Zheng Xiaoliu thought Third Aunt was truly a generous person—not stingy or miserly in the slightest.
She was infinitely better than those uncles and aunts in the village who spoke sweetly but only wanted to make him work.
Zheng Xiaoliu excitedly carried the goods home. When returning the donkey, he didn’t forget to give five eggs as compensation.
The donkey belonged to the production brigade—it was public property.
But the donkey needed to be cared for by a designated person, and Old Man Li, who managed the donkey, lived next door to Xiaoliu’s house.
After returning the items, Zheng Xiaoliu, swallowing his saliva, squatted in the kitchen to cook.
People in this era didn’t fuss over cooking—edibility was all that mattered, and culinary skills weren’t important.
Zheng Xiaoliu had even fewer cooking skills. He steamed the rice until done, cleared the pot, and then, reluctant to wash the pork because of the oily layer on the surface, tossed it directly into the pot with water to stew. Just before serving, he added a pinch of salt, and it was ready to eat.
His neighbors on both sides dreamed of eating meat in the middle of the night, drooling so much they soaked their pillows.
Jiang Yue was also busy. Although she could store everything in her Space Supermarket, if she took things out to process during the day, the Lu family would surely notice—after all, she couldn’t control the aroma.
It was better to take advantage of the night to cook everything, then store it in the space. When it was time to eat, she could take it out without reheating, as the space kept things warm.
She didn’t eat fatty meat, so she separated the fat from the lean. The fat was simmered over low heat to render lard.
Rendering lard required patience; otherwise, it would easily burn.
The pork in this era was naturally raised, without growth promoters or lean meat powder. Once the fragrance emerged, it was absolutely more aromatic than the meat itself.
The lard dregs were also a treasure. She took a bag of Shiitake Mushrooms from the Space Supermarket, opened another bag of dried Black Fungus, soaked them in warm water, then minced them together with the rendered lard dregs to make filling. She added salt, five-spice powder, and soy sauce.
Making dough for buns wasn’t practical, but she could roll out dumpling wrappers.
Without a rolling pin, she used a wine bottle.
Wrapping dumplings was a bit troublesome and took her two hours.
The finished dumplings were packed in plastic bags and stored entirely in the space.
The rendered lard, once cooled, was filled into several plastic containers she found in the Space Supermarket.
The fish Zheng Xiaoliu brought varied in size—small ones were crucian carp, and large ones were grass carp.
She counted—eleven in total.
Cooped up in this small room, even with her space and supplies, to be honest, she really didn’t want to clean these fish.
Besides, her body had just given birth; she still needed to observe the postpartum month. Otherwise, if she developed chronic health issues later, she would be the one to suffer.
If a woman isn’t pampered by anyone else, she must pamper herself.
Jiang Yue pondered who would be suitable to ask for help.
When the Lu family woke up in the morning, they also discovered their pillows were wet.
Lu Laoda stood in the yard, took a deep breath, and said, “Mom, when can we render lard?”
Mother Lu looked at him, puzzled. “Lard? Are you still dreaming? It’s not a festival or holiday, and the brigade isn’t slaughtering pigs. Where would we get lard?”
Lu Lao Er followed him out. “Why don’t we go to the town supply and marketing cooperative to buy a couple of jin to satisfy our cravings? I dreamed of eating meat last night too—I’m dying for it.”
Lu Laoda wondered, “I dreamed of it too. Last year during New Year’s, Mom made those Salty Vegetable and Oil Dregs Buns—they were truly fragrant!”
Hearing this, Lu Lao Er couldn’t stand his craving either. “Mom, give me some money. I’ll go buy it. Two jin of lard doesn’t cost much! I have connections—I can definitely get it.”
At the supply and marketing cooperative, even with money and ration tickets, you might not be able to buy it. You needed connections—you had to go through the back door.
Mother Lu’s cravings were also stirred up. Gritting her teeth and steeling her heart, she stomped her foot and pulled a five-mao note from her pocket. “Eldest, you go buy it!”
Lu Laoda was about to rejoice, but upon seeing the money, his smiling face immediately fell.
Lard was a precious commodity, scarce in supply. It could be rendered into cooking oil while leaving behind crispy cracklings to eat, so it wasn’t cheap. In their area, pork prices fluctuated between six and seven mao, sometimes rising to eight mao before the New Year. What could five mao possibly buy?
Lu Lao Er snorted coldly. “This little money isn’t nearly enough. Eldest, don’t even think about squeezing more from Mother. I say we should just kill a chicken and make some chicken soup.”
Mother Lu swiftly snatched the money back and rushed to shoo away the hen wandering in the yard. “Don’t even think about it!”
It wasn’t just the adults who were salivating; the children were too.
As the Lu family sat in the yard eating breakfast, they could hear the neighbor’s child clamoring for meat.
Lu Xiaocao certainly didn’t dare make a sound, but Lu Dabao started throwing a fit.
“Grandma, I want big meat! I want to eat meat!”
Lu Da Sao patted Lu Dabao’s head sympathetically. “This child was even talking about meat in his dreams last night. Eating eggs every day gets tiresome too. Mother, why don’t we buy some to satisfy Dabao’s cravings?”
Lu Er Sao silently picked up some pickled vegetables for her daughter. “Don’t listen to them, eat up quickly! No matter what there is, none of it will be for you.”
Father Lu glared at her, and Mother Lu rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky to have anything to eat at all. When I was young, we only had wild vegetables twice a day. What’s wrong with now? Don’t be ungrateful.”
She could ignore her granddaughter, but her precious grandson needed to be appeased.
Facing Lu Dabao, Mother Lu immediately changed her expression, her face creasing into folds. “Dabao, be good. When your Third Uncle sends money this month, Grandma will buy you meat, and even get you some chicken cake.”
Lu Dabao stopped crying immediately. “Grandma, you better not lie.”
“No lies, no lies. You’re Grandma’s precious grandson.”
Lu Xiaocao turned her head to glance at her mother.
Lu Er Sao felt nothing but heartache. Since they hadn’t divided the family property, even when work points were earned, her in-laws collected them and never distributed any to them. She had no private savings – the few yuan in her pocket were secretly given by her family. Even this money was frequently taken by Lu Lao Er, who had a gambling habit.
Mother Lu didn’t mistreat Jiang Yue today either, since starving her to death wouldn’t benefit anyone.
So in the morning, she had the second daughter-in-law prepare a bowl of congee and took out her hidden stash of brown sugar to mix in, then sent it to Jiang Yue.
Lu Er Sao knocked on the door with the congee. “Third Sister-in-law, are you up for breakfast?”
After several knocks with no response, the Lu family all instinctively looked in that direction.
“Why isn’t there any sound?” Lu Da Sao worried something might be wrong and called through the window, “Jiang Yue? Are you alright?”
Mother Lu felt somewhat guilty and turned away uncomfortably.
“I’m fine, I just slept too late last night and don’t feel like getting up this morning.” Jiang Yue had been busy all night and had just fallen asleep.
Lu Da Sao breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Taking care of the child alone at night must be exhausting. Don’t overwork yourself.”
Old Man Lu tapped his bowl and said to his wife, “This morning, don’t go anywhere. Stay home and help her look after the child.”
Mother Lu wasn’t pleased. “What’s it to do with me? She insisted on staying herself. She’ll have to bear the consequences.”
Old Man Lu furrowed his brows so deeply they could crush a fly. “If only for Third Son’s sake, you must go!”
The old man’s implication was clear: their family still relied on the money Third Son sent home to make ends meet. If Jiang Yue truly insisted on divorce, there was no telling how things might unfold.