1983 Small Island, Starting From a Large Farmer

 Chapter 363 Who’s on my boat?

Li Duoyu and Zhao Jialu walked through several streets and came to an old street full of wooden houses.

Li Duoyu glanced at the old street, which was a little familiar and a little strange. In his previous life, after he came back from the island country, he heard that someone burned down this old street with a "fire" and replaced it with a commercial street.

In this era, the old streets were still full of short wooden houses. When he first arrived at the old street, Li Duoyu heard the sound of "clang, clang, clang".

Following the sound, Li Duoyu saw a small workshop with three shirtless middle-aged men stepping on rock hammers and shouting slogans.

 “Hey yo~hey~”

 Under the stone hammer is a large stone mortar with rice cakes inside.

  Whenever the stone hammer is tilted.

 The old man next to the stone mortar will turn over the rice cakes in the stone mortar as quickly as possible, and the big stone hammer weighs at least seventy or eighty kilograms.

If they didn't cooperate well, the old man's hand would definitely be smashed and broken. But with the help of Haozi, they cooperated perfectly.

After seeing the **** of white rice noodles placed in the workshop, Li Duoyu had already guessed what they were doing.

Zhao Jialu said: “The Xinghua noodles made by this workshop are really delicious. Our family always buys Xinghua noodles from them.”

And the "hua" in "Laohua" that Li Duoyu wants to eat is the Xinghua rice noodles originating from Licheng next door. Because Licheng was called Xinghua Prefecture in ancient times, it got the name Xinghua rice noodles.

I don’t know why, but Xinghua powder didn’t do well in its place of origin. Instead, it became very popular after arriving in Rongcheng, and it became the “ancient taste” in the mouths of many Rongcheng people.

  Liaohua is also divided into old school and new school.

 Old school laohua generally refers to pig blood conversion. Due to special reasons at that time, the only pig blood that ordinary people could obtain was pig blood.

Even pig blood was a rare delicacy for the people of that era.

 The new style has only appeared in recent years, and the side dishes are not only pig blood.

The most common ones that everyone eats are large intestines, duck gizzards, and monk meat. Of course, some water spinach and a handful of chopped green onions are added at the end, which is the soul of laohua.

Some shops will add a variety of small seafood, such as clams, squid rings, fresh oysters and shrimps, etc. Some shops have even developed new ways to eat it, adding various braised flavors into the laohua.

Since Li Duoyu came to this old street, he has been able to smell the strong aroma of bone soup and shrimp oil from time to time.

This old street is not very wide, and it doesn’t look very clean, but there are really many catering shops on both sides of the street.

There are those selling fish balls, meatballs, and sausages, and the best business is the Laohua shop in front of them, which is less than ten square meters.

 Because the store is too small, the store owner placed three small low tables at the door, and customers can only sit outside to eat.

Although the conditions are very poor, every small table is full of people.

There was a worker who had just returned from get off work in the factory. When he saw someone getting up, he leaned his bicycle against the wall and sat in the empty seat.

“Boss, let me have a bowl of laohua. I want pork liver and water spinach. Give me more green onions.”

 “Okay, come right away.”

Seeing that the business is so good, Zhao Jialu said to the shop owner: "Boss, the business is so good, can you add two more tables? Why do you have to queue up to eat every time?"

The boss replied: "The store is only so big. If we move it over, it will occupy the territory of the store next door. We will have a fight later. Can you help me?"

A group of customers who didn’t mind the trouble all said, “Help, I’ll definitely help.”

 “If you want to fight, I will definitely help you.”

“Boss, hurry up and buy the store next door. From now on, we can eat your laohua on rainy days.”

The boss smiled and said: "That won't work. On rainy days, I can just be lazy."

 “What’s the point of resting? Wouldn’t it be better to make more money?”

The boss urged: "You guys, stop talking and eat quickly. There are a lot of people waiting behind you."

 …

When ordering, Li Duoyu said: "Chinese sausage, pork liver, clams, some water spinach, and an omelette."

“Brother Yu, you were just full, how could you still eat so much?”

Li Duoyu smiled: "People like me who do rough work usually eat more."

 In fact, although there is a lot of seafood on their coast, for their fishermen, there is not enough seafood to eat.

Just like drinking porridge, you will get hungry easily not long after eating. Eating two bowls of seafood is really not as good as eating one bowl of rice and rice noodles.

In her previous life, her daughter-in-law liked to eat seafood. She said it tasted good, had no fat and low calories, and was very suitable for weight loss.

Zhao Jialu touched his stomach and said, "I really can't eat anymore. Boss, just give me some clear soup."

 After the dish was served, Li Duoyu looked at a large bowl of laohua. At least half of the bowl was filled with ingredients. Unlike in the future, there were not even a few slices of beef in a bowl of ramen.

Li Duoyu took a sip of the soup first. It was a thick bone soup with the aroma of shallot oil and a very good taste.

 But for Li Duoyu, the soul of Laohua is not Laohua itself, but the small plastic jar placed on the table.

Li Duoyu came close to the plastic jar and smelled it. It was salty and fragrant. Yes, this is it.

Li Duoyu brought a plate over, poured the bright yellow juice into the plate, then picked up a piece of Luo Han meat, dipped it in the shrimp oil, and then put it into his mouth.

 The moment he entered the mouth, Li Duoyu was startled. The smell instantly brought him back to a past memory.

 In fact,

Li Duoyu has not eaten this kind of laohua with many ingredients.

At the time when he was selling goods, this new style of laohua was not yet popular, so he ate more pig blood.

　　It was sent in later. Not long after I came out, I went to the island country and never tasted this stuff.

The first time he ate this kind of laohua was when Zhou Xiaoying brought him here to eat it.

At that time, they came to Rongcheng to help take care of their grandson, and the two of them took care of almost all the housework. Cooking, washing dishes and clothes

 On weekends, my son, daughter-in-law, and their family of three often drive out to camp and travel with friends.

Zhou Xiaoying, who is afraid that Li Duoyu will be bored, occasionally takes him for a walk to nearby Yantai Mountain and has something to eat.

 The place where the two of them ate the most was the laohua shop at the entrance of the alley.

Zhou Xiaoying also likes to eat laohua. Every time she eats, she fills a plate full of shrimp oil.

Seeing her pouring so much, the boss would occasionally tease her: "You are the best at eating shrimp oil I have ever seen."

Thinking of this, Li Duoyu couldn't help but glance at the boss and suddenly asked: "Boss, is your surname Lin?"

The boss smiled and replied: "Awesome, how did you know that my surname is Lin when you first come here?"

 “Haha, I was just guessing.”

Li Duoyu finished a large portion of the laohua, but people can easily become sleepy when they eat too much.

The two walked out of the old street and came to a street next door with a lot of neon lights. There were many girls in brightly dressed clothes on the street.

Perhaps because it’s summer, some wear short jeans like those in Hong Kong dramas, and some like to tie their shirts into a knot.

 A red Yamaha 125 motorcycle was surrounded by several girls.

Zhao Jialu burped and suggested: "Brother Yu, would you like me to take you to the dance hall to relax? Summer is here and the young lady there sings beautifully."

Li Duoyu joked:

“You are sure it’s as simple as singing well.”

Zhao Jialu smiled and said: "I have become a good person a long time ago. Of course I just listened to songs."

Li Duoyu originally wanted to ask him to take precautions and pay attention to safety, but when he thought about it, something seemed wrong.

 Before the 1990s, China seemed to be quite safe, with only syphilis and very few AIDS.

“I won’t go to the dance hall. It’s too noisy and my ears can’t stand it.”

Zhao Jialu frowned and thought for a while, then said: "If you don't want to go to the dance hall, then why don't we go to the video together?"

Li Duoyu said doubtfully:

“Is there a video room now?”

“There are several of them, and many people are watching them. If you haven’t watched all the TV series you followed in the past, you can still catch up in the video hall.”

Zhao Jialu chuckled and said, "And after twelve o'clock, there are still exciting things."

 Li Duoyu knew what it was as soon as he heard it. The video studio should be the earliest originator of disseminating pornographic images in China.

 Most of the pornographic films at this time still told stories, and occasionally had some exciting scenes.

Unlike action movies from island countries, the entire film is technical and emotionless.

 But even if there are only one or two clips, for young people who have never seen it before, it is enough to make them collectively excited.

 If there is a video recorder, Li Duoyu thinks that after the new house is built, he can buy one.

 In this case, there is no need to stand in front of the TV at a fixed time and wait for the TV station to broadcast it.

“Brother Yu, do you want to watch it? There happens to be a video studio whose owner is my friend. I can ask him to clear the place and show us something exciting.”

Li Duoyu frowned, watching pornographic films with a grown man, something felt a little wrong.

 “No, I’m really sleepy, I want to go to bed.”

Zhao Jialu was a little depressed: "I don't go to dance clubs, and I don't watch videos. How can I be like my old man? If we don't play when we are young, when will we play? When we get old, we really can't play anymore."

 “Let’s have another day, I’m a little tired today.”

Seeing Li Duoyu's refusal, Zhao Jialu no longer pressed, but said:

"Do you have a place to stay at night? If not, do you want to stay at my house tonight? Xiuyun and I have shared a house, and we just have a spare room."

Li Duoyu's mouth twitched, how much does this guy like to be with me: "No, I've already booked a guest house at the pier."

"That's it...then I'll take you to the guest house."

"No, I'm very familiar with Rongcheng. I can go to the guest house by myself."

 …

 In fact, Li Duoyu did not book a guest house. After returning to Rongcheng Pier, he went directly back to the fishing boat.

 Sleep directly on the floor in the cab.

To be honest, the sanitary conditions in the guest house are not necessarily as good as his cab, and there are a lot of fleas and lice these days.

 Now that they have children, their home is very clean. Unless necessary, Li Duoyu will try to sleep on the bed outside as little as possible to avoid bringing insects or insect eggs home.

At about 10:30 in the evening, the surroundings of the fishing boat became very quiet, leaving only the sound of the gurgling river water.

In this era without mobile phones, Li Duoyu fell asleep quickly. He didn’t know how long he slept before he was woken up.

There was the constant sound of fishing boats’ engines outside, as well as various shouts and cries.

Li Duoyu was woken up and found that it was still dark, but when he looked out the window, he was startled.

 There were two faces pressed against the window, looking at his cab.

Li Duoyu took out the long gun hidden on the boat on the spot, then turned on the light in the cab and shouted: "Who is on my boat?"

 (End of this chapter)