The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

"Fifty or sixty thousand is not a small amount. If you write one article a week, plus the scholarship, you can earn more than 300,000 a month, which is comparable to what a strong laborer can earn!"

Sister-in-law, you're going to have a really good life from now on!

Hearing her nephew's words, Sun Cuilan was very envious. Her elder brother and husband would work as haulers for others during the off-season, earning a little more than this each month, but it was much more tiring.

My nephew sits in the classroom, sheltered from the wind and rain, studying hard and writing, and he earns so much money. It seems that educated people make money faster!

"His aunt said it's true! Shi'an has become a great writer now, sister-in-law, your family's future is getting better and better."

Upon hearing this, Liu Hehua looked at Liu Guiying with envy. Although she knew that studying would lead to a promising future, she never expected him to be this successful. Zhao Shi'an had earned so much money just from writing articles before even graduating. If he wrote a lot more, he might be able to buy a small courtyard house in the city like those great writers.

"Sigh! It's all thanks to the eldest brother's own hard work; we don't really understand!"

Hearing the praise from her sisters-in-law and neighbors, Liu Guiying's smile never faded. She spoke lightly, but she was overjoyed!

"Shi'an has been sensible since he was a child..."

"that is……"

Upon hearing this, Sun Cuilan and Liu Hehua showered Zhao Shi'an with praise, and Liu Guiying's smile widened even more.

Zhao Shi'an listened for a while and couldn't stand it anymore. After exchanging a few polite words, he turned around to check on the iron kettle as it was cleaning the limescale.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Liu Guiying remembered that her eldest son hadn't eaten yet, so she immediately ended the conversation and said:

"Boss, are you starving? Dinner's ready, come inside and eat! Auntie, we'll talk after we eat!"

"Okay, sister-in-law, we've eaten at home too."

"I'm here, Auntie, Uncle Tian, ​​Aunt Tian. I'm going home for dinner now."

The water in the kettle is getting a bit cloudy, let it steep a little longer! Call me if you have any questions!

Zhao Shi'an agreed, put the lid on the pot, and gave a few instructions.

"Hey! Shi'an, go eat!"

Tian Fusheng and Liu Hehua readily agreed upon hearing this.

Zhao Shi'an nodded and went home. After lunch and a short rest, he heard Tian Fusheng shouting.

"Hey! Shian! Your method really works! The water's even muddier now, isn't it almost ready?"

Tian Fusheng jogged to the door of the main room and asked Zhao Shi'an for advice.

"That's about it. Pour out the water from the iron kettle and rinse it clean."

Zhao Shi'an estimated the time; about half an hour had passed, the water had been boiling for a long time, and the reaction between acetic acid and calcium carbonate was basically over.

"Okay! I'll go right now!"

Tian Fusheng immediately agreed.

"Uncle Tian, ​​wait a minute!"

"What's wrong, Shi'an? Is something else?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Fusheng asked with some confusion.

"Don't just pour the water out of the iron kettle. Pour it into a thermos, add some vinegar, and it will remove the alkali from the thermos!"

Zhao Shi'an reminded him that this era advocates thrift, and doing this will not only save money but also increase efficiency!

"Shi'an, you've thought of everything!"

Upon hearing this, Tian Fusheng's eyes lit up, and he gave Zhao Shi'an a thumbs up.

"Uncle Tian, ​​come and check how the results are!"

"Okay! Alright!"

As Tian Fusheng returned home, he hurriedly followed Zhao Shian's instructions, first pouring the hot water from the iron kettle into the thermos, and then rinsing the iron kettle several times with water.

"Shi'an, your method is truly brilliant!"

Tian Fusheng was very pleased to see the clean and pristine interior walls.

"As long as it works!"

Zhao Shi'an nodded. Seeing that there were examples, he felt much more at ease, since theory and practice are two different things.

"Useful, very useful, Shi'an, you're amazing! No wonder you're a cultured person!"

Tian Fusheng was very happy. With this method, he would save money on replacing the spout in the future.

"We at Shian know a lot!"

"That's right! Our Shi'an is..."

Zhao Shi'an said a few modest words and went straight to school. He was afraid that if he stayed any longer, he would be praising himself to the point of being unable to bear it. There were exams this week, so he took advantage of the lunch break to review the textbooks.

For this preliminary test, he plans to get an average score first, then review for a month, and then reach the level of an outstanding student in the monthly exam, and then maintain a leading position until the college entrance examination.

In this way, you can gradually create an image of yourself as someone who is making rapid progress and working hard!

Upon arriving at the classroom, Zhao Shi'an began reading attentively.

In the afternoon, Zhang Haitao came to the classroom and looked at Zhao Shi'an, who was studying diligently. He remembered what Zhao Shi'an had said that morning about studying harder and wondered to himself if it was really true. But could he really make up for the gap between the first and third year of high school just by studying at noon and after school? Or did Zhao Shi'an have some special study methods?

Zhang Haitao, who couldn't figure it out after thinking about it for a while, didn't dwell on it too much. There was plenty of time in the future. Zhao Shi'an had just transferred to another class, and they weren't very familiar with each other yet. He could ask him for advice later when there was more time.

With these thoughts in mind, Zhang Haitao began to study diligently.

With the ringing of the school bell, the afternoon classes officially began.

Zhao Shi'an took out his books and listened attentively to the lesson.

After school, he continued reading in the classroom.

He didn't put away his books and go home until it got dark.

Upon arriving home, Zhao Shi'an, seeing his unusually excited father and uncle, naturally had to offer another explanation.

Zhao Youtian was very happy to see his son's success, and he took out his treasured bottle of liquor and had a few drinks with his younger brother.

"Brother, I salute you! Shi'an is becoming more and more successful! As his uncle, I'm so happy!"

Zhao Youliang raised his wine cup and addressed his elder brother.

"Haha! It's all thanks to Shi'an's own hard work! Honey, go buy some meat tomorrow morning. I heard writing takes a lot of brainpower, so we need to give our eldest a good boost!"

Zhao Youtian picked up the wine cup, drank it all in one gulp, and his face was full of smiles.

"Okay! I know, I was going to go buy it anyway!"

Liu Guiying smiled and agreed.

"Oh! Great, we get to eat meat!"

Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Shijie were overjoyed to hear this. Since the Lantern Festival, their family had not eaten meat. They were happy that their mother would buy meat tomorrow, and they would be able to benefit from it.

Zhao Shi'an didn't have high expectations after hearing this. After all, meat wasn't a rare thing in modern times. He thought that most of the pigs in this era were local pigs that ate wheat bran, pigweed, and oil cakes left over from oil pressing, and rarely used pig feed.

Pork was not cheap in this era; a pound of it would cost an average person most of a day's wages.

Modern pork costs only a few yuan per kilogram, which seems cheap, but it comes from feed-fed pigs.

If we compare it to modern native black pigs, the difference isn't that significant, since this type of pork costs 60 or 70 yuan per kilogram, which is equivalent to half a day's wages for an average person.

Thinking about all this, Zhao Shi'an began to feel a sense of anticipation.

Compared to modern native black pigs, the native pigs of this era have not undergone selective breeding and are all free-range. Nowadays, it is difficult to even get meat. The first priority is to solve the problem of not having enough meat. As for the issue of good taste, that is something to consider only when the meat supply is sufficient!

Thinking about his own space, Zhao Shi'an felt that with enough funds, he could buy a few piglets and start raising them.

People in this era mostly lack oil and fat, so we can breed large, fat pigs to greatly alleviate the problem of oil and fat shortage.

Animal fats are more filling and healthier than vegetable oils. They also have a higher flash point and are more stable. Unlike vegetable oils, which are prone to producing harmful substances such as aldehydes, carcinogens, and trans fatty acids when stir-frying or deep-frying because of their lower flash point.

Of course, lard isn't all good. Problems such as clogging blood vessels and poor storage are real, but in times of oil scarcity, they weren't a problem at all. In this era of high labor intensity and high demand for oil, these problems didn't even exist.

Once resources are plentiful, we can then breed lean-type pigs, which would be in line with the development of the times.

"Boss, we bought the meat. How do you want to eat it?"

As Liu Guiying spoke, she looked at her eldest son.

"Mom, make whatever you like! I won't be picky!"

"How about rendering the fatty pork into lard, then mixing the leftover lard with lean pork to make filling for small steamed buns? We still have some wheat flour at home; we can mix it with cornmeal..."

Upon hearing this, Liu Guiying began to make plans.

Hearing their mother's words, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Shijie both drooled.

"That sounds good, but isn't making steamed buns a bit of a hassle?"

When Zhao Shi'an heard that he wanted steamed buns, he didn't refuse. In an era of material scarcity, eating steamed buns was something people would think about for a long time.

Many writers embarked on their writing careers because of the saying: "Being a writer means you can eat dumplings every day."

"No waste at all, just wait to eat!"

"Big brother, I can do it too! I'll help Mom roll out the dough!"

Zhao Xiaoyue immediately put on a show.