“I got my first paycheck today.
I bought grain, soy sauce, salt, and vinegar,” Yun Zhen said with a mysterious smile.
She guaranteed that when her parents saw the refined rice and pork fat, they would definitely scream in excitement.
Yun Old Lady asked with concern, “Zhen Niang, you said you found two jobs.
Will it be too tiring?”
Her own body was failing her, unable to handle even the slightest bit of heavy labor.
The household chores, regardless of size, were left entirely to the father and daughter.
Her daughter had been sensible since she was a child, and now that she had taken on two jobs, Yun Old Lady was truly afraid she would collapse from exhaustion.
Yun Zhen looked completely relaxed.
“Mother, for these two jobs, one is sitting down to sort vegetables, and the other is doing odd jobs at a restaurant.
They are both light work.
“I already received my wages for sorting vegetables, otherwise, where would I get the money to buy grain?” Yun Zhen said, taking out the rice bag along with the salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.
She opened the bag and grabbed a handful of pristine white rice.
“Look at this, what is it?”
“Refined rice!”
“Zhen Niang, you bought refined rice?”
Sharp-eyed Old Dad Yun saw the snow-white refined rice in his daughter’s hand and his heart skipped a beat.
His eyes widened in shock.
This was not the coarse brown rice they usually ate, but refined rice that cost sixty to even over a hundred cents a catty.
Yun Old Lady carefully picked up a few grains, placed them in her palm, and sniffed.
“This rice is so white.
It has such a rich aroma, much more fragrant than coarse rice.”
Old Dad Yun was puzzled.
“Zhen Niang, you’ve only worked for one day.
Where did you get so much money to buy such precious refined rice?
And you bought quite a lot of it, too?”
Yun Zhen stood tall and proud.
“Father, my wages are really high.
My two jobs together pay a full one hundred and ten yuan a day.
Besides, in that world, refined rice is cheaper than coarse rice.
The cheapest coarse rice is four yuan a catty, while the cheapest refined white rice is only one yuan a catty.
I used my sixty-yuan wage from sorting vegetables to buy the refined rice, as well as fine salt and three catties of pork fat.”
Flames of shock ignited in Old Dad Yun and Yun Old Lady’s eyes.
They spoke in unison, “You bought what?
Pork!
Fat!”
If their daughter buying refined rice was enough to surprise them, then the pork fat left them absolutely dumbfounded.
That was pork fat!
A pig raised by a farming family yielded at most three to five catties of it.
Even when it was cheap, a single catty cost thirty or forty cents.
Grain was a necessity; without it, one would starve to death.
But even the wealthiest peasant families would only bear to buy half a catty of pork fat to render for oil during the New Year.
Their daughter had bought three catties in one breath.
Were they no longer going to live their days frugally?
No, the real question was, where did all this money come from?
“Zhen Niang, how many taels of silver is sixty yuan?
It must be more than sixty cents, right?
Otherwise, how could you have bought so many things?
All of this put together must cost at least a few taels of silver.” She hadn’t just bought refined rice, fine salt, vinegar, and soy sauce; she had even bought the pork fat that farming families only splurged on for the New Year.
Truth be told, even the wealthy households in the county town weren’t this extravagant.
Yun Zhen explained to her parents, “Things in that world are incredibly cheap.
I bought twenty catties of refined white rice for twenty yuan.
Ten packets of fine salt and ten packets of vinegar cost twenty yuan altogether.
The soy sauce was five yuan, and I spent the remaining fifteen yuan on pork fat.
“I spent my entire first paycheck, but it was worth it.
Father, Mother, we have refined rice to eat now, along with salt, vinegar, and soy sauce for seasoning.
We can even render oil to eat!
From now on, my daily wages can buy a hundred and ten catties of refined white rice every single day.
Our family won’t starve to death!” Yun Zhen grew happier the more she spoke.
Old Dad Yun and Yun Old Lady took a great deal of effort to process their daughter’s words.
They just found it completely unbelievable to think there was such a magical world out there.
A single day’s wages could buy a hundred and ten catties of refined white rice!
In the past, they wouldn’t have even dared to dream of such a thing.
“Daughter, this is destiny with an immortal!
You must have been enlightened by an immortal,” Old Dad Yun said.
He had read many books by the sages and used to believe in human effort over immortals and spirits.
But his daughter’s good fortune made him discard his previous notions; he realized his perspective had been too narrow.
There truly were immortals in this world.
Yun Old Lady nodded solemnly.
“It seems that wooden bracelet is a magical artifact of an immortal, and Zhen Niang obtained it by a stroke of luck.”
Every change stemmed from that wooden bracelet.
She gazed cherishingly at the pristine grains of rice in her palm and sighed with emotion.
“This rice is so white; it will definitely taste delicious.
Refined white rice…
I’ve only eaten it a few times in my life, back during the first couple of years after I married your father.”
In the past, Old Dad Yun was a scholar.
The family used to eat refined rice during festivals and holidays.
Later, he broke his leg and could no longer study, leading to the family’s decline.
The dull look in Old Dad Yun’s eyes reignited with a bright gleam.
“Our daughter is someone with great fortune.
From now on, we will eat white rice every day.”
Yun Zhen nodded heavily.
“That’s right, we’ll eat white rice every day.
“Father, Mother, you haven’t eaten yet, have you?
How about we cook a pot of rice and have a full meal?”
“I’ll cook.” Old Dad Yun immediately tossed a handful of firewood into the fire pit.
This time, neither Old Dad Yun nor Yun Old Lady showed any reluctance.
Their daughter’s daily wage could buy over a hundred catties of refined white rice.
The family wouldn’t lack food in the future, so they no longer needed to tighten their belts and ration their meals.
Old Dad Yun grabbed two large handfuls of refined rice, generously placed them into the earthenware pot, added water, and covered it tightly.
Yun Zhen washed the iron pot she had scavenged, started another fire, and placed the pot on the stand.
“Father, these are fresh vegetables that my workplace was planning to throw away.
I gathered them all up.
I’ll cut some pork fat to render oil in a bit, and when I stir-fry the vegetables in it, it will definitely be delicious,” Yun Zhen said.
She pulled some vegetables out of the bag and handed them to her mother to wash, while she herself took the kitchen knife Sister Huang had given her and began dicing the pork fat.
As Yun Old Lady washed the vegetables, she said with heartache, “I can’t see a single thing wrong with these vegetables.
How well must the people there eat to throw away such tender greens?”
“Their vegetables are different from the ones we grow ourselves.
There isn’t a single bug hole on them.” Yun Zhen had spent a long time sorting vegetables earlier, and she found it hard to put into words how the produce Sister-in-law Liu sold was flawless to the point of absolute perfection.
“To have fresh, tender vegetables to eat in the dead of winter, and to casually throw them away…
this is truly beyond the comprehension of mortals like us,” Old Dad Yun sighed.
Yun Old Lady smiled and said, “From now on, our daughter is an immortal too.”
An immortal had given their family the hope of survival.
The pot heated up, and Yun Zhen tossed the diced pork fat inside to render the oil.
A rich, primal aroma of fat quickly dominated the entire thatched cottage, continuously assaulting their taste buds and making their mouths water with craving.
SIZZLE.
The pork fat released its oils, the crisp sound echoing through the thatched cottage along with the intense, explosive fragrance.
The elderly couple swallowed hard as they took in the scent.
GRUMBLE.
GRUMBLE.
Two distinct stomach rumbles drifted into their ears.
“Father, did you not eat the pastries I brought back?” Yun Zhen recalled that Sister Huang had given her a whole pile of pastries.
“Your mother, Little Bao, and I ate the pastries you brought from that world.
They were soft, sweet, and absolutely delicious.
Little Bao ate several, and your mother and I each had two or three.
We saved the rest for you,” Old Dad Yun said.
“The pastries were tasty, but they don’t fill the stomach,” Yun Old Lady added.
“Did you touch the things in the large box?” Yun Zhen remembered there was still milk.
Old Dad Yun replied, “It froze into a block of ice.
We didn’t know how to eat it.”
SIZZLE…
CRACKLE…
The pork fat was almost fully rendered.
“Mother, try a piece.” She picked up a large piece of pork crackling and handed it to Yun Old Lady.
“Father, you have a bite too.” She picked out another large piece and fed it to Old Dad Yun.
The elderly couple was instantly conquered by the rich, fatty aroma filling their mouths.
Old Dad Yun sighed with deep satisfaction.
“It’s so fragrant.
To be able to eat a hot mouthful of pork crackling…
even if I were to freeze to death right now, I would have no regrets.”