Siheyuan: Bringing Warehouses to 1959

Nowadays, people in cities are reluctant to add seasonings when cooking, let alone people in rural areas. The only thing they can add is salt, because if they add too much salt... they will tend to drink more water, and drinking more water will make them less hungry.

The saying that too much salt goes well with rice is no longer true. How can there be any rice to eat? There is no need to add salt to white rice. I can eat several bowls of it.

So now the cooking methods are basically boiling and steaming. Steaming is rarely used because it wastes firewood. Zeng Wangcai is not sure about other places, but at least it is like this near Zengzhuang.

If you are a little more extravagant, you can add more oil. If you are even more extravagant, you can add soy sauce. Rice mixed with lard can make it delicious, let alone braised food with who knows how many condiments.

Zeng Wangcai once heard that in the 1980s and 1990s, many elderly people still kept the habit of boiling and salting the food, and were reluctant to add any seasoning.

"Come on, come on, everyone try the little sparrows made by our Xiuzhi. Not much, just one for each of you to taste." Zeng Wangcai passed them around while holding a colander.

Fortunately, everyone had some dignity, so even those who usually liked to get something for nothing did not take more.

Each villager took a sparrow, but they were reluctant to eat it and just smelled its fragrance.

"Wangcai, you are so lucky to have such a capable wife. The dishes she cooked are just like this, right?"

"That's so unfashionable, that's called imperial cooking!"

"Hehe, I won't eat it. I'll leave it for the baby. Sparrows are common, but this method is not common."

"I won't eat it either. I'll take it back and show it to my wife. She'll be so disgusted by how other people's wives cook it..."

Zeng Wangcai was filled with emotion and suddenly remembered an old-fashioned joke. It said that a peasant couple was discussing how the emperor and the queen lived their daily lives. The woman said that the queen probably only ate pancakes every day, and the man said that the emperor used a golden hoe to work in the fields every day.

Is it funny?

Zeng Wangcai didn't think so. Instead, he found it ironic. The farmers' imagination could only go so far. Wasn't that ironic enough?

But it was such a person who supported such a big country. He thought about the price of food in the future, and the treatment of farmers when they were old, and then looked at the people in front of him who were satisfied with a brine sparrow...

Unbalanced!

Zhang Xiuzhi walked out of the kitchen silently, holding another colander in her hand, which was filled with melon seeds that Zeng Wangcai brought back.

"Eat them all. There will be more later. Just take one back with each of you. It's really amazing that you can't bear to eat a single sparrow..." Zhang Xiuzhi said as she put down the basket.

To her, a sparrow is nothing. Even if you can sell it for money, it doesn’t matter. Now the family obviously needs these people to help. If you are reluctant to give up the sparrow, how can they help you?

Even if Zhang Xiuzhi didn't catch them seriously, she could still harvest at least a hundred sparrows a day. She just wasn't happy about it because they were not easy to sell.

The villagers then began to eat the sparrows one by one, praising Zhang Xiuzhi's cooking skills as they ate.

Zeng Laosan left quickly and came back quickly, in just over an hour. When he got off his bike, he was already sweating profusely.

After gulping down a gourd of mountain spring water, Zeng Lao San was about to tell the result when he suddenly saw the villagers eating melon seeds. He said in great sorrow, "Are you crazy? It's not New Year or any other festival, why are you eating melon seeds? Aren't you ashamed? You didn't help at all, but you're still eating cigarettes and melon seeds. Do you want me to treat you to another feast?"

The villagers lowered their heads one by one and stopped spitting out the melon seed shells in their mouths.

After teaching the villagers a lesson, Zeng Lao San turned around and said, "Huowazi, you have to take care of your family's Wangcai. You can't be such a spendthrift."

"Village head, it's okay!" Zeng Wangcai rushed to say in front of his second uncle, "It's normal to let everyone eat and drink before a fight. You can't fight on an empty stomach, right? What does the commune say?"

Zeng Laosan didn't mention anything else. He ran to collect the melon seeds in the basket, grabbed a handful, cracked a seed and said proudly, "Is there anything I can't accomplish? Secretary Wang said that if Zhujia Village dares to disrupt our village's pheasant hunting, he will come forward to deal with Zhu Laojiu."

That’s good. With official support, we can be sure that we are heading in the right direction.

Then they discussed tomorrow's countermeasures. Zeng Youhuo said, "I have set a lot of traps on Niu Dung Mountain. Zhu Damao and the others in the area know about it. I will set more traps tonight. When we go to collect the traps tomorrow, we will definitely run into people from Zhujia Village. They dare not come to the village, but they will definitely block Niu Dung Mountain."

"Then let's do this. All the young men in the militia company, except those on duty, will go up the mountain with Wangcai and the others tomorrow." Zeng Laosan made a prompt decision. "The others will go to work as usual, but be prepared to deal with fights and guard against Zhu Laojiu's expansion. Goudan, you will go tomorrow and be responsible for delivering the message. Come back immediately if you find that the other side has a lot of people.

"Zhu Laojiu is not that brave. He will send out at most 30 people tomorrow. He won't dare to send more than that."

The militiamen in Zengzhuang are almost the strongest in the entire village, with a number of about thirty. With the addition of Zeng Wangcai and a few others, the two sides are equally strong and neither will suffer a loss in a fight.

Zeng Laosan's arrangement is quite interesting. It seems that he is the village chief for a reason and he is very skilled in dealing with such matters.

The strategy is so simple and crude, and the main point is to deal with the enemy with troops and to block the water with earth.

However, Zeng Wangcai still had another idea. It would not be enough to simply kick Zhu Damao and Zhu Ermao in the balls. This would not scare them. They must be given a taste of their own medicine to scare the monkeys and make the people of Zhujia Village afraid and obedient. In this way, with the help of the commune, it would basically be possible to avoid future troubles.

As for how to teach him a lesson, Zeng Wangcai had an idea in mind. First of all, the electric baton must be used.

The plan was ready, and there was nothing to worry about for Zeng Laosan. He appointed a platoon leader from the village militia company to lead the team, and the others prepared to disband.

At this time, Zeng Wangcai came out to persuade them to stay, and said, "Dear brothers, dear old and young gentlemen, first of all, Wangcai would like to thank you all here. After all, my family is also a member of the village. My grandmother and my second uncle are also here, and this matter is more or less caused by my family. I can't let everyone's efforts be in vain..."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Zeng Lao San was unhappy. "We are all from the same village. It is only natural for us to help each other. This is not a waste of effort. At most, you can ask your second uncle to hand in more pheasants or something to the brigade in the future."

This is a normal village chief. He would seek rewards in return, especially in this era.

Zeng Wangcai said, "Village chief, that's a later story. Anyway, tomorrow we will provide meat and fish for the feast. All those who come to help can have a share and take some home after the feast."

Are you really going to have a feast?

Zeng Laosan was shocked. There were no landlords these days. Who could afford to host a banquet?

The total amount of people who helped out was over 30, at least for four tables, and they also took some home. How much did that cost?

"Good boy, really good boy!" One of the oldest people in the village, an old man in his late seventies, stood up tremblingly and pulled Zeng Lao San and said, "Laosan, count me in if there's a fight tomorrow. I want to have a share..."

"Come on, Uncle Qi, if you really go, it won't be Wangcai's family hosting the banquet, it will be your family hosting the banquet, and the whole village will attend the banquet." Zeng Lao San rolled his eyes.

What nonsense are you doing? Don’t you even look at yourself? You’re shaking when you pee, and you’re still fighting. You’re almost giving yourself away.

Zeng Laosan looked at the other old guys who were ready to make a move with worry. He was anxious, really anxious, because he knew how tempting it was to have a banquet these days.

He turned around to look at Zeng Wangcai and found that Zeng Wangcai was smiling cunningly. Damn it, this guy did it on purpose. He put me on the spot. He knew that his family couldn't host a banquet, so he used this trick. Now whoever I don't let go will be offended.

Damn it, what should I do? If the whole village is having a banquet, how can I afford it?

Zeng Laosan guessed correctly, Zeng Wangcai did it on purpose.

At the pre-war mobilization meeting, it is a problem whether you let someone eat and who not to eat. That will offend people, and I am not afraid of that, but what about my second uncle's family?

The best way is for the whole village to eat, so that everyone will be enthusiastic and have enough energy to go out and fight.

Then the question is, how to eat it?

The answer is simple!

Zeng Wangcai said, "Village head, how about... we go to the production team canteen. They cook there every day anyway. I still say that my family produces meat and fish. I will set traps to hunt wild boars at night, and go fishing tomorrow after collecting the traps."

Even if we have to mobilize, we cannot be the scapegoat. This will easily lead to a situation where people are indebted to their superiors for the food they receive. We should still provide a certain amount of supplies, and the rest should be borne by the production team. The production team has to provide food every day anyway, so the worst that can happen is that we can be a little extravagant and use two or three days' worth of food for one meal.

Zeng Laosan quickly calculated the account in his mind, and then begged Zeng Wangcai to give the production team more if the harvest was good, to settle the accounts.

Zeng Wangcai thought about Zeng Laosan’s mistress and thought, forget it, the more the better. If this matter gets out of hand, the commune will have to step in, and Zeng Laosan will have to give benefits then.

After getting Zeng Wangcai's promise, Zeng Lao San waved his hand and said, "I agree. We'll have a feast tomorrow. You bastards, if anyone gets scared after this fight, don't embarrass me by going to the brigade canteen. Go home and suck your wife's milk..."

boom!

In less than half an hour, the whole Zengzhuang went crazy. Those who were going to perform tomorrow came to bed early. Those who had wives did not exert themselves on their wives' bellies, saving their strength.

Damn it, you bastards from Zhujia Village, just wait and see.

To have a feast (tribe)!