NABC Chapter 542 Protect the ruins, or have enough to eat? That is the question!
Chapter 542 Protect the ruins, or have enough to eat? That is the question!
Jiang Xia hung up the phone and turned around to see people busily setting up a coal stove at the gate. As they finished setting up the pot and threw in seasoning packets, Jiang Xia instantly understood Jiang Dong's intentions.
Although I didn't understand the deeper meaning of Uncle Wang's words, "The phone wasn't specially made for him," I still couldn't help but give my sister a thumbs up in my heart.
At the same time, he went into the kitchen and sped up the meat-cutting process—although he couldn't cut the meat slices as translucent as the chef at Donglaishun, he at least wanted them to be ready to eat after a quick dip in boiling water.
As for the rice, besides the dough Jiang Dong kneaded to make steamed buns, the remaining gap was filled with cooked rice.
Don't say there's no rice. Do you remember Xiawa Village?
People at that time meant what they said. After the rice harvest, the old village chief really did send Jiangxia "rice from a hundred families," and it was even a large size! All the bits and pieces added up, it weighed a good hundred pounds!
But Jiang Xia counted on his fingers: if a hundred or so people do heavy work all day, and each person has to stuff two steamed buns and three bowls of rice into their stomachs, this amount of food probably won't even fill the gaps between their teeth.
Although there's no such thing as triple pay for working overtime during holidays now, Jiang Xia still feels that it's important to make sure everyone has a full stomach to create a festive atmosphere.
Find the large steamer basket, and then place the large iron pot that was originally used to cook pig feed on the wood-fired stove in the yard. Jiang Xia's gaze unconsciously fell on a scar on his left index finger.
Hey, isn't there a saying that Han Chinese people all have scars on their left index fingers? Jiangxia's scar is from when he was a child chopping pig feed with a guillotine. What about yours?
Jiang Xia threw the rice into the basin to soak, and then started rummaging through his pockets again.
Ruler, thermometer—if Jiang Xia weren't afraid of people asking where he got his measuring cups and other chemical instruments, he would have pulled out the measuring cylinder too.
Hmm? It's just steaming rice, what's so special about it that our little engineer Jiang is making such a fuss?
Hey! Isn't this the "double steaming method" that was featured in the newspaper?
No, its proper name should be double-steamed rice, and it's one of the "grain consumption increase methods" recommended in the "daily newspapers." This method was devised by Jiang Xia's alma mater—Wudaokou Vocational College.
Simply put, after the rice is already cooked, add twice the amount of water, and make sure the lid is tightly closed to prevent air from escaping, then steam the rice again.
Originally, one pound of rice could only be steamed into two pounds of cooked rice, but this double steaming method can produce five pounds of cooked rice.
Amazing, right? Awesome, right?
That's not all. The Grain Consumption Increase Method also includes the experience of steaming five pounds of steamed buns with one pound of corn. Even more extreme, a method of steaming steamed buns with corn cobs (corn cobs after the kernels have been removed) has emerged.
Clean the corncobs, grind them into fine powder, and then make them as usual for making steamed buns. One pound of corncob powder can make two pounds of steamed buns.
It is said that this kind of steamed bun tastes delicious and sweet...
Jiang Xia had never tasted this kind of "increased volume meal" that was soaked in water, seemingly plentiful but indistinguishable between dry and wet, but since the newspapers described it so convincingly, he decided to give it a try.
After all, the food supply for a hundred or so people is no small amount; even emptying the Jiang family's coffers might not be enough.
Don't say the Jiang family is being overly compassionate again. It's just that the commune didn't agree to the dam construction project. According to rural customs, when inviting people to work, Grandma Jiang is the "host," and the host is obligated to provide meals for the villagers who come to help!
But there's no need to say that the Jiang family suffered a loss. Jiang Xia is confident that he can make up for these losses from the commune. Even if a new commune leader comes, he won't be able to renege on his debts!
But why take out a ruler?
Tsk, of course it's about measuring the water level. For this kind of large-scale rice steaming, you can't just stick your finger in the rice cooker and know how much water to add.
After Jiangxia finally finished the calculations and was nervously waiting for his first pot of double-steamed rice, the villagers gradually returned.
He glanced at his watch. "Huh? Why are you getting off work so early today? We were working until six or seven last night for New Year's Eve dinner!"
"Hey, did the tamping machine work? Did we finish today's work ahead of schedule? I'm really amazing!"
Jiang Xia, shameless as ever, gave himself a thumbs up and then waved to Old Wang, who was busy at the old well.
"Old Wang! Old Wang! Help me cut the meat! We're too busy!"
Old Wang responded and ran back, picking up the Jiang family's ancestral kitchen knife and starting to slash.
"Fifth Brother! Lead the whole family to sit by the stove and let them eat the meat first. The staple food will be ready in a while!"
While giving orders loudly, Jiang Xia grabbed a palm-leaf fan and began fanning the furnace vigorously.
"Hey, you old fool, if you can bring a phone line, why don't you bring an electric wire and use the rice cooker? Wouldn't that be better?"
Ignoring Xiao Daimao's complaints, Lao Wang, while cutting meat, frowned and sized up the returning person. After thinking for a moment, he simply moved the cutting board next to Jiang Xia.
"Something's wrong!"
"What's wrong?"
"They all look like wilted eggplants?"
"If I asked you to dig ditches all day, you'd do the same thing!"
"No, look, their eyes seem lifeless!"
"Eh!"
Jiang Xia was stunned and looked at everyone.
Only then did he notice that when he returned from work yesterday, the commune's drying yard was in an uproar. The men were vying to see who had dug up two more baskets of soil that day, while their wives gathered around the stove to comment on the saltiness of his haphazard stew.
But today, everyone's steps were unsteady, their eyes were glazed over, and even the most talkative Wuzhu was slumped in the crowd, head down. What's wrong?
"Five Pillars! Come quick!"
Wu Zhu pushed through the crowd and ran up to Jiang Xia, standing there staring straight at him, his Adam's apple bobbing as he couldn't speak.
"What happened? Didn't you bring our rammer back? Didn't I tell you, the front rammer head can be detached. You can reattach the small rammer to the truck bed, and it can still be used as a transport vehicle!"
"Hey, why are you guys suddenly so discouraged today? Is digging the trench too tiring? Don't worry, I'll go back and get a small excavator..."
Listening to Jiang Xia's rambling, Wu Zhu finally couldn't hold back any longer and knelt down with a bang.
"Young Master! Please think of something! That newly arrived high-ranking official forbids us from digging a dam!"
"what!"
Jiang Xia was startled, and the palm-leaf fan in her hand fell to the ground: "Why is that! That guy surnamed Wu just came, didn't he praise us for our initiative?"
"Waaah, I don't know! Something flew in from who knows where, carrying that leader and Teacher Liang around in the sky, and then they landed and said we couldn't dig anymore!"
Wu Zhu's lamentation aroused everyone's anger, and they all started to say their own things.
"What cultural relics? We've been digging for half our lives, what kind of iron lump haven't we seen?"
"That's right, they say 'we need to leave something for our ancestors,' but we're starving, where would we get anything to remember them by..."
"Jiang Qiu was so anxious he cried. He told those two that this was a project for the people's livelihood, but they wouldn't listen at all! They just said it was some kind of historical evidence of the three thousand years of Beijing's history!"
Damn, Jiang Xia was stunned when he heard the phrase "three thousand years".
Good heavens, is this the site of the Yan state from the Western Zhou Dynasty?
To be, or not to be — that is the question.