Chapter 56
The next day, Zhang Cuihua came to say that both Yin Zhiqing and Pan Zhiqing were taken away for reform as negative examples.
Reform is not easy these days. Not only did Yin Xue escape, she also tried to sneak into Hong Kong City. Her nature is extremely bad. I'm afraid she will be paraded through the streets.
Although Pan Dongming was an incidental victim, he also bears a lot of responsibility because he was hit by the muzzle of the gun.
Conservative estimates suggest that the second half of the year will be difficult for these two people.
Without these two people in the village, nothing seems to have changed. Everyone just does what they have to do.
Cheng Su didn't react after hearing the news. She liked Pan Dongming very much, but she couldn't let go of the thought that Pan Dongming wanted to send her to jail. Aunt Zhen was right. Her goal was to go to Peking University and return to the city earlier by passing the college entrance examination, not to be obsessed with love.
Let him be reformed. He likes Yin Xue so much, he should be happy living in the cowshed with Yin Xue.
After Cheng Su understood this, she happily went to find her Aunt Zhen.
The Meng family had long regarded Cheng Su as one of their own. Whenever Meng Daguo and his companions saw Cheng Su, they would comfort her and tell her not to take it to heart. They also said that sending people like Pan Dongming and Yin Xue to reform was for their own good.
For the first time, Cheng Su felt the warmth of home. Her heart was filled with warmth and she regarded the Meng family as her own brothers and sisters-in-law.
Meng Hua is going to practice further studies this year. According to the principle of going from one society to another, most college students will be sent back to their hometowns, but Meng Hua has performed well in school. The teacher asked him what he thought and wanted him to stay in school, but Meng Hua was still a little unsure.
Having tasted the sweetness of making money, he naturally wanted to graduate early and make money.
Some people think that only by working in a position needed by the country can one contribute to the country. Meng Hua does not think so. If a person is rich, he can lead many people to become rich, and this is contributing to the country.
Besides, after he becomes rich, he can give back to his hometown by donating money to build roads and provide electricity. Isn't that better than just working as per the routine?
However, he is studying and taking further courses this year, and the course load is not easy, so he wants to go back to school as soon as possible.
In late August, Meng Hua bought the train tickets and packed his luggage.
How many things did his mother buy for him?
Socks, trousers, a set of summer clothes, a set of winter clothes, a newly knitted brown sweater, a bag of apples, and two cans of food. He really thought of every aspect. His sister-in-law even made him an autumn jacket, which would be very fashionable even in Beijing.
"Mom, sister-in-law, there are too many things. I can't carry them all." Meng Hua muttered.
"Why can't we take it all in? Just use the bed sheets to tie them up like tofu buns, and it can hold as many as you want." Zhen Zhen said with a smile.
Jiao Huilan also felt that what she brought was too little. She was always worried that her younger brother would suffer there, so she wanted him to take all the good things at home with him, and secretly stuffed two bottles of chili sauce into Meng Hua's bag.
Meng Hua padded down, smiled and shook his head:
"It's a heavy motherly love."
Tao Aihong was shocked and secretly curled her lips, thinking that her mother-in-law was really generous. Not only did she buy clothes, but she also bought two bottles of canned food. Why didn't she see how generous her mother-in-law was to her?
Tao Aihong would never admit that she had stolen all the canned food at home.
Zhen Zhen also asked her third son to smile, but it was not that she was partial to him.
He was kind to his third son because, firstly, he only came back once a year and it was not easy for him to study abroad. Secondly, in the original novel, Meng Hua was an out-and-out villain with a cunning personality and radical behavior.
Zhen Zhen is not his leg pendant, and cannot remind him to stay on the right path all the time. He can only be nourished by the love of his family, so that he can always leave a way out for himself.
"How's your brother's pig farm going? I haven't been there for a long time." Zhen Zhen asked casually.
Meng Hua knew what his mother meant, so he smiled and said:
"It's not like you haven't been here for a long time. I just came to ask about my brother and I. Don't worry, my brother and I are doing fine. Yesterday we went to the river together to catch eels and lobsters! If it wasn't the wrong season, your son would definitely catch some crabs for you!"
This poor kid has made a lot of progress after going to college.
It's becoming increasingly difficult to fool him.
However, she was also very happy to see that the relationship between her eldest son and third son was getting better and better.
As long as parents are not partial and do not favor boys over girls, the relationship between their children will be good. Being partial to one child, especially a boy, will not only turn the favored child into an ungrateful person, but will also chill the hearts of the other children.
Zhen Zhen wanted to fry some snacks for him to take with him on the road, but Meng Hua didn't like melon seeds and chestnuts. Besides, this year's chestnuts haven't come out yet, and she hasn't fried chestnuts for a long time.
In late August, the spring peanuts have just been harvested, and it is a good time to eat them.
Zhen Zhen poured the peanuts out in the yard to dry and asked her three sons to peel them. Several other children also came over to help.
There is strength in numbers. It didn't take long for us to peel a full basket of peanuts. The peanuts this year are really good. Each one is plump and will definitely be great for making spiced peanuts.
Zhen Zhen washed the peanuts with water, put in five-spice powder and star anise leaves and soaked them for half an hour.
There was not much salt left at home, so she went to the space and got a few packets of salt and opened them.
Salt is worthless these days. People in the countryside exchange eggs for salt. In addition, the packaging of salt is difficult to open, so most of the things in Zhen Zhen's space are gone, and only the salt has not been moved much.
One of her former roommates had a mother who went on a salt hoarding spree because of a rumor that the sea water was polluted and that eating salt could protect against radiation. She used up the salt from the time she was in kindergarten to the time she was about to graduate from college, and she still hasn't finished it.
It is no exaggeration to say that the salt in Zhen Zhen's space is enough to last for decades, and maybe even enough to pass on the family line.
Pour salt into the pot and stir-fry. Drain the peanuts and pour them into the pot. At first, the peanuts will be stuck with salt grains. Change to medium heat and wait until the salt turns golden and the peanuts are dry and flavorful. Then it is almost done.
"Auntie Zhen, is it ready?"
Cheng Su was a little unsure of the timing, so she pinched one and put it in her mouth.
Tao Aihong would always be there wherever there was food. She took a bite and her eyes widened like Cheng Su's. The five-spice peanuts were so fragrant and crispy. She never thought that peanuts could be fried to taste like this.
Others also came over and were mesmerized by the smell of the spiced peanuts.
"Mom, can you leave some of these spiced peanuts for me as a snack? I'm going to have a drink with my second and third brothers today." Meng Daguo said with a smile.
Zhen Zhen laughed and said, "Nonsense, when has my mother ever made anything without yours?"
Meng Daguo smiled innocently: "Mom is still good to us."
The three brothers were all very happy. Their mother spent every day preparing these delicious foods, and they were all getting them at a bargain price.
What does this mean? It means that my mother loves them dearly.
Zhen Zhen asked Meng Daguo to catch and kill a chicken, and only put green peppers in it, making the braised chicken tender and tasty. The taste was absolutely amazing.
She also made her signature crispy pork belly, stir-fried water spinach, and fried cucumber and eggs.
Because the children are calcium deficient, I cooked kelp and egg soup.
Four dishes, one soup, two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, what else could be unsatisfactory?
Jiao Huilan went to the kitchen and made him a bowl of eel noodles, using the eels she had caught the day before. The wild eels tasted quite good, and you couldn't taste this flavor in Beijing.
Sister-in-law Jiao Huilan also worries about her brother-in-law.
Meng Hua felt extremely comfortable eating the meals at home, and he didn't want to leave anymore.
He wanted to buy a house with a yard in the capital and bring his mother to live with him.
However, houses in Beijing are expensive, and he does not have enough money. Besides, he has not yet found a place to settle down, so he cannot tell his mother too early.
Meng Hua still had to buy a train ticket for the evening, and Meng Daguo was still the one to send him off. However, this time the two brothers had a better relationship, and they were very happy on the way, chatting and laughing as they left the village.
Trains are extremely safe these days. Zhen Zhen was not worried about Meng Hua's safety and slept well that night.
The next morning, she got up early with a palm-leaf fan. Maybe it was because she killed a chicken yesterday, and today the chicken flew up to the tree and sat on it. No matter how hard Zhenzhen shouted, she would not come down to eat.
Daya pinched her waist and said, "Grandma, look how scared Xiaohua is by you. Can you please not eat chicken next time? They are all my pets. I can't bear to eat them. This is too cruel."
Zhen Zhen thought to herself that no one ate as well as you yesterday. You ate two chicken legs by yourself. What else do you want?
"Yes, yes, yes! I am cruel, but you are not!" Zhen Zhen snorted.
Daya rushed over and hugged her grandmother's thighs, acting as her grandmother's leg pendant.
Zhen Zhen took a bamboo pole to knock the chicken down and scattered a handful of rice on the ground. Daya, Erya and Sanwa caught some insects to feed the chicken. The chicken was fat and laid delicious eggs.
This year was unusual. The atmosphere had been bad since the beginning of the year. We finally made it to the second half of the year. Not long after the autumn harvest, we heard the news that the four men had been knocked down.
Not to mention the big cities, even in remote small villages like Batou Village, the people are joyful. They don't understand any national affairs, they just know that the country is developing in a good direction and there is hope for the future.
By this time the public grain had already been handed in and the village was organizing its distribution.
The harvest in Batou Village was acceptable this year, but there was not much left after paying the public grain, and the amount distributed to each household was only so-so.
Fortunately, in order to meet the target, Li Decheng allowed everyone to raise chickens and pigs.
This release is completely different.
Every family can sell eggs for money, and a wife in confinement can kill an old hen to replenish her body. If you have no money, you can catch a chicken to sell, and you can also raise an extra pig.
However, in Batou Village, apart from the Meng family who raised six pigs, most other families only raised two pigs.
It’s not that they are lazy and don’t want to raise them, it’s that they simply can’t afford it.
This pig eats so much!
If you want to raise pigs as well as the Meng family, then you have to give all the food that people don't eat to the pigs. The food expenses in a year would be enough to crush you. Raising two pigs is already a huge amount.
Give one to the country and keep one for slaughter. The leftover meat can be sold to others. At the end of the year, how can you not have some money left?
Wouldn't life be comfortable then?
Therefore, the villagers of Batou Village are in a pretty good mental state this year.
There was a bumper peanut harvest this year, especially in Batou Village, where every household received a lot of peanuts. A bumper harvest for the farmers means that the price of peanuts will drop.
After the October incident had passed, Zhen Zhen went to the black market to buy some peanuts.
The price was just as she expected, much cheaper than last year. Last year, the peanut harvest was poor and the price was higher, which made her feel helpless.
Peanuts are a rare commodity these days, so their price should be quite high.
Maybe it’s because the farmers sold the peanuts they were given, and the price of peanuts on the black market was only 30 cents per pound.
But I heard that it can be sold for more than 40 cents outside. Cooked peanuts are even more expensive, costing 60 or 70 cents, not to mention peanuts.
But it is understandable. Peanuts can be used to refine oil. In the planned economy era, everything was expensive. It was not the items themselves that were expensive, but because they were scarce.
Da Zhenzhen harvested two sacks of peanuts. This year, the Meng family also planted crops such as peanuts, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, but the output from their own private plots was limited, so they still had to go out to purchase.
After the purchase, Zhen Zhen found a secluded place to put the peanuts in the space, and then went around to a farther stall to buy again.
In the evening, she asked Zhao Meilan to help her buy more peanuts and melon seeds.
In this way, she had ten sacks of peanuts.
In the evening, Meng Daguo went to the pig farm to feed the pigs, and everyone in the family, young and old, came out to pick peanuts. Cheng Su and Meng Zhaodi also helped.
The next day, several people fried peanuts together again. It must be said that this way of eating five-spice peanuts is very rare. In the past, peanuts were mostly fried as a side dish with wine and could not be eaten as a snack.
Five-spice peanuts are different. Like chestnut seeds, you can wrap them in paper and eat them while watching movies, reading, or drinking wine.
Anyway, the Meng family couldn't resist the temptation of spiced peanuts.
Stir-frying peanuts in a grass pot is a strenuous job. When Cheng Su gets tired, Meng Zhaodi takes over. When Meng Zhaodi gets tired, Jiao Huilan takes over.
As for Tao Aihong, she is a non-staff member and she is most active only when the peanuts are ready.
If you fry a lot of peanuts, you will need more wrapping paper. Zhen Zhen took out a stack of wrapping paper and drew the logo.
Her drawing skills are now comparable to those of a printer. She draws so quickly, fiercely and accurately that it doesn't take long before the profile of the gentle and kind mother-in-law is finished.
She packed her things without telling Meng Zhaodi, as she wanted to test her. However, Zhaodi was very strict and would never spread any news there. Zhen Zhen respected her very much.
Zhen Zhen went to the county town again. Hao Po Po had not launched new products for a long time. It sold chestnuts last year, but that was seasonal. Many old customers were looking forward to Hao Po Po's new products.
Just as Zhen Zhen had parked the car, someone came over and said, "Sister, a bag of salty melon seeds."
Zhen Zhen smiled and took out a bag of peanuts.
"Brother, you are an old customer of ours. We have just launched a new product. Do you want to try it?"
The customer is a young man whose parents are both factory leaders, so he is naturally not short of money. He comes to Zhen Zhen from time to time to buy some snacks. It seems that he has a girlfriend recently and he brought his girlfriend here last time.
Zhen Zhen knew that this customer was very loyal, so he took the initiative to recommend:
"This new five-spice melon seeds is fried using my family's exclusive secret recipe passed down from generation to generation. You will definitely like it."
The young man was very happy that the stall owner remembered him, so he pinched a few and tasted them.
This taste was as amazing as the Meng family, and he immediately asked Zhen Zhen to give him three packs.
The young man also gossiped: "Big sister, does your family have any secret recipes passed down from generation to generation? Can you tell me the story of your ancestors?"
Zhen Zhen started thinking and shared a story she had made up.
She said that her ancestor was a poor man. Once, he worked for a landlord, but the landlord did not pay him and sent him away with only a few sacks of peanuts. Her ancestor was about to starve to death, so he started thinking about how to sell these sacks of peanuts.
However, peanuts were not valuable and could not be sold at a high price. After painstaking research, our ancestors finally developed a way to eat spiced peanuts.
These peanuts were well received as soon as they were launched, and her ancestors saved the lives of their entire family by selling peanuts.
Zhen Zhen called this story ridiculous, but the young man found her telling it quite touching.
"It turns out that there are so many stories behind this tiny peanut! It's not simple, it's not simple!"
Zhen Zhen finally understood that the most important thing in building a brand is to be able to tell a story. Since she wanted to make the business of Good Mother-in-law bigger, she had to tell the story well.
It doesn’t matter whether the story is true or not; what matters is that someone believes it.
By the evening, most of the melon seeds and peanuts in her space were sold out.
One pound of peanuts can produce seven ounces of peanut kernels. The cost of one pound of peanut kernels is more than 40 cents. A bag of peanut kernels is 5 ounces. Zhen Zhen sells a bag for 40 cents and gives some melon seeds to customers.
She brought nearly 200 kilograms of peanuts today, which brought her a profit of 60 to 70 kilograms. Adding the income from selling melon seeds, she easily earned more than 100 kilograms.
There were still some peanuts left, so Zhen Zhen changed the packaging and sent them to Grandma Meng and her father.
When Old Lady Meng saw that there was something delicious, he took out the unfinished bottle of Five-Star Moutai.
Old Mrs. Meng was wondering if the melon seed shells were moldy, why were they so gray?
She picked one up and put it in her mouth. "Old man, the second son's peanuts are really good at eating. These peanuts are much better than fried ones!"
Old Lady Meng nodded, "The second son is gone, but his wife is able to support the family. She is also capable. In the past, everyone said that she was a spendthrift woman who couldn't save money! But I see that she is still wearing clothes from a few years ago. She only eats a mouthful of rice every day, and when she is hungry, she eats cucumbers. She is so thin that even I, her father-in-law, feel sad!"
Now, if anyone says something bad about his daughter-in-law, Old Lady Meng is the first one to disagree.
Old Mrs. Meng also felt very guilty. Why was she so ignorant in the past as to make trouble with her daughter-in-law?
She blamed everything on the lack of communication. She only saw her daughter-in-law going to the county town to spend money every day, but she didn't see her spending the money on her children.
He bought a cotton-padded jacket for this one and a quilt for that one. Every time he went back to the county town, he bought either milk powder or Lego. How could he spend a single penny on himself?
If she meets a daughter-in-law like this, she should cherish her.
Old Mrs. Meng reflected deeply.
The old couple drank wine, talked about life, and ate spiced peanuts. Their days were getting better and better!
Later, Zhen Zhen harvested chestnuts again.
With last year's experience, the children, needless to say, went out early with their bags ready to go. They gave the money they picked up to their family, but they were very happy to have one or two cents left to buy candy.
With the help of the children, Zhen Zhen harvested twenty sacks of chestnuts. No one knew where they got so many from.
The next day, Zhen Zhen passed by the next village and heard villagers complaining that no one ate chestnuts on the mountain in previous years, but this year not a single one was seen. It was really strange.
Zhen Zhen then knew the reason.
By the end of the year, inspections outside were strict, so Zhen Zhen rarely went to the county town. Meng Daguo's pigs were almost raised, and he didn't know if he could sell them safely before the end of the year.
1976 was destined to be an extraordinary year, but no matter how extraordinary it is, it will eventually pass.
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