Reborn in 1977

The three-section traditional courtyard where the brigade headquarters was located was built by the Lu family before the liberation and features typical Jiangnan residential architecture.

It was constructed with green bricks and black tiles, with high walls to facilitate ventilation and heat dissipation, and a steep roof to facilitate rainwater runoff.

The first row of buildings in the courtyard consists of three main rooms, with a hall in the middle, known locally as the 'tang wu' (main room), and two side rooms on the left and right that can be used for receptions.

Passing through the screen behind the main room leads to a small courtyard.

On the left and right sides of the small courtyard are two rows of wing rooms each, and behind it is a two-story building with a brick-and-wood structure.

The small courtyard is surrounded by buildings and is also known as a 'courtyard well'. When it rains, rainwater from the eaves of the surrounding houses falls into the courtyard well in the middle, a common 'four waters returning to the hall' layout in Jiangnan.

Passing through the two-story building, there is another embroidered building with a small garden behind it, also a two-story building, but without wing rooms.

This whole set of residences cannot be called grand and imposing, but the layout is distinct. However, there are not many carved beams and painted pillars, making it relatively simple.

In addition, the original green brick and black tile houses were largely whitewashed and painted with rows of red slogans, which is unusually harmonious in the current social environment.

The entire residence faces south and is surrounded by a high courtyard wall. Twenty or thirty meters west of the courtyard wall, a row of tall camphor trees is planted to block the view of pedestrians on the river embankment not far away.

Below the two-meter-high slope on the east side of the courtyard is the pond where Chen Fan conducted collective teaching earlier.

A Qing stone slab road about ten meters wide is laid around the pond, and there are more than a dozen Qing brick and tile houses on the side of the stone slab road, but they are all ordinary single houses, and none of them have enclosed courtyards. Opening the door leads directly to the pond.

This circle of Qing brick houses was the residential area of the Lu family in the past.

However, the large courtyard has now become the Lu Jiawan Brigade Headquarters, and the former Lu family residences were distributed to poor villagers during the land reform that year, and are now naturally the homes of commune members.

Passing through the pond to the east is a long row of mud-walled thatched houses built on the ridge of the slope.

Further out is a large area of fields, which is also the road Chen Fan took when he came.

...

The west wing of the brigade headquarters' middle courtyard has been converted into a kitchen and dining room. Chen Fan was twirling the spatula inside, and soon he prepared a large table of delicious dishes.

After the last plate of stir-fried pig liver was served, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and introduced with a smile, "Braised turtle in brown sauce, stewed turtle in clear soup, Northeast blood sausage, stir-fried large intestine with pickled pepper, stir-fried pig heart, stir-fried pig kidney, stir-fried pig liver, twice-cooked pork, pig lung soup, and finally a plate of stir-fried cabbage. That's all."

Zhang Changjiang stood up and pointed to the position next to him, "Come, come, Master Chen, sit here."

Chen Fan waved his hand quickly when he saw this, "This won't do. How can I sit in the host's seat?"

Then he looked around and pointed to the position at the door, "It's fine for me to sit here."

As he spoke, he was about to move a chair, but Zhang Wenliang stopped him.

After a lot of pushing and shoving, Secretary Yang was finally seated in the host's seat, with Chen Fan and Master Zhu sitting on either side of him. Then, in order, were Zhang Changjiang, Xiao Liewen, Ye Shubao, Zhang Guangwen, Zhang Wenliang, and women's team leader Yang Xingxiu, a table of exactly 9 people.

Xiao Liewen looked at the large table of dishes and grinned, "This is even more sumptuous than the New Year."

Master Zhu nodded and said, "The key is that I haven't eaten many of these dishes before."

He pointed to the plate of stir-fried large intestine with pickled pepper and laughed, "If you didn't make this dish, I wouldn't dare to say you're from here. I only recognize this one among so many dishes."

Xiao Liewen, "I only recognize one more plate of blood sausage than you."

After a burst of laughter, they began to pour wine.

This time, Chen Fan did not insist on using warm water to heat the wine, because what was brought up were several bottles of bottled wine. On the bright and transparent glass bottles was a palm-sized piece of paper with a proper trademark, a pattern of several grain crops surrounding four large characters, 'Yunhu Daqu' (purely fictional).

This kind of bottled wine with simple packaging is the most authentic grain wine, and it has been tested by professional institutions of the winery, so there is no need to worry about excessive methanol.

The only thing to consider is that the alcohol content is a bit high. How much can I drink?

However, even though he didn't want it himself, Master Zhu opened his mouth for him, "Little Master Chen doesn't drink cold wine. It's best to get him some hot water to warm it up."

Hearing this, Yang Xingxiu immediately got up to get a bowl and pour boiling water, and Secretary Yang deliberately put on a stern face, "Master Chen, just say what you want. Why are you being so polite?"

Xiao Liewen also said, "Different people have different habits. Although it is said to be 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do', personal habits should be taken care of if possible. It's just warming up the wine. It's not even a matter of lifting a finger. Don't be so polite next time."

Chen Fan could only grin awkwardly.

When it came time to use chopsticks, there was another round of humility.

In the end, they asked Secretary Yang to move his chopsticks first, followed by Master Zhu taking the lead, and then the meal officially began.

At this time, Chen Fan was already sweating. Oh my, eating out is really tiring.

Xiao Liewen next to him went straight for the blood sausage with his first chopstick, picked up a piece and threw it into his mouth, and his eyes lit up immediately. He gave Chen Fan a thumbs up, "Delicious."

When the others heard this, they quickly took a chopstick each, instantly clearing out most of it.

Xiao Liewen's eyes went straight. "Leave me a few pieces. I haven't eaten it in over twenty years."

Ye Shubao looked at him, but his hands were not slow at all. "Hey, Master Chen specially left you three big pieces just now. Why don't you take them back and eat them slowly? Why are you fighting with us?"

Xiao Liewen didn't care and quickly grabbed two more pieces. The plate of blood sausage was already empty.

Well, Chen Fan, the chef, made two meals of blood sausage today, and he didn't get a single piece. He didn't even know what his first blood sausage tasted like. Was it delicious or not?

Why was it the first time making it?

Decades later, where else can you buy fresh pig blood except when slaughtering pigs in the countryside? If you can't even buy pig blood, of course you can't make blood sausage.

However, although he had never made it himself, Chen Fan had watched dozens of videos of making blood sausage and had already memorized them. Now that his cooking skills have reached level 4, comparable to a professional chef in a small restaurant, he claims that making a blood sausage is not a problem.

Judging from everyone's reaction, it's still very good.

The only person besides Chen Fan who didn't grab the blood sausage just now was Master Zhu. He didn't grab the blood sausage, but he grabbed a large chopstick of twice-cooked pork, followed by a chopstick of stir-fried pig liver, eating with relish.

When the others saw this, they were not to be outdone and stretched their chopsticks towards several dishes.

Zhang Wenliang was a junior and was embarrassed to compete with the elders at first. He only ate a piece of blood sausage. When he came back to his senses, he found that half of the dishes in his bowl were gone. Now he couldn't care less about being reserved and quickly took a chopstick from each bowl. He ate a bite of twice-cooked pork, his eyes lit up. He ate a bite of pig liver, the corners of his mouth turned up. He ate another bite of pig kidney, and he immediately beamed with joy...

Chen Fan held chopsticks in his right hand and held his wine glass with his left hand. Well, I'll just eat turtle meat.