Siheyuan: Relieve stress and relieve worries

Chapter 912 A Surprise
Wu Yong brought nearly twenty sacks, each of which was full. Wu Yong didn't say anything, and Wang Zhan didn't know what was inside. Even He Yushui and Wang Li were full of curiosity.

Out of curiosity, they began to open the bags one by one. Wang Zhan was responsible for unpacking, He Yushui was responsible for taking things out, and Wang Li was responsible for exclaiming and asking questions.

When opening the first bag, Wang Zhan smelled a strong fishy smell. After Wang Zhan opened it, he found, as expected, a bag of big fish. Each fish seemed to weigh more than two kilograms, but they were all frozen fish.

Wang Li looked at the frozen fish and drooled. Then she asked, "Brother, why haven't I seen these fish before?"

As Wang Zhan opened the second package, he said, "They are all sea fish. They are delicious after cooking. I will cook them for you tonight. Do you see those two yellow ones? They are large yellow croakers. Yu Shui, take those two out and put them in the kitchen first. We will eat them tonight."

Wang Zhan took the two girls to open the bags one by one, but they didn't take out all of them. Wang Zhan directly put the bags of food into the basement.

Wang Zhan was busy until noon, and only then did he roughly know what Hei Pi had brought him. The ingredients were divided into two batches. One batch was various game, which seemed to have been transported from the north. They were all wild meat, and even Feilong was filled with a sack. The other batch was seafood, with the most fish, and the rest were some squids, shrimps and the like, most of which should have been collected near Tianjin.

Only two bags were special. They looked like they were shipped to Tianjin from outside for sale. One bag contained top-quality dried goods, such as abalone, sea cucumber, fish maw, shark fin, etc. Wang Zhan couldn't tell what kind of meat was in the other bag, but they were all pickled.

Wang Zhan and his friends were very happy as this solved the problem of New Year's goods. The main reason was that the supply of meat was indeed very small this year. In addition, the pigeon market and the black market were rectified last year, so the market supply became tight all of a sudden. Wang Zhan's family was not like the employees in Yard No. 95, who received benefits distributed before the New Year.

For someone like Sha Zhu, he needs two kilograms of meat, half a kilogram of sugar, and one kilogram of eggs. Although it seems like a small amount, the steel rolling mill has now been expanded into a large factory with more than six thousand people. Adding these together, it is an astonishing number.

Wang Zhan received the benefits provided by the street office to the families of martyrs early this year, including one pound of oil, one pound of sugar, and one pound of eggs. Wang Zhan was very satisfied with this kind of benefits. After all, the street office is not easy either. Before the Chinese New Year, Director Wang got blisters on his mouth because of these things and was very upset.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and the New Year should be celebrated in a festive manner. After lunch in the afternoon, the three of them went straight to Guanyuan. Today was the last big market there. The three of them rode tricycles, strolling, buying and eating along the way. Wang Li shouted at everything she saw. Wang Zhan thought that they went there every year, but why was his sister always so interested? After thinking for a long time, he could only conclude that his sister was young and a foodie.

After returning in the evening, Wang Li and He Yushui did not feel hungry at all. Wang Zhan had no choice but to make himself a bowl of noodles and then start to fry some food. This year, Wang Zhan prepared three things: fried prawns, vegetarian radish meatballs and a small amount of meatballs.

The meatballs were prepared for cooking, and of course some were left for the two girls. Some were also hidden away, prepared for Erya and Xiaopang. He was afraid that his younger sister would steal some. He knew his younger sister's character very well. When it came to eating, Wang Li always went forward courageously.

When Wang Zhan's first pot of fried food, vegetarian meatballs, came out of the pot, the fragrance filled the yard, attracting He Yushui and Wang Li in the main room to the kitchen. Wang Zhan had guessed that the two girls would appear first, so he filled a large bowl and put it aside to dry. The two girls were not polite and carried it out of the kitchen. At this time, there were also two families making fried food in the No. 95 Courtyard. One of them was the Liu family in the backyard. Liu Haizhong was very stable this year. He became a sixth-level blacksmith and was already a master in the blacksmith workshop. In the past few days, many apprentices visited his home and sent many things. In addition to the factory welfare and the New Year's goods that their family bought themselves, the Liu family really had a good year this year. In the past two days, Liu Haizhong walked with his eyes looking up to the sky.

The other family that no one expected was the Jia family in the central courtyard. Normally, although Jia Dongxu was promoted to the fourth-level fitter, he only received one month's salary. This matter was caused by Yi Zhonghai. Yi Zhonghai can no longer rely on Sha Zhu, so he can only pay more attention to the Jia family. This year, the old lady in the backyard, the Yi family and the Jia family made an appointment to celebrate the New Year together. Qin Huairu directly took the job of preparing New Year's goods into her own hands.

The Jia family hasn't made fried food for several years. The last time they did so was when old comrade Jia was still alive. When hearing about making fried food, the most enthusiastic one was Jia Zhang. On the 29th day of the year, as Qin Huairu just started to heat the oil in the wok, Jia Zhang took the initiative to volunteer to take over the job. Jia Zhang missed the taste of meatballs very much.

Qin Huairu was also surprised that her mother-in-law was so proactive. When Yi Zhonghai saw that it was Jia Zhang who was cooking at the stove, he knew that something was wrong. Sure enough, of the three pounds of fried food prepared, only one and a half pounds came out in the end. After removing the food used for cooking, there was not even a bowl of meatballs left.

When Jia Dongxu saw this, he realized that this was not going to work. This was the first time that his master had arranged for a meal at his home, and his family was already getting a big bargain. If the New Year's Eve dinner was messed up, the deaf old lady who had reluctantly agreed would definitely overturn the table.

Jia Dongxu pulled Jia Zhang, who wanted to help, out of the kitchen. Qin Huairu looked at the small bowl of meatballs helplessly. She had no choice but to endure it. The meat in the house was already allocated and there was no extra, so she could only fry more vegetarian meatballs.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, there was finally some movement in the front yard of the Yan family, which had been silent for a long time. Yan Bugui and his two sons carried out their square table, and prepared red paper, writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone.

The Yan family originally disagreed with setting up the couplet stall today, but Yan Bugui shook his head and said, "Our family is in a very difficult situation this year. If we don't set up the stall, we probably won't even have peanuts and melon seeds for the New Year. Besides, this is also a way to apologize to the neighbors. This year I will definitely not ask for anything. Whoever is willing to give will give it to them, and I won't say anything if they don't."

Yang Ruihua was still a little skeptical about Yan Bugui's words, but she didn't object. Anyway, she had made up her mind to stay at home with her third and fourth children and avoid going out if possible.

People in the compound began to point and talk about Yan Bugui's stall. Later, everyone discovered that the father and son of the Yan family did not say a word there. As long as someone came up to him, Yan Bugui would take the initiative to write for them without saying a single extra word.

After trying it out with several families, everyone thought that this was a way for the Yan family to atone for themselves. However, they were all from the same courtyard, and they would see each other every day. Every family would send something over afterwards. At this time, Yan Bugui showed a sly smile.

(End of this chapter)