dkrc Chapter 4 Kneading Dough
Chapter 4 Kneading Dough
"200 might not be enough."
Lu Yuan chuckled shamelessly and made an outrageous demand:
"Dad, Mom, since you're willing to trust me one more time, please give me all the money from selling the grain!"
Lu Yuan's family has 20 mu of land, and a crop of wheat can sell for about 7000 yuan.
This income is the main source of income for rural families throughout the year, and a portion of it must be set aside for the costs of planting, such as seeds, fertilizers, and paying grain taxes.
As for raising chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep, ordinary families simply cannot achieve a large scale; they can only use them for daily household expenses.
All things considered, the amount I can freely spend after selling the grain is only 5000 yuan.
When I opened the restaurant, it cost me about 20000 yuan, of which 10000 yuan was borrowed from relatives.
These days, farmers carrying a debt of 10000 yuan face immense psychological pressure.
If we pay off half of the original 5000 yuan debt, my parents will feel better, and our relatives will be more at ease.
But when Lu Yuan directly asked for all the income, Wei Yinghong almost couldn't hold back anymore.
After all, Lu Yuan was just as confident when he first opened his shop, but the result was not as expected.
However, having just said she would sell everything she owned to support Lu Yuan in opening his shop, she couldn't directly refute him now, so she could only bite the bullet and ask:
"Xiao Yuan, what do you need so much money for? Aren't all the pots, pans, tables, and chairs in the shop already there?"
Just as Lu Yuan was about to answer, Lu Changming waved his hand and said, "Okay, Dad will give you all the money after selling the grain tomorrow."
This sentence effectively shut down both Wei Yinghong's prepared questions and Lu Yuan's prepared explanations.
Looking at Lu Changming's dark face and rough hands, Lu Yuan knew that he was prepared to bear all the pressure.
In his previous life, Lu Yuan went to work in the capital and became bedridden due to an illness.
When Lu Changming found out, he took a slow train overnight to Lu Yuan's residence and sent him to the hospital, thus preventing a major disaster.
After leaving the hospital, Lu Changming took care of Lu Yuan for a week before going back home.
It should be noted that Lu Changming only graduated from primary school and had never even been to the provincial capital many times, yet he single-handedly ran around the capital to take care of Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan's deepest impression of him was his dark face and rough hands, squatting in the hospital corridor eating a steamed bun.
Men from Northwest China always possess the toughest backbone and the most humble demeanor.
The next morning, Lu Yuan got up at 5 a.m., a habit he had developed over many years of work.
At this time, the sky was just beginning to lighten, and the darkness of night had not yet dissipated from the earth.
After washing up, Lu Yuan tiptoed out of the chicken coop and took a basket of eggs.
Before the old hen could find out, I quickly returned to the kitchen.
Having not done this for many years, I was a bit rusty and ended up making a mess of things.
Lu Yuan chuckled self-deprecatingly, cleaned the chicken feathers off his body, and began kneading the dough.
Northerners mainly eat noodles, but the ways of eating noodles are quite different.
People in provinces like Henan and Shandong like to eat steamed buns, but people in the northern part of China don't like steamed buns that much. Instead, noodles are an indispensable part of their daily diet.
The wheat grown in Northwest China receives ample sunshine and experiences large temperature differences between day and night, resulting in plump grains that make for chewy, smooth noodles that become increasingly fragrant with each chew.
Lu Yuan first scooped out 3 jin of flour from the flour vat and put it in a large basin, then filled it with more than half a scoop of water for later use.
According to the ratio, 3 jin of flour requires about 1 jin of water.
But Lu Yuan didn't need to use a scale to determine the proportions. He only needed to add water little by little, feeling the moisture on his fingertips, and he could knead the dough perfectly.
The key to kneading dough is patience and strength.
Instead of kneading it into a dough, first rub the dry flour into small pieces to ensure that each grain of dry flour absorbs enough moisture.
At this point, he had already reached the realm of "basin light".
As he began to apply pressure with his fingers, the dough flakes coalesced into a ball.
In an instant, dough formed, and the palm became smooth; this was the second realm of hand light.
Kneading dough is essentially a struggle between the palms and the dough; the harder you knead, the more elastic the dough becomes.
At this point, he couldn't fight the dough head-on anymore. Lu Yuan threw the dough on the cutting board, covered it with a basin, and then picked up a broom to start cleaning.
The dust in the north is very heavy. Even after just a few days of business closure, a layer of dust has formed on the windowsill.
After spending 20 minutes doing a simple cleaning, Lu Yuan returned to the kitchen and continued kneading the dough.
At this point, the dough lost its elasticity. Lu Yuan kneaded it a few times, and the dough became incredibly smooth – this is what is meant by "smooth dough".
If your hands, bowl, and dough are all clean, you can ensure that the water ratio of the dough is appropriate and that you are kneading it with sufficient force.
After kneading the dough, Lu Yuan turned the bowl upside down over the dough again and went into the yard.
In rural areas of northern China, people typically eat only two meals a day: lunch around 10 a.m. and dinner around 4 p.m.
This lunch reflects the day's work, so it's essential to eat well and be full.
Lu Yuan prepared the dough in advance so that it would be faster when it was time to eat around 10 o'clock.
He was also prepared to help sell grain today.
Selling grain is a major event in rural areas, involving complicated procedures and a large workload.
In 1996, selling grain required going to the grain depot, which had very high requirements for wheat.
First of all, the moisture content must meet the standard, otherwise some unscrupulous people will add water to increase the weight and sell it for more money.
Keeping wheat dry also helps with long-term storage, so people pile up the wheat in the yard to dry after harvesting it.
Lu Yuan took a stack of sacks from the warehouse, spread them out at his feet, and then used a shovel to scoop them up and stuff them into the sacks.
At first, I wasn't very skilled, and some of it would always spill outside the sack.
However, being a child born in the countryside, Lu Yuan quickly found a sense of familiarity in his genes and became faster and faster at pretending.
By the time his parents got up, Lu Yuan had already filled several sacks.
Wei Yinghong lifted the curtain and saw a figure holding a shovel staring at her. She couldn't help but take a step back. After recognizing Lu Yuan, she exclaimed in surprise, "You startled me! Why are you up so early?"
Lu Yuan wiped his sweat, leaned on the top of the shovel with both hands, and said with a smile, "Mom, hurry up and wash up. After we finish loading the grain, I'll cook you something delicious."
"Stop bragging, you'll be exhausted in no time!" Wei Yinghong gave Lu Yuan a doting glare, lowered the curtain, and went back inside. A roar followed immediately:
"Lu Changming, what time are you planning to go to sleep? Xiao Yuan has already started packing food, aren't you ashamed?"
Before long, Lu Changming ran out of the house, picked up a shovel, and began to load the grain.
His dark face looked a little dazed, clearly he hadn't had time to wash up yet.
After a while, Wei Yinghong also came out. She walked straight to Lu Yuan, reached for the shovel in his hand, and said, "Xiao Yuan, take a break. Your dad and I will finish the work."
Lu Yuan shook his head, dodging Wei Yinghong's hand: "Mom, I'm not tired."
Unable to refuse, Wei Yinghong also picked up a sack and began filling it with grain.
With the addition of two experienced people, the speed increased significantly.
By 9 a.m., the grain in the yard had been almost completely packed away.
Lu Yuan sat on the pile of grain, his hands trembling slightly, his shirt already soaked with sweat, and he was panting heavily.
Actually, today's loading is only the last small part; most of the wheat has already been dried and loaded in batches.
Farming is indeed the most tiring job in the world. Twenty years later, those urban white-collar workers who clamor to escape to the countryside have no idea how tiring farm work is.
Just then, the sound of a tractor sputtering came from outside the yard, and soon a red hand tractor stopped at the gate.
Immediately afterwards, two young men in their twenties got off the tractor and shouted into the yard, "Third Uncle, we've come to haul the grain."