Jiang Yan planned to go to the county town the next day to see if she could find some way to make money. While she was there, she also wanted to buy two sets of clothes for the two little ones.
She didn’t know if Huo Zhanting had simply forgotten, but the children’s clothes were covered in several patches and didn’t even fit properly.
“I’m off tomorrow. I’ll go with you,” Huo Zhanting said when he heard that Jiang Yan was planning to go to the county town.
Jiang Yan didn’t want him to come.
“No need. You stay home and look after the kids!”
Huo Zhanting wanted to suggest that they could take the children along, but seeing that Jiang Yan clearly didn’t want him tagging along, he kept quiet.
The next morning, Jiang Yan arrived at the entrance to the military compound right on schedule.
The military had a procurement vehicle that went to the county town every three days. Military families could ride it into town to buy supplies, which was quite convenient.
The moment Jiang Yan got on, she sensed an unfriendly gaze. She followed it and found Zhao Xiaomei staring at her.
This was the woman who, without Huo Zhanting’s knowledge, had insisted on the full set of “three major items and one sound” and a thousand-yuan bride price before reluctantly agreeing to marry him.
Now she was looking at Jiang Yan as though Jiang Yan had stolen her man!
Jiang Yan found it completely baffling. She simply turned her head away and ignored her.
When they got off the vehicle, Zhao Xiaomei suddenly called out to Jiang Yan, her face full of jealousy.
“Jiang Yan, you’re simply not good enough for Commander Huo!”
Jiang Yan looked Zhao Xiaomei up and down.
“If I’m not good enough for him, then do you think you are? Dark skin, a face full of freckles, crooked features, short, and now you seem to have something wrong with your head, too. My man probably wouldn’t even look at you!”
“You—you…”
Zhao Xiaomei was so furious that she couldn’t get the words out.
“Me what? Wasn’t I just stating the facts?”
Jiang Yan’s innocent expression was infuriating.
Zhao Xiaomei burst into tears, covered her face, and ran off sobbing.
Hmph!
Jiang Yan bared her teeth disdainfully and hurried toward the state-run food supply station. Rice, grain, meat, and vegetables were generally purchased there.
But material goods were scarce in the 1970s. Buying meat required not only meat coupons but also the ability to fight your way to the front of the line.
When Jiang Yan arrived, the meat counter was packed with people, three layers deep.
All this just for a bite of meat…
Jiang Yan rubbed her hands together, gathered her strength, and charged forward.
Thanks to her extraordinary strength, she squeezed her way to the front in no time.
“Here. I want ten jin of pork belly!”
Jiang Yan handed over her money and coupons.
The butcher looked at her as though she were an idiot.
“Are you dreaming? I don’t even have ten jin of pork belly in total.”
As he spoke, he cut off a strip of meat barely half a finger wide and handed it to Jiang Yan.
“Each person is limited to one jin of meat a month. Take it or leave it!”
Jiang Yan felt as though a bolt of lightning had struck her.
“Only one jin a month? That’s not even enough to get stuck between my teeth!”
The butcher stared at her.
“How big are your teeth, exactly?”
Jiang Yan: “…”
The people waiting behind her grew impatient when they saw that she still hadn’t left.
“Hey, lady in front! If you’ve bought your meat, hurry up! Don’t hold everyone else up!”
Even a tiny bit of meat was still meat.
Jiang Yan picked up her one jin of pork belly and left.
She then went to the grain counter to buy rice and flour, only to discover that rice was rationed too.
Flour was the same. Each person was allotted only ten jin per month—and that was with coupons.
She could eat ten jin in a single meal, okay?
Brown rice, at least, wasn’t rationed.
But that stuff practically scraped your throat raw.
After leaving the food supply station, Jiang Yan made her way to the black market.
Rice, grain, and meat weren’t rationed there, but they were expensive—almost twice the price at the state-run food supply station.
Jiang Yan also took the opportunity to ask around about wages in various occupations.
Ordinary workers earned less than thirty yuan a month. Skilled workers made only seventy or eighty. Someone like Huo Zhanting, earning more than a hundred yuan a month, was making an exceptionally high salary.
For Jiang Yan, trying to achieve food freedom through a regular job was practically impossible.
With her appetite, she would only starve herself to death!
And jobs weren’t easy to find.
The traditional Chinese medicine skills she could actually put to use were now considered remnants of feudal superstition. If she were reported, she could end up being sent to a cowshed for “re-education.”
And private business wasn’t allowed either. If she were caught engaging in “speculation and profiteering,” she could be sentenced to death.
During the apocalypse, even having one full meal had been incredibly difficult. Jiang Yan had worried about getting enough to eat almost every single day.
She never expected that after changing eras, she would still have to worry about eating her fill!
Why couldn’t she have transmigrated into an era where food and clothing were abundant and life was carefree?
With a dejected expression, Jiang Yan left the black market and went to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Huo Zhanting’s house had nothing except four walls and a roof to keep out the wind and rain. Everything else needed to be bought.
Teapots, washbasins, towels, quilts and bedsheets, biscuits, candy, malted milk powder…
With grain rationed, she’d make up for it with snacks.
Jiang Yan bought a great deal, including all kinds of seasonings.
She also bought clothes and shoes for the two little ones.
She didn’t know how to make clothes and hadn’t bought any fabric. She simply bought ready-made clothes, which cost much more than buying fabric alone.
All told, she spent more than a hundred yuan.
An entire month’s worth of Huo Zhanting’s salary.
Jiang Yan’s heart ached terribly.
But when lunchtime came, she still walked into a state-run restaurant.
Today’s dishes included twice-cooked pork and fish with chopped chili peppers. The side dishes were pickled cucumbers and braised eggplant.
Jiang Yan ordered five servings of twice-cooked pork, two fish with chopped chili peppers, double portions of pickled cucumbers and braised eggplant, and five large bowls of rice.
She could sacrifice anything except her stomach!
After polishing everything off, Jiang Yan left under a sea of stunned gazes, carrying a huge wicker basket on her back, and went to catch the military procurement vehicle.
She had just climbed aboard, set down her basket, and sat down when she heard a sarcastic voice.
“Comrade Jiang Yan, did you clear out the entire supply and marketing cooperative?”
It was Zhao Xiaomei.
The tone made it sound as though Jiang Yan had spent her money.
Political Commissar Sun’s wife, Zhang Fang, also kindly reminded her, “Mrs. Commander, you really ought to be careful with your spending. Commander Huo works hard for his money, and he still has two children to support.”
She meant well. She was worried that young people didn’t know how to manage a household and would waste money recklessly.
Jiang Yan could tell whether someone was sincere or fake.
“I know my Old Huo works hard, too. But I’ve only just arrived, and the house was lacking everything. The two children were as thin as sticks and seriously malnourished. Of course I had to buy some good food to help them build themselves back up.”
“Jiang Yan, what do you mean?” Zhao Xiaomei suddenly demanded angrily. “Are you deliberately saying my aunt didn’t take good care of Xiao Jin and Xiao Xi?”
Jiang Yan turned to look at her.
“So the grandmother who takes care of Xiao Jin and Xiao Xi is your aunt? No wonder she’s so heartless!”
Zhao Xiaomei wasn’t good at arguing in the first place, and now she was completely at a loss for words. After struggling for a moment, all she could manage was:
“Jiang Yan, you’re slandering her!”
“Slandering her? My Old Huo gives your aunt five yuan every month, ten jin of fine grain, plus a strip of pork. Yet the two children still go hungry at every meal, and they haven’t had meat in more than half a year. They’re practically skin and bones. Tell me, exactly how am I slandering her?”
“He gives her that much? Auntie Zhao said Commander Huo didn’t give her any money!”
Wang Lili, who lived next door to Auntie Zhao, cried out in surprise.
“I thought Zhao was really being kind and letting the two kids eat at her place for free. Turns out Commander Huo was paying her!”
“Exactly. He gives her that much, yet the two children are still skin and bones. Old Lady Zhao really is heartless.”
“…”
The others immediately joined in, gossiping excitedly.
Listening to everyone condemn Auntie Zhao, Zhao Xiaomei belatedly realized that she had gotten herself into trouble.
It was all Jiang Yan’s fault!
If Jiang Yan hadn’t deliberately led her into saying those things, she wouldn’t have lost her temper and questioned her!
It was all her fault!
Zhao Xiaomei glared viciously at Jiang Yan.
Jiang Yan found her utterly inexplicable.
What a lunatic.
She couldn’t be bothered with her.
…
At the entrance to the family compound, Jiang Yan got off the vehicle and walked home with her basket on her back.
As luck would have it, she ran straight into Huo Zhanting.
He was carrying a whole pig leg in his hand, weighing more than ten jin.
Jiang Yan’s eyes instantly lit up when she saw the meat.
“Where did you get that meat?”