Chapter 28 Get up early and eat meat

The next day, Wang Jianye woke up feeling refreshed, all the fatigue from yesterday disappeared.

That’s what being young is like. No matter how tired you are during the day, you can feel full of energy again after a good night’s sleep.

Wang Jianye woke up early today, while the two brothers beside him were still snoring.

He carefully put on his clothes and shoes, then picked up the urinal on the ground and prepared to go out and empty it.

It was still dark outside, but only the light in Liu Haizhong's east room was on, while the other rooms were all dark.

Wang Jianye came to the front yard carrying the chamber pot and found that the gate was still locked.

In order to prevent theft, the gate of the courtyard was locked at night and opened again in the morning to prevent thieves from sneaking in in the second half of the night.

The key to the gate was given to Old Yan's family, who lived closest to the gate. Yan Fugui was in charge of opening and locking the door every day.

Of course, his work was not in vain. He was given two dollars every month, which was collected from all the residents living in the courtyard.

Yan Fugui is a very calculating person. In order to earn an extra two yuan a month for his family, he is very active. No matter how cold the weather is or how warm his bed is, he will get up early to open the door for others.

Just as Wang Jianye was about to look for him to get the key, the light in his room came on, and soon Yan Fugui came out wearing a cotton jacket.

When he met Wang Jianye, Yan Fugui asked, "Hey, I heard from Sha Zhu yesterday that your master gave you two meat dishes and asked you to bring them back?"

Wang Jianye looked at him and nodded, "Yes, Teacher Yan, I performed well, so the master specially rewarded me."

"Oh, that's great, your family doesn't have to spend money to buy meat."

Yan Fugui felt jealous, wondering why he didn't have such a good thing.

"Hurry up, Mr. Yan, I have to empty the urinal."

Wang Jianye urged.

"I'm coming."

After Yan Fugui unlocked the door, Wang Jianye emptied the chamber pot into the toilet pit outside.

He got up very early today and there were not many people in the public toilet outside. If everyone had gotten up a little later, he would have had to queue to empty the chamber pot.

Back in the backyard, Liu Haizhong in the east room was standing by the sink brushing his teeth.

Liu Haizhong is still very young now, with not many wrinkles on his face and he hasn't started to gain weight.

However, because he worked as a blacksmith in a steel mill for several years, his arms are quite strong.

Wang Jianye greeted him and went over to use the faucet to rinse the chamber pot.

But when I turned on the faucet, I found not a drop of water.

"Uncle Liu, is the gate closed or is the water outage?"

"It's not open yet. I connected the water for brushing my teeth and washing my face to the house yesterday afternoon."

What Liu Haizhong meant by opening the gate was opening the sluice gate of the tap water in the yard.

The winter in the north is cold, and we have to think about opening and closing the sluice gates every day. In the morning, whoever needs water first will open the sluice gate. At seven or eight o'clock in the evening, those who need water will fill a bucket and put it in the house, and then close the sluice gate.

If you forget to turn off the water pipes, the next morning you will have to boil hot water and pour it on the pipes one pot at a time until the frozen pipes melt before you can use them. If the weather is too cold, the pipes may crack, and you will have to call the water company to repair them.

"Then I'll go open the sluice gate now. Uncle Liu, do you have a flashlight at home?"

"Yes, go to the east room and ask your aunt for it."

"Eh."

Wang Jianye borrowed a flashlight and came to the wall in the front yard.

A few years ago, people from the water company came here to bring water pipes from outside into the yard.

The water pipe was buried in a trench more than one meter deep. Only this place was not sealed and compacted with soil. Instead, a small well was built with stones. Inside was the sluice gate and water meter for the water pipe entering the yard. A large stone slab covered the wellhead to prevent water from entering and flooding the well when it rains.

Wang Jianye first lifted the large stone slab, then picked up an iron fork on the side and reached into the well. He used a flashlight to insert the fork head into the petal switch of the sluice gate. With another twist, the sluice gate opened.

Back in the backyard, Wang Jianye turned on the tap and rinsed the chamber pot briefly. When he brought it back to the house, the two boys were still asleep. They were young and couldn't wake up that early in the morning.

Wang Jianye brushed his teeth, washed his face, and then went to the next room.

The lights in the room were already on. Zhang Lan had gotten up early and was poking the stove and putting carbon into the furnace.

Before going to bed last night, Zhang Lan added a lot of charcoal into the furnace and then closed the furnace door, so the furnace did not go out all night.

Now when I get up in the morning, I put some more carbon in and it will burn quickly.

Zhang Lan scooped out all the ashes in the furnace and used a furnace hook to pick out any usable charcoal slag. She picked out the usable ones and placed them in the wooden box for charcoal next to it. The rest of the ashes were shoveled into the ash box.

"It's almost full, pour it out."

"Eh."

Wang Jianye responded, then took the ashbox that Zhang Lan had packed and walked out with it.

At this point, many houses in the yard have lights on.

When he arrived outside the gate, Wang Jianye poured the ash into the toilet.

When I came back, Wang Jiannan had just got up and was yawning as he poured water into the washbasin, preparing to wash his face.

Wang Jianye put the ashbox back to its original place and said to Zhang Lan, "Mom, make the cornmeal paste now and heat up the dishes. I want to finish eating early so I can go to work earlier."

"Are you so anxious?"

It’s still early now, Zhang Lan asked curiously.

In the past, Wang Jianye would not have gotten up at this time, but now he is in a hurry to go to work early.

"I'm going to take the test soon, so I have to go there a little early to practice my cooking skills in the kitchen."

As Wang Jianye spoke, he took out the two meat dishes he brought last night from the cupboard.

"Then you have to go early."

Zhang Lan nodded and started to work.

She took the iron lid off the stove and put an aluminum pot on it for cooking.

He picked up the scoop from the bucket next to him and scooped half a pot of water into the aluminum pot.

Soon the water boiled. Zhang Lan put the cornmeal paste in the bowl into the pot and stirred it with a spoon.

When the water in the pot is boiling, you cannot put corn flour directly in, otherwise it will easily form lumps, unless you originally plan to make a pot of lump soup.

Instead, you have to take a bowl, put some corn flour in it, add a little water and mix it well.

Then wait for the water in the pot to boil, and pour the cornmeal paste in the bowl into it.

The cornmeal paste cooked in this way will not have lumps.

"Are his brothers awake?"

Zhang Lan asked Wang Jianye, this cornmeal paste can be cooked quickly in the pot, and after it is cooked, the dishes can be heated up, and it will be time to eat soon.

"I gonna go see."

Just when Wang Jianye was about to open the door to go out, the door creaked open and the two brothers Wang Jianwen and Wang Jianwu walked in.

"I was just about to ask you to go."

Now that they were here, Wang Jianye sat back down.

Zhang Lan turned her head and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Normally at this time, you two brothers wouldn't be awake yet, right? Why are you both up at this time today?"

Wang Jianwu walked into the room and looked at the table. He saw two plates of meat and vegetables and said with a smile, "We have meat this morning."

(End of this chapter)