Stewed Chicken with Bamboo Shoots
The engagement ceremony between my brother and sister Yao Xue was not a grand one. My mother went to the town and invited a matchmaker to preside over the exchange of marriage certificates between the two parties. The two families sat together for a meal and the marriage was settled.
In the future, when Sister Yao Xue comes to the Song family during festivals, no one will talk about her behind her back. After all, engagement and marriage are only one step away.
Although it is a new society now, there is always a difference between men and women in the eyes of the country people. The engagement ceremony means that the parents of both parties have met, and they may be able to have a wedding banquet one day.
Captain Song Guozhu specifically asked his wife to mention Song Qiusheng's engagement on the sun dam in the village to avoid gossip from his own people. After the autumn harvest, bringing the girl back to the village would be a legitimate return home.
The villagers were talking about Yao Xue's identity. The girl's father was more impressive than the mayor. The mayor always rode a bicycle when he went to the countryside, but other people's fathers drove a car with bodyguards when they came to the man's house.
Seeing that everyone was talking more and more exaggerated, Song Guozhu's wife was speechless.
"If Qiu Sheng wasn't capable, how could the girl and her father like him? Stop saying Qiu Sheng is lucky. Do you think his father comes to the village just to visit? He is asking us about Qiu Sheng's background."
He Suqin sighed immediately.
"I know you are jealous. Is it out of jealousy? Aren't your own children also following Qiu Sheng to make money outside? Maybe one day he will bring you a daughter-in-law from the city. What's the use of being anxious? Qiu Sheng is almost 30 years old. If your own son is really capable, why worry about not being able to find a wife?"
When Song Qiusheng's age was mentioned, the villagers' envy was dispelled. Yes, Song Qiusheng was already 30 years old before he got married, and their own children were only 25 or 26 years old. Maybe after a few more years of hard work, he could really marry a city girl.
Before leaving, Yao's father repeatedly urged Songjiacun to make sure the orchard was well established and he would definitely be the first customer.
Song Shixia thought that the transplanted fruit trees would not bear fruit until next year at the earliest, but Yao's father said he could wait.
He asked about tea again, and Song Shixia said that they were all wild tea picked from the mountains. It was impossible to produce in bulk, so the less you drink, the better.
Yao's father hoped that his father-in-law would plant a few tea trees at home. Early in the morning, Song's father carried a hoe and dug a few tea trees from the mountain and planted them in the yard.
"Brother Yao, I'll send the tea leaves to Shi Xia after I pick them, and have her fry them for you."
Father Yao felt more and more that his decision to come to Songjia Village this time was correct. If it weren't for the difficulty in transporting chickens and ducks, he would have wanted to purchase them from here. Unfortunately, he heard that they had reached a cooperation agreement with the canteen of Yenching University, and all the poultry from the Songjia farm would be supplied to the school.
Think about how high the school's requirements are. Being the exclusive supplier of a school means that people in that school will eat.
It's a pity that his business is not here. Now the mainland is full of vitality. As long as Song Qiu Sheng seizes the opportunity, he may be able to succeed.
Before Yao's father left, the car was filled with large and small bags of local specialties, poultry and fruits. He had some things to do in the capital, so he had to let two bodyguards take the large and small bags back by train, and he solemnly reminded them to put them in the refrigerator.
Song Shixia, her brother, and sister Yao Xue stayed at home for a few more days before leaving. Their mother had almost dug up all the vegetable garden at home, so she asked them to bring more meat and vegetables back to the city.
After much refusals, she and her brother agreed to take a chicken and duck home each. Otherwise, the farm that their parents had worked so hard to run would be eaten up by their own family.
During this time, Song Shixia and his brother went to the brigade to find their second uncle and mentioned the road construction in the village.
"We have only one requirement for road construction. The road construction workers must come from our Songjia Village. If they are from Chenjia Village, they must not have scolded our family. My brother and I are not that magnanimous."
Song Guozhu nodded emphatically: "Don't worry, I will definitely support our Songjia Village. If anyone has any objections, we will not repair it. You can leave if you want."
Song Shixia and her brother smiled at each other.
"Second uncle, your words make my brother and I feel relieved. You can mobilize more people in our village who want to start an orchard. If they grit their teeth and pay a sum of money, they really won't lose money. If they lose money in the first year, they can sell the fruit trees back at the original price. I guarantee that as long as our village can supply fruits, my brother will be able to find a market for them."
Song Shixia had never been far away from home, and she initially thought that the fruit was only sold in the capital, and as long as the car was fast enough, it could be delivered there on the same day. Currently, most of the fruit on the market is sold privately, and few merchants sell it on a large scale.
Uncle Yao enlightened her that if the fruit was delicious, they would be willing to pay for it even if they were hundreds of kilometers away.
Moreover, Song Shixia remembered that the bad fruits that could not be processed could be made into canned food. Then a canning factory could be set up in the village, and the canned food could be transported over long distances or even shipped to the sea.
Therefore, if there are only a few families in the village growing fruit trees, they will not be able to sell enough.
Song Guozhu was skeptical: "Really? Can they all be sold?"
Song Qiusheng took over his sister's words.
"It really can. Second uncle, you have seen the world this time when you went to the capital. You can see that the people there have money but can't spend it. If they want to eat vegetables and fruits, it's not as convenient as in the countryside."
Song Guozhu nodded in agreement: "Yes, we in the village are worried about not being able to make money, and people in the city have money but have nowhere to spend it. If we sell the things in our village to them in the city, we will make money and they will buy things. Isn't this a win-win situation!"
Song Qiu Sheng clapped his hands, "Is that so? Second uncle, please take the trouble to persuade us. We all have our own mountain land, and each family has a place. We just have to spend money to buy the fruit trees. If it really doesn't work, we can sign a contract and pay it back slowly. However, people with bad reputation will not agree to this."
Song Shixia expressed his thoughts again.
"If someone is willing to plant fruit trees now, when our village opens a canning factory in the future, we will give priority to those who have trees at home. It is impossible for a family of four to plant trees, so if we let young people work in the factory, there will be a job for young people in our village."
These days, if you hear about working in a factory, it's definitely a respectable job.
Sure enough, Song Guozhu became motivated when he thought about having a factory in the village in the future.
"Okay, leave it to me. I will definitely help you get it done properly."
"Second uncle, please don't work too hard and take care of yourself."
The second uncle is the Song family's backer. If his son can compete for the position of village chief, the Song family's status in the village will rise sharply in the future.
Song Shixia didn't want the Song family to dominate, but with the village chief as his backer, no matter how much money his family made, the villagers would keep it to themselves and would not come to smash and rob just because they were jealous of the rich.
This kind of thing might not happen in Songjia Village, but it might really happen in Chenjia Village.
Unable to resist the enthusiasm of the second grandmother, Song Shixia and her brother were forced to stay for dinner.
The second uncle picked up his chopsticks and said, "Usually, we go to your house for dinner. Come and try our food to see if it suits your taste."
There was something behind what the second master said, and Song Shixia and her brother had to eat it.
It’s not that they don’t like to eat it, but Second Uncle’s family only has a few chickens, so Second Aunt specially killed a chicken to treat them, which is already the treatment for VIPs.
Song Shixia smiled and said,
"Dried bamboo shoots stewed in a hot pot with chicken, and a baked pancake on the side of the pot to dip in the soup. I also make this dish in the city."
Second uncle took out a bottle of wine from under the table and poured it for the two of them.
"When you were little, you always liked to bring Dongdong to my house. At that time, our family was poor and we could only give you corn cakes to eat."
"Every time your brother came to look for you, he would run to my yard and play hawk catching chickens. Later, you learned your lesson and hid under the bed."
Song Shixia had a vague memory of this period, but he did remember that the original owner often brought his younger brother to eat for free.
There was not much food at home, so if I could go to someone else's house and get even an egg, I would be happy for half a month.
Unfortunately, every household was poor at that time. Even though my second uncle was the team leader, his family only had one pound more cornmeal than other families.
So when Song Shixia was a child, she liked to bring Dongdong to her second uncle's house to eat corn cakes.
“Is that corn tortilla on the pot?”
The second wife drew back the curtain and entered the room.
"I brought an electric fan, otherwise you would have been too hot to eat this. Nowadays, people dare to put sugar in corn cakes. If it was more than ten years ago, I would never have thought of it."
In fact, I wouldn’t even dare to think about it under normal circumstances. Ordinary corn cakes are used to fill hunger, so how could sugar be put in them?
However, Qiu Sheng and his sister are both promising. They are not only distinguished guests in her family, but also distinguished guests in the entire Songjia Village.
Song Shixia smiled and said, "Life in our village will only get better and better in the future. Maybe in another 30 years there won't even be any poor people left, and every household will be well-off."
Song Guozhu didn't even dare to think about such a day.
"If that day really comes, maybe white flour steamed buns can be eaten as a meal."
Song Shixia smiled, and Song Qiu Sheng clinked glasses with his second uncle.
"Of course. When we were doing business, we went to the island opposite. The rich people there are so rich that they can marry four or five wives, while the poor people are as skinny as a stick and have to work like slaves."
The second uncle frowned because of the spicy wine.
“That’s a feudal society, right?”
Song Qiu Sheng smiled and said, "No, the society there is more developed than ours, but the poor have no way to make a living. Here at least if we work hard and grow crops, we can still have enough to eat."
Song Guozhu nodded in agreement.
After dinner, Song Shixia and her brother met an unexpected guest at the door of their house.
Song Shixia didn't know the other person, but the other person's just one sentence made her know the identity of the person.
A middle-aged woman with messy hair and a dirty shirt was standing at the door of the house. Next to her was a woman with a melon-seed face who looked sarcastic and a man who looked like a coward.
When the oval-faced woman saw Song Shixia, she first looked him up and down, then snorted.
Song Shixia felt confused by the look on his face, and Song Qiu Sheng's face turned unhappy.
The middle-aged woman quickly pulled the sarcastic woman aside and went forward to greet Song Shixia.
"You are Song Shixia, right? I heard that you were admitted to Yanjing University. You know Chen Jiao, right? My Chen Jiao is at Yanjing University. Can you help tell my daughter that her mother is sick and ask her to come back to see her?"
After hearing this series of words, Song Shixia felt that the entrance of this house had been trampled upon.
"Who are you?"
The middle-aged woman said awkwardly, "I am Chen Jiao's biological mother. There is a misunderstanding between us. Please help pass on a message."