Children are eager to grow up, and they have ambitions that are not inferior to those of adults. Or, because they are young, their ambitions are big. But adults are baptized by reality, and their ambitions are wiped out.
"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Lu Haici sat on the ground and asked his friends around him.
"I want to be a hero." Qin Ming was the first to answer. Although he was young, he had always been clear about his goal. He was raised by his grandparents, so he often listened to his grandfather tell stories about him leading soldiers to fight and how he beat up bad guys. Qin Ming's young heart admired his grandfather very much. He also wanted to be a hero like his grandfather.
"You are really amazing." Lu Haici said, "My aunt said that my father is also a great hero."
Qin Ming: "So you want to be a hero?"
Lu Haici was silent. What kid doesn't want to be a hero? But compared to being a hero, he wanted to be something more. So he answered, "I want to be a college student."
"What is a college student?" Qin Ming's family has no college students, and he has never heard of the term college student, so he doesn't know yet.
"College students..." Lu Haici didn't know how to describe it. "College students are very, very powerful people. We are kindergarten children now, and we will be middle school students in the future. Then we will be high school students, and finally college students. Take brother Dawang for example. He is now a middle school student. My mom is an adult in high school, and finally she will be a college student like my dad. My dad said that my mom will also go to college, so I want to be a college student like my mom."
The little boy had no brothers or sisters who were in elementary school, so the elementary school students were eaten by him.
"Is that so... Then I will finish kindergarten and stop studying. I will go directly to the army." Qin Ming felt a headache when he heard that there was still junior high school, high school and college. "What's the good of studying? Your mother is an adult who is in high school and will still work in the cafeteria in the future. Your father is a college student and will still be a soldier in the future. I can go directly to the army if I finish kindergarten. It's the same."
This... Lu Haici was confused, it seemed that what Qin Ming said made sense. But: "Then I still want to be a college student." Regardless of whether the result makes sense or not, he still wants to be a college student, because he wants to be like his mother. He is a child who is very persistent to his mother.
"Then I will be a college student too." Ji Yang said, "Lu Haici and I are good friends. Good friends go to school together, go home together, play in the mud together, and eat together. If Lu Haici wants to be a college student, I want to do the same." Ji Yang is a boy who is very persistent in his good friends. In fact, Ji Yang was not so persistent in his good friends before. In addition to Lu Haici, he had other friends. But since Lu Haici became good friends with Qin Ming and other children, he has also been very persistent in the identity of Lu Haici's best friend.
"Qin Ming, you will go to the army after you finish kindergarten. We won't be able to go to school, play, and eat together in the future, because we still have to go to junior high school, high school, and college." Ji Yang said again.
Qin Ming heard that and thought that was not possible. He still wanted to play with everyone and go to the cafeteria to eat the food cooked by Lu Haici's mother. So Qin Ming immediately said, "Then I will go to junior high school, high school, and college together, and then we will serve in the army together."
"But after I finish college, I don't want to join the army." Lu Haici said, "I want to work and earn money to support my mother in her old age."
"I know this." Ji Yang said, "My father sends pension money to my grandma every month, and my mother also sends money to my grandma." Because Xu Huijuan was introduced to Ji Changfeng by Ji Yang's grandmother, the relationship between Xu Huijuan and Ji Yang's grandmother is quite harmonious.
"I also know that my parents also give my grandma retirement money every month." Qin Ming said, "My mother comes back from the county every month to give my grandma retirement money."
"I also know about the pension money." Chen Zhou said. Chen Zhou was the kid who pushed Lu Haici down and said he didn't want to be friends with them. For those kids who forget very quickly, they have long forgotten what they said, faster than a couple who quarrels in bed and makes up in the end of the bed. "My mother secretly gave my grandmother pension money, and my father found out. My father scolded my mother and said that my grandmother was extorting money. So giving pension money is extortion."
"That's not the case." Lu Haici said, "My father also provides pension money to my great aunt because she is old, so he provides her with pension money. This is my father providing pension for my great aunt, not taking advantage of her. When my mother gets old, I will also provide for her in her old age."
"Then why did Chen Zhou's mother give pension money to Chen Zhou's grandmother, and Chen Zhou's father said that Chen Zhou's grandmother was taking advantage of him?" Ji Yang asked.
"this… "
The little ones don’t know.
"I'll go ask grandma." Qin Ming said, "My grandma will definitely know."
Ji Yang: "I'll ask my mother. She must know too."
Lu Haici: "Then I'll go ask my mother too."
Chen Zhou: "I... I'll ask my dad. This is what my dad said. My dad must know."
So the children decided to go home and ask the adults after school and discuss it together when they go to school tomorrow.
The canteen of the third company's cooking class
In the afternoon, Lin Qingqing not only finished the white three-piece home suit, but also the gray three-piece pajama suit. After finishing this, she finally felt relieved. Seeing that it was almost time, she went to the cafeteria.
In the cafeteria, everyone was chatting. Liu Honghua, who had nothing to do, sat aside and listened to them.
Seeing Lin Qingqing coming, Qi Shao asked, "Comrade Lin, what are we going to make for dinner?"
This was not only what Qi Shao wanted to know, but also what everyone else wanted to know, because they had a very happy lunch, so now they were waiting for dinner. In fact, everyone knew that they were happy at noon because they had braised pig intestines, which could barely be considered meat. But it was good to have meat dishes once a month. So there was no meat at night.
Lin Qingqing said: "Make cold smashed cucumber and cold eggplant in the evening." Dietary fiber at 10 o'clock in the evening.
Qi Shao: "Then we look forward to Comrade Lin's advice on cucumbers and eggplants. If we were asked to make them, we wouldn't be able to make them delicious."
Lin Qingqing said: "This will allow us to put the remaining fifty pounds of pig intestines into the stew and eat them at noon tomorrow."
Qi Shao: "Eating meat for two days in a row, they will be happy."
Lin Qingqing smiled softly: "There are not many pig intestines left, only about 300-400 grams per person. It will look better when it is served with other dishes. But when it comes to stewing the pig intestines, I have to prepare the ingredients in the kitchen by myself."
Naturally, no one objected. Lin Bao even joked, "I'll guard the door for Comrade Lin."
As long as the proportion of braised pig intestines is right, everyone doesn't have to worry about the stove. Next is the cold-mixed cucumber and eggplant. The eggplant is steamed. During the steaming process, Qi Shao and five comrades are smashing the cucumbers, and Lin is seasoning.
To make smacked cucumbers, cut the cucumbers into sections and then smash them with a knife. The seasoning requires soy sauce, rice vinegar and sugar. Everyone puts the smacked cucumbers in a large bowl, then Lin gently pours in the seasoning and stirs it very quickly.
Wait until the smashed cucumber is ready and the steamed eggplant is cooked, then tear it into strips. After it cools down, pour in soy sauce, minced garlic, rice vinegar and salt. Because some people can eat spicy food and some cannot, add chopped chili peppers to half of the eggplant and leave it out for the other half.
After the two dishes were ready, the canteen staff started eating first.
"This eggplant is delicious and has a good flavor." Qi Shao said. He likes spicy food, and this spicy cold eggplant is very much to his taste. He had to admit that the same ingredients can produce different flavors. How did they cook eggplant before? Either braised or steamed directly, and then add some soy sauce. But the braised one is actually not as delicious as the cold eggplant that Comrade Lin recommended.
"That's right, so Comrade Lin made the right decision by coming to our place." Lin Bao flattered.
Liu Honghua smiled and said nothing, but she was thinking differently. Of course, she recognized Lin Qingqing's cooking skills and her many ideas. The food she made was indeed delicious, but it was too wasteful. For example, cucumbers and eggplants had to be cooked with sugar, and sugar was expensive.
Actually, it seems like adding sugar is a waste, but it is not. First of all, the amount of sugar added is relatively small. Secondly, sugar can be regarded as a supplement for the soldiers. Soldiers work hard, so how can something used for them be wasted? Moreover, the sugar is not enough to make a meal of braised pork.
Not long after Lin Qingqing and the others finished their meal, Lu Haici arrived with Ji Yang and Qin Ming. The kindergarten was closed at 5:00, which was different from the 5:30 p.m. closing time of the army, so the three kids still didn't have to queue up.
Lin Qingqing served the kids half a portion of smashed cucumber and half a portion of eggplant, still using the canteen's rice bowls, and put the rest into their lunch boxes. "Qin Ming, Ji Yang, just like at noon, come to the window to get your lunch boxes after you finish eating, and take the remaining food in the lunch boxes home, okay?"
"I know."
Qin Ming and Ji Yang said in unison.
The kids were slow to eat, and they were still eating at half past five. However, the soldiers from the third company rushed into the cafeteria. After what happened at noon, they were looking forward to dinner even more.
Next door, soldiers from the first and second companies watched the soldiers from the third company run more vigorously during training, and wondered, "Why are they running so fast?"
"Can you eat without running fast?"
"But it's too fast, isn't it? This doesn't feel like going to dinner, it feels like going to war."
"Who knows?"
"I heard that there's a new person in their cafeteria, and the dishes he cooks are really delicious, so they rushed to eat there."
“Is it that exaggerated?”
"Why don't we go check it out?"