The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

"Hey! Shi'an, Xiaoyue, what are you guys up to?"

At the sesame seed cake stall, Li Dajiao greeted Zhao Shi'an and his group warmly.

"Aunt Zhang, my brother took us to the bookstore and even bought us some candy!"

As Zhao Xiaoyue spoke, she proudly held up the red, yellow, and green candies in her hand. Her gaze fell on the freshly baked sesame cakes. Smelling the aroma of the cakes, she felt her stomach growl again, even though she had just finished eating.

"Bought some candy? How is it? Is it sweet? Let Auntie have a taste!"

Li Dajiao looked at the candy in Zhao Xiaoyue's hand and started teasing the little girl.

"Hey Auntie, I'll give you candy, can you give me a sesame seed cake in return? Let's trade!"

Zhao Xiaoyue nodded in agreement, tore open the candy wrapper, took a big lick of the candy, and then handed it to Aunt Zhang, still thinking about exchanging it for sesame cakes.

"You little rascal, you're such a clever little devil!"

Li Dajiao burst out laughing upon hearing this!

"Hehe! Auntie, let's trade! This candy is super sweet! It even saw combat; it's a treat for the troops!"

Seeing that her little scheme had been exposed, Zhao Xiaoyue laughed heartily.

"Xiaoyue! Aunt Zhang, don't listen to her nonsense! Uncle Zhang, get three sesame cakes!"

Zhao Shi'an called out to the younger sister, smelling the aroma of the sesame cakes on the stall, and immediately ordered three.

The sesame seed cake is a type of sesame seed cake from eastern Henan. It is about the size of a modern plate, round in shape, and covered with a layer of white sesame seeds. It is baked until it is crispy and fragrant. Inside, it is mixed with fennel seeds, salt, and five-spice powder, making it salty and fragrant. When you bite into it, you can taste a strong fennel flavor, and it becomes more and more fragrant the more you chew.

It tastes best when it's fresh out of the oven; it doesn't taste as good when it cools down or is reheated.

He has eaten many kinds of sesame cakes, but he can never forget the sesame cakes from his hometown!

Uncle Zhang's family were fellow villagers who fled famine together. After settling in Longxugou, they made a good living by making sesame seed cakes and often helped their fellow villagers.

Most of the bags of flour that the family had previously stockpiled were sold to Uncle Zhang, who was standing in front of them.

After the flour rationing system was implemented, the rations in my family were also transferred.

Vegetable farmers, who only grow vegetables and not grains, and who do not currently have a policy of private plots, are also issued flour coupons.

At that time, primary agricultural cooperatives had only been implemented for a short period of time, and the boundaries between urban and rural areas were not yet very clear. People could move freely and did not need a letter of introduction to go out.

"Shi'an, want some sesame seed cakes? Here, they're fresh out of the oven! Hold on tight, don't burn yourself."

Li Dajiao wrapped three sesame cakes in hemp paper and handed them to Zhao Shi'an.

"Alright! Auntie, here's your money!"

Zhao Shi'an took the sesame seed cakes and handed over 1,000 yuan. The sesame seed cakes were 350 yuan each, and there was a 50 yuan discount if you bought three together.

"Hey! You're just going to interfere because you're eating? What kind of money are you paying for it?"

As Li Dajiao spoke, she pushed the money that Zhao Shi'an handed over back.

"It's due, nothing's easy..."

Zhao Shi'an made his usual polite remarks, and after a few rounds of polite exchanges, Li Dajiao finally "reluctantly" accepted the money.

After paying, Zhao Shi'an ate one pancake himself, and divided the remaining two pancakes in half, giving one to his younger brother and sister.

The little guy was very happy to receive the sesame seed cake.

Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole brought the sesame cakes to their noses, inhaling the aroma of the freshly baked cakes.

She stuck out her little tongue and gently licked the dense white sesame seeds on the surface of the cake, again and again, reluctant to eat them, slowly licking the sesame seeds to satisfy her craving.

Zhao Shijie and Zhao Shixiong weren't much better off. They kept swallowing, imitating their younger sisters, carefully licking the sesame seeds off the flatbread. After licking off the sesame seeds, they would take a small bite along the golden-brown edge of the flatbread. They chewed each bite slowly and carefully, afraid of finishing it too quickly.

"Eat up! Don't be stingy, you'll get to eat your fill next time!"

Looking at his younger siblings, Zhao Shi'an patted them on the shoulder. They couldn't afford roast duck from Bianyifang now, but they could still afford sesame seed cakes.

"Big brother, you're the best!"

Zhao Xiaoyue was overjoyed upon hearing this. She licked almost all the sesame seeds off the sesame seed cake before taking a small bite.

She was so happy today. Her older brother not only bought her candy, but also picture books and sesame seed cakes.

It felt like a dream. Her older brother used to dote on her, but he was never willing to buy her so many things at once.

"Big brother, you're so kind! When I grow up, I'll take good care of you."

Zhao Xiaoyue held the sesame seed cake in her hand, taking small bites of the edge, and looked up at the ground with great seriousness.

"Big brother, when I grow up, I'll buy you delicious food!"

"Big brother, I'll buy you one too!"

While eating his sesame seed cake, Zhao Shijie made sure to express his opinion, and Zhao Shixiong nodded in agreement.

"Ha ha!"

Li Dajiao and Zhang Laoshi couldn't help but burst into laughter upon hearing this.

"Alright, I'll remember your kindness. Enjoy your sesame cakes!"

Zhao Shi'an was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this. He reached out and pinched his little cousin's cheek, then casually blew the little girl's snot away.

"Uncle Zhang, your sesame seed cakes are getting better and better."

Zhao Shi'an took a bite of the sesame seed cake. The crust was crispy, the aroma of sesame was rich, and the fennel and five-spice powder inside were mixed together, making for an excellent taste!

Having been in this era for two and a half days, this is the first time I've properly eaten white flour, although it's far inferior to modern white flour.

"What's good or bad? It's just that we did too much."

Upon hearing the praise, Zhang smiled honestly and kindly.

"Uncle Zhang's sesame seed cakes are delicious!"

"Yes! It smells so good!"

Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole, along with the other little ones, kept praising the sesame seed cakes as they ate them.

"Haha! As long as it's delicious, come whenever you want to eat it!"

The smiles on Zhang Laoshi's and Li Dajiao's faces never faded.

"Okay! Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang, you're busy, I have to go to school."

Zhao Shi'an waved as he spoke.

"Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang, we're leaving!"

The four little ones followed suit.

"Go, hurry up! Going to school is the most important thing!"

Zhang Laoshi and Li Dajiao responded with smiles.

After saying goodbye to Uncle Zhang, Zhao Shi'an led his younger siblings to the goldfish pond. With their home in sight, he immediately gave his younger siblings some instructions:

"Shijie and Shixiong, it's getting late. You two go straight to school and read comic books after school!"

"Alright! Big brother, we're off to school."

Zhao Shijie and Zhao Shixiong nodded and ate their sesame seed cakes as they walked towards the school.

Go!

Zhao Shi'an nodded, then looked down at his two younger sisters, "Xiaoyue and Xiaole, you two can eat your sesame seed cakes slowly at home. Stay home and read your comic books; don't get them dirty when you go out to play, understand?"

"Big brother, I won't run around. I'll just stay home and read comic books."

Zhao Xiaoyue nodded quickly.

"Big brother, I won't run around, I'll just stay with Sister Xiaoyue."

Zhao Xiaole took a bite of the sesame seed cake and mumbled something.

"That's good! You two go home! I'm going to school."

Zhao Shi'an waved to his two younger sisters, tucked his test papers into his pocket, ate a sesame seed cake, and headed towards the school.

On the way, he put the test paper in his arms into his spatial storage.

Zhao Shi'an originally planned to spend these few days studying his high school textbooks, but things didn't go as planned. When his mother saw him take money, he casually mentioned that he would buy books tomorrow and that he had promised his younger sister to buy him candy, so he decided to do it all at once.

After seeing the college entrance exam questions in the bookstore, he realized that he had overestimated the college entrance exam of this era.

The college entrance examination in this era is very straightforward, without various traps and twists. Many of the questions are even less in-depth than the exercises in the textbooks.

Having experienced the fierce competition of crossing a single-plank bridge, he knew he could still get a good score even without studying.