Translator's Notes:
I will be updating this to 2 chapters/week. It's for those few readers who still keep reading this.
Enjoy reading!!!
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Chapter 23: The Importance of Nutrition
Chen Fan spent his childhood in his maternal grandparents' home in the countryside. He didn't return to the city to attend elementary school until he was six or seven years old. He often heard the elders tell stories, so he knew some things about the countryside in the past. A few things left a particularly deep impression on him, including drinking.
He was certain that the alcohol in Captain Yang's home wasn't bought from the supply and marketing cooperative, but homemade rural liquor.
In those days, there were no private wineries, and all alcohol was sold through the supply and marketing cooperatives.
However, the harder the manual laborers worked, the more they loved to smoke and drink.
City workers could buy the cheapest "Economy" brand cigarettes for 8 cents a pack (5 cents in some places) and "loose white" liquor for 50 cents a jin.
But rural villagers couldn't afford even these few cents and didn't have the conditions to travel far to buy them, so they found ways to "produce their own."
They grew their own tobacco leaves, cured them themselves, and smoked them. Some even smoked dried tree leaves just for a bit of enjoyment. Finding their own food and brewing their own liquor were common practices.
Of course, not everyone knew how to brew alcohol. Those who didn't know how to brew but wanted to drink had to buy it from nearby villagers who did.
This homemade liquor was much cheaper than the liquor sold at the supply and marketing cooperative, costing only two or three cents per jin.
Farmers didn't have testing instruments. The quality of the liquor depended entirely on experience, so the quality varied. If brewed well, it tasted better than the liquor from the supply and marketing cooperative, which cost one or two yuan per jin. If brewed poorly, methanol poisoning was a risk!
So, how could Chen Fan dare to drink Captain Yang’s liquor? He might die!
Even if it was possible, he wouldn’t risk it.
Before Captain Yang could speak, Chen Fan immediately picked up the basket and said seriously, "Captain, there are two more bowls here, for Accountant Liu and Keeper Huang. Where do they live? I'll take them there."
Captain Yang waved his hand, "Xiaomei, Xialan, you two go."
The two girls immediately picked up a bowl each and carefully ran out.
Chen Fan saw this. They are trying to prevent him from leaving.
He had no choice but to leave the two bowls behind, saying, "Captain, eat well. I'll go back."
He turned and ran out. Captain Yang couldn't stop him, and he successfully escaped.
By this time, it was already dark. He wrapped his padded jacket tightly and strode forward. In a few minutes, he returned to the educated youth dormitory.
They didn’t close the courtyard gate during the day, but they had to close it at night, right?
Chen Fan closed the door and fastened the bolt. When he went to the kitchen, his face fell. "I told you not to wait, why didn't you listen? Aren't you afraid that Captain Yang would keep me there for dinner? The food must be cold by now."
Jiang Lili was sitting at the table, her chin resting on her hands, not knowing what she was thinking. When she saw him come back, she immediately got up, touched the sand pot, and lowered her head apologetically, "I’ll heat it up."
The temperature was low in winter. The soft-shelled turtle pot, which was steaming hot just now, only had a little bit of warmth left. Although it hadn’t completely cooled down, the fishy smell was much stronger.
Chen Fan didn’t stand on ceremony, "Add some water to the pot, like before, just steam it. By the way, is there any water in the jar?"
Then he put down the basket, walked over and lifted the lid of the jar. It was full of cold water.
One lit the fire, and the other scooped water and put it on the steamer rack.
Although this was their first day of knowing each other, their cooperation was like they had lived together for years.
After covering the pot lid and the fire in the stove started to burn, Jiang Lili asked, "Why not cook it directly?"
Cooking directly would be much faster than steaming.
Chen Fan smiled and shook his head, "If we didn’t have a sand pot, it wouldn’t matter. Since we have a sand pot, don’t use the big pot. The big pot is for cooking rice. If we use it, the rice will also have a fishy smell, and it won’t taste good."
"Oh."
Jiang Lili nodded knowingly, then didn’t know what to say.
She looked at the firelight in the stove shining on Chen Fan's face, making his handsome face red, like the fiery clouds of evening, illuminating the evening sky.
For a moment, she was captivated.
Chen Fan stuffed a bundle of straw into the stove. The blazing fire burned his face, making his skin feel hot. He quickly poked it with a fire stick and stood aside.
Jiang Lili came back to her senses, quickly lowered her head, then saw the empty basket, and suddenly remembered the bowls, "Didn't you bring the bowls back?"
The bowls are important assets. Sending food is okay, but sending bowls is not!
Chen Fan turned his head and smiled, "Oh, Captain Yang insisted on making me drink, I didn’t want to drink, so I didn’t bring the bowls back. I ran back immediately. Captain Yang’s two daughters helped to deliver the bowls to Accountant Liu and Keeper Huang. It’s okay. I’ll go get them tomorrow."
After saying that, he suddenly noticed that Jiang Lili seemed a little awkward.
She must be lonely for too long and doesn't know how to interact with people?
But it's okay, chatting is my forte. Working in a small company, especially as a supervisor, you have to be versatile; you have to handle technology, discuss business, report upwards and manage downwards. Without eloquence, how could you do your job?
Chen Fan sat down and started chatting casually.
What is daily life like here? Are there any other things besides farming? Do you educated youths only work, are there other activities?
After chatting for a while, the small kitchen was filled with steam. Seeing that it was almost ready, Chen Fan added another handful of cotton stalks, sealed the stove door, and used the remaining fire to boil water in the jar.
Jiang Lili busied herself bringing the food to the table, and then, it was time to eat!
"Mmm, it smells so good, it’s delicious."
After only one bite, Jiang Lili’s eyes lit up, "I didn't expect soft-shelled turtle to be so delicious."
Chen Fan took two small bowls and ladled two bowls of soup, handing one to her, "Try this."
Jiang Lili carefully held the bowl, brought it to her mouth, blew on it, then took a small sip, her eyes quickly curved into crescent shapes, "Delicious!"
"If it’s delicious, eat more."
Chen Fan was also hungry by now. He picked up his bowl and started eating.
No talking while eating, no talking while sleeping. They ate silently.
The two of them ate quickly, and still only ate a little more than half of the meat.
Actually, it was quite a lot. The yield of soft-shelled turtle meat is about 60%. This large soft-shelled turtle weighed about 15 or 16 jin. The meat yielded about 10 jin. Without any side dishes, such a large pot was stewed. Even after sending half of it to Captain Yang and the others, there was still about 5 or 6 jin left.
It’s like they ate more than three jin. Even though the meat is not very oily, it's enough. Moreover, there were two large bowls of rice and two bowls of soup.
After eating, what to do next?
Of course, it’s washing dishes!
Jiang Lili insisted that Chen Fan not do it, so Chen Fan lost 1 point of Housekeeping experience.
Sitting in the chair, watching her quickly clean up the dishes, put the sand pot in the cupboard, he was about to speak, when he suddenly heard a "ding" in his head. The next second, a new prompt sounded.
"You ate a nutritious dinner, your constitution has improved, rewarded with +1 Constitution, current Constitution 8/10."
An unprecedented warm current flowed throughout his body, sweeping away all fatigue and tiredness.
Chen Fan was stunned, I worked so hard carrying water and only increased my constitution by one point. Now I ate a meal of soft-shelled turtle, and it increased by one point?
So nutrition is more important than exercise?
(End of Chapter)
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