New Year
“But what if we lose money? Then we’ll have nothing left!”
“If we lose money, we’ll just be back where we started. Things weren’t great to begin with—why worry about them getting worse?”
“Alright, then let’s open a shop to kick off the new year!”
Hearing Li Lanlan’s words, Wang Dashan immediately felt at ease!
His childhood friends in the village always teased him for listening to Li Lanlan, saying she had him wrapped around her finger and that he lacked any sense of manhood, but Li Lanlan was indeed the backbone of their family.
To outsiders, she seemed domineering, but in reality, he was mostly a soft-spoken, unassuming sort—not the type to stand out or take the lead. They complemented each other perfectly.
Besides, he knew these people didn’t mean any good. Most of them were older bachelors, and some simply couldn’t stand to see him succeed.
He himself had nearly become an older bachelor. In an era when most people married in their early twenties, he didn’t tie the knot until he was nearly thirty—and even then, he’d barely managed to do so by taking on a mountain of debt.
His older siblings had all married only because of the dowry received when their eldest sister got married. Since they had only one sister, the younger brothers naturally had to fend for themselves.
His father was a stubborn old man who’d spent his whole life looking out only for himself. Parents in those days didn’t care about their children at all; when they beat them, they really beat them to death. Wang Dashan still remembered a boy in the village when he was little who’d been hung from a tree and whipped—blood gushing everywhere. He’d been so terrified that he’d had nightmares all night long.
His mother had never left the county town in her entire life, so he couldn’t count on her either. Besides, he was the middle child—neither the eldest son nor the youngest.
In families like theirs, even the eldest son didn’t necessarily have it easy, let alone those of us stuck in the middle.
He’d finally managed to marry a wife, and he wasn’t the type to start beating his family just because of a few idle remarks from others. People like that were fools—they deserved to live a miserable life.
He couldn’t stand people like that!
Li Xiaolan and her husband had gone back home for the New Year, but Li Lanlan and Wang Dashan weren’t planning to go. Their children were still young, and it might be years before the whole family could go back together. Traveling back and forth with such small children in this freezing weather was simply too risky.
In the middle of the twelfth lunar month, they’ve been running around to various fairs to buy New Year’s supplies. They take the two older kids with them—since they’re older, they need to get out and see things—while she leaves the two younger ones at Sister Caixia’s house for a little while.
The market was quite close by, so the round trip didn’t take long and didn’t interfere with Sister Caixia’s afternoon chores. Although the house was a single-story dwelling, it had central heating, so she wasn’t worried about the children getting cold—the two youngest were nearly two years old anyway.
Candy, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and other snacks the kids like were all bought at the supermarket, while drinks and fruits were purchased in bulk directly from the wholesale market.
Since they’re in business now, they’ve made some acquaintances at the wholesale market who give them a slight discount—not a huge one, but better than nothing. Wang Dashan loaded everything into his new pickup truck and hauled it all back in a single trip.
They’ve basically stocked up on all the vegetables and meat. The meat is frozen in the fridge, while the vegetables are stored in large earthenware jars outside, packed in plastic bags. Since it’s cold in winter, they’ll keep for a long time this way!
Wang Dashan is slicing pork, and Li Lanlan is scrubbing the earthenware jars. Three-quarters of the pork is set aside to make a meat sauce.
The pork for the sauce needs to be cut into long strips with an even balance of fat and lean meat—about two centimeters long, half a centimeter wide, and half a centimeter thick. This way, when stir-fried, the meat will shrink and retain a uniform shape. Whether you use it to stuff steamed buns or scoop it into a bowl of noodles, it’s absolutely delicious.
Li Lanlan doesn’t use vegetable oil when making this pork. She places the pork directly into a cold pan and stir-fries it over medium heat. The heat mustn’t be too high—high heat will burn it quickly, while low heat is too slow, and before you know it, it’ll turn into pork fat residue. Medium heat is just right!
Once some of the fat has rendered out and the pork pieces have shrunk slightly, it’s time to add the chili powder and the “Thirteen Spices” blend.
After adding these, she stirs-fries the mixture a few times, then turns up the heat to high to let the flavors meld. The aroma of pork fills the room. Wang Dashan hands her a clay jar, and Li Lanlan scoops the mixture into it with a large metal ladle, setting it on the table to cool.
It filled exactly two jars. There were still some meat scraps left in the pot, so Li Lanlan grabbed a steamed bun and used it to wipe the pot clean. The children watched eagerly as she wiped the pot with the bun.
Li Lanlan broke it into four pieces, one for each child, then grabbed another steamed bun to wipe the pot clean. This bun wasn’t as greasy as the last one, so Li Lanlan gave half of it to Wang Dashan.
“It’s been ages since I’ve had this—it’s actually pretty good!”
Back home, she would have had to steam several batches of steamed buns, but Li Lanlan didn’t plan to do that. The steamed buns sold here were also delicious, and Wang Dashan had already bought a hundred of them from the service cooperative; they were all frozen in the fridge, enough to last them through the New Year.
She planned to make some steamed buns with fermented dough, as well as fry some deep-fried buns and twisted dough sticks.
She sent Wang Dashan off to prepare the potatoes, glass noodles, and tofu for the buns, while Li Lanlan got started on frying the deep-fried buns and twisted dough sticks.
She spent the whole afternoon frying deep-fried buns and twisted dough sticks—two batches of buns and one batch of twisted dough sticks in total. Since it’s cold out, the fried food won’t go bad, so she left it out in the open. The freshly fried treats were delicious, and the kids had already started snacking on them.
Li Lanlan began preparing the dumplings, which would have two different fillings: tofu and glass noodles, and potatoes and glass noodles.
The people of Long Province truly love potatoes and all kinds of potato-based foods. Li Lanlan discovered that dumplings with these two fillings weren’t sold in Capital City; she searched for a long time but couldn’t find any, so she had no choice but to make them herself.
Li Lanlan stir-fried the potato and glass noodle filling in a wok before setting it aside; this helps the flavors meld better. The tofu filling didn’t need stir-frying, as it would easily fall apart if cooked.
Li Lanlan worked quickly, wrapping the buns one after another. After wrapping, she let them rest for ten minutes to allow the dough to relax, then steamed them for fifteen minutes until cooked. She steamed a total of three batches of buns.
While Li Lanlan was wrapping the buns, Wang Dashan boiled the pork and spare ribs. Thankfully, since the family ran a food business, they had plenty of stoves and pots; otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to manage everything.
After finishing the buns, Li Lanlan moved on to preparing some braised dishes, such as pig’s ears, pork jowl, and beef. These items get eaten quickly, so she needed to make plenty of them—the children loved them too.
With these dishes ready, more than half of the New Year’s ingredients were prepared; the rest would be made as needed.
After spending the entire afternoon on these chores, the couple was thoroughly exhausted. So that evening, they skipped cooking and simply heated up some buns and fried dough sticks to eat with the braised meats and minced pork.
After dinner, Li Lanlan packed some buns, fried dough sticks, and braised meats to take over to Wang Caixia’s house. When she arrived, both Wang Caixia and Bai Zhigang were there.
“Sister Caixia, I made some buns and braised meats, so I brought you some!”
“Keep them for yourself—you’ve got several kids to feed. Why would you give them to me?” Wang Caixia hurriedly refused. Seeing how heavy her cousin’s burden was, she couldn’t bear to accept anything from her.
“It’s no big deal. I just noticed they don’t sell our hometown’s potato buns around here, so I steamed some myself. They turned out pretty good, so I brought them over for you and your husband to try.”
Hearing this, Wang Caixia’s mouth started watering. Although this was the north, the local cuisine was a real melting pot—yet it hadn’t quite incorporated the potato buns from their hometown, and she missed them dearly.
Wang Caixia felt that the buns were still warm. Unable to wait until she went inside, she took one out to eat. Once she started, she couldn’t stop and devoured two in one go.
“Lalan, that’s the taste! You’ve made these so delicious! Look at me—I was so busy eating that I forgot to invite you in. Come on in, come on in.”
Li Lalan sat down in the living room to chat with Bai Zhigang, while Wang Caixia took the buns to the kitchen. Noticing the braised sauce at the bottom, she sliced them up, tossed them in the sauce, and brought the plate back out.
Bai Zhigang hadn’t had homemade buns in a long time either. He picked one up and took a bite. “This tastes just like the real thing!”
“Lalan’s cooking is second to none! If you two aren’t going back home for the New Year, why don’t you come over to my place on New Year’s Eve so our two families can celebrate together?” Wang Caixia invited them warmly.
In the past, it had just been the two of them celebrating together, but this year they’d finally have a relative to celebrate with.
“Sure thing, sis! We’ll be there!”
Li Lanlan was happy too. Even though her own family was large, she believed the New Year was best celebrated with a lively crowd.
After saying goodbye, she went back home and reviewed her lesson plans as usual. Compared to teachers with associate’s or bachelor’s degrees, her academic foundation was still a bit weaker, so she had to work extra hard.
Moreover, as their team’s performance continued to improve, they’d received a substantial year-end bonus this year. Other teams had been gossiping behind their backs—it wasn’t exactly harmful, but it was certainly annoying.
Li Lanlan cherished this job and hoped to keep it for a long time.
Universities had already begun expanding enrollment, so in the future, more and more talented people would enter the industry. Li Lanlan had simply entered the field early, which is why she’d had this opportunity.
But she also knew that she and Li Yanqing had the lowest educational qualifications in the company, and that people would inevitably use this against them in the future.
Li Yanqing was a supervisor, so he wasn’t worried about that. He’d earned his position through genuine merit; though his educational background was limited, his abilities were no less than anyone else’s—in fact, he was even more capable than most.
Li Lanlan, however, wasn’t quite at that level yet. She feared that if she wasn’t careful, this good job might slip through her fingers.
This meant that the more money she earned, the more anxious she became. She knew that once more people realized how lucrative this industry was, a flood of highly qualified talent would pour in, and by then, her job security would truly be at risk.
She recalled her daughter mentioning the possibility of transferring to a four-year college before. She just didn’t know if her vocational school diploma would qualify her for that.
She planned to ask Li Yanqing about this when school started.
It was the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, with only two or three days left until the New Year. By then, the village phone line would likely be too busy to get through, so Li Lanlan decided to call home today.
After leaving the Wang family’s place, Li Lanlan went to the service center to make the call.
When she dialed the number, the staff there would help call out to her family. The small shop was very close by, and the shopkeeper’s loud shout could be heard all the way to Li Lanlan’s home. It had been more than half a year since she’d seen her parents, and she missed them dearly.
Especially now that both her parents were still alive; she hoped they were both doing well.
“Hello, Lanlan, it’s me.” Jia Fanghua’s voice was choked with sobs, and Li Lanlan’s heart wrenched with pain. What on earth was going on?