Traveling through 70's wine

When she arrived in Wuhan, Wen Qing changed back into the clothes she wore when she was an educated youth.

It was hot and humid in Wuhan in the summer. After changing two buses and walking a few hundred meters, Wen Qing's sweat was streaming down his hair. He was tall, with empty clothes and a gray, patched bag on his back. He looked very shabby.

Just as she passed the gate, she almost bumped into a woman rushing out from inside. Wen Qing quickly stopped by the aisle. The woman looked up at Wen Qing and muttered, "Where did this beggar come from?"

Wen Qing ignored her and entered the yard. She saw a middle-aged woman sitting on the steps picking vegetables and called out, "Mom."

The woman was Su Mei. She looked up and said, "Oh, you stupid girl. You didn't even reply to my letter."

Wen Qing smiled apologetically, "There is no paper and pen in the countryside, so it is inconvenient to reply."

"Why didn't you come back for the Spring Festival this year?"

"The brigade didn't share any money. The travel expenses were too expensive."

Su Mei frowned. She didn't even have the money for the round trip, so she had no hope. She said, "Don't stand there. Come inside."

Wen Qing went in and found that the furnishings in the house had not changed much from a few years ago. If there was any change, it was that there were more miscellaneous items in the house.

There was a bowl of pickles and a bowl of leftovers on the dining table, covered with gauze. Some paper and glue used to stick matchboxes were placed on the empty space, and calendar pictures were pasted on the cabinet.

Wen Qing put her bag on the stool and asked, "Mom, are you all right?"

Su Mei's complexion was not very good either. "What's good or bad about it?"

"I heard Wen Yu got a job. Is the salary high?"

"28 yuan a month is just enough for her to use."

"Brother is getting married, where will he live?"

"Your brother got a house in the steel rope factory. Your sister-in-law also works in the steel rope factory. They both work and got a house. Now that your little nephew is born, they live in the dormitory."

Wen Qing thought it was good, so she said honestly, "Mom, now there are four people working at home, it should be better than before, right?"

Su Mei: "Your brother doesn't bring money home, your sister doesn't pay and still eats at home, your grandparents need to take medicine every day, and they have to spend money everywhere."

Turning around and seeing her appearance, he said, "You are sweating all over, do you want to take a shower first?"

Wen Qing asked about the location of the bathhouse, took a washbasin and some clean clothes and went out to take a bath.

The bathhouse was in the steel plant. Wen Qing spent 20 cents to buy a bath ticket. There were many female workers and their families taking baths there. She couldn't find a separate shower room, so she had to wait for a while before she found a seat. When she finished taking a bath and returned home, her father Wen Dayong had already returned.

Wen Dayong saw her but ignored her. Her grandparents just greeted them indifferently. After Wen Yu came home, the family sat down to have dinner.

Wen Yu asked: "Sister, aren't all the educated youth returning to the city? When can you come back?"

Wen Qing looked at everyone and said, "I want to come back too. How about I not leave this time?"

Wen Dayong winked at Su Mei, and Su Mei said, "Xiao Qing, there is a chance to stay this time."

It turned out that Wen Qing's cousin introduced her to a guy, who was the deputy director of a steel rope factory. He was divorced and had two children, and wanted to find someone younger.

Wen Qing's cousin also worked at the steel rope factory, so she wanted to introduce her niece to him. After she came back and told Su Mei about it, Su Mei felt that the man had a history of marriage, and it would be inappropriate for Wen Qing to become a stepmother if she married him.

But the eldest son Wen Lei strongly agreed and persuaded his mother that Wen Qing had been suffering in the countryside and was not young anymore. It would be difficult for her to find a rich and powerful man. The man’s two children were already in their teens and Wen Qing didn’t need to take care of them. After she gave birth to her own children, why would she need to take care of the previous ones?

Su Mei thinks that Wen Qing should make her own decision. When Wen Dayong hears that Lei agrees, he also hopes to have a deputy director of the steel rope factory as his son-in-law, so that at least his son will have a backer.

Su Mei wrote two letters to Wen Qing in succession. When she saw Wen Qing this time, she found that she was tall and looked a little haggard, but had beautiful features. She would be very pretty if she took more care of herself. She began to have some ideas about the marriage.

When Wen Qing heard about this kind of person, she flatly refused and said, "I don't want to be someone's stepmother."

Wen Dayong put down his bowl and chopsticks, stood up and went out.

Grandma Wen advised: "Xiaoqing, men will be more caring when they are older. When you return to the city, he can help you find a job. When your child goes to junior high school, he can live in the school dormitory, and the family will be more peaceful."

Su Mei looked at her expectantly, moved her lips, but ultimately said nothing.

After cleaning up, the family washed up. Wen Qing asked, "Mom, where should I live? Should I live with Wen Yu?"

Su Mei shook her head, "Your sister doesn't like others sleeping in her bed. You won't be at home for a few days anyway, so just set up a bed in the room and sleep there."

Pulling over two long benches, Wen Qing stopped her and said, "I'll do it myself. I'd better set it up in the kitchen. It's quieter." The kitchen was a wooden house, just to the west of the main house.

She took the backpack, opened it and took out a bag of cornmeal, about 30 kilograms, a piece of bacon, about 2 kilograms, a bag of dried mushrooms, about 2 kilograms, a bottle of honey from the space, a red sweater, and the rest were some worn-out clothes, a quilt and toiletries.

Wen Qing handed the sweater to her, "Mom, I knitted this for you." The sweater weighed about one and a half pounds and felt very warm. Su Mei felt a little sad.

"You wear it yourself. Mom has nothing to give you."

"No need, I can weave it later." Su Mei is the only one in the family who cares about her.

After saying that, he picked up two benches and left the room, then moved the board to the kitchen to make a bed.

Su Mei looked at the things on the table and the sweater in her hands, and felt very sad.

Wen Qing cleaned the kitchen first, boiled some hot water, added detergent, and used a rag to wipe the grease off the stove and shelves so that the kitchen would no longer smell bad. Only then did she make the bed.

Wen Qing spread the bedding on the cool board, put her bag inside the quilt, made it look like someone was sleeping, locked the door and blocked it with something, then entered the space herself.

There are a lot of things to do in the space, and she has to work hard.

After two experiments, the koji she made was still very good, which might be because the food in her space was good.

Wen Qing collected some Polygonum hydropiper seeds and planted them by the lake, and also planted some peas. The amount of peas needed to make koji was not large, so she planted them next to the tea garden so as not to affect the use of tea picking machines.

This time, Wen Qing went to ask Mr. Zhao for tips on making koji. He told her that "in the past, many people had to step on the koji together to make it", "the koji blocks were stacked together layer by layer, taller than a person", and "the temperature in the koji room was very high, and people who went in to turn the koji had to do it shirtless".

If you think carefully about what he means, the koji should be compacted and stacked crosswise, and turned over regularly. The higher the temperature during the koji cultivation period, the better the aroma of the koji produced. In addition, the koji room should be sealed as much as possible, and high-temperature fermentation is beneficial to koji making.

Wen Qing first went to the lake to pick Polygonum aviculare leaves, ground the wheat, barley, and peas, and chopped the Polygonum aviculare. Then, she ground all the ingredients into fine powder, added spring water, mixed well, and put them into molds.

This time, Wen Qing also tried to step on the koji. She put the mold on the flat ground, took off her shoes, and stepped on them one by one barefoot. She was very strong, so she was careful not to break the koji when stepping on it. After stepping on one side several times, she checked the degree of compaction and stepped on the other side again. After a night, she finally compacted 5000 pieces of koji. After removing the koji from the mold, she put it into the small stone house she built specially for koji making.

The room is only 8 square meters in area and 2 meters high. There is a bamboo frame inside, which is built entirely with whole bamboo poles. The koji blocks are stacked together on each layer and the doors and windows are closed. Wen Qing was afraid that she could not control the temperature well, so she placed 8 thermometers in the room to measure the temperature in each place and then record the process of making the music.

In the past, she only made 50 to 100 kilograms of koji each time, but this time she made 5,000 kilograms. Wen Qing was a little nervous, but these were things she had to try, and she was not afraid of failure.

It took too long to make the koji, and she was woken up by the alarm she set after only three hours of sleep. She quickly left the space, put away the bench and the board, packed the bedding into her bag, put everything outside the kitchen, and went out for a run.