Zhenzhen ran out of the alley and towards the woods, using her consciousness to check her surroundings to see if anyone was following her. When she reached the edge of the woods, she found a flat place and scattered the seeds. A golden wheat field instantly grew up. Without Zhenzhen doing anything, the grains of wheat fell off automatically, and the rest turned into ashes and melted into the soil. Zhenzhen waved her hand, and the grains of wheat piled up automatically.
Following the same procedure, in a short while, there was another pile of rice next to the pile of wheat, and each piece weighed exactly fifty kilograms.
Clapping her hands, Zhenzhen was somewhat pleased with herself: "Fortunately I have this ability, otherwise it would be difficult to change even a little money." Time passed by minute by minute, Zhenzhen had been using her consciousness to closely monitor any movement around her. About half an hour later, the man who was in the alley just now really drove a carriage over. Zhenzhen deliberately used her consciousness to scan the carriage bed, and saw that there was no one hiding inside, so she breathed a sigh of relief.
The man was also very cautious. He looked around while driving the carriage. When the two met, he saw the food next to Zhenzhen and immediately felt relieved.
The man hurried to the cart and stood beside Zhenzhen. He looked at the food on the ground and twitched his mouth: "You should at least find a bag to put the rice and flour in. You just pile it on the ground like this. Aren't you afraid of others seeing it?"
Zhenzhen looked at him confidently: "You have to spend money to buy flour bags. We only have a few bags in total. Besides, we have to save some for cornmeal. How can we put this in?"
"Okay." The man looked around and saw that there were still no people around. He couldn't help but ask her, "Did your family leave the food and then go? They are really cautious. Are they afraid that someone will see their faces?"
Zhenzhen looked at him impatiently: "Why do you care so much? Hurry up, are you going to buy it or not? If you want to buy it, then weigh it and pay for it. If not, I'll have to find another buyer."
"The little girl may be young, but she has a bad temper." The man laughed awkwardly and quickly took the basket and scale from the cart. "Fortunately, I prepared everything, otherwise we would have to carry it to the cart with our hands."
The two weighed the basket first, and then used a shovel to put all the grain into the basket. It was exactly one pound, not more or less. The current market price of rice is 1.65 cents per pound, and white flour is 1.8 cents per pound. If it is one-third cheaper, it is 11.5 yuan.
The man took out money from his pocket and counted out ten yuan for Zhenzhen. Zhenzhen didn't want local bills, only those that were valid throughout the province. The man had no choice but to pick out from the bills he brought with him and gave Zhenzhen some industrial bills, cotton thread bills, light bulb bills, cloth bills, etc. that were valid throughout the province.
After putting the money and receipts in her schoolbag, Zhenzhen thought of the expensive cakes she bought from the hydrolysis plant in the summer that did not require food coupons. She felt heartbroken. If she had not bought food before, she would not have known that a piece of cake was more expensive than a pound of flour. No wonder the whole family, including Mingbei, was reluctant to eat that cake.
Sighing, Zhen Zhen watched the man leave and walked in the opposite direction. When she saw the man walking away with her consciousness, she immediately teleported to another city and exchanged for 12 yuan using the same method. After half a day, Zhen Zhen went to three surrounding small cities and didn't sell any gold bars, but she did sell a lot of food, saving a total of 45 yuan.
Zhenzhen couldn't help but sigh. Actually, this was to be expected. She had been to small cities. People in these places were poor and didn't have much spare money. Only the well-off could afford fine grains. As for gold bars, she guessed that only places like Bingcheng could afford them.
But going to Bingcheng to sell gold bars would be much more risky than in these places. It was densely populated and it was hard to find an open place to stay. It was also a big city with a lot of people, and there were troops stationed there. At such a young age, it would be too eye-catching for her to hold a yellow croaker weighing 16 taels. Zhenzhen was a little hesitant. After thinking about it, she felt that the money would be enough for the time being, and there was no need to rush to cash it out now. If she really needed that much money in the future, it would not be too late to go to Bingcheng.
Seeing that it was already noon, Zhenzhen flashed and teleported several times back to the river near her home. She looked back at the smoke curling from the chimneys and pointed at the weeping willows by the river. A dozen willow branches fell down and intertwined together to form rough little baskets.
Zhenzhen picked up the small basket, found an ice hole in the center of the river that was not frozen solid, and knocked it down with a stick, breaking the thin ice layer. A mandarin fish lying on the bottom of the river suddenly swam up vigorously, jumped out of the ice hole and jumped onto the ice surface more than one meter high. Zhenzhen quickly took the basket to catch it. The mandarin fish was frozen solid the moment it fell into the basket.
Wearing thick gloves and holding a wicker basket, she returned home. Before Mrs. Li could open her mouth to ask, Zhenzhen handed over the things in her hand: "Grandma, look, I went to the river after school and caught a mandarin fish."
Old Lady Li handed the small basket to Wang Sufen who came out to greet her, and pulled Zhenzhen into the house. While she used a feather duster to help her sweep the snow off her legs and boots, she kept nagging her, "It's so cold, why don't you go home after school and show off outside? If you want to eat fish, tell your dad and ask him to get it for you. The ice is so slippery, what will happen if you fall on it?"
Old Lady Li put the feather duster on the kang and helped Zhenzhen take off her fur coat and boots: "Hurry up and sit on the kang to warm up. Grandma, feel your little face to see if you're cold."
"It's not cold, grandma. My palms are still sweaty." Zhenzhen stretched out her little hand for Grandma Li to touch.
Old Lady Li touched her hand and forehead, and was relieved to find that she was indeed sweaty. Sitting on the kang, Old Lady Li began her daily questions: "What did the teacher say today? Did any classmates bully you? Is it cold in the classroom?"
"It's not cold, and no one bullies me. I'm the class monitor, and no one dares to show off in front of me." Zhenzhen repeated what she said every day, and then hugged Mrs. Li's arm and told her everything about school: "The teacher didn't give a lecture today, and gave us a test. We won't go to school in the afternoon. We will go to school the day after tomorrow to get the test papers and winter vacation homework, and then we will have a holiday."
"Good day off. I don't want you to go out on this snowy day." Old Mrs. Li opened the box and took out a basket of melon seeds and handed them to her: "I picked two mao ke this morning and fried them especially for you."
"Thank you, grandma." Zhenzhen kissed Grandma Li on the face, which made Grandma Li hug her happily: "With a big baby like you who makes me happy all day long, I can live ten more years."
"Ten years is too short. I'll be fine if I live to be a hundred." Zhen Zhen smiled and peeled a melon seed and stuffed it into Old Lady Li's mouth: "You'll have to help me look after the children when the time comes."
"Okay, I'll live with you then." The two of them happily discussed and agreed. Wang Sufen had already prepared the fish in the kitchen. She washed her hands and came over to ask, "Zhenzhen, how do you want to eat the fish?"
"Pine nut mandarin fish!" Zhenzhen replied quickly. Pine nut mandarin fish is a famous dish passed down from the Qing Dynasty. The last time Li Muwen went back to his hometown, he mentioned that the pine nut mandarin fish he had in Bingcheng was delicious. Zhenzhen, like a greedy cat, immediately used all her tricks to pester Wang Sufen to make it for her. Although it used a lot of ingredients, it was indeed sweet and sour and delicious.
When Wang Sufen heard Zhenzhen say she wanted to eat mandarin fish with pine nuts, she looked at her and sighed, "Why are you so greedy, girl? Why can't you just steam or stew it? You have to waste oil and sugar on it."
Grandma Li almost spoiled her granddaughter to the sky. Hearing that Zhenzhen wanted to eat it, she quickly spoke up for her granddaughter: "You can't eat it once a year. If the child wants to eat it, just cook it for her. Isn't there oil in the kitchen?" Wang Sufen was just talking, but seeing that Grandma Li was helping her, she didn't say anything else and turned to the kitchen to make mandarin fish with pine nuts.
To make pine nut mandarin fish, you have to cut the fish into pieces and fry it in oil, then pour the sweet and sour sauce over it and finally thicken it with starch. Nowadays, conditions are not good and sugar and vinegar are scarce, so naturally you can't be so particular.
The family harvests a lot of soybeans every year, and most of them are pressed into soybean oil, so the Li family never lacks oil all year round. Pour oil into the pot, put the sliced mandarin fish into the pot and fry it, then take it out. The oil used to fry the fish can be used for cooking, so it won't be wasted at all.
Put peeled pine nuts and various soaked mushrooms in the pot. Wang Sufen put two tablespoons of the sauce made from the tomatoes that Zhenzhen picked in the fall, and carefully poured a spoonful of sugar into the pot and stirred it evenly. Then she thickened the sauce and poured it on the fish. The fragrant pine nut mandarin fish was ready.
Zhenzhen came out of the house after smelling the smell. Wang Sufen thought about the sugar she had just used and kept complaining, "It's such a waste. We only eat it once a year, you hear me? Don't do this next time. You're wasting so much good stuff."
Zhenzhen chuckled twice and helped Wang Sufen bring the heated dry food to the kang table.
Guihua, who lived in the back room, thought it was time for dinner, so she came over with a big belly and a meat bun. When the meat bun came into the room, his eyes lit up, and he ran to the kitchen, stuck his head out, and asked in a baby voice, "Grandma, what smells so good?"
"Grandma cooked fish. Do you remember the sweet and sour fish we ate last year?" Roubao nodded quickly. Wang Sufen smiled and said, "Go ahead and wait on the kang with your aunt. Grandma will serve the fish in a while."
Zhen Zhen helped Gui Hua sit on the kang, looked at her bulging belly and asked, "Sister-in-law, are you going to give birth this month?"
"I guess it will be at the end of the month." Guihua leaned on the quilt and rubbed her waist: "My stomach has been heavy these days, and I may give birth early if I can't hold it."
Zhenzhen touched Guihua's belly, and the baby inside seemed to notice something, and immediately stretched out its little feet and kicked twice. Zhenzhen looked at the bulge on Guihua's belly and couldn't help laughing and said, "This child is really strong."
"That's right. I guess it will be a boy, just like when I was pregnant with Roubao." Guihua touched her belly with a gentle smile on her face: "It would be nice to have another boy, just like my mother, who first gave birth to a few more boys to support the family, and then gave birth to a daughter to love well, so that she can accompany me to talk when she is bored."
As they were talking, Wang Sufen had already brought all the food to the table on the kang. The weather was cold and the snow was thick, so it was too hard to go back and forth to work, so Li Muwu had lunch at work. Mingbei's school was far from home, so he usually left in the morning and didn't go home until dark after school. The father and son couldn't go home for lunch, so Wang Sufen cooked a big pot of vegetables every morning and filled a lunch box for them, and brought some dry food. There was a place to get hot meals at both the company and the school, so they could have a hot meal even in the winter.
Although the family often eats fish, Wang Sufen has only been willing to make such a luxurious dish once a year in the past two years. She takes a bite of fish and a bite of pancake, and occasionally looks up with a smile and says in a baby voice, "It's delicious."
Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen were reluctant to eat the fish, and each of them ate two chopsticks and went to eat the stewed cabbage. Zhenzhen knew the personalities of Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen, so she didn't try to persuade them. She directly picked up the fish with chopsticks and put it into their bowls. The two were so touched by Zhenzhen's heartwarming behavior that they felt as sweet as eating honey. Old Lady Li was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. She said, "Don't pick it up, grandma can't eat such sweet and sour food." At the same time, she kept praising Zhenzhen, "Why do you say that my daughter is considerate? She thinks of me in everything. It's not in vain that I love her."
Roubao followed suit and stood up to serve fish to the four people's bowls one by one. Wang Sufen smiled and said, "None of our children are unfilial. When they grow up, Roubao will be a good person too."
"Not really." Old Mrs. Li nodded, and then instructed Guihua: "Roubao is the first of the next generation in our family. You must teach him well so that he can support the family and act like an older brother when he grows up. Only in this way can our family get better and better." Guihua responded quickly.
The weather was getting colder and colder. Mingnan and Mingbei finished their final exams and returned home. Mingdong was also on the train back according to the dates in previous years. However, Mingxi still didn't know if he could come back this year. The military academy didn't have as many holidays as ordinary universities. It was said that the academy was managed according to the military and was very strict. Moreover, from what Mingxi said, what he learned was confidential and he couldn't even mention it outside the military.
Finally, on the second day after Mingdong arrived home, Guihua went into labor. Mingnan and Mingbei sat in the kitchen to boil water, while Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen worked together to help Guihua deliver the baby. As everyone expected, Guihua gave birth to another big fat son.
With Roubao in front, the kid was naturally called Doubao. Mingdong then played the role of a nanny, helping with washing and rinsing.
The family lived their lives as usual. Old Mrs. Li started thinking about Mingdong's work again. Thinking that Mingdong would be able to graduate in the spring next year, Old Mrs. Li went to the back room with her crutches to find him and ask about the situation.
Old Lady Li pushed open the door to the back room, leaned her walking stick against the wall, took off her fur coat and threw it on the cabinet next to her, then stretched her head toward the east room and called out, "Mingdong, come out. Grandma has something to ask you."
When Mingdong saw Mrs. Li coming, he quickly got off the kang and invited her to come in and sit down. Mrs. Li waved her hand and said, "You are cold, and the child will be frozen. I want to ask you about your graduation assignment. Let's go to the kitchen and talk while we warm ourselves by the fire."
Mingdong responded, put on his shoes and got off the kang quickly. Old Lady Li sat on a small wooden bench in the kitchen, picking up pieces of red pine from the ground and stuffing them into the stove. The blazing fire in the stove reflected the red faces of the two people: "Have you heard about your graduation assignment? Where will you be assigned?"
Mingdong was a cautious person. He originally wanted to tell his family about this after receiving the notice. However, when Mrs. Li asked him, he told her everything: "It has been decided. The teacher said that my family is closest to Anbei. Considering the proximity, I will probably be assigned to teach at Anbei Agricultural College."
"Teaching is good, but it's a bit far from home." Old Mrs. Li smacked her lips and said, "It's more than a hundred kilometers away from home."
Mingdong pushed his glasses and smiled helplessly: "This is the nearest job. I studied agriculture and am good at farming. There is no proper village or agricultural school in Beicha, so no matter how many jobs are allocated, my family will not be assigned to it. Actually, Anbei is not that far away, and it is fast by train. It is not much farther than here to Yidong."
When Old Mrs. Li heard that it was almost as far as Yidong, she felt better. Except for Mingbei who was going to take the entrance exam for the high school of the hydrolysis plant, all the other grandchildren in the family had attended high school in Yidong. They could always come back once every one or two months, so she didn't feel that it was that far.
Thinking that Guihua is always alone at home, it is not a good thing. Old Lady Li touched her pipe and took a puff of cigarette: "Since you got married, you haven't had much reunion. When you were in school, you had winter and summer vacations, and you were together for half a year a year. But it's hard to say after you start working. You can't leave the child at home and let Guihua go to Anbei with you."
Mingdong nodded. "That's fine, but it's a little too early to say that. I have to wait until I get to Anbei to see what the situation is like there. If there's a spacious single dormitory, I'll take Guihua and Roubao Doubao with me. I'm afraid Guihua will feel bad without the kids."
"You have the final say." Mrs. Li mainly gives suggestions to her children and grandchildren. If they have other ideas, she will not force them: "In fact, it is best for children to stay with their parents, but you will be more tired."
Mingdong smiled and gave Old Lady Li some more tobacco leaves: "We are young and we are not afraid of being tired. Grandma and my parents are old, so it's time for us to relax and enjoy our lives."
Mingdong's words made Mrs. Li feel relaxed, and her eyes narrowed into slits as she smiled. "Just hearing your words is enough. While we can still move, we should help you. Isn't this how generations have lived? Besides, after working all our lives, we really can't sit idle. We feel empty inside if we don't have work to do for a day."
Mrs. Li felt relieved that her eldest grandson had found a job. She went back to the house and repeated her original words to Wang Sufen: "No matter how far away from home it is, this is a good and stable job."
When Wang Sufen heard that her son could actually be a teacher at a university, she was overjoyed: "Dongzi has a smart brain. He can even teach university students?"
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were discussing excitedly, but Zhenzhen felt a sinking feeling in her heart as she listened. Even though she didn't know much about those ten years, she knew how low the status of teachers was during that period. Not only were they called "stinking ninths", some of them would even be criticized and struggled against if things went wrong. Many of the people who reported them were their own students.
Zhenzhen thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to try to discuss it with Mrs. Li: "I don't think this job is good, why don't I just turn it down and go home to work in the hydrolysis plant."
"Don't talk nonsense if you don't understand, kid. How can you just quit the job assigned by the state?" Old Lady Li rubbed Zhenzhen's head: "Are you reluctant to leave your brother and sister-in-law? It's okay, they will go home on vacation."
Zhen Zhen held her chin up in dismay, "I just feel uneasy when I hear about this job."
"Don't talk nonsense." Old Lady Li held Zhenzhen in her arms and peeled pine nuts to feed her: "I see that your brother likes this job very much and his face is very happy. Don't say such spoiling words in front of him, okay?"
Zhenzhen nodded helplessly, knowing that if she couldn't explain it clearly, Mingdong would definitely not give up his job as a university teacher. But she couldn't tell him the truth. Whether his family believed it or not was another matter, and it might cause big trouble. Anyway, as Mingdong was a college student, labor reform was inevitable. Doing some work was not a big deal in this era. As long as he didn't get criticized, everything was fine.
Zhenzhen thought that her grandfather and Mingxi were both soldiers, Li Muwen was a famous anti-Japanese hero, and Old Lady Li had killed Japanese devils. With these relationships, no one would dare to harm Mingdong.
Zhenzhen thought for a long time and decided to go to Anbei first to see what the place was like so that she could have a better idea.
The author has something to say: When I wrote about food prices, I searched Baidu for a long time but couldn't find the prices of flour and rice. Finally, I asked my uncle on WeChat. He not only remembered the food prices at the time, but also could calculate them to the nearest cent. I was so impressed that I couldn't remember what I had for lunch by the evening.
Speaking of it, when I graduated, I went to my eldest brother's (Roubao) company for an internship. My uncle was already in his seventies at the time, but he was still able to tutor a local high school student in chemistry. After a year of tutoring, the child did very well in the exam and even brought a gift to our house to express his gratitude. I really admire my uncle.
(ps: If my elder brother saw my post, he would probably strangle me to death hahaha)