Starting a new chapter in life

Jingyan carefully examined each kitchen knife, lifting it to test its weight, and checking the sharpness of the blade and the thickness of the body. To be honest, she didn't have much experience with these things. She chose one that felt good in her hand and put it aside. Just as she was about to pay, she glanced at a dagger placed on the far side.

I held them in my hand and examined them. The blades were very sharp. If I were selling them at a stall, they would cost a whole pound. They would be perfect for cutting. I could also carry a kitchen knife with me. It just felt a bit... scary. This one was much more understated. I was satisfied with the two I chose and said to the salesperson, "Comrade, I'll take these two. Please give me the receipt."

The salesperson quoted a price: "Four industrial invoices, twenty yuan."

Jingyan gave them the money, which slid back and forth between them. She then put the two knives into her basket. "Comrade, which counter can I buy oil paper? The kind used to wrap food."

"How many sheets do you want to buy? We don't sell them individually; a bundle of one hundred sheets costs five cents."

"May I take a look?" Jing Yan asked.

The sales clerk gestured towards the notebook counter: "Go ask over there."

Jing Yan smiled and thanked him, then went to the stationery counter: "Excuse me, do you sell kraft paper here? Could I see how thick and how big it is?"

The sales clerk lazily glanced at her, then turned and took a stack of kraft paper from the shelf, placing it on the counter: "Look, this bundle has a hundred sheets, fifty cents."

Jingyan checked the thickness of the paper and was quite satisfied. It was fine for wrapping braised meat. If anyone wanted some broth to cook at home, they could bring their own container. Otherwise, she would wrap the braised meat separately. The paper was large enough that cutting it in half shouldn't be a problem.

"Then I'll buy one bundle first, thank you." After saying that, she handed the money to the salesperson, and casually picked up the brown paper. When she passed the seasoning section, she paused slightly, but then remembered that the seasonings she had left at home could probably be used twice more, so she suppressed her desire to buy more. The money in her bag was running out, and she couldn't spend it recklessly anymore. She would see how much purchasing power the market had. As long as she could sell it, she would get her money back.

He turned and left the supply and marketing cooperative, going straight home. He spent the whole day soaking, washing, blanching, and stewing the meat. By the time the last pot of braised meat was taken off the heat, He Zhijun had already gone home.

As soon as he entered the door, he was shocked to see three large basins and a steamer in the kitchen, all filled with meat soaking in braising liquid: "How much meat have you prepared? How come there's so much?"

Jingyan tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear: "It weighs a total of sixty jin, including bones and meat. I originally thought it wouldn't be too much, but when I actually started cooking, I realized it's quite a lot. My assessment was wrong. I used all the seasonings that I thought I could use twice this time."

"If we don't have enough seasonings, I'll go buy some tomorrow morning," He Zhijun said.

Jingyan shook her head: "This is enough. Tomorrow is the first weekend of the month, and there's a big market. I'll go and try selling some. If it works well, I'll buy more seasonings. If it doesn't, I'll give up and stay home. I've already spent almost all the money I have. I don't want to touch your savings account."

He Zhijun patted her head: "It doesn't matter whether it works out or not. My allowance will increase later, so don't put too much pressure on yourself. I'll go with you tomorrow. What time do we leave?"

“I plan to get up at five o’clock, leave at six o’clock, and get there around seven or eight o’clock, which is when people are coming and going. We won’t make breakfast. We’ll go to the market and see if there’s anything for sale and buy some. If not, you can go to the state-run restaurant and get some for yourself. Is that okay?” Jingyan discussed with him.

“Okay, I’ll do as you say. Let’s have something simple for dinner tonight. How about I cook some noodles?” He Zhijun asked.

"We can use the braising liquid from the braised pork to cut a few slices of braised pork belly. If it tastes good, we can tell the people who buy braised pork tomorrow that we can make this dish as a side dish with drinks, and we can use the braising liquid to make noodles. It's such a good deal."

"Does the braising liquid cost money?" He Zhijun asked.

"Of course I can't accept money, consider it a gift. Chef Lin said he can make it into a fine-grained braising liquid, which gets better with age, but I don't have the skill. I'm afraid that if I don't make the fine-grained braising liquid properly, it will spoil and taste bad, which would be worse."

"But this braising liquid is also a good thing; all the flavor is in it. We can't use that much ourselves, and it would be a waste to throw it away. If we use it as a free gift, it could even boost the sales of braised meat." Jing Yan happily shared her idea, feeling that her business strategy was perfect.

“What if everyone wants the broth? We might not have enough to go around. What should we do? First come, first served? What if all the broth is gone and there’s leftover braised meat?” He Zhijun pointed out the weak point of the matter.

Jing Yan… “I hadn’t thought about it.”

"How about we set a fixed quantity? Like, buy a pound and get a few spoonfuls of braising sauce for free?" He Zhijun suggested.

Jingyan thought it was feasible. He Zhijun made noodles, and Jingyan went to estimate how to make them. In the end, they decided to give away two spoonfuls of braising sauce for every pound of noodles sold, and that they could just bring the spoons with them before leaving tomorrow.

She put the noodles into a bowl, added some noodle soup, poured the gravy over the noodles, added a few slices of braised pork belly, and finally added some chili oil. It was quite fragrant, which gave Jingyan even more confidence.

"Oh right, I bought two knives today. Our kitchen knife isn't good for cutting bones; it's gotten a bit dull. You can check if the ones I bought are any good. The supply and marketing cooperative doesn't have many styles of kitchen knives, so I didn't know how to choose. I just picked the heaviest one." After finishing her meal, Jingyan remembered the knives and brown paper still in her basket.

He Zhijun followed the direction she pointed and took out the knife and the kraft paper from the basket. He looked at the knife first and couldn't help but nod: "This should be fine. It's thick enough and won't easily chip. Use it for now. I'll sharpen it for you if it gets too dull."

Jing Yan smiled and nodded, put the washed noodle pot and bowls into the cupboard, took out the scale, carefully washed the copper plate, dried the water stains, and said to He Zhijun, "Can you use this new knife to help me separate the ribs and big bones? It weighs several dozen pounds. If you get tired, I'll do it. We can take turns. I'll weigh a pound of ribs first and see what size kraft paper is suitable for wrapping them. I'll cut out the kraft paper as well."

He Zhijun nodded, picked up the cleaver and got to work. Jing Yan also started cutting the kraft paper. A quarter of the kraft paper could hold a pound of ribs with some left over, and half of it was suitable for holding about two to two and a half pounds. She planned to cut half into one-pound portions and half into two-pound portions. She also found the hemp rope that she already had at home and brought it along.

Working together, the two chopped all the bones until late at night, about three hours later. Their arms were really sore. After the preparations were done, the bones were put back into the braising liquid to soak. After cleaning them up, they rested.

The next morning, He Zhijun woke up before five o'clock, got up and washed up, and slowly carried three large basins and a large pot onto the cart. The pot was fine because it had a lid, but the basin was not. It looked unclean when it was exposed. After thinking for a while, he took three lids from the earthenware jars in the storeroom, cleaned them in the kitchen, and put them on the basins. Although they were a bit big, they looked really good.

I went inside and woke Jingyan up. It was only 5:30 when she finished packing. She checked what she needed to bring: the dagger, the cutting board, the brown paper, the rope, and her small wallet was filled with change—thirty yuan in total. Everything was ready.

Oh, and bring a new towel and a military water bottle too, for washing hands, knives, and wiping the cutting board. The hygiene of food preparation must be very clean, otherwise some people with weak stomachs will get sick, and the little money you earn won't even cover their medical expenses. It's not worth it.

Jingyan locked the door, and He Zhijun pushed the cart towards the market. He Zhijun was strong, so pushing the cart was easy for him. They arrived at the market before seven o'clock, which was already bustling with people. Most of them were vendors selling their wares. Although they hadn't arrived late, others had arrived much earlier, and all the good spots were taken. They could only queue in the middle to back of the market.

Jingyan was preparing for her sale, and He Zhijun couldn't help her for the time being, so he went to the market manager to pay the stall fee. It was the first time the manager had ever seen someone voluntarily come to pay the fee; usually, he would collect it from each stall one by one after most of the vendors had arrived, and many would find various excuses not to pay or want to pay less.

He Zhijun's actions caught him off guard, but he was a man of the world and quickly regained his composure, asking, "Where is your stall located, and what do you sell? I'll make a record and give you a receipt. If anyone comes to collect stall fees from you later, just show them the receipt."

He Zhijun explained the approximate location and that this was his first time there. He was selling braised pork ribs made by his wife. The manager asked how much space he occupied, collected 50 cents, and handed him the receipt: "Okay, the market closes at 5 p.m. Before you leave, please clean up your stall and the surrounding area."

He Zhijun agreed and went back to the stall to find Jing Yan. By then, Jing Yan had already taken the bench off the cart. Although the cart was tilted a bit after it was put down, fortunately, the braising liquid did not spill out.

She first took out a clean plate, placed the cutting board on the side of the cart, scooped out two pieces of pork ribs from a basin with a spoon, removed the meat from the ribs on the cutting board, cut them into small pieces, put them on the plate, covered them with a piece of kraft paper, placed them on the lid of the jar, wiped the cutting board clean with a towel, and put it away. With the preparations complete, she waited quietly for the guests to arrive.

When He Zhijun returned, the stall hadn't opened yet. He went to Jing Yan's side and said softly, "I came from over there and saw that people had just started coming in. Our stall is at the back, so it shouldn't be too long. I couldn't find any ready-made food here. Give me your lunchbox. The state-run restaurant isn't far from here. I'll go buy some food. What do you want to eat?"

Jingyan took out the aluminum lunchbox and handed it to him: "I want to eat fried dough sticks and tofu pudding, with some chili oil. What do you want to eat?"

"I'll have steamed buns, two meat buns and two vegetarian buns. I'll buy you two fried dough sticks, is that enough?"

"That's enough, I'll get you the money and tickets." Jing Yan said, reaching for her small wallet, but He Zhijun pressed her hand down: "I have some on me, don't touch yours. You'll be settling accounts when we get back today, and if you touch it, it might not be accurate later."

Jing Yan withdrew her hand and nodded: "Okay, I'll listen to you."

After He Zhijun left, people started to arrive slowly. Jing Yan took the brown paper off the plate, picked up two toothpicks and casually stuck them into two pieces of meat. This was considered a tasting. After all, it wasn't cheap, and if people didn't get a taste, very few would dare to spend money to try it. She didn't expect to run into anyone like that.

Soon, a young girl and a middle-aged woman walked past the cart. After they had passed it, they turned back. The young girl pointed to the meat on the plate and asked, "Sister, what kind of meat is this? How much is it?"

Jingyan smiled at her: "These are pork ribs, braised, very fragrant. They're great with noodles, as a snack with drinks, or as a cold dish. Here, have a taste." She then picked up a toothpick with meat stuck in it and handed it to the little girl.

The little girl asked shyly, "Is this for me to eat?"

"Yes, let you try it. If you like it, then you can buy more." Jingyan handed the toothpick forward again.

The young girl glanced at the woman beside her, and seeing her nod, she blushed as she took the bamboo skewer. Although the meat wasn't much, it was indeed very flavorful. After tasting it, she nodded and handed the toothpick back to Jingyan: "It is indeed quite fragrant, but it's a bit too salty."

Jing Yan smiled and nodded: "This should be served as a cold dish or as an appetizer with drinks, and the flavor should be a bit stronger."

The woman hesitated for a moment, then asked, "How much is it?"

"Spare ribs and large bones are three yuan per jin, and pork belly is three yuan and fifty cents per jin," Jing Yan quoted.

"Can I have a piece too?" The woman didn't seem like the type to be greedy for small gains, and she sounded a little embarrassed as she said this: "Meat isn't cheap, and if I like what I eat, I'll definitely buy it. Can I have a piece?"

Jingyan handed her a toothpick, and she took it, ate the meat, and carefully tasted it. "It's really good. It just so happens that we have guests tonight, so this is perfect to go with drinks. I'll take two pounds of ribs and one pound of pork belly."

Jingyan took out the scale pan and placed it next to the cart. She pulled over a piece of brown paper and placed it on the scale pan. She used a slotted spoon to scoop up a few pieces of pork ribs, drained the broth, poured them into the scale pan, weighed them, added a few more pieces, and showed the scale pan to the woman: "Look, it's two jin. I'll give you a high weight if I weigh it."

The woman peeked at the scale beam, nodded, and Jingyan poured the ribs from the scale pan onto a large sheet of kraft paper. She quickly wrapped it up, tied it with hemp rope, and left a knot for carrying.

After weighing another pound of pork belly, I realized one piece weighed less than a pound. I cut off a little more on the cutting board to make up the weight, wrapped it up again, and handed the two paper packages to the woman: "Try to slice the pork belly as thinly as possible when you get home. It will look nicer on the plate, and each slice will taste better when you eat it."

"You can add a couple of slices when cooking noodles, it's delicious. By the way, do you have any containers for soup or broth? The broth from my braised pork is also great as a topping for noodles. If you buy a pound, you get a big spoonful of this broth for free. If you buy three pounds, you get three spoonfuls." Jingyan said, waving the soup ladle in her hand.

The woman said with a mix of joy and regret, "We didn't bring any lunchboxes or anything. Um, I'll go back and get them right away. Can I come back later to ask for the soup? Should I leave my daughter here? Otherwise, it'll be awkward if you forget about me."