Marrying a Cook in the 1960s

Chapter 45

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Wang Ying no longer cared about the disputes at the Youth Institute. She just regarded them as a minor incident in her life.

All she had been thinking about these days was ginseng. The three hundred yuan was floating in front of her eyes, and Wang Ying wanted to grab the money.

The spicy toon and chili buns made by Old Lady Xu are particularly delicious. We only eat one crop of toon every year, but we can always enjoy the flavor of chili sauce. The chili oil is fragrant, and the toon flavor is also strong. The aroma is fragrant when sandwiched in the hot two-grain steamed buns.

Old Mrs. Xu also fried some mushrooms. This was also a good thing. Since it rained a lot in the spring, she could just go up the mountain and find some.

The mushrooms Wang Ying brought back were the more common ones. She just tore them into strips and stir-fried them in a pan. They tasted very fresh.

Old Lady Xu kept muttering, "It would be great if we could catch a pheasant. Pheasant stewed with mushrooms tastes really good. It tastes better than the hens we raise at home."

Wang Ying was eager to try: "Then I will pay more attention recently and tell Cheng Yu about it."

Now that spring has arrived, Wang Ying can't eat meat often. One reason is that it's not as convenient as winter when it comes to pork. Xu Shuang always has to find a way to get pork, and the butcher shop in town also requires meat tickets. If you want to eat meat, you have to get up early and queue up. If you're a little late, you won't be able to get it.

Another thing is that it is spring now, and everyone is not staying indoors. If someone cooks meat, the smell can spread throughout the area.

Wang Ying also didn't want people to think that her family lived a life of luxury, so the meals at home were similar to those at other families, with no limit on oil and sugar at best.

After having lunch with Wang Ying, Old Lady Xu went to make hemp ropes to earn work points, while Wang Ying went home to continue preparing medicinal herbs.

Logically, she should go to the fields, but Xu Shuang and Old Lady Xu did not recommend that she go, and Wang Ying herself did not want to go either.

The work points she earned from working so hard in the fields were not enough to pay for her daily medical treatment and medicine. And even if she went, she would not be able to rest.

Now Wang Ying is the barefoot doctor of the brigade, and people always come to see her.

Some time ago, we were busy with a peak period of orthopedic surgery due to people slipping and falling, and recently there is a group of children who are always coughing.

Wang Ying understood it very well. It was a change of seasons. It was the easiest time to catch a cold. In addition, there were many wild flowers blooming on the mountain. Then someone's child was stung by a bee, and someone else was sneezing.

Wang Ying cured all these minor illnesses, and naturally she was recognized by the people in the team. Everyone praised her ability. When her mother passed away, she was only a few years old, and she was able to learn it at such a young age. It can be seen that people with ability are not afraid of anything else and can always live a good life.

After returning home, Wang Ying checked the medicinal herbs she had recently stored one by one, and then began to prepare them.

A few days ago, she found that her physical condition had improved a lot, so she started to adjust her skin. When she got married, Xu Shuang bought her clam oil and friendship vanishing cream, which she used for a whole winter, and now they are almost gone.

Xu Shuang even said she would buy her the pearl cream, saying that the waiter in the store used it. It's expensive, but it works.

Wang Ying thought it was unnecessary. Clam oil can be used to balance the water and oil content of the skin. More would not be so expensive. Besides, she was going to buy herself some facial masks.

In her previous life, when Wang Ying was in college, she often made facial masks with her classmates using Chinese medicine, and she was very skilled at doing it.

Just as Wang Ying was preparing the medicinal herbs, Wu Guihua came to her door.

Wu Guihua now walks with a breeze and looks radiant.

"Wang Ying, I told you that you were at home. I want to talk to you about something."

After what happened with Qian **, Tian Youfu couldn't hold on any longer, and just after the Chinese New Year, he handed over the job of women's director to Wu Guihua.

At first, Tian Erzhu's wife was not happy and wanted to argue, but was rejected by Tian Youfu. If someone who is not clear-headed is hired as the director of women's affairs, it would be a real pain in the ass.

Tian Youfu did consider Wang Ying, and Wang Ying immediately made her position clear. She helped Qian** purely out of kindness as a doctor, and definitely not because she wanted to be the director of women's affairs.

Wang Ying felt overwhelmed when she thought about mediating conflicts everywhere as the director of the Women's Department.

However, Wang Ying recommended Wu Guihua to Tian Youfu. She felt that Wu Guihua had a good character and could read, so she was more than qualified to be a women's director.

Tian Youfu thought about it and agreed. In his opinion, there were too many gossiping women in the team. He didn't notice it before, but now he saw that Wu Guihua was actually one of the clear-headed ones among the gossiping women.

After Wu Guihua became the director of the women's department, she lived up to Tian Youfu's expectations. She was a nosy person by nature, and now she was able to manage the affairs of the women in a brigade very well.

A new official has three things to do when he takes office, and this is when Wu Guihua is in high spirits.

Wang Ying let the person into the house and wanted to pour her tea.

Wu Guihua said in a hurry: "No, no, I just came here to talk to you."

"Aren't you going to the health center for training tomorrow? Just ask me what the standards are for being a midwife now. The branch secretary and I both think that our brigade must have at least one midwife this year. Otherwise, when the babies are born in the fall, we will have to look for someone from the neighboring brigade. If we run into someone like Qian**, and we have to wait until winter to give birth, it will be a big problem."

Wu Guihua felt that this was her first priority as the director of women's affairs. A director of women's affairs was not only responsible for managing women, but also women and children. She felt that the most important thing now was to select a midwife to take care of pregnant women and newly born children.

When Wang Ying heard this, she thought it was a good thing.

She was a barefoot doctor, after all, not a real midwife. Qian** was lucky enough to meet such a person last time, but she might not be so lucky if she meets such a person again in the future.

"That's great. I'll ask tomorrow."

Wu Guihua: "By the way, please help me with some advice on who our team should choose to be the midwife."

Although Wu Guihua is aggressive, she is also sensible and most importantly, she trusts Wang Ying's judgment.

"You don't have to feel burdened. The captain said that since autumn is still a long way off, we can find someone to learn first. If he fails to learn, we can find another one. We can always find someone to handle the work during the winter."

What he meant was that Wang Ying could choose, and if someone couldn't learn it, it wouldn't be Wang Ying's fault.

Wang Ying hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm really not sure about this. If you ask me, you'd better wait until I ask what the requirements are tomorrow. There are so many people in our team, we can always pick a suitable one."

Wu Guihua naturally agreed: "I'm just afraid that they want people who can read and write, and it will be difficult for our team to select them."

Wang Ying: "That can't be helped. If you really have this request, we can understand it."

Wu Guihua: "Who says it's not true? There are too few girls studying."

Wu Guihua and Wang Ying chatted for a while about the children of certain families.

"It's really infuriating. No matter how much you persuade me, I just don't want to send you to school. I insist that studying too much will make you cunning and just as clueless as the educated youth who came here. It's useless if you can't do the work. Wang Ying, tell me, you graduated from high school, you know the benefits of studying, how can you get by without studying?"

Wu Guihua seemed to be complaining, but in fact she was just looking for someone to talk to. As for the solution, no one could do it.

Who made their brigade so far away from the commune

After the two finished chatting, Wu Guihua glanced at the next room before leaving.

He asked Wang Ying quietly, "Is there any news from your uncle's family recently?"

Wang Ying: "There really isn't much activity. I've been going to work lately, and there's almost no one here during the day."

It was strange to say that ever since Wang Yaozong's accident, Wang Yongshun and Li Chunjuan had gone to collect manure, the neighbors had been unusually quiet. Wang Yongshun and Li Chunjuan had never come to trouble him again, and Wang Yaozong was even more absent-minded, almost every day.

Wu Guihua disagreed: "Of course your uncle won't dare to cause trouble to you again. You are the golden egg of our team now. So many people rely on you to treat their illnesses. If he says some nonsense again, no one will agree. You are a family of thieves, how can you expect others to give you a good face?"

Wang Yongshun and his wife are now completely hated by everyone. Compared with the black five categories of families in the brigade, thieves like them are even more annoying. After all, the black five categories are class background, which has nothing to do with the members, but a thief in the brigade is closely related to everyone.

Li Chunjuan no longer tries to jump high, and just buries her head in work all day long. Wang Yongshun has become more obedient and has become completely invisible outside.

Wu Guihua concluded: "Just wait and see. If your uncle and his wife can win Wang Yaozong back, that will be good. If not, sooner or later they will have to let this bastard son go to the ditch."

Wang Ying deeply agrees with this. If a child is not taught well, it will be the parents' retribution sooner or later.

Wang Yongshun and his wife first tasted the retribution from Wang Lingling, and Wang Yaozong's retribution is still on the way.

The next morning, Wang Ying and Xu Shuang went to the town post office to mail something to Xu Ming. Twenty kilograms of stuff looked very impressive, and they had to mail it to the northwest, so the postage alone cost nearly twenty yuan.

Wang Ying was so heartbroken.

Xu Shuang was silent for a while, then said, "I'll ask my master in a few days if I can take the Level 2 exam in advance."

His salary is still too low.

Wang Ying endured the pain and said, "It's okay, we can take it slowly."

Wang Ying calculated again and again: "Can you take a leave these two days? Let's pick one day to go into the mountains."

She couldn't wait any longer! If she couldn't get the 300 yuan ginseng, she would really regret it.

Wang Ying knew that Yao Shunjuan would not wait for her ginseng. She would definitely spread the news through many channels. Whoever found it first would get the money.

Wang Ying urgently needed money. She had to work on her own medicinal plant and she had to buy some big things for her family. She had to send packages to Xu Ming at least once a quarter. If the family didn't have extra income, the two of them wouldn't be able to cover the expenses.

Xu Shuang: "I can take a leave, let's go to the mountains the day after tomorrow."

Xu Shuang didn't intend to find ginseng, but she felt that they were too busy recently and didn't spend much time together. This time, they went into the mountains as a spring outing, and the two of them just wanted to relax.

After sending the package to Xu Ming, Wang Ying and Xu Shuang separated, one went to work in a restaurant, and the other rode a bicycle to attend training.

Shengli Commune is much smaller than Hongqi Commune. Because Hongqi Commune does not occupy a town with convenient transportation, naturally there is no thermos factory.

The clinic of Shengli Commune also has only one floor, but it is large in size.

Wang Ying asked for the location, and a young girl pointed to the big house in the middle: "It's right there. Just go there and say you're here for training, and someone will take you there."

Wang Ying thanked her and walked into the big house.

As soon as I entered, I saw four people waiting, all of them looking a little excited and nervous.

Wang Ying came in and found a place to sit down. The young woman next to her was mumbling something. Wang Ying listened carefully and found out that she was reciting a book...

What I memorized was still from the barefoot doctor's manual.

Wang Ying sat calmly, and the young woman next to her asked her, "Aren't you nervous?"

Without waiting for Wang Ying to answer, the young woman started to talk: "I'm so nervous. What if I don't pass? I heard that the selection process has been very strict since last year. Last year, our team sent two people and both of them failed. Alas, our team leader said that at least one person must pass, otherwise it will be too troublesome to see a doctor in the team..."

Wang Ying listened to her chattering and knew that some people were like that. When they got nervous, they would talk non-stop. Wang Ying did not interrupt her and just listened to her in a disjointed manner.

Soon, Wang Ying heard everything about the man's family background.

This person was from the brigade next to Wang Ying, the Fourth Brigade, right next to Wang Ying's Seventh Brigade. Wang Ying had learned before that there were only three brigades next to the mountain in the entire commune, namely the Fourth Brigade, the Fifth Brigade, and the Seventh Brigade at the foot of the mountain.

The three brigades were closely connected. The seventh brigades had no midwives but had Wang Ying, a barefoot doctor. The fourth brigades had a midwife but no barefoot doctor. Only the fifth brigades had both.

The young woman was called Sun Ertao. She was the second daughter in the family, but there were many boys in her family, so she had to struggle all the way to senior primary school.

Just because he knew a few words, he was sent here for training by the brigade this time, hoping that he could go back and become a barefoot doctor, which would be a way to make a living. Sun Ertao finished talking about himself and didn't stop: "Our brigade sent two people this time. Look, Zhaodi is also from our brigade."

Speaking of competitors, Sun Ertao's expression was obviously not as warm as before.

Wang Ying also took a look at Zhaodi, who looked poorly dressed and was reciting with bright eyes.

Sun Ertao and Zhaodi were competitors, and the other two young women seemed to dislike each other. Wang Ying had an idea that the two teams had each selected two people, hoping to pick one to take over the team's medical care mission.

Although being a barefoot doctor is only a half-job, the clinic pays one yuan a month, and the brigade will give one or two yuan depending on the situation. In addition, you can earn a few cents for each patient you see. It's pretty good all in all.

Sun Ertao was extremely unconfident and kept mumbling anxiously. The others also looked at Wang Ying calmly.

Sun Ertao: "Why did you come alone? Didn't your team select anyone else?"

Wang Ying: "Yeah, I'm the only one in our team."

Sun Ertao immediately felt envious: "That's great."

As for why it is good, need I explain it? She is the only one here, and there is no one to compete with her.

Wang Ying didn't care. Seeing these four girls, who were at most 20 years old, looking so nervous, she still had the heart to comfort them: "It's not that difficult. Relax. Our training is for a month. Just study hard."

Not long after, an older female doctor came in and called all five people over to start giving a lecture.

Wang Ying also listened attentively. Not only did she listen, she also took a notebook and a pencil with her and took notes while listening.

Sun Ertao's face flushed red. She was so eager to argue with Zhaodi that she forgot to bring paper and pen!

The other three did not do anything either, and just watched Wang Ying write furiously.

Wang Ying is very serious. She doesn't think she can stop listening now that she knows how to do it. She is still very interested in the current construction of the medical system.

You have to know that according to records, the country went from being extremely poor when it was founded to rapidly building a rural medical system within 20 years, extending the average life expectancy from 35 years old when the country was founded to over 50 years old, and reducing the infant mortality rate from one-fifth to more than half, which is already a rare feat.

Therefore, Wang Ying did not think that the medical methods at that time were inferior, but participated in it wholeheartedly.

The female doctor in charge of the lecture was very satisfied. Few of the barefoot doctors who had come before thought of taking notes. They all relied on their brains, and how much they remembered depended on luck.

When Wang Ying was writing furiously, the female doctor would even stop and wait for her.

After a while, Zhaodi asked Wang Ying in a low voice to borrow paper and pen: "Comrade, I'm sorry, I forgot to bring paper and pen, can you give me some? I will return it to you next time."

Wang Ying saw that the other people were also looking at her eagerly, so she simply borrowed a small knife from the female doctor, cut four pieces of paper and gave them to them, and then sharpened her pencil in the middle and divided it into five pieces.

Now, everyone held pencils in their hands and started taking notes.

Zhaodi bit her lower lip, feeling very unhappy.

Why did Wang Ying give it to everyone all at once when I was the one who asked

Wang Ying was only busy taking notes and didn't pay attention to the intrigues among the little girls around her.

After more than two hours of training, Wang Ying thanked the female doctor with a full notebook in her pocket.

The more the female doctor looked at Wang Ying, the more she liked her. Good students are always popular, not to mention that Wang Ying is pretty. In the past, she was shy and timid, so people would think she was not generous. But now Wang Ying is very confident, with plump cheeks and delicate skin. This energetic look has diluted the previous feeling of being a weak little white flower.

Very popular with older people.

Wang Ying also asked the female doctor about the midwife, and she told her everything.

"A midwife needs to know common characters, and that's enough for a second grader. Just come here and learn, and then take a test."

The female doctor said in a friendly manner: "If you have any questions, feel free to ask. My last name is Wei."

Wang Ying immediately responded: "Thank you, Teacher Wei."

Wang Ying was so good at handling things that the others suddenly felt that they were at a disadvantage and were suppressed by Wang Ying so that they could not show their strength.

Sun Ertao was fine. She felt uncomfortable, but when she saw other people's ugly faces, she felt that it was better for Wang Ying to be in the spotlight than Zhaodi.

Sun Ertao looked down on Zhaodi, so naturally he felt that it was better to be dominated by Wang Ying, who was a little more pleasing to his eyes.

After the class, Wang Ying said goodbye to Dr. Wei and rode away on her bicycle without staying to talk to the other people.

She rode her bike away, and a young woman behind her spat, "Upward face!"

The curse is that Wang Ying is only concerned with fawning on the powerful and scheming for personal gain.

Zhaodi's eyes flickered, and she said softly, "Sister Ertao, why didn't she take you with her? Our team is next to hers, so isn't this just on the way?"

Sun Ertao rolled her eyes. Did Sun Zhaodi think she was stupid

"They don't owe me anything, so why should I be taken back with them? You, on the other hand, should remember that you owe them a pencil stub and a piece of paper, so remember to pay them back next time."

Sun Ertao ignored the other two. Although Wang Ying looked a little cold, she at least borrowed a pencil and paper. If you have the guts, just speak to them in person. It's nothing to curse them behind their backs.

Sun Ertao left, leaving Zhaodi behind biting her lip.

Zhaodi didn't want to return the pencil stub, and her family didn't have the means to do so. But when Sun Ertao pointed it out, she still felt embarrassed.

The other two young women were also furious: "Why can't this guy say anything nice?"

Zhaodi also left with a blank expression. Sun Ertao was hateful. These two were cowards. None of them dared to curse in front of the main person.

Wang Ying returned home. She had told Tian Youfu and Wu Guihua that she was going to attend the training, as it would be a waste of time if the provincial brigade could not find anyone to see a doctor.

As soon as I got home, it started raining outside.

Wang Ying was wondering whether she should send an umbrella to Xu Shuang, but she didn't expect Xu Shuang to come back in the heavy rain after a while.

"Why are you off work at this time?"

Xu Shuang shook her head: "It was raining, and there wasn't much work in the store, so I finished early and came back."

When it rains, fewer people go to the restaurant to eat. Xu Shuang doesn't want to wait there, so she makes dumplings and buns and leaves some braised meat in the restaurant. These are enough to deal with people who come to drink.

Wang Ying poured some hot water for Xu Shuang. Xu Shuang wiped her body and changed her clothes in the house and came out.

"We still lack a place to take a shower. It's not easy to take a shower in the yard when it rains."

Xu Shuang built the wall high so that she was not afraid of being peeped in. She usually took a shower in the yard. Wang Ying took a shower in the main room of the house, but it was inconvenient anyway.

Wang Ying took the opportunity to say, "Let's build a bathroom later?"

She missed the bathroom so much. Every time she took a shower in the bathroom, she had to be careful not to splash water everywhere. It was so troublesome.

Xu Shuang: "It's not easy to get up now. We can't get enough people together. Let's wait until autumn comes."

This is the official procedure for building a house in the countryside. Houses are usually built in the fall when there is no farming work and it is easier to find manpower.

Wang Ying was thinking of something else: "Let's get a big bathtub so we can take a bath even in winter."

Xu Shuang: "Okay. Let's get a pipe that can pump water out from above. I saw my uncle's family have one in the provincial capital."

Wang Ying thought, isn’t that just a shower

I felt happy: "That's great."

For dinner, Xu Shuang made scrambled eggs with black fungus. The little rooster in the family was eaten during the Chinese New Year, and now there is only one hen left. It can lay two eggs a day and can be said to be a model worker among chickens.

Because life was easy at home, Xu Shuang didn't allow Wang Ying to sell the eggs outside, so they kept the eggs at home and ate them.

The fried eggs with black fungus were tender. Xu Shuang also used lard to stir-fry some green vegetables with garlic. The two of them ate the stir-fried vegetables with steamed corn bread. The soup was spinach and tofu soup. The fragrance of spinach and the tenderness of tofu, with a little pepper sprinkled on it, there was no dish warmer than this on a rainy night like this.

After dinner, the two of them washed up and went to bed. Xu Shuang reached out to touch the foot of the bed, but couldn't find it. Then she remembered that the dozens of them she had brought after the New Year last year had been used up.

Seeing Wang Ying biting the corner of the quilt and laughing, Xu Shuang became particularly discouraged and hugged her into the quilt: "Go to sleep!"

I still have to urge my senior brother. Why is he so slow? I have sent the letter, but why hasn’t the thing arrived yet

The two were sleeping in the middle of the night when they suddenly heard someone knocking on the door outside. The banging sound was extremely clear in the middle of the night.

"Wang Ying! Wang Ying! Get up and take a look. The Youth League Point has collapsed!"