nycdaug Chapter 218 With your family’s energy, we will have to rely on you in the future!
Chapter 218 With your family’s energy, we will have to rely on you in the future!
Several sons of Zhou Chuanguo and Zhou Chuantai all rented houses in Chang'an.
They did not sleep at Zhou Rong's house. Instead, they took their spouse to their son's house and slept together with their grandson and granddaughter.
Because they had many sons, everyone rushed to invite them to their homes, and they were very happy.
After returning to the village, I will have something to brag about!
Zhou Chuanxiang, Zhou Chuanyi and Zhou Chuanjing slept on the floor at Zhou Rong's house.
When Zhou Chuanxiang was just discharged from the army due to injury, a matchmaker introduced him to a wife, spending 50 dollars, 100 kilograms of rice, and 20 kilograms of meat as a dowry.
But the woman disliked his broken leg and was unwilling to consummate the marriage on her wedding night. She only stayed in Zhoujiawan for a week before running away.
He also took away more than a dozen dollars from Zhou Chuanxiang's home.
Zhou Chuanguo and his brothers were so angry that they took a group of people to settle the score with the woman and demanded the return of all the betrothal gifts and stolen money.
The other party’s parents said that the person was not at home and wanted to cheat.
Zhou Chuanguo and his men smashed the other party's house and took all the valuables back to Zhoujiawan and gave them to Zhou Chuanxiang.
Although the losses were recovered, Zhou Chuanxiang was disheartened and no longer mentioned the idea of getting married. He lived a simple life relying on his savings and a few dollars of monthly pension from the government...
When Zhou Chuanguo and his friends were dragged away by their daughter-in-law and grandson, Zhou Chuanxiang was filled with envy.
Father Zhou noticed his expression, sighed and said, "How about we find you another wife? This time we'll check out her character in advance, and we won't accept any unreliable ones."
Zhou Chuanxiang shook his head and said with a wry smile: "No, good girls don't like people like me. I also don't like those who are nosy and like to gossip. Let's just live like this and be free by ourselves!"
Zhou's father wanted to persuade him, but Zhou Chuanxiang didn't want to listen and used his crutches to make his own bed...
Because food was now rationed per person and rationed with tickets, the Zhou family could not hold a two-day banquet like they did in the countryside.
All neighbors who gave gifts were invited to a banquet on the morning of the 28th.
Some dishes need to be prepared in advance, otherwise it will be too late on the morning of the 28th.
Early in the morning on the 27th, Zhou's father and mother went to buy groceries and candies and snacks, and took Zhou Chuanyi and others for a walk around the neighborhood.
Zhou Rong took a day off today and she took on the task of buying rice and oil.
The family's grain and oil quota for this month has been used up, and the grain and oil for the banquet can only be bought on the black market. Zhou Rong said that she has acquaintances and can buy cheap rice and oil.
Zhou's mother believed in her daughter's ability, so she gave the task to Zhou Rong, who paid her actual salary after returning.
There is plenty of food in Zhou Rong’s space. The supplies he collected from Liu Wenchang have never been used!
Zhou Rong took out 200 kilograms of rice, transported it home on his bicycle, and reported the price to Zhou's mother at 1 cents per kilogram.
There are currently two types of edible oils, cottonseed oil and rapeseed oil.
Cottonseed oil is 8 cents per pound, while rapeseed oil is 4 cents more expensive.
In order to save four cents, many families use cottonseed oil.
However, cottonseed oil will solidify when it gets cold, and its taste is not as good as vegetable oil. If you want to cook in winter, you need to melt the cottonseed oil near the stove first.
The price of pork is 7 cents per pound. If you want to buy fat meat suitable for refining oil, you have to have some connections. Forget it.
There are so many employees in the meat processing factory, and as a grassroots employee, Zhou's father may not always be allocated lard or fat.
Zhou Rong didn't like cottonseed oil, so every once in a while he would take out a large piece of lard from the space and give it to Zhou Jiaguang to refine.
Therefore, the Zhou family’s cooking oil is mainly lard, supplemented by cottonseed oil.
But it was inappropriate to use lard to cook at a banquet, and it seemed too extravagant. Zhou Rong didn't want anyone to miss his family.
He took out 10 kilograms of cottonseed oil from the space and reimbursed Zhou's mother for the price of 8 cents per kilogram.
Zhou's mother said, "This is the same market price we pay for rice and oil. If your friend gives it to you at this price, won't he lose money?"
Zhou Rong smiled and said, "I helped him before, and he owes me a favor. We agreed that as long as I go to buy something, he will give me the market price."
Mother Zhou thought for a moment and said, "If we don't have enough food in the future, can we still buy it from him?"
Zhou Rong: "Sure! Tell me the amount you need and I'll go find him."
Mother Zhou: "Okay! With this channel, I feel more at ease. Erhua and Sanfu eat too much. After three or five bowls of rice, they feel only 80% full.
Every time they came over for dinner, I started to panic, worrying that there wouldn’t be enough food at home to last until the end of the month.
Now we can buy cheap food on the black market without tickets, so they can eat as much as they want in the future!"
Many dishes need to be prepared in advance so that they can be fried in time early tomorrow morning.
There were not enough stoves at home and the fire in the coal stove was too small, so Zhou's mother borrowed a few "steel stoves" from neighbors.
The "steel stove" that everyone uses is a small cast iron stove with a round mouth and legs. There are also ones without legs, which require bricks to support the legs.
The "steel stove" mainly burns firewood, is light and easy to move, and can save money on buying coal.
Many families have "steel stoves".
When a big banquet is held in the countryside, people usually ask their brothers for help. Zhou Chuanguo, Zhou Chuanyi and others can cook dishes for the banquet.
Several people volunteered to help fry tofu, meat balls, fish balls, etc.
Zhou's mother joked, "My family's celebration is so grand that we even invited the village chief and clan leader to help organize the banquet. It's enough for us to brag about for the rest of our lives!"
Zhou Chuanyi was holding a cigarette given by his father, and while cutting meat he said, "It's a bit awkward for a family member to say such things. With your family's strength, we will have to rely on you in the future!"
Zhou Chuanjing, who was sitting nearby frying tofu cubes, continued, "The three daughters are all college students, the two sons are workers, Qi Guang and Da Wa are also good at studying, your family's future is immeasurable, you have to support us in the future!"
Zhou Rong said: "It is thanks to the blessing of our ancestors that we are where we are today. After my uncle returned, he encouraged the children in the village to study more. If they cannot get into university, they can study in a technical secondary school. Just like college students, the government will assign them jobs after graduation.
This way, you can move to the city legitimately without having to spend money to transfer your household registration, and you can also bring honor to your family."
Zhou Chuanjing: "You are right. We need to supervise the children to study. Otherwise, they will have to stay in the village for the rest of their lives, and Zhoujiawan will have a hard time making a breakthrough."
In the evening, Zhou Jiafeng, Zhou Jiaming and others came and helped borrow tables, chairs, benches, and bowls and chopsticks from neighbors to prepare a banquet for the next morning.
For dinner that night, Zhou's mother called Sun Hong and the others to come and eat. There were some pots and stoves in Zhou Rong's small courtyard, so they couldn't have a banquet, so they had to set up a table in the alley.
Everyone ate and chatted, talking about their recent situations, with smiles on their faces. The whole scene was lively and warm.
Under the gentle light, the figures of adults and children chatting and playing are reflected on the wall, swaying like shadow puppets.
When passers-by saw it, they felt inexplicably happy and seemed to feel a different kind of happiness...