Starting a new chapter in life

Chapter 114: Preparing for the New Year

Jing Yan nodded in agreement: "Everything is in high demand now, do you know what that means?"

Yuan Xiaoling politely asked, "Does that mean... supply is falling short of demand?"

Jing Yan smiled and nodded: "That's right. Look, the supply of everything—clothing, food, housing, and transportation—is so tight right now. We even need ration coupons. What does that mean? It means that things are distributed according to need. Anything that is distributed is always in short supply."

The overall environment feels much more stable now than it was a few years ago, and the fact that universities have started offering classes again is a signal—a signal that the country wants to develop. And for development, in any aspect, stability is paramount.

This is something I've always wanted to do to build up some savings. Once we're truly settled, there will be opportunities in all sectors. These opportunities are right in front of us; anyone who doesn't seize them would be foolish.

Unfortunately, I'm not that clever. Although I have some ideas, I can only use what I'm good at to make a stable living. And the only things I can call good at are grilling and braised meat; as for other culinary skills, I really can't offer anything worthwhile.

Yuan Xiaoling nodded thoughtfully: "I understand. You've decided that your future goal is to open a barbecue and braised meat shop. So what kind of positioning do we want? It seems that we don't have any special skills other than house repair."

"Home renovation is an industry in itself. Nowadays, Shanghai has centralized building materials markets, which will make it much more convenient to purchase materials in the future. Why don't you take advantage of this opportunity to promote your reputation in home renovation?"

"Your studies aren't as demanding as Zhijun's, so you really have time during your holidays to take on this kind of work. For example, even something as simple as turning the earthen or brick floor into a cement floor should find a job. A tall building starts from the ground up; it takes time and effort to build something great," Jingyan suggested.

Yuan Xiaoling had a plan in mind. Eager to get home and discuss it with Liu Qiang, she didn't linger. After saying goodbye to everyone, she picked up the clean dishes and headed home.

Sister Wang, being very perceptive, packed a small bag of her homemade pastries and gave it to Yuan Xiaoling. Yuan Xiaoling didn't stand on ceremony; she thanked her and hurried away.

After Yuan Xiaoling left, He Jiaoxu looked at Jing Yan with great interest: "You really have a lot of ideas, girl. If you could go to university, things would be even better for you in the future. Why don't you prepare to take the college entrance examination next year?"

Jing Yan quickly waved her hand: "Dad, please don't bring up the exam again. It was already a great achievement for me to graduate from junior high school. I have no talent for studying. Even now, I start to feel sleepy just thinking about textbooks. I'm really not cut out for studying."

Seeing that Jing Yan really didn't want to study, He Jiaoxu didn't try to persuade her any further. After all, everyone has their own ambitions, and as long as you are hardworking and down-to-earth, you can earn a living in any industry.

A moment later, Grandma came out of the house by herself. Jingyan quickly offered her seat to Grandma. After Grandma sat down, she sighed, "I'm getting old after all. You can't deny it. I've only been out for a short time today, and I can't even keep up my energy. Sigh!"

Cui Hongru smiled and said, "Mom, it's rare to see an old lady as energetic as you at your age. If you feel old, what about those old ladies with wrinkled faces and hunched over?"

Grandma smiled and pointed at her with her index finger: "You, at your age, are still like a young girl, with such a sweet tongue. It makes me feel younger."

On New Year's Day, He Jiaoxu and his wife, as well as He Zhicheng and his wife, didn't leave until the afternoon. Before leaving, He Jiaoxu said, "The Lunar New Year is just over half a month away. This year, the New Year is early, so we'll bring Xiaoli with us then."

"Mom, you and Zhijun can just stay home and wait for us to come back. Don't bother going to Yangzhou; it'll be cold then, and An'an is too young to go through that."

Grandma naturally had no objections; she didn't want to run around, so she agreed immediately. The whole family stood at the gate watching the jeep drive away before returning inside. "Sister Wang, do we still have any meat?" Jingyan asked.

Sister Wang nodded: "There's still some left. A couple of days ago, Xiao Zhang from the slaughterhouse brought over some leftover meat. I saw that the weather is cold now, so the meat can be stored for a while. I kept quite a bit. What kind of meat and vegetables would Jingyan like to eat?"

Jingyan shook her head: "Zhijun is going back to school this time, and the next time he comes back will be before the Chinese New Year. I was thinking that since we have meat at home, I'll add some chili peppers and make some meat sauce. Even if Zhijun gets hungry at night, he'll have something to eat with his meal."

Sister Wang understood: "Okay, I'll make it this afternoon. I'll definitely have it ready before Zhijun leaves tonight." After saying that, Sister Wang went straight into the kitchen and started making the meat sauce.

He Zhijun took care of the child himself. Since Jingyan finished her postpartum confinement, she practiced calligraphy for about half an hour to an hour every day. The ink and paper at home were used up very quickly. Of course, her progress was also very obvious. At least now, her grandmother would never frown and point at the characters and ask, "What character is this?"

He Zhijun returned to school, and the three adults and one child in his family began preparing snacks for the Spring Festival. Jing Yan bought a lot of peanuts and melon seeds from Cheng Chunhua's village.

Grandma, being old, wanted to eat spiced peanuts in their shells, so the three of them started cleaning the peanut shells. Sister Wang used all the stoves she could find in the house, big and small pots, to boil the peanuts. The aroma of the spiced seasoning became stronger and stronger over time.

After boiling and soaking overnight, the next day I started the sun-drying step. While spreading them out to dry, I picked out the slightly shriveled peanuts and ate them to test the taste. And let me tell you, they were really delicious! Now that it's winter, although there's sunshine, drying peanuts is still quite difficult.

Fortunately, there was a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed). We put away all the quilts, wiped the kang mats, and spread them directly on the kang. With the stove fire burning outside, we could collect one layer in less than half a day, which was very fast.

They filled a large sack with spiced peanuts, and the three of them were going to shell the remaining peanuts, putting the peanuts with their red skins still on into a bowl. It was quite nice chatting while shelling them.

The only downside was that after shelling peanuts all day, everyone's fingers were sore, and thin calluses had formed on the pads of their index fingers and thumbs. Grandma sighed, "If it's this hard for us to shell peanuts, how hard must it be for farmers who grow crops?"

Jing Yan nodded in agreement: "It is indeed hard work. You have no idea, during the busy farming season, we have to be in the fields at five in the morning. At that time, the sun is not too strong and the temperature is not too hot, so we can do more work."

We work from 2 PM to 6 or 7 PM every afternoon, avoiding the hottest part of the day at midday. Otherwise, even the strongest person couldn't handle working in the fields during the midday heat. Even so, each busy farming season results in a loss of ten or more pounds of weight – it's like peeling off a layer of skin!

I hate farm work the most. At the end of the day, my back aches, my legs cramp, and I feel completely uncomfortable. But where I'm from, at least we can hibernate in winter and rest for three or four months. But here, I see crops in the fields all year round, and the farmers work even harder, without any time to rest.

Grandma said, "Here, it's three seasons in two years. I heard that in the south, it's only two seasons a year. That must be the hardest place." All three of them felt the same way.

After finishing the peanuts, it was time to roast the sunflower seeds. Jingyan couldn't get involved in this; she only assisted. Sister Wang was the main cook. Although roasted sunflower seeds were quite fragrant, their hands would be covered in a layer of black ash, and she had to wash them after each batch.

At this moment, Jingyan really missed the sunflower seeds that were later roasted in a rotary oven. They were clean and her hands wouldn't get dirty after eating them. However, she didn't know how that oven was made, so she had to put her idea of ​​making money with it on hold.

Peanuts and melon seeds were ready; Sister Wang and Jingyan were going out to buy New Year's goods, while Grandma stayed home to look after the children. This time, both of them carried baskets and two large cloth bags.

Jingyan casually strolled around the supply and marketing cooperative and the farmers' market, buying quite a bit of snacks, candies, apples, oranges, and other treats. Knowing that He Chaoli would be visiting for the New Year, she also bought several jars of canned yellow peaches.

Seeing that there were canned luncheon meats for sale, Jingyan couldn't help but feel a little tempted. After hesitating for a while, she gritted her teeth and bought two cans, just to try them out. She comforted herself and went home with bags and bundles, so tired that she lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed) and didn't want to move.

Jingyan took her time and slowly stocked up on New Year's goods at home. Occasionally, Zhang Xiaofen would send over any leftover meat or bones to ask if she wanted some. Jingyan kept quite a lot of them.

They ordered sausage casings from Zhang Xiaofen, and she and Sister Wang used the meat, along with various spices and starch, to make a lot of sausages. Since they don't have sausage stuffers anymore, they just put the casings over the grease traps and stuff the meat in little by little—it's really quite a hassle.

Fortunately, they have plenty of time, so they can take their time and aren't in a rush. To make drying easier, each sausage is only about half the length of a chopstick, so that when they hang it under the porch, their two cats can't reach it to steal a bite, greatly improving safety.

Ever since the sausages were hung on the porch, you could see the two kittens squatting by the door or the bed every day, their eyes fixed on the sausages. Occasionally they would run and jump, but unfortunately, even when they tried to grab the wall with their little paws, they would always slip down halfway. Their little appearance provided a lot of laughs for the bad guys in the house.

As the year drew to a close and the crowds on the streets suddenly surged to buy New Year's goods, Jingyan and her family had already finished their shopping and were at home, enjoying a peaceful and idyllic life.

He Zhijun returned home on the evening of the 28th of the twelfth lunar month after school let out for the holidays. As soon as he entered the house, he felt that something was different from usual. When he walked into the yard, he was still confused to see a bunch of sausages hanging on the porch and clothesline.

"Why did you buy so many sausages this year?" He asked casually as he entered the room and saw Jingyan petting the cat.

"It wasn't bought, it was made at home. It's almost Chinese New Year, and Zhang Xiaofen has been sending over a lot of meat. I was thinking that the temperature here isn't as low as in the Great Northern Wilderness, so the meat wouldn't keep well. If we just buy it now, the slaughterhouse probably won't have much left by the end of the year. Who doesn't eat meat a few times at this time of year?"

So I made some sausages with Sister Wang. Normally, the way we do it is to steam them first, then smoke them with fruitwood to give them a fruity aroma, so they can be sliced ​​and served cold. But we didn't have the resources, so we skipped the last few steps. We've stir-fried sausages before, and they're delicious!

"It's just that fatty meat is hard to buy, so I can only make it with two parts fat and eight parts lean. Actually, the best ratio is three parts fat and seven parts lean. Oh, what a pity." Jing Yan said with a sigh of disappointment, but her expression was very smug. She was just waiting to be praised.

He Zhijun didn't disappoint her either, giving her a thumbs up: "Jingyan is really amazing, but the spices in the sausage must be carefully selected, right? What, did Chef Lin give you this recipe too?"

Jing Yan paused for a moment, then nodded firmly: "Yes, but right now we don't have enough tools to do it in large quantities. We'll see if there's a market for it when we have enough meat in the future. We can't think about it, because it makes me feel like all that money is floating in front of me."

He Zhijun was amused by her and ruffled her hair, saying, "You're so cute."

Jing Yan lowered her head slightly, letting him rub her, a hint of guilt flashing in her eyes hidden behind her eyelashes: the recipe for this sausage was not given by Chef He, but was a recipe that her husband bought from someone else in the mid-to-late 1990s of her previous life for about two thousand yuan.

The couple started a small sausage factory, which was originally a profitable business. However, due to the inability to collect payments on time, their cash flow became insufficient, and the factory went bankrupt.

In those days, sausages were mostly delivered to government restaurants and guesthouses. Because the government was backing them, payments were usually settled quarterly, and it was rare to receive payment for delivery.

She remembers that the sausage factory had been closed for three years before most of the payments were finally collected, and some of the money had become bad debts. It was from that time that she developed a phobia of doing business with the government.

However, she would keep all of this to herself. She didn't ask for wealth and luxury in this life. She would be content to run a small shop steadily, never extend credit, and earn a little money. Besides, she had so many gold bars as her safety net, hehe.

He Zhijun returned, and for dinner, he had a dish of stir-fried green peppers and sausages. He ate with great satisfaction: "This is really delicious. Is it only okay to stir-fry it?"

Jingyan thought for a moment and said, "Why don't we make a few more dishes when Mom and Dad come over tomorrow? Let's try both steaming and stir-frying. If steaming is also delicious, we can make cold dishes."

Sister Wang nodded in agreement: "Shall we make egg dumplings tomorrow?"

Jingyan thought for a moment and said, "Sister Wang, you can make the egg dumplings tomorrow. Zhijun and I will be in charge of wrapping the dumplings. We have cabbage at home, so we can just make cabbage and pork dumplings. We can also make a few other dishes after that."

Sister Wang bought two big crucian carp today, and they're keeping them in a tank outside. She'll braise one tomorrow, on New Year's Eve, and the other on the first day of the Lunar New Year. How does that sound?

Grandma had no objection: "The dishes should mainly be what we like to eat. We don't need to follow the old rules. We've already broken the old and embraced innovation, so we don't need to be so particular. This year, let's combine northern and southern styles and make a unique fusion meal."