Starting from 1950

Chapter 138 Please have some tofu.

"Coo coo!"

Hearing the praise from others, Xiaoyu glanced at Xiaobai with a hint of pride.

"Woof woof!"

Xiao Bai said, "Why are you looking at me like that? I'm not a dog!"

Su Yang glanced at the adults and children gathered around him, but didn't say anything. He just silently lowered his head and processed the wild rabbit's internal organs.

He was now in the threshing ground of Mushroom Village, with two large pots beside him, and five slaughtered pheasants and four wild rabbits waiting to be processed.

Not far away, Wu Xinxue was making the final stage arrangements with the female members of the art troupe.

Su Yang is now preparing large-scale cooking.

The art troupe has been in Mushroom Village for five days.

For the past five days, everyone's work has been to visit and comfort the families of martyrs and soldiers.

Their main task is to help repair houses.

Now that the visit is complete, the performing arts troupe will begin performing for the villagers and promoting the fundraising policy.

Su Yang was a rural person in his previous life, so he understands the psychology of farmers very well.

They only care about their own little plot of land.

Based on what I've learned over the past five days, the countryside is now a disorganized mess. Each household cherishes the land they were allocated just two or three years ago, and the whole family is busy serving it, leaving no time to think about anything else.

The farmers' association, being a loose organization, doesn't have much influence; otherwise, there wouldn't be so many houses belonging to widows and orphans that leaked and no one would care.

However, based on Su Yang's observations over the past few days, the villagers of Mushroom Village were not as poor as he had initially thought.

They were dressed in tattered clothes because they couldn't afford to buy new ones, but they weren't without food at home.

On the contrary, many people have plenty of food stored at home, and their pale and thin appearance is simply due to a lack of meat. In addition, they were afraid of hunger in previous years, so even if they have food now, they are reluctant to eat to their heart's content.

After the land reform, each person in Mushroom Village received an average of more than three mu of land, and some large families even received twenty or thirty mu of land in total!

In addition, the world has been peaceful in the past two years, and people are rushing to reclaim wasteland.

Although grain production was very low in those days, each household still had a considerable amount of grain stored up due to their deliberate frugality.

Su Yang suggested to Wu Xinxue that they could cook for the villagers of Mushroom Village and then put on a show, which would both satisfy their hunger and enrich their spirits.

That way, when it's time to donate grain, they might donate more.

To be honest, Su Yang felt that he was a pretty jerk.

But despite the guilt, the lack of planes and artillery at the front was a fact.

It's a fact that life in rural areas has improved year by year thanks to low-tax policies and various incentive programs.

"Deputy Captain Su, it's one thing to feed the eagle meat, since it hunted the prey, but it's too wasteful to feed it to the dogs too. The dogs in our village are fed bran."

Seeing Su Yang casually toss the rabbit entrails he had cleaned out to Xiao Yu and Xiao Bai, Old Yang couldn't help but remind him.

"Yes! Offal is meat too, we don't mind it."

"At worst, we can just add more oil. I see you brought five or six pounds of oil, right? Adding more oil will mask the fishy smell of the offal."

.

The villagers of Mushroom Village, who were holding bowls, chopsticks, and steamed buns and watching Su Yang cook with great anticipation, chimed in with their own comments.

Su Yang resisted the urge to roll his eyes at them and said calmly, "I'm happy to."

Old Yang was speechless for a moment, then chuckled awkwardly and used his eyes to stop the villagers from speaking.

Su Yang pursed his lips and continued working.

Wu Xinxue had previously explained to the Mushroom Village Farmers' Association that she wanted to cook a big pot of food for the villagers before the performance.

Mushroom Village is a large village with more than 400 households and more than 2000 people. There happens to be a tofu shop in the village.

After discussing it, Su Yang and Wu Xinxue decided to make two pots of tofu dishes, so that each of the more than 400 households could take a bowl home.

The two large pots used for cooking were provided by the farmers' association.

The 50 jin of tofu was bought by the art troupe.

The oil and seasonings were brought by the art troupe when they came.

The pheasants and rabbits were hunted by Xiaoyu after flying dozens of miles.

At that time, Su Yang wanted the farmers' association to organize the villagers of Mushroom Village to exchange some of the vegetables they grew themselves.

After all, Mushroom Village is fifty or sixty miles away from Shenzhou, so we can't go all that way to buy it, can we?

However, none of the families in Mushroom Village who grew vegetables were willing to do so.

In the end, the art troupe had to pay for it from them.

Having received the money, they arrived without any remorse, bringing their own bowls, chopsticks, and cornbread to wait for their meal.

Seeing this situation, Su Yang and Wu Xinxue felt a mix of emotions.

Nowadays, farmers are only concerned with their own affairs and their awareness is far inferior to that of the urban working class.

Su Yang suddenly understood why the higher authorities would establish communes in the countryside a few years later.

"Brother Su, we've washed the vegetables clean!"

Several women carrying bamboo baskets squeezed through the crowd and came in. A little girl of five or six years old was presenting a basin to Su Yang, which contained some washed cabbage stalks.

These women were from families that Su Yang and Wu Xinxue had visited in the past few days.

They were all sons or husbands who joined the front-line stretcher teams or labor teams, and ultimately sacrificed their lives under enemy bombing.

Along with the devastating news came 500 jin of one-time relief grain.

In rural areas, if a family loses its breadwinner, it will be bullied by others.

These families' breadwinners sacrificed themselves for the country, so no one would dare to bully them, but they would inevitably face covert exclusion and contempt.

In particular, according to the policy, villagers are required to take turns helping these families of martyrs cultivate the land, and the children of these families can receive about ten kilograms of grain subsidy each month, which makes many people jealous and even resentful.

From what Su Yang has learned in the past few days, these families of martyrs, who are left with only orphans and widows, are living worse lives than other villagers in Mushroom Village.

He then allowed these women to help him with chores they could manage. When the tofu dish was ready, each of the other villagers would get a bowl, while these women and their children would each get a bowl.

Su Yangteng reached out to touch the little girl's dry, yellow hair, then realized his hands were covered in oil, so he chuckled and said, "Li Xiaoya, dinner's almost ready. Where's your bowl?"

Li Xiaoya then realized what was happening, quickly put down the vegetable bowl, pushed through the crowd, and ran out.

"Bring your mother's bowl too!" Su Yang shouted at her retreating figure.

"knew!"

Su Yang watched the little girl disappear in a flash and couldn't help but sigh.

Li Xiaoya's father responded to the call and became a frontline laborer. However, just half a month later, he was killed when the lighthouse planes bombed our logistics line.

Her mother collapsed upon hearing the devastating news.

Those who sacrifice their lives on the front lines are also considered martyrs.

Although they received a one-time pension and a monthly allowance, and the villagers helped them cultivate the land, the mother and daughter were able to live comfortably without worrying about food and drink. However, without the breadwinner, their lives collapsed.

Su Yang remembered that when he and Wu Xinxue went to the Li family, the roof of their house had so many holes that if it rained, there probably wouldn't be much difference between the inside and outside.

However, compared to the bedridden and lifeless Li family daughter-in-law, Li Xiaoya was quite lively.

At this moment, the crowd suddenly parted involuntarily, and Wu Xinxue walked gracefully over.

"Su Yang, let me chop the vegetables for you!"

"Okay!" Su Yang agreed with a smile.

Wu Xinxue rolled up her sleeves, revealing two sections of her fair arms, and carefully washed her hands with some water.

His demeanor left the young onlookers speechless.

"Captain Wu! I'll help you!"

Some people were eager to get closer to her.

"No need!" Wu Xinxue refused decisively and waved for the others to stay away.

She walked to the cutting board, picked up a dozen or so washed cabbage leaves, and the cleaver made rhythmic "clang clang" sounds as it rose and fell, leaving the villagers of Mushroom Village feeling dizzy.

"My goodness! Captain Wu's vegetable-chopping skills are amazing!"

"She's obviously a skilled cook!"

"With such good looks and such excellent cooking skills, whoever marries Captain Wu will be incredibly lucky!"

"Captain Wu, do you have a girlfriend?"

"My nephew is of marriageable age, and let me tell you, he's a really good farmer!"

"Get out of my way, my son is better than your nephew!"

This time, it was the women of Mushroom Village who were causing trouble.

Since the art troupe came to Mushroom Village, the young men have always liked to go to the farmers' association, and the women have all wanted to play matchmaker for their sons and younger generations.

Unfortunately, the women at Limin Flour Factory didn't think much of them and politely declined countless times.

Country folk love to gossip.

After being rejected, many women gossiped behind their backs, saying that the girls in the art troupe looked like they had never lifted a finger and probably couldn't even cook.

In this day and age, if a woman can't cook, absolutely no one will want to marry her.

Unexpectedly, Wu Xinxue's skill today, just from her vegetable-chopping technique, has made many women realize that her cooking skills are definitely not low.

Su Yang felt annoyed as he saw the women surrounding Wu Xinxue again, vying to introduce her to potential partners.

He banged the iron ladle in his hand against the edge of the pot, shouting angrily, "Are you ever going to stop? You're just making things worse!"

Do you still want to eat?

"Xiaoyu, Xiaobai! Clear the area!"

"Woof woof!"

"quack!"

At Su Yang's command, Xiao Yu and Xiao Bai began to drive the crowd away.

Seeing that the villagers were still dawdling, they seemed certain that Su Yang would not let a bird or a "dog" harm them.

Su Yang was so angry that his temples throbbed. He simply reached under his clothes, actually into his backpack, and pulled out a 1911 pistol, then released the safety.

"Bang!"

He fired a shot into the air. This was the second shot he had fired since arriving at Mushroom Village, and both shots were related to Wu Xinxue. The word "troublemaker" couldn't help but come to mind.

"Oh my god! They're shooting again!"

"Run!"

The villagers of Mushroom Village were startled and quickly scattered in all directions, fearing that Su Yang would fire a shot at them.

The female members of the performing arts troupe, who were still putting the finishing touches on the stage in the distance, also quickly looked over, wondering what had happened.

"Su... Deputy Captain Su, what's wrong with you...?" Old Yang asked, his face pale and his voice trembling.

Su Yang didn't know why he acted so impulsively, but now that the gun had been fired, he simply said with a cold face, "Chairman Yang, don't let the villagers disturb our work."

After saying that, he put the gun away again.

"Yes, yes, everyone stay away!" Old Yang breathed a sigh of relief.

Wu Xinxue covered her mouth with her hand, but her eyes were full of laughter.

This was the first time she had ever seen Su Yang so furious.

Was it because those women wanted to introduce her to potential partners?

Is he jealous?

"Ahem! Su Yang, hurry up and cook." Wu Xinxue acted as if she hadn't seen what had just happened, casually remarking to Su Yang, then comforted the six women, including Guo Ran, "It's alright, you guys hurry up and finish over there, it'll be time to eat soon!"

After a brief period of chaos, the villagers of Mushroom Village quickly returned to normal, continuing to stare longingly at the two large pots, but no longer daring to approach Wu Xinxue.