Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 89 Autumn Turns to Winter

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Jin Jie finally stopped laughing, took a piece and tasted it, saying, "It really does have too much soy sauce, but the taste is actually quite good."

Xia Maosheng glanced at Sister Jin and Yang Tiebin, then took a piece and chewed it. After a few chews, he laughed and said, "I thought you two were lying to me. Hmm, it's actually not bad. The soy sauce is a bit too much, but it's not a big problem. Okay, go home and make it for Xiaohong. Passed."

Xiao Wei breathed a sigh of relief. If these three people said it was alright, then it really was alright. The anxiety that had been hanging in his throat subsided.

These laborers were so used to eating potato chips that they were practically going crazy. Finally, they could eat meat to their hearts' content, no matter if it was black or yellow. Before long, Xiao Wei's first attempt at cooking was taken away and eaten clean.

Northeastern Chinese cuisine is known for its heavy use of soy sauce. With the exception of a few types of dishes, almost all dishes include soy sauce, which gives them a reddish hue and is generally considered more appetizing. Garlic is also a staple; almost every dish is seasoned with minced garlic before serving to enhance the aroma. Northeasterners love the flavor of garlic. This can be considered a local specialty.

As autumn gradually fades away, and the last few withered leaves fall from the trees along the street, a desolate scene unfolds between heaven and earth. Black gradually becomes the dominant color of nature, and even the vibrant street scenes lose their former beauty, like a negative.

"Why is it so cold today?" Xia Maosheng muttered as he sat up from his bed and hurriedly put on his clothes.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the dormitory was bustling with activity as everyone was putting on layers of clothing, their faces contorted with excitement.

Xiao Wei sat there staring out the window for a while, then suddenly said, "Wait, it's snowing, isn't it?" He got up and crawled to the window to look out: "It's really snowing. It's snowing!" He pushed open the window, and a burst of white light and a biting wind rushed in, eliciting a loud shout: "Are you crazy? Why are you opening the window?"

"Close it, close it, are you stupid? Aren't you cold?"

"Zhang Wei, are you crazy?"

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Zhang Wei reluctantly closed the window, quickly got up, dressed, and rushed to the bathroom to wash up.

A moment later, Xia Maosheng walked over to him with a basin, squeezing toothpaste as he said, "Why are you so excited?"

Xiao Wei quickly washed his face, threw his toothbrush and toothpaste into the basin, and said while wiping his face, "I'm going home today. Come to my place for dinner tonight."

Xia Maosheng was taken aback for a moment, then said, "A month?"

Xiao Wei said, "Yeah, it's been a month already. I'll cook dinner when I get home tonight, haha, you guys better accept your bet."

Xia Maosheng said, "The bet is gone, and my back still hurts from harvesting rice. I'll just have to make do."

Xiao Wei looked at Xia Maosheng and said, "You can't be serious, can you? You were the one who promised to go harvest the rice, and you insisted on doing it yourself. Now you're blaming me? I did more work than all of you combined, okay?"

Xia Maosheng said, "What's so great about that? Old Yang did less than you!"

Yang Tiebin's voice rang out from behind the two men: "I love hearing that."

Xiao Wei turned around and said, "Come to my place for dinner tonight, don't forget."

Yang Tiebin asked, "You're home today? Has your boyfriend finished military training?"

Xiao Wei said, "Oh no, she's coming back today. I'll go pick her up in a bit."

Yang Tiebin shoved Xia Maosheng aside, put down his washbasin to squeeze toothpaste, and said, "Let's go together, we don't have anything else to do anyway, what are we doing here?"

Xiao Wei asked, "Are there any other classes here? Is it just an internship until we get our certificates?"

Yang Tiebin brushed his teeth, shook his head, took the toothbrush out of his mouth, spitting out bubbles and saying, "Diao huo huo, ha you diao huo huo." He spat out a mouthful and then brushed for a while.

Xiao Wei asked, "Huh?"

Xia Maosheng said, "We'll have a carving class next week, and then it'll be the real internship. It seems like the internship won't be here; they'll arrange for me to work elsewhere. It seems like I can stay and work there directly."

Yang Tiebin took a sip of water, spit it out, and said, "I can find my own place for the internship, and then I can take the exam when I come back. I plan to find a restaurant myself, and then work in Fengtian for a while. I've heard that the salary here is much higher than back home."

Xiao Wei asked, "So, where do you live?"

Yang Tiebin turned on the tap and splashed cold water on his face twice, saying, "It's a restaurant, after all. Even if the boss is stingy, he can't possibly not provide accommodation for the chefs, right? There are a lot of migrant workers here, and their wages are much cheaper than the locals." He took a towel and wiped his face and head, and a faint white vapor rose from his face and disappeared into the air. It was really cold; snow meant a big drop in temperature.

Back inside, Li Guangzhao, holding a box of Wan Zi Qian Hong (a type of medicated plaster), said, "Want to apply some? It's so cold, it's easy to get chapped skin."

Yang Tiebin glanced at it and said, "I'm not using that, it smells too strong. I have clam oil."

Xia Maosheng said, "Isn't clam oil for hands? You're putting it on your face?"

Yang Tiebin gave Xia Maosheng a strange look and asked, "Do I look stupid to you?"

Xia Maosheng laughed and said, "Who knows?"

Yang Tiebin ignored him and shouted to the side, "Wang Zhilong, give me some face powder." A blue-capped, white-bottomed porcelain bottle flew towards him. Yang Tiebin caught it in his hand and cursed, "Are you out of your mind? If I hadn't caught it, it would have smashed a hole in it! You're worried about wasting a little bit?"

Wang Zhilong snapped his fingers, tilted his small face up, and said, "I, I throw with exceptional accuracy, don't worry."

Everyone started applying face cream, and in the blink of an eye, Wang Zhilong had finished a large chunk of a bottle of face cream. Luo Qinghe, while applying his own, said, "Isn't Dabao (a popular face cream brand) all the rage now? Why is nobody here?"

Xiao Wei scooped up a piece of dough, rubbed it in his hands, and said, "Because this place is all rural hillbillies."

Li Guangzhao said, "Who said that? Kong Laoliu's family uses Dabao (a type of baby product), but he's too embarrassed to open his mouth about it; it's with his young wife."

Xiao Wei asked, "Hey, does anyone know what Kong Lao Liu's young wife's name is?"

Everyone looked at each other, and after a while, Yang Tiebin said, "Calling her 'wife,' I've only ever heard Lao Liu call her that."

Everyone laughed. Li Guangzhao said, "Go ahead and shout. Shout when they come back tonight and see if she answers."

Xiao Wei asked, "They go out very early every morning and come back very late every night. What do they do all day? They don't seem like they're here to learn to be chefs."

Qi Guangjun said, "I've heard them talk about tourism several times, going to places like Beiling, Qipanshan, the botanical garden, and the zoo. I hear it about it every day." He sleeps close to Kong Laoliu and his wife, so he hears it more often.

Yang Tiebin said, "Don't you get any sleep every day? You just listen to those two making noises." Everyone laughed again.

Qi Guangjun blushed and ran to the side without making a sound, clearly having overheard the commotion.

Xia Maosheng thought for a moment and said, "You know what, if I stay here for three months, it would be really hard to pay 1,900 yuan for a hotel. But I can learn something here and even get a certificate."

At this time, a night in a regular small hotel in Fengtian costs 30 to 40 yuan, a slightly better one costs 50 to 60 yuan, and a maximum of 1,900 yuan a month, and that's for places far from the commercial and tourist areas.

Xiao Wei said to Xia Maosheng, "Xiao Hong has never been anywhere except the Forbidden City. Now that it's snowing, she can't go anywhere even if she wanted to.

Xia Maosheng nodded and said, "Indeed, there's not much to do in winter. It's all ice and snow, the grass is gone, the flowers are gone, the water is frozen, and the trees are just bare trunks. What's there to see? It's freezing cold, going out is just torture. Anyway, you've got several years to go, you can play anywhere, what's the rush? You should focus on learning this first, and practice some real skills."

Xiao Wei said, "I'm going to Xinhua Bookstore to buy a few cookbooks in a bit, then I'll go straight home. Are you coming with me or will you go this afternoon?"

Xia Maosheng said, "Let's go together. I'll go take a look too. It's always useful to look at more recipes."

Xiao Wei turned his head and asked, "Xinhua Bookstore, who wants to go?"

Then there was a group of people who were going back to take a carving class next week. It had snowed again, and nobody wanted to go to the restaurant where they were doing their internships. Anyway, they would have to move to another place after the carving class, and besides, they weren't getting paid right now.

This internship is basically just working for free. The real internship, which is paid, will begin after the carving class.