Mao Shisan has been on the Haitian for many days. [Read the latest chapter] Although I have been sailing on the ship in darkness, I don’t know where I am. When I first boarded the ship, I was kept in the cabin for a few days after questioning. Later, when I docked somewhere, I was scrubbed with hot water several times, my head was shaved, and I changed into an old uniform. I was finally able to come out and move around freely. .
He secretly asked his only acquaintance Fu Ji, the young man of average age who had taken care of him when he was in a coma, if this was what the soldiers often called "purification". Fu Ji said no, purification requires breaking one's buttocks and drinking potion. He All they received was a preliminary cleaning, and at least there were no fleas or lice, so they no longer had to be kept in a small cabin. However, he still had to eat alone in a small compartment every day. After eating, the wooden tableware was thrown directly into the sea. Some places are still off limits. Fu Ji told him that when he has more rest time next time, the hygienist on the ship will give him a thorough purification
A few days later, the Haitian took a "big break" on a small island, replenishing fresh water and cleaning up. Mao Shisan finally tasted the taste of "purification". He stripped off his clothes and had his buttocks broken off. The hygienist gave him a potion that caused him to have diarrhea for two days. He almost couldn't stand up because he almost thought he was going to burp. When he farted, the hygienist gave him another potion to drink, and everything became normal again. The scope of activities has also been expanded to the entire ship, and you can also use the tableware on the ship when eating.
Mao Shisan has completely fallen in love with this ship where he can have enough food and clothing. It is best to stay on the ship for the rest of his life. Although Fu Ji had always boasted that he would be in heaven when he reached Lingao, he did not believe that there could be a happier place than this. I heard from my adoptive father that the generals in Dongjiang Town, even those as old as Mao Shuai and Huang Shuai now, only had two meals. And the people on the boat have three meals! Mao Shisan thought it would take someone like the emperor or prime minister to have three meals, right? But here even he, an outsider, can have three meals a day! In order to stay in this paradise of three meals for a long time, his simple thinking told him that if he wanted to make progress, he must express himself positively. Spontaneously worked hard to help the sailors trim sails, knock ice, wipe decks, and clean gun barrels. But often the client politely refuses the job after only a few attempts. They say that it is a full-time position and does not require anyone else to intervene. Besides, there are some things that I have never practiced and learned, and I really don’t know how to do them.
In the end, he found a place in the kitchen. There were only two people in the kitchen of the Haitian: Fat Chef, Fu Ji and a black and white tabby cat named Oscar. They were busy all day preparing meals for people No. 70 and 80. Multiple helpers are welcome. So Mao Shisan became a helper in the kitchen - to be precise, Fu Ji's helper. Started his career as a cook.
"Follow the leader and wait for the blessings." This would be Fu Ji's first words when he welcomed him as a helper.
Both the chef and Fu Ji originally spoke an incomprehensible "Nanman dialect". Fortunately, they can speak "Newspeak" - the "Mandarin" of Tai O people - everyone on the ship can speak "Newspeak" with the accent of their respective hometowns. This Tai O Mandarin sounds like his The Mandarin of Liaodong is quite similar, and both of them can understand each other.
Young men like Mao Shisan grew up in poverty and hardship. If you have any dreams. That means having a good meal and a warm place to sleep. If someone told him that he could do this, it would be heaven.
If there is a paradise, it must be the Haitian. If there is a paradise in heaven, it must be the kitchen of the Haitian.
Mao Shisan couldn't say such profound words at all, but if you could tell him the general idea, he would definitely support it with both hands and feet. After almost freezing to death, he found that after boarding the ship, he came to a perfect world that he had never dreamed of, except for his only relative, his adoptive father. Can't find any flaws.
The kitchen on the Haitian is not big, with a four-burner stove. What was being burned turned out to be lumps of coal with many holes. There are many ways to use stoves, and Mao Shisan still doesn’t understand them all. Most of the kitchen utensils are made of steel, which are completely different from what Mao Shisan has seen in his life. There are flat square oil pans and soup pots that are as tall and deep as pillars. There is also a small kitchen in the kitchen, equipped with a small stove, which is where the chief's orderlies cook. It is usually locked when leaving, making it very mysterious. Although there was a roaring engine room behind the kitchen, Mao Shisan still stayed in this small and warm place all day long, unwilling to leave.
The people in the kitchen are also very kind. Whenever the fat chef is not busy, he sits at the door and chews tobacco. He is not just teasing the cat and chatting and spanking with the two and a half grown men. Although the young and mature Fu Ji is not much older than him, he is an enthusiastic and reliable partner. He is also good at cooking and often gives him advice on what to do.
The ship's kitchen is open 24 hours a day, and food is always cooking on the stove. Because sailors work in four-hour shifts. Navigating in cold seas consumes a lot of money on duty. They must ensure that every shift can have hot meals on time, so both the chef and the two helpers in the kitchen have to take turns sleeping. Make sure someone is awake at all times to prepare meals for the sailors.
However, after docking at Duozhi Island, because it was a "small break", the kitchen did not need to be so nervous - the Haitian was changed to two shifts a day, and their cooking was reduced to three meals a day plus one in the middle of the night. A night meal.
Early in the morning, before dawn, the two and a half young men were woken up by the fat chef. Sleepily, they opened the air door, cleaned the soot, cleaned the kitchen, and turned on the gas lamps. The rice porridge that had been simmered all night was splashing in the soup pot, and the fat chef was putting multi-grain steamed buns into the steamer. The steamed bun is made of a gray mixed noodle with unknown ingredients. It's hard to swallow if you eat it dry. It has to be paired with a red sauce that looks like it's burning when you eat it in your mouth. This thing was so spicy that Mao Shisan drank water at first. As time went by, he felt that he couldn't eat it without putting some "hot sauce" on it.
The rice porridge is mixed with various grains, and today I added sweet potatoes cut into small pieces. According to the regulations, it is required to change every seven days: sweet potatoes, potatoes, sorghum, millet, mung beans...all kinds of grains come in turn. Fu Ji said that this way you won't get "beriberi".
At 5:30 in the morning, the soldiers who had tidied up their housekeeping and prepared to go on duty walked into the kitchen and queued up at the window to receive meals while chatting and laughing. The Haitian has a small tonnage and does not have a special restaurant for soldiers. They can only eat in the cabin or on the deck after receiving the meals. Fu Ji was responsible for filling each person's enamel lunch box with two spoons of rice porridge, while Mao Shisan was responsible for scooping kimchi and half a salted egg on the lid of the lunch box - salted eggs are cut lengthwise in the shell, and it is said that this way the egg yolk is white. The most even distribution. The soldiers themselves went to the basket to get the steamed buns - as many as they wanted to eat.
The swaying gas lamps were surrounded by steaming mist, and the vague sounds of chewing and laughing always made Mao Shisan feel like he was dreaming.
The soldiers on the day shift had just left after breakfast, and the sentries on the late night shift also came down to have their meal covered in frost and snow. While the food was being distributed, an orderly wearing a white apron and preparing to make breakfast came over and asked, "Why haven't the eggs come yet?"
The fat chef bowed and smiled and said he would come as soon as he could. He turned around and shouted: "Thirteen, go quickly and bring up the chief's eggs." Mao Shisan hurriedly put down his chopsticks, picked up a gas lantern, opened the hatch cover of the lower deck and got in.
After leaving the warm kitchen, a burst of damp and moldy cold air hit his face. Mao Shisan shuddered and carefully stepped down the stairs holding a gas lamp. The lower deck is the area specially managed by the kitchen. He passed through the bean sprout racks. The breeding cabin was on the left. Five hens were awakened by the light and clucking. Mao Shisan looked through the cage and found four eggs.
"Not bad, well done." Mao Shisan praised: "The weather is very good today, let you have some fun." He lifted the chicken coop, opened the porthole, hung the chicken coop outside for ventilation, and stuffed a few handfuls of feed into it before leaving.
This chore turned out to be Fu Ji's. Ever since Mao Shisan arrived, it was his job to feed the chickens, collect eggs, and clean the chicken coop every day.
The orderly took the egg with a stinky face and didn't even say thank you. Went directly to make breakfast. Mao Shisan was very curious about what delicacies the "chief", who was revered like a god by everyone, ate, so he took the opportunity of working to get closer and take a sneak peek.
At first glance, I found that there was nothing unusual. The breakfast for the two leaders on the wooden plate was just a bowl of cabbage and potato noodles-the noodles were curved. Fu Ji said that they were called Yi noodles and could be stored for a long time. It is made from white flour and is considered "high-end food" on the ship. Generally only the chiefs and sick patients can eat it - it's just two boiled eggs on top of the noodles.
Although eggs are rare, they are not considered expensive food after all. Mao Shisan felt slightly disappointed: he didn't see anything new.
The orderly took away the two bowls of noodles. After a while, he brought back two eggs with water in a small bowl: "The chief said one is enough for each person, and the others should be given to the patients."
"Okay, I'm making noodles for the sick patient." The chef responded.
The patients also had rice noodles for breakfast, but there were too many people and few eggs, so the chef had to cut the eggs into several portions and add them to each bowl.
"The chief is really kind-hearted." Mao Shisan praised in his heart as he carried the noodles to the patient cabin.
By the time I came back from the hospital cabin, all the food for breakfast had been cleared away. Fu Ji scraped for a long time before scraping the bottom of a bowl of porridge. There are no more dishes: salted eggs are rationed per head, Mao Shisan is originally one portion, and as for kimchi, it is impossible to open a jar of kimchi. Before Mao Shisan said it didn't matter, Fu Ji smiled apologetically: "There are no side dishes, let's try the sugar porridge." He took the sugar bowl and brushed it with a spoonful of snow-white sugar. Before Mao Shisan could blink, he took another spoonful. Looking at Mao Shisan's shocked eyes, Fu Ji raised his eyebrows and took another spoonful at lightning speed, as if to say: "Look! We are here!" Fu Bojun's life is so beautiful." (To be continued...)
