Mu Xueli's words immediately made everyone present burst into laughter. Liu Guilan, fighting back a smile, stepped forward and gave Wang An a light swat, saying
"You can't kick Lao Wu anymore. You have no manner of being an older brother at all."
With Liu Guilan backing him up, Wang Li immediately said triumphantly
"Exactly, no manner of being an older brother at all."
However, as soon as Wang Li finished speaking, he noticed Wang An's fierce little glare. The look in Wang An's eyes was clearly like the threats classmates often made back in school—either "don't leave after class" or "just wait until the teacher leaves."
Unfortunately, student days are student days. Wang An was not only not a student, but was actually a petty man who brooked no grudge. Seeing that fierce look, Wang Li was frightened and hurriedly called out to Liu Guilan
"Auntie, Auntie, we're just playing around! It didn't hurt at all when he kicked me, please don't hit my fourth brother, hehehehe..."
Wang An's courtyard was brightly lit, so the others naturally saw Wang An's expression. Hearing Wang Li's disguised plea for mercy, everyone laughed even harder.
For a moment, the entire courtyard was filled with laughter.
After the laughter subsided, everyone began to get busy according to Wang An's instructions.
Wang Li went to light the charcoal fire, Mu Xueli went to slice the mutton, and Huang Zhong dove into the cellar with a small basket. Wang An's cellar had light bulbs installed, so there was no need to worry about illumination.
As for Wang An, he prepared a pile of seasonings including chili, Sichuan peppercorns, and star anise, and began stir-frying them in black bear oil. After frying the seasonings, Wang An crushed several pieces of black bear bone and mutton bone, intending to use the marrow inside to simmer as the soup base.
Aside from the hotpot base, the dipping sauce is actually the soul of the entire meal.
Although Wang An's house didn't have sesame paste, substituting it with sesame salt worked perfectly. When eating, one only needed to scoop some of the hotpot broth into the sesame salt to create a perfect sesame sauce; in fact, because the sesame salt was roasted, the aroma was even richer than sesame paste.
Chive blossom sauce, chili flakes, minced garlic, chopped green onions, chopped cilantro... Wang An prepared every seasoning his house had.
Speaking of the chopped cilantro, he had to thank Comrade Liu Guilan.
Because during Northeast winters in this era, people were accustomed to growing a pot of water-grown garlic sprouts indoors. However, these sprouts weren't grown in soil, but in water—locally known as "water garlic sprouts."
The planting method involved using hemp twine to string garlic cloves together, then coiling them in circles in a plate with the roots facing down and the tips facing up. It was important to change the water frequently; otherwise, the roots would rot or start to smell foul over time.
As for why they grew water garlic sprouts indoors, partly it was to have some greenery for aesthetics, and partly so that when guests visited, they could snip some sprouts with scissors to make scrambled eggs or stir-fried cured meat with garlic sprouts.
Therefore, when visiting someone's home in winter during this era, whether these garlic sprouts made it to the table indicated how much the host valued you.
This year, while planting the sprouts, Liu Guilan discovered that the temperature in the new house made the garlic sprouts grow incredibly fast.
Consequently, in the two unoccupied rooms on the westernmost side of the two houses, Liu Guilan had Wang Dazhu build several large, lidless wooden boxes on the floor. After filling the boxes with soil and manure, she planted vegetables in them.
Lettuce, cilantro, tomatoes, cucumbers, muskmelons... she planted quite a few varieties.
However, due to timing, only the lettuce and cilantro were edible now; things like cucumbers and tomatoes hadn't even bloomed yet.
The reason for thanking Comrade Liu Guilan was that the chopped cilantro Wang An was using came from her. Without Liu Guilan's habit of indoor gardening, Wang An would never have eaten fresh cilantro; at most, he would have had dried cilantro.
However, while chopping the cilantro, Wang An received a scolding from Liu Guilan.
Liu Guilan's exact words were
"If you want to eat cilantro, pinch the leaves! You're pulling them out by the root; you'll have wiped them all out in a few meals! You wasteful brat!"
To be fair, Wang An's actions were indeed quite reckless.
One must realize that in this era, being able to eat fresh green vegetables during a Northeast winter was a considerable luxury.
Although Liu Guilan grew many varieties, she didn't grow much of each. After all, the floor space of one room was limited, and there was only so much one could plant in boxes.
Thus, Wang An's behavior of pulling them out by the root was a classic case of "killing the goose that lays the golden eggs."
After being scolded by his mother, Wang An realized he had been inconsiderate. His eyes flickered, and he said to Liu Guilan with a grin
"Mom, if you're willing to grow vegetables, I'll build you a greenhouse when I have time in the next few days. I'm telling you, those things are great for winter gardening; you can plant as much as you want. What do you think?"
Hearing this, Liu Guilan frowned and asked
"Greenhouse? What greenhouse? What is a greenhouse for?"
Because plastic sheeting had not yet become widespread in this era, plastic greenhouses were only used in small numbers in a few large cities like Harbin. Not only did Liu Guilan not know about them, but it could be said that the vast majority of people didn't.
Wang An thought for a moment and said
"I heard about it from a friend. It's basically using plastic sheeting to cover a shed, then putting a stove or a floor-heating dragon inside to keep it warm. You can plant vegetables in there before winter."
Liu Guilan suddenly understood and said
"So this greenhouse you're talking about is just like me growing vegetables in the room?"
Wang An nodded
"Yep, pretty much, but that thing is spacious. You can make it as big as you want and plant whatever you like before winter."
Upon hearing this, Liu Guilan's eyes lit up, and she said with some excitement
"Then what are you still thinking about? Do it! You must do it! Do it quickly! If our family has a big greenhouse, won't we be able to eat whatever vegetables we want all winter? Hahaha... don't wait until you have time, do it tomorrow! Hahaha!"
Seeing his mother so happy, Wang An felt happy too, so he didn't mention whether he could actually buy the plastic sheeting.
The main issue was that plastic sheeting was very scarce at the time, and the supply and marketing cooperatives had it only sporadically.
Of course, if it really came down to it, Wang An would let Zhang Shuya and Wu Dong find a way. If they couldn't even handle something as simple as getting some plastic sheeting, they would have been useless.
(End of Chapter)