Chapter 40 Chapter 40 Rice Cake

The rented house is an earth-walled and blue-tiled house with two floors. It is in the center of the county, in an alley on Zhengxing Street, next to the public toilet. I originally planned to rent a set of three, but Pork Belly changed my mind temporarily. I rented a side room next to the public toilet, 30 per month, and the pork belly was for cheap rent. This is the house that Wu Zhengjin helped to find. Zhu Ziqiang is sitting in his "new home". The weather is not too cold after autumn, but the foundation of this house is obviously lower than the public toilet, and the muddy floor is very damp. The plastic sheet just covered is covered with fine water beads , there is no window in the front, in order to prevent people who come and go to the public toilet from seeing the inside of the house, only a low wooden door is opened, and there is a small window in the back, but unfortunately, there is a hotel behind, and the toilet in the hotel is also It is next to this house.

In this way, Zhu Ziqiang's new home was blocked by two toilets, and the lighting was poor, and the lights had to be turned on in broad daylight.The door leads to the stone staircase to the second floor. There are three families living on the second floor. One Miao couple has a lovely daughter, and the other has three children. The man has a long beard and a black mouth. He is about fifty years old. , Every time I pass by Zhu Ziqiang's house, I have to tilt my head to look at it. The neck that is already a little crooked seems to have a migraine.The third family is an old man with a wine-grooved nose who lives upstairs from them.

These three are employees of the film company, and they showed obvious hostility towards the new residents. Zhu Ziqiang could see disdain and contempt in their eyes. Pork belly put the tin stove on the stone ladder outside the door. The man with a crooked neck walked like a cat. He walked past the pork belly who was cooking, and paused for a while. Pork belly turned sideways with a humble smile on his face. Crooked neck and said in a cold tone: "Don't take other people's way to make a fire and cook." After speaking, he tilted his head and went upstairs leisurely.Pork belly continued to maintain a smiling face: "Hey, I can't take it." She didn't dare to turn against others. The water pipe here is connected to the second floor, and the draft must be picked up on the second floor.

The lights in the room are dim, the walls are turned black, and it looks extremely gloomy. Zhu Ziqiang has been in a daze. His mind is blank now. Although his hometown in Dog Street is not much more upscale than here, at least it feels like home. People in Dog Street Also very enthusiastic, no one will entertain strangers with blank eyes. After receiving the dishes delivered by the pork belly, Zhu Ziqiang took a closer look. Except for the stone ladder, there was indeed no place suitable for cooking with a fire. It would definitely not work to move it into the house. But it’s no wonder that you don’t get sick if you live in this kind of place for a long time. Zhu Ziqiang hesitated for a while, but decided to say what’s on his mind: “Mom, why don’t we live in another place?”

Pork Belly paused, and said with a smile: "It's pretty good here, it's okay, you go to study, Mom can live alone." Zhu Ziqiang said: "Didn't you mean to rent a three-bedroom house? I even asked Xiaolei to live with me before." Pork Belly continued to laugh and said, "Why did you call Xiao Lei here? Then you will go to school in the city..." "I'm not going to No. 1 Middle School in the city!" Zhu Ziqiang interrupted his mother's words, and looked at the pork belly firmly. Pork Belly smiled, pulled a small dining table brought down from Dog Street, and quickly set up the meal: "Let's eat first, after we finish eating, Mom has something to tell you."

Zhu Ziqiang hesitated for a moment, not understanding what kind of medicine his mother sold in the gourd. He grumbled and quickly picked up three bowls of rice. Now that he is in the development stage, he eats a lot. More than half of it was dropped. Pork Belly looked at her wolf-eating son, the only support that kept her alive: "San'er...Mom knows what you're thinking, do you remember what your dad said before he died?" Zhu Ziqiang nodded, feeling pain in his heart. Pork belly sighed and said, "Your father said that selling blood will pay you to go to college. He just hoped that you would be successful, that you would become famous in the future, and earn face for the old Zhu's family. Don't worry, the tuition and living expenses will be paid for by mom." There is a way, I have already figured it out, here is facing the street, tomorrow I will build a shed outside, I will make rice cakes for sale, it will not be a problem for you to go to school."

Zhu Ziqiang looked at his mother, his heart was very excited, and his voice was trembling: "Mom... I won't go to the city's No. 1 Middle School to study, I have made up my mind, I will stay with you no matter what!" The porky face turned pale all of a sudden, and he glared at Zhu Ziqiang angrily: "You little bastard... are you going to piss off my old lady? You unfilial son..." The pork belly was so angry that he couldn't speak, he raised his palm and then put it down, Zhu Ziqiang lowered his head and said: "Mom, is it a cow that was brought to Beijing or a cow? The teaching environment in City No. 1 Middle School is really good, but County No. 1 The middle school is not bad, I think the key is yourself, if you don’t want to study, you can’t read it no matter where you send it, you believe me! I promise to be admitted to the university!”

The pork belly resolutely rejected Zhu Ziqiang: "No! You got the first place in the county and you are going to the No. 1 Middle School in the city. I want others to see it. I can afford you!" Zhu Ziqiang knew that this "other" was actually It's a pig's skull. Zhu Ziqiang stood up, forcibly suppressing the turbulent emotions in his heart, facing the sitting pork belly, bent his knees, and knelt down in front of the pork belly with a "boom", ignoring the panicked look of the pork belly, and said in a crying voice: "Mom, you are so cruel! You have fulfilled your great righteousness by supporting me to go to school! But have you ever thought about me? If I go, can I feel at ease? Even if I am admitted to university, I will have to spend my whole life Carrying the heavy shackles of unfilial mother, can I bear to see you suffer alone? Can I just watch you live in such a place and be looked down upon and bullied? How will you let me be a son in the future? Facing the world? Mom... I beg you, my child, just let me go to school in County No. 1 Middle School, if I fail to pass the university entrance exam, I will chop myself up and feed it to the dogs!"

Pork belly was sobbing, covering his face with one hand, and pulling Zhu Ziqiang's skirt with the other: "Get up...my boy, get up...Mom promises you!" When Zhu Ziqiang stood up, the pork belly became more and more silent Crying loudly: "It's all my mother's incompetence..." Zhu Ziqiang couldn't control it anymore, and burst into tears. He hugged his mother's head, and the mother and son cried together.Crying like this for a while, and talking for a while, the mother and son began to discuss their future life. After paying half a year's rent, there are still more than 100 yuan left, and they still have to buy pots, steamers, rice, wood vats, and charcoal.It is less than half a month before Zhu Ziqiang starts school, and the tuition, books and miscellaneous fees will cost tens of dollars by then.

After tidying up the dishes and chopsticks, Zhu Ziqiang followed his mother to purchase the household materials needed for making rice cakes. He was busy until the evening, and all the things were brought back. The pork belly pulled up a curtain near the window of the house, and gave Zhu Ziqiang a brick and a board. I made a bed and started soaking rice. After turning off the lights, I had nothing to say all night. The next day, Zhu Ziqiang got up early in the morning and ran to the school, found a quiet place and started reading. These books were collected by Wang Xiangtang for him, but Zhu Ziqiang couldn't stop reading them all morning. What happened was too sudden and too difficult for people to face.Especially the ruthlessness of the pig's head, Zhu Ziqiang questioned the good and evil of human nature for the first time.Tiger poison does not eat its offspring, but the behavior of the pig's head makes people's teeth cold and chilling.There are also those uncles who pretended not to know that their sisters had moved. Wu Zhengjin found a house for Pork Belly and never met again, let alone the others.

I think of a sentence that my father Zhu Dachang often said: "The rich have distant relatives in the mountains, and the poor have no one to ask in the streets." Don't worry, especially in the two years since the pork liver went back, the income has increased a lot at once. Zhu Ziqiang thought of the proud look of the pork belly during the Chinese New Year in his mind.But now... After eating at noon, Pork Belly used two buckets to carry the soaked rice to make rice milk. Zhu Ziqiang grabbed the burden from his mother, thinking that it would be easy to carry the burden, but when the shoulder pole was on his shoulders, Zhu Ziqiang was overwhelmed. Ziqiang hissed and gasped, and hurriedly grasped the bucket rope with both hands, but the two buckets seemed to be deliberately against him, one in front of the other, one high and the other low, and they kept shaking. A stick.The pork belly looked both distressed and funny: "The waist is straight! Don't let it, it will hurt when you first pick it, and it will be fine soon! Let me do it." Zhu Ziqiang shook his head, this little crime is bearable, compared to when he first learned to squat, this is a trivial matter, Pork Belly nodded and asked Zhu Ziqiang to follow. As soon as he walked to the street, Zhu Ziqiang blushed a lot. He is considered a big guy now, and he is also handsome. , where to put this face?Thinking of this, Zhu Ziqiang lowered his head and followed the pork belly without saying a word, only to feel a burning pain in his shoulder. Pork belly walked in front and said coldly: "Hold your head up! Don't steal or rob, what are you afraid of relying on labor for food?" Zhu Ziqiang's heart was shaken. Looking at his mother's thin figure, he felt a little taller. He straightened his waist and walked faster. After walking for about a kilometer, I found a small steel mill processing factory in Chengxiao. After soaking the rice overnight, it was processed into snow-white rice milk, and I carried it home again.Pour the rice milk into the wooden tank, cover it and enter the fermentation process. At four o'clock the next morning, Pork Belly got up quietly, and Zhu Ziqiang followed suit. "Would San'er get some sleep?" After one night, his shoulders started to hurt. Zhu Ziqiang didn't say a word, and started to help his mother light a fire, boil water, and serve a steamer. Under the command of the pork belly, Zhu Ziqiang became more and more proficient. He had never done housework at home before. Pork belly smiled and said: "Mom taught you how to make cakes soaked in lard and sugar. It's delicious!" Zhu Ziqiang fanned the fire and asked casually, "Mom, why don't you go to grandpa and grandma?" Pork belly said: "Your aunt and uncle are still in high school, and your seventh uncle is also a soldier. What's the use of looking for it? Your mother has hands and feet, as long as she doesn't starve to death. Besides, with the current appearance, go to upset them." When the first cage came out, Zhu Ziqiang looked at the rice cakes with added brown sugar, which was tender and fragrant, and danced with joy: "It smells so good, it looks delicious!" The pork belly slapped Zhu Ziqiang's hand away: "It hasn't opened yet, don't do anything, wait until it opens before eating." "why?" "It's nothing, it's the rules! The rules of a businessman." Zhu Ziqiang had no choice but to swallow his saliva and carried the rice cake out. The pork belly smiled and said, "You can sell it outside. I will call you when the second cage is cooked." At six o'clock in the morning, Zhu Ziqiang carried out the dining table at home, set up a stool to sit on, put on a platform scale and plastic bags, and the rice cake was cut into several large pieces by the pork belly with a thread. Put it in your mouth, um, it's delicious and sweet!Why didn't I find out that my mother has this unique skill? After sitting for about half an hour, there were too few people getting up at the moment, and they just passed by the stall a few times, and no one even asked. Zhu Ziqiang was very confident that someone would buy such a delicious food! After another half an hour, the second cage was almost cold, and no one cared about it. The pork belly shouted in the alley: "San'er, you want to drink, shout! Follow me: fragrant and sweet pigs Oily sugar bubble cake..." Zhu Ziqiang agreed, and tried to practice a few times in his mouth first. Seeing that there was no one there, he closed his eyes, let go of his throat, and started shouting: "Sweet and fragrant lard sugar soaked cake, fresh and hot. Get out of the cage!" The first time I yelled, I felt better, and I drank it one after another until a middle-aged woman, who seemed to have just finished her morning exercise, came to the stall curiously: "Are you rice cake? How did you sell it?" Zhu Ziqiang hurriedly replied: "Eight cents a catty. Try it first!" After speaking, she started to work with great enthusiasm. The woman looked at the steamer in the alley: "Are you unhygienic?" Public toilets in the alley. Zhu Ziqiang froze for a moment, staring blankly at the woman, not knowing what to say, the woman looked at Zhu Ziqiang and said, "Oh, why are you so dazed? Just try it."