Chapter 3 Family
Just when Wang Jianye got up, the two brothers next to him woke up.

"What time is it bro?"

Wang Jianwu stretched out on the bed and asked before opening his eyes.

"It's 6:20, get up."

When he heard that it was only six twenty, Wang Jianwu hummed and didn't want to get up, reluctant to leave the warm bed.

But his brother Wang Jianwen was very obedient. He got up when told to, sat up and started to put on his clothes.

Wang Jianye picked up his mouthwash cup from the washbasin rack, picked up the thermos on the ground and poured half a cup of water.

This bamboo kettle was filled with boiled water last night, and it is just warm this morning.

But it is just right for brushing teeth and washing face, and there is no need to add cold water, which is great.

"Brother, turn on the light."

Wang Jianwen sat on the edge of the bed, stretched out his hand and fumbled on the ground for a long time, but couldn't find his shoes, so he said anxiously to Wang Jianye at the door.

pat.

Wang Jianye pulled the rope at the door, and the light bulb hanging on the beam of the house suddenly lit up.

This is a 15-watt tungsten filament bulb. There are only two in the house, one in his room, one in the outer room of the next wing, and none in the inner room which is used as a bedroom.

Zhang Lan was reluctant to install more light bulbs. After all, these days the monthly electricity bill is charged according to the number of light bulbs.

Each 15-watt light bulb costs 1.5 cents per month, a 25-watt light bulb costs 2.5 cents, and a 40-watt light bulb costs 4 cents.

When the lights came on, Wang Jianwen immediately found his shoes, which were placed at the end of the bed.

He has night blindness, and when it is too dark around him, he can't see anything and can only use his hands to feel.

There are many people like him these days who suffer from night blindness, anemia, beriberi, etc. due to malnutrition.

When Wang Jianye saw this scene, he suddenly remembered that his predecessor also had the problem of not being able to see at night.

But after he traveled through time, all these problems disappeared and his body became very healthy.

However, his family members still have this problem to some extent.

“We have to find a way to improve it.”

To improve the situation, he would have to spend more money. He was just an apprentice now, and his salary was only ten yuan a month, which was not enough.

Therefore, he must pass the Fengze Garden grading assessment in a week and get a good result.

Only in this way will Fengzeyuan offer him better conditions to keep him, and he will be able to bring a better life to his family.

Wang Jianye didn't think any more about it. After simply washing his face and brushing his teeth, he went to the next room.

This room is much more spacious than the side room where his three brothers live. There is a washbasin rack on the right side of the door and a broom behind the door. On the wall on the right side are more than ten award certificates, from Wang Jianting, Wang Jianwen, and Wang Jiannan, but not from the brothers Wang Jianye and Wang Jianwu.

At the foot of the wall in the northeast corner, there is an earthenware jar with a bowl upside down on it. Inside is pickled vegetables made by Zhang Lan. Every autumn, Zhang Lan would buy some shepherd's purse, green radish, etc., and pickle them in the jar. When eating, she would cut them into shreds and mix them with some shredded green onion, ginger, soy sauce and vinegar.

There is a square table against the north wall, with several chairs placed next to it. The surface is covered with patina and there are a few patches of paint peeling off.

There is a cupboard against the west earth wall. There is a gauze door on top of the cupboard, where bowls, chopsticks, plates and dishes are placed. Below the cupboard is a cabinet, where corn flour, white flour, vermicelli and other items in the house are stored.

On the left side of the door is a tin stove with a few bricks underneath to make it easier to clean the ash. Next to the stove is a charcoal box, which is made of five wooden boards nailed together. In addition to the charcoal, there are also some peanut shells, egg shells, garlic skins, etc.

At this moment, Zhang Lan had finished washing up and was standing in front of the washbasin, looking in the mirror and combing her hair.

Wang Jiannan was still washing his face gently with water in his hands.

The noise she made was much quieter than when Wang Jianye washed his face, and there was no particularly loud splashing sound.

"Mom, what do you want to eat for breakfast?" This was the first thing Wang Jianye asked after entering the house.

"Cook some cornmeal porridge and stir-fry some shredded potatoes. Go get some from the cellar."

Zhang Lan gave the order without much thought.

What else can we eat in the winter in the north?
It's nothing more than cabbage, radish, potato and seeds, that's all there is.

"Take a few more."

Zhang Lan had lunch in the canteen of the steel rolling mill at noon, and Wang Jianye was an apprentice in a big restaurant like Fengzeyuan, so he didn't need to go home for lunch.

As for the three siblings Wang Jianwen, Wang Jianwu and Wang Jiannan, the school did not provide lunch, so they had to go home to eat.

So we cook extra dishes every morning and save them for them to heat up at noon.

This way they don’t have to make it when they get home from school at noon, which can save a lot of time.

Wang Jianye responded and went out of the house taking the cellar door key hanging on the window.

"I just improved the level of spicy and sour potato shreds to the third-grade level, and this time I'll just try out the results."

"And my system allows you to gain experience points by cooking. I can try it out later to see how many experience points I can gain by cooking a dish."

Wang Jianye came to the open space to the east of the house, where his family had dug a cellar.

The entrance to the cellar was covered with a wooden door, and the door was locked. Next to it was the cellar of Liu Haizhong's house.

It is only the second half of the fifth year, and there are not many residents in the courtyard, so each family has its own cellar.

In the future, when more people live in the courtyard and there is no place to dig a cellar, several families will share the same cellar only when they are forced to do so.

Every November when winter comes, every household buys cabbage for winter storage and stores it in the cellar. If several households share the cellar, there will definitely be some petty-minded people who notice that a few of their own vegetables are wilted and secretly exchange them with others, or take other people's vegetables when taking their own.

At this time, each family will mark the roots of their own cabbages to prevent them from being confused or being stolen without their knowledge.

Wang Jianye took out the key from his pocket and opened the cellar door.

I picked a few potatoes from my own cellar. These are new potatoes that were just put on the market in October this year and have not sprouted yet.

After coming out, he locked the cellar door again and returned to the house with the potatoes.

At this moment, Wang Jianwen had already sat on the small stool in front of the stove, lit the fire, and was putting charcoal into the furnace.

Zhang Lan added water to the aluminum pot and cooked a pot of cornmeal paste before cooking.

Wang Jiannan stood in front of the washbasin stand, looking in the mirror and rubbing clam oil on his face.

Wang Jianye began to wash the potatoes he had just taken out of the cellar.

After washing, put it on the chopping board and cut it into very thin strips.

"I couldn't cut it this fine before. It seems that there is a visible improvement from the skilled level to the third-level."

Wang Jianye thought about it and ordered Wang Jiannan who was idle.

"Jiannan, help me peel some garlic cloves."

"Oh."

Wang Jiannan agreed obediently, then reached out and pulled a head of garlic from the garlic braid on the wall, and stood beside the stove to break them open one by one.

Throw the peeled garlic skins directly into the wooden box filled with charcoal next to the stove, and they can be burned when the charcoal is added to the stove later.

(End of this chapter)