Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1352 Dry food and the big girl with yellow flowers
"Where are we going back?" Mao Shisan immediately became nervous.For the sailors who are eager to return home, returning to Hong Kong is going home, but for Mao Shisan, who regards the Haitian as a paradise, "going back" is an unknown future.

"Probably back to Lingao. It's been too long since I've been out," Fu Ji said while throwing the cleaned radish into the basket while shaking the water drops on his hand, "When you return to Lingao, you can wait for your blessing." He said again Start saying this.

"Yes." Mao Shisan echoed absent-mindedly.What was otherwise a beautiful day was suddenly cast in shadow.

Lunch is relatively simple. A "big catty" package of "Navy Ration" removes the wax paper on the outside and throws it into a large pot. Then add chopped vegetables, and then add water to boil it into a gray paste. The chef will also add a little to the paste. The food he took out of the little jar, like shrimp or something.When the supply is better, meat is also added.In short, it is a hodgepodge of staple food and non-staple food.

Although this kind of hodgepodge doesn't look very good, it tastes quite delicious.But when the voyage encounters strong winds and waves, this gray paste will not be supplied. Soldiers are directly distributed instant military rations. In order to help soldiers swallow, hot black tea with sugar is also provided.After distributing the tea to the soldiers, the tea dregs at the bottom of the tea bucket will not be wasted. They will be dried on the steam oven, and will be added to the next meal when cooking porridge or mush.Tea leaves contain more carotene, crude fiber and other nutrients, so it would be a pity to just throw them away, so tea leaves are also included in the food category.

Every time they saw bricks being served, the soldiers complained a lot. Except for some people who would put it in their pockets as a snack for grinding their teeth when they were hungry, others gnawed on it with disgusted expressions. Two bites were thrown out of the porthole, and the sergeants pretended not to see it.

"It's really reckless." The fat chef always likes to pull out an idiom. The fat chef has always been very low-key, but from time to time, some difficult words will burst out. According to Fu Ji, the fat chef was originally a scholar, because he was diligent about all kinds of delicacies. He didn't hesitate to spend a lot of money to taste it, but in the end he left his family in vain and went to the chief when he had nowhere to go.

After Fu Ji and Mao Shisan understood the meaning of this idiom, they also shook their heads and sighed.Although the fat chef and Fu Ji sighed, they would not chew on that brick.For the people in the kitchen, it is easy to cook a small stove for themselves, at least they can cook this ration before eating.Mao Shisan once threw a small piece of dry food in front of the kitten Oscar, who sniffed it and walked away with a disgusted expression.Mr. Mao Shisan still ate the rations that cats wouldn't even eat with inertia.To a person who has been chronically hungry for a long time, wasting food is a real pain in the heart.The adoptive father said that only the emperor eats the cabbage heart, and throws away the rest. If others do this, they will be punished by heaven.So he used to collect it specially, and the soldiers would throw the rations to him casually, and within a few days, he piled up a pile of dry food in the corner where he slept, until Fu Ji found out.

"Oh my God!" Fu Ji turned pale with shock, "If the officer sees it, they will think you are stealing military supplies, and they will hang your mast directly and throw it away."

Seeing Mao Shisan throwing rations into the sea with a painful face, the smoking fat chef bragged again: "I think that when we docked in Shandong, two rations could be exchanged for a big girl with yellow flowers. Shisan, you lost ten A few daughters-in-law have gone to sea."

"Bragging again," Fu Ji snapped, "Why didn't I see you change to a chef's wife?"

"Be disciplined. For this political matter, dozens of people have been punished, lost their medals, and transferred to the White Horse Team and the Sword Drawing Team... Fortunately, most of them are from the Army..." Fatty The chef didn't change his face, "Besides, we are on the boat all the year round, so don't worry about letting a daughter-in-law stay at home, aren't you afraid of wearing a cuckold? Do you understand a cuckold?"

Mao Shisan huddled in the corner and did not speak, but he thought of the beggar shed at Lushun Port, the dead baby abandoned by the roadside, the road lost to wild dogs, and the adoptive father who was hard to see, and burst into tears .

"Why are you crying, you can enjoy your blessings when you return to Lingao." Fu Ji began to mutter again.

After distributing lunch to everyone, the three people in the kitchen drank the supplementary version of rations together. This is one of the small benefits of working in the kitchen.

"Let's work harder for this dinner. The deputy captain said that this time, it's not only a welcome for Chief Huang, but also a reward for the whole ship. Everyone must eat well and eat safely. No problems." Fat The chef finished his drink and wiped his mouth with satisfaction.As he spoke, he took out a thick paper-bound legal pad from under his buttocks, read it several times, and notified the two helpers of the things to be done.

After lunch, the people in the kitchen began to get busy preparing for the dinner.The two young men distributed the rice in each lunch box according to the quota, and then stacked them neatly in the rice steaming cabinet, and steam would pass through from the engine room.

The fat chef took Fu Ji off the boat, and took a full set of guys to cut up the beef and prepare the ingredients for cooking in the evening. The weather was warm in the afternoon, and the frozen beef thawed quickly in the sun. With a lot of strength, not only did it himself, but also specially called two strong sailors to help with the physical work.

Butter and beef bones are released separately.Fu Ji set up a big pot on the river beach, threw all kinds of cut beef fat into it and set it on fire to refine the oil. The pot sizzled and the smell spread everywhere on the river.

Mao Shisan helped to light the fire, watching Fu Ji stir the oil pan from time to time, the butter in it kept bubbling -- he had never seen so much oil in his life.

"Why, are you hungry?" Seeing that his eyes were about to water, Fu Ji couldn't help teasing him, "This stuff can't be eaten, take it back and give it to the factory to use..."

Butter has a high melting point. If it is eaten directly, it will not be absorbed by the stomach. It is only used for flavoring in meals.

You can’t eat good oil. Mao Shisan can’t accept this weird argument, but he can’t decide what he can eat and what he can’t eat—including rewards at night. He doesn’t dare to have any extravagant hopes. He was satisfied with the soup base.

A cow may seem like a lot, but it's a piece of cake for seventy or eighty people who seldom eat big bellies.The fat cook thought over and over again, in order to ensure that everyone could eat meat, he decided to simply have a random stew.Except for some good meat for the chief and the patient, all the other meat was picked out and cut into pieces, and potatoes, radishes, cabbage and onions were added to stew in a pot.

While stewing, steam spewed out from the side of the lid, and the whole kitchen was filled with an earth-shattering aroma of meat and coriander, which came out from the vents on the deck.

Mao Shisan, who was cranking the fan, made a groaning sound in his throat. This was like giving him a second punishment. It was worse than when he was refining the oil just now. In addition to the fragrance and odor, the oil cannot be directly Entrance.Now there is a pot full of meat rolling in the soup-you know that freshly cooked meat is not often eaten in heaven.

The fat chef lifted the lid, picked up a piece of beef, tasted it, and smiled with satisfaction.He cut a small piece and threw it to Oscar who was wandering around at his feet, and the remaining piece of meat went into Mao Shisan's mouth.

At this moment, Mao Shisan's soul left his body as if he had gone to heaven.

"Thirteen, close the damper. Today's task is completed and we have a dinner party. I'll go and order some appetizers," the fat chef wiped his hands and ordered.

Before dinner was ready, Huang Yuan, who had gone to the Tartar capital a few days ago, had already returned.Mao Shisan happened to be dumping ashes on the deck, and saw the team coming from Zhenjiang Fort.Hundreds of Tartar cavalry and servants surrounded Huang Yuanlao's palanquin, which looked really majestic.

To be an official, you have to be an official like the chief, Mao Shisan thought.

"Thirteen! Go to the island and boil water!" Fu Ji called him in a panic.

A large pot of boiling water was boiled on Dazhi Island for the "primary purification" of a group of new servants. Mao Shisan also helped out. While these newcomers were stripped naked and driven into the steam room for fumigation, he used With a long wooden fork, the clothes these people took off were picked up one by one and thrown into a large pot of boiling water to boil and wash.The quality of these clothes is too low. As long as they are boiled and washed for insect repellent and disinfection, they are then recycled as pulp raw materials.

"Come on, let's shave your head!" The barber on the Haitian stood at the door of the bathroom with a sharpened razor, and he stood on a bench with one foot on it.When a person comes out, let him sit down, grab the braid and brush it with a knife, cut it off first, and then turn the knife a few times, and there is nothing left on the head with a little hair, only the blue scalp.Seeing this scene, Mao Shisan only felt a chill on his scalp - he has grown a little hair now.

Mao Shisan was busy boiling water, delivering water, running back and forth, so busy that his bones and tendons were weak, and in the end he didn't even have the strength to hold the firewood, and he finally returned to the kitchen in heaven after he finished his work.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, he lay on the ground and couldn't move.

"Pretend to be dead, get up and work!" The fat cook kicked him unceremoniously, "Dinner will be served in a while. After eating my meat, why don't you work?"

Mao Shisan staggered up and helped Fu Ji prepare the wine to be distributed in the evening.

Rum is distributed on the ship according to a certain quota every day. Unlike the Europeans who distributed rum mainly to cover up the smell of drinking water, Haitian has good water purification equipment and disinfection drugs, and the problem of fresh water odor is very easy. Solve, alcohol is mainly for the entertainment of soldiers at sea and for keeping out the cold in high latitude areas.Of course, you can't drink alcohol while on duty.

The sailors have already lined up outside the kitchen. The news of today's rewards has already spread, and the soldiers have already smelled the aroma of the stew. They will all have a full appetite and wait for the feast.

(End of this chapter)