Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Chapter 1140 The wine was quite good.

To be honest, Shi Suo's wife's cooking skills are really not that great. Only her pickled peanuts are decent. As for this dish, Wang An feels that it tastes the same no matter who makes it.

So, after tasting all the dishes, Wang An craned his neck and shouted towards the outer room:
"Sister-in-law, what kind of pickled vegetables do you have at home? Give me some of your pickled vegetables, and then give me some vegetables to dip in. Just give me whatever you have. If you don't have any, give me a bowl of sauce and two scallions."

During this season, the vegetable gardens of every household in Northeast China are empty, with practically nothing left. So, from the moment the ground freezes, the people of Northeast China enter a period without any fresh vegetables to eat.

Of course, it can't be said that there was none at all, because each household had already stored radishes and cabbages for the winter in their cellars, and there were also scallions with only the white part and no green parts on the roof of the barn. These three things were the vegetables.

After Wang An shouted, he heard Shi Suo's wife respond from outside, but Shi Suo said with a helpless expression:
"Hey bro, what kind of pickled vegetables and dipping sauce are you eating? What's so good about those things?"

Wang An shook his head and made an excuse:
"No, when I drink, I want to eat some pickled vegetables and vegetables with dipping sauce. Without these things, I feel like drinking is meaningless."

Shi Suo stared at Wang An for a long time before shaking his head and remaining silent.

Soon, Shi Suo's wife brought Wang An two kinds of pickled vegetables: a stuffed eggplant and a pickled cucumber. To be honest, although Shi Suo's wife's cooking was not very good, the pickled vegetables were actually quite good.

Casually, Shi Suo's wife brought Wang An a basket of vegetables with dipping sauce and a bowl of soybean paste.

Wang An seized the opportunity to say:

"Sister-in-law, don't bother with anything, come and eat on the kang (heated brick bed)."

However, Shi Suo's wife said with a smile:
"I don't drink, I'll just eat in the outer room. You eat, you eat, hehehe."

Therefore, Wang An did not try to persuade him further, mainly because there was indeed such a custom in the area: when guests came, women and children would not sit at the table.

The root of this custom is not that women are not valued, or that children are ignorant or something, but rather that there is too little food, so guests should eat first.

Even the male host, who was sitting at the table with the guests, only ate a little bit of the food and barely touched his chopsticks.

For the rest of the meal, Wang An basically ate nothing but peanuts, pickled vegetables, and vegetables with dipping sauce.

Shi Suo thought Wang An was embarrassed to eat meat, so he kept piling meat into Wang An's bowl, making Wang An feel really uncomfortable.

The fact that the host serves food to the guests shows that the host is afraid of neglecting the guests and takes them seriously. However, Wang An really had no interest whatsoever in the meat that Shi Suo's wife made.

Therefore, Wang An said with great helplessness:
"Brother Shi, please don't put any more meat on my plate. I've been eating too much meat these past few days and I just want something light."

"吃怼着了" is a local slang term meaning that you've eaten too much of something and are tired of it, so you don't want to eat it anymore.

As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Shi Suo was completely dumbfounded.

The main reason was that in those days, meat was a very luxurious commodity for ordinary people. Not only was it subject to purchase restrictions, but the price was also beyond the reach of ordinary families.

Normally, when people buy meat, they only want the fatty parts, the fattier the better. Then they render the meat into fat, and when guests come over, they use chopsticks to scoop out a small amount and mix it into the dish just before it's finished cooking.

That's right, it means adding oil after the food is cooked. This method of adding oil is also called "adding oil after the wife has finished cooking".

The reason for doing this is that if you add oil later, the oil won't soak into the food, making the whole plate look oily, which gives the guests a better visual experience, and it also gives the food a slightly greasy taste.

Even then, it's only when guests come over. If it's just cooking at home, there's not even the so-called "second wife oil"; it's just simple boiled vegetables in salt water.

To put it bluntly, it's all because of poverty. After recovering from his shock, Shi Suo said with an incredulous expression:
"You got a sore throat from eating meat? Can you really get a sore throat from eating meat?"

As he spoke, Shi Suo picked up a piece of meat and put it in his mouth, smacking his lips as he said:

"This stuff is so delicious, the more you eat, the better it gets, how can you eat it like that?"

This shows that Shi Suo's family was really struggling, not much different from other rural families at that time.

Wang An laughed heartily and said:

"I remember telling you I keep a huge pack of dogs, and every winter I go hunting in the mountains. You know how good a shot I am, do you think we'd ever go hungry? Hahahaha."

Upon hearing that there would be no shortage of meat, Shi Suo immediately showed an envious expression and said with great interest:

"I do know there are lots of wild animals in the mountains, but those animals are really cunning. Once they're in the mountains, you can't find them anywhere. Now that you've said that, it seems like those wild animals have become your family's meat. Hahahaha. You're not just bragging, are you?"

Wang An said with a speechless expression:
"Damn, you obviously don't know anything about this. Here's what we'll do: when I run into a herd of wild boars someday, I'll get you a couple of big wild boars to eat. It's easy to get some meat every day, isn't it?"

Shi Suo picked up the enamel mug, clinked it against Wang An's, and said with a longing look on his face:
"Brother, tell me, how do you guys hunt when you go into the mountains?"

Wang An said very casually:
"Hunting is something that's not exactly difficult, but there's a lot of intricacies involved. Let's talk about hunting. Hunting is what laymen call it. We call hunting 'encirclement,' which is divided into large encirclement and small encirclement."

As he spoke, Wang An picked up two peanuts, popped them into his mouth, and chewed as he said:

"You're like setting traps, snares, cages, or using slingshots—that's like hunting in a small area. I, on the other hand, hunt in both small and large areas."

And so, the two ate and chatted, and before they knew it, a bottle of Beidacang was gone.

Wang An is immune to alcohol, so he was fine after drinking half a jin of baijiu. Shi Suo, apart from having a slightly red face, was also clear-headed and spoke clearly, seemingly without any problems. It must be said, Shi Suo's alcohol tolerance is really good.

However, Wang An's various amusing stories about hiking in the mountains excited Shi Suo so much that he was eager to try them out.

It has to be said that the idea of ​​riding a horse, carrying a gun, and leading a pack of dogs through the mountains is something that would make anyone yearn for it and wish they could be one of them.

However, the dangers and hardships involved are automatically overlooked by the vast majority of people.

And so, although the food wasn't great, the drinking was quite enjoyable. By the time Wang An left, it was already past 2 PM.

When he left, Wang An left Shi Suo a bag of rice and a bag of flour.

The main thing was that when Wang An went out to urinate during the meal, he actually saw Shi Suo's wife secretly eating with cornbread and the little bit of soup left in the pot. Of course, there were also pickled vegetables on the stove.

For some reason, this scene reminded Wang An of the time when he was reborn, of the longing look in his younger siblings' eyes for meat, and of the time when Wang Yi used a flatbread to eat the leftover vegetable bowl after he had hunted his first wild boar.

It was clear that Shi Suo's wife had served all the dishes to Wang An, leaving none for herself.

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(End of this chapter)