Anbei is a small county town about 100 kilometers away from Beicha. There are forests in the east and more than a dozen farms in the west. The largest farm, Anbei Farm, is responsible for transforming the capitalist class and intellectuals. Zhenzhen looked around and saw that the living quarters were clean and there was plenty of food in the canteen. Although there were no fine grains, looking at the bowls of pancakes, she should not be hungry.
Zhenzhen can't do anything now, so she thinks about paying more attention to Mingdong after he arrives in Anbei. If anything really happens, she can be there in minutes. She doesn't need to show up at that time. She can defeat a group of people with her own special abilities. She can't let her elder brother suffer.
After returning to Beicha, Zhenzhen couldn't help but feel annoyed that she didn't know much about the past ten years in her previous life. She only knew that the intellectuals and landlords would have a hard time, but she had no idea to what extent or what the situation was in each city. She had no idea how to avoid being involved in the class struggle and ensure that her family would spend the next ten years in peace.
After a sleepless night, it was dawn in the blink of an eye. Mrs. Li woke up early and turned around to see her granddaughter with her eyes open and listless. She was shocked: "What's wrong? Didn't you sleep well last night?"
Zhenzhen yawned and sat up from the bed, rubbing her eyes and feeling a little listless: "I'm just thinking about my brother's job and I'm a little worried. Grandma, what do you think my brother's classmates do after graduation?"
"I heard from your brother that this batch of people are all teachers and will be assigned to agricultural colleges across the province to train agricultural technicians for the people's communes so that they can guide the farmers to grow good crops and have a good harvest." Old Mrs. Li pushed Zhenzhen back into the quilt, put on a coat and sat up.
Zhen Zhen was a little unhappy after hearing this: "Do I have to be a teacher? I always feel a little uneasy."
Old Mrs. Li was silent for a long while, then slowly picked up the pipe and stuffed some tobacco leaves into it. Just as she took out a match from the basket, she remembered that Zhenzhen didn't like the smell of tobacco, so she quickly put the pipe back on the kang.
She coughed twice and said softly: "Your eldest brother has been in college for so many years without spending a penny from the family, and he can get an allowance from the school every month. The country spends money and effort to train a college student, and when the time comes to assign a job, you can't just not do it if you want to." Old Mrs. Li put on her clothes and got off the kang, and tucked the corner of the quilt for Zhenzhen: "Don't think about it, close your eyes and go to sleep. I'll talk to your mother later and tell her not to call you." Zhenzhen was so sleepy that she yawned. Seeing that she couldn't do anything about Li Mingdong's assignment, she simply didn't think about it anymore. She agreed and soon fell into a deep sleep.
I don’t know if Old Lady Li noticed something from Zhenzhen’s words, but a few days later, when she mentioned Mingdong’s work after graduation, she obviously lost interest. Occasionally, she would sit alone in front of the stove, staring at the burning red pine in a daze.
In addition to Mingdong, Mingxi went to a military school. Now that he is a soldier, he seems to have nothing to worry about. Mingnan's academic performance is also good. His family has always believed that if he can go to college, he should go to college, so he should study hard. After thinking about it for two days, Mrs. Li suddenly changed her mind and asked Mingnan to go home and take the hydrolysis plant exam after graduating from high school.
Mingnan was not a top student like Mingdong, so he had no objection to Mrs. Li's suggestion that he not take the college entrance examination. He thought that the family had more and more people, and Li Muwu was the only one working to earn money, so he thought that the family might be too tight on expenses. Therefore, Mingnan agreed without even asking any more questions.
As the twelfth lunar month approached, Mingxi finally returned home in the heavy snow. Wang Sufen burst into tears when she saw her second son, who was dark and thin. Since Mingxi went to college, he had only come back twice, but he looked darker each time, and the skin on his face was not as fine as before.
When Mrs. Li heard the noise, she rushed towards Mingxi with a feather duster in her hand. Mingxi was so scared that she wanted to retreat outside. She leaned against the door and her legs began to tremble: "Grandma, I didn't do anything. Why did you hit me?"
"Why are you fighting? You're a soldier after all, can you be tougher?" Old Mrs. Li was so angry that she laughed. She used a feather duster to brush off the snow on his legs and body. "Why aren't you wearing boots? Your shoes will probably get wet after stepping on the snow. Go in and change your pants and shoes quickly. This year your mother made you a new pair of thick cotton shoes."
Mingxi smiled sheepishly, his dark face turning red: "I was very tough in the training and fighting at school, but I can't be tough when I see breasts."
"You mean you're too fierce." Old Mrs. Li was amused by him. Mingnan hurried forward to take Mingxi's bag, and the two brothers went to the west room while talking.
As soon as Mingxi came back, the atmosphere at home became much more lively. Old Lady Li poured a jar of honey water for Mingxi and handed it to him. She tapped Mingnan with her pipe and said, "Go to the chicken coop and kill a chicken. We'll have chicken stewed with mushrooms."
Mingbei looked at the braised chicken nuggets wandering around the house with their heads held high, and said with a sly smile, "Why are you going out to catch a chicken? There's already one here."
The braised chicken stiffened and turned in a direction casually. After taking two steps and seeing no one stopping it, it suddenly flapped its wings and ran back to the east room. Mingbei immediately burst into laughter.
Mingxi was watching from the side, feeling both angry and amused: "You have only grown in height over the years but not in brains. I don't think your brain is much smarter than braised chicken nuggets."
Mingbei chuckled, and when he saw Mingnan putting on his clothes and going out, he immediately put on his clothes and ran out with him: "I'll go with you. There's a castrated rooster in the chicken coop, and it's grown quite big."
The braised chicken that had sneaked into the east room was peeking out furtively, and accidentally made eye contact with Mingbei who had run out, and immediately fell to the ground in fear. Li Mingzhong glanced at Mingbei from the side, turned around and threw the braised chicken into the nest, then silently used his head to close the door, blocking Mingbei's sight.
Zhenzhen was sitting on the kang reading a book. Seeing the braised chicken nuggets shivering all over, she couldn't help laughing and threw a few peeled melon seeds to it. Zhenzhen said, "You have never been castrated, what are you afraid of?"
The braised chicken crawled into the chicken coop with only its head sticking out. The big yellow eyes were actually a little proud of it: "I didn't get castrated because I'm smart. Every year when the chickens are castrated, I hide very quickly."
Zhenzhen was amused by it. After raising chickens and pigs that year, Mrs. Li would catch a piglet to hatch some chicks at the beginning of the next year. She had eaten several batches of chickens, and the only thing she kept was the braised chicken. Seeing that Zhenzhen liked it and often talked to it, Mrs. Li thought that the chicken was spiritual, so she gave up the idea of stewing it for meat. She even made a small nest for it in the house when it was cold and earthquake-stricken today, right next to Li Mingzhong's mat.
It must be said that Li Mingzhong and the braised chicken were well trained by Zhenzhen. In the winter, the chicken and the dog got along very well and cooperated very well. Every day, Li Mingzhong would open the door at a fixed time and take the braised chicken out to solve physiological problems. When he came back after the work, Li Mingzhong did not need anyone to open the door. He could open the door by himself by standing up.
Wang Sufen loves cleanliness. At first, she was not very happy when she heard that she wanted to keep the braised chicken nuggets in the house, for fear that it would dirty the house and cover up the smell. But in the past few months, she found that not only did it keep the house clean, it also never made noises in the house, which made her very worry-free. She also took the initiative to feed it some sorghum rice every day.
Zhenzhen seldom goes out in the winter when it snows heavily. Having this dog and this chicken to accompany her helps to alleviate her loneliness.
After killing the chicken, they put in the soaked hazel mushrooms and stewed for an hour. The whole house was filled with the aroma of meat. Li Mingzhong was greedy and would go to the kitchen to take a look from time to time. He would come back and discuss with Zhenzhen: "No one likes to eat the chicken head, so give it to me."
The braised chicken nuggets stood on the chicken coop and pecked at Li Mingzhong's head: "Do you have any snacks? You said you want to eat chicken head in front of me. Is its head as delicious as mine?"
Li Mingzhong was annoyed by its pecking, so he turned around, raised his front legs and pushed it back to the chicken coop. Zhenzhen had hardly gone out since winter, and Li Muwu had been busy at work this winter and had no time to go hunting. Therefore, apart from buying some meat according to the monthly quota of two taels of pork per person and cutting a few slices to satisfy their cravings, the family had never stewed meat properly.
Zhenzhen also knew that Li Mingzhong was greedy, so she called him over and rubbed his head: "Chicken bones are thin, you have to chew them thoroughly when you eat them, don't swallow them whole, be careful not to get stuck."
Li Mingzhong nodded expectantly and followed Zhenzhen to eat. The braised chicken nuggets shrunk their heads back into the chicken coop in dissatisfaction, and kept clucking in a low voice: "What's so delicious about mushroom stewed chicken? Is it as delicious as my braised chicken nuggets? You ignorant dog!"
After lunch, Zhenzhen lay on the kang and felt lazy. Li Muwu went out to find a butcher and asked him to come and kill a pig for his family tomorrow. In recent years, Mrs. Li did not wait until the end of the year. Basically, she would kill the pig as soon as the twelfth lunar month came. Killing the pig early would also allow the children to eat some meat early. It was not easy to be away from home all year round, so they could have a good nourishment when they were at home.
Listening to the laughter in the west room, Zhenzhen felt a little sad. After all, the special period is coming soon. I don’t know if we can be together like this during the Chinese New Year next year. While the family is together this year, why not prepare more food and have a good time. Zhenzhen covered the forest with her consciousness and soon found a dying sika deer. It was covered with scars and seemed to have fallen from a height. Not only was its leg broken, but there was also a big hole on its head. Seeing that the sika deer was about to die, Zhenzhen touched Li Mingzhong’s head and said, "There is a sika deer next to our land. Drag it back." Li Mingzhong got excited when he heard it. He circled the house twice, howling, raised his leg, pushed open the door and ran away.
Old Lady Li was smoking in the kitchen. When she saw Li Mingzhong running out without even closing the door, she hurried out to close the door. "Why let him out when the snow is so thick? What if someone drags him home?"
"With its ferocity, it can bite off a piece of wood as thick as an arm. Who would be so desperate to pull it?" Zhenzhen went back to the kang and burrowed into the quilt to yawn: "It has been cooped up in the room for so long, it's almost sick. Let it go out and have some fun. Don't worry about it. It will come back when it's had enough fun."
But as Zhenzhen said, Li Mingzhong kept sticking his head into the snow pile from time to time while running, and he ran all the way from his home to the foot of the mountain, having a lot of fun until he was covered in snow.
When he ran to the side of his own field, he saw a fat sika deer that had just died. Li Mingzhong nudged it and pulled a wooden board from his own field. This was a door board that Li Muwu had brought up before. During the autumn harvest, he put some lunch and other things on it to avoid putting it directly on the ground to attract ants.
After pushing the sika deer onto the wooden board, Li Mingzhong pushed it down along the path they came from. The sika deer and the board slid out like flying. Li Mingzhong followed behind with his head and tail swaying, wishing that if the sika deer fell, he would drag it up.
Li Muwu went to meet the butcher and went to Li Musen's house again, telling him about slaughtering a pig tomorrow and asking him to bring his wife and children to his house for dinner. After chatting for a while at Li Musen's house, Li Muwu saw a bloodstain on his way home. He followed the trace and finally saw Li Mingzhong's stupid dog dragging a 220-pound sika deer home when he was almost home.
"Hongzhong!" Li Muwu shouted. Li Mingzhong came over immediately after hearing it, and ran around Li Muwu happily. Then he picked up Li Muwu's clothes with his mouth and dragged him to the side of the sika deer.
"Wow, did you kill such a big deer?" Li Muwu rubbed Li Mingzhong's head happily. When he got closer, he saw that the deer was bleeding a lot and a large piece of its fur was worn off. He sighed with heartache: "Such a good skin is wasted. It can't be made into clothes. Save it for shoes." He didn't mind the dirt, picked up the sika deer and put it on his shoulder, and shouted: "Hongzhong, let's go home!"
When Li Muwu brought back a deer, the whole family was excited. Everyone who was not afraid of the cold went to the yard to see the new food. Li Muwu praised Li Mingzhong again and again and promised to give him a big piece of deer meat after it was stewed. Li Mingzhong was so happy that he cried out and ran into the house to show off to Zhenzhen.
In Beicha, the favorite way to eat any meat is to stew it! Fortunately, the meat we usually eat at home is either wild or fed with grain. The quality of the meat is not comparable to the meat fed with clenbuterol in later generations. It is moderately fat and lean and full of meat flavor. But in addition to stewing the venison, Zhenzhen also wants to try roasting it. When the time comes, spread some seasoning on the roasted venison. If there is no lettuce, roll it with some tender cabbage leaves. It should taste good.
She ran to the small bookcase in the west room and took out the "Dream of the Red Chamber" that her brothers had read. She came out in her fur coat holding the book and looked for Li Mingdong: "Brother, I heard about this on the radio last time. There was a way to eat venison. Why don't you look for it? We can eat it that way too."
Li Mingdong took the book and laughed: "Why are you so greedy? The deer hasn't been cleaned yet, but you're already thinking about how to eat the deer meat."
Zhenzhen came forward and hugged Li Mingdong's arm, acting cute and coquettish: "I'm just worried that we don't have enough things at home. Big brother, please help me see how we can roast venison."
"It's not easy to roast venison. There are a lot of red pine snags at home, and we have a stove. I can ask Dad to cut a venison leg and roast it on the rack." Li Mingxi has been very familiar with roasting meat during the past two years of training.
Mingbei got excited when he heard it: "I'll ask grandma for some honey. Everything tastes good after baking."
Zhenzhen was a little confused: "It takes too long to roast the deer leg, and it's hard to cook it well." She gestured and explained: "I cut the meat into thin slices and roast it on a piece of iron plate, or put it on a skewer and roast it as you eat it."
The family looked at each other, some of them not understanding what it meant. Mingnan was the quickest to react: "I remember we had an iron plate in the past, but grandma later put it away because she thought it was too hot. Can we use that?"
"Okay, okay, okay!" Zhen Zhen nodded hurriedly, and did not forget to turn around and promise her brothers: "Hurry up and help prepare it. It will definitely be delicious."
The author has something to say: I’m sorry I wandered a little too much today~~~~