My 1978 Hotel

Chapter 106: Spreading Candy on the Beam
"Why do you buy so many things?"

Wu Shengnan looked up and down at Li Feng, who was carrying a bamboo basket on his back and two bamboo baskets on his shoulders. He must have bought a lot of things.

"We're putting up the beams today, so buy more."

Li Feng arrived early in the morning and it was a little before five when he arrived at the commune. He had originally planned to borrow a wheelbarrow, but when he asked the team last night, he found out that the team was short of vehicles. So he could only carry a larger bamboo basket and two more baskets early in the morning.

"What about your two cousins?"

"I was busy making furniture, so I didn't let you come. I can still carry this little stuff." Li Feng had planned before coming that he would take a ride in Han Anjun's car. He never expected that he didn't see Han Anjun, but met Wu Shengnan first.

"Is Public Security Wu busy today?"

"Go play at home if you have nothing to do."

This happened just in time. Li Feng made a casual invitation, but he never expected that Wu Shengnan would actually agree.

"That's daring."

Li Dong murmured in his heart, how could he agree so easily? He thought he would refuse, which made Li Feng a little confused.

"How about this, wait, I'll take you back."

"How embarrassing is this?"

Li Feng thought to himself that it was more comfortable now. Although the motorcycle was as bumpy as a bicycle, at least the sitting time would be shorter, so it was always better to have less bumps.

"You're welcome."

Wu Shengnan had used up the shampoo cream that she had distributed last time. She had wanted to buy some at the county department store, but after using it, she felt that it was not as good as the one that Li Feng distributed to her. So she wanted to go to Li Feng's house to see if he had any left and distribute some more.

Li Feng got on his motorcycle and went to the commune post office to invite Huang Xiaoli, Wu Xiaofeng, and Han Anjun from the commune. "I'll go over to the commune later and tell Anjun for you."

"That works."

At the pig farm, Zhu Xueqin went to the county for training but was disappointed. There was nothing he could do. As for Secretary Gao and Secretary Wu of the commune, they were high-ranking officials, and it was difficult for a small farmer like him to visit them. After inviting everyone and buying everything, Li Feng invited Wu Shengnan back to Hanjiaba.

Having a motorcycle is a real comfort, but unfortunately the Spacetime Hotel has limited capacity, so I'm afraid they won't be around for a while. "Let's think of a way later. If a dead object like a motorcycle doesn't work, I'm not sure if a living thing will."

For example, if I paid an extra fee for one more spot, could I get a big black donkey, or a big black horse, or something? "Don't say, it's actually possible." Li Feng slapped his thigh excitedly and almost jumped up.

"what happened?"

Wu Shengnan was scared by Li Feng.

"I thought of a good topic."

"Are you writing a new article again?"

Wu Shengnan was surprised. All writers were so prolific. But as a pseudo-literary youth, Wu Shengnan was still looking forward to Li Feng's new work. After all, his previous works were quite good, especially his poetry, which was quite enjoyable.

"Just starting to get some clues."

Li Feng wasn't being frivolous. The bamboo product mission was pretty good, almost 95 percent complete. A few more days of grinding in the simulation should be enough. "I wonder what bamboo products will be released this time? Judging by the system's nature, I'm afraid it'll be something related to bamboo."

Li Feng didn't know many literary works related to bamboo products. He didn't think much about it and had to quickly pack up and prepare lunch. He would put up the beams in the morning, have a meal at noon, and show a movie in the evening. Everything was arranged properly.

The beams could have been put up a few days earlier. After renovating the toilet and laying some stones, it was much cleaner. Otherwise, it wouldn't have taken so long to put up the beams. "Shout to sister-in-law, go slower. It'll be fine if we can put up the beams in the morning."

Six workers a day would make nearly five dollars. Others would definitely want to finish the job in one day, but Li Feng didn't think so, especially now that he had exchanged the royalties for the forget-me-nots and sold the piglets.

With a hundred yuan in hand and the upcoming payment of over a hundred yuan for his work on postpartum sow care, Li Feng was now quite wealthy. Unfortunately, these royalties were not included in his wages, so he couldn't take them home. He had to go to work when he had time.

The pay was really low, but luckily the brothers Gao Ju and Gao Cheng were going to start shaving people tomorrow, so they could get a good share of the money they earned. "Alas, it's a pity that getting a haircut is so hard these days. Most production teams have their own barbers."

At the market, you can set up a small stall and help some commune cadres shave their heads for a cheaper price, after all, the price of a haircut is higher for city dwellers. Fortunately, in some remote mountain villages, the production teams are small and there are no barbers, so they have to rely on other teams. Some people are willing to pay a small fee to shave their heads because they don't like the delay.

Barbering wasn't as good as furniture making, but these days furniture makers mostly hired people from their own brigade, or from acquaintances in nearby brigades, and the price was slightly higher than the cost of the materials. This time, Gao Ju and Gao Cheng planned to use the guise of barbering to help other families make furniture, earning some labor fees and collecting odds and ends like porcelain and antiques to supplement their income.

Of course, Li Feng didn't care about these. He now planned to complete the task well, write a few more articles to earn more royalties, and attract rich readers. This way, he could have more money and food coupons, and then he could start a leisurely tour.

"Where should I put this basket of meat?"

"give it to me."

As soon as a basket of pork weighing five or six pounds passed by the yard, An You and his friends were stunned by the sight of so much pork that they were drooling. This was all top-quality pork, with at least three fingers of fat.

"Would you like to help?"

"No need, Wu Gongan, you take a rest, I'll do it."

It's still early, so I need to get the ingredients ready first. I'll put the pork in the pot soon, and then I'll have to chop the meat for the meatballs. There's nothing else to do. "Wu Gongan, if you have any work to do here, go ahead and do it. The beam raising will take another hour or two."

It was now 8:30, and Li Feng had set the beam raising time at 11:48. Since the work had just ended, it was time for everyone to come and watch the fun; otherwise, there would be no point in raising the beam in such a quiet place. Wu Shengnan wasn't really good at cooking. Although she had learned a little, her work as a police officer kept her busy, and she had already given back what little cooking she had learned.

There wasn't much I could do to help, so I just helped paint the buns. There weren't any eggs, but there were some candies, buns, and red, green, and yellow peanuts. "Is this a rice krispie ball?"

"Yes."

Li Feng grabbed some and handed it to Wu Shengnan. "Public Security Wu, try it. It tastes pretty good."

"No, thanks."

"It's okay, there are plenty."

A basket of rice popcorn balls only weighs a few pounds, but now there are a few more, which will also be the main force that Liang will scatter later.

"Thank you."

Wu Shengnan thought to herself that she couldn't help here and was embarrassed to eat other people's food, so she took out fifty cents as a gift. "Wu Gongan, you're too polite. Take this money quickly. I won't accept gifts this time." This was not a lie. Li Feng had told Uncle Fuguo and the others early on that they didn't plan to invite many people. Apart from the workers like his sister-in-law, the rest were production team cadres and friends. Accepting gifts would be inappropriate.

As they were talking, Huang Xiaoli and Yang Ming arrived on their bicycles, accompanied by Wu Xiaofeng.

"An Jun is busy with work this morning and will be late, so we'll come over first to see if there's anything we can do to help."

Wu Xiaofeng said with a smile, while the two of them were talking, they had already taken the wooden basin to help wash and cut the vegetables. Huang Xiaoli's cooking skills were okay, so cutting the vegetables was no problem. Wu Xiaofeng's skills were a little bit worse, but washing and picking the vegetables was no problem.

I just didn't expect Li Feng to have such a complete preparation today: bacon, pork, eggs, tofu, dried tofu, vermicelli noodles, and even some dried scallops—truly a rare treat. "A reader from Shanghai sent this. I don't know how to eat it. I'll put some in the soup later."

"correct."

Li Feng brought out some snacks. "Everyone should try these snacks sent by readers. You're welcome, Brother Yang, try this. This rice cake candy is pretty good."

"It's good."

Yang Ming took it and tasted the crispy and crunchy one. "It's still made with lard."

"Yeah, let me try it too."

Everyone tried it and found it delicious. The most important thing was that it was fried, which meant it was truly delicious. Everyone helped out while Li Feng stewed the meatballs and pork, and would add the vermicelli noodles later. The other dishes were also prepared and ready to be eaten at any time.

"Everyone go sit in the main hall."

The rice was already steaming in the borrowed steamer. This guy had used over ten pounds of rice, a whole wooden barrel full of it, so it was definitely enough to eat. "Let's have some tea. This was also sent by a reader. They said it was new this year. Everyone should try it and see how it tastes. I don't really know much about it."

This tea was brought to Li Muchen by his brother, so I think it won’t be too bad.

"Good tea."

Yang Ming, who knew a bit more, tasted it and praised it. "Being a writer is still good. You have everything you need, and readers come to you every day."

"Ouch, I almost forgot."

Wu Xiaofeng slapped her forehead. Although the number of letters from readers today was not as many as in the past few days, there were still more than ten letters. "Look quickly, a small number of them are special registered letters this time."

"Really."

Li Feng thought to himself, just taking the letter and flipping through the special registered mail, he saw a few familiar names. "Hey, aren't these the readers I wrote back to last time?" Could it be that the people left but the things remained, and the money and tickets were all sent to him.

That's impossible. Didn't I just take a screenshot of my last message? Li Feng was a little worried and opened it quickly without delay. "Hey, I feel embarrassed by all the praise."

"Fortunately, I finally didn't let myself down by replying to the letter."

Li Feng breathed a sigh of relief. Except for one person who still had some problems, the other people's worries were largely resolved. They were very grateful to Li Feng and even showed Li Feng's reply to others. Many people thought that the poems written by Li Feng were good.

"Submission?"

"Submission?"

Huang Xiaoli, Wu Xiaofeng, Yang Ming, and Wu Shengnan all looked at Li Feng, wondering why he had submitted his work. Seeing everyone looking at him, Li Feng smiled and explained, "I replied to a few letters from readers a few days ago. As you all know, two readers found my poems very good and inspiring, and they wanted to ask if they could submit their letters to magazines and newspapers."

"Your reply was good."

"I think if this is successful, it will encourage more people."

"Why don't you write a reply now and we'll bring it back for you when we get back."

"Let's wait until the beams are put up. I can't calm down right now."

Li Feng thought, submitting the article is no problem, but the payment should be clarified. Just as he was thinking about this, Daya, Erya, and Zhang Wenjuan came in with a group of children. The women and children went home first.

"Dad, is there anything I can help you with at home?"

"Yeah, what's the matter?"

Good thing a few women have arrived, all of them female cadres from the team, so they have to add a few more seats. Fortunately, there are enough dishes. "Auntie, sister-in-law, please come in and sit down."

"What are you preparing for?"

Shi Chunhua took off the towel wrapped around her head, brushed off the dust on her body and asked with concern.

"Almost."

Li Feng said with a smile. "Auntie, please take a look and see if there is anything that is not ready."

"Okay, I'll give you some advice."

But when Shi Chunhua came to the kitchen and saw Li Feng preparing the ingredients, she was stunned. This was too sumptuous. Oh, really, even Hanjiaba’s wedding wouldn’t have such a high-end banquet. Li Feng saw that Shi Chunhua didn’t say anything and thought there was something wrong with the preparation.

"Aunt?"

"Very good, very good."

Shi Chunhua nodded continuously. What else could she say about what this guy had prepared?

"I can rest assured that."

After saying that, Li Feng took out all the crushed biscuits that Dushu had sent and handed them to Daya, who then shared them with the children outside. This made Han Mingliang and the others very happy. "Kid, why did you just scatter such good biscuits like that? They will be very useful to Liang later."

"get ready."

Candies, rice popcorn balls, peanuts, small steamed buns—a huge basket filled with them. Shi Chunhua, Wang Lihong, and the others stared with their eyes wide open. Why so much candy? It must have been several kilograms! You know, at a typical wedding, two kilograms of candy was considered the most expensive. Some even bought half a kilogram, a full kilogram, and if they had a child, one or two was considered a nice touch.

(End of this chapter)