Chapter 523 Blind Date (4) (4000 words)
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A big question mark was painted on Jiang Weiguo's face. The hand holding the lotus root stopped in mid-air, neither holding it nor releasing it.
"Drink?" Jiang Weiguo couldn't believe his ears.
There was no turning back when Zhao Lanhua opened her bow. Even though Zhao Lanhua's face was already flushed with embarrassment, she had to bite the bullet and say: "Just take a sip, a little bit."
As he spoke, he extended his hand to make a gesture.
The question mark on Jiang Weiguo's face has not disappeared: "Then drink, there is a bowl over there."
Zhao Lanhua went to get the bowl quickly, not forgetting to grab a ladle and scoop out half a bowl of sugar water mixed with brown sugar and white sugar. She squatted on the ground with the bowl in her hand and drank it in small sips like a kitten drinking water. stand up.
Little by little, when Jiang Weiguo put the lid on the pot and lit the fire, the sugar water in Zhao Lanhua's bowl seemed untouched.
Jiang Weiguo saw Zhao Lanhua squatting on the ground drinking sugar water. He thought it was funny and interesting, and couldn't help but ask: "Is it that delicious?"
"It tastes good." Zhao Lanhua said, "This is the first time I drink brown sugar water. It tastes good."
"You've never drank sugar water before?" Jiang Weiguo was a little surprised. He knew that Zhao Lanhua's family conditions were not good, and it could be seen from Zhao Lanhua's face and figure that her family was very poor.
But a family that can raise five daughters will not be unable to give them candy during the Chinese New Year.
At least judging from the new coat Zhao Lanhua was wearing, she shouldn't be so poor that she couldn't afford sugar water.
"I have drunk sugar water. Every year during the Chinese New Year, my mother will break a small piece of sugar and make a bowl of sugar water for us to share, but I have never drank brown sugar water." Zhao Lanhua explained, taking another sip.
"Our village is no better than your city. Brown sugar is generally not available in supply and marketing cooperatives. If you want to buy brown sugar, you have to go to the county town to buy it. It can only be drunk when women are in confinement or when children are sick. If you are not able to drink it if you are a minor illness, you can only drink it if you are seriously ill. , I remember one time when I was a child, my eldest sister fell into a pond and recovered from her illness. Just drink a bowl of brown sugar water for a few days and you will be fine." Zhao Lanhua described brown sugar water as a miracle cure for all diseases. "My mother also gave my sister-in-law a bowl when she was in confinement. I wanted to give me a sip, but she only had one bowl and I didn’t drink it.”
Jiang Weiguo watched Zhao Lanhua slowly drink up a small bowl of sugar water and asked, "How does it taste?"
"It's sweet, different from the one made from maltose. It tastes better and sweeter than the one at home." Zhao Lanhua said.
"Want to eat something else?" Jiang Weiguo asked.
"No, these are enough. I'm almost full now." Zhao Lanhua said, "My appetite is actually very small. I can go to work in the fields by eating two corn cobs every day."
Hearing what Zhao Lanhua said, Jiang Weiguo couldn't control his facial expression and frowned. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall and said, "The glutinous rice lotus root needs to be cooked for two hours. Aunt Zhao asked me to take you to the street." Go for a walk, I’ll take you around while it’s still dark.”
"Will it take up your time? Do you have to go to work later?" Zhao Lanhua asked.
"I'm only working half a day of work today. I'll leave a note for them later and ask them not to touch the things in the pot when they come back." After Jiang Weiguo said that, he went out to find paper and pen, wrote a note, and pressed the note under the chopping board.
Definitely where the chef can see it.
Zhao Lanhua sighed at the words on the note: "Wow, you can also write. Your handwriting is so beautiful!"
Jiang Feng leaned over and took a look. On it were a few large, crooked characters that were no worse than his own. They were still traditional Chinese characters: Do not touch the steamer on the table or the soup pot on the stove.
Jiang Feng:...
Comrade Orchid, your fan filter is really strong.
In the final analysis, culture still suffers.
Jiang Weiguo led Zhao Lanhua out of the state-owned hotel. Jiang Weiguo didn't know which street he should take the girl to go shopping, and Zhao Lanhua didn't know which street he wanted to go shopping. The two of them just walked casually on the street.
Because Zhao Lanhua is illiterate and can't read store signs, she basically asks Jiang Weiguo what that store does when she sees a store she has never seen before. Along the way, the two actually talked a lot, and their tone and movements were much more natural than before, just like friends chatting.
Jiang Weiguo had seen all kinds of storms and waves during his travels in the rivers and lakes in the past few years, and he had a very strict tone. Along the way, Zhao Lanhua would say anything whenever asked by him. On the contrary, Jiang Weiguo did not reveal any information about himself.
Time gradually passed, and the sky became darker. Many shops were closed due to darkness, which made the taverns on the street corners with lights on and bustling with people very eye-catching.
"Comrade Jiang Weiguo, what does that store do and why are there so many people inside?" Zhao Lanhua asked curiously.
"That's a pub. There are many people drinking there at night, so it's very lively." Jiang Weiguo said.
"Only drinking?" Zhao Lanhua asked.
"I don't know, I've never been there."
"You don't like drinking? I thought you men all liked drinking. My dad loves drinking, and my brother also likes drinking. Our family has neither money to buy wine nor extra grain to make wine, so my dad and my brother can only I went to my uncle's house to drink during the Chinese New Year." Zhao Lanhua unintentionally betrayed her brother and father.
"I usually drink it at home or go to Master Huang's house. I make the wine myself." Jiang Weiguo said.
"Oh, yes, you are a chef, so you must also be able to make wine." Zhao Lanhua has already equated the profession of chef with supernatural powers.
The two of them continued to walk forward. City Z was not that big and there were only these few bustling streets. If they just walked, they could finish them all in less than an hour. Along the way, Zhao Lanhua pulled Jiang Weiguo around and asked around. When she saw a shop selling cloth or selling some stuff that she didn't know what it was, she couldn't help but walk in and take a look. Jiang Feng roughly estimated that it took a lot of time. It can take up to three hours at a time.
If they return now and walk slower, they should be able to catch the glutinous rice and lotus root just in time.
Jiang Weiguo obviously also calculated the time in his mind. He took Zhao Lanhua back at the right time as if he had a quick watch in his mind. He stopped and walked along the way. When he returned to the state-owned hotel, there were still no customers in the store.
It seems that the business hours are over, and the actual business hours of state-owned hotels are usually very short.
The fat waiter was cleaning the table. When he saw Jiang Weiguo and Zhao Lanhua coming back, he greeted them enthusiastically: "Master Jiang and Miss Zhao are back. Did you go to the movies? The movie shown in the cinema today is said to be very good, a new movie!"
"We didn't watch the movie. She and I went outside for a walk." Jiang Weiguo said calmly.
The fat waiter was obviously used to Jiang Weiguo's rather cold attitude, and said with a smile: "Master Jiang, you have to take Miss Zhao to a movie next time. The movie theaters in our city don't necessarily have a new movie every year. Those movies were played back and forth so much that I could perform for them.”
Jiang Weiguo nodded and led Zhao Lanhua into the kitchen.
Master Huang was turning on the stove in the kitchen and was startled when he saw someone coming in. He looked back and saw it was Jiang Weiguo and Zhao Lanhua before he felt relieved.
"Do you like watching movies?" Jiang Weiguo asked.
"Ah?" Zhao Lanhua didn't understand why Jiang Weiguo asked this suddenly, "I like it. Someone from the village came to let me go once a few years ago. Everyone moved small benches from their homes to watch together. I was in the last row and couldn't squeeze in. , the picture was too blurry to see clearly, but the melon seeds the village chief gave me were very delicious.”
Master Huang saw Jiang Weiguo and Zhao Lanhua chatting among themselves, but the expressions on their faces were not very warm. For a moment, he couldn't guess whether the two were eye-to-eye or not.
"Xiao Jiang, what's in your soup pot? What kind of soup are you cooking? I haven't dared to open it until you came back." Master Huang asked, "I added firewood to the stove a few times in the middle. The fire should be hot now." It’s out. See if you want to add more.”
"Glutinous rice and lotus root." Jiang Weiguo said, "Just let it go out naturally. Didn't you touch the buns in the steamer?"
"How dare we touch your dinner?" Master Huang said with a smile.
Jiang Weiguo took the soup pot off the stove and opened the lid.
The sweet fragrance hits my face, and the whole air is filled with sweetness.
The two tender lotus roots in the pot have been completely dyed in the color of the sugar water, and the sugar water has darkened in color due to long-term stewing and looks very thick.
Master Huang came up to take a look and exclaimed: "My dear, how much sugar did you add to it?"
"More than 4 pounds."
Master Huang couldn't help but be stunned by Jiang Weiguo's extravagant behavior.
Make two sections of lotus root flowers and 4 pounds of sugar. If he cooked this dish at home, his mother-in-law would have to break his legs.
"Do you want to eat now?" Jiang Weiguo asked.
Zhao Lanhua wanted to nod, but she was a little reluctant to use 4 pounds of sugar to make the lotus root. She felt that she didn't deserve to eat it and should take it home as an offering.
"But... I might not be able to finish it." Zhao Lanhua said.
Jiang Weiguo thought that Zhao Lanhua was embarrassed to eat in front of Master Huang, so he took out a piece of oil paper from the cabinet and wrapped the two lotus roots.
"Then you take it back to eat. Steam it in a pot before eating. When eating, separate the two sections of lotus root, take out the bamboo skewer in the middle, and then slice the lotus root." Jiang Weiguo said.
"Okay, thank you." Zhao Lanhua suddenly felt that it was a no-brainer for her to come all the way to the city for a blind date today, including food and drinks.
After wrapping the glutinous rice and lotus roots, Jiang Weiguo took out his enamel cup and tin lunch box from the cabinet, stuffed the cold meat buns into the tin lunch box, and poured all the thick sugar water left in the soup pot into the enamel cup. inside.
"Master Huang, when are you leaving?" Jiang Weiguo asked.
"Ah? I'll pretend to leave when the noodles are cooked." Master Huang said, suddenly feeling a little dazzling in the kitchen, "Xiao Jiang, I suddenly remembered that my lunch box seemed to be outside and I didn't bring it in. I went out to look for the lunch box. , please help me look at the noodles in the pot.”
After saying that, Master Huang slipped away.
"What about you? Comrade Zhao Lanhua, when will you go back?" Jiang Weiguo asked.
"I'll go back tomorrow morning and stay at my aunt's house tonight. She will set up a temporary bed for me in the living room." Zhao Lanhua said, feeling a little discouraged as she spoke. Although the process was beautiful, the ending was still a failure. .
She came for a blind date today, but instead of a blind date, she ended up eating and drinking.
Jiang Weiguo pushed the iron lunch box and sugar porcelain cup in front of Zhao Lanhua: "Take it back to eat."
Zhao Lanhua refused repeatedly: "No, no, Comrade Jiang Weiguo is too expensive. There are 4 pounds of sugar, and I can't finish the 4 meat buns. I will leave tomorrow morning. I have a small appetite."
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"You haven't eaten enough today." Jiang Weiguo said.
Zhao Lanhua was stunned and defended in a low voice: "I'm really full. I have a small appetite."
"I have seen people starving to death more than 10 years ago in Shanghai, when the Anti-Japanese War had not yet been won. She was a young mother who lived next door to me. Her husband died and she and her three children made a living by washing clothes for others. Health." Jiang Weiguo said.
Zhao Lanhua looked at Jiang Weiguo, wondering why he said this.
"She eats very little every day. She is skinny and skinny from hunger. She is even thinner than you. She looks like she has only a skeleton. The most common thing I heard her say is that she eats very little. After I finish my work every day I can hear her saying this to her child every time she comes back." Jiang Weiguo said.
"Then what?" Zhao Lanhua asked.
"Then she starved herself to death."
Zhao Lanhua took a breath and opened her eyes in horror. Although she had rarely had a full meal since she was a child, she had never heard of anyone starving to death in the village.
Although some families would throw their newborn girls into the mountains, Zhao Lanhua had only heard from others that she had never seen it with her own eyes.
"What about her three children?"
"I don't know. After the young mother died, the room next to mine was rented to another family. Her three children must have died too. At that time, the most indispensable thing in the city was orphans who died on the roadside, freezing to death. People are dying of hunger and disease everywhere, and the traffickers don’t even bother to take them,” Jiang Weiguo said.
Zhao Lanhua couldn't help but shudder.
"So don't say that your food intake is small. Eat what you have, eat as much as you can, and eat big if you like. Being able to eat is not a shameful thing. Only when you are full can you have the strength to work. If you like to drink sugar water, drink it in big sips,” Jiang Weiguo said.
"But...but Comrade Jiang Weiguo, I really can't eat four buns tonight and tomorrow morning." Zhao Lanhua looked embarrassed.
Jiang Weiguo was choked by Zhao Lanhua and was speechless.
"Actually, you can also take it home to eat." Jiang Weiguo said.
"Your lunch box..."
"I have a day off next Saturday. Today I asked someone to buy movie tickets but I didn't get them. If you are free, I will ask someone to buy movie tickets in advance. If you buy them, I will treat you to a movie. Remember to wash the lunch box. Bring it to me.”
Zhao Lanhua, who took dozens of seconds to realize what Jiang Weiguo meant, was so embarrassed that her whole face turned red. She was in disbelief, excited and happy, and her words were incoherent.
"I...I washed the lunch box and it was very clean."
"No, I mean I'm free. I'm free next Saturday. I'll... I'll definitely press... press... and arrive on time." Zhao Lanhua didn't know where to look with her eyes. She could only lower her head and saw the enamel cup. He picked up the enamel cup and took a big gulp of thick sugar water.
Jiang Weiguo showed a smile.
Just when Jiang Feng was marveling at the young old man's Jedi counterattack operations, he noticed fog.
Jiang Feng left his memory. On December 1st, Erzui’s new book: Sha Diao Entertainment’s “Senior Superstar” and Fei Long’s new book: “The Devil Comes” will be on the shelves. Interested readers can support the first order!
(End of chapter)