Whether it was Li Baoling or Lin Mingyuan, it was their first time visiting the state-run restaurant.
“I’ve read about this every day in novels, but I never thought I’d actually see the day I’d come here,” Li Baoling remarked with a sense of awe. Things from another era were now manifesting before her eyes. The state-run restaurant stood there with slogans painted in striking red characters: “Self-Reliance” on one side and “Hard Struggle” on the other.
“You’re far too generous, Li Baoling, actually treating me to a meal here.” Although Lin Mingyuan hadn’t read those novels, his memories told him that a state-run restaurant was a place only the wealthy could afford in this era. He had only been here twice before, both times brought by his older sister.
“Oh, this is nothing,” Li Baoling said with a grand wave of her hand as she led him inside.
As soon as they entered, they looked toward the wooden placards hanging on the wall, which listed the dishes available for the day.
“Let’s have the braised pork. In every novel, whenever they go to a state-run restaurant, they always eat that. Since we’re here at the actual location, we have to follow the script to the end.” Having been in this era for several days, Li Baoling was absolutely craving meat.
Lin Mingyuan nodded immediately. He wasn’t picky, especially since she was the one paying.
In the end, they ordered a bowl of braised pork, a plate of stir-fried pork, a serving of sautéed greens, two bowls of rice, and eight meat buns. It cost them a total of one yuan and sixty cents, plus four liang (200g) of grain coupons.
The braised pork was only fifty cents. For the meat buns, if you used grain coupons, they were thirteen cents for two; without coupons, they were fifteen cents for two. Since Li Baoling didn’t have many grain coupons left, she immediately decided to pay the extra cash. Money was easy enough to come by, but coupons were hard to get.
Once they sat down, they belatedly realized how low the cost of living was in this era.
“It’s so cheap,” Lin Mingyuan marveled repeatedly. He had never imagined he could eat such a feast for just over a yuan.
Li Baoling nodded in agreement, but then she did the math. “I originally had over eight yuan, and now I’m down to seven. If we eat like this every time, we can only afford four more meals!”
Even though it seemed cheap, they weren’t earning any money!
They hadn’t been there long and hadn’t accumulated any work points. They were currently living on “per capita grain” allocations. A month’s worth of grain would only last two weeks even with careful rationing. While they would eventually get grain based on work points, “useless” people like them wouldn’t earn much per day. Even when the points were tallied, they wouldn’t receive much.
“How much money do you have?” Li Baoling asked Lin Mingyuan.
Lin Mingyuan shook his head. He didn’t save money.
“Not even a cent?”
Lin Mingyuan nodded.
He had always been someone who enjoyed eating; any money he had usually went straight into his stomach.
“Truly hopeless!” Li Baoling sighed.
After a short wait, their number was called. Lin Mingyuan, being quite observant, went to pick up the trays.
“Eat!” Li Baoling stared at the dishes before her, her eyes widening.
Lin Mingyuan was the same. The best thing he had eaten in the past few days was a boiled egg. From the moment he picked up the food, his eyes hadn’t left the plate of braised pork.
Neither of them usually had a massive appetite, but today was different. After a whirlwind of eating, only a few large buns remained.
Li Baoling had originally bought the large buns for dinner, but unexpectedly, the feast wasn’t enough, and they each ate another bun and a half.
“Happiness… this is true happiness.” Lin Mingyuan was almost moved to tears.
After this meal, he was even more certain: he and Li Baoling were kindred spirits. Who else would treat him to a state-run restaurant at a time like this and let him eat his fill?
“I can’t imagine how happy we’d be if we could eat like this every day,” Li Baoling lamented.
“Hey, tell me, what should we ask for as the bride price?” A well-fed Lin Mingyuan began to calculate.
“How much did your eldest and second sisters-in-law get?”
“When my eldest sister-in-law married in, I think it was a hundred yuan, two bags of grain, two newly made cabinets, and new clothes. My second sister-in-law was about the same. However, their bride prices were given to their parents. Since your parents aren’t good to you, we can keep the money for ourselves.”
Li Baoling rolled her eyes at him. “What about the dowry?”
“I didn’t ask about that in detail. They probably didn’t bring cash back, but they wore new clothes when they arrived. My second sister-in-law also brought a new quilt, but my eldest sister-in-law didn’t.” Lin Mingyuan recalled.
His sisters-in-law’s families likely each had their own small issues, but nothing major.
“How about this: I’ll ask for less cash, and you tell your mother to provide more of other things, like quilts, thermoses, and washbasins—the daily necessities. Once we’ve joined forces at your house, we can figure out how to earn money.”
“True. No one has much money right now anyway, so we couldn’t get much even if we asked. When I go back, I’ll pester my mom and see if she can replace all our bedding.” Lin Mingyuan blushed slightly at this point, realizing he would eventually be sharing a room with Li Baoling.
“I’m warning you now,” Li Baoling immediately gave him a reality check. “We are strictly in a partnership. Even if we live together, don’t you dare think about anything else.”
Lin Mingyuan immediately bristled, feeling insulted by her assumption. “Of course! When the time comes, I’ll make sure they build the bed extra wide!”
“Oh, isn’t this Mingyuan?”
As the two were bickering their way out the door, they unexpectedly ran into an acquaintance.
To be precise, it was a classmate from when Lin Mingyuan was in school in the county.
“Yes, what a coincidence.” Lin Mingyuan searched his memory; this person had sat in front of him in class—his name was Fang Daming.
“You’ve certainly struck it rich, coming here to eat,” Fang Daming teased, before changing the subject. “And who is this?”
Lin Mingyuan had no choice but to introduce her. “This is my partner, Li Baoling.”
Li Baoling gave a perfunctory nod, instinctively feeling that this man didn’t seem like a good person.
Upon hearing this, Fang Daming’s expression changed instantly. Although he quickly masked it, it was very obvious to the two people standing across from him.
Li Baoling thought: What’s going on?
Lin Mingyuan thought: I have no idea.
They glanced at each other and quickly looked away.
“Wait, we haven’t seen each other for how long? How do you already have a partner? I hadn’t heard anything about this,” Fang Daming continued to pry.
“Destiny arrived.” Lin Mingyuan didn’t feel their relationship was close enough for such questions. He hadn’t forgotten that Fang Daming used to mock him for being poor and provincial.
“No, come here. Come over here, I have something to tell you.” Fang Daming wouldn’t let it go and pulled Lin Mingyuan aside.
“What’s this woman’s background? How is her family?”
Lin Mingyuan didn’t answer.
“Don’t just stay quiet. This is important, and it’s not like I’d hurt you.”
To see what Fang Daming was up to, Lin Mingyuan mentioned that she was an educated youth.
“An educated youth?” His voice was so loud that even Li Baoling could hear him.
“How could you find an educated youth? They only come to the countryside because they have no skills, or because their families are powerless. Anyone with connections would have found a job long ago. You absolutely cannot be with someone like that.”
He then continued, “When we men take a wife, we either look for…” Fang Daming had intended to say “look for character,” but seeing that Li Baoling was indeed beautiful, he strongly suspected these two had simply fallen for each other’s faces. “You still have to look at her family. She needs to be able to help you out in the future. If you find someone like this, not only can she never return to the city, but she’s useless at work and will have to rely on you to support her. Over time, not only will you be unable to stand it, but your family will despise her too. Who doesn’t want a capable daughter-in-law?”
Lin Mingyuan looked at him with disdain. How had Fang Daming ended up like this? He was worse than the gossiping old men and women at the village entrance.
“Don’t look at me like that. Everything I’m saying is true.” Seeing that Lin Mingyuan wasn’t listening, Fang Daming grew increasingly anxious.
“Then what kind of woman do you think I should find?”
“Now you’re talking!” Fang Daming said with a smile. “You can be a bit bolder. Find a girl from the county. Of course, you have to be realistic about your own standing. Being from the countryside, you should be thanking your lucky stars to find anyone from the county. You can’t afford to be picky; anyone in the county has better conditions than you. Why else would they want you?”
“Then there’s no need. Like you said, I know my own standing. I’m perfectly satisfied with my current partner. By the way, we’re getting married soon, so I won’t be inviting you.” Lin Mingyuan understood now; this guy definitely wanted to set him up with some undesirable girl from the county.
“No, Lin Mingyuan, you really don’t know how to handle social relations…”
Fang Daming had more nonsense to say, but Lin Mingyuan didn’t want to hear it and walked away with Li Baoling.
Just as they turned the corner, Lin Mingyuan stopped and turned back. He saw Fang Daming standing at the entrance of the restaurant looking frustrated. In the end, Fang Daming didn’t even go in to eat and walked away.
“I think that guy is plotting against me!” After saying this, Lin Mingyuan told Li Baoling everything Fang Daming had just said.
“Hold on, let me think about the contents of the book regarding you.” Li Baoling could also tell that the man harbored ill intentions.
However, she thought long and hard. “No, there isn’t much about you. It didn’t mention who you married.”
“Do you know where his house is? Since it wasn’t easy to get into town, let’s go poke around and find out more.”
“I know.” Fang Daming had bragged more than once about living in the family compound of the County Public Security Bureau. His grandfather was a veteran officer, and his uncle was currently in the Revolutionary Committee. Because of this, he held a high status in their class.
They asked for directions as they went. Since both their faces were quite conspicuous, Li Baoling gave them a slight disguise along the way. Even after arriving, they didn’t dare get too close and planned to ask around in the vicinity.
“Quick, quick, hide! Fang Daming is coming.” Li Baoling pulled Lin Mingyuan into a small alley as they saw Fang Daming hurrying toward them from another direction.
Once he had passed, they dared to come out. As they approached the family compound, they heard some people gossiping.
“Look at the look on Daming’s face just now. You’d think something terrible happened.”
“Could it be that something went wrong with the marriage prospects for the daughter of the second Fang brother? I heard the other party is Daming’s classmate. But honestly, that classmate really isn’t picky—even a fool is acceptable to him.”
“Keep your voice down! She might be a fool in the head, but she’s got a big mouth. If she hadn’t said herself that she’d found a husband, how would we know?”
“That’s true. The Fang family kept it quite a secret. I heard that even though the guy is from the countryside, his family is doing well. His father is a production team leader?”
“What use is a team leader? He’s still just digging in the dirt. That second Fang brother is a piece of work too. He found himself a mistress and had a son, so he stopped caring about his ‘foolish’ daughter.”
“How could he care? The stepmother had a son as soon as she moved in; she clearly has her ways. Not only is the girl’s biological mother gone, but she’s a fool herself—she’s naturally a thorn in their side.”
Separated by a wall, Li Baoling and Lin Mingyuan stared at each other.
Li Baoling: “That guy sounds a bit familiar.”
Lin Mingyuan pointed at himself, looking utterly defeated. “It couldn’t be me, could it?”