Zhou Wenzhong took out a cigarette and lit it, watching Zhang Xiufang's performance.
After 10 minutes, it was announced that the show was over, and everyone returned to their consoles with some lack of interest. Some of them, from the bottom of their hearts, really didn’t know what it meant: speculation is a crime!
Zhou Wenzhong walked to his workstation and watched Ma Erbao busy at work. Ma Erbao was a little abnormal today. He didn't say a word from beginning to end, and his face was a little ugly.
"What's wrong with you? You look a little sad. What's upsetting you? Tell me to make my brother happy."
Ma Erbao did not answer the question, and replied with an expression uglier than crying: "Brother Zhong, there is something, I don't know how to tell you."
"Speak! Speak boldly! Don't add fuel to the fire."
"Eh."
Ma Erbao put the elm bark in his hand on the ground.
"Yesterday you said you wanted to join the religion. I went to the mosque early in the morning. The imam said it was difficult for you to handle. In previous years, he would have been welcome. You also understand the situation now. No one has enough to eat, so...
…
The imam said a way. Someone is getting married on the 26th, but has not found a cook. If you can help solve this problem, the imam will agree to your joining the religion. After all, everyone understands that if you join the religion,
The extra monthly subsidy is quite a lot.”
After hearing this, Zhou Wenzhong thought for a while and replied: "How many tables are there for wedding guests?"
“Table 8!”
"Now in this year of great disaster, can we still have 8 tables of guests? Why? Don't you plan to go through with it?"
"That thing was put together by more than 20 relatives. The marriage has been decided a long time ago, and a banquet must be held. The host family wants to face it!"
"Okay, okay, tell the imam that I will be there on time and let them prepare everything. How about the price?"
"Brother Zhong, you're not lying to me! You have to understand that if you don't do well, it doesn't matter if you ruin something. The most important thing is that it delays the real thing. That day was the day when most of the relatives of both men and women came.
If you mess up, you will have to be... I won't say any nasty words, you can guess the consequences, so you can think about it carefully!"
"Don't think about it, just tell me how much a table will cost?"
"For 1 yuan, you can get a meal!"
"Why don't you entertain guests at home?"
"The place at home is small, and if all the neighbors come over, do you want to invite them? There are also people who come from their hometowns. It is more convenient to go to the temple to entertain guests, and they also have a place to live. Finally, there are some big tables in the temple
And the stove eye is very convenient to use.”
"Just tell me I'll take this job."
Ma Erbao showed an excited expression and laughed so hard that his throat was exposed.
"That's good! Brother Zhong, I'm your guarantor. Don't leave me on the wrong path at the critical moment."
"Don't worry, there are still a few days to prepare. There is enough time. How many dishes are there?"
"Four colds, four hots, and two soups."
"Good boy! The requirements are quite high. This counts as 10 dishes! How awesome!"
"Haha~ As I said before, the host wants to save face! And they don't require that the hot dishes be meat dishes!"
"Okay, okay, there's no shortage of materials, right?"
"Well...actually, there are no ingredients at all! Not even vegetable oil. As we all know, this year is a famine year, and there is nothing to eat, so they can't get good ingredients at all, otherwise they wouldn't offer such a sky-high price
Yes, they give you 1 yuan per table! Do you think this is true? I even suspect that because there is no material, no chef dares to take this job."
Zhou Wenzhong thought in his mind that if the ingredients were not good, he would have to use aniseed ingredients. Anyway, these people had never eaten anything good. Regardless of the technology of later generations, he still had a hard job. He could earn this money by himself, so look for Silly Zhu.
Come and do it? Are you kidding me? You have to go up on your own! At worst, let them beat them up to vent their anger.
"You go back and tell the imam, since you asked me to cook it, you have to follow my rules. If it doesn't taste good, slap me with a big mouth! But! I have to change my style and not make the banquet noodles in our capital.
If the imam agrees, we can discuss everything, and I can assure you that the food is absolutely halal."
"Hey! No need to ask, I can promise you now for him."
"That's good. Let's just say it."
"become!"
The two stopped chatting and started working today. This lasted for 5 hours. During this period, Zhang Xiufang didn't come to trouble her. I wonder what she was busy with. It was quite annoying to her at first, but it was quite cool that she was not wandering around in front of her.
miss her.
"I'm so mean."
At 12 o'clock at noon, everyone started to eat. Zhou Wenzhong threw the white porcelain bowl to Ma Erbao.
"Watch my pet! If my yeast dies, go down and bury it with it!"
"Don't worry!" Ma Erbao said, slapping his chest.
Zhou Wenzhong nodded and left the Erliang Station.
"Damn it! The crazy white guy didn't really go to the cotton mill to lie to people, did he? I'm afraid he never died. Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
Zhou Wenzhong lit a cigarette and walked to the drug store.
Many people don’t know the unspoken rules of this era. For example, if you want to buy some peppercorns, where can you buy them?
The only thing the supply and marketing cooperative sells is: five-spice noodles.
It has similar properties to Thirteen Incense. If you want to buy other aniseed, where can you buy it? A department store?
You have to go to a Chinese medicine store. Since ancient times, medicine and food have not been separated! All aniseeds are classified as medicines in Chinese medicine stores.
Along the way, Zhou Wenzhong was mentally calculating what ingredients he needed to buy, and unknowingly he walked to the last drug store and pushed open the door.
"Doctor! It's me here again! Xiao Zhou from the Erliang Station! It's not my fault. If you haven't come to me to buy food for so long, don't you trust my ability?"
When the old Chinese medicine doctor saw the person coming, he politely stretched out his left hand to gesture to the stool.
"It's you, kid. Does your stomach still hurt?"
Zhou Wenzhong patted his stomach vigorously and replied: "Take a look! If you ask this, it means you don't recognize your own housekeeping skills. Your stomach has stopped hurting for a long time. You are so skilled!"
Man! At the very least, you must have a friend who is a doctor. Zhou Wenzhong naturally wanted to have a good relationship with this old doctor.
"As long as your stomach doesn't hurt anymore, why did you think of coming to see me today? Sit down and talk."
"Don't bother me! I'll buy some Chinese medicine."
"What's uncomfortable?"
"No discomfort, just some aniseed ingredients. Cinnamon, grass fruit, angelica dahurica, galangal, fennel, pepper, amomum villosum, cardamom, star anise. If you have pepper, help crush it, nutmeg, licorice, cloves...
The last thing is turmeric! Turmeric must be ground into powder! Grind into the finest powder! Sieve it for me with the finest sieve. Give me some gauze, I can use it!"
The old Chinese medicine doctor nodded and asked: "I have everything you mentioned. If you want to stew meat, just buy some star anise and it will be enough."
"Thank you for reminding me, but that's all! I make fine rice, just tell me if I can sell it?"
"Yes, how much do you want?"
"One tael of turmeric powder and half a catty of the rest."
"That's a lot of money!"
"I don't have a penny on me! But, I have a ticket."
"Oh? Let me close your eyes."
The old Chinese medicine practitioner stood at the counter and pursed his lips toward the manager.
Then he came up to Zhou Wenzhong and whispered: "tickets are better than money. Let me see."
Zhou Wenzhong reached into his arms, took out all the tickets from the Zhou family, and slapped them on the glass counter.
"Is this enough?"
"You can't use so much, hehehe~"
"We'll wait for more tickets later. I want to ask you again, can you sell me a medicine grinder? Even if you change it to a garlic mortar, it will work! But! I want a stone, don't fool me with something made of wood."
"Hush! It's all easy to say! It's all easy to say! There are plenty of them in the warehouse."
"I'll make another request. Bring me a packet of caustic soda and I'll clean the pot."
The old Chinese medicine doctor seemed to have guessed Zhou Wenzhong's purpose, and looked at Zhou Wenzhong with a somewhat meaningful look.
Not long after, Zhou Wenzhong came out of the medicine shop, holding a bunch of large paper packages in his left hand and a small stone mortar in his right hand. As his arm shook, the hammer made a "ding-ding" sound.
He ducked and walked into the alley. When Zhou Wenzhong came out again, he was tying the rope around his waist with his head lowered and wiping it on his cotton-padded jacket.
"call……"
Twenty-five minutes later, Zhou Wenzhong arrived at [Beixinqiao Department Store] and pushed open the heavy cotton curtain. Zhou Wenzhong looked like a country bumpkin and his eyesight was not enough.
"Hiss...who the hell invented the idea of nailing a wooden strip to the cotton door curtain, and it just hit my waist!"
It may be that the nerves in the waist are connected to the nerves in the legs. Zhou Wenzhong rubbed his waist with one hand, dragged his numb thighs, and walked in like a cripple. He had to consume the cloth tickets in his pocket quickly, because again
It will expire in half a month.
"Comrade, how do you sell cotton cloth? This roll is dark blue."
The 30-year-old saleswoman may have been feeling unwell for the past few days, so she spoke a little hastily.
"Open your eyes and take a good look. Is this dark blue? This is black! Black! What do you look like?"
Zhou Wenzhong smiled awkwardly and said, "I'm sorry, comrade, how can I sell this roll of black cotton? Will it fade?"
"Is there any fabric that won't fade?"
"White cloth won't fade!"
"Why didn't you mention that white cloth is easy to dye? Why didn't you mention that white cloth is easy to be stained!"
"Well, well, I'm a stupid person but I can't talk to you. How can I sell black cotton?"
The saleswoman stretched out her hand and made a "six" sign.
"It's so expensive! Six yuan per foot? Why don't you go and grab it?"
"One dollar and six feet."
After the salesperson finished speaking, he put his hands on the counter and stretched out his upper body to look at Zhou Wenzhong.
"One yuan is just enough for you to make a dress."
"Give."
Zhou Wenzhong handed over the cloth ticket and 1 yuan, which was the money he had just exchanged from the old Chinese medicine doctor.
"Don't give it to me. There is a place to collect money from here. Just stand there and wait for a while. I will issue you a ticket first. You can take the ticket and then pay."
"Do you still have to go to the cashier's office to pay? I saw there are iron clips on the counter, and they fly directly along the wire. It saves trouble."
"I don't have a fly line here."
"oh."
The salesperson handed the bill to Zhou Wenzhong. He held a ruler in one hand and a powder cake in the other. He looked at the indifferent Zhou Wenzhong and said, "Why don't you go?"
"Then what! There is a man named Mike in our village. He said that some salesmen are dishonest. Last time he went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy rope. When he returned to the village to go down the well, he found that a piece of rope was missing, which made him uncomfortable.
It couldn't go up, it was stuck in mid-air."
"Are you talking to me?"
"No no."
"Watch it!"
Zhou Wenzhong's words made the salesman so angry that he swiped the pressed powder in his hand, picked up the marked area, put it to his mouth, bit it with his teeth, and then tore it apart with both hands.
"Stab..."
"Are you sure? Pay the money quickly!"
"oh."
Zhou Wenzhong nodded and walked slowly to the payment desk. Anyway, the cotton cloth was torn by the salesperson, so what was he worried about?
Zhou Wenzhong had just taken two steps when his eyes were caught by the toys on the counter. No man can refuse such toys in this era!
There are small paper boxes one after another on the glass counter. Printed on them are: Every Communist Party member should understand this truth...
The shelves behind the counter are filled with products one after another, and the wooden ends are shiny.
There is no I-shaped brand, but some are: Jiangxi brand, Luoshu brand, Shuangjian brand, Xifeng brand, Jinjiang brand...