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

After everyone climbed onto the truck bed and sat down, Wang An started the truck, turned it around, and drove back to Kaoshantun.

Although the two villages are not far apart, it still took more than 50 minutes to go there and back.

When Wang An brought the group of vagrants from Weizigou home, the efficient Shen Wei and Zhao Cuiyun had already cooked the rice and steamed it in the pot. They should be able to eat it soon, and the vegetables had also been stewed in the pot and would be cooked in no time.

The meal consisted of cornmeal rice, and the side dishes included wild boar stew with potatoes and pumpkin, as well as a pickled vegetable.

By this standard, the food was already considered top-notch, at least much better than what these vagrants ate at home.

The male craftsmen were housed in the gatehouse at the main entrance, while the female craftsmen were housed in the lower room of the old courtyard.

After all the craftsmen had put away their luggage, the food was ready.

Zhao Cuiyun and Shen Wei originally intended to transfer the food from the pot to enamel basins before having everyone take it back to their respective rooms to eat.

But the impatient crowd began to say:

"If you ask me, there's no need to keep using the basin anymore. Just put it directly into the pot and eat it here in the shed. That's perfectly fine. Anyway, it's the same as eating inside."

"Yeah, it's all the same no matter where you eat. Taking up a bowl and then having to wash it is not worth it."

"That's for sure! Let's get back to work after we finish eating, isn't that better than anything else?"

From their words, it's clear that their desire for food has reached an extremely strong level.

To put it bluntly, these people are extremely hungry right now. If they weren't about to get food, they might have started fighting over it.

Wang An also experienced hunger as a child, and he truly understood how painful and unbearable it was.

It's no exaggeration to say that when a person is hungry, they'll want to take a bite of anything they see.

So, before everyone could finish speaking, Wang An called to Shen Wei and Zhao Cuiyun and said:

"Sister Shen, Sister Zhao, let's listen to everyone and serve everyone rice now."

After Wang An finished speaking, Zhao Cuiyun picked up the small helmets and served rice to everyone. Shen Wei picked up a spoon and put the dishes directly on top of the rice. Everyone picked up their small helmets filled with rice and dishes and stood by the stove, eagerly eating.

The so-called "small helmet" is actually a deeper version of a small basin. The volume of the "small helmet" is much larger than that of the largest bowl and the smallest basin, so it can hold a lot more rice.

These people ate like starving ghosts reincarnated, devouring their food with incredible speed and ravenous abandon. Their mouths were stuffed full, yet they still kept shoving more food into them.

This scene made Wang Dazhu, Wang An, Zhao Cuiyun, and Shen Wei all grin from ear to ear.

However, since everyone had experienced such hardship, and their lives had only undergone tremendous changes in the last few years, no one gossiped about how they ate.

Wang An greeted everyone with a smile, saying:

"Eat slowly, the rice and vegetables in these two big pots are all for you. There will be more if you're not full. Don't rush, eat slowly and you'll make it in time."

However, everyone ignored Wang An's words and was busy shoveling rice into their mouths.

In less than two minutes, all the rice and vegetables in everyone's little helmets were gone.

Only then did Ergangzi look satisfied, and he smiled憨厚ly:
"Only by working here can I get a full meal. These days I've been eating nothing but porridge and wild vegetable dumplings every day, I'm starving, hehehehe."

At this moment, Ergangzi looked very happy.

After Ergangzi finished speaking, Pang Yongxiang also chuckled and sighed:
"Yeah, if I could have enough to eat every day, I'd do anything!" A young man named Du Youliang immediately chimed in with a hopeful expression.

"If only we could have enough to eat every day, then we wouldn't even need to talk about anything else. I dream about how wonderful it would be if I could live a life where I could have enough to eat every single meal."

It must be admitted that although these people's words seem casual, they are their truest thoughts, but they are also very heartbreaking to hear!
They are clearly not lazy; in fact, they are very hardworking. Yet, the truth is that they can't even get enough to eat.

Of course, people don't starve to death in Northeast China.

Wang An interrupted the crowd's discussion and sighs, picked up his rice spoon, and said with a smile:

"Come on, come on, if you're not full, keep eating. When you come to my house to work, the food must be plentiful. But once you're full, you have to work hard."

Ergangzi, holding the small helmet in his hand, which was completely devoid of even a single grain of rice, looked embarrassed and stammered:
"I, I, I'm really not full. How about... give me some more? Hehehehehe."

After saying that, Ergangzi laughed awkwardly a few times, clearly feeling very bad about his act of adding rice to the bowl.

You have to understand that in the homes of these vagrants, even if all they eat for each meal is porridge and vegetable dumplings, they can't eat to their heart's content. Each person has a fixed amount of food for each meal, so it's impossible to eat until you're full; at most, you'll just avoid starvation.

The "muddled porridge" mentioned here is actually cornmeal porridge.

Although "muddled porridge" cannot keep you full for long, and you will feel empty in your stomach after urinating, if you drink a bowl of it when you are hungry, the feeling of hunger will disappear instantly.

This kind of porridge was the staple food of people in the past.

After Ergangzi finished speaking, Wang An generously said:
"What's the big deal? Don't be shy here. Eat your fill first, then you're done. How can you work if you don't eat your fill? Hahaha, come on, hand over your little helmets. Everyone needs to eat at least one more of these little helmets."

After Wang An finished speaking, the chorus of praise from the group of vagrants rose up again:

"The host is so kind, he lets us eat as much rice and dishes as we want."

"Yeah, there are slices of meat in this dish too. I ate meat before the Lunar New Year."

"I have to work like crazy after I finish eating, otherwise I'll be letting down the host who provided such a good meal."

"Then we have to work our butts off, otherwise we'd be inhuman."

Regardless, although these vagrants were indeed big eaters, or rather, extremely big eaters, they were also very hardworking and didn't slack off at all.

Of course, if anyone dares to cheat or shirk responsibility, Wang An will absolutely not tolerate it and will tell them to get lost.

Treat them well with good food and drink; otherwise, they won't work!

At Wang An's invitation, everyone ate a small bowl of rice and vegetables, and only then did they say they were full.

However, Wang An knew that when these people said they were full, they were just too embarrassed to eat anymore.

If they continue eating, each of them can have another small helmet.

And it's the kind of food that's very easy to eat.

Although Wang An knew this was the case, and there was still a lot of rice and vegetables left in the pot, he did not urge everyone to eat more.

The reason Wang An didn't urge the people to continue eating wasn't because he was worried about wasting food, but mainly because he knew their stomachs wouldn't be able to handle it, and it would only harm them. (End of Chapter)