“Mother, that’s a good idea. Over the years, he’s brought down quite a lot from the mountains. I refuse to believe he takes his money up the mountain with him.”
Li Caidi’s eyes lit up, and she gave her mother-in-law a thumbs up in praise.
Next door, Xie Zhong was choking down his tasteless meal when he suddenly sneezed violently. He wiped his nose and let out a cold snort. It was only a wall separating them, not thousands of miles. Those women were plotting against him openly in the courtyard, not even bothering to lower their voices or be discreet.
If it weren’t for not wanting anything to do with the family next door, Xie Zhong would have climbed over the wall and told Li Caidi that she should believe it—every time he went up the mountain, he tucked his money and tickets into his belt and left nothing at home.
Ever since he was young, before the wall was even built, the money and tickets he had painstakingly earned would often disappear without a trace. That was when he learned that leaving money and tickets in the so-called “home” was never safe. Since nowhere was safe, the best solution was naturally to keep them on his person at all times.
Moreover, Xie Zhong didn’t save much. The money and tickets he kept on him amounted to very little. He knew that leaving them lying around meant they could vanish or be taken at any moment. Under such circumstances, it was better to turn them into food and put it all into his stomach—that way, no one could take it from him.
The fact that Xie Zhong had grown so tall was largely due to the good, ample food he had eaten over the years.
The only pity was that in the mountains, he could count on Xiao He and the others to help him roast game. But once home, he could barely manage to boil water. His own cooking was either half-raw or turned to mush. The dishes he made were either bland or so salty they were inedible.
But he was alone—what else could he do? He made do. If it was bland, he added some soy sauce. If it was too salty, he drank more water and called it rinsing his mouth.
Still, in the end, it simply wasn’t good. Thinking about how Xiao He was busy lately, Xie Zhong could only sigh deeply. It looked like he’d be stuck suffering through his own awful cooking for a while.
Listening to the noise from next door, he forced down the rest of his meal, cleaned up, washed, and lay down. His thoughts drifted to the female educated youth, Tian Baozhu.
That house had originally been his meeting place with Lin Laojiu. Now that she had rented it, it seemed he and Lin Laojiu would have to meet in the mountains from now on.
Over the past couple of days, there had been quite a bit of gossip in the village about that Educated Youth Tian. Thinking about the “wild man” the villagers whispered about, Xie Zhong’s expression darkened.
…
Tian Baozhu woke up early this time. She finished off the remaining meat buns from yesterday and the boiled eggs from before, finally feeling some energy return.
When she went outside, the workers hadn’t arrived yet. So she took ten jin of meat, fish, eggs, and flour from her space, put them in a basket, and headed to Branch Secretary Liu’s house.
“Auntie Yuegui, I’m troubling you again!”
Qi Yuegui was also somewhat surprised. When she saw the items in the basket, her eyes widened considerably.
“Th-this… Educated Youth Tian, what is this for?”
“I haven’t been home for the past couple of days, and I really appreciate Uncle Liu helping me find people to do the work. I think the house should be finished in the next day or two, so I wanted to prepare some food for the workers to take home—consider it a small token of my gratitude.”
Hearing this, Qi Yuegui felt a pang of sympathy for her. “This… this is too much. This whole slab of meat—you want to cook all of it?”
Tian Baozhu nodded and pointed at the fish. “Auntie Yuegui, as you know, I can’t cook at my place yet. So I have to trouble you to help make this fish into soup, braise this meat, scramble all these eggs, and turn the flour into steamed buns. Just a little treat for the commune members who’ve been helping out.”
Qi Yuegui nodded silently to herself. This Educated Youth Tian was someone who understood propriety and knew how to show gratitude. Although the workers helping to repair the house and walls were being paid, over the past couple of days, with Tian Baozhu not at home, they hadn’t even had a sip of water. Now, with these dishes she was providing for them to take home to their families, there would be a clear difference in whether they worked wholeheartedly or just went through the motions.
“Since you say so, alright, I’ll take care of it for you. This fish, though quite large, won’t be enough if I just make soup. I’ll have Shuang’er go to the end of the village to get some tofu to add to the stew. As for this slab of meat, if I make it into pure braised pork, it’ll look nice, but when divided, everyone will only get a few pieces. I happen to have potatoes at home—later you can help peel them, and we’ll add them in. The potatoes will soak up the meat flavor too.”
“As for the eggs, there’s chives in the backyard vegetable patch. I’ll cut a couple of bunches and scramble them with the eggs—that’ll make a big plateful.”
As for the steamed buns, with ten jin of flour, she could make about sixteen buns per jin. That way, each person would get at least ten. Of course, Qi Yuegui wasn’t planning to use all the flour. Since there would already be so many dishes, she thought giving each person five buns would be enough. The rest could be packed up for Educated Youth Tian to take home and eat slowly. With this weather, even if left out for ten days or half a month, they wouldn’t spoil.
Hearing Auntie Yuegui’s plan, Tian Baozhu didn’t want her to bear any cost. After a moment’s thought, she set down the basket and hurried back home.
“Educated Youth Tian, you’re not going out today?” the workers called out with a smile when they saw her running back.
“Uncle Dazhu, you and the other uncles don’t leave right away later. I’ve been out buying supplies these past few days and couldn’t be here. I’ve asked Auntie Yuegui to prepare some food for you to take home—just a small gesture to show my appreciation.”
With that, she gave them a smile and rushed into her room. A moment later, she came back out carrying what looked like a glass bottle and hurried off again.
“Ah, this Educated Youth Tian, she sure does things in a flurry,” Liu Dazhu remarked as he watched her retreating figure.
“Uncle Dazhu, what do you think Educated Youth Tian asked Auntie Yuegui to make?” Liu Shengbao asked, not pausing his work but unable to resist swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
He didn’t know if anyone else had noticed, but he had clearly seen that the glass bottle in Educated Youth Tian’s hand looked like it contained oil. His family’s oil was dark, with black sediment at the bottom of the bottle. But the oil she had just taken out was clear and bright, truly pleasing to the eye. He couldn’t help thinking—even without meat, dishes cooked with oil like that would have him eating three big bowls of rice.