The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 441 Chinese New Year!!!

During every Chinese New Year, those selling steamed buns on the street go back to their hometowns early to celebrate the New Year.

Every year around the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, every household has to steam their own buns, in the hope of having their business prospering.

Not only did one have to knead the dough, put the buns in a steamer, and steam them oneself, but one couldn't even buy ready-made bean filling for the buns, so one had to make it oneself using the red beans supplied by the grain store.

Among the most basic ingredients for New Year's Eve dinner, such as cabbage, frozen tofu, pork, fish, and wine, cabbage is the cheapest, costing only 2 cents per pound. It was a must-have dish for every household at that time, and every winter every family had to store two to three hundred pounds of it.

You can’t buy ready-made frozen tofu at the moment, so you can only throw the fresh tofu you buy outside and let it freeze into frozen tofu by itself, which is also purely natural.

Most of the pork we bought was with bones and skin, and cost 5 or 1 cents a pound. A family would buy 2 pounds, and another pound as filling for dumplings. Having fish was the most rare thing to eat. With the side dish allowance, we could buy about pounds of hairtail fish, which was a rare treat for the whole family.

In addition, most families buy some wine during the Spring Festival, mostly Zhigu Gaoliang, which costs one or two yuan. In general, for a small family, a New Year's Eve dinner costs less than 10 yuan.

Compared to the good life in the capital, the life of people outside the capital is far worse.

Last winter, there was no work to do. Since Yang Xiaotong and others had just returned to the village from visiting relatives in Beijing, they did not plan to go back to Beijing again, and they spent the Spring Festival of 1976 in the village.

During festivals, people miss their families even more. It’s Chinese New Year, and the educated youths in the caves are cold and the stoves are cold. Far away from their families, the educated youths from Beijing lean on the door frames and sit on the stone steps. They miss home again.

In the cold winter, the biting north wind makes it impossible for people to stretch out their hands, and every household in the village is busy.

Grinding flour, grinding grain, and making tofu are all preparations for this year's Spring Festival.

The educated youth saw that their fellow villagers’ steamed buns were snow-white, and they thought their own buns were not as good, so they humbly asked for advice.

Then he went to the team to get white corn, wheat and beans and started preparing for steaming buns.

Banggeng and other male educated youth first ground the white corn, then sifted it through a fine sieve. The fine white cornmeal was kept separately, and the remaining coarser flour was used to make porridge.

Grind the wheat again and sift out the flour with a fine sieve, and what remains is the bran.

After the flour was ground, Yang Xiaotong and other women mixed the white flour and white corn flour together to make the dough rise, and then put the kneaded dough on the kang.

The next day, they fermented the dough and prepared to steam the buns.

Two newly arrived female educated youth helped by fetching water and making fire, while Yang Xiaotong used alkali and kneaded the dough.

In the midst of her busy schedule, she had an idea: when she was in Beijing, her mother would steam flower-shaped buns every Spring Festival.

Although Yang Xiaotong's mother is from the south, she follows the local customs.

She is very clever and can make very pretty steamed buns with flowers, birds, and small animals on them...

Yang Xiaotong remembered her mother's method and decided to learn how to steam the buns. After steaming some buns, she started to make patterns.

She took a pair of scissors and made a hedgehog, a bird, a frog, a rabbit, and even a turtle.

The newly arrived educated youth found it interesting and couldn't help but try their hand at making it. The two of them showed off their own works and laughed at each other's.

Although some people's works are weird, she is still interested in them.

This can be considered as finding joy in suffering!
The laughter of the female educated youth attracted all the women from the neighboring families.

The aunts and sisters-in-law were talking at once. One said, "These women are really good. They can even steam flowers."

The other said, "Silly girl, why did you pinch a turtle?"

“Hahaha!…” Yang Xiaotong and the others burst into laughter upon hearing this, and their laughter was so loud that it could shake the cave.

An aunt brought some red water, and they dipped a little in the red water and lightly sprinkled it on the flower buns, which was really festive.

As the saying goes, "The first month is fat, the second month is thin, and the third and fourth months are half dead."

The people in northern S were already poor, and last year they were hit by drought, making life even more difficult.

It was in such circumstances that the newly arrived educated youth spent another Spring Festival after being sent to the countryside to work.

Although life here is hard, Banggeng is reluctant to leave. Here he is the leader of the educated youth team and has his own lover. Even if he goes home, his life may not be better than here.

Bang Geng received the letter from his aunt Qin Jingru, saying that his grandmother wanted him to go back and take over the job at the Red Star Factory.

Banggeng was a little hesitant. He felt reluctant to leave Yang Xiaotong when he saw her smiling and playing with the female educated youth.

When the flower buns are cooked, open the lid of the pot and you will see small red dots on the white buns, which look as beautiful as the dolls in New Year pictures.

They collected a large basket full of flower buns, enough to feed the educated youth for half a month.

Looking at the snow-white steamed buns, Yang Xiaotong couldn't help but secretly admire the wisdom of the people who have lived on the Loess Plateau for generations.

Due to the local climate and soil, the wheat harvest was very low, the quality was not very good, and the flour was not white. In order to add to the atmosphere of the New Year, the women came up with the idea of ​​grinding white corn into powder and mixing it into the white flour.

Doing this not only improves the brightness of the white flour, but also makes the taste better and the nutritional combination more perfect.

After making the steamed buns, prepare to grind the tofu.

Several male educated youth in Banggeng borrowed a small grinder from a fellow villager, and the beans had already been soaked.

Grinding tofu is considered a technical job. In the rural areas of northern S, it is done by men.

A few new girls thought it was fun and wanted to do it themselves.

When they heard that they were going to grind tofu, several older men in the village all shook their heads, wondering how could girls do this?
Yang Xiaotong didn't believe it. Could it be that a woman couldn't do this? So she got ready to grind.

While she was holding the mill handle with her right hand and turning the millstone, she used an iron spoon in her left hand to scoop a spoonful of beans from the bean basin into the mill eye.

In this way, Yang Xiaotong pushed the mill a few times, scooped a spoonful of beans into the mill eye, and her two hands did different tasks. She could not stop and had to cooperate with each other.

She was a little awkward at first, but became proficient after a few minutes. She felt indescribably happy as she watched the green soybean milk flowing out of the grinding path.

"This girl is really capable!" Several uncles praised Yang Xiaotong while teaching her how to make brine, filter the bean dregs, and press tofu.

The tofu is finally formed. After the steamed buns are done and the tofu is ground, it is the end of the year.

…………

What to use as the filling for the dumplings on the 30th? What to do if there is no meat? Looking at the oily steamed buns sent by the team on the chopping board, Qin Huairu had an idea.

She washed a few white radishes, blanched them in boiling water and chopped them into radish paste. She also cut the oil-fried steamed buns into pieces and cut some tofu.

Soon, a pot of vegetarian stuffing was ready. The dumplings on the night of the 30th were delicious to Qin Huairu and her "comrades in arms".

We made a lot of dumplings and had some left over, so we asked teammates from other teams who were visiting to try some together.

They asked curiously: "Why are dumplings without meat so delicious?"

Because they went to bed late the day before, on the morning of New Year's Day, a knock on the door woke Qin Huairu and others who were still asleep.

I opened my eyes and found that it was already bright outside and the window paper was completely white.

Qin Huairu asked, "Who is it?" She couldn't hear the answer. She got dressed and went to the farm to open the wooden door of the farm dormitory.

Blocking the door was a middle-aged woman, with four children of different heights beside her. They were dressed in rags and covered with snowflakes. Behind them was a sea of ​​white.

Oh, it's snowing. On the first day of the new year, with heavy snow, if there is a way, who would bring a few little kids to beg for food?

Looking at them, Qin Huairu thought of her past. She felt sad and turned around, took a dozen white flower steamed buns from the basket on the chopping board and stuffed them all into the middle-aged woman's arms.

Seeing her frantically putting steamed buns into her dirty pockets and the children freezing, Qin Huairu said, "There is no hot water in the house now. Wait a moment."

Before she could finish, the woman kept saying, "Good people, good people, good rewards!" and slowly left with the children. The children looked back at Qin Huairu as they walked away, and Qin Huairu also stared at them in a daze.

The whole process was seen by the "roommate" who shared the room with her. "Silly woman, just give the last one, why did you give so much? We can't live like this anymore!" The roommate had her reasons.

But Qin Huairu was not feeling compassion for the world, nor did she have the ability to help the world. Seeing these children starving on New Year's Day and the difficulties faced by this woman, she thought of her past.

It’s almost been ten years, and she finally survived these countless days and nights. This year she can finally go home!

……

Because the "Dongfeng Market" is located in Wangfujing, it has become a must-visit place for foreign tourists when they arrive in Wangfujing, just like the department store.

There are not many department stores in Beijing, and with the addition of tourists from other places, Dongfeng Market is always crowded and bustling. In the summer, the Chinese people are fighting against the sky and the earth, and their enthusiasm is high. Housewives are also repairing the canal.

People in the factory were working very hard and competing to launch satellites.

This also makes many people who have no time to buy things during the day at work and want to buy some daily necessities worry.

In this era, we advocate serving the people wholeheartedly. In order to allow people who did not have time to buy daily necessities during the day to have a place to buy what they needed when they rested at night, a state-owned store called "Liaoyuan Day and Night Department Store" was opened on Qianmen Street.

During the Chinese New Year, the factory announced a holiday and generously distributed many benefits, including a considerable bonus.

Yan Zhaodi and Jia Xiaodang, holding their heavy savings in their hands, happily entered this dazzling department store with their sister Huaihua.

There are many kinds of goods in the store, and the three people's eyes are shining with anticipation and longing for a new year and a new atmosphere.

Although this department store covers an area of ​​less than 40 square meters, it has a complete range of goods. The most important thing is that it is open 24 hours a day, all year round, to serve people in need anytime and anywhere.

When it was first opened, people thought that there would not be many people visiting at night, but it turned out to be very popular. Every night the restaurant is packed with customers, and the evening sales are higher than during the day.

This Liaoyuan Day and Night Department Store not only sells goods, but also provides hot water, medicines, sewing and other services.

Meals are also available. People who have been busy all day can order two dishes here and have a few drinks at the small dining table in the store.

Buying "New Year's goods" is the highlight of the Chinese New Year. Although people's lives are not very affluent, the mood of the New Year and the purchase of New Year's goods are still a major event for the people in the hutongs during the Chinese New Year.

Buying meat during the Chinese New Year is the first thing to do.

Xiaodang had just started working as an apprentice, and his monthly salary was only thirty-six or thirty-seven yuan.

The price of pork has increased this year. A pound of pork costs 95 cents, nearly one dollar. Even if she eats as much as she wants, her income can only buy more than 30 pounds of pork.

So you can only buy more meat during the Chinese New Year.

The thing that the Jia family brothers and sisters have been craving for since they were young is meat!!!
When Yan Zhaodi saw Xiaodang spending money, she was reminded of her childhood.

I remember that more than ten years ago, her family bought two small firewood chickens for the New Year, and her mother wanted to make "Chicken stewed with mushrooms" and "Cold shredded chicken".

Several grocery stores near Nanluoguxiang Hutong did not stock any goods at all.

When her father Yan Bugui passed by Dongfeng Vegetable Market on his way to work, he would take her to buy some vegetables, and then go to work alone.

The Dongfeng Vegetable Market opens at 7 a.m. When they got there and had still a quarter of an hour to go, they saw a dense crowd of people who were not afraid of the cold and were already standing at the entrance of the vegetable market. Some were carrying baskets, some were carrying net bags, and all of them were ready to buy "New Year's goods."

The door of the vegetable market opened on time.

People who want to purchase "New Year's goods" flocked in and rushed to stand in front of the counters where they wanted to buy New Year's goods, anxiously waiting for the "happy" moment to come.

There were all kinds of chicken, duck, fish and meat on the counter, but an hour later, the counter was so quiet after all the items were cleared out.

In those days, you had to have a ticket to queue up to buy "New Year's goods", and you had to spend money and have time to queue up.

People who were buying "New Year's goods" were shouting and yelling in the market, walking from one end to the other, from the south counter to the north counter. The whole market was filled with noise. Yan Zhaodi was really afraid that the big concrete roof would be blown off by the shouting.

At around 8 o'clock that morning, Yan Zhaodi returned home carrying two frozen small chickens and two yellow croakers weighing about one kilogram each. The three aunts who were working saw them and asked about the price, and they were quite happy.

In the afternoon, the temperature in the yard after the wind began to rise under the sunlight.

"The grain store has peanuts, half a pound per person." The aunt in the yard enthusiastically told every family this reliable news.

Peanuts are not available for purchase at any time. Only before the Chinese New Year can one buy a few kilograms of peanuts and sunflower seeds with the skin on according to the population limit specified in the grain tax book.

After she bought the peanuts home, her "stingy" mother gave her a handful and then "hid" them.

The third aunt said: "During the New Year's holidays, we put it on a plate and place it on the table to welcome guests paying New Year's greetings." Even though the greedy Yan Zhaodi was unhappy, she didn't dare to say anything more.

The eldest brother Yan Jiecheng was a filial man. Later, he went to work as a cadre in the supply and marketing cooperative. Every New Year and other festivals, he would bring back some rare and good things from his workplace.

Of course their whole family will benefit from it!
When Yan Zhaodi thinks of these unforgettable moments in her life, she smiles knowingly.

Now, earth-shaking changes have already taken place in their family.

Yan Zhaodi has been working for several years. She does not need to hand over the money she earns to her family, so she is relatively free in spending money.

Therefore, she wanted to take advantage of the rare opportunity at the end of the year to spend it well.

It’s the same every year during the Chinese New Year.

As we enter the twelfth lunar month, the atmosphere of the New Year gradually becomes stronger.

After drinking Laba porridge and cooking Laba garlic, the New Year is just around the corner. The neighbors in the courtyard began to prepare for the New Year.

In the courtyard, the doors are facing each other and the houses are next to each other. One family is stewing meat, and the whole yard is filled with fragrance.

Every family will prepare it and eat it during the Chinese New Year. You can imagine how rich the aroma is.

Moreover, imitating each other and sharing what they have are the characteristics of the slum.

For example, if the Yan family made something delicious, they would send it to their neighbors to try, and if other families had anything delicious, they would also bring some to their family. This has been the case for many years.

In the past, the living standards were not very different, it was just a matter of population size.

When the population is small, life is more comfortable; if there are many children in the family and they are all very young, life will be a little tight.

Nowadays, there is some gap when it comes to which family in the courtyard has the highest living standard.

Everyone will definitely say the former Liu Jingzhai's family, but after moving out from his family, it was the old Yan's family, followed by the Sha Zhu's family, Xu Damao's family, Ge Shuping's family, Yi Zhonghai's family, and Liu Haizhong's family. The other families are a little worse.

You either need a ticket or a book to buy things. During the New Year, you take a shopping book and each person is provided with 2 taels of melon seeds, half a catty of peanuts, 5 catties of flour, and tael of sesame oil. Everyone gets the same amount of money, and everyone is equal.

The basic routine is the same for Chinese New Year dishes.

Most of the time, they steam a few pots of steamed buns, bean buns, date cakes, etc. with red dots on them and store them in a small flour jar outdoors. This way, they can be eaten for several days.

Fry some spareribs, vegetarian meatballs, etc.

Of course, stewed meat and dumplings with large fillings are indispensable. In addition, there are also rice noodles with meat, stewed fish, etc.

There are also bean paste, spicy vegetables and fried salty things that Beijing people like to eat.

Speaking of bean paste, Liu Zhiye’s aunt makes a lot of it every year. Not only does she eat it during the Chinese New Year, but she also uses it as the main dish throughout the winter and makes it after she finishes eating.

It is also very convenient to eat. No need to heat it up, just eat it cold. It can be eaten with steamed buns or rice as a side dish, and it tastes great.

The method of making this thing is also very simple: put water in the pot, add pepper, star anise, onion, ginger, soy sauce and other seasonings, and when the water is about to boil, put the chopped pork skin in, the pork skin can be solidified into jelly.

Cook until it is 70% to 80% cooked, add salt and MSG, then add diced carrots, tofu and soaked soybeans.

After boiling and cooling, it solidifies into jelly. There were no refrigerators at that time, so the bean paste was placed in the yard. When eating, a small piece was scooped into a plate. It tasted very good and was suitable for people of all ages.

The great aunt has a specialty, which is making "spicy dishes". Liu Zhiye likes this dish very much. Whenever he is at home, he must eat it with every meal. It is definitely appetizing.

So-called spicy dishes are not actually made with chili peppers.

The Vegetarian Treatise states: “Jiegeda is the root of mustard. Cut it into thin slices, boil it in boiling water, put it in a clean pot, add boiled soybeans, shredded raw radish, and salt as needed. Let it sit for two or three days, then take it out and eat it. It is very spicy.”

It is very clear. Cut the water lumps into thin slices, cook them, and then take them out and put them in a clean container with a lid.

Grate the bright red Bian radish into shreds, cover the cut dumplings with it, pour the original soup used to cook the dumplings on top, add the cooked soybeans, cover tightly, and it will be ready in two or three days.

The spicy taste penetrates your nose, clears your seven orifices, and removes heat. If you add soy sauce, vinegar, and sesame oil, the taste will be even better.

There is a traditional famous dish in the old capital called "Fried Salted Food".

This dish is made with pickled carrots, green bamboo shoots, bean curd, and white dried tofu, which come in five different colors. Cut them into thin strips, put oil in a pan, stir-fry with green onions and ginger, add the five strips and stir-fry until cooked, add salt and MSG, add a little sesame oil, and sprinkle with fried white sesame seeds, and the salty stir-fry is ready.

This dish is colorful, sweet and refreshing, with excellent color, aroma and taste, and is best eaten cold.

The above three dishes are actually cold dishes, which are indispensable on the New Year’s Eve dinner table of ordinary people in Beijing.

(End of this chapter)