？

Jiang Weiguo's face was painted with a big question mark, and the hand holding the lotus root stopped in mid-air, neither receiving nor letting go.

"Drink?" Jiang Weiguo couldn't believe his ears.

There was no turning back when the bow was opened, even if Zhao Lanhua's face was already swollen red from embarrassment, she had to bite the bullet and say, "Just take a sip, a little bit." ”

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and made a comparison.

The question mark on Jiang Weiguo's face has not disappeared: "Then drink it, there is a bowl there." ”

Zhao Lanhua went to get the bowl with her hands and feet, and did not forget to take a scoop, scooped up a small half bowl of brown sugar and white sugar mixed with sugar water, squatted on the ground with the bowl, and drank it in small sips like a kitten drinking water.

A little bit of slump, and when Jiang Weiguo put the lid on the pot and made a fire, the sugar water in Zhao Lanhua's bowl seemed to have not been touched.

Jiang Weiguo looked at Zhao Lanhua squatting on the ground and drinking sugar water, and felt that it was funny and interesting, and couldn't help asking, "Is it that delicious?"

"Delicious. Zhao Lanhua said, "This is the first time I have drunk brown sugar water, it is delicious." ”

"You haven't drunk sugar water before?" Jiang Weiguo was a little surprised, he knew that Zhao Lanhua's family conditions were not good, and it could be seen from Zhao Lanhua's face and figure that her family was very poor.

But a family that can raise all 5 daughters won't even be able to give sip water during the New Year.

At least judging from the new gown on Zhao Lanhua's body, she should not be so poor that she can't afford to drink sugar water.

"I have drunk sugar water, and every year during the Chinese New Year, my mother will knock a small piece of sugar down and make a bowl of sugar water for us to drink, but I have never drunk brown sugar water. Zhao Lanhua explained, and took another sip.

"Our village is not as good as your city, and brown sugar is generally not available in the supply and marketing cooperatives, and if you want to buy brown sugar, you have to go to the county seat to buy it, and you can only drink it when women are confined or children are sick. I remember when I was a child, once my eldest sister fell into the pond, and after being sick for several days, I drank a bowl of brown sugar water. Zhao Lanhua described brown sugar water as a miracle medicine that cures all diseases, "When my sister-in-law was making Xiaoyuezi before, my mother also made a bowl for her, and my sister-in-law originally wanted to share a sip with me, but she only had one bowl and I didn't drink it." ”

Jiang Weiguo watched Zhao Lanhua slowly finish a small bowl of sugar water and asked, "How does it taste?"

"Sweet, it's not the same as maltosaccharization, it's better and sweeter than at home. Zhao Lanhua said.

"Do you want to eat anything else?" Jiang Weiguo asked.

"No, that's enough, I'm almost full now. Zhao Lanhua said, "My amount of food is actually very small, and I can work in the field by gnawing two corn cobs every day." ”

Hearing Zhao Lanhua say this, Jiang Weiguo didn't control his facial expression for a while, frowned, looked at the clock hanging on the wall, and said: "The glutinous rice lotus root has to be boiled for two hours, Aunt Zhao said let me take you to the street, and I'll take you around while it's still dark." ”

"Will it delay your time, you have to go to work later?" Zhao Lanhua asked.

"I'm only working half a day today, so I'll leave a note for them to come back and don't touch the things in the pot. After Jiang Weiguo finished speaking, he went out to find a pen and paper, wrote a note, and pressed the note under the cutting board.

Definitely a position that the chef can see.

Zhao Lanhua sighed at the words on the note: "Wow, you can still write, your words are so beautiful!"

Jiang Feng leaned over and took a look, and on them were a few crooked big characters that were not inferior to his dogs, or traditional characters: Don't move the steamer on the table and the soup pot on the stove.

Jiang Feng: ......

Comrade Orchid, your fan filter is really heavy.

In the final analysis, it is still a loss of culture.

Jiang Weiguo led Zhao Lanhua out of the state-run hotel, Jiang Weiguo didn't know which street to take the girl to, and Zhao Lanhua didn't know which street she wanted to visit, so the two of them walked on the street casually.

Because Zhao Lanhua couldn't read and understand the signboard of the store, she basically saw a store she hadn't seen before and asked Jiang Weiguo what the store was for. After walking all the way in this way, the two of them still talked a lot, and even the tone and action of speaking were much more natural than before, just like friends talking about home.

Jiang Weiguo has seen all kinds of winds and waves when he walked in the rivers and lakes a few years ago, and his mouth was very strict. Along the way, Zhao Lanhua said everything as long as he asked him a little, but Jiang Weiguo didn't reveal his news at all.

As the clock passed, it got dark, and many shops closed after dark, so that the taverns with lights on the corners were very eye-catching.

"Comrade Jiang Weiguo, what does that store do, and why are there so many people in it?" Zhao Lanhua asked curiously.

"It's a tavern, and a lot of people come over to drink in the evening, so it's very lively. "Jiang Wei National Road.

"Do you only drink?" Zhao Lanhua asked.

"I don't know, I haven't been. ”

"You don't like to drink? I thought you men love to drink. My dad loves to drink, and my brother likes to drink too, and when we come to our house, we have no money to buy wine or extra grain to make wine, so my dad and my brother can only go to my uncle's house to drink during the Chinese New Year. Zhao Lanhua inadvertently betrayed her brother and father again.

"I usually drink it at home or go to Master Huang's house to drink it, and I make my own wine. "Jiang Wei National Road.

"Oh yes, you're a chef, and you're sure to make wine. "Zhao Lanhua has equated the profession of chef with the vast number of supernatural powers.

The two of them continued to walk forward, Z City is not big, and there are only a few bustling neighborhoods, if you simply walk, you can walk them all in less than an hour. Along the way, Zhao Lanhua pulled Jiang Weiguo to ask questions, and when she saw a shop that sold cloth or sold some things she didn't know what it was, she couldn't help but walk in and take a look, and it took a lot of time, Jiang Feng roughly estimated that it would be three hours at most.

If they return now, if the two of them walk more slowly, they should be able to catch the glutinous rice root out of the pot.

Jiang Weiguo obviously calculated the time in his heart, as if he had a fast watch in his heart, he pinched the time and led Zhao Lanhua back, stopping and stopping along the way, and when he returned to the state-run hotel, there were still no customers in the store.

It seems that the opening hours are over, and the real opening hours of state-run hotels are usually very short.

The fat waiter was wiping the table, and when he saw Jiang Weiguo and Zhao Lanhua coming back, he greeted them warmly: "Master Jiang and Miss Zhao are back, have you gone to watch a movie? The movie shown in the cinema today is said to be good, a new film!"

"I didn't watch a movie, I went outside with her. Jiang Weiguo said lightly.

The fat waiter was obviously accustomed to Jiang Weiguo's rather cold attitude, and said with a smile: "Then Master Jiang, you have to take Miss Zhao to the movies next time, there may not be a new film in the cinema in our city every year, and I can give them a performance when those films are played back and forth." ”

Jiang Weiguo nodded and led Zhao Lanhua into the kitchen.

Master Huang opened a small stove in the kitchen, and when he saw someone coming in, he was startled, and when he looked back, he was relieved when he saw that it was Jiang Weiguo and Zhao Lanhua.

"Do you like watching movies?" Jiang Weiguo asked.

"Huh?" Zhao Lanhua didn't understand why Jiang Weiguo suddenly asked this, "I like it, someone from the village came over a few years ago and let it go." Everyone moved a small bench from home to get together to watch, I couldn't squeeze into the front in the last row, the picture was too blurry to see clearly, but the village chief gave me melon seeds that were particularly delicious. ”

Master Huang saw Jiang Weiguo and Zhao Lanhua chatting like this, but the expression on his face was not very warm, and he couldn't guess for a while whether the two of them were looking at each other or not.

"Xiao Jiang, what is in your soup pot? What kind of soup are you cooking? I haven't dared to open it until you come back. Master Huang asked, "I added firewood to the stove a few times in the middle, and now the fire should be almost extinguished, see if you want to add more." ”

"Glutinous rice lotus. Jiang Weiguo said, "Just let it go out naturally." You haven't moved the buns in the steamer, have you?"

"How dare we move for dinner?" said Master Huang.

Jiang Weiguo took the soup pot off the stove and lifted the lid of the soup pot.

The sweet smell hits the face, and the whole air is filled with sweet smells.

The two tender lotus roots in the pot have been completely dyed with the color of the sugar water, and the sugar water has also become darker due to the long time of stewing, and it looks very thick.

Master Huang leaned in to take a look at it and exclaimed, "My good man, how much sugar did you add to it?" ”

"More than 4 pounds. ”

Master Huang couldn't help but be stunned by Jiang Weiguo's extravagant behavior.

Make two sections of lotus flower and 4 catties of sugar, if he makes this dish at home, his mother-in-law will have to break his leg.

"Do you want to eat now?" Jiang Weiguo asked.

Zhao Lanhua wanted to nod her head, but she was a little reluctant to use 4 catties of sugar to make the lotus root, she felt that she was not worthy of eating and should take it home and offer it.

"But... You may not be able to finish it. Zhao Lanhua said.

Jiang Weiguo thought that Zhao Lanhua was embarrassed to eat in front of Master Huang, so he took out a piece of oiled paper from the cabinet and wrapped the two lotus roots.

"Then you take it back to eat, steam it in the pot before eating, separate the two sections of lotus root when eating, take out the bamboo skewer in the middle, and then slice the lotus root. "Jiang Wei National Road.

"Okay, thank you. Zhao Lanhua suddenly felt that she had come all the way to the city to go on a blind date today, and it was simply straight, even eating and taking.

After wrapping the glutinous rice lotus, Jiang Weiguo took out his enamel cup and tin lunch box from the cabinet, stuffed the already cold meat buns into the tin lunch box, and poured all the thick sugar water left in the soup pot into the enamel cup.

"Master Huang, when are you leaving?" Jiang Weiguo asked.

"Huh, I'll take this noodle away when it's done. Master Huang said, suddenly feeling a little dazzling when he stayed in the kitchen, "Xiao Jiang, I suddenly remembered that my lunch box didn't seem to be brought in outside, I'll go out to find the lunch box, you help me look at the noodles in the pot." ”

After saying that, Master Huang slipped away.

"What about you? Comrade Zhao Lanhua, when are you going back?" Jiang Weiguo asked.

"I'll go back tomorrow morning and stay at my aunt's house tonight, and she'll make me a makeshift cot in the living room. Zhao Lanhua said, she couldn't help but be a little deflated as she spoke, although the process was beautiful, but the ending still failed.

She came on a blind date today, but instead of getting along, she even ate and took it.

Jiang Weiguo pushed the iron lunch box and sugar porcelain cup in front of Zhao Lanhua: "Take it back and eat it." ”

Zhao Lanhua refused again and again: "No, no, Comrade Jiang Weiguo is too valuable." 4 catties of sugar, and I can't eat 4 meat buns at all, I'm going to leave tomorrow morning, and I have a small amount of food. ”

"You didn't have enough to eat today. "Jiang Wei National Road.

Zhao Lanhua was stunned for a moment, and whispered to justify: "I'm really full, I have a small amount of food." ”

"I have seen people starving to death, more than 10 years ago, in the magic capital, at that time, the war of resistance was not yet won. She is a young mother who lives next door to me, her husband died and she has three children and makes a living by washing other people's clothes. "Jiang Wei National Road.

Zhao Lanhua looked at Jiang Weiguo and didn't know why he wanted to say this.

"She eats very little every day, she is hungry and skinny, skinny, thinner than you, and she only looks like a skeleton. The most I heard her say was that she had very little to eat, and every day when I came back from work, I could hear her say it to her children. "Jiang Wei National Road.

"And then?" Zhao Lanhua asked.

Then she starved herself to death. ”

Zhao Lanhua gasped, her eyes widened in horror, although she had rarely had a full meal since she was a child, she had never heard of anyone starving to death in the village.

Although some families will throw their newborn baby girls into the mountains, Zhao Lanhua has only heard that she has never seen it with her own eyes.

"And what about her three children?"

"I don't know, after the young mother died, the room next to me was rented to another family, and her three children must have died too. At that time, the most important thing in the magic capital was the orphans who died on the side of the road, frozen to death, starving, sick and dying everywhere, and traffickers disdained to ask for it. "Jiang Wei National Road.

Zhao Lanhua couldn't help but shudder.

"So don't say that you have a small amount of food, you have to eat some of it, you have to eat when you can eat enough, and you have to eat it if you like. It's not a shame to be able to eat, and only when you're full can you have the strength to work, and if you like to drink sugar water, you can drink it in a big gulp. "Jiang Wei National Road.

"But...... But Comrade Jiang Weiguo, I really can't eat 4 buns tonight and tomorrow morning. Zhao Lanhua looked embarrassed.

Jiang Weiguo was so choked by Zhao Lanhua that he couldn't speak.

"Actually, you can take it home and eat it. "Jiang Wei National Road.

"Your lunch box ......"

"I'll have a day off next Saturday, today I asked someone to buy a movie ticket but I didn't buy it, if you have time, I'll ask someone to buy a movie ticket early, and if you buy it, I'll invite you to watch a movie." Remember to wash the lunch box and bring it to me. ”

Zhao Lanhua, who reflected Jiang Weiguo's meaning after dozens of seconds, rubbed it, her whole face was swollen and red, she was incredulous and excited, and she was incoherent when she spoke.

"I... I washed the lunch box and washed it clean. ”

"No, I mean free, I'm free, I'm next Saturday I... I'll definitely press... Press... Arrive on time. Zhao Lanhua didn't know where her eyes should look, so she could only look down, and just happened to see the enamel cup, so she took the enamel cup and drank a big sip of thick sugar water.

Jiang Weiguo showed a hint of a smile.

Jiang Feng was just marveling at the operation of the old man's Jedi counter-killing when he was young, when he found that there was a fog.

Jiang Feng left the memory.