All the heavens begin with the love in the courtyard.

With Uncle Ma's support, Zhong Yuemin naturally received strong support from the county food factory. After experimenting with more than a dozen different types of coarse grains to make noodles, he finally achieved results.

Actually, vegetarian chicken legs made with flour were very popular in the 80s and 90s. They had a slightly sweet taste and a golden-brown, crispy texture, which is a memory for a generation.

In many places, it is also called chicken leg pastry. It is shaped like a chicken leg, with the top part being crispy and sweet, while the bottom part is a bit dry.

What Zhong Yuemin had to do was to use cornmeal plus some other coarse grain flour, and the final proportion of wheat flour should not exceed one-tenth, because wheat flour was really scarce these days, and it was best to use as little as possible if possible.

Adding a little flour is also for a smoother texture. After a week of experimentation, Zhong Yuemin finally got to eat the first batch of vegetarian chicken legs. Due to the mold, the shape was not quite like a chicken leg, but it can be changed later. The main thing is the taste.

Zhong Yuemin experimented with this flavor many times, and finally decided to use a savory flavor, as it would be closer to the real taste of roasted chicken.

Zhong Yuemin looked at the vegetarian chicken leg in his hand that already had a bite taken out of it. He chewed it a few times and frowned. This baked food just didn't have that unique chicken texture. The taste was alright, about four or five parts similar. It was definitely enough to sell it as a vegetarian chicken leg.

The reason for making it into fried and baked food is naturally to make it easier to preserve. The dark oil from the food factory affected Zhong Yuemin's appetite a bit, but these days, he doesn't care about that much.

Perhaps Zhong Yuemin's expectations were too high, which is why he was somewhat disappointed. He didn't know how much of a reaction this thing would cause these days.

As soon as the finished product was ready, Ma Guiping took a plate of vegetarian chicken legs to the conference room and let everyone try it. As a result, everyone had a strong reaction and said that it was the best chicken legs they had ever eaten in their lives.

Zhong Yuemin was also a little confused. Was it really that delicious?

As a result, the county food factory sold out almost immediately after launching the product. In the end, the county had to decide to issue a vegetarian chicken leg ticket, which cost an extra 22 cents to buy a vegetarian chicken leg.

Two cents for two chicken legs became a treasure among the locals; even if they couldn't afford chicken, they'd still enjoy the taste of chicken.

Mizhi vegetarian chicken legs quickly became a local specialty product, and were even sold to several nearby counties. Some people even suggested taking the two chicken legs to Beijing to present to xxx, so that people all over the country would know about Mizhi vegetarian chicken legs!

Zhong Yuemin, the great contributor, was quickly forgotten. The matter of Zheng Tongning and his team entering the county food factory, after several twists and turns, finally came to a head.

In just a few months, Mizhi vegetarian chicken legs have gained considerable fame. It is even said that a certain bigwig in the province praised them highly after trying them once. With the support of higher authorities, the county has also decided to strongly support their development and plans to take Mizhi vegetarian chicken legs to Beijing to participate in a food fair.

As a result, the county food factory finally decided to expand its scale, purchase new equipment, and conduct a large-scale recruitment drive.

This time, the food factory was recruiting 200 full-time employees. Zhong Yuemin and Ma Chengzong asked for 20 positions. In addition to Zheng Tong and others, he also planned to give the remaining positions to Li Kuiyong and others.

The success of the vegetarian chicken leg made Zhong Yuemin realize his own value for the first time. The sesame seed cake incident made him realize that there was a big difference between the future he imagined and the future in reality.

There's no need to live a life of timidity and caution. Many of the ideas in your mind can actually be realized in this era.

For example, this vegetarian chicken leg was just a wild idea of ​​his, but it brought about a different change to this small county. This incident also made him realize that some of the ideas in his mind could actually become reality, and there was no need to be timid and hesitant.

In the future, I can actually live a more carefree and freer life than Zhong Yuemin in the original novel.

In the past few months, he has received more than twenty letters. Apart from letters from his brothers Yuan Jun and Zhang Haiyang, most of them are from friends he met in Yanjing. Some are from the military, and others are educated youth in remote areas of the motherland, just like him.

Zhong Yuemin naturally tried his best to write back a letter to everyone. For those educated youth who settled in remote areas, Zhong Yuemin encouraged them to create their own value, such as establishing commune enterprises with the brigade and commune, selling local specialties to city dwellers, and utilizing agricultural products that could be processed again, in order to revitalize the brigade's economy and ensure that everyone had enough to eat.

Zhong Yuemin could only offer them a suggestion; in the actual implementation stage, he had no other options.

In his replies to his friends and brothers in the army, Zhong Yuemin encouraged them to train hard and strive for promotion as soon as possible. He also analyzed the international situation for them, giving these young people a sense of crisis and making them feel that they were the future of the country and that the future needed to be protected by them. In short, what these young people needed was passionate encouragement.

Finally, he replied to Zhou Xiaobai. Zhou Xiaobai sent him three letters in succession, and it is unknown whether there were any more. The first two were written during recruit training, and the last one said that he had finished recruit training and had been assigned to a field hospital, where he was now in the internal medicine department.

The letter Zhou Xiaobai wrote to him was filled with a young girl's words and her longing for him.

Zhong Yuemin eventually wrote her a letter. The letter was quite long, and in addition to words of encouragement, this time he was no longer hesitant and timid in his description of his feelings. He wrote down his thoughts directly and frankly.

He will also be enlisting in the army this September. If Zhou Xiaobai feels that this relationship is still worth continuing after three years, then the two of them can try dating.

In his letter, Zhong Yuemin also described his personality and attitude towards relationships. In one passage, he described himself as follows.

"Xiaobai, my attitude towards relationships has never been one-sided. If one day in the future you find out that I have other women, it won't be surprising at all. So before you make a choice, don't easily say you love me. I won't be a good husband in the future, but if a woman truly appears in my life, I will cherish her for a lifetime, although I'm not sure how many there will be...!"

Zhong Yuemin's lewd description was something most girls would absolutely not accept. After spending more than half a year in northern Shaanxi, he seemed to have gained some insights into life.

Just live your life the way you want. Why suppress your true feelings? Why have so many worries? If you like a woman, just be honest with her. If she can accept it, wow, girl, you win! You've won the right to have a unique guy by your side for life!

Ma Guiping had also arranged for Zhong Yuemin to join the army. He would enlist in the army in northern Shaanxi in September, a year earlier than in the original novel.

Thanks to Ma Guiping's connections, Zhong Yuemin has been living comfortably for the past few months. Although he is only a temporary worker, his treatment is better than that of any permanent employee. He is even called Master Zhong at the food factory.

During this period, he also returned to Shichuan Village twice, bringing some grain for the villagers.

Zheng Tong and his colleagues previously worked as temporary workers at the county food factory, where they were guaranteed a comfortable life. Now, they have the opportunity to become permanent employees.

He also spoke with Zheng Tong privately, encouraging him to continue studying hard, assuring him that he would definitely have the opportunity to return to Yanjing in the future, and perhaps even take the college entrance examination again and become a college student once more.

Zheng Tong, Ning Bin, and others were quite envious of Zhong Yuemin joining the army, but after the envy, they could only accept reality, since none of them had an Uncle Ma.

Getting them into food factories now is already a huge stroke of luck.

Xiao Ningwei was also arranged to return to Yanjing in June. School will resume soon. At his age, there is no need for him to stay in the countryside.

Zhong Yuemin finally found some time to go see Li Kuiyong and give him a surprise. He hadn't seen Li Kuiyong for more than half a year, mainly because he had been too busy. Another reason was that he was afraid to see Qin Ling, the girl he had fallen in love with at first sight.

But now he's figured it out. What's the point of overthinking things with a girl he doesn't even know now?

Let things take their natural course. There's no need to dwell too much on the memories from the original story. The world has been completely transformed since then.

Chapter 158: Qinling Mountains

Standing at the entrance of Baijiagou Village, where Li Kuiyong was sent to work, Zhong Yuemin stood on the stone bridge leading out of the village, also filled with emotion. After traveling dozens of kilometers over mountains and ridges, they had finally arrived.

Seeing the pile of sorghum stalks by the earthen wall opposite, Zhong Yuemin suddenly remembered that in the original novel, he seemed to have done things with Qin Ling there. Something felt strange. He hadn't done anything, but why did he feel like he had let Qin Ling down?

Without thinking about it anymore, Zhong Yuemin strode towards the village. As soon as he entered the village, he encountered a young man carrying water. Locals and educated youths are easily distinguishable. Zhong Yuemin recognized him almost immediately. He should also be an educated youth. He then smiled and stepped forward, calling out to the man.

"Friend, are you also a sent-down youth from Yanjing?"

The man carrying water turned around, saw Zhong Yuemin's attire, and upon hearing his accent, quickly put down his load with a smile and responded.

"Oh my, I feel so close to you as soon as I hear your accent. Are you also a sent-down youth from Yanjing? Which brigade did you work in?"

Zhong Yuemin smiled and pointed to the opposite side of the hillside.

"Across that hillside, in Shichuan Village, brother, isn't there an educated youth named Li Kuiyong here?"

"Kuiyong? He's my classmate! We were classmates in junior high. We were three of us who were sent to the countryside together. Come on, I'll take you to see him!"

Seeing that the main character had been found, Zhong Yuemin breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that as long as he hadn't made any changes, things should still be going according to the original story. He then smiled and said.

"Actually, I'm also Li Kuiyong's classmate, haha. We were elementary school classmates. I was only classmates with Kuiyong for one semester back then, but we became very good friends afterward. I came here specifically to find him!"

The two laughed as they walked toward the village. Fetching water here was similar to that in Shichuan Village; it usually involved walking several miles and finally fetching water from a low-lying area. Carrying two buckets, they walked uphill, their shoulders chafed and swollen. Zhong Yuemin usually hated fetching water.

However, Zhong Yuemin quickly smiled and took the water from the other person's shoulder. The other person also thanked him profusely. After thinking for a moment, Zhong Yuemin asked again.

"Is there another female educated youth here named Qin Ling?"

The other person glanced at Zhong Yuemin and said with a smile.

"You also know Qin Ling, who was your classmate?"

Zhong Yuemin smiled and quickly shook his head.

"No, no, I heard from someone that there's a girl around here who sings Shaanxi folk songs really well, I think her name is Qinling!"

The male educated youth replied with a smile.

"Yes, her voice is naturally suited for singing. Qinling is beautiful in song and even more beautiful in person. She is the most beautiful girl in our educated youth team. There were ten of us who came together this time, five men and five women, and Qinling was the most beautiful. She was the dream girl of several of our male comrades!"

Zhong Yuemin didn't know what to feel, but he had mixed feelings. He smiled and said jokingly.

"Dude, you're definitely one of them, right?"

The other person laughed heartily. They're all young people; everyone understands!

Chatting and laughing, they finally arrived at their destination. The two brigades were actually quite similar, relying on the weather for farming. However, his land was slightly better than that of Shichuan Village because there were fewer people, so there was more land, which prevented them from having to beg for food. But life was still the same, with everyone living in darkness every day.

The places where the educated youth lived were all similar, cave dwellings. In July, the sun was at least thirty degrees Celsius. The two carried water into the cave dwelling and immediately felt much cooler. There were a few young people chatting together inside. Zhong Yuemin looked up and the first thing he saw was Li Kuiyong's very distinctive face.

"Kuiyong, look who's here!"

The young man shouted at Li Kuiyong as soon as he entered the room.

Li Kuiyong looked up and saw Zhong Yuemin's ambiguous smile. He immediately stood up, his surprise and delight undisguised. He smiled and stepped forward, taking the carrying pole from Zhong Yuemin's shoulder as he said with a smile.

"Yuemin, how did you know I cut in line?"

Zhong Yuemin snorted and said with a smile.

“Last time, I saw a face that looked exactly like yours from afar on the opposite hillside. I was wondering, how could there be a twin brother of you, Li Kuiyong, in this great northern Shaanxi? I ​​called out to Li Kuiyong for a long time from the other side of the mountain, but your twin brother really didn’t recognize me. I had no choice but to come here today!”

Everyone burst into laughter. Li Kuiyong could tell from Zhong Yuemin's expression that he was being teased, so he didn't think much of it and said something.

"When I left Yanjing, I actually went to look for you. You left in the same batch as me, and I arrived a month later. During the first few days after I arrived, I worked in the fields every day. Those were tough days, and I was too embarrassed to go to you!"

Zhong Yuemin smiled and didn't refute Li Kuiyong's words. Actually, Li Kuiyong's not coming to see him was definitely related to that little rascal's matter.

However, it seems that there is no resentment between them now when they meet Li Kuiyong. Let bygones be bygones. Everyone has a past, right?

Seeing that Zhong Yuemin was still sitting there, Li Kuiyong quickly pulled him to sit on the kang (a heated brick bed), and while doing so, he took a melon from the side and handed it to Zhong Yuemin, saying with a smile.

"Yuemin, these melons grown in our village are really sweet. You definitely can't find them anywhere else. We don't lack fruits and melons here, it's just that the place is a bit remote. It's almost 50 kilometers to the county town. Last time, a few of us educated youth carried a load of melons to the county town to sell. You wouldn't believe it, we ate most of them on the way!"

Everyone burst into laughter. Zhong Yuemin smiled too, took the melon, wiped it casually on the corner of his clothes, and took a big bite. The juice burst out like a burst of juice, sweet to the core. It was truly sweet!

"Sweet, isn't it?"

"Sweet! So sweet! Your land is quite nice; the fruits here are very nutritious!"

"That's right, Yuemin. It's rare for you to come all this way. Why don't you stay for a few days? Don't worry, we won't miss a bite to eat for you, hahaha!"

The other educated youth nodded in agreement. It was rare to meet a fellow native of Yanjing in this place. They were all young people, so there wasn't much of a barrier between them.

Zhong Yuemin smiled, intending to pull Li Kuiyong aside to discuss something, to talk to him about the county food factory's recruitment.

Just then, a group of clear female voices rang out from outside. Zhong Yuemin turned around and saw several women carrying wooden basins walking towards him.

Zhong Yuemin's gaze immediately settled on the girl in the middle.

She had a shapely figure, a fair complexion with a rosy glow, and large, expressive eyes. Her face was distinctly different from other girls, with features somewhat resembling those of a European or American, yet possessing the delicate, watery quality of an Eastern woman, giving her a unique and sophisticated air.

Zhong Yuemin's mind was a bit of a mess at the moment. He knew very well that he had once again been amazed by Qin Ling. This woman seemed to be born to attract men. No wonder the young man who led the way said that Qin Ling was the most beautiful woman in their family.

When Li Kuiyong saw the girls enter the room, he quickly stood up and introduced them to them.

"Let me introduce you. This is Zhong Yuemin, my friend. He's also a sent-down youth from Yanjing. He's working in Shichuan Village, which is across the hill from ours. Qinling, you girls will have to have an extra meal at noon today!"

The women from Qinling glanced at Zhong Yuemin curiously. Qinling's expressive eyes met Zhong Yuemin's, and the two seemed to see something different in each other's eyes.

Several girls chattered and greeted Zhong Yuemin. Zhong Yuemin's handsome appearance was enough to win the favor of many girls, and the group quickly started chatting with laughter.

Qin Ling and two other girls also started preparing Chinese food in the kitchen. Zhong Yuemin glanced at her back, sighed silently, and finished the melon in his hand in a few bites.

At this moment, he finally understood why Zhong Yuemin in the original work was attracted to this woman. There are many kinds of women. Some women seem to be born to attract men, like Qin Ling. Her temperament far surpasses that of girls of the same age. Every glance and smile is particularly attractive. In addition, there is the unique vitality of her age. How could she not attract these seventeen or eighteen-year-old young men?