Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 561 Yellow Lamb Meat

The shoes are of the right size and Xiao Wang is very satisfied.

After trying on the shoes, the couple returned to the main room. Zhang Guifang had already prepared the dishes and was waiting for Tang Zhitong to cook.

Tang Zhitong washed his hands and prepared to work. After Fengzhi saw Xiao Wang, she excitedly told her sister-in-law about Guiying's family.

Tang Zhitong was busy while listening. As expected, the intelligence station was powerful. The "heroic" deeds of Guiying and her brother had spread throughout the area. He even had a dream and pooped in bed late at night.

"Now they have nicknames, Big Shit Bag and Little Shit Bag!" Fengzhi was visibly happy when she finished speaking.

"Okay, we have to eat soon, stop talking." After Tang Zhitongcai was out of the pot, he interrupted his sister and continued to talk about Guiying's desires.

Judging from the nature of Guiying's family, the siblings have become estranged from each other this time, and it is unknown when they can be resolved.

Since the brother and sister have falsely accused Fengzhi, let's give them a taste of their own medicine and let them also experience the feeling of being falsely accused.

No matter what the result is this time, Tang Zhitong has no intention of taking revenge. Let the matter be settled. After all, there is no deep hatred between the two families, so it is enough.

"You should learn a lesson from this and don't play with people of bad character like this." Classmate Xiao Wang took over and educated his sister-in-law.

"Yeah, yeah, I will never play with her again. She pooped on the bed and it stinks!" Fengzhi didn't understand the meaning of these words yet, and expressed her determination with childish words.

Student Xiao Wang smiled and said nothing more. After all, Fengzhi was still young, so he could take it slow in the future.

A tree has forks, and words have two ends. Even if there is a grudge, Liu Zhang's side is in trouble.

The court has the final say on how to sentence Liu Zhang.

Fortunately, there are no fairies or boxers these days, otherwise it is hard to say whether they would be beaten back.

The court did not show any special leniency to Liu Zhang because she was a woman, and finally sentenced her to six months of forced labor.

Although there was no special favor, some care was given due to her age. Liu Zhang was eventually taken to the detention center to make shoes, sew thousand-layer soles, paste uppers and so on.

The public security department has regulations that the diet of prisoners must be lower than the average level of the people. After all, this is not a place for retirement.

Liu Zhang's prison sentence has been transferred to the detention center, but her life there is not easy.

The detention center is short of staff, so in order to facilitate the management of prisoners, there is a position called "prisoner group leader", who is called "cell boss" in the cell.

The character of the prison boss has been reflected in many film and television works.

The character of the current prison boss is not very good, so the higher-ups are considering abolishing the position of "prisoner group leader".

Liu Zhang had only been in there for a few days, but she had already lost a lot of weight.

She couldn't eat enough outside, and she was even less well fed inside. The prison boss looked at Liu Zhang's figure and thought that her family was well-off, but Liu Zhang's eldest son ignored her and never visited her once.

Liu Zhang was illiterate, so she asked her cellmate to write a letter to her home. The letter was indeed delivered, but it was of no use.

When Tang Zhitong was a postman, there was an unwritten rule: if the address of the letter was a detention center, prison, or labor camp, the postman would not shout the letter out. Instead, he would usually ask where the recipient's home was and go directly to the door.

The reason for doing this is that the people of the city want to save face.

As for Liu Chengzhi, he did receive the letter. The detention center was in Caolanzi, not far away, but he didn't want to go.

He felt that Liu Zhang had brought shame upon him, and he got annoyed whenever he thought about it. Whenever he got annoyed, he would go and mess with Chu Chunxue. Fortunately, Chu Chunxue was pregnant, so he didn't have to worry about whether she would win the prize or not.

As for Liu Zhang, even though she was in agony, she was still trying to excuse her son, saying that he must have been drugged by that vixen and had forgotten about his mother.

Under repeated psychological hints, Liu Zhang hated her daughter-in-law Chu Chunxue to the core. She was counting the days in her mind, waiting to punish her daughter-in-law even more severely after she was released from prison.

The next day, January 1th, Friday.

After Tang Zhitong sent Xiao Wang off to work, in addition to practicing writing big characters, he also took out a Chinese-English dictionary and studied it for a while, commonly known as "establishing a persona."

In order to make it a natural process for him to learn foreign languages, Tang Zhitong took great pains.

Ma Wei and Tang Zhitong's desks were facing each other, not far away.

Ma Wei read a book for a while, and when she got up to refill her water, she took a look and saw Tang Zhitong holding a dictionary with his left hand and copying words with his right hand. She asked curiously, "Chief, are you learning English?"

"Yes, some professional materials in school are in English. You can't understand them if you don't learn them." Tang Zhitong stopped writing and flexed his wrist. He hadn't studied English seriously for many years, and many words were unfamiliar to him.

"Are there any materials in Russian?" Ma Wei did not just refill her own water, but poured a glass for Tang Zhitong first.

"Thank you. And, after all, he is the Big Brother. I guess I have to learn both of these." Now those in higher positions know that they have to break up with the North, but ordinary people still call them "Big Brother". After all, they have been vigorously promoting friendship in recent years, and it will not be easy to change their mind in a short time.

"Does the section chief know Russian? I know a little." Ma Wei had a good impression of Tang Zhitong. Not only did he teach her data analysis, but he also helped her get an advanced position. In addition, she felt a little guilty because she talked too much and Tang Zhitong would be on a business trip. However, she did not say everything and was still quite reserved.

"I learned a little bit in junior high school, so I have a basic foundation. My wife speaks Russian well and is giving me private lessons." Tang Zhitong understood and declined. Learning a foreign language is not convenient to study alone with a non-close person of the opposite sex. Even if both of them are selfless, people will say that they have an affair.

"Oh, then you two really treat each other with respect." Ma Wei blushed slightly and praised.

"Haha, thank you for your good words. We can't be said to be in harmony, so we have to quarrel." Tang Zhitong stood up and added a shovel of coal to the stove without saying a word of truth.

It’s not that Tang Zhitong doesn’t want to show off his happiness in front of outsiders, but his past experiences tell him that it’s best not to show off. Happiness is something that should be kept to yourself behind closed doors. If others know about it, they may become jealous, and jealousy may lead to rumors and trouble.

"You watch, I'm going out to smoke a cigarette." After all, Ma Wei was an unmarried girl, and her family background was outstanding. Before I knew her family background, I could have taught her some work-related things from a close distance, but now that I knew it, I had to strike a good balance.

During lunch, Tang Zhitong left the office to Ma Wei and Fu Caiyun as usual. After lunch, Fang Yuan pulled him into the office to work.

"Brother Yuan, what instructions?" Tang Zhitong took out a cigarette on his own initiative this time.

"Here, it's for you." Fang Yuan closed the door, took the cigarette, picked up something wrapped in newspaper from the windowsill, and put it on the table.

"What is it?" Tang Zhitong struck a match to light a cigarette for Fang Yuan, then lit one for himself, then put it out in the ashtray without touching it.

"Yellow mutton, my comrades gave me some yesterday, I'll give you half, I can't always eat your food." Fang Yuan pushed forward again. "Well, didn't you pay for those? I don't want this." Tang Zhitong shook his head, firmly refusing to take it.

"Why are you so stubborn, kid? Do I have to take money from you?" Fang Yuan was a little anxious.

"Brother Yuan, that's not what I meant. Look, I have a few chickens at home, and we have eggs every day. If you really want meat, just kill a chicken. What I mean is that you need it more than I do." Faced with Fang Yuan's sincerity, Tang Zhitong also spoke sincerely.

"What you have is yours. I brought it back today, and there is no reason for me to take it back. Take it!" Fang Yuan did not allow any explanation, picked up the newspaper and stuffed it into Tang Zhitong's hand.

"Okay, then I'll keep it." Looking at Fang Yuan's expression that did not tolerate rejection, Tang Zhitong took a step back and decided to just take it. He would give Fang Yuan another one later.

"That's right." Seeing that Tang Zhitong didn't refuse again, Fang Yuan's face turned from cloudy to bright, and he said with longing: "We got the news too late. If it was a month earlier, I would also take you to the grassland for a walk, and then we would have no shortage of meat."

"Are there a lot of yellow sheep over there?" Tang Zhitong had known about yellow sheep meat for a long time. Gu Yong had eaten it two months ago, but he just didn't say anything.

"Yeah, quite a few. Some companies were having difficulties in life, so we organized some people to go over and sweep around, and killed quite a few. It's a pity that the weather over there is not good right now. It's snowing and it's very cold, so we can't go in." Fang Yuan felt very sorry when talking about this.

"Then wait a little longer until the weather gets warmer before going." Tang Zhitong continued the conversation, but he didn't dare to say that he knew when was the right time to hunt yellow sheep.

"I've asked my comrades. It will be too late after the weather gets warmer. The gazelles will then run north. We can't cross the border with guns in our hands, right? We'll be brought to a military court." Fang Yuan shook his head like a rattle.

"Oh, the yellow sheep will come back one day, right? We can go again then, that should be okay, right? I just don't know if the Municipal Bureau agrees." Tang Zhitong saw that Fang Yuan was determined to go for a trip, and calculated the time in his mind. In October and November, when the quota was compressed again, maybe the escort department would really make a trip to the north.

By that time, all units would use all their powers to get food. As the only unit with a staff and firepower in the postal and telecommunications department, the Escort Department would inevitably bear the brunt of the attack.

"I guess they will agree. Who can refuse meat? Maybe even if we don't mention it, the higher-ups will let us go there." Fang Yuan didn't sleep well last night. He had been thinking about a series of issues in his mind, such as what formation to use, how to march, how to ensure logistics, and how to transport the yellow sheep back if he pulled the people from the escort department over.

There was no other way. After all, he came from the military and had seen his leaders do this job many times in his early years. Through observation and imitation, Fang Yuan also understood this quite well.

"Then just wait. You have to practice shooting well this year, so as to avoid being embarrassed when you can't hit the target." Tang Zhitong reminded.

Many things sound beautiful in conception, but the reality can be a loud slap in the face.

Hunting yellow sheep is not an easy task. In addition to shooting skills, it also depends on luck. It is normal not to hit the target after driving a car and going into the grassland for a while.

If gazelles were easy to hunt, no one would claim credit for hunting one.

Luck is too mysterious, Tang Zhitong couldn't give any advice, he could only give some advice on shooting skills.

"You're right. I'll look into this later." Fang Yuan took it seriously. He took out his little notebook and wrote this down clumsily but seriously.

After coming out of Fang Yuan's office, Tang Zhitong stood outside and smoked a cigarette, and at the same time took the piece of yellow mutton in his pocket into the space.

Fang Yuan has his own office, but Ma Wei is also in the Finance Department. The mutton's pungent smell can be smelled even through the newspaper and cannot be concealed.

It was not until he got home from get off work that Tang Zhitong dared to take out the yellow sheep meat.

"Look, what is this?" Student Xiao Wang took out an object like he was selling a treasure and waved it in front of Tang Zhitong.

"Skinning knife?" Tang Zhitong handed the yellow sheep meat in his hand to Xiao Wang, and took the "skinning artifact" to look at it.

The one I gave Ye Zhijuan was an integrated design, but this leather-beating artifact has been adjusted in style. The handle is made of wood, probably to save iron.

"Is this mutton? Why does it smell so bad?" Student Wang took it and smelled the mutton smell through the newspaper.

"Director Fang gave it to me. He said it was sent by his comrade-in-arms, and he gave me some. We're going to stew mutton with radishes tonight, so it's a good time to try out this peeling knife." Tang Zhitong took off all the scraps on his body and gave them to Xiao Wang, then turned to ask Zhang Guifang, "Mom, do we have any radishes left at home?"

"No, carrots will do?"

"That's fine. I'll go downstairs to get it." Although radishes go better with mutton, there were none at home, so we had to make do with carrots.

In order to preserve them for a long time, the carrots have been buried in sand in the cellar.

After Tang Zhitong took the carrot, he first washed the surface roughly, and then scraped off a layer of skin with a peeling tool.

It's quite useful, but Zhang Guifang felt a little distressed: "What's the use of this thing? Peel off such a thick layer of skin. Do you need to peel carrots? You can just wash it and eat it."

"Hey, the main purpose is to sell them to foreigners and earn foreign exchange, so I'll give it a try. The skin can't be wasted, I'll feed it to the chickens tomorrow." Tang Zhitong only picked one carrot and then stopped. He washed the remaining carrots and cut them into pieces.

After hearing the conversation between her mother-in-law and her husband, Xiao Wang covered her mouth and laughed.

She went to Chunshu Hutong today and brought back a skin scraper that her mother asked her to give to her husband to try out and give him some advice.

Yellow sheep meat has a strong smell, so Tang Zhitong first cuts the meat into pieces and blanchs it in water, skims off the foam, and then takes it out to drain the water.

Since the piece of yellow sheep meat given by Fang Yuan was very lean, Tang Zhitong scooped a large spoonful of animal oil into the wok, intending to mix it with the other ingredients. Anyway, no one in the family believed in your religion, so there was no need to be particular, and it wouldn't be considered offensive.

After the oil is heated, add the meat and stir-fry until it is about 60% cooked. Add the chopped onion, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for a few minutes. Then add the carrots and the soup from blanching the meat, sprinkle with salt, cover the pot and simmer.

"Brother, it smells so good." Fengzhi moved a stool and squatted beside the stove, waiting for it to be cooked. Craving for meat was one reason, but seldom eating mutton at home was another important reason.

Although beef and mutton are cheaper than pork, few Han Chinese buy them in Beijing, as they are considered to be low in fat.

In the past, some Han people would occasionally buy some, just to have a hot pot and try something new. But this year, the meat coupons dropped sharply, and fewer and fewer Han people eat this.

"It will be ready in half an hour. Then you can eat more steamed bread with the soup." Tang Zhitong gave his sister a slap on the head.

In the past year and a half, my family has only had a proper lamb meal, and that was when Xiao Wang came to our house for the first time as a friend, and Tang Zhitong made the cumin lamb himself.

Although I had some mutton soup a while ago, it was stewed with sheep's trotters, so there was not much meat at all.

This time it was yellow mutton, which tasted slightly worse than mutton, but no one in the family disliked it and it still tasted delicious.

Student Xiao Wang thought the food was a bit bland, so he scooped a spoonful of chili oil he had fried earlier into the dish. Soon, sweat started to form on his forehead.

Eating mutton in winter is one of life's great enjoyments, and Tang Zhitong hopes to have more such days.

(End of this chapter)