“So that’s how it was.”
Tian Baozhu, who was plucking the pheasant feathers, felt a bit embarrassed.
All that wild imagining she’d been doing earlier, and it turned out to be for this reason.
“It’s okay. That kid was probably seeing you for the first time, so he was a bit scared. Giving you those things was his way of hoping you wouldn’t report him.
After all, to get into the mountains, you have to pass by your front door.
Once you get to know each other better, it’ll be fine.
Oh, right, you left this jar of oil at my place this noon.
Educated Youth Tian, a whole jar of oil like this isn’t cheap. I can’t, in good conscience, just accept it.”
Qi Yuegui finished speaking and placed the jar of oil beside Tian Baozhu.
Earlier that day, after Secretary Liu returned from the brigade headquarters, he saw the steamed buns and dishes at home. When he learned that Tian Baozhu had left such a large jar of oil, he gave Qi Yuegui a scolding.
Then, he sternly told Qi Yuegui to return the jar of oil to Tian Baozhu.
Taking the extra two dishes was one thing.
But for Secretary Liu to accept such a large jar of oil would feel improper.
Qi Yuegui came quickly and left just as fast.
Looking at the oil jar on the ground, then at the pheasant in her own hands, Tian Baozhu clicked her tongue in admiration.
People these days were, after all, much more honest and simple than those in later generations.
Since the pheasant wasn’t very fatty, Tian Baozhu simply soaked some dried wood ear mushrooms and stewed a chicken soup.
As for the steamed buns made at noon, Qi Yuegui had specifically set aside twenty for her to take home.
When she left Secretary Liu’s house, she went directly to the educated youth spot, so she took the opportunity when no one was around to put the buns into her space.
Now, a big white bun paired with chicken soup was simply the most delicious thing.
After eating, she began organizing the things she had bought from the county town the day before.
She had checked the original owner’s clothes earlier; for winter, she only had the one she was wearing.
And the cotton padding inside felt rather thin.
It hadn’t started snowing yet, but once it did, she’d probably have to stay cooped up at home, unable to go anywhere.
She also needed to make pants and shoes.
Otherwise, if she got wet one day, she wouldn’t have any pants or shoes to change into.
Although the clothes left by her parents in the space were thick enough, she couldn’t wear them out.
After all, the fabric of clothes over a decade later was completely different from now; it wasn’t suitable to wear out and would draw too much attention.
Tian Baozhu thought for a moment, then took out two of her father’s cotton jackets from the space and took them apart. The cotton she pulled out was more than enough to make a set of clothes for herself.
Then she cut the inner layer of those cotton jackets into small, palm-sized pieces. Using these to make shoe soles, no one would be able to tell.
Remembering that Secretary Liu’s eldest daughter-in-law had just had a baby, she took half a can of milk powder from the cabinet in her own room within the space, wrapped it in oil paper.
The next morning, Tian Baozhu’s biological clock woke her up before dawn.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one else was around, she first went into the space to prepare a simple, lazy-style soup with dough pieces, vegetables, and eggs.
She added a spoonful of lard to the pot, tossed in the washed greens, and stir-fried briefly to remove the grassy smell.
Then she scooped two ladles of hot water from the jar into the pot. While waiting for it to boil, she mixed a bowl of flour with water into a thick batter.
Because she used hot water, the pot quickly came to a boil.
Using a soup spoon, she dropped spoonfuls of the batter into the pot. As soon as it hit the water, the batter immediately formed long, thin strips.
She took out four eggs from the refrigerator and fried them into sunny-side-up eggs in another pot.
Then she added the fried eggs into the pot of dough-drop soup, gave it a few stirs with the spoon, and also threw in the leftover pheasant meat from yesterday, letting it simmer covered on low heat for a bit.
When it started to bubble, she lifted the lid. A wave of rich fragrance rushed out; it smelled absolutely delicious.
With such a large pot, she wouldn’t even need to make lunch.
She scooped out two large bowls of the dough-drop soup and set them aside to cool.
She also took the boiled water from the water jar positioned between the two pots and filled a thermos with it, ensuring she’d have hot water to drink later.
During this time, Tian Baozhu kept busy. First, she poured out some more flour, mixed it with water, yeast, and sugar, and set it aside to let the dough rise.
Next, she washed the pork, removed the skin, and put it into a meat grinder. After grinding it into a paste, she added minced ginger and garlic water along with various seasonings, and set it aside for later use.
She then put the pork skin into a pot, added cooking wine and ginger slices, and brought it to a boil.
After skimming off the foam, she poured everything, skin and liquid, into the meat grinder and blended the skin until finely ground.
She then let the pork skin soup cool before pouring it into the reserved meat filling. She mixed the filling and the pork skin soup together, resulting in a large basin full of meat filling.
However, because the filling now had extra liquid added, it couldn’t be used for wrapping just yet.
Tian Baozhu put this full basin of meat filling into the freezer to set, estimating it would take about half an hour to an hour before it was ready to be taken out.
After finishing all this, the two bowls of dough-drop soup left out to cool were ready to eat.
After consuming two large bowls of dough-drop soup, until a thin layer of sweat formed on her forehead, she finally put down her bowl and chopsticks. Holding her full stomach, she smacked her lips, savoring the taste.
Tian Baozhu felt like her mouth could still eat a bit more, but her stomach had already raised the white flag!
Getting dressed, she bundled herself up tightly. She placed the items she planned to work on today into a basket, locked the door, and headed towards Secretary Liu’s house.
“Oh my, it’s Educated Youth Tian. You’re up really early.”
Passing villagers who saw her greeted her warmly.
A row of question marks seemed to appear on Tian Baozhu’s forehead. She didn’t recognize them, but that didn’t stop her from smiling politely and nodding in response to the villagers who greeted her along the way.
“Educated Youth Tian, this is…?”
Qi Yuegui opened the door to find Tian Baozhu standing prettily at the entrance, a large basket on her arm. She quickly invited her inside first.
“Auntie, well, it’s getting colder. I reckon it’ll probably snow in a few days.
I don’t have any winter clothes or shoes yet for this year. The cotton-padded jackets sold in the county cost at least over ten yuan.
So, I bought some flawed fabric and thought I’d try making them myself at home.
But last night, after I took out the fabric, I realized I don’t know how to make clothes or shoes.
So, here I am, troubling you again, Auntie!”
After Tian Baozhu followed Qi Yuegui inside, she took out the fabric and cotton from her basket.
“Oh my, you can’t even tell there’s any flaw in this fabric.
This piece must be about seven feet, right?”
Qi Yuegui picked up a piece of navy blue fabric, feeling its thickness.
Seven feet of fabric would almost be enough to make clothes for a man.
Tian Baozhu gave a somewhat shy smile and pointed to the small floral print and the navy blue fabric she had just taken out.
“These two pieces are both about seven feet. I was thinking of making one cotton-padded jacket and one pair of cotton-padded pants.
There are also some small scraps I thought I’d put together to make a pair of cotton shoes to wear at home.
Auntie, you returned the oil to me yesterday, and I didn’t know how to thank you for your help.
So, I remembered this piece of cotton fabric I bought earlier. It wasn’t enough to make me clothes or pants, and using it for shoes seemed a bit wasteful.
I thought, since my sister-in-law at home just gave birth to a nephew, I could use it to make a set of clothes for the baby. There’s nearly three jin of cotton here. That should be enough for making these clothes, right?”