Edible cacti are one of the vegetables known to contain the highest levels of vitamin B2 and soluble fiber, and are lower in sugar than lettuce and cucumbers. In Mexico and other American countries, cactus is a traditional food, a special vegetable and fruit that is indispensable in people's daily life. They wash and chop the cacti and cook them in soup, roast them on the stove, make them into pie fillings, marinate fresh cacti directly, and make wine from cacti, the main ingredient of tequila. It is said that there are 101 ways to cook cacti in Mexico: steaming, frying, stir-frying, submerging, barging, or serving as a salad. Among them, spicy fried cactus, egg fried cactus, and cactus salad are the most famous.

Yao Huang did not explain to Song Tianpeng in detail how to eat cactus, although Song Tianpeng grew up in the United States, except for the need to eat Western food such as bread and burgers outside, he usually eats at home, and the Song family eats traditional Chinese food every day. Even if everyone in the family cooks on a certain day, they go to the snack bar to eat. Therefore, Song Tianpeng has no concept of traditional Mexican food at all.

Because of the success of greenhouse planting and purification equipment, people in the whole base are paying attention to Yao Huang, and like Song Tianpeng, they feel that her action of planting cacti has deep meaning. So, everyone followed suit and planted cacti next to their dormitories, but the number was not as large as that of Yao Huang, and most people only planted one or two plants. A month later, a young researcher fell ill with mumps, and the base doctor mashed the cactus and applied it to his cheeks, but within three days, the researcher's mumps were completely cured. After this incident. Everyone learned about the medicinal value of cacti from the doctors at the base, and some families who only planted one cactus planted additional cacti.

Time flies. A year has passed in a blink of an eye, and a new year has ushered in in a blink of an eye. November 1957. Mao Zedong had put forward the slogan of catching up with and surpassing Britain in the output of major industrial products such as iron and steel in about 15 years. Under the slogan of "taking steel as the key link, making an all-round leap forward", the steel production index is getting higher and higher. The Beidaihe Conference officially decided and publicly announced that the steel output in 1958 would be 10.7 million tons, double that of 1957, and called on the whole party and the whole people to strive for this and carry out an unprecedented large-scale steelmaking campaign.

"XX Township, XX Province, produces 300 tons of grain this year, and 568 kilograms of forged steel ......" came from the old-fashioned radio, and the announcer's sweet and serious voice implied excitement. Yao Huang bought the radio when he was passing through Hong Kong, and in the days when there were no televisions and computers, the radio became a treasure to pass the time in life. Many residents of nearby dormitories often run to Mr. Yao's house to listen to the news and programs on the radio. Even the leaders of the base came once. Yao Huang bought two radios at that time, so he gave one to the base leader. The base leader placed the radio behind the loudspeaker so that the entire base could hear the information on the radio.

"XX Village, XX Province, with an output of three hundred and fifty tons, forging steel ......" One number after another came out of the radio, which made the aunts, sisters and little soldiers who didn't have much knowledge excited, but made the leaders of the base and some researchers with brains frown.

How is it possible for a small village to produce hundreds of tons of grain a year, as well as steel? Obviously, this is a misrepresentation of the data. I don't know when this kind of pompous style swept the whole country, in order to win the praise of the superiors and the central government. In many localities, they have lied about grain production and handed over all the harvest and hungry grain to the state, leaving no grain for the peasants themselves, with the result that the peasants have not even had enough to eat after a year of hard work. So hungry that they can only eat weeds and leaves.

"Didn't the chairman educate everyone to be realistic? Why has everyone forgotten his teachings? If this continues, will the peasants still have a way to live? "Camp Chief Zhang is a child from the countryside and is very clear about the yield of grain per mu. The data on the radio only made him worry and worry.

Director Zhao patted him on the shoulder and comforted him silently. Resolution of the country's leaders. They don't have a beak.

"Sister Erya, don't the national leaders know that the local government is lying about the data? Even Director Zhao and the others could see that these data were false. What can't the country's leaders see? Since he was a child, Song Tianpeng has developed the habit of asking Yao Huang for advice whenever he doesn't understand something.

"It's easy to start a business, but it's hard to keep a business. Unlike the United States and other countries, the newly established Chinese country does not have much experience to learn from in its development, and can only grope its way forward, and it is bound to take many detours in this process. "Leaders of the country are only temporarily blinded by the bright prospects, causing them to look only ahead and ignore the present." ”

"Hopefully they will be able to see the facts soon." Song Tianpeng sighed.

That's impossible! Yao Huangxin said that she often listened to her grandfather talk about this period of history when she was a child, and she knew a lot about it. The pompous trend was not stopped, and the later Great Leap Forward movement led to a great imbalance in the proportion of the national economy and caused serious economic difficulties. One of the most typical is the Great Steelmaking Movement. Because Mao Zedong announced that steel production in 1958 would double that of 1957, thus setting off a vigorous national movement. All departments and localities should put the production and construction of steel and iron in the first place to make way for the "steel marshal to raise the account"; The first secretaries of the party committees at all levels are in charge, and they are engaged in mass movements and earth-blast furnace steelmaking; Tens of millions of people rushed up to cut down trees to dig coal, and to find ore and smelt iron, resulting in an extreme waste of resources. In the countryside, in addition to the necessary production tools, most of the iron tools did not escape the fate of returning to the furnace, and the farmers also smashed the iron pots they used for cooking to use them as raw materials for large-scale steel smelting; In the cities, people threw all the scrap steel and scrap iron that they could find, and even the metal utensils that were still in use, such as pig iron stoves for heating, fire hooks, etc., into the earthen blast furnaces...... The entire movement resulted in a great waste of human, material, and financial resources, seriously weakened agriculture, impacted light industry and other undertakings, caused an imbalance in the proportion of the national economy, seriously affected the people's livelihood, and dampened the enthusiasm of the masses.

A British journalist once described the steelmaking movement as follows: We walked through the rice paddies to another village, where a strangely shaped earthen blast furnace had been hastily built, and there was a scene of boiling and shouting everywhere. Some people carried ore in baskets, some added fire to the stove, some drove ox carts, some poured cauldrons of hot white metal, some rocked back and forth to observe the furnace, and some used wheelbarrows to transport the raw materials – but it seemed to me that the finished product from the bottom of the furnace looked exactly the same as the raw material poured from the top of the furnace.

Nothing has changed!! Nothing has changed except for wasted materials! Such steel is better than not refining.

Fortunately, the base is a national secret base and will not be affected too much, but in order to respond to the call of the state, the base handed over the large iron pot and shovel in the original canteen kitchen to the local government to make steel. Without pots and shovels, the ladies and sisters of the base logistics used clay to burn clay pots and shovels instead of the iron kitchenware that were sent away, ending the days when everyone ate baked potatoes and roasted sweet potatoes.

A year later, when I recalled the days when everyone gathered around the pile to eat baked potatoes, everyone felt that they were still very happy at that time, because now even eating potatoes has become a luxury. Three years of natural disasters came at a time when many people were caught off guard, and the Great Leap Forward movement and the policy of sacrificing agriculture and industry led to nationwide food shortages and famines, and the continuing severe natural disasters exacerbated countless deaths of starvation. Many people can even do many unconscionable things for the sake of a bite to eat. Yao Huang's grandfather told her that from 1959 to 1961, these three years were "passing the grain pass", and if she survived, she could survive, but if she couldn't survive, there would be only one result. Camp Commander Zhang's family sent him a letter about one thing: because the stomach was so hungry that he couldn't stand it, Camp Commander Zhang's son and nephew secretly ate soil behind the adult's back. Camp Commander Zhang's wife told him that the most common thing the two children did was to go to the entrance of the village and look at the way into the village, hoping for him to come home. Because his wife told his son that he was a great father, and as long as he came home, they wouldn't have to starve! That day, Yao Huang saw Camp Chief Zhang crying in a no-man's corner, and a big man was crying so helplessly and sadly......

Although the food supply at the base has also been limited, everyone still has something to eat, and although it is impossible to eat enough at once like before, at least they will not go hungry. The country has no grain, and the supply to the base is also less, but with greenhouses, the base can grow its own food, but the area of the greenhouses is not large, the cultivation is limited, and the amount of grain produced is not much. As a result, the cactus planted more than a year ago has played a huge role and has become a major contributor to the people in the base to pass the food barrier. The master chef of the canteen went to Yao Huang's dormitory to learn from her how to cook cactus.

"First of all, peel the skin and remove it, then blanch it in boiling water for a minute to blanch the mucus off......," Yao Huang explained in the kitchen of his dormitory, while the master of the cafeteria and a few women wrote it down in his notebook as he listened.

"After blanching, you can cook, cold dressing, stir-frying, boiling, and frying. When frying, it should be done quickly, and when frying, the appearance will turn yellow; If it is stir-fried, stir-fry two or three times. The longer the cooking time, the more it will affect the taste and color of the cactus dish......"

"Taught." The master and the women closed their notebooks with satisfaction, "Comrade Yao, thank you so much." With cacti, we don't have to eat leaves......" (To be continued......)