The Red Era: Starting from a Truck Driver

Chapter 269 Refrigerator
After breakfast in the morning, Jiang Cheng told Zhou Lingying about his job according to the reason he had made up before. He worked as a driver for a leader in a foreign company in Shenzhen. The leader did not stay in Shenzhen all the time, so he only needed to go there once every half a month.

Another two thousand US dollars was also brought over, and I planned to ask Zhou Lingying to write a registered letter and send it to Nanjing.

But because of Zhou Lingying's household registration, she had already registered in Nanjing during the Chinese New Year. Now Zhou Lingying has to go there in person to transfer her household registration to Changcheng to be with Jiang Cheng.

Because in those days children's household registration was under their mother's name, transferring the household registration to Changcheng would not only help with the quantity of goods, but would also make it easier for the children to go to school in the future.

Jiang Zhaozhao will go to primary school this year, and it will be easier if her household registration is done. This doesn't mean that if the household registration is not under Jiang Cheng's name, she can't even go to school. Jiang Cheng has to go to the street office to get a certificate to prove that it is his daughter before she can go to the local public school.

If Jiang Cheng had not resigned, he could have gone to an internal primary school at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, which was just like a factory-run school. The children of employees did not have to pay tuition, but they still had to pay for textbooks.

That is to say, Zhou Lingying planned to personally take the US dollars Jiang Cheng brought to Nanjing. Jiang Cheng now had a car and time, so naturally they went together, which could be considered a self-driving tour.

"Is this the refrigerator~?"

"Yes, when the weather gets hotter in a few months, I can make sugar popsicles and mung bean popsicles every day."

In the room where Jiang Juan lived, Jiang Cheng opened the one-meter-high cardboard box he had carried back yesterday. Inside was a small single-door refrigerator.

Zhou Lingying had only heard of this thing, but had never seen a refrigerator. At least it was not sold in stores now. Only some high-ranking leaders would have it at home, and it was basically imported.

Jiang Cheng actually specially picked out the cheapest single-door refrigerator in Hong Kong that was one meter high. In fact, there were also ones that were more than half a meter high. This refrigerator also cost more than 600 Hong Kong dollars.

There is a manual gear switch in the middle of the refrigerator, which can be used for freshness preservation or freezing. If Jiang Cheng wants to store meat, he can only turn the power to the maximum. In this way, even if Jiang Cheng is not here, if the family wants to eat meat and has no meat coupons, they don't have to always kill chickens.

As for using the refrigerator to store leftovers, that is impossible. In this era, refrigerators are only used to keep leftovers fresh, and most people may not be willing to spend the electricity bill.

When they bought the refrigerator, the merchant also gave them some plastic molds for making popsicles. Jiang Cheng asked Zhou Lingying to cut the meat, put it in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator, while he took his daughter to make black sesame paste.

Jiang Cheng planned to make more black sesame paste, and after letting his daughters drink it, he would make popsicles with the rest today. It felt good to eat popsicles in spring, but he had never eaten popsicles made with black sesame paste, so he didn't know if they tasted good.

Anyway, Jiang Cheng spent the whole morning doing this, and then took his four daughters out for a walk. This time, the six-month-old fourth daughter was also taken out by Jiang Cheng, leaving Zhou Lingying alone at home busy with lunch.

At noon, we had to have a meat pie soup. Although the main purpose of meat pie soup was to drink the soup, each person still had to have a piece of meat pie of medium size. After cutting the meat, Zhou Lingying put the extra meat in the refrigerator and chopped the meat in the room, making sure it was minced meat.

The braised spareribs also need to be chopped into pieces, and the fish and shrimp also need to be processed. The green vegetables are still not on the market, and the only vegetable is stir-fried Chinese cabbage.

Four dishes and one soup, the meals at the leaders’ homes may not be this sumptuous.

Jiang Cheng took his daughter for a walk outside and came back. Without caring whether Zhou Lingying was busy or not, he left the fourth child, Jiang Sisi, to her.

When playing outside, Jiang Sisi suddenly started crying. Jiang Cheng held her in his arms and coaxed her for a long time. At first, he thought she was hungry. Later, he realized that children cry when they are hungry and when they need to poop.

Because Jiang Cheng didn't clean up her poop, there was a lot of rice in Jiang Sisi's diaper. Men take care of children just to play, and when they encounter this, they just leave it to the mother.

In other words, most women in this era believed that changing their children's diapers was their responsibility. If they did this in later generations, they would be scolded to death.

After changing the diaper, Zhou Lingying threw the fourth child to Jiang Cheng again. In Jiang Cheng's eyes, the fourth child became a milky baby again, and he couldn't let go of it and played with it.

After playing with her daughters, it was soon noon. Zhou Lingying had prepared the meal and was waiting for Jiang Juan to bring her classmates home for dinner.

Jiang Cheng took his daughter to check the refrigerator. The refrigeration effect was very good. The popsicles made of black sesame paste had frozen. They looked good because the popsicles made of the plastic mold box were not as big as the ones sold.

The popsicle made here is of medium size. Children can eat one in the spring without getting diarrhea due to the cold.

Each person got a popsicle, and Jiang Cheng also tried one. This popsicle made with black sesame paste tasted surprisingly good. Although it was quite different from ice cream, it was definitely better than ordinary popsicles.

At about 11:50, Jiang Juan came with her classmate, a thin but quiet-looking girl, whose clothes had patches on them but were clean.

Generally speaking, this type of girl can easily give people a good impression. After all, girls who love cleanliness are not that bad.

"Liu Li, these are my uncle and aunt, and this is my uncle's daughter. They both look very cute, right?" Jiang Juan pulled her classmate to introduce them to her.

"Hello, uncle and aunt. I am Jiang Juan's classmate." Liu Li said somewhat restrainedly.

Liu Li was actually embarrassed to come today, but Jiang Juan kept pulling her over. She was naturally very restrained in front of Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying, but when she saw Jiang Cheng's daughters, she really thought they were very pretty. Each of them was very pretty, even with short hair, they smiled very sweetly.

In this era, there are very few children who look as pretty as porcelain dolls. Children in cities are only slightly whiter than those in rural areas, but compared with Jiang Cheng's daughters, the gap is huge.

"You are the first student brought here by Juanzi. Come into the room and sit down quickly. The food is ready." Zhou Lingying greeted with a smile.

"Yes, Liu Li, please go into the room and sit down. I'll go serve the food." Jiang Juan warmly entertained.

When Liu Li heard her classmate Jiang Juan was going to serve rice to everyone, she immediately followed her and wanted to help serve rice to everyone. She was already embarrassed to come here to eat, and if she needed others to serve rice for her, it would be very impolite.

The cooked rice is also placed in the room. In the past, when there were few people in the family, we ate in the main room. Later, when there were more people in the family, in order to make it easier to clean, we moved it to the side room.

Liu Li followed Jiang Juan into the room. Jiang Juan was serving rice, and Liu Li brought it to the table. Liu Li had already seen the dishes on the table. The richness of the food was beyond her imagination. She would not have dared to think so even during the Chinese New Year.

After the meal was served, Liu Li sat on a long bench with Jiang Juan. She could eat several bowls of the fragrant rice without eating any other dishes. But here, she was too embarrassed to pick up any dishes.

However, at the beginning of the meal, Zhou Lingying first distributed the meat patties in the meat pie soup to her daughters, then gave a piece to Jiang Cheng, and finally got a piece for herself.

"Juanzi, share the rest with your classmates." Zhou Lingying said.

"I know, Auntie." Jiang Juan stood up immediately after hearing this and cut the last big meat pie in the soup into two, giving one piece to Liu Li and one piece for herself. The meat pie was divided very naturally. Liu Li looked at the meat pie in the bowl, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say.

Jiang Cheng could see that the students Jiang Juan brought were very restrained. After peeling a shrimp for the third child, he said, "We eat very quickly here. Juanzi can eat three bowls of rice in one meal. You can't eat well. No wonder you are so thin. You are not active in eating. There is something wrong with your thinking."

"Uncle, this is the first time my classmate comes here~~."

"Anyway, I don't like eating in small bites. Juanzi, hurry up and eat. Your aunt has been busy all morning. You have to clean up the dishes later."

Jiang Juan originally wanted to defend her classmate, but was interrupted by Jiang Cheng.

After Jiang Cheng finished speaking, Jiang Juan's classmate Liu Li obviously ate very quickly.

How could Liu Li not be enthusiastic about eating? She just couldn't let go. But now it was obvious that she had displeased her classmate Jiang Juan's uncle, so she had to let go.

"Juanzi, your aunt has been busy all morning since she heard that you were going to bring your classmates home for dinner. Your classmates didn't even pick up a single bite of the dishes, so your aunt worked in vain for the whole morning. If she does this again, it would be disrespectful to your aunt. Don't bring any classmates home in the future. You don't know how to make friends at your age." Jiang Cheng said as he picked up a piece of pork chop for each of his daughters.

"Uncle, it's not like that. Liu Li, just pick up some food and eat it, don't be embarrassed." Jiang Juan was really anxious after hearing what Jiang Cheng said.

In fact, Liu Li was also anxious. She didn't know how to let her classmate and uncle have a conflict. But at her age, she didn't have the ability to defend herself quickly. The main reason was that her personality was actually a bit introverted.

In order to show that she was not what Jiang Cheng said, and not to embarrass her classmate Jiang Juan, Liu Li also started to pick up dishes and eat rice fiercely.

"That's right, Zhaozhao, Panpan, look how good this sister is at eating. Start a competition. She eats three bowls of rice and you eat one bowl." Jiang Cheng said with a smile.

Children like to compete when eating, and they will also assist. In the process, they said that Liu Li, the elder sister, who only eats rice but not vegetables, is cheating.

Because after Liu Li picked up some dishes, she was afraid to pick up too much, so even if Jiang Juan forced her to serve rice, she didn't dare to pick up more dishes. In the so-called competition, Jiang Zhaozhao and Jiang Panpan had to ask Liu Li to eat shrimps. They also stared at Liu Li when they ate ribs and fish.

After this meal, Liu Li ate about the same amount as Jiang Juan. They were both growing up, so each of them ate three bowls, and they were big bowls. The key was how much food went into their stomachs. Not only Jiang Juan but also Liu Li, they didn't know where the food went when they stood up.

After dinner, Jiang Cheng asked Jiang Juan and Liu Li to try the homemade black sesame paste popsicles, and then asked them to clean up the dishes.

Liu Li was not the only one who was shocked to have a refrigerator at home. Jiang Juan was the same. In the summer, even if she didn't make popsicles, she could just freeze a glass of water to drink. It was a very refreshing thing to think about.

"Jiang Juan, your uncle's family is really rich. I haven't eaten anything as good as this during Chinese New Year. The fish didn't even have any bones, and I've never eaten that shrimp before."

While washing the dishes, Liu Li said to Jiang Juan with envy. The fish was sea bass, with tender meat, a dish often served at banquets in restaurants in later generations. The shrimp was mud shrimp, which was also quite large. They were all freshwater fish and shrimp. If they were from the sea, they would have died in a short time after being released into the water yesterday.

"I told you, my uncle is a car driver. He has such good conditions that many people envy him. My father is gone, and he is just like my father. Don't think my uncle is fierce, but as long as you go along with his temper, you will find him a good person." Jiang Juan said.

Zhou Lingying taught her to follow Jiang Cheng. Because she only needed to remember one thing: even if what Jiang Cheng did was wrong, it was definitely for her own good.

Liu Li thought about it and nodded in agreement. She had no father since she was a child, and as a girl, she had experienced many ups and downs in life since she was a child.

She could sense whether a person really hated her or looked down on her. Even if it was just a noon contact, Liu Li could sense that Jiang Juan's uncle and aunt were not the kind of people who looked down on her behind their backs while being polite on the surface.

Liu Li ate a lot of food at noon, and she could feel that the more she ate, the happier Jiang Juan's uncle and aunt would be.

The only thing that made Liu Li a little regretful was that she couldn’t bring these dishes back home for her family to eat. Her mother and sister had never eaten such delicious food.

But just when Liu Li and Jiang Juan finished washing the dishes and were chatting in the room, Jiang Juan was called away, and soon she returned to the room with her three sisters carrying a box.

Jiang Juan found a pair of scissors and opened the box. It turned out to be cake and biscuits. The cake was still the triangular cream cake, and the biscuits were just simple crispy scones.

Jiang Cheng said he was sharing it with his sisters, but he had brought this kind of cake and biscuits many times before. Jiang Juan didn't have a piece of cake alone, usually Jiang Zhaozhao and Jiang Panpan each had one. Jiang Juan had to feed Jiang Niannian a piece, and if Jiang Niannian couldn't eat any more, the rest would be hers.

This time, Jiang Juan gave Liu Li a piece of cake and some cookies.

"Jiang Juan, I can't take these things. I've eaten at your house today, how can I take things away from you?" Liu Li said in refusal.

"My uncle asked me to give it to you. You're welcome." Jiang Juan said, but after thinking for a moment, she added, "I'll let you taste my cake later. You can take this piece home for your mother and sister to taste."

When Liu Li heard that she was going to take it back for her mother and sister to taste, she was immediately convinced and said, "Then lend me a lunch box to put it in. I'll give it to you tomorrow."

"Okay, no problem." Jiang Juan promised.

The cakes Jiang Cheng brought had no preservatives added, so they would go moldy if not eaten within a few days. Unlike some cakes in later generations, which could be left on the counter for a month and still look like freshly made.

Jiang Juan fed Jiang Niannian a lot, and then shared a piece with Liu Li.

Class started at 1:30 in the afternoon. After eating the cake, Jiang Juan went to school with Liu Li.

Jiang Cheng and Zhou Lingying thought that the matter of entertaining Jiang Juan's classmates was over, but because of this piece of cake and some cookies, there was a follow-up. At around 7 o'clock in the evening, Liu Li appeared again, but she did not come alone, but came with her mother.

Liu Li gave the cake and biscuits to her mother and sister after school in the afternoon. She also said that her classmates had invited her to their home for lunch at noon and the food was given by her classmate's family.

Cakes and biscuits are not something that ordinary people can eat easily these days. Liu Li's mother thought her daughter was rude for accepting gifts from her classmates when she went to their homes for dinner. She even thought she was spineless and was trying to curry favor with classmates from wealthy families at school.

No matter how Liu Li explained, her mother didn't believe it. In the end, she was dragged to Jiang Cheng's side, and then she understood the situation. She knew that her daughter's classmate was actually in poor conditions, from the countryside, and had no father. He just had an uncle with a good family background.

Jiang Juan is a good student with excellent character and academic performance. She has many award certificates in her room.

(End of this chapter)