Chapter 52 Fried Pork Belly Seeing their grandson bringing meat home again, the old man and the old lady were no longer surprised. "Grandpa! I'll fry the braised pork in a moment. Here's the flashlight for you. It'll be convenient when you get up at night." Zhou Yimin handed over the flashlight. The old man was happy and played with the flashlight for a while, like an old child. If it wasn't daytime, he would have walked around the village with the flashlight. It’s not that there are no flashlights in the village, but they can be counted on three fingers. Lai Fu and the other two took turns fanning Qianqian, but their eyes were always glancing towards Zhou Yimin. The eldest brother didn’t come back yesterday and they missed him so much. "Yimin, this is the money that Dashun paid back." Grandpa took out a few bills and handed them over. The whole village knew about Zhou Dashun's child. The doctor said that if he had gone half an hour later, his brain might have been damaged. Zhou Yimin nodded, took the money and casually put it in his trouser pocket.
"Grandma! This kerosene lamp is more convenient to use. Put it in your room and I'll show you how to use it." Zhou Yimin began to teach his grandma how to use the kerosene lamp. Compared with the one I have at home, this one is much more advanced. People who have never used it would be a little confused. "Yimin, let's put this lamp there!" the old lady advised. Good stuff, definitely leave it to my grandchildren, they are both old, they don't need such a good lamp. This lamp is very bright at first glance. "Yes! We have flashlights, which is very convenient. Besides, we are more used to using that lamp." Grandpa also agreed. All right! Since grandpa and grandma had said so, Zhou Yimin stopped insisting. Afterwards, Zhou Yimin delivered things to the school. When he arrived at the school, he found that it had been cleaned up and the weeds around it had been cleared. The broken tables and chairs inside the classrooms had also been rebuilt by the villagers. There is a uniform long table, with two people sitting at the desk and a bench. In addition, there were only one window originally, but now there are four, two on each side, making the classroom much brighter. At the front of the classroom, above the blackboard, there is a picture of a great man. Behind it is the sentence "Study hard and make progress every day". "Xiaolan, where is your father?" Zhou Yimin asked. "Uncle Sixteen, my father has gone to see the old party secretary. The village made three large blackboards, one for each classroom. They will be installed later and we will be ready for classes tomorrow." Xiaolan told Zhou Yimin. She was very grateful to Uncle Sixteen. If it weren't for him, she would probably have to get married. She thought other villages were not doing well these days, right? At least, Zhoujia Village was doing okay now. The food was not good, but people would not starve to death. It’s hard to say what would happen if we went to other villages. Now, thanks to Uncle Sixteen, she has become a substitute teacher, teaching first grade. She doesn't have to work in the fields like other girls in the village. Although substitute teachers nowadays also earn work points, at least their salary is more respectable than that of farmers. "Do you want me to call my dad?"
Zhou Yimin shook his head: "No, it's the same if I give it to you." Then, he took out a large bundle of pencils from the bamboo basket, which scared Xiaolan. So many pencils? "How many pencils are there?" she asked. "100 sticks, you don't need to hand them all out. These are exercise books, it's up to you how you divide them. Ten boxes of chalk, tell me when you're done." Finally, Zhou Yimin took out two pens, which he bought from a store. "Give one to your father. It's a gift from me to you." When Xiaolan saw it, she loved it so much that she couldn't help but thank him. The pen was quite valuable at that time, so she kept saying thank you. Not long after Zhou Yimin left, Zhou Zhigao returned to school and was relieved to see the pencils, notebooks, chalks, etc. Zhou Yimin brought back. He was just waiting for these things to be brought back before school started! What he didn't expect was that Zhou Yimin prepared so much, but there were only about 40 students, which meant that each student could get two pencils and five study books. Moreover, two pens were given to the father and daughter. It can be seen that Zhou Yimin really attaches great importance to the education of children in the village. "Dad, what did the old party secretary and others say about the school cafeteria?" Xiaolan asked. According to Uncle Sixteen's idea, a school cafeteria should be built. The food in the school cafeteria would be a little better than that in the village cafeteria, so as to attract villagers to send their children to school. "It's settled. We'll just build a little over here and use it as a kitchen. We can eat in the classroom. The old branch secretary wants your mother to cook for the children." Zhou Zhigao was very happy about this. In this way, three people in his family would work in the school and earn three work points. It would be no problem to support the family. He finally had no worries and could teach with peace of mind. The proposal of a school cafeteria easily gained the approval of the whole village. Who doesn’t have children? Who doesn’t want their children to eat better? Besides, it was Zhou Yimin who proposed it, who would object? Zhou Zhigao could foresee that as long as Yimin continued to support the school, he wouldn't have to worry about those messy things. When he returned home, Zhou Yimin discovered that there was a pile of dead branches and firewood in the yard. "Did Uncle San pick it up yesterday?" he asked his grandmother. Grandma smiled and said, "The children in the village picked them up." Because the school has reopened, the children are preparing to go to school, and the school plans to set up a canteen, so every child is required to bring some firewood to school, so the children went to collect firewood yesterday. But the school is not fully ready yet, so at the instruction of some parents, the children brought the firewood they collected. Everyone in the village knows that the reopening of the school and the children’s ability to go to school are all thanks to Zhou Yimin’s efforts, so it is only right to send firewood to his family. Besides, Zhou Yimin has given the children a lot of food, right? For the sake of the food, you should do some work for Zhou Yimin. Zhou Yimin took some firewood to the kitchen. Prepare fried pork belly.
Zhou Yimin didn't even need to call him, he just came running in and started to make a fire. This guy was almost becoming Zhou Yimin's full-time fireman. If you don't let him do it, he will get angry. Zhou Yimin first washed the pork belly, cut it into two palm-sized cubes, put it into the pot, added enough water, and let it cook until chopsticks could be easily inserted into the pork skin. Taking advantage of this gap, Zhou Yimin cut a few wooden sticks. After the pork belly is cooked, take it out and let it cool naturally, then use a wooden skewer to evenly poke small holes in the pig skin. The braised pork fried in this way is easier to bubble. Afterwards, Zhou Yimin evenly spread a layer of salt and white vinegar on the pig skin and marinated it for 20 minutes to soften the pig skin and make it easier to peel. Seeing her grandson constantly pouring oil into the pot, the old lady's eyelids twitched and she almost wanted to call a halt to the "project" of frying pork with pork. Zhou Yimin smiled and comforted her, "Grandma! After frying, it's still in the pot and can still be used. Don't worry, there will even be more oil after frying the braised pork." After all, fried pork with pork belly will produce oil. After hearing her grandson's words, the old lady's smile returned. (End of this chapter)
