Chapter 158: Bamboo Craftsman Lao Li

Chapter 158: Bamboo Craftsman Lao Li

Chapter 158: Bamboo Craftsman Lao Li
After dinner, my parents went to work. Li Jiayi put down his bowl and went back upstairs.

For such a long time, Li Jiayi has not had a good rest at home for a single day.

Of course, except for the first few days when it started snowing, but even during those days, he was busy at home!

Shovel snow.

Today is Laba Festival. I won’t go out no matter what. I will just sleep well at home all day.

Because he will be busy again in two days. Yes, today is Friday, and he will have to catch a wild boar on Sunday.

However, this time the wild boars are not for sale, but for eating during the New Year.

To be honest, Li Jiayi likes this era very much, especially the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year.

Although everyone was very poor and even had not enough food to eat, every household would try to get some good things back home when the New Year came.

Those who are better off will fry some crispy meat, and those who are not so well off will bring back some meat and make dumplings during the Chinese New Year.

The happiest people are the children, because the Chinese New Year means delicious food.

Chinese New Year means having new clothes to wear. Of course, this happens in very few cases, but it can be considered a wish!

In the afternoon, Li Jiayi, who was about to go out to buy something, walked in the yard. Looking at his neighbors who all had smiles on their faces and looked very happy, he shook his head in his heart.

They all look so happy now because the Chinese New Year is coming soon. I guess they would never imagine that after this year, their suffering will begin.

The happier you are now, the sadder you will be in the future.

The tenth day was a Sunday, and Li Jiayi brought back another wild boar, which was again dealt with by Liao Kai and his two apprentices.

Li Aimin and Ye Xin helped, and they also knew that the wild boar was not for sale, but Li Jiayi was preparing to use it for the New Year.

Of course, it was not just for their family to eat. Li Jiayi planned to ask his father to send some back to his grandparents and his uncle and aunt’s home.

In addition, some money should also be sent to his master's family. Meat is hard to buy now, so let my mother send some to Director Xu's family.

As for the rest, he sold some to Liao Kai’s two apprentices at a fair price, and kept the rest for his own family.

As for Liao Kai, he was alone and happened to have a lot of things to do for the New Year, so Li Jiayi discussed with his family and let Liao Kai celebrate the New Year with them.

With a chef cooking at home, this year will definitely be a comfortable one. Most importantly, there will be delicious food.

Because it was Chinese New Year! Li Jiayi was very busy for a while. He basically went out early in the morning and didn't come home until dark.

Although the roads in rural areas are basically open now, the pigs raised in rural areas have gradually entered the meat processing plants.

But because of this instability, although the roads are open, they are not easy to travel on and transportation is still a bit troublesome.

In this case, the meat cannot be delivered to the butcher shop on time, and the butcher shop is out of meat. The Chinese New Year is approaching, so the meat shortage can be imagined.

Li Jiayi took turns going to the four pigeon markets. Basically, he went to Deshengmenwai in the morning and Jianguomenwai in the afternoon.

I will go to Fuxingmenwai and Yongdingmenwai again tomorrow, one round every two days, and I will be very busy and have a lot of fun.

Of course, the capital's meat supply still mainly depends on meat processing plants, and Li Jiayi is at most a supplement.

Some well-off families who feel they don't have enough meat go to the Pigeon Market to buy some.

As for supplying the entire imperial capital, that is absolutely a joke.

Even if he took out all the meat in the space, it probably wouldn't be enough for one family.

Yes, this is talking about one family, not every individual, there are millions of people in the whole city.

How much meat is there in his space!

If we calculate based on the fact that he slaughtered fifty pigs in three days, it would have been less than six months from the time he started slaughtering pigs to now.

If we calculate based on 180 days, that is equivalent to 60 slaughters.

Let's calculate a little more. If a pig produces 300 kilograms of meat, 15,000 kilograms at a time, and 60 times it will be 900,000 kilograms.

Not to mention that there is not so much, he usually sells a lot! It is estimated that the space now, including other meat, will not exceed one million catties.

This little bit of meat is of no use to the entire imperial capital.

You should know that some large factories have a supply of several thousand kilograms or even tens of thousands of kilograms per month.

And there are so many large factories like this in the capital. Not to mention selling to ordinary people, it is estimated that he may not even have enough supply to these large factories for a month.

All in all, he was just doing small things and absorbing the wealth of some wealthy families.

Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye it was the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, which is the Little New Year in the north.

This is quite interesting. In the north, people celebrate the Little New Year on the 23rd, while in the south it is on the 24th.

There are actually two Little New Year's Days in this country, but fortunately the Spring Festival is on the same day.

Because we have to do a thorough cleaning on the Little New Year, the whole family is ready after breakfast early in the morning.

First, everyone cleans their own room, and then cleans other rooms.

Li Jiayi folded a triangular hat out of newspaper and put it on his head, then began to climb up and down the room, cleaning every corner.

After cleaning the room, Li Jiayi went to the empty room above the living room and cleaned it as well.

Because no one lived there, there was a lot of dust in the room and it took half a day to clean it.

When he went downstairs, the whole house had been cleaned, including the kitchen and the east wing where he had lived before.

The next day, which was the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, was the day of the Little New Year in the south, and oil began to appear in Li Jia's family.

It means frying things, first the crispy meat, and then the fried dough sticks. Many people may not understand what fried dough sticks are. In fact, they are similar to fried dough sticks, but they are round.

This is what it is called in the imperial capital, I don’t know how it is called in other places.

Anyway, there were a lot of things that needed to be fried today, but it had nothing to do with him. Dad and the second sister were making the fire, while Liao Kai, mom and the eldest sister were busy frying.

So there was nothing for him to do. He stayed alone in the living room, drinking tea and eating peanuts and sunflower seeds.

There are a lot of peanuts and melon seeds in the space now. You can just fry some and take them out. They will be good things for your family.

And he fried more than one kind, there are original flavor and spiced flavor. Of course, this is only talking about melon seeds.

Same goes for the peanuts, which come in original, spiced, and garlic flavors.

Li Jiayi took some out and placed them in the living room for people to eat at will.

He only took a little, but it was a bit too much for his family. He probably wouldn't be able to finish it even after the New Year.

It doesn’t matter. As long as it doesn’t get damp, it can be kept for a long time at this time.

In the north, roasted nuts are most afraid of summer and autumn because there is a lot of rain and they are easily affected by moisture.

After drinking a large enamel pot of tea, he went upstairs to rest as it was still early.

Yes, starting from the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Jiayi no longer planned to go to Pigeon City.

He had sold a lot of meat since Laba Festival! Now he had enough money, so there was no need to sell meat anymore.

The family had a meal at noon. The meal was prepared by Liao Kai. Liao Kai didn't think there was anything wrong with spending the New Year at Li Jia's house.

Anyway, he is a single man, so it's nice for him to spend the New Year with Li Jiayi's family.

At least it’s lively!
In the afternoon, Li Jiayi went out and started to buy things at various supply and marketing cooperatives. Now he had money.

He plans to use up all the tickets he has before the Chinese New Year, since he has a static space anyway.

There is no need to worry about things going bad if left in the space. As for wine, there is no need to keep it in a static space.

Just place it directly in the living room of the small courtyard. Even if there is no room in the living room, you can place it in the yard.

In a blink of an eye, it was the 27th day of the twelfth lunar month. During these days, Li Jiayi went to countless supply and marketing cooperatives and finally used up all the tickets he had.

Of course, this only uses those that can be purchased at the supply and marketing cooperatives.

He also has a lot of special tickets, which have to be purchased from the service center in the military compound.

So, Li Jiayi prepared everything early in the morning and went to the military compound.

When they arrived at the gate of the military compound, the guard saw that it was him and let him in directly without even trying to stop him.

This was mainly because he had been here many times during this period and the guards already knew him.

And knowing that he was a relative of Lao Li's, even if he was just called in and told only once, he would still be allowed in.

So there is no need to do anything extra.

Li Jiayi first came to the door of Lao Li's house carrying things.

I went up and knocked on the door, and it opened quickly. The person who opened the door was Aunt Zhang, a childless woman who worked as a nanny in Old Li's house.

Because she came from the countryside, she had no food rations. It can be said that all she had been eating over the years was the food rations from Old Li's family.

Fortunately, Lao Li and his wife are of high status, and their food rations are much higher than those of ordinary people, otherwise it would not be enough to eat.

But the good times won't last long. Starting next year, even the rations for Mr. Li and his wife will be reduced a lot. By then, they probably won't have enough to eat.

"Hello, Aunt Zhang."

"It's plus one! Okay, come in."

He came so often that even the nanny, Mrs. Zhang, became familiar with him.

"Okay, Aunt Zhang. By the way, is Lao Li home?"

"Yes, it's vacation now, and I've been staying at home."

"Ok!"

When I arrived at the living room of the small building, I saw Lao Li pretending to read a newspaper.

"Hey, Old Li, do you understand it?" Li Jia asked as soon as he came up.

After hearing what he said, Li Jian and Li Kang, who were sitting next to him, wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. It could be said that they were feeling very uncomfortable holding it back.

The first person to exchange tickets with him was Li Jian, Lao Li’s eldest son.

"You little bastard, will you die without saying a few bad things to me?" Old Li asked, putting down the newspaper.

"Who insulted you? I just asked if you can understand it."

"Who said I can't understand it? I've been to classes and military school, so how could I not understand a newspaper?"

"Oh! Really? You always say you are a peasant, a basket-maker?"

"What is a basket weaver? It's called a bamboo weaver."

"Okay! I'm not uneducated. I'm a bamboo craftsman. But what does a bamboo craftsman do?"

"You don't even know what a bamboo craftsman is, so of course it's basket weaving!"

"Oh! So it's basket weaving!"

"puff!"

Li Jian endured it, but Li Kang was younger, so he didn't.

(End of this chapter)