Chapter 97

Wang Dahai ran back into the house and found Wang Yong, who was busy preparing a big dinner in the kitchen. He told Wang Yong everything about the bamboo's growth that everyone had seen. In the end, he said directly:

"Hurry up and find more people to get more bamboo and bamboo rhizomes. I want to turn our village into a sea of bamboo forest."

Wang Yong didn't even look at his uncle. How could he not know? That was over twenty buckets of spiritual spring water and a precious drop of life water. It would be strange if it didn't have this effect!

"Alright, I'll call my friend in YN tomorrow and have him help get a batch over."

"What do you mean tomorrow? Call now, right now! Hurry up, don't dawdle!" Wang Dahai urged impatiently.

Seeing his uncle's face turn red and his neck swell with urgency, Wang Yong feared that if he delayed any longer, his uncle would explode. He quickly took out his phone and called Zhao Zhijun.

"Second Brother, it's Wang Yong."

"I know, have you arrived home yet?"

"Yes, I'm just calling to let you know I'm safe."

"Alright, don't try to fool me. What do you need?"

"Hehe, you're a general, your mind is sharp!"

"Cut the crap, I'm busy. What do you need?"

"It's not a big deal, I just need some bamboo rhizomes. I want to plant a bamboo forest in my hometown."

"Sure, I'll have someone send them over. I have to go to a meeting now."

Hearing the dial tone, Wang Yong held his phone and complained, "Really? Is he that busy?"

"How did it go?" his uncle asked.

"It's done, he said he'll have someone send them over. Don't worry, he's a general in the Armed Police, this is a small matter for him."

"That's good. You're done, go back to cooking! Oh, I like to eat sausages in hot pot, get more of those." With that, he turned and left, showing no intention of helping.

Wang Yong wasn't surprised to see his uncle leave so irresponsibly. His uncle, though he had a mouth for good food, couldn't cook at all. He could even turn porridge into half-cooked rice. It was better to let him stay out of the way and not cause trouble.

For the evening hot pot, Wang Yong prepared two pots, one spicy and one clear broth. The pot base was made by Old Zhang and frozen in bags. Now he just needed to take it out and pour it into the pot, very convenient.

"Hmm, when Old Zhang comes back, I'll have him make more. Not to mention hygiene, but his skills are much better than the packaged hot pot bases in the supermarket," Wang Yong muttered to himself.

Far away, Old Zhang sneezed several times. Da Wei, worried that his master had a cold, was about to find a doctor. Zhang Shu slapped him on the head, and he stopped. The old man was still agile, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

Lamb was a must for the hot pot, so Wang Yong bought two lamb legs, cutting about three pounds of meat. Buying pre-sliced lamb was convenient, but the quality wasn't guaranteed.

He sliced the lamb into thin pieces, filling two large plates. Fortunately, the lamb legs were frozen, or it would have been difficult to slice them so thinly with Wang Yong's knife skills. He had practiced for a long time under Old Zhang's strict supervision, but even then, Old Zhang still criticized him, saying his skills were worse than those of a street hot pot chef.

In addition to lamb, Wang Yong also prepared beef and pork belly. Each was placed in two large plates, adding up to about ten pounds of meat, more than enough.

He also prepared Taiwanese sausages and the sausages his uncle loved. The Taiwanese sausages were placed directly on plates, while the sausages were sliced first. These were bought in the city, as making them himself would be too much trouble. He thought about tricking Zhang Shu into making some when he returned.

Hot pot essentials like duck blood, beef tripe, and cow stomach were also included, along with homemade vermicelli from the villagers. However, Wang Yong always avoided goose intestines, a common ingredient in Sichuan hot pot, and instead prepared a plate of pork liver, which, though not as tender as stir-fried liver, had its own unique flavor.

Next came various vegetables: Chinese cabbage, cabbage, lettuce, oil lettuce, potatoes, radishes, sweet potatoes, black fungus, cilantro, and enoki mushrooms.

Looking at the plates of meat and vegetables, Wang Yong felt something was missing. What was it?

After searching, he found a block of tofu in the fridge and realized that hot pot without tofu was incomplete.

The night sky was filled with stars, twinkling in the darkness. The village, which had been noisy during the day, was now quiet, and the aroma of food filled the air.

The hot pot feast at Wang Yong's house began. Two square tables were combined into one large table, filled with plates and bowls. The broth in the hot pot was bubbling, releasing a tempting aroma that made everyone's mouths water.

"Alright, let's eat! Dig in, don't be shy, Tian Yufan! Eat whatever you like," Second Uncle said, and everyone started eating.

"This hot pot base is great! Where did you get it, Wang Yong?" Tian Yufan asked after swallowing a piece of meat.

"Right, the spicy pot isn't too spicy, it's very fragrant and doesn't dry out the mouth. It's really good," the aunt agreed.

"This isn't from outside, it's made by Old Zhang. I froze a few bags in the fridge. I have a few more, so when you leave, I'll give you some. You can use them directly at home, very convenient," Godfather Cao Wei explained.

"Right, when you leave, we'll give you some," Godmother added.

"That's not good! You should keep them for yourselves!" Liu Huilan quickly interjected, giving Tian Yufan a glare.

"No problem, when Old Zhang comes back, I'll have him make more. If you want to eat it in the future, just call me. I'll learn how to make it, so you can eat it whenever you want," Wang Yong said to please his father-in-law. Old Zhang was a respected figure, not someone you could easily meet, but Wang Yong dared to make such a bold promise.

"Alright, let's drink! Don't argue, just like Wang Yong said, he'll learn from Old Zhang. When you want to eat, just call him," Wang Dahai raised his glass and clinked it with Tian Yufan's, then drank it all in one go.

"Right, Wang Yong is your son-in-law, half a son. Why be so formal with him?" Second Aunt added, ending the discussion about the hot pot base.

"Delicious, this sausage is really good. It's fragrant and sweet. Wang Yong, do you have more? Bring some to my place later," Uncle said without hesitation.

"I have a few more, you can take them home later. I'll buy more in a few days. Second Aunt, try these Taiwanese sausages, they're very fragrant!"

"These potatoes are good, and the black fungus too."

"I think the enoki mushrooms are the best, they're not tough at all. In hot pot restaurants, they're always tough and get stuck in your teeth."

"The cabbage is also good. I usually stir-fry or make it into a salad, but it's surprisingly good in hot pot."

"Don't just eat the vegetables! Eat more meat. Look, there's still so much left!" Second Aunt was about to put the plate back in the pot, but Yuan Yuan quickly took it and poured the remaining half plate of lamb into the pot.

"The vegetables are just too good, I couldn't help it!"

"I think life is better now, people have had enough meat," Tian Yufan remarked.

"Right, when I was young, we were poor. I remember when we were building a reservoir, I ate six large steamed buns at the construction site. Each bun was as big as three now, and I was still hungry before the next meal," Uncle gestured with his hands, exaggerating the size of the buns.

"Right, the buns we made at the construction site were like small pillows. I ate four at most," the aunt recalled.

"Indeed, we only got about a pound of oil per year, and meat was a luxury. Without oil, no matter how much you ate, you were still hungry," Liu Huilan added.

"Wow, a pound of oil for a year?" Yuan Yuan looked at the thick layer of oil on the spicy hot pot, surprised.

"Back then, when we bought meat, we wanted fatty cuts, preferably with a three-finger thickness. If you got lean meat, it meant your family's status was low or the butcher didn't like you."

"Now, you can't even find that kind of fatty meat. Everywhere, they use lean meat and artificial feed to raise pigs that are ready in a few months. Year-old pigs are rare. But with only a pound of oil a year, how do you cook?" Wang Yong joined in.

"What's that? During the ** period, my husband and I only got half a pound of pork a year. We would rub the pot with a piece of pork skin to add some oil," Second Aunt's words left Wang Yong and Yuan Yuan speechless.

It was unimaginable. What was the difference between that and boiling water? Although they had read about it online, hearing it from their elders was a different experience.

"Why didn't you grow peanuts or something and make your own oil?" Yuan Yuan asked.

"Ha, all the land was owned by the state. We ate together, and later, even though we ate separately, we still worked together. If you wanted to grow something on your own, it was considered a capitalist tail and would be cut off," the aunt explained to Yuan Yuan.

"Even growing for your own consumption wasn't allowed?"

"Of course not, everything belonged to the collective. How could individuals grow and harvest on their own? Later, in the 1960s, each family got a small plot of land, but it was only a few square meters. Our family of four didn't even get a tenth of an acre," Uncle explained to Yuan Yuan.

"Sigh, back then, whether it was a good year or a bad year, we never had enough to eat," Tian Yufan sighed.

"We were a bit better off, living near the mountains. We could sometimes get some wild game, but it was never enough. I remember eating everything. Sweet potato vines, corn cobs, ground into porridge," Uncle reminisced.

"Right, that stuff had no nutrition and was hard to eat," the aunt said, swallowing hard.

"And sweet potato porridge, it made people's stomachs hurt!" Yuan Yuan's mother added.

Yuan Yuan was confused. "Sweet potato porridge? It's sweet and delicious, and they sell it in restaurants."

"The sweet potato porridge I'm talking about is different. We cut raw sweet potatoes into pieces, dried them, and used them like rice," Liu Huilan explained.

Second Aunt held Yuan Yuan's hand and said, "The porridge made from those sweet potato pieces was black. We survived on that for half a year. It was considered a good thing back then, even though it was hard to eat. The worst was the porridge made from ground sweet potato vines, it was so terrible..." Second Aunt couldn't continue, and a rare look of fear appeared on her face, showing how deeply that porridge had affected her. (To be continued.)