«The Day’s Activities»
Early the next morning, Li Lanlan got up, prepared breakfast, and set it on the table. After they had finished eating, Aunt Wang said they would have rice for lunch that day, and asked Li Lanlan to prepare a few cold dishes and steam some rice; as for the hot dishes, the housekeeper could simply bring a few from the canteen when the time came.
Once the couple had gone out for a stroll, Li Lanlan found herself with some free time. She first headed to the service centre to buy some fresh fruit and vegetables; it was not yet half past seven.
It happened to be a Saturday; the two-day weekend system was now in place, and the park nearby was quite busy. Li Lanlan decided to go for a walk herself.
She wore the watch she’d bought when she got married—an old ‘Shanghai’ brand model that had been quite a bit of money back then.
In truth, by the 1990s, the ‘three essentials’ for marriage had shifted to air-conditioners, computers and video recorders, but Li Lanlan had been born in a remote mountain village.
In the 1990s, for many families, the ‘three essentials’ for marriage were still the watch, bicycle and sewing machine—items that had long since gone out of fashion among city dwellers.
It was hard for people living in the prosperous market economy regions of the east to imagine that, whilst they had already begun to pursue more novel lifestyles, young people in small western towns were still chasing fashions that seemed outdated to them.
As for the ‘three essentials’ of the 1980s—the fridge, colour TV and washing machine—Li Lanlan would not come to use any of them, apart from the colour TV, until more than twenty years later.
There is a park at every turn in Jing City. When she used to visit, she would stay with her daughter, and her favourite pastime was strolling through the park; after her walk, she would go shopping for groceries and return home to cook.
Many people still do the same today. Right next to the park stands an office block, and Li Lanlan noticed numerous small stalls set up at the junction between the park and the office block.
Some were pushing trolleys laden with steamed buns, whilst others were selling soya milk and fried dough sticks.
Business was brisk at the moment, with many elderly people buying breakfast for primary and secondary school pupils carrying schoolbags.
On the office block next door hung a sign for a well-known educational consultancy firm of later times. Li Lanlan had never enrolled her children in any cram schools; in fact, she hadn’t really kept much of a watch on their studies.
She worked from dawn till dusk every day; after finishing her work, she would go home to cook for the children, and still find time to do the washing and housework.
Although the two-day weekend had been introduced long ago, it really had little to do with manual labourers. This sort of work was unpredictable; it wasn’t stable from day to day, and on any day she could work, she couldn’t afford to stop.
Only when it rained or snowed and the streets were deserted could she catch her breath for a moment. Whenever this happened, the children would cheer, looking forward to seeing their mum and dad when they got home from school.
Seeing the look of delight in their eyes, how could Li Lanlan not wish she had a little time to spend with them? Yet deep down, she was secretly anxious; with this kind of work, if you stop working, you stop eating.
As for the children’s studies, she had even less time to spare; simply supporting the whole family had already drained every ounce of energy from the couple.
Watching those carefree children carrying their fashionable schoolbags, Li Lanlan longed to buy a few for her own children too.
Li Lanlan watched as the woman selling buns deftly packed two buns and took two yuan. So buns in the capital weren’t cheap these days!
These buns, no bigger than a child’s fist, now cost a whole yuan each. In just a short while, this little stall had sold an entire steamer basket, bringing in nearly a hundred yuan.
She looked around; there were only these two breakfast stalls. Li Lanlan wanted to ask about the business, but she was afraid others might think she was there to steal their trade.
She decided to buy two vegetarian buns; the meat ones were another fifty pence more, and she couldn’t quite bring herself to spend that much.
Taking the buns, Li Lanlan handed over the money.
“Sister, what time do you usually finish selling these buns?”
There were hardly any people around now; those who’d dropped off their children had all gone home, and the bun seller had a bit of a breather, so she didn’t mind having a natter with Li Lanlan.
“I’ll be done by about this time. After ten o’clock, hardly anyone buys them anymore. Later on, the stalls selling pancakes and such come out. I’ll just pack up and head home!”
“Are there any food stalls selling meals around here at lunchtime?”
“Not at the moment. In the summer, there are stalls selling cold noodles and the like, but it’s freezing cold in the middle of winter—no one eats that sort of thing outside.”
“Miss, do you rent this stall, or can you just set up here?”
“What’s that? Are you thinking of setting up a stall yourself, young lady?”
The moment she heard Li Lanlan say that, the bun seller’s face fell. She’d assumed Li Lanlan wanted to sell breakfast too—wouldn’t that be competition?
“No, no, ma’am, I don’t sell breakfast!”
Li Lanlan hastened to clarify, and the woman’s expression immediately brightened again; she was now happy to chat a bit more.
“There’s not much of a crowd around here, so you can set up if you like, but it’s first come, first served. You’ll need to clear away your rubbish every day, otherwise the estate management won’t be happy—they’ll make a fuss. What time of day were you thinking of setting up, young lady?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I was just passing by today and saw there were quite a few people, so I came over to have a look!”
“It’s busier here on weekends and in the evenings. This office block is mostly cram schools—English is the most common, but there are plenty for core subjects like Chinese, maths, physics and chemistry too.”
“But doesn’t that really affect your breakfast business, sister? Do you still set up here during the week?”
The lady was really getting into the conversation and began chatting with Li Lanlan at length.
“Of course I’m here! Why wouldn’t I be? There are loads of schools round here, and plenty of people working too. During the week I sell to them—it’s just as good as the weekend.”
Li Lanlan looked down, took a bite of her bun, and gave her a thumbs-up.
Seeing Li Lanlan enjoying her food so much put the lady in a good mood, and she spoke with even greater enthusiasm.
“I don’t just sell buns, you know. After I’ve sold out of buns in the morning, I push a little cart out in the evening to sell grilled sausages, grilled wheat gluten and the like. My husband’s at home right now prepping the ingredients. Business is pretty good—there are loads of people in the evening; I can’t keep up with the demand!”
No sooner had she finished speaking than she seemed to realise she’d let a trade secret slip.
Her eyes widened—perhaps she was having second thoughts—and she covered her mouth with her hand.
Li Lanlan laughed too.
“My dear, you’ve told me so much; I wouldn’t dream of taking your business away from you. Rest assured, I won’t be doing any of that!”
The bun seller saw that Li Lanlan seemed quite sincere and decided to trust her.
After all, there was no point in not believing her now that the words were out, though she did feel a slight twinge of regret before pushing it to the back of her mind.
“My name is Li Lanlan. What’s yours, sister?”
“Oh, I’m Li Fangfang. We must be meant to be sisters. Who knows, we might even have been relatives years ago. I’m 35—how old are you?”
“You’re right! What a coincidence. I’m 28, Sister Fangfang.”
“Lalan, come over here from now on. I’ll look after you. Come to think of it, when I first arrived here, a woman called Li Pingping looked after me too.
I didn’t know a thing back then, but Sister Pingping was so kind. She let me set up my stall right next to hers, and that’s how I managed to settle down in the capital.”
“Sister Fangfang, is Sister Pingping not here anymore?”
“She is. Sister Pingping has rented a shopfront and is selling Sichuan cuisine now.”
The two chatted for quite a while, and Li Lanlan felt her heart racing; she couldn’t wait to set up a pot and start selling food herself.
It was already around half past ten, so Li Lanlan helped Li Fangfang pack up the stall.
“Young lady, I’m here every day. Come by whenever it suits you.”
Li Lanlan agreed, said goodbye to Li Fangfang, and headed home.
Li Lanlan put the rice on to steam and quickly prepared a few cold dishes. The Wang couple had returned by then, and the housekeeper brought over a few meat dishes, so they all ate together.
After the meal, Li Lanlan went to wash the dishes, whilst the elderly couple were on the phone in the living room.
“Lanlan, we won’t be back for dinner tonight. Just make yourself something to eat!” ”
“Right, Aunt Wang, go on and get on with your work!”
With that, there shouldn’t be much else to do today. Li Lanlan returned to her room; the sun was warm at this hour, its rays making one drowsy.
Li Lanlan was an impatient sort. Having heard the news that morning, she was itching to set up a stall and start earning money right away. Truth be told, she’d been thoroughly terrified of poverty in her previous life.
Although her children had always given her money, the hardships of the first half of her previous life, whilst not having broken her spirit, had certainly made her anxious and insecure.
With such an opportunity right in front of her, it would be a shame to let it slip by.
She had always been a woman of action. She currently had over four hundred yuan in her pocket—half the family’s savings—which she had brought with her this time.
Li Lanlan had already decided what she was going to do. Since it was a training centre, there were bound to be plenty of children there, and children of that age were at the very peak of their sweet tooth. The one thing they simply couldn’t resist was snacks!
Li Lanlan planned to make chuan chuan xiang[1]“fragrant skewers,” referring to a popular Sichuan-style hot pot street food. It consists of various raw or marinated meats, vegetables, and tofu skewered on bamboo sticks, then cooked in … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2285043_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2285043_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });. There happened to be a small three-wheeler in the courtyard; Sister Caixia had said it was hers, and she used it whenever she had an excess of vegetables.
However, the weather was too cold at this time of year, so she needed to make something that would give off a warm glow. With nothing else to do that afternoon, Li Lanlan went to the service centre and bought ten catties of potatoes, some long bamboo skewers, two packets of small plastic bags, a large red plastic bucket, a stainless steel pot and spoon, and a set of chopsticks.
She also bought a large bag of chilli powder, cornflour, five-spice powder and the like. All in all, it cost her nearly fifty yuan.
As she stepped out of the service centre, the wind blew and Li Lanlan’s nerves settled; she began to feel a sense of dread again. What if business was poor?
However, she had a positive outlook. After pedalling the tricycle for a while, her spirits lifted once more.
That was Li Lanlan for you: she always prepared her supplies before taking action.
Although she had no idea how much she’d actually sell, she’d already gone ahead and bought some equipment. If she’d known that famous saying, she’d have realised her behaviour would be teased as being like a poor student with too many stationery supplies.
But even if she had known, she wouldn’t have cared.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was home at the Wang family’s, Li Lanlan decided to make a bit of a profit.
She planned to make a dish similar to malatang[2]is a Sichuan street food dish consisting of meats, vegetables, and noodles, prepared on skewers or chosen by the customer, simmered briefly in a numbing broth seasoned with Sichuan pepper and dried … Continue reading jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2285043_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2285043_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, but with a slightly stickier sauce.
In her previous life, she’d learnt many cooking tips from online influencers, and this was one of them.
After peeling ten catties of potatoes, Li Lanlan felt her hands were going numb. If business went well, she’d definitely need to buy a vegetable peeler.
After peeling them, she sliced them into thin slices. The potatoes from the service cooperative were quite large; one potato yielded nearly thirty slices.
Once sliced, she placed them in a large red bucket to wash off the starch. She rinsed them three times with clean water, then left them to soak in the bucket.
Li Lanlan began preparing the sauce. This sauce was thicker than the usual kind, and unlike the sauces used for blanched vegetables—where the sauce simply washes off into the broth—this one clung to the potato slices, creating a sticky, delicious coating.
Li Lanlan had also tweaked the recipe herself, adjusting the proportions and adding some ground ginger. Otherwise, serving something that might give people diarrhoea in the middle of winter would be a real shame.
The final step was to thicken the sauce. Watching the sauce bubble away in the pot, Li Lanlan’s mouth really was watering. She ladled out a bowl for herself and grabbed a handful of potato slices to drop into the boiling water.
After boiling them for about two minutes, she fished them out and added them to the pot, allowing the potato slices to soak up the sauce thoroughly. It smelled absolutely delicious.
Li Lanlan even drank up the broth.
It was truly delicious.
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