"This is already quite sumptuous. The standard meal for the top leader is only four dishes and one soup."
Smelling the tempting aroma wafting from the dining table, Xiao Qingyang looked at Wang Zhimin in surprise. He didn't expect that she, an ordinary fisherman's wife, had such superb cooking skills.
"You're not a big leader, so how can you know what the leader eats if you're not a big leader?"
Zhang Yongxian thought he had already seen through everything.
After Yang Baiyi's family had taken their seats, Zhang Shuisheng went to get some wine as per their usual practice, and Zhang Chunsheng and his sister Chunni also planned to sit down.
"Chunsheng, there are many guests today, let's go to the kitchen to eat."
Zhang Yongxian quickly stopped his two children.
"But Dad, all the dishes from the kitchen have been brought here, even the pot lady has been brought here."
There were not enough basins at home, so Wang Zhimin brought over the pot along with the last dish, turtle soup with pancakes.
There wasn't even enough water in the kitchen to wash the pots, and Chunni didn't know what to eat in the kitchen.
"Brother Zhang, just sit down and eat together like before. Your table is big enough, so we can just squeeze in."
Yang Baiyi looked at Zhang Yongxian with amusement. They were clearly in his house, but he acted like a guest.
"Brother-in-law, just sit down and have a good meal. My little brother treated us to steamed buns this morning. He's an easygoing person and doesn't have to be so particular."
Wang Zhichao rode his tricycle from the county town to the reservoir. After arriving, he didn't stop for a moment and started helping his second sister turn the soil. The meat buns he had eaten in the morning were already finished.
"Chunsheng, Chunni, come with me."
Zhang Yongxian pulled his children aside.
“We have guests here today, so you should behave yourself and don’t act like you haven’t eaten anything.
Don't just pick up random dishes. Tell me or your mom what you want to eat and we'll get it for you. Don't smack your lips or suck your chopsticks while eating, got it?"
Zhang Yongxian set rules for the children, fearing that they would leave a bad impression on their leaders and make them unhappy.
"Dad, we got it."
The two children nodded obediently in agreement.
Children these days are very different from those in later generations. Which one of them was not beaten by their parents when they were raised?
Adults are busy in the fields and at home, so how can they have the time to educate you in a gentle voice?
If you don’t remember it after hearing it once, you’ll get a slap on the head the next time you make the same mistake.
Moreover, when guests come to the house, women and children are usually not allowed to sit at the table.
Now that they can sit at the table and eat delicious food, Zhang Chunsheng and Chunni are very happy. They do whatever their father says and they will never disobey.
"Leader, I don't have any liquor tickets at home. I only have bulk sorghum liquor. I hope you don't mind."
Zhang Yongxian took the loose wine that Shuisheng brought over and poured it for Xiao Qingyang first.
"That's good. When life was hard, we couldn't even drink this."
Xiao Qingyang is a man who has experienced hardships and fought in wars, and he is never picky about food and drink.
After the meal started, the Zhang family's children were indeed obedient. They ate whatever their parents gave them. Even if the bowls were empty, they would not want any more and would wait obediently for their parents to give them more.
It was only after Yang Baiyi's persistent persuasion that the children began to pick up the food and eat it by themselves.
After finishing a meal of fresh river fish, Yang Baiyi paid for all the food and drinks as usual.
Zhang Yongxian didn't say no. Most cadres of that era had not yet developed the habit of eating and drinking lavishly. Commune cadres had to bring their own rations or money when they went to the brigade headquarters to eat.
After finishing my meal and walking out of the room, I saw the two tricycle drivers already waiting at the gate of the yard.
After saying goodbye to Zhang Yongxian's family, Yang Baiyi took his family on a tricycle and headed straight to the county railway station.
Autumn in Northeast China is already very short. After a few moderate autumn rains, the temperature gradually dropped.
Except for Zhou Fengying, everyone else in the family had enough cotton-padded clothes and quilts.
Yang Baiyi secretly gave some of the cloth and cotton coupons she got from Heihu to her grandmother, asking her, as the mother-in-law, to be a good person.
When the first snow arrived, the winter of 1973 came again.
Before winter came, the members cleared 50 acres of riverside land.
I am really tired, but I am also really excited.
This year, ten acres of sunflowers brought Chenjiatun a profit of 3,000 yuan. Next year, fifty acres will bring in 15,000 yuan.
Each person can get 15 yuan. These days, the thing that is most in short supply in rural areas is people. A family with a large population can get more than 100 yuan per member.
After the money is divided next year, I will build a house and get married. Life will become more and more promising.
If you say Gou Ren is capable of being the director, when the weather gets cold, he actually sends a truck of coal from the county town.
Regardless of whether he was sincere or simply afraid of death and wanted to please Yang Baiyi, since he did it, you can't find fault with him.
So Yang Baiyi smiled at Gou Ren for the first time and warmly invited him to have dinner at his home.
In order to get this truckload of coal, Yang Baiyi went to the county town specially and bought five coal stoves and Xiao Qingyang's radio.
Sitting on the train back home, Yang Baiyi looked at his fellow villager who was carrying things on his back, and secretly sighed at the convenience that the space brought him.
If there was no space, he would not be able to bring back five coal stoves at a time.
"Grandson, we have firewood and pants at home, and a kang. Why are you wasting money on this?"
After all, he was a revolutionary of the older generation. She was both moved and distressed by Yang Baiyi's filial piety to her. Her eldest grandson spent too much money on them.
"Grandma, the wood stove doesn't last long. You need to add more wood every two hours. It's easy to catch a cold if you get up to add more wood in such a cold weather.
The kang can only heat the room in the first half of the night, and it will be cold in the second half. We can't get up in the second half of the night to heat the kang, right?
Besides, if we don’t buy a few coal stoves, how can we justify the coal truck that Director Gou brought here?”
There are five coal stoves, one in each bedroom, and the remaining one is placed in the main room.
Yang Baiyi went to the town and bought more than a dozen chimneys, which he equipped each coal stove with, so that he wouldn't have to worry about gas poisoning.
In the evening, Yang Baiyi arranged a hotpot meal for his family.
The hot pot was bubbling on the coal stove, and the fatty mutton and roe deer meat made the whole family's mouths drool and their stomachs full.
Xiao Qingyang and his son were eating hot pot and drinking tiger bone wine around a coal stove. There was a little sweat on their foreheads and they were so hot that they took off their cotton jackets.
After eating the hot pot, the little girl hummed and leaned in her grandma's arms, letting her grandma rub her bulging belly, with her eyes slightly squinted, like a lazy cat.
"Little greedy cat, why are you eating so much? Aren't you afraid that you'll get sick from eating too much?"
Mu Xue was both angry and amused.
My granddaughter is smart, pretty, cute, sensible and filial, has good academic performance, and has countless advantages.
There is only one shortcoming that is not considered a shortcoming, which is that he loves to eat too much and is a real foodie.
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