one pound of fresh pork, two bacon pieces weighing about six pounds, and eleven eggs left.
Lin Qi thought about it, but couldn't think of many dishes. "Let's eat steamed buns. Cabbage and meat buns, leek and egg buns, and some sugar buns."
Lin Qi planned to make more and take some back for Cao Zheng.
The temperature was low now, and Lin Qi was afraid that the dough would not rise, so she simply put the dough on the stove and then lit the fire in the stove. The small fire slowly burned, and the temperature of the stove gradually increased. When it was almost done, Lin Qi turned off the fire, leaving sparks to maintain the temperature of the stove.
In the afternoon, Xu Hexiao and Cao Zheng pulled two trucks of lime in total. It was dark when they finished pulling the two trucks of lime.
Both of them were a little dirty.
"I'm covered in too much dust. I have to go back and take a shower. I won't stay for dinner tonight," said Brother Cao.
Xu Hexiao frowned as he looked at Brother Cao, who was dressed in white. He was so dirty that dust would fall into the food if he moved. He really needed to take a shower before eating. "Then put it back. Qiqi should have cooked a lot of food. I'll ask her to pack it in a lunch box and you can take it home to eat."
Cao Zheng wanted to refuse, but when he thought about the delicious meal he had eaten at noon, he didn't say no.
He wanted Han Shuang and grandma to have a taste as well.
The two were talking loudly, and Lin Qi could hear it in the kitchen.
"We're eating steamed buns tonight, so it's okay if you get a little dirty." Lin Qi came over with a large plate of meat buns, handed it to Cao Zheng, and went to the kitchen again, "Eat it while it's hot. I'll pack you some more, and you can take them back for grandma and sister. I made more than two hundred of them, both steamed buns and steamed bread, so you're welcome."
Cao Zheng held the steaming buns in his hand and smiled helplessly, "I haven't said no yet, but my sister-in-law has said everything."
Xu Hexiao curled his lips, "She said so, so you don't have to say anything. Come on, hot buns are the best. I'm going to take a shower first, if I delay any longer, the buns will be cold by the time I finish my shower."
Cao Zheng thought that Lin Qi asked him to take back about seven or eight buns, but he found that it was a full basket and the lid could not even be closed.
"How many have you packed, sister-in-law? Aren't you and He Xiao going to eat them?" Cao Zheng said helplessly. He Xiao and his sister-in-law were good in every way except that they were too generous, so generous that it made people feel a little helpless.
"We left eighty of them, enough for us to have several meals." Lin Qi said.
I made two hundred and only kept eighty for myself, and gave all the big profits to them!
"No, I can't have so much." Cao Zheng handed the basket back to Lin Qi.
Lin Qi didn't answer. "Eighty buns. Ah He and I will eat them tonight, tomorrow morning, and the morning after tomorrow. We'll get tired of them. And buns won't be fresh if they're kept for too long. You can take them back."
Seeing that Lin Qi looked serious and didn't seem to be lying, Cao Zheng didn't know what to say. In fact, in his opinion, the weather is cold now, even if you keep it for five or six days, there will be no odor.
But looking at Lin Qi, who is fair and has pure eyes, it is estimated that she has never suffered, so it is normal for her to be more particular.
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