Several strangers living under one roof—it was easy to imagine there would be plenty of friction in the future.
But Baolan neither picked fights nor feared them.
Seeing it was getting late, she grabbed her bowl and chopsticks and decided to head to the canteen for dinner.
“Let’s go eat at the canteen. Are you coming?”
“Going, going!” Wang Xiaoping replied.
“I’ll go too—wait for me a second, I’ll just make my bed first, okay?” Tian Lianghui hurriedly spread her bedding, afraid they’d leave without her.
Wang Xiaoping laughed. “We’ll wait, we’ll wait, Tian Tian. Hey, little Wu, are you going?”
Wu Niandi hesitated, then shook her head. She had no money—only a few buckwheat cakes on her, and even those had to last her through tomorrow.
Once Tian Lianghui finished tidying up, the four of them headed out together.
Tian Lianghui asked, “Little Wu, want us to bring you something?”
Wu Niandi said softly, “Thank you, but no.”
When they got downstairs, Tian Lianghui said, “Little Wu is way too timid.”
Baolan replied, “She’ll be fine once she gets used to things.”
In Baolan’s view, Wu Niandi wasn’t timid—just short on money, just like she used to be. When she was little, Dingqing could spend a coin or two on sweets, but Baolan had none. Whenever Dingqing bought something, she would avoid going along.
The canteen was already crowded with people buying food.
There was a small blackboard at the window listing today’s offerings, with dish names and prices.
Steamed rice: 2 fen per liang.
Stir-fried shredded potatoes: 6 fen per portion.
Stir-fried eggplant: 6 fen per portion.
Twice-cooked pork: 25 fen per portion.
Cold dishes included cucumber salad: 5 fen per portion.
There was also free rice soup.
“How come there are only a few dishes?” Wang Xiaoping complained.
Dingqing’s eyes were glued to the twice-cooked pork. “Isn’t that enough? There’s even twice-cooked pork!”
“That’s nothing,” Wang Xiaoping scoffed. “At our cotton mill, there are so many varieties—you’ve got small stir-fries, Grade A dishes, Grade B dishes.”
She showed off to the three “country bumpkins,” “The small stir-fries are expensive—cadres eat those. Grade A dishes are all meat: braised ribs, red-braised pork, meatballs, twice-cooked pork…”
Just listing the dishes made everyone drool.
“Stop, stop,” Baolan said. “I need to go buy meal tickets.”
She bought meal tickets for two liang of rice. She had originally planned to eat something simple, since last night they’d had duck and cured pork knuckle. But the aroma of twice-cooked pork kept drifting into her nose—she couldn’t resist and bought 30 fen worth of dish tickets.
At the counter, she got two liang of rice, one portion of twice-cooked pork, and one cucumber salad.
Dingqing ordered twice-cooked pork and stir-fried eggplant. Tian Lianghui ordered the same as Baolan, and Wang Xiaoping also got a portion of twice-cooked pork.
The four of them carried their trays and found an empty table.
Looking at the identical dishes in their bowls, they couldn’t help laughing.
“No choice—the meat smells too good.”
“Exactly! The chef really knows how to cook. Look at these green garlic shoots, and the pork is so fragrant and crispy.”
These days, no one dared claim they weren’t craving oil and meat. After just a few words, they all quickly picked up their chopsticks and started eating while it was hot.
Aside from Baolan, the other three used enamel mugs for their meals—doubling as both bowl and cup.
Wang Xiaoping said to Baolan, “You should get one too. Carrying two or three bowls for one meal is so inconvenient.”
Baolan looked enviously at their mugs. “I’ll think about it. Oh right, Sister Xiaoping, your parents are leaders at the cotton mill—would it be easy to buy cotton? Or maybe find someone willing to trade cotton coupons? I want to make two quilts.”
One for herself, and one to repay Third Aunt.
“Cotton?” Wang Xiaoping tucked a loose curl behind her ear and widened her eyes. “It’s really hard to buy cotton right now. Even though my parents are leaders, it wouldn’t help—they’re very upright.”
Hearing even children of the textile mill say cotton was hard to get, Baolan felt deeply disappointed.
“Why make your own quilt? Just have your parents get one,” Wang Xiaoping said.
Baolan didn’t mind being laughed at and answered honestly, “I can’t rely on my parents. They’re just waiting for a chance to take my wages.” Li Sanniu always said, “A parent’s kindness can never be repaid.” If she asked them for a quilt, that “debt” would only grow.
Wang Xiaoping was shocked. “What? So you don’t hand over your wages to your family?” That seemed impossible—what unmarried working child didn’t turn over their wages?
Baolan said, “I will. Whatever my older brother hands in, I’ll hand in the same amount.”
“What does your brother do?”
“Baolan’s brother is a carpenter,” Dingqing said.
Baolan wrinkled her nose—Xing Baosong could hardly be called a carpenter.
“Oh,” Wang Xiaoping said, then added enviously, “Baolan, your family is quite open-minded—you can decide how much to give. In my family, my sister and I are only allowed to keep money for food; the rest must be handed over to our parents to save.”
Baolan: “……”
Open-minded? Her parents?
Forget it—Wang Xiaoping just didn’t know her family situation.
Wang Xiaoping turned to Dingqing and Tian Lianghui. “What about you two? How much do you hand over?”
Dingqing said, “My dad wants me to hand over my wages for him to manage, but I don’t want to.”
“Well, of course not—who wants to hand over their wages?” Wang Xiaoping said.
Dingqing spun her chopsticks and said smugly, “My brother graduates and gets assigned a job next year. I’ll do what Baolan does—whatever my brother hands in, I’ll hand in too, haha!”
Another one who could control her own wages! Wang Xiaoping snorted jealously and looked at Tian Lianghui.
Meeting her expectant gaze, Tian Lianghui smiled apologetically. “I’ve already agreed with my family—five yuan during apprenticeship, ten yuan after becoming a regular worker.”
“Oh my gosh! Your parents are all so nice!” Wang Xiaoping lamented. “I’m the only one handing over the most! Who’s the rural one and who’s the city one here?”
“What’s wrong with rural people? Different people, different ways! Sister Xiaoping, are you looking down on rural folks?”
Wang Xiaoping shook her head quickly. “No, no—I’m not looking down on anyone. I’m just jealous!”
Dingqing and Tian Lianghui burst out laughing. Baolan laughed along, but thought to herself that only Dingqing’s and Tian Lianghui’s parents were worth envying. Her own family… might even be worse than Wang Xiaoping’s. At least Wang Xiaoping had a thick mattress on her bed.
And her?
“Baolan, do you want some average-quality cotton?” Tian Lianghui said after laughing. “The quality is fine—it’s just not as white or as long-fibered as northern cotton.”
“Yes, yes!” Baolan said in delight. “I’m making it for my own use—as long as it’s warm, I don’t care about quality.”
“Alright, I’ll ask around when I get back. A lot of people where I’m from reclaim land to grow cotton for themselves. I’ll ask a few families—getting four or five jin for you shouldn’t be a problem. There’ll be more after the harvest.”
Baolan was overjoyed. “Thank you so much, Sister Tian Tian. I’ll pay market price.”
“Hey, why are you calling her Tian Tian too?” Wang Xiaoping waved her chopsticks.
Baolan laughed. “I learned it from you—it sounds nice.”
Tian Lianghui nodded eagerly. “That works! You can all call me Tian Tian—it sounds so sweet.”
While chatting, Baolan calculated the cost of cotton in her mind.
She’d heard cotton was selling for over 1.8 yuan per jin now, and might rise further. Five jin would cost at least ten yuan. If not for the wages being paid tomorrow, she wouldn’t have had the confidence to even mention buying cotton.
“I only knew your area was famous for tung oil. Didn’t expect you also grow cotton. We can’t grow it in our town,” Baolan said.
Tian Lianghui replied, “We don’t have a choice. People secretly clear small plots of land at the foot of the mountains at night—just two or three fen of land. Getting two jin a year is already considered very good.”
“That’s really not easy,” Baolan sighed. “If you can’t spare that much, even one or two jin is fine. It’s hot now anyway—I’m not in a hurry. I’ll save up slowly.”
Tian Lianghui smiled. “Alright.”
Seeing they’d come to an agreement, Wang Xiaoping thought for a moment, then gritted her teeth and said, “I’ll ask around for you too—but don’t get your hopes up.”
Baolan smiled. “Okay, thank you both so much.”
After eating, the four of them washed their bowls at the sink outside the canteen and slowly headed back to the dorm.
Passing by the bathhouse, they saw people already going in with basins to bathe. They grew anxious and quickened their pace to grab clean clothes from the dorm.
They’d heard there were only six taps inside—better to wash early while it wasn’t crowded.