The Siheyuan of the Young Educated Youth

Qi Feifei saw the captain off, put the letter in his pocket, and went into the house.

Liu Yumei asked curiously, "What does the captain want to see you about?"

Qi Feifei took a letter and shook it, "Please deliver the message for me."

Liu Yumei, "Who is it?"

Qi Feifei, "It should be from Baisha."

Qi Feifei went into the inner room.

Open the letter.

Baisha asked about the lives of the collective households, and then said that no matter what kind of nuts or dried mushrooms they were, she would take as many as she could and asked them to send them to her mother, leaving her address.

After reading it, Qi Feifei opened another letter.

It belongs to Huo Sheng.

Hello Qi Feifei:

I'm very sorry that the leather I gave you before I left was accidentally brought to the capital.

It just so happens that my current neighbor, an old lady, used to be a tailor with very good skills.

I asked her to buy some cloth and make a big fur coat.

The style is the double-breasted style that is quite popular here now, with a pointed flat collar and slanted pockets.

I don’t know if you like it or not.

The labor and fabric cost about $25.

If you are satisfied with the style and workmanship, keep it.

You can send money or dried mushrooms or nuts.

If you have any questions in the future, you can send letters to this address: No. 21 Dongxibei Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing

I forgot to mention last time that there is a Master Zhang in the county food factory. He is the pastry chef of the food factory and lives behind the food factory.

He is in his forties, has a wife in her twenties, and has two children.

You can find it by asking there.

He still owes me eight dollars for snacks. You can ask him to give it back.

If you need to buy some snacks, you can go find him.

Sincerely,

Huo Sheng

November 1970, 9

He didn't say a word about his own situation, nor did he ask about his well-being or say a single polite word.

It seems to be just business as usual.

Qi Feifei hopes that the relationship between the two people is fair and impartial, and mutually beneficial.

No one should owe anyone anything, and no one should be emotionally involved.

This way we can have long-term cooperation, which is great.

Keep the letter.

She started to rub the corn. She had to work hard and wanted to go to the county town.

The corn on the kang had been dried up. If you rubbed it gently, it would fall off.

Lin Ge heard the sound of corn rubbing in the inner room and came in to help.

Qi Feifei helped a lot with the division of the family business and also helped her get her money back. She was grateful to him and would be the first to help with any work he had to do.

When Zhu Li and Liu Yumei heard this, they put down their work and helped Qi Feifei rub the corn.

Hold the corn cob in one hand and the corn pulp in the other hand, and twist the two hands together. Half an ear of corn can be rubbed off. A whole ear of corn can be rubbed off in two pieces.

Liu Yumei, "Your method is great. It's so easy to rub. If I had known earlier, we would have slept on the kang too."

Lin Ge, "It's true. Our hands have been rubbed raw these past two days. Let's go to bed later."

Qi Feifei, "I'm afraid you can't use this method.

My kang is hot, but you can't have it too hot when you sleep on the same kang at night, and there's no place to put the corn cobs."

Several people were discouraged after hearing this. It really wasn't going to work.

Zhu Li, "We can get up early tomorrow morning and go to bed, and put it away in the evening. It will be better than now."

Liu Yumei, "We have those two on the kang, it's hard to say whether we can let you sleep on it or not."

Julie: “Yeah!”

Qi Feifei, "It's okay, my kang is finished, you guys can sleep on my kang."

When several people heard this, they were very happy.

In less than an hour, the corn on the kang was rubbed and filled with corn kernels in two sacks.

Then they slept on the kang again.

When the male educated youth heard this, they all squeezed into one kang and used the other kang to heat corn.

The speed of rubbing corn was increased by more than twice.

Dried corn is also convenient for grinding corn grits.

In the evening, Wang Bin and others carried two bags of corn kernels to grind corn grits.

The rice mill in the production team was also very busy. There was only a short period of electricity in a day, so not much rice could be milled in a day.

Everyone needs to queue up.

When Wang Bin and his friends arrived, there were three more waiting in front of them.

The rice mill master was so angry that he kept throwing things.

It turned out that the corn was too wet and kept tripping.

Master Liu, "Take it back and dry it in the sun first. It really can't be sharpened. If the machine breaks down, no one will be able to sharpen it."

Pan Xiaowen went over and grabbed a handful of corn kernels.

"It's really wet. Go back and lie down on the kang. It will be dry tomorrow.

We just use the kang, and in this weather, it will take a long time to wait for the sun to dry it.

Don't you believe me? "

As he said this, he threw the wet corn kernels back and opened his corn bag.

The corn rustled. I grabbed a few kernels and handed them to the people who gathered around.

"Bite it and see if it's hard."

A few people tried it and it was true.

Master Liu opened the bags of each household and checked.

"Okay, all of you go back to your kangs and come back later. It's fine to dry or grind rice. There's no need to worry for a day."

As he said this, he asked the family who were grinding the corn to collect it.

Pan Xiaowen and several others helped enthusiastically. Not only did they help with the collection, but Wang Bin and Xu Zhiqiang also helped carry the goods home.

Pan Xiaowen stayed to grind it for the first time.

This time is coarse grinding, which means peeling.

Wang Bin, when Xu Zhiqiang came back, they had already started grinding for the second time.

Master Liu worked with Pan Xiaowen, and both of them were sweating.

The second, third, fourth, and fifth times you have to grind and sift at the same time, which is very hard work.

Wang Bin and Xu Zhiqiang quickly joined in. Master Liu just looked at the machine and took a break as he was too tired.

The machine kept running and the three people were very busy.

After screening for a long time, my arms hurt.

In the end, half of the corn stubble was left and the other half was ground into cornmeal.

After finishing everything, the three of them were sweating all over.

Wang Bin carried cornmeal, Xu Zhiqiang baked corn bran, and Pan Xiaowen carried bran.

As soon as we entered the door, they looked like three old men with white beards.

The women at home couldn't help laughing when they saw it.

Qi Feifei quickly asked them to put their things down.

"Come on out, I'll clean up for you."

He stood in the yard with a broom, sweeping everyone from head to toe.

Pan Xiaowen also said, "This person has at least two taels of bran on him, it's all in vain!"

Qi Feifei slapped him hard twice, "You must have three taels of gold on you."

Pan Xiaowen, "Sister, Wang Bin and the others are taller than me, and they are only 320cm tall. Hit them a few more times."

Several people were laughing.

Qi Feifei, "Okay, warm up the water in the pot and wash them all."

Qi Feifei went back to the house, opened the pot, and used a ladle to scoop a basin of water for each of the three people.

"Wash yourself, take a break, and eat."

Some of them were wondering, after scooping out the water from the pot, it was empty, what to eat?

Pan Xiaowen asked without hesitation.

As soon as Qi Feifei lifted the lid on the stove, a fragrant aroma wafted out.

It turned out that she had mixed a pot of sauerkraut vermicelli stuffing, added a lot of lard, green onions, and sesame oil.

"Go wash up quickly. I'll make you some steamed sauerkraut dumplings later."

Pan Xiaowen, "Sister, it smells so good! My mouth is watering."

Several people came into the house to wash their hair.

Qi Feifei poured the new cornmeal into a basin, Lin Ge and Liu Yumei each lit a stove, and Zhu Li and Qi Feifei each made vegetable dumplings in a pot.

After more than twenty minutes, the whole house was filled with fragrance.

I've already had dinner, so this is a snack.

Qi Feifei left one vegetable dumpling for each of Zhu Li, Liu Yumei, Lin Ge and herself.

The vegetable dumplings are very big, and each one takes up a small bowl.

One is enough for each woman.

The rest were taken to the male educated youth’s house.

According to the character of the people in Northeast China, if they make something rare, they will give it to any neighbor who comes to have a taste, or even let them eat it at the table.

But Li Danni and Su Fangting don't have a good relationship with her. Although they don't have a deep hatred, she won't take the initiative unless others show goodwill first.

As for the male educated youth, she would not give them to them on her own initiative, and she would not stop Wang Bin and others from giving them to her.

After dinner, she went back to her room to rest.

As for the male educated youth, they all worked together these days, and Wang Bin and his friends were not stingy either.

Li Bing and Ji Hongbing also ate one each. Although it was delicious, they didn't eat any more because they felt embarrassed to eat more.

Wang Zhongping ate two without hesitation and admired Qi Feifei even more.

"Qi Feifei, your cooking skills are really amazing. They taste better than any other restaurant in town."

Pan Xiaowen said bluntly, "Who is my sister? That's right, the restaurants in the city are not good, let alone in the town."

A few people ate while boasting, and finished all two pots of sauerkraut stuffed dumplings!

Wang Bin and his two friends were hungry after working, and they had no worries about eating, so they ate to their heart's content.

The result was that I was walking around and rubbing my stomach. I was so full!