60s: I have a store

Chapter 42 Fried chestnuts

Zhou Yimin made several suggestions, such as making the windows bigger, as insufficient light would be bad for the children's eyesight. Of course, bigger windows would mean cold weather, so he would think of other solutions later.

The teaching facilities such as blackboards and desks should also be better.

In addition, he found that there was no toilet and suggested building one. At least the children would not run to the wild to relieve themselves after class, which would be so ugly!

Just talk to the old branch secretary about these.

The school is useful to all the villagers. Who doesn't have a few children? Even if there are none now, there will be none in the future.
Therefore, the whole village should participate in these matters and contribute their best.

Zhou Yimin didn't stay long and went back home.

Soon after I got home, spring came. My hair was smooth as if it had been licked by a dog, no longer a mess, and I wore clothes with few patches, with a smug smile on my face.

You can tell there's good news at first glance.

"Are you married?" Zhou Yimin asked him.

Zhou Dachun said with a silly smile: "Not yet, I am planning to get married, so I came to borrow Uncle Sixteen's bicycle, is that ok?"

He had already brought food to Xiaofang's home and obtained her consent. So, both parties got letters of introduction in their respective villages and then went to get the marriage certificate.

Zhou Dachun remembered that his Sixteenth Uncle had a bicycle. If he rode it to pick up the bride, it would be an honorable thing for both Xiaofang's family and his own family.

"When?" Zhou Yimin asked him.

"afternoon!"

Wow! So fast?
In this era, marriage is very straightforward. If they like each other, they can get the marriage certificate on the same day. It is different from later generations, where some women still ask to date for a few years and just drag their feet on getting married.

"There, push it!" Zhou Yimin pointed.

"Thank you, Uncle Sixteen. I'll bring you some wedding candy when I get back." Zhou Dachun said excitedly.

Zhou Yimin smiled and said it didn’t matter whether there was sugar or not. He didn’t like sugar, but he wasn’t short of it either.

"Wait!" he suddenly shouted.
Zhou Yimin returned to the house and quickly took out two new towels and handed them to Zhou Dachun: "Since you call me Sixteenth Uncle, consider this as a wedding gift for you!"

When Dachun saw it, he was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He was just in need of a new towel!
In the countryside, getting married with a pair of new towels, an enamel washbasin, and a thermos is considered quite prestigious.

Unlike in the city, where people value the "three big things", i.e. sewing machines, watches and bicycles, rural people cannot afford any one of them, let alone buy them all.

His father had already bought the enamel wash basin, kettle and wedding candy for him at the supply and marketing cooperative. But towels were out of stock, so there was nothing he could do!
Now, the pair of towels from Uncle Sixteen was a timely help, completing the “three major items” for him in the countryside.

Plus, there are bicycles to pick up people, which is really glorious.

"Thank you, Uncle Sixteen. Come to my house with my great uncle later for a couple of drinks."

Although times were difficult, they still decided to set up two tables and invite the old party secretary and other respected elders in the village to have a couple of drinks.

Zhou Yimin nodded: "Okay, I'll go later. By the way, take this."

He took out a new pack of Daqianmen cigarettes and asked this guy to save face when he went to pick up the bride.

Dachun was moved and took out money from his pocket.

Zhou Yimin's face darkened: "Don't force me to scold you today."

Zhou Dachun smiled awkwardly, put it away and went to push his bicycle.

Soon, Zhou Yimin found something wrong. Why didn't the guy ride the bike? He pushed the bike the whole time.

Zhou Zhiming, who was building the house, laughed and said, "He can't ride a bicycle at all. He will probably come back pushing the bride later."

Zhou Yimin: "..."

Tsk twice.

It was not Zhou Dachun's fault. Before, Zhoujiazhuang did not even have a bicycle. Who could ride one? It was normal that he could not ride one. He could barely control the tricycle before. Zhou Yimin returned to the house and saw the three brothers and sisters of Laifu watching over Qianqian who ate and slept. He felt relieved and decided to reward them with something delicious.

Suddenly I thought of the 20 kilograms of chestnuts still in the kitchen.

Sugar-roasted chestnuts? I want to eat them too.

So Zhou Yimin brought the 20 kilograms of chestnuts, poured them into the bucket, and began to wash the chestnuts.

Lai Fu and his two siblings, who were originally watching over Qian Qian while she was sleeping, came over.

"Brother, what are you doing?"

Zhou Yimin smiled and said, "To make something delicious, go wash the sand. Wash the coarse sand on top like you wash rice. Do you understand?"

There is still a lot of sand left from the bean sprouts two days ago! It just so happens that the slightly coarser sand was left, and the fine sand was used for bean sprouts.

"Okay!" Lai Fu didn't ask any further questions.

Although he was very confused as to why sand was needed to make delicious food, he just did what his elder brother said.

"Brother, I'll help too." Lai Cai rushed forward, fearing that he would get less credit.

Zhou Yimin said to him: "You don't need to, just go and light the fire later."

He was really worried that he would get his snot in there and add some fuel, so Zhou Yimin quickly "transferred his position" and asked him to light the fire later, so it didn't matter.

"Brother, brother! What about me?" Lai Fang raised his hand anxiously.

"Go and see your sister sleeping. Don't let mosquitoes bite her. Got it?"

"Okay!" Lai Fang immediately returned to Qianqian's sleeping place, and like a scout, paid attention to all the flies and mosquitoes around.

Wash the chestnuts, drain the water, and Zhou Yimin uses a knife to make a "cross" on each chestnut. This step is very important, and the chestnut meat must be cut.

After he finished this work, Lai Fu also washed the coarse sand twice and dried the water.

"Okay, come and make the fire." Zhou Yimin commanded.

As soon as he received the order, he rushed to the kitchen. Cooking is a compulsory course for almost every rural child, and he was even more skilled in starting a fire than Zhou Yimin.

Zhou Yimin poured coarse sand into the pot and began to stir-fry, then poured in the syrup.

I bought the syrup from the store in my mind because I was too lazy to make it myself. Anyway, there were only kids like Lai Fu at home, so I didn't need to explain anything to them, as long as it wasn't "made" in front of them.

The syrup first serves to lubricate the sand and secondly to heat the sand.

After adding the syrup evenly and making the sand shiny, Zhou Yimin began to add the chestnuts and then stir-fry.

"Don't use too big a fire." He said as he followed.

He came and pulled out a piece of firewood from the stove.

When the chestnuts turned completely yellow, Zhou Yimin added syrup again. At this point, the smell of sugar and chestnuts could already be smelled, and Lai Fu and Lai Cai kept sniffing.

Laifang, who was watching over her younger sister, also looked towards the kitchen frequently. If her elder brother had not told her to watch over her younger sister, she would have already run to the kitchen.

The fragrance even wafted out of the house and spread around.

"Yimin, are these roasted chestnuts? Oh my god! They smell so good."

Adults like Zhou Zhiming who were working could hardly bear it, not to mention the children who smelled the scent and came in groups to try it out.

At this time, my grandparents also came back from outside. When they smelled the aroma, they knew it was fried chestnuts.

Ever since their grandson came back, there seems to be no shortage of delicious food at home.

(End of this chapter)