Three hundred yuan—Xie Yuejin could barely keep himself from asking the Li family, “Do you have no shame?”
Three hundred yuan was an entire year’s salary for a full-time worker!
Was Li Ying some kind of rare beauty? Or did she have something especially outstanding? A wedding that required ten banquet tables, and now a divorce that demanded 300 yuan?
Of course, Xie Yuejin wasn’t willing. But he also wasn’t afraid. At worst, he would apply to have the marriage annulled. After all, his marriage to Li Ying had been built on deceit in the first place. A ruling of annulment would suit him just fine!
But Li Ying’s fourth brother said something dark and threatening:
“Go ahead, if you want. If you do, I’ll take Li Ying and report you for having inappropriate conduct. Our family may have lied about some things, but did you not lie? You tricked my sister into living with you before marriage.”
Li Laosi (the fourth Li brother) was furious too—not because Xie Yuejin had lied about owning a house, but because Xie Yuejin turned out to be just a vegetable chopper!
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.
Because they had been the ones engaging in marriage fraud, the Li brothers hadn’t bothered to dig too deeply into Xie Yuejin’s background. All they knew was that Li Ying said he was a restaurant chef.
Li Laosi had worked in a factory before, so he understood the system. Certified chefs were skilled workers and had real upward mobility. Just look at the electricians at their thermos factory—every one of them strutted around arrogantly. Skilled workers who worked steadily could move up in ranks, and the benefits of promotion were significant. The highest-ranking skilled worker at the thermos factory was a level-six worker, earning sixty or seventy yuan a month!
That was equivalent to the salary of two full-time workers.
The most attractive part of Xie Yuejin’s “qualifications” was that very thing.
Chefs had even more room for advancement than regular skilled workers. If one became a restaurant leader, even the crumbs they let slip through their fingers would be enough to support a whole family.
Li Laosi was very calculating. His plan was to help Xie Yuejin rise through the ranks, then profit off of him.
Of course, they didn’t intend to freeload.
Earlier on, Li Ying had said that Xie Yuejin had a rival at the restaurant named Xu Shuang—an air-dropped chef.
Li Laosi had already made up his mind: once he got on good terms with Xie Yuejin, he could easily come up with a way to get rid of that chef.
Hmph, wouldn’t be hard at all.
His idea was to have his wife go make a scene, accusing that chef of having an inappropriate relationship with her. In those days, moral conduct was heavily scrutinized. As long as Xie Yuejin bribed the leadership properly, that man would be kicked out of the restaurant in no time.
He thought his plan was brilliant.
But in the end, it all fell apart from within.
Turned out Xie Yuejin didn’t even have certification—he wasn’t even a real chef!
Li Laosi regretted it deeply. Had he known earlier, he never would have let Li Ying go live with Xie Yuejin.
Now look—whether Li Ying got divorced or not, it would be known she had already been married once. A woman with a previous marriage would find it hard to land a good family again.
Li Laosi was both angry and regretful, so he decided to go for broke and make an outrageous demand.
“You want a divorce, Xie Yuejin? Fine. Bring money—three hundred yuan.”
He had actually considered asking for five hundred at first.
Now that the Li family’s reputation in town had gone rotten and they had no source of income, he couldn’t end up like his two aimless brothers.
He wanted to move to the city!
Five hundred yuan would be enough to buy himself a job in the city.
You say his family had a criminal record and couldn’t get in? No problem—he’d just push his wife to go. She hadn’t been implicated, and the police only recorded criminal records for the men in the family. If his wife went to work, he could stay home and live off her.
Li Laosi wasn’t at all worried that his wife would run away—her family background was even worse than Wang Pingping’s. Where could she possibly go?
Still, before he opened his mouth, Li Laosi paused for a moment. He wanted to test Xie Yuejin first.
If he came right out asking for five hundred, he was afraid Xie Yuejin might get scared off.
Five hundred yuan—nearly two years of wages without spending a cent. Especially considering that wages in town were lower than in the county; even families with several workers often couldn’t save that much.
Take their own Li family, for instance. Several of them worked, and their wives were all temporary laborers. Even so, they had only managed to save a little over three hundred yuan.
Xie Yuejin wasn’t very old, and that day, he’d shown up with a whole string of parents and siblings in tow. They didn’t look like they had much money either.
So Li Laosi started by testing the waters with three hundred yuan, figuring that once Xie Yuejin scraped that together, he could ask for another three hundred.
Six hundred yuan!
That would be enough for him and his wife to move to the city and live the good life!
As for his brothers and Li Ying?
Heh. Who cares about them!
Li Laosi had already sent his wife to talk some sense into Li Ying, successfully getting her to side with their household. Even this whole scheme about asking for money hadn’t been discussed with the other two brothers.
As for threatening Xie Yuejin using the cohabitation before marriage—well, that was entirely Li Laosi’s own idea.
Xie Yuejin forced himself to stay composed: “I didn’t do anything with Li Ying.”
He was just a poor village boy. Though they’d started dating, he still believed that certain things should wait until the wedding night. So when Li Ying stayed at his place, they had slept separately.
Li Laosi scoffed, “That’s useless talk! All I have to do is tell Li Ying to file a report, and they’ll take it seriously—guaranteed! Besides, everyone saw her living with you. Whether you did it or not, what’s the difference?”
If no one in their little town had turned them in yet, it was only because no one had bothered to report it—otherwise, long before now, someone would’ve already come and taken the two of them away. Cohabiting before marriage? Was that not considered “improper male-female relations”?
Xie Yuejin said, “What good does this do you? If you report us, Li Ying won’t come out clean either.”
Li Laosi replied, “Don’t worry about Li Ying. Let’s just talk about you. If someone accuses you, will you still be able to keep your job?”
Right now, what Xie Yuejin wanted most was to go back to the moment he first met Li Ying and slap himself hard across the face!
How had he ended up with a family like this?
Seeing that Xie Yuejin had no way out, Li Laosi smugly said, “Think it over carefully. Our whole family is jobless now—we’ve got all the time in the world to settle this with you.”
Xie Yuejin’s gaze turned fierce. “What if you take the three hundred yuan and still come after me later?”
He wasn’t stupid. The Li family was desperate and shameless—he had to consider that.
“Have Li Ying write a statement,” Xie Yuejin said. “Say we never had a relationship, that I just lent her a place to stay, and we were both innocent.”
Xie Yuejin added, “If she doesn’t write it, then go ahead and report me. If I lose my job, your family won’t get a single cent.”
Of course Li Laosi didn’t want that. But if he refused, it would make it obvious that he had ulterior motives to get even more money. So the two sides reached a stalemate.
It wasn’t until the past few days—perhaps when the Li family truly ran out of food—that Li Laosi finally loosened up and agreed to accept the 300 yuan in exchange for Li Ying writing the statement.
Xie Yuejin was relieved, but also worried.
He only made money in the winter. Last year, he’d earned 500 yuan, most of which had been spent on dating Li Ying. This winter had barely started and he was already 300 yuan in debt…
Xie Yuejin immediately went to see Wang Guodong.
So when Xu Shuang later went to Wang Guodong asking for time off, Wang Guodong smiled like a blooming old chrysanthemum.
“Xiao Xu,” he said, “business has been great at our restaurant this year, and you’ve worked hard. I think it’s time to hand over winter procurement to Yuejin, don’t you?”
Xu Shuang seemed to have anticipated this and agreed without hesitation. “That’s fine.”
Wang Guodong eagerly rubbed his hands together. “Then you don’t have to worry about it. Why not start your vacation tomorrow?”
Xu Shuang replied, “No rush. I’ll finish the inventory, get all the sign-offs done. We need to clearly define responsibility.”
Wang Guodong’s smile immediately vanished. He just didn’t get it. Wouldn’t it be better if everyone made some money? Why was Xu Shuang so rigid?
Just as Wang Guodong was about to say something, the previously silent Xie Yuejin spoke up: “Alright, I’ll sign.”
Since his own man had gone along with it, Wang Guodong had no more to say. “Fine, then.”
After that, Xu Shuang went off to get things done, while Xie Yuejin, unlike before when he always had shifty eyes, now quietly followed Xu Shuang’s lead and helped out honestly.
Xu Shuang took note of it and later mentioned it to Wang Ying.
Wang Ying thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s because of how you helped him out during his wedding.”
She added, “That’s for the best. Smart people don’t do things that harm others without benefiting themselves. If he’s decided not to cause trouble for you, you don’t need to keep worrying. If you walk in the dark long enough, your shoes are bound to get wet—whatever he’s done, there will be a price to pay.”
With work matters settled, Xu Shuang now had time at home to experiment with cooking.
He had already made sweet and sour ribs and steamed ribs. There was still some pork stomach left, so he paired it with chicken to make a soup. And he finally made the crispy pork that Wang Ying had been craving.
He used the tip of the pork rump, cut it into strips with a bit of fat, marinated it with seasoning, sprinkled crushed Sichuan pepper on it, then mixed sweet potato starch, flour, and egg into a batter. He dipped the meat strips into the batter and dropped them into hot oil to fry.
The finished crispy pork wasn’t heavily seasoned, but the aroma was incredible.
Wang Ying grabbed a small bowl and munched away on the crispy pork, dipping each piece into a small dish of sesame salt and chili powder. Golden and crispy, it was crunchy and fragrant. The Sichuan pepper added a numbing spice, and dipping it in the chili powder made it explosively flavorful.
Xu Shuang fried up a huge batch. The crispy pork wasn’t just good with dry seasoning—it could also be added to hot pot, mixed into stews, or stuffed into buns.
For the last batch, Xu Shuang fried the pork in thin slices. When it was time to eat, she placed the crispy pork in a small bowl, poured over a spoonful of her specially mixed sauce, and then added a ladle of chicken soup from the pork stomach and chicken pot.
Just like that, they steamed it. The crispy coating, after being steamed, turned into a wrinkled shell enveloping the meat slices, soaking up the flavor of the broth and seasonings. The aroma was so rich, it left people dizzy with delight. When the steamed crispy pork was placed over rice or noodles, the sauce would seep down, making even the most ordinary staple food shine with appeal.
Wang Ying said, “If only we had lotus leaf buns, it would be perfect.”
Xu Shuang replied, “Can’t make them today, but I’ll make lotus leaf buns with steamed pork for the New Year’s Eve dinner.”
Wang Ying asked, “Don’t we have glutinous rice at home?”
Xu Shuang said, “I’ll find someone to trade for some.”
Wang Ying added, “Trade for more—we can use it to make yuanxiao (glutinous rice balls) too!”
Last year, they didn’t get to eat any tangyuan (sweet glutinous rice balls), and Wang Ying had regretted it for a long time.
Xu Shuang said, “Then I’ll trade for some peanuts too, to make the yuanxiao filling.”
Yuanxiao filled with sugar and crushed peanuts—just one bite was enough to fill the heart with sweetness.
Wang Ying said happily, “And ham!”
When Xu Shuang asked his martial uncle if he could buy ham, he immediately sent him a small ham weighing about ten jin (5 kg). When Xu Shuang brought it home, Wang Ying was overjoyed.
Ham! Though it wasn’t well-aged or large, it had been so long since Wang Ying had eaten ham!
Wang Ying was already lining up 180 recipes in her mind, eagerly anticipating the arrival of winter.
In the brigade, there was more than just wild boar hunting and pork distribution—this year they were also distributing sweet potato vermicelli.
The small plot where Qian Juhua raised pigs had produced a harvest of sweet potatoes, which yielded quite a bit of sweet potato starch. On a sunny day, they laid it out to dry and, just before the New Year, held a big vermicelli-making event.
They built a fire outdoors, borrowed a large pot from the educated youth center, and boiled water. One person filtered the starch into the boiling water with a large strainer, while another scooped the cooked vermicelli out and hung it on bamboo poles to dry. From that small plot of land, they made over 200 jin (100+ kg) of vermicelli.
Though the amount wasn’t huge, even including the educated youth, each household still got over a jin (half a kilo). It wasn’t much, but it made a good addition to meals.
Buying it would have cost several mao (tens of cents)!
Cabbage and pork stewed with vermicelli—the brigade’s own noodles were chewy and tasty. Eaten with a coarse grain bun, it filled people up so much they couldn’t walk!
Xu Shuang and Wang Ying were equally diligent in preparing for winter. First, they sent another package to Xu Ming—it had been two months since the last one. This time it included more items, mostly thick clothes and fewer food items.
Since Xu Granny got the sewing machine, she spent half the day at it nearly every day.
During this off-season from farming, many families wanted new clothes. In the past, everyone sewed at home, and those who wanted something new would go to the town tailor. This year was different—with a sewing machine in the brigade, many people brought materials and asked Granny Xu for help.
Granny Xu was more than happy to oblige. For a small favor, she could earn one or two eggs, and the family’s egg supply quickly became abundant.
The clothes made for Xu Ming were extra thick. The rabbit hides Xu Shuang had saved up were now put to use. Granny Xu turned the hides inside out—fur on the inside, leather on the outside—with a thin layer of cotton and a thick layer of coarse fabric on top.
When Xu Shuang tried it on, she said it was almost too hot.
But Granny Xu was reassured. “Hot is good! It gets really cold over there. I heard on the radio the temperature can drop below minus twenty degrees. He has to dress warmly.”
After sending off the package to Xu Ming, Xu Shuang began visiting relatives ahead of time.
Last year, he had just gotten married and didn’t need to make the rounds—plus, many relatives had come to him. This year, he had to formally pay visits. He prepared gifts and, together with Wang Ying, first visited Aunt Su (Granny Su), his eldest aunt. Their families were close, and Xu Shuang knew their harvest hadn’t been great this year, so he brought two jin of pork and two big fish.
Granny Su returned the favor with a handful of hawthorn berries, half a basket of oranges, and a bundle of dried beancurd sticks.
Xu Shuang tried to decline several times but failed, so he had to take them home.
Most of the close relatives had already been visited at the wedding, so Xu Shuang and Wang Ying made their rounds. Finally, Wang Ying remembered something.
“Aren’t we going to visit your third aunt’s family? I remember her daughter came to your wedding, right?”
That girl’s name was Sun Mei. Wang Ying remembered her clearly. At the time, Granny Xu had tried to introduce her, but the girl had looked down her nose at Wang Ying.
“My third aunt lives in the county.”
Wang Ying was even more puzzled. They’d gone to the county many times—why hadn’t Xu Shuang mentioned her?
Xu Shuang replied, “We’re not very close. We didn’t even invite them to the wedding.”
She didn’t hide anything and told Wang Ying the full story of the family’s past.
In short, back when Granny Xu and her two sisters were unmarried, their family was too poor to support all three girls. One of them had to be sold.
Xu Shuang’s third aunt was cunning and somehow managed to push Granny Xu out instead. Granny Xu ended up in the city working as a servant. Later, she met Xu Shuang’s father and the two worked as indentured servants in a wealthy household.
From that point on, the three sisters’ relationship soured.
Granny Su, the eldest, had harshly disciplined the third sister for it.
Xu Shuang said, “So my third aunt hasn’t come back in a long time, and my mom hasn’t had any contact with her either.”
Wang Ying nodded—if they were estranged relatives, then there was no need to worry.
Winter arrived a bit late this year, but everyone’s hearts were full of warmth and excitement.
The brigade distributed a lot of pork this time, along with the wild boar meat from hunts, and fruits like jujubes and apples, plus vermicelli. When people had free time, they could even go to the brigade to listen to the radio! Even the educated youths, who often complained about how hard rural life was, were all smiles.
“Our brigade is the best among all the communes nearby!”
“No other brigade has a radio to listen to!”
“I heard the Lazybones Commune has already started trouble, complaining about the amount of relief grain they got.”
“Let them! I say our brigade has the best life.”
“Hehe, maybe come the new year, it’ll be easier for the young men here to find wives.”
“That’s for sure. When life’s good here, of course people will want to marry into our brigade!”
…
Wang Ying also rarely had such a relaxed time, spending her days lazing around at home, listening to the radio and eating. Xu Shuang spent even more time at home, cooking every day. The two of them even went up the mountain once more. Since they had already prepared a lot of food this year, they only caught ten big fish this time.
Wang Ying also sent some dried vegetables and goods to Cheng Yu’s family. Although Cheng Shufen wasn’t allocated any pork in the distribution, Qian Juhua generously gave a portion of her own share to Cheng Shufen and her daughter.
Compared to last year, Cheng Yu had shot up by half a head. She already looked like a young lady, though her personality was still quite childish.
Wang Ying paid Cheng Yu in actual money, so even though Cheng Yu didn’t seem to have much on the surface, she already had several dozen yuan in her hands.
Most of that money came from the medicinal herbs she had found in the mountains—like the snake she had caught earlier, which Wang Ying paid her five yuan for. Another portion was wages Wang Ying paid her for helping to look after the herb fields.
This year, since Cheng Shufen had arrived, she had behaved properly and quietly. To most people in the brigade, she was like a transparent person.
Cheng Shufen was happy to be treated that way. Tian Youfu also allocated her some grain—not much, but with Cheng Yu catching wild animals in the mountains and help from Qian Juhua and Wang Ying, their days were quite comfortable.
Just like that, a few more days passed, and finally, the first snowfall of winter arrived.
