Chapter 53: Rice
Jiang Xiurong was the chef for today's dinner. It was getting late and it would take too much time to cook and steam the steamed buns. Also, as a southern girl, she was not very good at making noodles.
It happened that she had just bought some rice and suggested to everyone that they make kong fan. The staple food used was rice. There was only coarse grain in everyone’s common granary, so two kilograms of coarse grain was exchanged for one kilogram of rice.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Xia Zhizhi and Han Youran had eaten this in their previous lives.
It just so happened that Xia Zhizhi had some bacon, so she contributed two taels of it. Although you may not be able to see it when you eat it, it will be more fragrant with the flavor of meat.
Because she contributed meat, there was no share of the food.
Cui Zijin and Tang Mingli didn't know what kongfan was, but as two grown men, they would eat anything as long as it was cooked.
Jiang Xiurong scooped up two liters of rice, washed it, put it into the pot and added water to cook.
Tang Mingli was lighting a fire in front of the stove.
While waiting for the water to boil, Jiang Xiurong peeled the potatoes. She was reluctant to peel them, so she used a broken ceramic piece to scrape off the thin outermost membrane of the potatoes.
Xia Zhizhi squatted on the side and watched. Jiang Xiurong was very skillful and scraped a potato clean in just a few strokes.
Finally, there was a small potato weighing about 200 grams left. She snatched it from Jiang Xiurong's hand and said, "Leave this for me to roast and eat!"
Jiang Xiurong agreed with a smile on her face. Tang Mingli looked at the smiling Jiang Xiurong and silently helped her stuff the potatoes into the stove.
She also instructed: "Put some more ash on top, otherwise it will burn and won't taste good!"
While burying the potatoes, Jiang Xiurong also cut the beans.
The beans were cut and the rice was cooking, so Jiang Xiurong asked her to bring everyone's lunch boxes.
Xia Zhizhi placed the lunch boxes in a row on the stove, and Jiang Xiurong poured out a basin of rice soup, pouring half a bowl for each person.
Jiang Xiurong took her own sugar jar and added sugar to Tang Mingli's bowl. Seeing Xia Zhizhi looking at her, she added a big spoonful for her as well.
Xia Zhizhi squeezed her eyes and said, "Sister Xiurong, you are so kind to me. You added so much sugar to my drink. When you find your brother-in-law in the future, he won't be angry with me when he knows about this, right?"
Jiang Xiurong didn't know about this joke, so he handed the rice soup to Tang Mingli who was making a fire, and said with a smile: "I don't think so, Tang Zhiqing, don't you think so?"
Not sure if it was roasted or hot, Tang Mingli blushed and uttered a muffled "hmm".
It was a time when the young man was in love with Ai. When he met such a good girl, who wouldn't be fluttering in excitement?
Jiang Xiurong poured a large spoonful of oil into the pot, then threw the bacon, beans and potatoes in and stir-fried them. The aroma came out instantly. She added a little water, then poured the cooked rice in, poked a few holes on the pot with chopsticks for ventilation, and covered it with a lid.
He said to Tang Mingli: "Ali, light fire."
After she finished shouting, she was stunned for a moment. She had been calling Tang Mingli "Ali" all her life, and she called him out without realizing it.
Being in charge of making fire in the hot summer is not an easy job, and Tang Mingli's face was always red.
Hearing Jiang Xiurong's shout, he responded softly, picked up a few pieces of wood from the stove, poured water on them, and kept his lips tightly pursed.
He looks somewhat like what he will look like in the future.
The one she loves is right beside her and she can see him/her just by turning around. Jiang Xiurong feels very happy and her whole body is filled with a warm and happy feeling.
Tang Mingli looked at her profile, a little dazed.
Then Xia Zhizhi's potatoes were burnt.
Xia Zhizhi peeled the black-shelled potatoes angrily, glanced at Tang Mingli, and said faintly: "Sister Xiurong is pretty, isn't she?"
Tang Mingli nodded. It was very beautiful. No, it was the most beautiful. In his heart, it was the most beautiful.
"Sister Xiurong is pretty, comes from a good family, is a high school graduate, and has a gentle personality. I wonder what kind of ideal husband her family will find for her. I'm afraid it won't be long before her family will find a way to get her back to the city. Oh, hohoho...hot..."
The baked potato was really hot, but she couldn't bear to spit it out, so she could only hold it in her mouth and blow hard.
Tang Mingli's eyes dimmed a little. He lowered his head and poked the ground with the fire tongs, wondering what he was thinking.
You little brat, huh? Just wait to suffer the pain of love!
There was not even two bites of a good potato that was edible. She brushed the dust off her hands, stood up, and looked at him with contempt, thinking that he was an idiot who couldn't even roast a potato properly. She was unwilling to associate with him and was about to leave, shaking her braid.
Just as she reached the kitchen door, Jiang Xiurong called her: "The meal is ready, Comrade Xia, go and ask them to come over for dinner!"
"Okay!"
The rice for this meal was cooked with a lot of oil, and some meat was fried in it. It smelled especially fragrant even without opening the lid. They didn't have a table, so each person had a full rice box of konjac. Tang Mingli's box was especially pressed and pressed. The remaining potstickers were scooped into 6 pieces, one for each person, and they started eating with a bowl of mixed cucumber.
Just after the meal was divided, Zhao Jinhua and Luo Zhaodi came over. Zhao Jinhua stretched her neck to look inside: "Hey, what are you eating? It smells so good."
It smelled like rice and meat, and it smelled really good. Although she had just eaten, she still wanted some more.
Seeing that the pot was empty, everyone picked up their lunch boxes and started eating. There was only a plate of mixed cucumber on the stove.
Zhao Jinhua's face fell and she turned around and walked out.
No one else paid any attention to them; everyone just enjoyed their meal.
Everyone was very satisfied with the meal, even Wang Lizhen didn't complain.
Except for Xia Zhizhi, everyone else was eating so much that they held their stomachs and praised Jiang Xiurong's cooking skills. To be honest, Jiang Xiurong's cooking skills can only be described as ordinary home cooking, but she was willing to use a lot of ingredients.
In an era of food and clothing shortages, being able to have enough to eat was truly a very happy thing.
After dinner, everyone washed their own dishes.
Han Youran smiled and said, "I think it would be better if we don't have a table. We can just put the food into the bowls and eat anywhere. It's more convenient." It was just like eating in the cafeteria in our previous life.
Everyone agrees.
After dinner, the two sons of Carpenter Lin Er pulled a cart and brought several boxes to them.
Xia Zhizhi's wooden box was heavy, so she asked them to lend a hand and help her move the box into the house.
It was completely dark now. The oil lamp was bought by Zhao Jinhua and her partners, so she naturally didn't use it. She found a candle and lit it, then sorted out the things in her package and put them into the box.
The big box was filled with clothes. Zhao Jinhua stared at her as she put things into the box one by one. There were all kinds of brightly colored clothes, skirts and khaki pants, and there were several white shirts alone. They were all summer clothes.
She has more clothes than the other people in the room combined.
They are all girls in their 20s, how can I not be jealous?
Zhao Jinhua couldn't help but said sourly: "Why didn't you bring any thick clothes? It's useless to bring just a skirt. It's very cold here in winter."
She didn't even look up: "There are too many to carry. My family will mail them to me later."
It is impossible for her family to send it to her, but she can send it to herself.
After packing the clothes, I packed up various canned foods, milk powder, maltose, candies, notebooks and pens, cameras, vanishing cream and other messy things and put them in another box.
In Xia Zhizhi's eyes, these were all normal. She bought a lot, but didn't like them very much, so she saved them for treating others later.
The two boxes were filled to the brim. She finally found two padlocks and locked the two boxes.
Meng Shengnan rolled her eyes: "These few people are still hanging around, who do they think cares about her stuff?"
Xia Zhizhi was surprised and pointed at the padlocks on the other two boxes and said, "I thought padlocks were a tradition in our dormitory, but it turns out not to be."
Meng Shengnan said nothing more.
Before going to bed at night, Li Mao deliberately locked the kitchen.
After dark, unless there is something going on, no lights are turned on. There is a lack of entertainment activities, so people just chat and gossip to kill time and usually go to bed early.