Chapter 201 Picking Popsicle Lottery
As the opening title flashed by, their familiar plot music sounded on the TV.
The story began to get to the point, and the children in the main room were all staring at the TV.
Looking at them without blinking, Zhang An thought if they would study so seriously in the future.
Not to mention that they can get into Qingbei, at least they have no problem getting into provincial university.
They were fascinated, but Zhang An showed no interest.
After Zhang An watched the disc he bought a few days ago, he had no interest in watching it again.
The main reason is that Zhang An's memory is so good now that every scene of the plot is imprinted in his mind.
So while they were watching TV, Zhang An picked up a book.
It is very pleasant to read a book and enjoy the breeze outside in the yard.
But before the children at home could watch for long, some sad news came.
There was a sudden power outage in the village, and the movie on TV was just halfway through, and it was about to get to the exciting part.
At this moment, their hearts were aroused by Shi Xiaolong's handsome moves.
With a click, the TV screen went black and turned off. Now they felt as if their hearts were being scratched by ants.
The impatient and unhappy expressions on the faces of the monkeys made Zhang An very happy.
You know what it felt like to be woken up just now, it was so satisfying.
There was no way to show the TV. Although Zhang Tie and the others were disappointed, they could only accept this result.
We can't have a fight with Zhang An, and then the phone call comes. This is impossible.
Although when the power went out, everyone felt itchy in their hearts.
This symptom is what adults call addiction to watching TV.
But after a few minutes, the symptoms subsided and they started playing other games.
After all, there is no TV to watch, so we have to go on living this life.
So the children who had just gathered around Zhang An's house slowly dispersed, leaving only Zhang Tie and the others in the yard.
They did not play glass beads or fan cardboard.
Instead, he took out a handful of popsicle sticks from his pocket, and a few people started playing pick-up in the Zhang family yard.
The last time Zhang An played this kind of game was when he was in elementary school.
At that time, children of the same age in the village competed with each other to see who had more popsicle sticks.
Why is it a popsicle sign? Because for children at this time.
Popsicles are a popular commodity, and they are all bought for a dime each.
After they finished eating, they were reluctant to throw away the bamboo stick and kept it.
At that time, no one played with ice cream sticks, because ice cream was too expensive and few people were willing to buy it.
It’s not the bamboo sticks you cut yourself from bamboo, because the ones you cut yourself are not as good-looking as the popsicle sticks.
After all, the ones used in the popsicle factory are all machine-cut, and they are square in shape.
But the burrs I peeled are everywhere, and the lengths and thicknesses are different. Everyone can see it at a glance.
And if you cut it yourself, you can get as much as you want. In this case, there is no point in winning.
This is why rare things are more valuable.
A similar game, in addition to glass beads, is playing apricot kernels.
It is also because there are not many apricots in the village, so there are not many apricot stones left after everyone eats the apricots.
So for them, it’s not the gameplay that matters, but the feeling of winning or losing.
Especially when you win a lot, don’t be too proud when you look at other people’s envious eyes.
At Zhang An's time, a group of friends often competed with each other to see who had the most popsicle sticks.
Some people readily take out a handful, dozens of them, making the friends around them envious.
Of course, so many popsicles are not bought by myself.
It would be nice to have a few of them that I bought myself. After all, adults would not easily give pocket money to children at that time.
Most of them are picked up on the way to and from school, or squatting at the entrance of the canteen department.
When I see someone buying popsicles, I follow them and ask for the bamboo sticks after they finish eating.
Until now, Zhang Tie and his generation have been passing down this habit from generation to generation without much change.
Everyone’s conditions are much better now than when Zhang An was a child.
You can tell this just by looking at Zhang Tie and the others, each holding a large handful of bamboo sticks.
In the past, Zhang An and the others only held a dozen or twenty cigarettes, which was a lot. Now, Zhang Tie and the others only hold forty or fifty cigarettes at least.
Zhang An felt a little excited when he saw how enthusiastic they were playing.
I suddenly felt itchy and wanted to play with them for a while.
"Zhang Tie, give me a few and I'll play with you."
After hearing what Zhang An said, Zhang Tie was reluctant to part with him.
But he could only give out a dozen to Zhang An, after all, he was his eldest brother.
If you want to eat and drink well from now on, you have to hug Nian An’s thighs.
With Zhang An joining in, everyone quickly started a new game again.
First guess the game to determine the outcome, playing rock, paper, scissors.
First determine the order in which everyone will appear.
This is very important in everyone's eyes, after all, if you are lucky.
The first person can pick up half, or even more.
Sometimes the last one doesn’t get picked, but I don’t blame anyone. After all, I lost by punching myself.
Zhang An hasn’t boxed for a long time, but Jiang is still very old and he still came in second place.
Wang Baosheng came first, straightening it out with a bamboo stick, aligning the head and tail.
Then the hand holding the bamboo stick loosened, and a large handful of bamboo sticks scattered on the floor.
"Baosheng, it seems you are out of luck."
This time, all the scattered bamboo sticks were stacked on top of each other. This situation is really not easy to choose.
The rules of this game are very simple, that is, hold the bamboo sticks that everyone has gathered together.
Then let it go all at once, then pulled out a bamboo stick and started to pick up the beams one by one.
Nothing else can be touched during the whole process except the one you picked, then the one you picked out belongs to you.
But if the other bamboo sticks move, sorry, it's the next person's turn.
So when I first put the bamboo sticks out, the more scattered they were, the easier it was to pick them out.
Wang Baosheng’s luck was obviously not good enough this time, and basically all the bamboo sticks were piled together.
"Uncle An, you look down upon others."
Wang Baosheng shrugged his nose, with a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone.
I vowed to pick out some sticks and show them to Zhang An.
This little guy wasn't boasting. He actually picked seven or eight lottery tickets from such a messy pile.
This is already quite difficult, and it is half of the book.
When it came time to pick the last stick, the numbers below all moved, and it was Zhang An's turn.
But Zhang An was a bit of a bully, relying on his big hands and the loose bamboo sticks in his hands.
When he let go of his hand, the remaining bamboo sticks spread out like flowers blooming.
"The next one, the next one, this one is gone."
Seeing the bamboo sticks scattered like this, Zhang Tie and the two little kids behind him were already howling.
Zhang An threw the sticks like this. If it were them, there would be no one left, they would all be picked away.
However, things took a turn for the worse. They had given up, but now they had hope again.
“It’s moving, it’s moving, it’s my turn.”
After Zhang An picked halfway, he actually moved two of them at once. Zhang Tie quickly shouted loudly, fearing that others might not see it.
Actually, Zhang An did it on purpose. He picked twenty or thirty sticks at once and already doubled his profit.
If you finish picking them all, and play with him a few times at most, these little guys won’t play with him anymore.
So Zhang An just gave up when he saw good things. After all, he was also bullying others.
Unconsciously, Zhang An, a man who was decades old at heart, was having a great time playing with a group of teenagers.
It was four or five o'clock soon, and Zhang Jianguo and Wang Fang, who had gone to the rice fields, came back.
"You are still young, why are you lying on the ground playing with Tiewazi and the others."
Seeing that my son is so big, he is still lying on the ground like several dolls.
From time to time, my head is leaning this way and looking that way.
Looking like an old child who has not grown up, Wang Fang also shook his head.
"Hahaha, I just have nothing to do in the afternoon. I will play with them for a while to see how much they are playing."
After Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo came back, Zhang An did not continue to play with Zhang Tie and the others. Go down.
But Zhang An was also very moral and gave all the popsicle sticks he had just won to a few of them.
When the kids saw Wang Fang and Zhang Jianguo coming back, they didn't stay in Zhang An's yard.
He ran towards the drying ground in a hurry.
At this point, all the little kids in the village gather there.
When the food was not being dried in that place, it was regarded as the village’s children’s playground.
The main thing is that the place is wide enough and you can play anything.
Seeing that his parents were back, Zhang An was also ready to start cooking.
"Why are you cooking so early today?"
It's only five o'clock now, it's still bright, and usually we don't start cooking until after six o'clock.
"Mom, there's a power outage today. Let's eat early before dawn to save ourselves from the dark."
Wang Fang heard Zhang An say there was a power outage, and walked to the side and turned on the lights.
Fortunately, with the stoves now used at home, you can cook directly by just picking up the pot.
If we were like later generations, all our homes would be equipped with rice cookers and induction cookers.
This dinner may not be easy for many people to eat.
After washing the pot, Zhang An was thinking about what to eat tonight.
Then I remembered that it had been a long time since I had bacon and potato stewed rice, and Zhang An also felt a little nostalgic.
Eating stir-fry every day is a bit tiring, so today I am the chef and just make a pot of stewed rice.
Two bowls of rice for three people. After washing, put it in the pot and start cooking.
If you want to make stewed rice, you don’t need to boil the rice directly until it is cooked, it should be about 60 to 70% cooked.
After cooking, remove the half-cooked rice from the pot, drain the water and cook the rice for later use.
“How come I want to eat rice?”
When I usually cook, I cook the rice directly and then steam it in a steamer.
Wang Fang saw Zhang An starting to cook today and asked a few questions out of curiosity.
“I haven’t eaten potato stewed rice for a long time, so I will stew it in a pot tonight.”
When Wang Fang heard that Zhang An wanted to eat stewed rice, he washed his hands and took out the bacon. cut.
Zhang An arrived in the yard and peeled a few potatoes first.
Then I went to the vegetable garden in the backyard and picked a handful of green beans to choose.
Fortunately, I grow it myself, so I can eat whatever I want.
After Wang Fang cut the bacon into cubes, he took Zhang An's peeled potatoes and green beans and cut them into pieces.
Zhang An originally wanted to do it himself, but when he saw his mother taking advantage of it, he stood aside and watched.
Although Zhang An’s own cooking can be eaten, it is not as delicious as his mother’s cooking.
Cut the potatoes into cubes, neither too big nor too small.
If it is too big and not cooked enough, the rice will become mushy over time.
It won’t work if it’s too small, it will become powdery after a little simmering, and it’s not very tasty.
After processing the potatoes and green beans, Wang Fang began to fry the bacon in the pot.
You don’t need to fry the bacon for too long, as the oil will come out of the pan, otherwise it will taste too dry.
Then fry the potatoes and green beans with a spoonful of lard until they are about half cooked.
Stir the fried bacon and the freshly cooked rice together evenly.
Then pour it into the pot, covering the potatoes and green beans at the bottom of the pot.
There is no need to throw away the remaining rice soup from the rice bowl, it will be poured directly into the pot.
The fire in the stove should not be too big at this time, so a pot ring needs to be placed on the stove.
Then cover the lid and simmer over low heat for ten to fifteen minutes, and that's it.
Taking advantage of this time, Zhang An pulled some chives and fish coriander.
Wash and chop, wait until the rice in the pot is simmered, then pour it in directly.
In fact, at this time, use a spatula to stir all the rice and potatoes underneath evenly, and you can get it out of the pot.
But Zhang An felt that something was missing, so he brought over the oil chili made by his old mother.
I added two spoons of oil and chili pepper, and then started to mix the rice with a spatula.
Now a pot of red oil potato stewed rice is ready. The fresh chives and fish coriander are scalded by the hot rice.
The fresh aroma combined with the aroma of bacon can make people drool.
Coupled with the crispy whistle made at home, the children next door were so greedy that they cried.
“Dad, what delicious food did grandma make? It smells so good to me?”
No, Li Yao had already smelled it and ran over from home.
“Your grandma made pot-roasted rice, do you want to eat it?”
“Yes, look at my saliva, it’s already flowing out.”
Children talking Going straight forward made Wang Fang laugh.
Before anyone took action, Wang Fang took out a bowl first and made Li Yao a bowl to eat first.
"Yaoyao, the bowl is very hot. Grandma will put it on the stool for you. Can you sit down and eat?"
A high stool and a short stool have always been used in rural areas. It is a standard meal for children.
"Okay, thank you, grandma."
Li Yao sat on the small bench, holding the potatoes that had been stewed until golden brown with a layer of crust into his mouth between his chopsticks.
While eating, I was breathing heavily. I didn’t know whether it was hot or spicy.
Wang Fang prepared to feed Zhang An, but Zhang An said no, he would do it himself.
He didn't use the small bowl he usually used to eat at home. That bowl couldn't hold more than a few mouthfuls of rice, and he couldn't eat enough.
So I simply took out a large bowl from the cupboard and filled it with a full bowl of stewed rice.
"Godfather, why can you eat with such a big bowl, but I can't."
Little Li Yao looked at Zhang An using the big bowl and was very puzzled.
“Because you are still young. When you grow up, you will be able to eat from a big bowl.”
After watching Zhang An use a big bowl last time, he also followed Zhou when he went home to eat. Lan said that she also uses a big bowl when eating.
But the big bowl was not used, and Zhou Lan was beaten up instead.
When rural children eat, adults generally do not give them big bowls.
Because in their opinion, if a child is given a big bowl to eat, the child will grow up to have a big mouth.
Big mouth is not a good word, it means that you like to talk big, brag, and can't keep your mouth shut.
(End of this chapter)