Starting a new chapter in life

The old woman came out of the house, and the young couple quickly followed. After walking for a while, they arrived at the innermost room of the scrap yard. The old woman took out a key from her waist and opened the door, putting her hands into her sleeves. "Go in and pick out your things. No rush, take your time. Don't listen to that old man. It's not that cold yet, it's not that cold."

He Zhijun and Jing Yan thanked the old woman and went into the house. The house was very tidy, with rows of shelves, each with four shelves, and the items on them were clearly visible. The two walked past each shelf.

Before even seeing the barbecue grill, Jingyan spotted a copper pot with a charcoal fire inside—a genuine old Beijing hot pot! It wasn't small either; it could easily feed three or four people.

Jingyan grabbed He Zhijun and pointed to the copper pot: "Zhijun, we can take this back and have hot pot, like mutton hot pot."

He Zhijun looked up and saw it, then reached out and took the pot off the shelf: "I'll take it."

Jingyan continued her search, and after walking more than halfway, she finally saw a lonely barbecue grill. It was dark inside, and the support underneath was missing, but the grill mesh inside was there, so it hadn't been lost. Jingyan noted the location down and continued walking, but she couldn't find another suitable grill in the end, so she had to turn back.

"What's wrong? Is there nothing wrong? Or is this not right?" He Zhijun asked, puzzled.

“This grill is perfect. It’s long and slender, just the right length to put the meat skewers on. It can grill several at once. But it should have a stand, otherwise I can’t squat on the ground to grill them. I’d be exhausted.” Jing Yan frowned.

He Zhijun looked at it and laughed, "A support frame to hold this up is easy to make. I'll make it and bring it back later. It's just a few iron rods, we can pull and weld them together. Just tell me how high you want it, and we'll take it with us."

Jingyan nodded and took the copper pot from his hand: "This looks quite dirty. Ask the old lady if she has any bags or anything to put it back for us, so we don't get our clothes dirty."

He Zhijun went to the door and asked, and the old lady gave him a urea bag, which looked quite clean. The two of them put the barbecue grill inside and then came out of the house.

The old woman saw what they were carrying, smiled, and asked, "Have you found them all?"

Jing Yan shook her head: "This oven is still missing a support, but the most important part, the oven itself, has been found."

The old woman glanced at the barbecue grill in the urea bag. "I don't even know what this thing is for. I didn't put it here, otherwise it wouldn't be here. It's just a few pieces of scrap metal. Who would have thought it was a grill? I don't even know what it looked like when I brought it in."

He Zhijun asked, "Grandma, do you have any iron rods or anything like that here? I can make a support to raise the stove myself, otherwise it's inconvenient to use."

The old woman shook her head: "If you had come last month, you could have looked around, but the steel mill just took away all the scrap iron a while ago. Apart from the finished products in this room, we don't have any iron left here."

"Thank you, ma'am. We'll take these two." He Zhijun raised the bags of urea in his hand.

The old lady locked the door, and the three of them returned to the entrance. The old man weighed the barbecue grill. "It's a little over fifteen pounds, I'll give you fifteen pounds. It's scrap metal, worth one yuan and fifty cents, but you know, this kind of thing is a bit more expensive for you to buy. I'll give you twenty-five yuan, how about that?"

He Zhijun nodded: "Okay."

The old man took the copper pot from Jingyan and said, "You two are good at this, you have sharp eyes. This is a genuine copper pot. The middle part is the inner pot, where you put the charcoal. I like you two, so I'll say a few more words. Don't think I'm being long-winded. When you add the charcoal, make sure it's level with the pot so you don't damage it. Don't put in too much, or the pot won't last long."

Jingyan quickly thanked him, "Grandpa, you like hot pot too?"

The old man chuckled: "I used to be from Beijing, where hot pot with mutton and fried dough sticks is the most popular thing in winter. Since I came here, I haven't had it for many years, so I don't know much about it. I just wanted this pot to last you a few more years. Alright, let's weigh it. Copper isn't cheap, it costs 20 yuan per jin. This pot of yours, wow, it weighs more than three jin. Hmm, the normal price would be 63 yuan, but this is the finished product, so I'll give you 70 yuan, that's not too much, right? It's 95 yuan in total."

Jingyan reluctantly counted the money and handed it over. The old man took it, counted it again, and said with a smile, "Alright, you can go back now."

He Zhijun carried the urea bags, and Jing Yan hugged the copper pot. The two walked home together. Jing Yan said with some regret, "These two things cost almost a hundred, and I still have more than two hundred left. I want to buy bricks to build a chicken coop and I also want to buy a second-hand bicycle. When I think about it, money really doesn't last long."

“I’ll get the subsidy soon. You can still get it for three months before the New Year, which is 150 yuan. That should be enough to buy a bicycle. You can use the 200 yuan you have to buy bricks, pork, mutton, fruit and stuff. It should be enough for the New Year. I’ll get another allowance after the New Year, so don’t worry, it’ll be enough,” He Zhijun comforted him gently.

"Hmm, do you want to invite your comrades over for the New Year?" Jing Yan changed the subject.

"I'll ask around later. If they're inviting someone, it'll just be our battalion commander. We don't need to prepare anything special."

"Given your battalion commander rank, why aren't your families allowed to accompany you on military missions?"

“Oh, his wife had to stay in their hometown to take care of his parents, so she didn’t come with us. But I heard recently that his parents wanted to separate the family property. After the separation, they would live with their eldest son, and then the battalion commander’s wife could bring the children to join him,” He Zhijun explained.

"Okay, then I'll prepare the ingredients in advance. When we have hot pot, I'll also get some grilled meat skewers. Oh, should we prepare some baijiu (Chinese liquor)?"

"Hmm, two bottles should be enough."

"Good~"

Two days later, He Zhijun's vacation ended. During these two days, Jing Yan really lived up to her reputation of being waited on hand and foot. In short, when he was at home, Jing Yan didn't need to clean or cook at all. Before he left, he told her, "My next vacation should be in mid-December. If there's anything you need to buy that's heavy, you can wait for me to come back and we can go together, just like this time. You don't have a bicycle, and it's too tiring for you to carry things around."

After watching He Zhijun leave, Jingyan locked the door before returning to her knitting business. Cooking for one person was always easy; she could make noodles with gravy, or dumpling soup, and occasionally steam rice and stir-fry some vegetables—a perfectly acceptable meal.

During this period, Jingyan only steamed buns once, and they weren't as good as her fourth sister's. Her fourth sister's steamed buns were smooth and glossy, with a uniform color and a strong wheat aroma. But what kind of thing did she steam? The surface was uneven, with patches of yellow and white. It was okay to eat, but the yellow parts were a little sour. Was it because the old dough wasn't kneaded properly?

Given her complete incompetence in making noodles, Jingyan made a painful decision: she would go to the cafeteria next year to learn the tricks of making steamed buns from Chef Lin. She hadn't studied it before because she had her fourth sister to rely on, and she could buy steamed buns outside in the future. But it seemed that for at least a few years, she would have to do this herself and learn it.

When she was more than halfway through knitting her sweater, He Chunni arrived. This time, it was still dark when she knocked on the door. Fortunately, there was a rope at the gate with a copper bell attached to the other end hanging at the doorway. This was set up by her fourth brother-in-law when they moved in. He felt that the house was too far from the gate, and if someone came looking for her, they might not be able to hear her knocking and it would disturb the neighbors. This rope came in handy.

Hearing the bell, Jingyan struggled to crawl out of her warm bed, casually put on her cotton trousers and coat, and went to the front door, asking softly, "Who is it?"

"Hey, little sister, it's me, He Chunni. Can you open the door? I brought some meat." He Chunni's voice came from inside.

Jingyan bent over and peered through the crack in the gate. Although it wasn't very bright, she could still vaguely see that He Chunni was the only person outside. She quickly pushed the stick by the door back and unlocked it with her key. Sure enough, there was only He Chunni standing by the cart, her face red from the cold. She quickly helped her push the cart into the yard, locked the gate, and then took her hand and led her into the house.

"Sister He, why are you here so early? It's so dark and you're all alone. Aren't your family worried? It's so cold. Look how cold you are. Come inside and warm up."

He Chunni didn't refuse and followed her into the house. The house was hot, and she shivered the moment she entered. After sitting on the sofa and holding a enamel mug of hot water, she calmed down a bit and stammered:

"The original plan was for my man and me to come out together, and we didn't expect it to be this early. But plans can't keep up with changes. During this period, several production teams in the surrounding area have been slaughtering pigs for the New Year. Some families have relatives in the city, and since they have extra pork, everyone is thinking of exchanging it for some money."

But a couple of days ago, the people from the Seventh Company were caught delivering meat to the city. I don't know which bastard reported them. Luckily, they weren't delivering much that day, less than 30 jin (15 kg) of meat, and they said it was for relatives for the New Year. Fortunately, that relative has some connections, and they managed to get them out of trouble.

As for whether the meat was confiscated, we haven't found out yet. We were quite scared when we heard about it. The team leader originally thought that we wouldn't sell any this year, and that each family could just buy some to use up. If that didn't work, we could take it to the market. Although it was far away, at least it would be safe.

But I promised you before, meat is hard to buy during the Spring Festival. I figured everyone would be sleeping anyway, so I left early and didn't wander around. Your place is nearby, so it's relatively safe. I only made this trip. After it gets light, I'll deliver the meat that Sister Gao ordered from me to her house and then go back. Safety first.”

Jingyan picked up a pair of cotton slippers and placed them on the ground, looking shocked. "I thought the checks hadn't been so strict lately, but it's changed again. Sister He, you've really had a hard time this time. Change your shoes first, and warm these cotton slippers on the radiator. You haven't had breakfast yet, have you? I usually have dumpling soup in the morning. Let's have some together to warm up."

Sister He thought about refusing, but before she could say anything, Jing Yan had already gone to the kitchen. He Chunni's cotton shoes were a little wet, and her feet were already numb with cold. After hesitating for a moment, she changed her shoes. There were many places with snow on the way. It didn't feel like much outside, but once the snow melted inside, it was impossible for her shoes not to get wet. She put her shoes under the radiator, reached out and touched them. Hmm, the heat came on.

The stove in the kitchen was kept lit before bedtime; a little poking and it was ignited. Meanwhile, water was boiling. Jingyan deftly kneaded dough balls and used cabbage leaves as a soup base. Once the water boiled, she poured it into a thermos, then heated oil in a wok to sauté the cabbage leaves. After adding water and bringing it to a boil, she tossed in the dough balls. When they were almost cooked, she cracked in two eggs and stirred them, creating beautiful egg ribbons. She added salt and chopped green onions, and as she took the pot off the heat, she added two drops of sesame oil. Done!

Jingyan filled two large soup bowls and brought them to the living room, saying to He Chunni, "Sister He, wash your hands and eat. Eating is the most important thing in the world."

He Chunni quickly stepped forward to take a bowl, placed it on the table, and washed her hands in the basin of water in the living room. The two of them slurped down the dumpling soup, and after eating, their bodies warmed up. "That big nylon bag on the truck contains your half-pig. No coupon needed. Good meat is 1.2 yuan, and bones are 0.8 yuan. Since you have meat and bones, the team leader said to calculate it as 1 yuan per jin. You have a little over 35 jin, so it'll be 35 yuan." As she spoke, she got up to go out and get it.

Jingyan immediately pressed her down onto the sofa. "I'll go get it. You wait in the room." Soon, Jingyan came in carrying a multicolored nylon bag. "Is this it?"

He Chunni nodded: "Yes, this bag is yours."

“I saw a smaller bag in the car. Did Sister Gao order that? And what about the loose ones? Are you planning to sell them around here?” Jingyan asked her.

“I was thinking that if Sister Gao’s neighbors wanted some, I could sell some too. It’s not easy for me to come all this way, so I might as well sell a little bit.”

"Then I'll go ask Chen Xinyue if she wants to keep some."

"Okay, then thank you for your help." He Chunni was very grateful.

Jingyan looked at the sky gradually brightening, glanced at her watch—6:40—and thought that wasn't too early... Oh well, whatever, she'd knock on the door first. If the person wasn't up, then she guessed she was out of luck with the pork.

She tried knocking on the front door, thinking that it wouldn't be easy to open it from the outside. She looked around the doorknob and sure enough, she saw a thin rope. She tried pulling it, and a dog barked from inside, which startled Jingyan. She didn't seem to have seen any dogs in her house before.

Immediately afterwards, the sound of someone coming out was heard, and the barking of the dogs stopped. The door opened, and a man who looked to be in his thirties stood inside, his eyes filled with hostility: "Who are you looking for? What brings you here so early?"

Jingyan was a little scared, but she still managed to keep her composure and said, "Hello, I'm your next-door neighbor. I know Chen Xinyue. My sister from the company came to visit me today and brought some local products, but she's in a hurry to go back, so I thought I'd come over and ask Sister Chen if she wanted to take a look. Well, it's a bit early."