Quick Wear: Passerby A's Daily Life of Eating Watermelons

The bean stalks and beans were crackling as they burned, and a fragrant aroma filled our noses. Everyone became more excited, and as they rubbed against the flames, their bodies immediately became warm. Someone said, "Hurry up and eat the beans, or they will burn in a little while."

Pick up a handful of burnt black and shiny beans overflowing with oil from the soil, rub them in the palm of your hand, blow gently towards your palm with your mouth, throw all the beans into your mouth, and start chewing them.

In the falling snow and blazing flames, we roasted and ate soybeans around the campfire. We no longer felt cold, hungry, and refreshed.

When the snow was a little lighter, the team leader sent people home to get thick clothes. Even though it was snowing, they had to work fast to prevent people from freezing. Each group sent someone back to get the clothes, and they also brought some hot water for fear that people would catch a cold.

After the autumn harvest, they finally had some free time. It was already November, and they processed the mushrooms and dried goods harvested this year. After pickling the sauerkraut, they also stored the cabbage for winter and made the soybean paste. All preparations before hibernation were done.

This year, the three of them don't plan to go home. It's better to go home once every two or three years. They really don't want to go through the trouble of a ten-day round trip, and they have to pay for the round-trip tickets themselves. They might as well use that money to buy some meat and send back home.

After returning from the commune, several people had a lot of dried mushrooms in their backpacks, which were exchanged for the rabbits they caught in the past few days. This month, they were very lucky and caught seven rabbits. The four of them did not keep any of the seven rabbits and exchanged them all for dried mushrooms. To be honest, after two or three years, we were a little tired of eating rabbits.

So several people took this opportunity to switch to dried mushrooms. This stuff is light and tastes good, and they can also mail some to their homes and add to the dishes during the New Year.

In addition to mushrooms, there was also a bucket of oil in the backpack. I had been eating pork fat for quite a long time and wanted to change the taste, so I also replaced it with some beef and mutton.

After arriving home, several people packed up their things, and Jiang Yue went to feed the chickens. These chickens had been raised for two years, and some of them had stopped laying eggs. This winter, Jiang Yue planned to eat the chickens that did not lay eggs or laid few eggs, and then catch a few chicks to raise in the spring of next year.

The chicken coop built last year collapsed. The current chicken coop was just built this fall. With the previous experience, it looks much more solid this time.

After entering the house, the three of them put their things in order, lit the kang, prepared the beef brisket, potato cubes, and tomatoes, and put the necessary seasonings in a bowl, waiting for Jiang Yue to show his skills.

Seeing this, everyone knew what dishes to cook. While waiting, the four of them took inventory of their current belongings. There was no shortage of food, enough sauerkraut, enough cabbage and green onions, a small jar of pickled eggs, a small jar of soybean paste, dried eggplants, dried mushrooms, dried beans, etc., so they should be able to eat and drink well this winter.

After taking inventory, several people showed satisfied smiles. This family of belongings was accumulated bit by bit by four people. As the fragrance became stronger, the three people became less and less interested in talking. They all stared at the pot in the steam. Why was there so much steam? Because the fragrance was too strong. Several people did not dare to open the door, intending to let the fragrance dissipate slowly.

When the time was almost up, they opened the pot and took a look. When Jiang Yue said that they could eat, they lined up obediently, holding their bowls and looking at her eagerly. Jiang Yue inexplicably felt like she was a canteen aunt in a kindergarten. She took their bowls and served one to each of them. There was still some soup left, so Zhang Wei and Wang Liang poured the rice into it directly.

The two of them stirred it and scraped the pot clean before they stopped. They made sure there was no remaining soup before reluctantly adding a few ladles of cold water. Don't even mention the way they ate. With this quality of beef and Jiang Yue's outstanding cooking skills, the bowl was spotless after the meal.

"Ah~, every time I feel melancholy and want to go home, I think of the food Xiaoyue cooks and I am more determined to stay. If it weren't for Xiaoyue, I don't know what I would do."

"Everyone is like that. Look at the old educated youth. I heard that some of them even vomited after eating sauerkraut in winter. They are not as carefree as us."

"By the way, have you heard that the new educated youth are going to come down soon? It seems that they will be here in the next few days."

"Are you coming again?"

"Well, we originally had 11 educated youth, but didn't three of them return to the city? Now there are eight left, and I heard that five more will come this time."

"Come if you want. If you get along well, then walk around more. If you don't, then just don't bother each other like you do now."

"If five educated youth come, can we still accommodate them?"

"Sure, there's room for about 18 people. If we add 5 more people, it will only be 13 people."

After chatting for a while, the three of them washed the pot. Seeing that it was almost time, the four of them got dressed and went out. Zhang Wei carried the gun on his back and prepared to go up the mountain. This winter, Xiaohu's father would not need to lead them. If they did not go into the mountains, four people and one gun would be enough. In fact, they still needed two dogs, but it would be enough if they only set traps and did not hunt.

After entering the mountain, they walked directly towards the place where the traps were set. The first few traps were empty. Jiang Yue observed the situation nearby and readjusted the position of the trap. After that, he continued to walk towards other traps. Today, he was lucky as usual and caught a rabbit. The weather was good today and the visibility was okay. Several people walked inside. Because there was no wood outside, they had to get some firewood to bring back.

Zhang Wei was on guard with a gun, while Jiang Yue and the other two began to collect the dead branches scattered on the ground. They were not greedy and each of them collected a small bundle. After collecting everything, they went down the mountain. They walked a little far today and it was already quite late when they got home. They planned to deal with the firewood and rabbits tomorrow.

The next day, Jiang Yue and Yao Ling got up a little late. They chatted too late the day before. After getting up today, they had breakfast, which was corn grits porridge and steamed sweet potatoes. After washing up, they started to eat. After the meal, Yao Ling and I washed the pots and pans.

After breakfast, Jiang Yue asked them what they were going to eat in the evening. When they had nothing to do, they would eat two meals, but sometimes one meal was enough. They all said that they could cook anything as long as she cooked it. Jiang Yue thought about it and thought that they had just eaten beef brisket, so they should eat some vegetarian food these days: "Then let's stew sauerkraut. We just happened to have a piece of frozen tofu."

"Yes, yes, yes. I have tofu."

“There’s nothing wrong with the tofu.”

After deciding what to eat in the afternoon, several people started studying. This routine study has been going on for three years and has never been interrupted since Yao Ling proposed it. The main reason is that you really have nothing to do here. Apart from the work of the production team, you are basically idle. Studying has become a way to kill time. Even if you study on your own, the progress will be relatively slow.

After studying until the afternoon, Jiang Yue started to cook. The ingredients were here today, and no one's cooking would be very delicious. It was just that Jiang Yue and the others were picky eaters, otherwise they would only buy tofu when customers came. After dinner, they went for a walk in the mountains as usual. Today was a day off, and the weather was not very good, so they did not go inside and went home early.