CHAPTER 271: CHAPTER 204: THE VALUE OF LEARNING

Zhou Xiaozheng nonchalantly led Zhang Guoqing into the kitchen and sat down next to Mrs. Zhou. He said to his wife, "Shanshan, Xiao Wu is also back. We can start preparing for dinner."

After speaking, he turned to instruct Zhang Guoqing, "Xiao Wu, quickly bring the alcohol, pour some for me and your Uncle Dashan. You young ones accompany your mom and them with some wine."

"Got it. Mom, you and Aunt Cheng sit down first, don’t serve the rice yet, here’s the wine you wanted," Zhang Guoqing replied. His hands didn’t stop as he poured baijiu for Zhou Xiaozheng and the others and handed a bottle of white wine to Lin Lishan.

"Why is it different from the last time’s red wine? Do you still have it?"

"White wine goes well with seafood," Zhou Xiaozheng replied as he looked at her nod, a smile playing on his lips. He figured she still didn’t quite get it.

Zhao Dashan chuckled heartily, looking at the wine bottle in Lin Lishan’s hand, "Xiao Wu is well-prepared, even has this foreign stuff. Oh, pour some for the two of us as well, I’ve never tasted it."

Zhang Guoqing handed him another bottle of wine, "Uncle, here’s an extra bottle. Drink as much as you like. This wine is just for the freshness, not as tasty as fruit wine, with low alcohol content. I hear it’s high-end stuff from the Old Russians."

Zhao Dashan curiously examined it, seeing that it was all in Russian, "These Old Russians’ things are really strange. A wine that’s not strong, is it still wine? Last year I went to the provincial city for a meeting, and the office there prepared foreign snacks. Guess what? Black bread with milk as a treat.

At the time, an old cadre wasn’t happy, saying how could anyone eat something so black. A colleague beside said it was foreign, don’t underestimate it, it’s quite expensive. Someone else chipped in, saying in capitalist countries it’s inferior to socialism. We eat wheat bread, they are so poor they eat black bread and think it’s good stuff, so pathetic. After that, the room fell silent, those who understood didn’t dare laugh, those who didn’t just nodded."

As Zhao Dashan finished, everyone burst into laughter. Zhao Yuanyuan chuckled, "I’ve eaten that black bread before, tastes different from our pastries here."

Old Mrs. Zhou squinted and said, "That should’ve been the improved whole wheat black bread. Black bread used to be the staple food in the old brother’s place, like our cornbread. At that time, black bread was made from finely ground wheat bran mixed together. The taste, kind of sour, even with that, their people couldn’t eat it freely.

Before, Soviet soldiers got about four to five ounces a day, during supply shortages, it was five ounces every two days. Even high-level officials only got pickles and occasionally luncheon meat. When you went to the provincial city for meetings, the clerks must have bought whole-wheat black bread, similar to our whole-grain cornbreads."

Zhou Xiaozheng nodded along and said, "Nowadays, conditions there are better than here, but we’ll also have better days ahead. Come, everyone, eat while it’s hot. Yuanyuan, Hongbing, you siblings eat more, we can cook more if it’s not enough."

Zhou Xiaozheng placed plates in front of everyone, wiped his hands with a nearby handkerchief, picked up a crab with his hands and placed it on a plate, then wiped his hands again with a white towel before sitting down.

Zhao Yuanyuan watched in awe. Her Uncle Zhou is really particular, Zhou Jiao takes after her dad. No wonder she saw her once pour water first before having tea, only drinking after the second brew, these two are really picky.

She looked at the few handkerchiefs on the side of the table, it seemed they were for everyone to wipe their hands after eating seafood. Lucky she didn’t ask about it earlier. She noted again, watching everyone else, only to find that Zhang Guoqing and Lin Lishan were also like Uncle Zhou. They were particular about eating but very natural. If you didn’t pay attention, you wouldn’t notice.

Zhou Xiaozheng noticed Zhao Yuanyuan’s curious gaze and asked, "Yuanyuan, what’s wrong? Is there something you want to eat but didn’t dare to mention? Tell me, I’ll find a way to get it for you."

Zhao Yuanyuan giggled sheepishly, scratching her nose, "No, everything’s what I like. Uncle, I noticed that drinking foreign wine is quite particular. This little glass, Xiao Wu only poured a little, at first, I thought he was being stingy. Then I saw Aunt shaking the glass and realized that more would mean you can’t shake it, is there a rule about this?"

Everyone burst into laughter at her words. This girl was always so carefree, but now she was noticing details too.

With a laugh in his voice, Zhou Xiaozheng explained, "There’s nothing to be too particular about, as long as we’re happy drinking ourselves. Abroad, they have dining etiquette. They pour red wine to a third of the glass to allow the wine to interact with air, gently swirling to breathe the wine. They sip wine slowly, tasting it. This is different from us Chinese; we northerners fill up and drink in large gulps, southerners drink in small sips. You go to a herder’s house on the grasslands, drink it all in one go to make them happy, if you don’t want to drink, you have to turn the glass upside down, or they’ll keep refilling it."

"Uncle, you’re amazing, you know so much," Zhao Yuanyuan looked at him with admiration.

Zhou Xiaozheng waved his hand and chuckled, "Your dad knows this too. It’s just he hasn’t told you. Read more books when you have time, cultivate your talents to understand world affairs. Many etiquettes are mentioned in books, not just manners; there are many things that make you ponder and enlighten yourself. Talking about dining etiquette, our nationals are the most particular, with a history of thousands of years. From ancient times to today, etiquette has been simplified, some foreign magazines have mentioned customs worldwide. Reading more books cultivates temperament and broadens horizons."

Zhao Yuanyuan pulled a face, looked at him with resentment, and said sorrowfully, "Uncle, reading gives me a headache; I’m most scared of the ancient texts that Jiao Jiao reads. Whenever she reads, I run away. Oh dear, my head starts hurting again when we talk about reading."

"Haha... Reading books, especially ancient texts, should go through the original texts. Jiao Jiao does this very well. Try to read them as if they’re novels or magazines. You’ll find that if you can understand them, there’ll be lots of insights.

There’s a simple method to read ancient texts. To read ancient texts seriously, you should first learn ’Three Character Classic’ and ’Thousand Character Classic,’ then read ’Selected Works from Ancient Literature,’ then Laozi’s ’Tao Te Ching,’ followed by ’Records of the Grand Historian,’ and begin slowly reading in detail.

’Three Character Classic’ and ’Thousand Character Classic’ are foundational, ’Selected Works from Ancient Literature’ is a must-read, Laozi’s ’Tao Te Ching’ is thought-provoking, ’Records of the Grand Historian’ helps you see and understand history, basically, after reading these five books, you’ll have a mature mindset, a clear view of life and future path.

Even if reading gives you a headache, good medicine tastes bitter, if everyone loved reading, that would be strange. Do you know what the world’s most widely published book is? The Bible abroad, nearly everyone has one, the second is Laozi’s ’Tao Te Ching.’ People abroad even study this book, which means it’s a good book. We have two famous books worldwide, Laozi’s ’Tao Te Ching’ and Sun Wu’s ’The Art of War by Sun Tzu,’ with many countries studying these. So, will you read them or not?" Zhou Xiaozheng amusingly asked Zhao Yuanyuan, who was gaping wider as he spoke.