Tang Tang returned home with light footsteps.
Well… for now, she would treat this place as home.
She took out a ready-made rice bowl meal from her space for dinner, closed the doors and windows, read for a while, and prepared to rest.
Meanwhile, the village chief’s wife carried the basket to the edge of the heated brick bed as the family prepared to eat.
The second daughter-in-law had only recently finished her confinement period and was currently worried sick.
“Mother, I don’t have enough milk anymore. It’s not enough for the baby. What should we do?”
With meals lacking even the slightest trace of oil, it was naturally impossible to produce enough milk.
The village chief’s wife was also troubled.
In past years, if they were lucky, they could catch fish and make rich white fish soup, which was excellent for producing milk. But this year’s drought was severe. The small river was nearly dried up, let alone having fish in it.
The village chief sighed.
“For now, feed the child rice soup. I’ll go ask around in town another day to see if anyone has milk powder coupons we can exchange for. We can’t let the child go hungry.”
After dinner, the village chief’s wife sat beside the bed and casually lifted the cloth covering the small basket Tang Tang had brought.
“This child just arrived herself and already brought us things…”
The last word got stuck in her throat.
“Old man… th-this… can we really accept this?”
The village chief turned his head.
That was…
Milk powder!
He had nearly worried himself gray over trying to obtain even one milk powder coupon, yet this girl casually brought over two whole bags.
After recovering from the shock, he took a puff of his cigarette.
“Keep them.”
“This child has a kind heart. She’s still so young and came to the village all alone, unfamiliar with everything here. You all should look after her more.”
“Of course, don’t worry. I understand. Our little grandson is blessed.”
“Dad, we will too.”
Those were his sons and daughters-in-law speaking.
There was no need to mention the sons, but both daughters-in-law were genuinely good women. Their personalities were kind, and they treated their mother-in-law almost like their own mother. Naturally, they wouldn’t develop any selfish thoughts over this matter.
Early the next morning, Tang Tang carried a basket on her back and left the village.
The autumn harvest was approaching, and there wasn’t much urgent work right now. The villagers were unwilling to tire out the village’s precious ox, since it would need to exert itself heavily during the harvest.
Besides, in this era, traveling mostly relied on one’s own legs.
Tang Tang wasn’t worried about that at all.
Not only was she physically capable, but when tired, she could always cheat a little.
She didn’t dare drive a four-wheeled vehicle, but riding a bicycle was easy enough. She simply didn’t want familiar people seeing her and causing unnecessary trouble.
By the time she arrived at town, it was already past nine in the morning.
Since she was already here, she might as well stroll around a bit.
Though honestly, there wasn’t much to see.
The entire town only had one supply and marketing cooperative store. Everything was sold there—from oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, needles, thread, and firewood, to cloth, ready-made clothes, radios, and bicycles.
The problem was that there were very few styles of large items, often only one of each.
After all, the town’s purchasing power was limited. Buying large items required both money and ration tickets, and most people simply couldn’t afford them. Some of those products had probably sat there for ages without anyone asking about them.
The cooperative only had three counters altogether, and Tang Tang found herself completely uninterested.
She turned around and walked out.
The state-owned restaurant to the left was open, though there were no customers inside.
The dishes available today were written at the front.
Tang Tang ordered braised pork and a bowl of rice.
The meal cost one yuan and twenty cents, plus two liang of meat coupons and one liang of grain coupons.
A steamed bun only cost five cents, so this braised pork meal counted as an extremely luxurious purchase.
But since she rarely came to town, she naturally had to try the craftsmanship of the big restaurant.
She placed her empty basket on the floor and sat down waiting for the food.
At that moment, two men entered through the door.
The taller one dragged the other along and sat directly at the table near the entrance.
The man behind him wore rough cloth clothes patched seven or eight times. His face looked weathered and exhausted, and he limped as he walked in, clearly unwilling to be there.
“Boss, there’s really no need. You just came back and haven’t even gone home yet. Hurry back already. Now that you’re not leaving anymore, we’ll live close to each other anyway.”
“Sit down.”
“…Alright.”
The other man immediately obeyed.
The discipline in their behavior made it obvious they had both been soldiers.
As for the taller man, Tang Tang’s first impression was simple:
Tall.
Way too tall.
He had to be around 190 centimeters.
Looking more closely…
Hm?
Why did his features seem somewhat familiar?
Who did he resemble…?
Before she could figure it out, the braised pork arrived, instantly pushing all other thoughts aside.
Nothing was more important than food!
The dish looked excellent.
Golden in color, the meat melted in her mouth without feeling greasy. It carried a slight sweetness and practically dissolved upon eating.
As she ate, Tang Tang secretly nodded in approval.
As expected of a state-owned restaurant chef.
This skill truly wasn’t ordinary.
Even compared to the stockpile of food in her space, this dish wasn’t inferior at all.
After all, these ingredients were entirely natural.
The two men near the entrance also received their bowls of noodles.
They devoured them in just a few bites.
To Tang Tang, it seemed obvious they hadn’t eaten enough.
No, they definitely hadn’t eaten enough.
How could grown men who had served in the military possibly be satisfied with only one bowl of noodles?
After finishing, the two quietly continued talking.
“So what are your plans?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Did you ask around in the provincial capital?”
“Yeah. Old Hui is over there, but he’s struggling too.”
Tang Tang had already finished eating and was currently packing the remaining half plate of braised pork into an aluminum lunchbox from this era.
She vaguely heard their conversation but didn’t pay much attention. They were strangers after all.
Just as she slung the basket onto her back and prepared to leave, another sentence drifted into her ears.
“There’s no fabric available. The factory has already stopped production. The workers have been wearing the same work uniforms for five years now. The patches are layered over patches several times thick. Even mine barely hold together anymore. I don’t even dare wash them too hard because they’ll tear apart with one pull, let alone the workers’ clothes.”
Work uniforms???
Did she hear that correctly?
Were they this troubled because they couldn’t buy fabric to make work uniforms?
Her footsteps paused slightly.
Inside her basket, a few extra things suddenly appeared.
As she reached the doorway, the two men also stood up.
The tall man casually glanced toward her basket.
Inside it was…