PCJ – Chapter 89 Another pot of tofu spoiled

“That won’t do. If you refuse to accept Teacher Gong’s money, it means you’re refusing to help Teacher Gong. Then I’ll have to go to your house and have a good talk with your parents.” Gong Ziyuan suppressed a smile and said earnestly.

“My parents told me to do this. What’s the use of you talking to them?” Zhang Jiaohua asked puzzledly.

“Of course, I have to talk to your parents. I am a teacher and should set an example for others. When people do things, they should be rewarded. If I don’t act reasonably, can I still teach in the future? Your parents clearly don’t want Teacher Gong to be a good teacher. Either that, or they don’t want you to help Teacher Gong.” Gong Ziyuan said indignantly.

Zhang Jiaohua scratched his head, unable to distinguish whether Teacher Gong was telling the truth or not. So he looked a little confused. Teacher Gong’s words seemed reasonable, but it wasn’t necessarily wrong for his parents not to accept the money. Such a big problem of human relations was unexpectedly left for a brat like him to decide, how could he handle it?

“Teacher Gong, how about this? You don’t go find my dad. My dad is very strong. No one in our village can beat him. If you don’t listen to him, I’m afraid he’ll kick you out. I’d better go back and tell them that I didn’t take your money or eat your things. Is that okay?” Zhang Jiaohua suggested.

Teacher Gong seemed to be in a dilemma and nodded after thinking for a long time, “As you said. These snacks were originally for you. Now you can eat as much as you want. If you haven’t finished, come back tomorrow to eat more. Got it?”

Zhang Jiaohua quickly nodded and grabbed a bottle of cola, forcefully pulling the tab on the can. Immediately, a burst of cola splashed out, directly onto Zhang Jiaohua’s face, with red droplets covering his face.

Teacher Gong quickly took out his checkered handkerchief to wipe the cola off Zhang Jiaohua’s face.

After drinking a bottle of cola, Zhang Jiaohua kept burping and almost cried from the stimulation. But the taste left him wanting more. For city kids, it might be an accessible pleasure, but for Zhang Jiaohua, it was definitely a rare treat.

Clang, clang, Principal Ma Lisong held a small iron hammer and vigorously struck the piece of scrap iron hanging outside the cafeteria. This was a legacy of the era of smelting steel. At that time, every household brought their iron pots to be melted into iron because they were going to have communal meals and thought their pots were no longer needed. Who knew that the ancient steel produced by traditional steelmaking methods was completely useless. There happened to be a natural hole in this piece of scrap iron, through which a thin steel rod was threaded and hung outside the Meizi Mountain Primary School cafeteria as the school bell. Every principal would use a hammer to strike the bell to arrange the day’s teaching tasks. This had been going on for decades.

Zhang Jiaohua quickly returned to the classroom.

The dumb boy immediately came up and asked, “Jiaohua, why did Teacher Gong call you in? Did he criticize you? Huh? Why do you smell like soda?”

There was a kind of soda produced in Gezhuping Town, which smelled somewhat similar to cola but was much cheaper than cola. A bottle of soda only cost one cent, and if you returned the bottle, you could get five cents back. So drinking a bottle of soda only cost five cents. When drinking it, carbon dioxide constantly bubbled up, giving a strong sensation when swallowed.

“It’s time for class. Don’t talk.” Zhang Jiaohua couldn’t tell the dumb boy the secret, so he pulled the dumb boy into the classroom.

That day, Zhang Enzhong was busy at home all day. He practically turned the kitchen upside down, even cleaning the bottom of the pot. Although the floor wasn’t frozen, the mud floor had been smoothed out enough to reflect shadows. All the utensils related to tofu making were washed clean. The plaster was also redone. The beans were carefully selected and soaked in a clean wooden barrel. When grinding the soy milk in the afternoon, he was extremely patient and ground the soy milk very finely.

Night fell. Zhang Enzhong lay in bed early, but he couldn’t fall asleep, always thinking about what else he hadn’t prepared.

“Stop fussing.” Wang Fang was also unable to sleep because of the man’s shouting and complaints.

“Not fussing? If I don’t fuss, what about you in the future?” Zhang Enzhong was tired today and spoke rudely.

Wang Fang turned over, ignoring the heartless man.

One by one, the lights in the houses went out, leaving only the moon still shining brightly in the sky, casting its clear light over the earth. Meizi Mountain was enveloped in the gentle night.

But there was already movement in Zhang Enzhong’s house. Several pieces of miscellaneous wood were stuffed into the stove, which were only used for festivals and burned to make the fire burn brighter. Because Zhang Enzhong suspected that the pot of tofu that went bad yesterday was due to the soy milk not being cooked.

But when it came time to filter, he still found that the soy milk was still difficult to filter out.

“What’s going on? Clearly, the soy milk was ground so finely, and it was cooked thoroughly. The filtering cloth has been washed several times today and is spotlessly clean. Has it been cursed?” Zhang Enzhong spent the whole day tossing and turning, only to find that the situation hadn’t improved. Naturally, his temper wasn’t any better.

“You said Jiaohua didn’t curse me, why can’t I make tofu properly?” Wang Fang was also very angry.

Zhang Enzhong couldn’t help but curse, “Damn it!”

The two of them desperately squeezed the soy milk with a pole, finally squeezing out as much soy milk as possible. However, there was still much less soy milk than usual.

After boiling the soy milk again, depending on the amount of soy milk, Zhang Enzhong reduced the amount of plaster used. But after pouring the soy milk into the wooden barrel, the result was still the same as yesterday. All the tofu was ruined.

“Damn it!” Zhang Enzhong threw the water ladle in his hand on the ground, and it immediately shattered into pieces. Zhang Enzhong didn’t care about that and rushed angrily to Zhang Youping’s house. He was sure that Zhang Jiaohua had lied to him. He was going to go there and settle the score with Zhang Jiaohua.

“Zhang Youping, Zhang Jiaohua! Open the door for me!”

Zhang Enzhong didn’t think about Zhang Youping’s strength. He had made up his mind.

After a while, Zhang Youping opened the door, rushed out angrily, and directly pushed Zhang Enzhong to the ground, punching him several times. Zhang Enzhong didn’t even have the strength to fight back.

Wang Fang knew that Zhang Enzhong had been beaten by Zhang Youping before. Now he came to Zhang Youping’s house to make trouble and must be beaten again. So she followed.

Seeing Zhang Youping beating Zhang Enzhong on the ground, she quickly rushed over and said, “Zhang Youping, don’t just rely on your ability to fight and bully people like this!”

“When did I bully your family? Your family came to my house for no reason. I warned him yesterday. Today, he came again. Do you really think I’m afraid of you?” Zhang Youping slapped Zhang Enzhong twice again.

Although Zhang Enzhong was beaten, he was still stubborn, “You have the guts to kill me. If you don’t kill me, just be honest and explain to me! He said he didn’t curse me, why can’t I make tofu properly?”