A loud, resonant voice pulled Old Meng out of his thoughts. He turned around and saw that it was Old Director Su, who had retired two years ago.
“Director Su, it’s cheung fun. Zhou Jiajing’s wife is selling cheung fun outside and specially brought some back for me to try.”
“Zhou Jiajing’s wife?” Old Director Su pondered for a moment, then asked, “Is Zhou Jiajing just married?”
“Yes. She’s hardworking and kind to people, a really good girl.”
Old Director Su nodded. “This cheung fun smells very fragrant.”
Old Meng handed him the bowl. “Director, would you like to try some?”
Old Director Su was gentle by nature. Even back when he was still the factory director, he never put on airs, and he treated workers like Old Meng with warmth. Naturally, Old Meng did not feel overly restrained around him.
Old Director Su waved his hand. “No need. I just ate noodles outside. You eat it, this is Zhou family’s sister-in-law’s goodwill.”
Old Meng went back to the guardroom to get chopsticks, then came out, eating as he chatted with Old Director Su.
Seeing how Old Meng ate like a whirlwind, Old Director Su could not help asking, “Didn’t your son bring you breakfast this morning?”
Old Meng’s home was inside the residential compound, but he usually stayed in the guardroom and only went home when resting.
Old Meng looked up and laughed sheepishly. “It’s just too good. Soft and smooth, once it’s in your mouth, it goes right down.”
Even so, after eating two pieces, he stopped, set down his chopsticks, and said, “I’ll save some for the kids to try.”
Old Director Su leaned over to look at the cheung fun in the bowl. The rice skin was thin and white, the pork filling plentiful and attractively colored. Just the appearance alone made one salivate.
He cleared his throat lightly and asked, “Where is this Zhou family sister-in-law setting up her stall?”
“On Renmin Road.”
“Good, good. I’ll watch the gate for a bit. You take it home first,” Old Director Su said.
After retiring, he had plenty of free time and often came by to play chess and chat with Old Meng. Old Meng did not stand during the ceremony. “Then I’ll be right back.”
His home was on the first floor of the building right ahead. The round trip would take less than three minutes.
Old Director Su stood by the guardroom, watching Old Meng head home. Someone passing by saw him and asked if he had come to play chess with Old Meng again.
Old Director Su replied, “No. Old Meng is taking cheung fun home for his children. I’m watching the gate for him.”
That person was surprised. “Old Meng is willing to eat cheung fun today?”
Old Meng’s family situation was no secret in the factory. A family of five relied solely on his salary, living frugally. How could he afford cheung fun? One portion cost at least five fen, enough to buy an egg.
Old Director Su explained, “Zhou family’s sister-in-law brought it for him. Old Meng said she’s running a cheung fun stall.”
Although retired, Old Director Su still read newspapers and listened to the radio every day, keeping up with current affairs. He knew that in the north, people had already begun experimenting with running street stalls. Years spent in leadership had given him keen political intuition, and he sensed that this might be a good way to address youth employment. He wanted to see whether stall-based commerce could succeed in a small county like Hengzhou. If it could, how many jobs might it create? That was why he supported Zhou family’s sister-in-law selling cheung fun, not only in attitude, but in action.
The passerby was even more surprised. “Zhou family’s sister-in-law? You mean Zhou Cadre’s wife? Such a delicate young woman, and she’s actually running a stall?”
“That’s what I heard. The cheung fun is very fragrant, her skills should be quite good,” Old Director Su said. “I’ll go try it myself another day.”
…
After Jiang Lianyue returned home, she washed the dishes and cookware and began preparing food.
She had been busy all morning and was quite tired, so she did not cook rice. Instead, she used the leftover filling to make a bowl of minced-meat noodles and stir-fried some water spinach. After filling her stomach simply, she went back to her room for a midday nap.
Jiang Lianyue fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow.
The original owner of this body had been pampered by her parents and older brothers since childhood, she had never done this much work. Jiang Lianyue had relied entirely on willpower to push through. Fortunately, the original body was young and healthy. After sleeping, she felt full of energy again.
After a quick wash-up, Jiang Lianyue picked up her wallet and vegetable basket and went out to shop.
She still had preserved vegetables, eggs, and wood ear mushrooms at home. She only needed to buy pork and long beans. That morning, she had noticed her stall lacked drinks. Since she had to grind rice batter every day anyway, she decided to buy more soybeans and sell soy milk as well, so she added soybeans to her shopping list.
As she calculated things in her head, she realized she also needed to buy some gauze to strain the soybean pulp.
At the market, Jiang Lianyue first went to the pork stall.
Pork was not as easy to buy in the county as it was in town, but Jiang Lianyue had prepared for this. Over the past few days, while running errands, she had often come to the market, using a few packs of Liu Sanjie cigarettes to build rapport with the pork seller, arranging for him to reserve some pork for her each day.
The pork seller was a young man. When he saw her, he asked, “Girl, how was your business on the first day?”
This little girl always came with a bright smile. She was pretty to begin with, even prettier when she smiled, and she was sweet-mouthed and generous. Who wouldn’t like her?
“It was alright. Brother Li, did you save some pork for me?”
Li Jun pulled out a slab of pork from beneath the stall and said proudly, “I saved a strip of pork belly especially for you.”
Jiang Lianyue took one look and saw that the fat and lean were evenly layered, top-quality pork belly. She quickly thanked him. “Thank you, Brother Li. Today was my first day setting up the stall, so I didn’t dare prepare too much batter or filling. I didn’t expect it to sell out so fast. I’ll prepare more today. Tomorrow I’ll bring you two rolls of cheung fun so you can try my cooking.”
Li Jun said, “Hey, no need to be so polite. You bring me things every time you come, I’m embarrassed already.”
Jiang Lianyue said, “I should. I’m just starting out, and you can give me some advice, see if there’s anything I need to improve.”
Her words were sincere, her expression earnest. Li Jun felt that refusing again would be letting her down, so he nodded and agreed.
But he did not take advantage for nothing. He bent down and pulled out a marrow bone from under the stall. “I was planning to use this tomorrow to make bone porridge. Since I’ll be eating cheung fun, I won’t need the porridge. Take it home and make soup. You’re so thin, you need to drink more soup to put on some weight.”
When Jiang Lianyue saw the marrow bone, she immediately thought of a rich soy-braised bone. She did not refuse and accepted it readily, adding one yuan and one jin of meat ration tickets onto the chopping board before leaving the stall with the pork and bone.
After buying pork, she went on to buy long beans and soybeans.
Passing the tofu stall, Jiang Lianyue bought half a jin of fried tofu puffs. After making a full round, her basket was packed to the brim. The other items were manageable, but the soybeans were especially heavy. Though easy to buy, they weighed her down. She bought five jin, and even carrying just the soybeans felt burdensome.
Thinking about having to walk two or three kilometers home, Jiang Lianyue resolved once again that once she earned some money, the first thing she would buy would be a bicycle.
Halfway along the road, her arms were aching badly. Just as she was looking for a place to rest, she turned her head and saw Zhou Jiajing and Xiao Qin riding over from the street on a rattling tractor. Judging by the situation, they had just returned from outside town.
The tractor stopped in front of her. Xiao Qin grinned honestly and called out, “Sister-in-law.”
Zhou Jiajing glanced at the basket in Jiang Lianyue’s hand, jumped down from the tractor, took the basket, placed it in the trailer, then sat back beside the driver’s seat and said flatly, “Get on.”
Jiang Lianyue flashed them a bright smile. “Thank you.”
The seat on the right suddenly sank. A faint, distinctly feminine fragrance drifted into Zhou Jiajing’s nose. He quietly shifted his body, moving slightly farther away from the source of the scent.
Xiao Qin dropped them off at the entrance of the residential compound. Jiang Lianyue and Zhou Jiajing walked into the machinery factory residential area one after the other.
Old Meng saw Jiang Lianyue from the guardroom window and greeted her with a smile. “Girl, you’re back from shopping?”
Jiang Lianyue nodded. “Yes.”
Old Meng asked, “Did you buy a lot? I can help carry it upstairs.”
He stepped out of the guardroom and saw Zhou Jiajing standing behind Jiang Lianyue with the basket. He laughed, “You came back with Zhou Cadre. Then I won’t interfere.”
Jiang Lianyue smiled. “Thank you, Uncle Meng. Zhou Jiajing is carrying the basket for me.”
A trace of awkwardness flashed across Zhou Jiajing’s face, but he still nodded.
After returning home, Jiang Lianyue took the basket from Zhou Jiajing’s hands and said cheerfully, “Thanks. I’ll treat you to soy-braised bone tonight.”
After all, she could not finish such a large marrow bone by herself.
Zhou Jiajing had been leaving early and coming back late these past few days precisely to avoid being tempted by her food. But now there was soy-braised bone…
Saliva flooded his mouth. The words of refusal circled on his lips again and again, but in the end, he did not say them.
Just tonight!
Zhou Jiajing made a silent vow. After eating the soy-braised bone, he would never eat her food again.
Jiang Lianyue took out the soybeans and carried the basket into the kitchen to start preparing ingredients.
She soaked the preserved vegetables and wood ear mushrooms, minced the pork, and left the rest for later. Then she began cooking dinner. She boiled water first, added the marrow bone and ginger slices, then removed the bone and rinsed it under cold water. She poured a little peanut oil into the wok, added scallions, ginger, fermented black beans, and soy sauce, stir-fried until fragrant, then added water, the marrow bone, and tofu puffs. Once it came to a boil, she lowered the heat and let it simmer.
While the marrow bone simmered, Jiang Lianyue cooked rice on another burner.
After returning home, Zhou Jiajing went back to the factory again. He had an article due the next day. He had just finished gathering materials in the countryside, and some documents were still at the factory. He had originally planned to write there, but because of the soy-braised bone, he changed his mind. Writing was writing, no matter where he did it.
Zhou Jiajing grabbed the materials and hurried home. As soon as he reached the stairwell, he smelled a rich aroma. The closer he got, the stronger it became.
It was coming from home.
A strange warmth rose in Zhou Jiajing’s heart. He, too, was someone who came home to food now.
When he opened the door, the mouthwatering fragrance rushed toward him. Zhou Jiajing set down his document bag and walked to the kitchen doorway, just in time to see Jiang Lianyue lowering her head to check the heat on the soy-braised bone. Steam curled around her, softening her features.
Perfect for home and family.
Those four words suddenly leapt into Zhou Jiajing’s mind.
“You’re back,” Jiang Lianyue said as she turned to glance at him.
A strand of black hair slipped loose from behind her ear with the movement. Zhou Jiajing’s right hand, hanging at his side, lifted involuntarily. Halfway up, he suddenly remembered that they were only a nominal couple. His hand stiffened and changed direction, adjusting his sleeve instead. “I’ll help.”