Starting a new chapter in life

He Zhijun whispered back to her, "Chef Lin studied under a famous master."

Jingyan looked at him with bright eyes: "What do you know?"

He Zhijun coughed twice and whispered, "I heard it from Battalion Commander Gao. You can't tell anyone."

Jing Yan nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "I won't spread rumors, tell me quickly, tell me quickly."

"It is said that Chef Lin was an orphan. When he was seven or eight years old, he was begging on the street. A street vendor took pity on him and gave him a vegetable bun. After eating the bun, Chef Lin told the vendor that the tofu in the bun had a musty smell and asked him to check the ingredients."

The vendor initially didn't believe it, thinking his good intentions were being wasted and his business was about to be ruined. Just then, a passerby saw what was happening and bought a vegetable bun. The person immediately noticed the tofu tasted off. Since the customer had said so, the vendor had no choice but to check the ingredients. And sure enough, the tofu was a bit sticky. Guess who that customer was?

"Chef Lin's mentor?"

He Zhijun smiled and said, "That's right. That guest was from a famous imperial chef family in Jiangnan back then. In those turbulent times, let alone gourmet food, it was difficult to even fill one's stomach. But they still had a rich heritage and never had to worry about food and drink. Unfortunately, they had no successor. So, they met someone with a sensitive palate and took a liking to his talent, bringing him home to be their apprentice."

"and after?"

"Later, Chef Lin's name was given to him by his master. When he was sixteen or seventeen, he was considered to have completed his culinary apprenticeship. Later, he married his master's only daughter. Perhaps because they grew up together, they had a very close relationship. However, not long after their marriage, his master passed away due to illness. Two years later, his wife had a difficult childbirth, resulting in the death of both her and her unborn child."

Chef Lin was particularly saddened. Just then, the army was recruiting near his home, so he enlisted. He was initially in a reserve force, but later, when the Production and Construction Corps was established and needed to build a mess hall team, his background was recorded in his file. The leaders, seeing his culinary skills, transferred him there. And so, he stayed in that unit for almost ten years.

"Does Chef Lin not have a wife now?" Jing Yan asked curiously.

He Zhijun shook his head: "No, he took Xiao Zhou as his apprentice a few years ago, and he plans to have his apprentice support him in his old age. He probably doesn't want to find anyone else."

"Chef Lin is such a good man, but it's a pity that heaven doesn't bless good people. He suffered so much since he was a child, and just when things finally got better, he didn't get to enjoy good days for more than a few years. Sigh." Jing Yan sighed.

“In those days, there were many unfortunate people. When I was a child, my grandfather told me stories. He said that during that time, there was constant warfare, and many people did not know how long they would live. That was the most difficult time. After the country was founded, we had relatively passed through the most difficult period. We are very fortunate now, especially those with simple political backgrounds, who have an even better life.”

Jing Yan nodded: "Indeed, now as long as you are willing to work, you won't go hungry."

As they ate and chatted, listening to each other's stories for a while, Jingyan's sadness at parting gradually faded. He Zhijun smiled as he looked at the cheerful Jingyan again, "Are you full? Then let's go home!"

It was already 3 p.m. when they arrived in Jiang City. He Zhijun returned the car to the military base and paid the gas bill at the logistics department before leaving the base and taking Jingyan's hand to go home.

"Are you sleeping at home tonight? Don't you need to go back to the military base?" Jingyan asked.

"I took leave. I haven't lived in our new home since I arrived here. If I can go home, I definitely have to go back."

Jingyan was also very happy. On her way home, she happened to run into Gao Mei, who looked at Jingyan in surprise, then at He Zhijun, and asked, "Xiao Zhang, is this your husband?"

Jingyan introduced He Zhijun: "Zhijun, this is Sister Gao whom I told you about. We owe a lot of help to Sister Gao from renting a house to buying furniture. Sister Gao, this is my husband, He Zhijun."

He Zhijun greeted Sister Gao politely, and Sister Gao was very happy: "Young man, you are very energetic. By the way, Xiao Zhang, I was just thinking of coming to see you these past two days. Now that we've met, I'll just say it directly. Do you need to prepare winter vegetables? Vegetable farmers will be coming to the street office to deliver winter vegetables in the next day or two, such as cabbage, potatoes, radishes, and carrots. If you want to buy them, come early, or you might not have enough."

"We need to buy winter vegetables. I was just thinking about when to start today. How much will it cost? Do we need coupons?" Jingyan asked hurriedly.

"They're all coordinated by the community, so no coupons are needed. The prices aren't as affordable, though; they're a little more expensive than regular government procurement. But since no coupons are needed, it's still much cheaper than those places." Jing Yan knew that the place Gao Mei was talking about was the black market. Although she hadn't been there, she had heard of it. Many wealthy people without coupons would go there to buy things. Apart from being a little more expensive, well, there were still differences. After all, it was risky, and you could easily get caught.

"Cabbages are 15 cents each, about four pounds. They're sold by the head, so pick the biggest ones first. Red radishes are 20 cents each, carrots are a dollar a bag, about seven or eight pounds, and potatoes are two dollars a sack, probably about twenty pounds. In previous years, we've always bought them by the sack, so we've never weighed them specifically," Gao Mei quoted the prices.

"So how does everyone transport their goods home?"

"Go borrow a cart to take home yourself. Oh, you're new here, it might not be easy to borrow a cart. People usually won't lend you one unless you know them well." Gao Mei finally realized.

He Zhijun thought for a moment and then asked, "Sister Gao, are you also buying winter vegetables tomorrow?"

Gao Mei nodded: "Yes, I work in the neighborhood office, so I'm always among the first to select and purchase items every year."

"Well then, Sister Gao, could you please bring the groceries back to us after you've finished shopping? As you know, I'm a bit too busy with work to take care of my family, and Jingyan can't finish all the work by herself. If you could help, Sister Gao, could I give you the cotton and cloth coupons I received this month?" He Zhijun said, taking out the coupons from his pocket: two cloth coupons for five feet each and two cotton coupons for two catties each.

Gao Mei was embarrassed but also really tempted. Winter was just around the corner, and she and her husband didn't have many cotton coupons each year. Especially in the last two years, their son and daughter had grown up, and they were running out of rationed items like fabric and cotton. If they had other coupons, she could always find a way to exchange them, but cotton wasn't grown in Northeast China, so they had to buy it. Everyone was short of coupons, so there weren't any left for her to exchange. Four jin of cotton could make a jacket for each of her daughter and son. How could she not be tempted?

“The fabric is easy to find; the supply and marketing cooperative occasionally supplies defective fabric. But cotton coupons are precious, and your family needs them too. It would be too much of a burden to give them all to me. Besides, this is just to help with the moving; it’s a bit much.” Gao Mei was eyeing the cotton coupons, but she wasn’t planning to ask for an exorbitant amount.

He Zhijun's opinion of Gao Mei improved even more. "Jingyan has been bothering Sister Gao ever since she started looking for a house. We'll be staying here for a few more years, and there will be many more things we need to trouble you with. It's just two tickets. Sister Gao, you don't need to be so formal."

Gao Mei was even happier to hear this: "It's all part of my job. Besides, Xiao Zhang is a good person, and we get along well. Since you say so, I'll shamelessly accept it. It's just that my kids are all grown up now, and we really don't have enough cotton, haha~"

Gao Mei took the cloth coupons and cotton coupons and carefully put them into her pocket. She turned to Jing Yan and said, "Come to the subdistrict office at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. I'll take you to buy winter vegetables. After you've bought them, I'll have my husband and son deliver them to your home."

"Thank you, Sister Gao. I'll be there on time," Jing Yan replied.

When the couple arrived home, He Zhijun took out paper and pen and said, "Let's calculate how many winter vegetables we need to buy."

Jingyan looked at the jar by the kitchen door and said, "I'll pickle a jar of sauerkraut later. This jar is big enough to hold about twenty cabbages. We also need to store some cabbages in the cellar. Buying another thirty should be enough for the two of us. Next spring, I'll go to the canteen, and we'll only need to cook breakfast once a day at home. Then we'll need less food."

Potatoes, three sacks should be enough. Red radishes can be eaten as fruit in winter, can we buy more of those? Thirty? No, fifty, I guess. I'll probably use three to five for making meatballs for the New Year, and I'll need a lot for making steamed buns and other things later.

Two bags of carrots will do. You can add some to a cold dish as a side dish, or eat them as a snack. I don't plan to buy many, they tend to become pithy.

He Zhijun listened to Jing Yan reciting the numbers and casually wrote them down. As he looked at them, he felt something was off. "Why aren't there any seasonings like scallions, garlic, or ginger?"

Upon hearing this, Jing Yan thought about it carefully and realized that she really hadn't heard Gao Mei say anything. The two looked at each other, completely bewildered.

He Zhijun smiled as he thought about it: "It might be that it was missed or that it wasn't included when the community coordinated the distribution. The current amount is about 26 yuan. Take 50 yuan with you tomorrow. If there are other types of vegetables, buy them together. It's always better to bring more than less."

Zhang Jingyan went back into the house and took out her small bag. She first emptied the loose change into the table, then took out ten-yuan bills from a hidden compartment. After emptying the bag, she put it aside and prepared to count the money: "Besides the 1,500 yuan savings account in Dev back home, all our money is here. I remember it should be about 400 yuan. Let's count it again to find out the exact amount."

He Zhijun sat at the table, watching Jing Yan count the money like a money-grubber. After a while, Jing Yan breathed a sigh of relief and looked up at He Zhijun: "There's still 455.35 yuan left. I thought it was around 400 yuan. Tomorrow I'll hide 400 yuan at home and take the rest with me. If there's fruit for sale after I buy vegetables, I can buy some more fruit. But I don't have enough meat coupons. I only have three liang (150 grams) of meat coupons left."

He Zhijun also rummaged through his pockets and took out all the money and bills he had with him that day. "I still have some here, you can count them."

Jing Yan didn't stand on ceremony and checked the money: "Keep the thirty-five yuan with you. As for the grain coupons, I still have some. The grain my family bought should be enough to last me until the New Year. There are still about three months until the New Year, and you'll be getting more grain coupons later, so we don't need any. Do you have a three-jin sugar coupon? Hmm, give it to me. I'll go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy some brown and white sugar. You have three three-jin meat coupons here, but you won't need them at the canteen, so I'll keep them. That's all. The division is complete. You can put them away."

"Are you only buying brown sugar and white sugar? Aren't you going to buy some sugar cubes? If I don't have enough sugar coupons, I can exchange them with my comrades when I get back. Many of them aren't married yet, and I can exchange some of their coupons," He Zhijun asked.

Jing Yan got up and took out two large metal biscuit tins from the dressing table cabinet, handing them to He Zhijun. He took them with a bewildered look, opened the lids and saw, wow, one tin was almost full of fruit candies, and the other was half a tin of White Rabbit candies. "When did you get so many candies?"

“When we had our wedding, my parents brought these from Yangzhou. There were four jars of candy in total: two jars of fruit candy and two jars of White Rabbit candy. My fourth sister and I couldn’t bear to take out the White Rabbit candy, so we just used one jar of fruit candy. That’s how we saved them up. When we left home, I left one jar of White Rabbit candy for my fourth sister, and I brought the rest with me. I always carry a couple of handfuls in my pocket when I’m asking people for favors. I’ve used some, but we still have this much left, enough for us to eat until next spring. So we don’t need to buy any more candy.” Jingyan said with a sense of accomplishment.

He Zhijun laughed along with her, "Yeah, Jingyan is really good at managing money." He glanced at the sky, "What shall we eat tonight? I'll make it."

Jingyan stood up. "Let's eat together. My fourth sister made some scallion pancakes before she left. That should be enough for the two of us tonight. We can just stir-fry some shredded potatoes and roll them in the pancakes."

After the two had dinner, He Zhijun couldn't help but remind them: "Now that you have meat coupons, go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy some. Even if you're eating alone, don't just eat whatever you can find. Make sure you have a balanced diet. I married you so that you could live a good life with me. I can't help you much in life right now, but I can't skimp on your food. If there's anything you want to eat, even if it's hard to buy here, we can talk to my mom and have her mail it from Yangzhou."

Jingyan felt very comforted: "We're already living a good life, don't bother Mom and Dad with everything. When is your next vacation? I'll make you some bone broth."

"The next holiday will probably be at least half a month from now. Don't wait for me. You can eat at home by yourself. We'll cook again when I get back."

They'd said what needed to be said, eaten what needed to be eaten, and the night was getting longer. The young couple, separated for over a month, were definitely feeling like their honeymoon had begun. He Zhijun had already used up three of the raincoats he'd brought back from the army clinic...

When Jingyan woke up, He Zhijun had already left home to return to his unit. The kang (heated brick bed) was still warm, and she knew without a doubt that the stove had been used. She got out of bed lazily, slipped on her cotton slippers, and went to the kitchen. She saw a steamer on the stove. She opened the lid and found a salted duck egg, two sweet potatoes, and a bowl of white porridge inside. Looking at the breakfast, Jingyan smiled. It was good.

After washing up and having breakfast, I checked the time and it was already almost 7:40. I put on my coat, grabbed my small bag, and before leaving, I opened the cellar lid, locked the door, and went to the neighborhood office.

I thought I had arrived early enough, but to my surprise, there were already quite a few people waiting at the entrance. Some were carrying baskets, and others were pushing carts. It was quite a lively scene.