This year I raised a few pigs in my space. To support the pigs, I planted sweet potatoes in the fields, so there's no shortage of sweet potato flour. I'll still make sweet potato flour buns like before.
Even so, the sweet potato buns I made were different from those of other families; they were made with half sweet potato flour and half wheat flour.
Actually, if you think about it more carefully, even with so many sweet potatoes, Chen Enpeng and the other man wouldn't be able to make much sweet potato flour.
Three pounds of fresh sweet potatoes yield one pound of dried sweet potatoes, and one pound of fresh sweet potatoes can only yield two ounces of sweet potato flour. Therefore, every household eats sweet potatoes but not much sweet potato flour. It's only after spring when sweet potatoes can't be stored for long that they are dried, ground, and eaten.
Let's calculate based on the work points I have left. 800 work points can be exchanged for 1200 jin of fresh sweet potatoes. Add the 1000 jin I exchanged for them, and deduct the food rations I ate. Let's say the sweet potatoes weigh 650 jin. In total, that's 2850 jin. If all of them are ground into flour, that's only 570 jin.
So, although it looks like there are a lot of sweet potatoes, there aren't actually that many. But even so, sweet potatoes are still the most basic staple food for farmers. You could say that they feed a whole family with these sweet potatoes.
The only downsides are that eating too much can cause stomach acid and excessive gas, but these are not problems for someone who can eat their fill.
The only problem is that sweet potatoes stored in cellars don't last long, only about six months. And winter in Northeast China lasts about six months. That's why people take the sweet potatoes out of the cellar, slice them, and dry them in the sun when spring comes and the weather warms up. Dried sweet potatoes can be used to make porridge or ground into flour to make steamed buns.
Not long after, Chen Enpeng and his companion left, and I now have new neighbors.
The middle household is Li Mingqiao's, the west household is Chen Xi's, and Ruan Yuanyuan also moved to live next to Chen Xi.
Now the three of them cook for themselves. After the last time when they didn't have enough food, they are now very careful about what they eat.
Putting everything else aside, when the grain was distributed this time, the three of them bought 15 yuan worth of sweet potatoes in addition to their own rations! However, the brigade deducted the grain that the brigade had given them on credit in advance.
I estimated that the grain allocated to the three of them, along with the sweet potatoes we bought, wouldn't be enough for them to eat until the next autumn harvest when the grain is distributed again.
They would buy some more when the grain was distributed again before the New Year, and they would buy some more for themselves then.
Although I have a lot of food, at my current appetite, it won't last for many years! I can't grow sweet potatoes in my space every year!
I can now eat 4-5 steamed buns at every meal. The steamed buns I make myself are quite large, each weighing about 150 grams. This is even when I cook a meat dish every time.
If they were eating cornbread, it would be even more, at least 7-8 pieces. That's 4-5 jin of grain, and over a year, that would require at least 1600-1700 jin of grain.
Having sweet potatoes would be better, but now all the sweet potatoes have been given to Chen Enpeng and his group, so the grain doesn't seem like much. Therefore, it's better to stock up on more grain.
But no matter what, if you're the only one who's fed, then the whole family isn't hungry. Otherwise, if you were living in a family with a dozen or twenty people, those days would be very difficult.
But to avoid attracting their attention, I didn't plan to buy much; 300 jin of corn kernels would be enough, it wouldn't cost much, just 21 yuan. Right now, corn grits are 9 fen per jin at the grain store, and corn kernels are only 7 fen per jin.
Ever since they moved next door, the only inconvenience I've experienced is not being able to cook meat dishes outside. So, taking advantage of the winter, I've made a lot of meat dishes and meat sauce in my space.
But to be on the safe side, the dish I make most often is braised pork belly, also known as cold cooked pork.
I only remembered that I could eat in my space after I made the braised pork. So I made a lot of braised pork, braised fish, and noodles in advance.
However, this time, instead of freezing them outside, we let them cool and put them directly in the warehouse. Some freshly cooked food was placed in a steamer so we could reheat it whenever we were in a hurry.
Anyway, there's nothing to do in winter, so I either read books, cook, process persimmons or other things, or grind jade.
I don't like drinking corn grits, so I grind them finely and use them to make steamed buns or cornbread.
One day, about two weeks before the Lunar New Year, they heard arguing outside. Listening closely, they realized it was Chen Xi and Ruan Yuanyuan arguing over firewood.
"Chen Xi, I've always listened to you, but this time I just borrowed some firewood, and you're acting like this? I won't refuse to return it."
"Didn't I lend it to you? After the autumn harvest, didn't I give you all the firewood I collected myself? Not only my own, but also Li Zhiqing's was left for you. Isn't that enough?"
Besides, I bought this firewood myself. There's no guarantee it'll be enough for winter. I can't let myself freeze to death for your sake!
"You're just letting someone die."
"How can you say I stood by and watched someone die? You need to have a conscience. When we went up the mountain to gather firewood, you gathered the least, while Li, the educated youth, gathered the most. Although I didn't gather as much as Li, I still gathered more than you. Now you're saying I stood by and watched someone die? Then give me back my firewood!"
Didn't you say you didn't want it?
"I did say I didn't want it, but I didn't expect you to be so shameless. Since that's the case, then return the firewood! You don't need to pay me back, just return the dry firewood."
"You're bullying me."
"Bullying someone? Who's bullying whom here? I kindly left you some firewood, and in the end, you call me a heartless wretch? If that's the case, then bullying someone is better than just standing by and watching them die!"
"You... I'm going to report this to the captain."
"Go ahead! What's there to be afraid of?"
In the end, no one knew how it was resolved. It wasn't until after the spring when work resumed that they heard that the team leader had found someone with extra firewood and took her to buy some.
From then on, the two of them—or rather, the three of them—gradually developed a relationship, maintaining only a superficial harmony. But what did that have to do with me?
Before the Lunar New Year, I received packages from all over the country. In winter, the packages were no longer brought back by Grandpa Huang in an oxcart. Instead, the postman delivered them by riding on a cart.
However, because he had a lot of packages, Uncle Ma specially found several burlap sacks to pack them up, instead of putting them one by one in one place.
This surprised the other educated youth who came with them!
In particular, Ruan Yuanyuan said sourly, "Sigh! Mianmian is still the best! Even after leaving the military compound, she still gets things sent from time to time. Unlike me! I'm worse off than those who don't have mothers!"
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