Waitstaff: …
All the Li family’s relatives came to demand the dishes be served. The servers were nearly in tears. The kitchen had already plated everything, but they didn’t dare bring anything out!
What if no one paid afterward? Who would be held responsible?
The servers relayed the question to the kitchen. One of them timidly asked Xu Shuang.
Xu Shuang thought for a moment, then said, “Go ahead and serve everything, just as they said.”
After all, the payment had already been collected by Wan Guodong under Xie Yuejin’s name. With the current chaos, the sooner these people left, the better.
If they didn’t get food, they’d just hang around and make things worse. If they caused more damage to the restaurant, it would be hard to deal with later.
Xu Shuang added, “Bring out the food. If someone wants to buy a bowl to take food away, give it to them. Just keep watch so they don’t start another mess. If anyone smashes dishes again, they’ll have to pay out of pocket.”
The servers finally felt they had some direction and immediately got to work.
Xu Shuang looked at the now-cooling dishes and felt complicated emotions.
Who would’ve thought things with Xie Yuejin would end up like this? It was completely beyond his expectations.
He had assumed it was a case of Xie Yuejin scamming a woman into marriage. In the end, it turned out both sides had been scamming each other.
Outside, the guests quickly packed their food and left. When Xu Shuang went out, not even a leaf of greens or a drop of soup remained.
All the relatives were gone, but the Li family and Xie Yuejin’s family were still confronting each other.
Xu Shuang ignored them and told the servers to tally the damage and clean up the tables. The losses would clearly fall on Xie Yuejin in the end. As for the bowls that had been sold, those would be reported as losses—the restaurant had bulk supply deals, so everything could be restocked in a few days.
The people from the Li family saw that their relatives had all left—some came over to say a quick goodbye, but others slipped away along the walls without a word. This made the few brothers from the Li family so angry that their chests felt tight with frustration.
What made it even worse was that Xie Yuejin, as if he had fully decided to go through with the divorce, just went on spilling the truth like pouring beans from a bamboo tube, relentlessly provoking Li Ying.
He said he was just a kitchen helper without even a certificate, and claiming to be a chef was a total lie. All the dishes at the restaurant were cooked by the head chef; he only handled the chopping. All the meals Li Ying had eaten before, thinking he’d cooked them, were actually made by someone else!
The fourth Li brother could taste blood in his mouth from anger: “You’ve got guts, lying to us like this. Just you wait!”
The Li family finally left, dragging the inconsolable and sobbing Li Ying with them.
Xie Yuejin, shoulders slumped, looked completely exhausted and powerless.
He glanced at his poorly dressed parents and said weakly, “Let’s go.”
Now that everything had come out, what else could he do? He took his parents back to the place he was renting.
Xu Shuang finished cleaning up the restaurant. By the time everything was taken care of, it was already past one in the afternoon.
He didn’t stay to keep the restaurant open. Originally, Xie Yuejin had booked the space from noon until evening, but Wan Guodong had said there was no need to open for dinner either—the whole day was reserved for Xie Yuejin’s event. It was common practice when hosting a banquet, especially since the post-event cleanup was extensive. So Xu Shuang hadn’t even prepared ingredients for the evening service.
He simply went home.
Wang Ying was having lunch with Grandma Xu. As the Mid-Autumn Festival had passed, the days were getting colder. For lunch, Grandma Xu had made dry-fried potatoes and green beans, along with stir-fried cabbage and vermicelli.
The green beans were from the last harvest and a bit old, so they had been stir-fried longer. The potatoes were cut into lengths similar to the beans, stir-fried until cooked through, and finished with a generous spoonful of sauce. The sauce was homemade by Xu Shuang. Sometimes Grandma Xu would use only this one sauce to save time, and the flavor was still rich.
The cabbage with vermicelli was made to Wang Ying’s preference. The vermicelli was homemade mung bean noodles, thicker and rounder than store-bought ones, but when stir-fried with cabbage, they looked translucent and appetizing.
Wang Ying was eating the dishes with coarse grain buns while thinking she should go up the mountain to look for wild game.
This year had been tough for everyone—wild rabbits on the mountain weren’t easy to catch. Cheng Yu had even complained a few days ago that he hadn’t eaten meat in two or three months.
As for the fish, Cheng Yu didn’t dare catch them anymore. With more people wandering the mountain, if someone spotted him, they’d lose access to the fish pond entirely.
Seeing Xu Shuang return so early, Wang Ying was a little surprised. “You’re done so early today?”
Xu Shuang told her everything that had happened at the restaurant, leaving Wang Ying’s eyes shining with excitement.
“If I’d known, I would’ve gone to town today too!”
She was purely attracted by the drama—who would’ve thought a wedding could have such dramatic twists and turns?
Xu Shuang said, “I think Xie Yuejin is really going through with the divorce.”
It wasn’t that he couldn’t tolerate being lied to, but he absolutely couldn’t stand his life plan being thrown off course.
The whole Li family helped cover things up. It was impossible to believe there was nothing shady going on.
Wang Ying nodded, then paused and asked, “Hey? Weren’t there only three Li brothers who showed up today?”
Xu Shuang: “Yeah, why?”
Wang Ying suddenly recalled something. Zhao Jun had mentioned the Li family in passing when talking to her the other day, though the focus had been on Wang Lingling. He had said Wang Lingling’s older sister, Wang Pingping, was involved and that her husband’s family was surnamed Li…
She told Xu Shuang what she remembered.
Xu Shuang was a bit shocked. “Wang Lingling’s been arrested?”
He couldn’t help his surprise. After Wang Lingling had quietly returned the other day to take the grain from Li Chunjuan and Wang Yongshun, he hadn’t heard a single word about her.
Now, suddenly hearing she had been sentenced to eight years, Xu Shuang found it hard to believe.
Wang Ying: “That’s what I heard too. Can you believe she dared to hoard grain and sell it at high prices?”
This year’s poor harvest was well known. Even Chen Dong, who lived in the city, had sensed it months ago. Did people really think they were stupid, that they didn’t know grain could be profitable?
Anyone with even basic farming knowledge knew the grain prices would spike this year.
And it wasn’t just Nan Shao County—Wang Ying had recently gotten a radio and heard broadcasts about how even two major grain-producing provinces had suffered setbacks this year. The summer rains had been too heavy, causing widespread crop failure.
In normal years, grain from those regions would have balanced prices in Nan Shao by now.
Xu Shuang: “You’re sure it’s the same Li family connected to Wang Lingling?”
Wang Ying thought about it. “Sounds like it. I hadn’t remembered earlier, but now that you mention it, when Wang Pingping got married, I do remember hearing that her in-laws had four brothers and a younger sister—all named Li.”
With that, Xu Shuang was almost certain.
In a small town, four brothers and one sister all with the surname Li? The chances of a coincidence were basically zero.
Wang Ying said, “If that’s the case, then Xie Yuejin made the right choice to divorce. Otherwise, the Li family would’ve just leeched off him for good.”
Even someone clueless could tell that being tied to the grain-hoarding scandal wasn’t a good thing. One old woman and a man from the Li family had already been arrested, and the rest would probably lose their jobs.
Everything made sense now. The Li family had hoped to latch onto Xie Yuejin like a leech—but who’d have thought he’d cut them off so decisively?
Even Wang Ying had to admire him: “Xie Yuejin’s actually pretty smart.”
Not everyone can make such a clean break, especially in a marriage. Most people keep hoping that “maybe if I go a bit further, things will turn around.” Some are clinging to false hope, while others just can’t walk away from the sunk costs—emotional or otherwise.
Too few people are willing to cut their losses and give up sunk costs.
After talking at length about Xie Yuejin, Wang Ying switched topics and began discussing preparations for winter with Xu Shuang.
She pulled out a small notebook. “Everything we lacked last year, we have to buy this year!”
A long list was already written: things like kelp, sausages, red dates, chestnuts…
Xu Shuang thought for a moment and said, “Isn’t it about time to start picking dates?”
The orchard was ready too. The apples and red dates should be harvested.
Wang Ying perked up. “Is our production team going to distribute dates?”
Xu Shuang nodded. “Usually, it’s around September. This year’s weather delayed things, but it should be happening now. Every household will get some.”
Wang Ying said excitedly, “Then I want to eat date-and-walnut cake!”
Xu Shuang agreed. “Tomorrow you can go look for wild walnuts up in the hills. We’ll mix in some sunflower seeds too.”
Wang Ying nodded eagerly.
When October began, Nanshao’s food situation was reported upwards. There was a shortage—not only did the city’s grain stations need to transfer in supplies, but several struggling communes below also required relief grain.
It was a complicated task, as each commune and team had different circumstances. It dragged on until mid-October before some teams’ situations were finally verified.
The Seventh Production Team wasn’t included—because they had replanted on time and harvested on time.
“Pfft, if I’d known the state was handing out grain, we wouldn’t have busted our butts farming. We worked so hard for half a year, and other folks just get grain handed to them lying down.”
“Don’t say that. Other teams are getting grain, sure, but not much. Just enough to last until spring.”
“No kidding. I even heard some teams tried to make trouble, but were turned away. The authorities said, aside from teams that truly lost crops and couldn’t be saved, everyone else has to make it up from next year’s quota!”
“Still, we’re better off. At least we’re not starving.”
…
Even Wang Ying had sighed a thousand times over how lucky she was.
Their team’s orchard had also harvested dates and apples, and each household got about two to three jin of dates and a jin of apples.
The red dates were big and sweet, and the apples were crisp and juicy.
Wang Ying ate two and then couldn’t bear to eat more. Only after living through this period did she realize that vegetables and even grains weren’t really in short supply—what was truly scarce was fruit.
Compared to the wide variety of fruit stands in the future, the fruit selection now was pitiful. In the city, you needed ration coupons, and not many could afford fruit. In the countryside, it was all local produce, and the variety was limited.
For the Seventh Team, it was just apples, dates, and a few persimmon trees on the back hill. Beyond that, some families had grapevines in their courtyards, or maybe a single pomegranate tree behind the house.
Wang Ying had traded for some—exchanging sugar or a bit of vegetable for a few persimmons or grapes. The persimmons made your mouth pucker. Xu Shuang said they weren’t ripe yet and needed to be left to soften. The grapes were very sour, so he preserved them with sugar, layering grapes and sugar, hoping to make some grape wine by winter.
Wang Ying sorely missed durian, bananas, jackfruit…
Sadly, it would be a long wait before she could eat any of those in this life.
By late October, the city’s grain stations had loosened up.
Xu Shuang and Wang Ying went into the city again to see Chen Dong. Chen Dong had lost a lot of weight, but his belly still stuck out—it had just gone from looking six months pregnant to four.
As soon as he saw Xu Shuang, Chen Dong waved him over. “So, when you get back, get on with whatever you’re doing. There’s just over a month left this year—better to get moving early.”
He was referring to that side business.
Chen Dong was cautious. When the food shortage started, he had distanced himself from those few suppliers. He waited until now to resume. In fact, it wasn’t just the grain stations that were short—the black market in the city had been under tight control too. In the past, getting caught just meant confiscation of goods, but recently, getting caught meant jail.
You had to admit, there were still people who, like Wang Lingling, believed in “getting rich through risk.” The biggest grain hoarder caught in the city had stockpiled 3,000 jin of grain.
A gutsy move, to say the least.
But that guy was unlucky too—he got caught red-handed and probably wouldn’t be coming out for the rest of his life.
This time, Chen Dong only asked Xu Shuang for other items: “Those fish—send me as many as you can. Also wild goods, wild chestnuts, walnuts, fruits, dates—I’ll take all of it.”
City folks had tightened their belts for over two months—they desperately needed something good to eat and recover.
Xu Shuang agreed. He had brought quite a bit for Chen Dong this time, figuring he must have been craving it for a while.
Chen Dong drooled over the big fish, then stuffed a few grain coupons into Xu Shuang’s hand.
Xu Shuang took them without hesitation.
He and Wang Ying were always short on grain coupons. Both were wage earners, so they didn’t get as much grain as those who worked in the fields.
After their trip to the city, they returned to the production team late in the evening.
As soon as they got home, someone knocked on the door.
It was Tian Dazhu.
Tian Dazhu didn’t look particularly anxious. He simply asked if Wang Ying could come take a look at his wife’s belly.
“She started saying her stomach hurt after dinner. I really don’t know what’s going on.”
