Chapter 17: Small Banquet
With a roll of his eyes, Zhang Hao asked seriously, "Brother Yuanchao, what is barbecued bamboo shoots? Is it delicious? You were such a jerk when you were little. You were not a good kid. Our teacher said that children should not be naughty, but should be obedient and sensible. They should study hard and become useful people to society in the future and contribute to the four modernizations..."
His father Zhang Jianguo was stunned for a moment, and Song Yuanchao immediately burst into laughter, touched his head and nodded repeatedly, saying that he was right. This made little Zhang Hao smile so proudly that he couldn't even see his eyes.
"Uncle, I'm looking for you for something."
"What's the matter? Is it about the household registration..."
"No, it's something else."
"Okay, I'll send the child home first and come to see you later."
"good!"
The two men pushed their bicycles into the alley while talking. Song Yuanchao went back to his home first, found the blueprint he had drawn earlier, and poured himself a cup of tea. Just as he put down the bottle of water, Zhang Jianguo arrived.
"Uncle Wang from the police station said that there is no problem with the information and the household registration will be issued after the procedures are completed. He asked me to wait for the news, which may take ten days or half a month. Thank you very much for this." Song Yuanchao offered a seat and placed the tea in front of Zhang Jianguo, then handed him a cigarette: "When I gave Uncle Wang the cigarette, he confiscated it. I have thought about it. After the household registration is issued, I will have to trouble my uncle to help invite Uncle Wang out for a simple meal."
"That's no problem. Lao Wang and I have a good relationship. I'll take care of it." Zhang Jianguo agreed immediately. Then he saw Song Yuanchao handing him a piece of paper. He took it and looked at it. He asked in confusion, "What is this...?"
"I'm planning to make a little gadget to be of some use. Uncle, can you find someone to help me make it?"
Zhang Jianguo looked at the blueprint carefully, while Song Yuanchao explained what was drawn on the blueprint and the dimensions on the edges. After listening, Zhang Jianguo thought for a moment and asked, "What material did you use? Wood?"
"Any ordinary wooden board will do." Song Yuanchao said with a smile.
"What is this place used for?" Zhang Jianguo pointed to a place and asked again.
"Oh, it's used to install a vise. Oh, by the way, if you hadn't mentioned it, I almost forgot. Could you please ask if there are any unused vises in your factory? It doesn't need to be good, just usable. Then help me install it directly on it."
Zhang Jianguo nodded, folded up the blueprint and put it in his pocket: "Okay, I got it. I'll go to the workshop tomorrow to ask the servants to see if it can be done. If it can be done, it will be done in a day or two at most. I'll let you know when it's done."
"Thank you, uncle."
"What are you thanking me for? It's just a small thing." As he said this, Zhang Jianguo put out the cigarette butt in the ashtray and then stood up.
"Uncle, let's eat together tonight. I bought some food. Let's have a drink tonight?" Seeing that Zhang Jianguo was about to leave, Song Yuanchao tried to persuade him to stay.
Zhang Jianguo waved his hand and said, "Let's wait for next time. The factory has a vehicle dispatch mission tonight. Otherwise, why would I come back so early? Okay, don't send me off. I'll go first. I'll talk to you when your things are ready."
Although Zhang Jianguo said he didn't want to see him off, Song Yuanchao still insisted on seeing him off downstairs. After Zhang Jianguo left, Song Yuanchao simply prepared some food in the kitchen, washed the dishes after eating, went back to the room, sat down at the desk and started writing again. He kept writing until the night watchman sounded outside, then Song Yuanchao washed his feet and went to bed to rest.
The next morning, Song Yuanchao got up early and went to the vegetable market. At this time, the vegetable market usually starts to get busy at four or five in the morning. Buying vegetables in the early morning is the top priority for every household, especially meat, eggs, and fish. If you go too late, they will be gone. Song Yuanchao queued up to buy some meat, a fish, and two large cabbages, and returned home with a full basket.
After arriving home, Song Yuanchao started to get busy. He first cut off the fat from the meat to make lard.
Nowadays, the oil used by ordinary households besides vegetable oil is basically homemade lard. Compared with the former, lard tastes much better than vegetable oil whether it is used for cooking dishes or noodles. Therefore, pork with fat in the vegetable market is the most sought-after and expensive item, while few people buy the lean meat. This is completely contrary to the promotion of healthy eating in later generations.
Song Yuanchao had lived alone , so he was naturally familiar with cooking.
He turned on the gas stove, set up the pot, put the cut fat into small pieces into the pot, then added a bowl of water and boiled it over high heat, then simmered it over low heat. As the fat boiled, a fragrant aroma filled the kitchen.
"Yuanchao, are you cooking? It smells so good?" The neighbor aunt in the living room on the first floor smelled the aroma and couldn't help but ran out to take a look. She saw that Song Yuanchao was not only boiling lard, but also had scaled fish and vegetables on the side.
"How can we cook so much delicious food today? Are we going to treat everyone?" the neighbor aunt asked jokingly.
Wearing an apron, Song Yuanchao watched the lard boiling over the fire and said with a smile: "Aren't you back? My old classmate is coming over for dinner today. We must have a good meal after not seeing each other for many years."
"That's as it should be. Is this classmate a boy or a girl?" The neighbor aunt became curious and asked with a smile.
"A man. He used to come here to play when he was a kid."
"Then can we just invite the male classmates? We need to invite the female classmates as well."
"Please treat me again next time, please give me a little at a time..." Song Yuanchao answered while turning down the heat and carefully scooping out the cooked lard residue little by little with a spatula.
After casually dealing with the neighbor lady, Song Yuanchao went back to his work. Perhaps because there was no gossip to be heard, the neighbor lady lost interest in talking and returned to her room after a while.
After putting the boiled lard into the enamel jar, Song Yuanchao picked up the small bowl containing the lard residue, found some white sugar and sprinkled some in it, then shook the bowl to mix the white sugar and lard residue thoroughly. When it was done, he took the bowl to Zhang's mother's house next door.
Lard residue is a good thing. It can not only be used for cooking but also as a snack. It tastes fragrant and crispy. It is the favorite thing of children of this era.
This bowl of lard residue was for Xiao Pingping. When she saw the fragrant lard residue, Xiao Pingping was extremely happy. Instead, it was Zhang's mother who blamed Song Yuanchao for wasting the lard and that it would be much better to use it to stir-fry cabbage.
Song Yuanchao said that there was no shortage of vegetables at home, so it wouldn't be a waste to prepare some for the children. He put down the bowl and said that the gas in the kitchen was still on, then hurried back.
By eleven o'clock, everything was almost ready. Song Yuanchao brought the cooked dishes upstairs and put a pot of freshly cooked rice in the dining room.
The so-called rice container is a container made of straw, rice chaff and mud. After it dries, it is baked over a fire and then wrapped with layers of old cloth. The size inside is just right for an aluminum pot, and there is a lid made of the same material on it.
This kind of rice cooker is found in every household and its function is to keep the rice in the pot warm.
In the era when there were no electric rice cookers, this was a must-have item for every household. Otherwise, when the weather was cold, the cooked rice would get cold if left outside for a while.
Just after finishing, Song Yuanchao heard someone calling his name downstairs, and hurried downstairs to see that it was Li Daqi.
"Aid North Korea!"
"Come up quickly!" Seeing Li Daqi, Song Yuanchao smiled and asked him to go upstairs. The stairs in the old Shikumen house were narrow, so Song Yuanchao stood in the corridor and did not go down. He turned around and walked back with Li Daqi.
After returning to the house, Song Yuanchao took off his apron and put it aside. At this time, Li Daqi had also walked in. He saw the sumptuous meal on the table at a glance, especially the bowl of fragrant pork and a steaming braised fish. He couldn't help swallowing his saliva.
"Wow, it's so rich?"
"According to Liaodong, this is a must!" Song Yuanchao joked, pulled a chair for him to sit down, and opened a bottle of Jiafan wine that he had prepared.
"We don't have any good wine, so let's just use this today." Song Yuanchao divided a bottle of rice wine into two teacups and raised one of the cups: "Come on! Daqi, wish us a happy return to Shanghai from abroad, and wish our future will be better and better!"
"That touched my heart. Come on, cheers!"
"cheers!"
The two clinked their glasses and then took a big sip together.
Although it was just ordinary Jiafan wine, at this moment, Song Yuanchao felt that this wine made him feel more refreshed than the Maotai and red wine that people drank in later generations.
