Eating melons

Another week passed and the house was finally completed. Wei Wei spent a total of 88 yuan on a small stove for boiling water, as well as the kang cabinet and kang table inside.

This amount is really too cheap for Wei Wei.

As soon as the house was completed, several people asked for leave to move. The autumn harvest was approaching, and the team leader approved their leave, asking them to move quickly so that they could focus on the autumn harvest.

Wei Wei's things were easy to move because most of them were still in the packages.

Besides, they had just arrived and didn't have much stuff, so everyone helped each other and moved everything in no time.

Looking at the small house being filled up bit by bit, Wei Wei felt a sense of accomplishment. This was where she would live for the next four years.

Wei Wei was still sighing when Jiang Qi pushed the door open and walked in.

Jiang Qi: "Weiwei, should we warm up the house and treat the team leader and the old educated youth to a meal? Even though we didn't have a pleasant experience with them, we're all educated youth and a collective, so we can't keep doing this forever."

Wei Wei didn't quite understand any of this. "Sure! I don't know much about this. You guys can discuss who else to call, and then I'll go get them. But we need to warm up the house and buy groceries, right? Do we have that much stuff?"

Jiang Qi: "Just get together, let's go and discuss it with them."

After saying that, he pulled Wei Wei out.

Their single rooms are lined up in a row behind the Youth League House.

The most impressive house in the Youth League is the one that houses the four old educated youths, followed by the four girls, and then the one that houses Yu Xi and the others.

Yu Xi and others were moving a water tank, and Jiang Qi pulled her and ran over.

Jiang Qi: "Liu Zhiqing, Wu Zhiqing, Yu Zhiqing, Li Zhiqing, Xiao Zhiqing, we are here to discuss something with you."

Yu Xi: "What's the matter?"

Jiang Qi: "Now that our house is built, we should warm it up and invite the team leader and the old educated youth to have a meal.

Although we had some unpleasant experiences with the old educated youth, we were all educated youth and a collective. In the eyes of outsiders, we were one and the same. If we suffered together, we would suffer together. We couldn't continue like this forever."

Yu Xi: "We really need to do it. After all, we've troubled the captain and the others for so long. Come in and sit down! Let's discuss this inside."

Jiang Qi: "Okay."

Li Zhibin: "But it's not a good idea for us to invite the team leader just because we are villagers!"

Xiao Xuemu: "That's fine. After all, we've always asked the team leader for help, and we haven't had any contact with the other people. If you want to hire someone, we can also add an accountant, Zhou."

Wei Wei: “The question is, can we buy so many vegetables?”

Xiao Xuemu: "We can pool our resources and then go buy some from the team. I bought two kilograms of meat yesterday."

Wei Wei's eyes lit up when she heard the word meat. "Do you have any fat? Can you give me a piece? I can trade it with you. You can use bacon or lard. I only need one piece."

This request stunned Xiao Xuemu, "Why do you want a small piece? It won't be enough to eat it all?"

Wei Wei: "Open the pot! But I don't know how to do it, so I'll have to ask Aunt Liu for help."

If she knew how, she wouldn't need to ask for this small piece of meat. She could just buy one from the system mall. But the problem is that she doesn't know how to cook. If she asks someone to cook, how would she explain how she got the meat?

When Jiang Qi heard the word "open the pot", she also thought of opening her pot. At this time, the pots had never been opened before, but she didn't know how to open them, as she had never opened them before.

Jiang Qi: "Me too. Can you give me another one? I'll ask you to mention it. If that doesn't work, I'll buy it and pay you back next time."

Yu Xi, Li Zhibin and Xiao Xuemu were all confused.

Xiao Xuemu: "Is the pot still boiling?"

Li Zhibin: "How can we open it? What if we don't open it?"

Yu Xi: "What does this have to do with fat?"

Liu Jiaojiao: "Yeah! Why don't I understand what you mean?"

Wu Mei: “I don’t understand this either.”

Jiang Qi: "To open the pot, you need to wash the newly bought iron pot first, then put it on the fire to heat it up. When it is heated to a certain degree, add a piece of raw fat pork into the pot and wipe it along the inner wall of the pot. Then I don't know what else to do.

I only know that if you want to maintain the pot, you need to apply a layer of vegetable oil, but I don’t know when and how to do it.”

Li Zhibin: "It's such a hassle. It's just a pot! Why are there so many twists and turns? What happens if the pot isn't opened?"

Jiang Qi: "If you don't open the pot, everything you cook will smell like rust, and the pot will often rust."

Xiao Xuemu understood that this pot had to be opened. "You can each cut a piece later! As for the food, just give as much as you think is appropriate. As for the vegetables, should we pool our money or buy them?"

Wei Wei: “Buy it!”

After all, she didn't have much to pool together, and the balance in her system account wasn't enough to buy much.

Jiang Qi thought about it and decided, "We can go to the brigade and ask if anyone has any hens that have stopped laying eggs. Roosters are also fine. As for ducks and geese, we can see if we can buy them. We can also buy some eggs. As for the rest, we can just go to the brigade leader's vegetable garden and buy some.

We just happened to have 70 cents left from our wages from the team leader, and Aunt Liu even tried to force it on me yesterday. Vegetables are 2 cents a pound, so 70 cents can buy a lot, and I can eat the rest myself. What do you think?

Yu Xi: “Okay.”

Jiang Qi: "Then let's split up. You male educated youth can fetch more water. We can gather some firewood first. It will definitely be enough. Then we can go to the village to buy chickens, ducks, geese, fish, eggs and other things. We can buy whatever we can get. You can also buy more. I will take care of the leftovers.

Weiwei, just go and call the old educated youth, the team leader's family, and Accountant Zhou.

You and I will go to the team leader's house first. It's dinner time now and they should have just finished their meal. Aunt Liu is at home, so let her cook for us first, otherwise we won't be able to do anything.

I'll go pick some vegetables and come back. Jiaojiao and Wu Mei can clean the dishes and utensils first. We can deal with the rest after I pick some vegetables."

The division of labor among the people was clear, and Jiang Qi went to do their own things as soon as they made the arrangements.

When Liu Aiying arrived at the Zhang family and heard that they didn't know how to open the pot, she laughed out loud, "At least you know how to open the pot. The pot in the Youth League House was never opened in the beginning. Whenever they cooked, the rice would smell like rust, and they all thought it was their own poor cooking skills, and never thought it was the pot that was the problem.

Come on, I'll take you to the vegetable garden to pick some vegetables. You can pick whatever you want."

Together with Liu Aiying, the three of them loaded a lot of things into backpacks.

Leeks, eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, bitter gourds, loofahs, lentils, cowpeas, and peppers.

The two also saw young pumpkins, but they didn't dare pick any because they were afraid that they were being kept for later consumption.

Liu Aiying: "Why don't you pick these squashes?"

Jiang Qi and Wei Wei were completely bewildered.

Wei Wei: "Squash? What squash? Which one is the squash?"

Liu Aiying: "The one behind Jiang Zhiqing."

Wei Wei followed Liu Aiying's instructions and looked over, but still couldn't find any squash.

Wei Wei: "Isn't that a pumpkin behind her?"

Jiang Qi pointed at a pumpkin and asked, "Is this it?"

Liu Aiying: "Yes, that's it. Pick some! This can be used as a vegetable or as a staple food."

Wei Wei: "Isn't this a pumpkin?"

Jiang Qi: “We also call it Pumpkin.”

Liu Aiying: "We call it 'wagua' here, probably because the names are different in the north and south."

The three of them picked a lot and had to get a cart from Zhang's house to push it back.

When Liu Aiying went to the educated youth institute to help, Liu Yun went to ask Accountant Zhou for help and then notified the old educated youth.

The old educated youth had long wanted to shake hands and make peace with the new educated youth. Now that they took the initiative to show goodwill, they naturally came down on the stairs.

But they had no way to help; they had to go to work.

After calling people, Wei Wei hurried back to help. Liu Aiying had already opened all seven pots.

Liu Aiying: "Wei girl, your pot is pretty good! It's a little small, but it's enough for one person."

Wei Wei looked at the pot and said, "It's definitely enough for one table!"

Liu Aiying: "It's OK for home cooking, but not for hosting banquets. It's too small."

Wei Wei: ...I don’t need to host a banquet!

Today the kitchen belongs to Jiang Qi and Liu Aiying. Wei Wei and Liu Jiaojiao wash the vegetables, while Wu Mei helps out in the kitchen.

Seeing Jiang Qi cooking skillfully, Liu Aiying praised her. "Well, not bad. You are a good cook despite your young age."

Jiang Qi: "Aunt Miao is very kind."

Liu Aiying: "I never go out of my way to flatter others. If something is good, it's good. If something is bad, it's bad."

Today's dishes are still very rich, including stewed chicken with mushrooms and potatoes, fried duck with peppers. We bought two ducks but not geese, and scrambled eggs with leeks and scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

There are loofah soup, great harvest, and smashed cucumber, a total of eight dishes.

The portion is also large enough. Although the bowl is not particularly large, each table has two bowls.

There were only three tables occupied, originally intended to be four, but only the captain and his wife came.

The old educated youth did not come empty-handed either. Each of them brought some local specialties and took the initiative to help clean up the mess after the meal.

After everyone left, Wei Wei just felt very tired. She was so tired, and Jiang Qi was even more tired.

Wei Wei and Jiang Qi lay down at the table and saw Yu Xi and Li Zhibin coming out pushing a cart.

Jiang Qi: "What are you doing?"

Yu Xi: "Aunt Liu asked us to get the remaining food."

Jiang Qi: "There's some scrambled eggs with tomatoes left over. You can take them to the captain's house! They're clean, straight from the pot, not served on the table. After all, Aunt Liu helped us a lot today."

Also, she thinks it’s not good to eat overnight eggs.

Yu Xi: "Okay."

After the grain was loaded back, there was another busy day, with some counting the money and some distributing the items.

Wei Wei picked a lot of pumpkins, tomatoes and cucumbers, and also ordered a lot of eggs.

Yu Xi and Li Zhibin didn't ask for too many vegetables.

Li Zhibin was a little surprised when he saw Wei Wei and Jiang Qi picking at the vegetables.

Li Zhibin: "What are you two doing with all these vegetables? Can you even finish them? They don't hold up well."

Jiang Qi: "Use it to make kimchi!"

Li Zhibin: "Kimchi?"

Jiang Qi: "Yeah, these are not enough! Weiwei and I bought quite a few jars, you know!"

Li Zhibin: "Those small tanks?"

Jiang Qi: “Well, our goal is to fill them all.”