Rebirth 80: Start by earning money to build a brick house

Zhang Ziming spent more than 20 yuan on wine, meat, vegetables, and cigarettes, which made his second uncle feel both distressed and greedy.

What makes me feel bad is that with the hard-earned money, why did I buy so much meat?

These days, in rural areas, you can buy a pound and a half of meat during the Chinese New Year, but you wouldn't even think about it at ordinary times.

Unless there is a wedding or wedding, you can't eat meat.

As for fish, you can sometimes catch a few fish from the river, but in rural areas where there is a shortage of oil and salt, most of them are boiled in salt water. Looking at it now in 2020, it feels fresh and delicious, but in the 80s, this The cooking method really doesn’t taste good in your mouth.

In addition to feeling distressed, I also feel greedy. What I am craving for is so much meat, fish, eggs, and vegetables. Even during the Chinese New Year, it is not so rich.

In the whole village, not even the brigade secretary's house had ever eaten like this.

What the second uncle was thinking at this time was that if he was allowed to eat this pile of good things, he would definitely be reluctant to eat it.

You must marinate the meat and store it. When you are really hungry, cut off a small piece. You can eat it for a long time just like this.

Or boil it into oil, and when cooking, use a small spoon to scrape out a little bit, so that you can always smell the aroma of the meat.

Zhang Ziming also bought 2 boxes of cigarettes, 2 bottles of Fangzi Laobaigan and 5 pounds of loose wine.

It’s not that I’m reluctant to buy them, it’s just that cigarettes and alcohol are too difficult to buy.

I didn’t have a ticket, so I finally got these 2 boxes of cigarettes and 7 kilograms of wine after searching outside the supply and marketing cooperative for a while.

It's like this these days. Some things are hard to buy even if you have money. There is really a shortage of raw materials and production can't keep up.

Smoking is okay, as smokers in rural areas only smoke pipes.

It is estimated that not many people smoked these two packs of cigarettes. The most likely thing was that they would be taken away by Zhang Zhonghe, the brigade secretary.

Zhang Zhonghe is Zhang Ziming's uncle, who has not been out of the fifth server, so when Zhang Ziming went to Zhang Zhonghe to open a letter of introduction, it went so smoothly.

In fact, these two packs of cigarettes were given to Zhang Zhonghe. As the brigade secretary, Zhang Zhonghe sometimes went to meetings in the commune or other brigade.

If he had a pack of cigarettes on him, that would be a step up, enough for him to feel proud for a while.

As for wine, it is even more scarce. It is good to have enough food these days. Who is willing to use grain to make wine.

Only in years with a good harvest will grain be saved to make some wine, and most of it is roasted sweet potatoes. As for the wine made from sorghum, wheat and corn, it can make people greedy to death.

2 bottles of Fangzi Laobaigan, Zhang Ziming wanted to keep them for himself, they would be useful in a few days;

As for the 5 kilograms of loose wine, I will get rid of it at noon today.

Zhang Ziming saw Zhang Zhongyi's distressed and greedy expression, and explained to his second uncle that he wanted to have a good meal at noon today.

It has been more than ten days since I was reborn, and I finally have the opportunity to take my family to a delicious meal.

It's a pity that his younger brother Zhang Ziyue lives in school and can't come back. He can only wait for his younger brother to go home on Saturday and then make up for his younger brother alone.

On the way back, Zhang Ziming was also planning how to arrange:

"Second uncle, when you go back, please call me Uncle Zhonghe. He is the secretary of the brigade. We will use him often in the future. He must be the chief seat."

Zhang Zhongyi, who was sitting behind the bicycle, quickly agreed. Zhang Zhonghe was both the brigade secretary and the family member, so he should be invited to such an important banquet.

Zhang Ziming thought for a while and said:

"Second uncle, ask auntie and Ziliang to come over at noon, and they can all come over for lunch."

Zhang Zhongyi thought to himself, it is really not in vain that I love you, my nephew.

What Zhang Zhongyi thought at first was that he could just have a meal for lunch, and there was really no need to bring his wife and children with him.

However, since Zi Ming has spoken, he should just go along with it.

Zhang Zhongyi has a son and a daughter. His daughter Zhang Zihui just entered high school this year and cannot come back from living in school.

His son Zhang Ziliang is the same age as Zhang Ziming's biological sister Zhang Ziyao, and they are both in grade 3.

After returning home, Zhang Ziming started planning. After all, he was planning to cook three tables of dishes.

Fortunately, there were a few aunts to help clean up, so the preparations were very quick.

We also killed three wild rabbits captured from Dajiang and Xiaojiang last time, one for each table.

Of course, this dish was made by Zhang Ziming. He bought pepper, chili pepper, MSG and other condiments from the supply and marketing cooperative. Without these things, the dish would have no flavor at all.

Zhang Ziming was reborn from later generations, so naturally he didn't care about some old customs in the countryside.

For example, "father and son don't sit at the same table, uncles and nephews don't drink together," etc., but everyone still sat down in order according to seniority.

The first table, also called the chief, is occupied by Zhang Ziming’s father’s generation, but Zhang Ziming also sat at this table. After all, today is mainly to celebrate Zhang Ziming, so Zhang Ziming sat at the bottom of this table;

At the second table, Zhang Ziming invited Zhang Xiaoyong and other friends and cousins ​​of similar age.

Zhang Ziming also invited Zhang Yeping, but he didn't come, probably out of embarrassment.

After all, there were some bad rumors about Zhang Ziming some time ago; and he also lost the bet.

But I don’t care about this bet, and whether or not I win, I have to let this guy Zhang Yeping come over and help build the house;

The third table was filled with women and children, including my aunt, aunt and a few children from the same village. They helped with the work for a while at noon, so it was only right to stay and eat something delicious.

Besides, Zhang Ziming doesn't care about the custom of women not coming to the table, just stay at the table alone.

At the beginning of the banquet, as usual, the brigade secretary Zhang Zhonghe made a few remarks.

In the village, Zhang Zhonghe would usually be present no matter what the official business was, no one would care about this unwritten rule.

Zhang Zhonghe is obviously different today. Why?

First of all, today’s banquet is neither a wedding banquet nor a white wedding.

In the 80s, it went beyond the scope of hosting banquets in rural areas.

Secondly, as Zhang Zhonghe's uncle, Zhang Ziming received royalties, which also brought glory to Zhang Zhonghe's face.

From now on, whether Zhang Zhonghe goes to the commune or to other brigades, there will be a lot of talk, although it has nothing to do with him directly.

After all, Zhang Zhonghe is still the brigade secretary, and his opening speech was all official:

"Today is a big event for our Bottle Village brigade. Even in our commune, it is a rare happy event. Maybe the commune secretary will give us a commendation..."

Zhang Zhonghe was still talking at length. I wonder if Zhang Ziming's pack of cigarettes played a role in making Zhang Zhonghe's speech a little wandering.

Those two packs of cigarettes were a "good harvest" for 2 cents a pack. These days, you can buy a pack of cigarettes for 7 or 8 cents, and more people smoke out of pockets.

So 2 cents worth of cigarettes is still a thing, and of course this "Harvest" cigarette is also a thing. It was rated as a national high-quality product twice in 1979 and 1983.

Of course, the most important thing is that they are still hard to buy. Things like "Hard Gate", "Red Tin Bao" and "Da Qian Men" are hard to find in the commune down here.

As for "Chinese" cigarettes, there is no need to think about it.

The "Qingzhou" cigarettes known as "Little China" seem to have been released a few years later.

Zhang Zhonghe was still spitting out foam and stars, as if he had earned the money himself.

But the children gathered around the table were so greedy that they drooled at the meat on the table.

Finally, Zhang Zhonghe finished speaking, but there was no applause as he expected.

Instead, there are the sounds of chopsticks clashing with dishes, the sound of drinking wine, and the sound of a mouth full of oil.