Speaking of the Kang bed, Xu Da and Wang Dayou have been doing it for half a month. After the first two families’ personal experience, the Kang was well received and set off a craze in the county.
Unfortunately, there are only two Pan Kang masters, and those who want Pan Kang have to queue up.
Some people saw business opportunities in it and wanted to imitate it. They did it decently, but they didn't know the essence. The customer's house was filled with cigarettes and he was almost beaten to death, so he had to give up temporarily.
But now the market is obviously in high demand, and there are only two Pan Kang chefs. The plates are so big that they can't finish them at all.
Coupled with the difficult life, people with scheming intentions may already be thinking of other solutions.
My father and mother left as soon as they said they would, leaving only the Xu Yue brother and sister in the family.
The three of them first consciously practiced their physical skills in the house, and when their bodies warmed up, they got busy.
The snow had stopped, but the cold wind was still blowing. Xu Dalang picked up the plastic broom in the corner of the yard and swept all the snow in the yard into a pile to prevent his sister from slipping when she walked around.
The snowflakes that fell in the middle of the night piled up into a small mound, just enough to make a snowman half a man tall.
"Sister!" Xu Dalang suddenly shouted.
Xu Yue, who was helping her sister add firewood in the kitchen, looked back and saw her brother standing in front of a small snowman half a man tall, pointing at the snowman and smiling at her.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the snowman was made in her likeness. There were small bulges on the left and right sides of the round head, just like the little wands on her head.
"It looks good!" Xu Dalang said proudly to her as if he was taking credit.
Xu Yue looked at the cute little snowman and couldn't help but burst into laughter. She gave her brother a thumbs up and said, "It looks good."
"Hey~" Xu Dalang felt embarrassed, turned around and picked up an ax to chop wood in the yard.
Xu Erniang, who had just started the small stove, turned around and saw the little snowman. She couldn't help but scratch the bun on Xu Yue's head in a funny way, which made Xu Yue glare at her. She didn't mind, but laughed.
"What's so funny?" Xu Yue glanced at her sister angrily.
Xu Erniang became even more happy when she saw her bulging face, which made Xu Yue inexplicably couldn't help but laugh too.
The two sisters were laughing and busy at the same time. The older one stood on the wooden pillar and cooked millet porridge on the stove, while the younger sister held a pan and fried pancakes on the small stove.
Smelling the aroma of oil coming from the pot, all Xu Yue could think about was the pork filling wrapped in the pancake.
However, the cakes in her pot were just pure wheat cakes, and the family had not eaten meat for several days.
Firstly, it was very cold and it was inconvenient to go out and walk around. Secondly, the butchers selling meat in the county charged a high price, only 50 yuan for a pound of pork.
Daqing's kilograms are also different from modern ones. One kilogram here is sixteen taels. Xu Yue tested it and found that one kilogram in Daqing is actually about 250 grams in modern times.
Calculating it this way, half a pound of pork costs fifty yuan, and I can’t bear to eat it every day.
Millet porridge with pancakes is a very good breakfast compared to before.
It's just that the flour here is ground really coarsely, usually only once, and more finely ground two or three times. Compared with modern fine flour, Xu Yue still feels that the taste is not good.
Xu Erniang and Xu Dalang have been talking about dumplings for a long time, but due to the roughness of the flour, Xu Yue has not been able to get good flour to meet the expectations of her brother and sister.
The three brothers and sisters were sitting on the kang in the main room, warming themselves by the fire and having breakfast. The kang was burning so brightly that they didn't even want to get off it.
Xu Yue was glad that her family had set up the fire pit early, otherwise this winter would have been very difficult.
It's just that there aren't many families with kangs in the city. Rich families can burn charcoal for warmth and have thick clothes. They should be able to survive the current severe cold.
But the neighbors on the left and right have neither a kang nor a charcoal fire, and their clothes are thin. I really don’t know how they can survive this winter.
After eating and drinking, I was confusedly thinking about all these things, when the cry of an old firewood seller came from the street outside my house.
Xu Erniang was studying her enchantment experiment, trying to get a magic robe, and reminded without raising her head:
"Aniang told me to buy firewood, you and Xu Dalang go ahead."
After saying that, she concentrated on studying her "magic robe".
Xu Yue nodded, took out a handful of money from the research room, put on her shoes and got off the kang, took a deep breath, prepared herself for the cold wind, and opened the courtyard door.
The old firewood seller, his back hunched, pulled a cart full of firewood and walked through the front street. As he walked, he shouted: "Firewood! Firewood!"
The heavy wheels made two deep ruts in the muddy and snowy streets.
It's a pity that the people in the slums are reluctant to buy firewood for two yuan a load, so the old man's business is not very good today.
"Old man!"
Xu Yue stood by the door and shouted. When the old man heard the sound, his eyes showed a bit of joy. He sped up and dragged a mountain of firewood to the front of the Xu family's house.
"How to sell these firewood?" Xu Yue asked.
The old man did not lie to her because of her young age. He said honestly: "It's snowing today. Can I give you an extra hard fee? Three dollars per load?"
Life is hard, and you have to be careful about every price increase, for fear that customers won't like it.
Xu Yue feels that this old man is too honest. If you increase the price so carefully, it would be strange if others don't lower your price.
She counted the money in her hand and found exactly twelve. She handed it over and said, "I want four loads."
The old man was stunned for a moment, then ecstatic. He hurriedly took the money, carefully put it away in his inner pocket, and carried the firewood into the yard.
Xu Yue and Xu Dalang hid in the courtyard and pointed to the small firewood shed next to the kitchen and asked the old man to put firewood in it.
The fire in the kitchen is still smoldering, and you can feel the slightest warmth when you get close to the kitchen. When the old man puts firewood on, he always pauses for a while by the stove.
He only wore a piece of patched clothing. The linen was rough and had large holes. Xu Yue saw that it was stuffed with dead leaves, hay and other items.
As for the old man's feet, which were inconvenient to move due to wooden clogs, he wore a pair of straw sandals. The snow was cold and slippery, and he had already turned purple from the cold.
Even though he really wanted to stay by the stove for a while to get warmer, but in order not to keep his employer waiting, he quickly finished moving the four loads of firewood.
There are two more loads on the cart, and Xu Yue doesn't mind buying them together, but her yard is small and she really can't put them down.
The old man put down the last load of firewood, nodded to the Xu Yue brothers and sisters, and was about to leave.
"Old man, please wait a moment." Xu Yue struggled for a while and finally stopped him.
The old man turned around in confusion, with a bit of uneasiness in his eyes, wondering if he didn't want so much firewood or thought it was expensive?
Xu Yue signaled him to wait, then ran into the house, filled a bamboo tube with scalding boiling water on the stove, plugged the lid, came to the courtyard, and handed the bamboo tube to the old man.
"What is this?" The old man was a little puzzled, but as soon as he touched the warmth coming from the bamboo tube, he understood, and for a moment he was a little at a loss.
