Lin Qingqing came back from the kitchen of the third company and started cooking. Today's dishes include braised large intestine, vegetables and soup. She chose green vegetables and loofah soup.
The sweet potato rice was cooked in a clay pot, and hot water was first boiled in an iron pot. Lin Qingqing cut another plate of braised large intestines and said, "Lu Cheng, I'm going to go to Sister Xiuyao's house and bring a plate of braised large intestines to them as well."
Lu Cheng: "Got it." He spent an afternoon to finish the squat toilet and partition the shower. Now he was making the squat toilet tank. The squat toilet tank was made of wood. After the tank was finished, the water was manually drained and the water came out of the tank to flush the squat toilet directly. Of course, there was no need to worry about the tank leaking because the water in the tank was used up as soon as it was filled.
I have to say that this squat toilet is really good. Even five-year-old Lu Haici doesn't have to worry about falling into the toilet when he goes to the toilet by himself. Not only that, Lu Cheng also opened a small hole on the side of the squat toilet to use as a window for ventilation.
Lin Qingqing came to Yu Xiuyao's house: "Sister-in-law."
"Hey." Yu Xiuyao was cooking, "Cooking inside."
Lin Qingqing walked into the kitchen. These small courtyards all had the same layout. "Sister-in-law, I made some braised food myself. I'll bring it to you to try."
Yu Xiuyao saw that it was braised pig intestines. It looked like braised meat. When Lin Qingqing took it out, she could smell the braised smell. After all, it was still warm from the pot, so the smell was quite strong. "You can make braised food, that's amazing." Being able to make braised food is also a skill.
Lin smiled gently: "It's not good, sister-in-law, please don't dislike it. Also, the taste is a bit strong. I thought it would last longer. When I cook, I can cut some marinated ingredients into it to add flavor."
"That's right. In this weather, only strong-smelling food can last." Yu Xiuyao understood. "By the way, wait a minute..." Yu Xiuyao took a large soup bowl and went into the house. When she came out, there were three eggs in the bowl. "Here, take some and try them."
"This is..." Lin Qingqing's eyes lit up, "Salted duck eggs?" Even her grandmother, who was an expert in making pickled foods, didn't know how to pickle salted duck eggs.
Yu Xiuyao said: "I learned this from my mother. I exchanged some duck eggs in the countryside before, and they were pickled just these few days."
Lin Qingqing thought for a while and said, "Sister-in-law, can you sell me a few pounds of these salted duck eggs?" Salted duck eggs are durable and can be cooked in many ways. It just so happens that there is a pumpkin at home, so she can make a salted egg yolk pumpkin tomorrow, so Lin Qingqing was very tempted.
"This... just come and take it if you want to eat it. What are you selling?" Yu Xiuyao was naturally embarrassed to accept the money. "Besides, I don't have that much."
"That won't do. I won't be polite to my sister-in-law for one or two, but I don't have the face to accept pounds of it." Lin Qingqing said.
“This… I don’t know how much one pound of this is.” Yu Xiuyao did have quite a few salted duck eggs, which she stored for their longevity. When the family ran out of oil, she would take a salted duck egg to replenish the oil.
If it is a raw duck egg, the price is the same as a raw chicken egg, 50 cents per pound, but salting duck eggs requires a lot of ingredients.
Lin Qingqing said, "How about one dollar per pound?" In fact, Lin Qingqing wanted to offer a higher price, but she knew Yu Xiuyao would not accept it, so she only said one dollar.
However, even though she said one yuan per pound, Yu Xiuyao refused: "No, no, it's too expensive. How about this, you give me 60 cents." 50 cents per pound, plus 10 cents for materials. No matter how much the materials cost, she would charge 10 cents anyway.
Lin Qingqing felt that she was getting a bargain with the 60 cents, but Yu Xiuyao would not accept any higher price at this moment, so she decided to remember Yu Xiuyao's friendship first. "Then I will listen to my sister-in-law."
Seeing that she agreed, Yu Xiuyao was relieved: "Then I'll go get it." After a while, Yu Xiuyao took out nine more salted duck eggs. In fact, eight salted duck eggs are more than one pound, but Yu Xiuyao couldn't let Lin Qingqing lose money, so she gave nine.
Lin Qingqing took the salted duck eggs and said, "Sister-in-law, isn't the supply and marketing cooperative buying chicken eggs now? Have you ever thought about buying your salted duck eggs from the supply and marketing cooperative?"
"This... I really haven't thought about it." Yu Xiuyao was a little embarrassed. However, after hearing Lin Qingqing say this, she felt that it was a way to make money. She came from the countryside and had never been to school. Fortunately, she married Lao Qin early, otherwise she would not be worthy of Lao Qin's later success. Lao Qin was successful and brought them mother and son to the army. Although he had a salary of 140 yuan a month, the expenses of their family of four were all included in his salary, and the monthly expenses were not small. In addition, Lao Qin had to take 20 yuan from his salary to his hometown every month. Yu Xiuyao had no objection to this money, because if she didn't take the money back, she couldn't come to join the army. Fortunately, after her parents-in-law took 20 yuan every month, they never caused them any trouble.
Seeing Yu Xiuyao like this, Lin Qingqing knew that she was a little tempted, so she said, "Then sister-in-law, give it a try. We can buy it from the supply and marketing cooperative, which is also allowed by national policy."
Yu Xiuyao: "But I'm a little embarrassed to go to the supply and marketing cooperative."
Lin Qingqing said, "What's the big deal? I'll go with you tomorrow. I'm going to the carpenter's house tomorrow, and then we'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative together." Whatever, she would also go to the supply and marketing cooperative to ask if she could consign the braised food. Otherwise, with a salary of 15 yuan a month, how long would she have to save to pay Lu Cheng back? The sewing machine and bicycle cost 330 yuan.
"That's fine." Yu Xiuyao had no objection to having someone to accompany her, and she felt that Lin Qingqing convinced her. Perhaps it was because she saw Lin Qingqing dealing with Zhang Hongping and Yang Mailian that she was unexpectedly confident in Lin Qingqing. "But there is one more thing. Pickling salted duck eggs requires liquor and salt. If the supply and marketing cooperative buys salted duck eggs, I can't buy so much liquor and salt. Besides, it's not easy to buy so many duck eggs."
Lin Qingqing thought for a while and said, "Then I'll go back and think about it tonight. I'll come to see my sister-in-law tomorrow and we'll discuss it. Actually, sister-in-law, I also want to send the braised food to the supply and marketing cooperative to make some money." She felt a little embarrassed when she said this.
Yu Xiuyao then understood why she was so positive about this matter, but she still felt very happy: "That's great, let's think about it together." Because she was embarrassed in the first place, and now that Lin Qingqing had this idea, what else did she have to be embarrassed about
Lin Qingqing: "Then I'll come over tomorrow."
Lin Qingqing returned with eight salted duck eggs. There must have been salted duck egg food factories in this era, but salted duck eggs were definitely not popular. At least in this body's memory, no one had ever eaten salted duck eggs. If Yu Xiuyao's salted duck eggs could be sold in a certain way, her own stewed food could also be sold to the supply and marketing cooperative... Thinking of this, Lin Qingqing was in a good mood.
Even though the supply and marketing cooperative paid little for the purchase, she was happy and felt at ease.
Lin Qingqing returned home and saw Lu Cheng standing at the kitchen door, looking in her direction.
"You're back." Seeing Lin Qingqing, Lu Cheng also breathed a sigh of relief, "The water in the pot is already boiling, I put the hot water in the thermos. I didn't know when you would come back, so I added cold water to the pot." He usually doesn't talk much, and even if he does, he won't talk so long. This person will only play with his son when he is with him, and his personality is usually a bit dull.
Lin Qingqing: "I chatted with Sister Xiuyao for a while, which delayed us a bit. It's okay to put the water down, you can drink it as boiled water when it cools down. By the way, Lu Cheng, I want to tell you something." I have to tell Lu Cheng about the braised food, we should respect each other.
Lu Cheng: "What's the matter?"
Lin Qingqing said, "Can't we ordinary people take our eggs to the supply and marketing cooperative for purchase? Do you think I can also take the stewed food I make to the supply and marketing cooperative for purchase? And this... This is the salted duck egg made by Sister Xiuyao, do you think this is feasible?"
Lu Cheng said: "It's not feasible. You don't have the pig intestines needed to make stewed food, and your sister-in-law doesn't have the duck eggs needed to make salted duck eggs. If it's just a small amount for yourself, then it's fine, but the supply and marketing cooperative will definitely need a large amount, and then we don't have it."
Lin Qingqing: "We also know this problem, so I thought of a solution."
Lu Cheng raised his eyebrows: "Tell me about it." He didn't expect that Lin Qingqing had already thought of a solution.
Lin Qingqing said: "So, let the supply and marketing cooperative provide the materials, and then give the materials to us, and we use them to make it ourselves? It is equivalent to the supply and marketing cooperative providing the materials and we providing the technology."
Lu Cheng thought: "That's fine, I can give it a try." Although the family had enough money, he approved of Lin Qingqing's interest. Everyone has their own ideals and can strive for them.
Lin Qingqing: "Then I will go to the supply and marketing cooperative with Sister Xiuyao tomorrow to talk."
…
When Lu Haici came back, the family had dinner happily, including braised pork intestines, stir-fried vegetables, and loofah soup. After dinner, Lin Qingqing took Lu Haici for a walk to help digestion, and went to Qin's house to talk to Yu Xiuyao about her ideas, while Lu Cheng naturally stayed at home to wash the dishes.
An hour had passed since we left Yu Xiuyao's house.
Lin Qingqing and Lu Haici returned home and prepared to take a bath.
Lin Qingqing: "Lu Haici, take off your clothes and take a shower."
"Hey." Lu Haici responded and began to take off his clothes swiftly.
"Let me wash him." Lu Cheng came back with two buckets of water and heard Lin Qingqing's words, "The small room has been partitioned off, and I'm fine."
Lin Qingqing heard it and thought, does that mean he has to go to bed early from now on
"No, no, no..." Before Lin Qingqing could think about it, Lu Haici loudly rejected his father, "Dad, my back will hurt if you take a bath."
Lu Chengcai couldn't help his personality: "You are already five years old. Others take baths by themselves when they are five years old." He used to bathe Lu Haici, because he was alone when he was on a mission, so when he came back, he would spend more time with his son and bathe him. I didn't expect him to be so delicate now.
"No way." Lu Haici objected, "Ji Yang is also five years old, and it is his mother who bathes him." Don't think he doesn't know, he can see it even if he stands in the yard.
The five-year-old child is "shameless" and often takes off his clothes to take a bath in the yard.
Lu Cheng: "Then your mother is already very tired from cooking. If you ask her to take a bath, she will be even more tired."
When he heard that his mother would be tired, Lu Haici didn't want to trouble her anymore, he lowered his head in silence.
"Then let's do this..." Lin Qingqing said, "From now on, let daddy wash Haici's bath, and if he needs to wash his hair, let me do it, okay?" Lin Qingqing did not object to Lu Cheng's education of his son, but she could not hurt the child's heart all at once. Giving the child a little hope might lead to better results.
That was actually the case. When Lu Haici heard that his mother would wash his hair again in the future, his previous gloom disappeared and he happily agreed: "Okay, I'll listen to my mother. But dad, you have to be gentler, you're too strong."
"You are the only one who has too many things to do." Lu Cheng wanted to use more force.
Lu Cheng took Lu Haici to take a bath in the yard, while Lin Qingqing went to the small room to take a bath. However, when she saw the bathroom partitioned off in the small room, Lin Qingqing was stunned for a moment, because Lu Cheng designed it very well. When taking a bath, there was no need to worry about water flowing all over the floor. He raised the bathroom a bit, and then there were partitioned walls on both sides, and cement bricks were used to block the front, so no matter left or right or front, the water would not flow out.
More importantly, there is a hole on the floor of the bathroom for draining water.
Lin Qingqing quickly took a shower, put on her underwear, pajama shorts, and then put on a double-layer suspenders. It was a pity that the home clothes were not ready yet, otherwise it would be convenient to put on the home clothes, but now, she still had to wear clothes outside.
Lin Qingqing also picked out a set of old clothes that she had washed and dried a few days ago to wear.
After taking a shower, Lin Qingqing did not rush out, but washed her underwear inside. Since Lu Cheng washed her underwear yesterday morning, she washed her underwear by herself after taking a shower last night, and did the same today.
When Lin Qingqing finished washing and went out, she saw Lu Haici was still washing. Lin Qingqing went to the empty room to dry her underwear and wait until the next morning to take it out. Then she went back to the room and she was going to "fall asleep" before Lu Cheng went to bed.
Lu Cheng carried Lu Haici, who had just showered and dried himself, to the bedroom, and saw Lin Qingqing lying there straight. She was still wearing her training suit, covered with a thin blanket, and her back was facing them. Lu Cheng said to Lu Haici, "Your mother is tired today, don't bother her later, go to sleep by yourself." Lu Cheng agreed with his son sleeping here. In fact, Lin Qingqing didn't know that if Lu Cheng and Lin Qingqing were the only ones in the room, Lu Cheng would also be nervous.
He still remembered that on the wedding day, Lin Qingqing wanted to have a wedding night, but he refused because he was in a hurry. If there was no Lu Haici now, and Lin Qingqing suddenly wanted to have a wedding night again, would he agree... or would he agree... Now that there was a little light bulb, Lu Cheng didn't have to think too much.
When Lu Haici heard what his father said, he said obediently, "Don't worry, Dad. I won't disturb Mom."
Lu Cheng still believed in his son: "Then you go to sleep first, Dad will be back after taking a shower."
"Um."
As soon as Lu Cheng left the room, Lin Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief. She was so nervous. Lin Qingqing didn't dare to move, for fear that Lu Haici would find out that she was pretending to sleep and then expose her.
Lu Cheng took a quick shower, and in less than half an hour, he came back. The room was still the same as when he left, with Lin Qingqing still sleeping with her back to him, and Lu Haici staring at the ceiling with his eyes open. Seeing Lu Cheng coming, Lu Haici hushed, "Dad, be gentle, don't wake up Mom." He still acted like a serious person.
"Yeah." Lu Cheng responded and went to bed.
As soon as he got on the bed, there was a noticeable creaking sound. It wasn't that the bed was of poor quality, but it was a wooden bed, and it would make this kind of sound when someone sat down.
Fortunately, this single bed is one meter wide, and now two beds are put together, which is two meters wide. Even if three people sleep together, it is still very spacious. However, after Lu Cheng lay down, Lin Qingqing dared not move even more, and he even breathed carefully.
The more nervous Lin Qingqing became, the more she couldn't sleep. She was counting the bleating of sheep in her mind, but the more she counted, the more awake she became.
She didn't know how long it had been before she heard Lu Cheng's soft cry. She gradually relaxed because Lu Cheng had fallen asleep. Thank God.
To be honest, Lin Qingqing doesn't like men who snore. But Lu Cheng's snoring is acceptable, it's a very light snoring, similar to the sound of breathing but a little heavier, probably because he is too tired. He went on a mission for half a month, came back and renovated the small house until midnight, and then got up early in the morning. Even a god would be exhausted.
the next day
Lin Qingqing woke up after the whistle blew, at half past six. Perhaps she had gotten used to this time over the past few days, and because there were no shows at the end of the year, she went to bed early and woke up early the next day. But when she woke up, she didn't see Lu Cheng again.
Thinking of what Lu Cheng had said, that they had to gather within fifteen minutes after the wakeup call at 6:30, and then come back for lunch at 8 o'clock, she wondered, what delicious food should they make in the morning
Coming to the kitchen, Lin Qingqing looked at the things in the kitchen, including the leftover cornmeal from the day before. Because it was not used up for breakfast yesterday, she decided to make noodles with soybean paste. Coincidentally, she also had bean paste at home.
The ingredients are limited, and the fried noodles in the morning only have bean paste, cucumber shreds, carrot shreds, and a poached egg, but the soul-enhancing bean paste is enough.
Lin Qingqing washed up first, then went back to the kitchen to make noodles. She didn't have the strength to make long round noodles, so she made knife-cut noodles, one by one, but she would cut them thinner. In fact, knife-cut noodles are still very chewy.
By the time she had finished cutting the noodles, it was already past seven o'clock, and she put both pots on the stove: water in the clay pot to boil the noodles, and bean paste in the iron pot.
Before frying the bean paste, she first prepared the bean paste. She used a spoon to scoop out three spoons of bean paste. The bean paste for fried noodles tastes slightly sweeter, but this bean paste is not very sweet, so she added half a spoon of sugar and then a spoon of cooking wine. Cooking wine is the wine that everyone brought when they came to dinner the day before yesterday. It is the kind of wine that you drink, but it can also be used as cooking wine.
Then heat the oil in a pan, add some green onions and stir-fry, then add the prepared bean paste and stir-fry over low heat until the bean paste releases oil.
Then she put the noodles in a bowl, added shredded cucumber and carrot, and covered it with bean paste.
Looking at the time again, it was 7:40. She still needed protein to replenish her body, so she made three more poached eggs. Unlike some adults who only remembered to replenish their children, Lin Qingqing felt that both she and Lu Cheng needed to replenish their bodies.
Training ground
The soldiers gather at 6:45, train until 7:45, then rest for 15 minutes and are dismissed at 8 o'clock. There is an hour of lunch time in between, but of course it is not just for them to eat. They cannot eat immediately after training, and they cannot train immediately after eating. So this hour and a half also includes their rest time.
Of course, soldiers don’t just train every day. In addition to training, they also have lectures, which are various battlefield lectures and lectures on facing various surprise situations. Otherwise, if you train every day without knowing the plan and strategy, then it will be useless no matter how good your physical fitness is.
Lu Cheng did not train with the soldiers, that was the job of the company below. At Lu Cheng's level, decision-making was more important than fighting. But Lu Cheng still trained every morning, with several battalion commanders and regiment commanders. According to them, they couldn't be better than the rookies.
At this moment, Lu Cheng was sitting on the ground resting. He looked at the time and got up as soon as it was eight o'clock.
Seeing Lu Cheng stand up, the others also stood up. One of them said, "Old Lu, I heard that there are brown sugar buns in the cafeteria today. We have to hurry to the cafeteria to grab them, otherwise they will be gone."
The person who spoke was also Deputy Commander Qiu of the Independent Regiment. Lu Cheng's Independent Regiment had a commander, two deputy commanders, a chief of staff, and two deputy chiefs of staff.
Lu Cheng: "I'm not going. I'm going home to eat."
"People who have married are different." The deputy chief of staff joked, "I heard that Xiao Lu's wife is a good cook. No wonder Xiao Lu kept checking the time today."
Among them, Lu Cheng was the youngest. Because the deputy regiment commander and Lu Cheng were at the same level, he called Lu Cheng "Old Lu", but the regiment commander and the deputy chief of staff were much older than Lu Cheng and had watched Lu Cheng rise, so they were used to calling him "Little Lu".
It was the first time that Lu Cheng discussed Lin Qingqing with a man. He was not used to it yet, but he said truthfully: "Her cooking skills are indeed very good, so she will go to work in the kitchen of the third company tomorrow."
"Oh, that's good." The chief of staff said, "Xiao Lu did the right thing. Those with good cooking skills should be recommended to their own regiments, and not pushed to the big canteen. If you push them to the big canteen, won't it be a bargain for others?" Some officers above the battalion level like to eat in the big canteen, but because the independent regiment is not under the jurisdiction of the division or brigade, the officers of the independent regiment also like to eat in the company.
Zhengtuan said, "Why don't we go to the Third Company's kitchen for lunch tomorrow?"
Deputy Commander Qiu: "Why not go tomorrow morning?"
Zhengtuan: "You don't understand. What can you eat in the morning? If you want to eat well, you must go at noon."
Lu Cheng ignored the discussion of these people. He had already walked away with big strides. He was very hungry.
The Chief of Staff said: "Look at how anxious Xiao Lu is. It's definitely right for him to go to the Third Company's kitchen for lunch tomorrow at noon."