Starting a new chapter in life

Jing Yan tiptoed to his side and whispered in his ear, "Grandpa, did you like it?"

The deep, resonant voice startled the old man, who was in a light sleep, causing him to spring up from his recliner. Jing Yan nimbly jumped back a step and patted her chest, saying, "That was close, I almost bumped into him."

The old man glared at Jingyan with eyes blazing with anger: "You brat, are you trying to scare this old man to death?"

"I was speaking softly because I was afraid of scaring you," Jing Yan retorted stubbornly. "I didn't expect you to be so timid. I scared you."

The old man was really hanging there, nothing seemed right, and he was too lazy to argue with her: "What are you doing here again? Buying meat again?"

Jing Yan shook her head repeatedly: "I just got back from setting up my stall. I brought you and Section Chief Zhou some of my braised meat. I've been buying meat here all the time, but I haven't let you try my cooking yet."

He Zhijun handed over two brown paper packages. The packages, soaked in braising liquid, emitted the aroma of braised meat. The old man swallowed hard: "Are you giving this to me for free?"

Jing Yan glared at him: "Of course I won't accept money for what I brought. Just a friendly suggestion, it's perfect as a snack with drinks."

The old man took the two bags: "Is the other bag Zhou Xuyang's?"

Jing Yan nodded, "Yes." Looking at his eyes again, Jing Yan felt a little worried: "You're not planning to keep it all for yourself, are you?"

"How could that be? Am I that kind of person?" The gatekeeper firmly denied having such thoughts.

“Alright, I believe you. Well then, sir, we’ll head back now. I’ll come back to buy meat next month.” Jingyan waved to him, and the old man waved his palm-leaf fan dismissively, “See you later.”

He Zhijun pushed the cart and watched Jing Yan's light and bouncy steps, and laughed, "Are you happy? We didn't sell out again today. I thought you would be unhappy."

"It's good to be able to earn money. One should be content. I'm happy because I used to come to the meat shop early, and the old man would always help me carry the meat. Although I never came empty-handed, I always felt I should show my appreciation. Today I showed my appreciation, and I feel relieved. Of course I'm happy."

“You’re someone who doesn’t like to rely on personal connections, which is a good personality trait,” He Zhijun said, expressing his support.

Back at the meat processing plant, the gatekeeper watched the young couple leave, smelling the aroma emanating from the paper package. He really wanted to eat it, but remembering that the girl had said it was a snack to go with drinks, he forced himself to resist. Normally, given his personality, Zhou Xuyang's meat would be his own, and he could take it for granted. However, considering that the meat the girl brought was mainly for that kid, and he was just getting a free meal, he had no choice but to endure it.

Fortunately, Zhou Xuyang came out of the meat processing plant not long after. "Master, I'm going home now. Hasn't your wife brought you dinner yet?"

"Wait a minute," the old man called out to him. Zhou Xuyang obediently went to the guardhouse. "What's the matter, sir?"

"Look, Zhang girl brought these over today. One package each for us. She said it's homemade braised meat, and she wanted us to try it." As she spoke, she handed over a brown paper package.

Zhou Xuyang took the package and turned to leave, but suddenly a thought struck him. Looking at the two untouched bags, he thought for a moment, then sat down at the table and opened his own bag. "How about we, father and son, try her cooking together?"

The old man was immediately satisfied. He sat down on another stool, looked at the open paper package revealing the ribs, and reached out to take a piece. "Hmm, flavorful, delicious. No wonder that girl said this is perfect as a snack with alcohol, it's very tasty."

Zhou Xuyang also tried a piece and nodded in agreement: "It's really delicious, no wonder they dare to set up a stall there."

However, he was not short of food and not greedy. Seeing that his master liked it, he only tried two pieces and then stopped: "I appreciate your kindness. You know how to do things for others. Consider the rest as my way of showing respect to my master. I'll head back now. You shouldn't eat any more; it's too salty. When your master's wife arrives, you can all eat together."

Hearing this, the old man stopped what he was doing and wrapped the paper package up again: "Yes, yes, wait for your master's wife to come."

Zhou Xuyang didn't delay any longer. He said goodbye to his master and left the meat processing plant directly. The old man returned to his recliner and leisurely waited for his wife to bring him food.

By mid-June, when it was time to make the soy sauce, on the 18th day of the fourth lunar month, Jingyan took out a piece of the soy sauce dough that had been left to air dry in the warehouse. She dug a hole in the corner and looked inside. Hmm, it really did have mold spots. Although it was different from what her fourth sister had made before, it should still be usable... right?

I was really worried. I wasn't afraid of making the sauce badly, but I was afraid that it might become poisonous. If someone got sick from eating it, it would be a huge loss. After hesitating for a while, I still took the sauce dough and gritted my teeth to knock on Aunt Qi's door.

Aunt Qi was also preparing to make soy sauce at home. In Northeast China, soy sauce is usually made today or in ten days. Although the reason is unknown, everyone follows this practice. Jingyan handed over her soy sauce base: "Aunt Qi, can you take a look at my soy sauce base? Is the mold on it right? Why is it a bit blackish-green? I remember my fourth sister used to make it with white mold."

Aunt Qi took it and looked at it, then nodded: "The color of the mold spots is correct, but the mold on yours isn't quite there yet. Is it too early? It's usable, but the sauce might not be as fragrant as it is if it's been left to ferment for a while. Don't worry, it won't spoil. Just be more diligent in making the sauce later, and dry it in the sun when it's sunny. Make sure it doesn't get rained on, or maggots will grow. Although it's still edible, it'll still bother you."

Jingyan took the dough, nodded repeatedly in agreement, sincerely thanked Aunt Qi, and went home to continue. Since it was said to be usable, she could work with peace of mind. As for the taste, well, she'd leave it to fate.

Clean the mold off the fermented soybean paste, crush it, throw it into the fermented soybean jar, add water and coarse salt, mix well, cover the jar with gauze, and then put the lid on. Move the jar to the backyard against the north wall. This location will receive at least six hours of sunlight on sunny days. Hang the pestle on the inside of the jar for easy access every day.

After that, Jingyan remembered to pound the soy sauce every day, 300 times a day, counting with great enthusiasm. However, on the second day, she found that the gauze covering the soy sauce vat was too light and easily blown away by the wind. She rummaged around in the storeroom and finally found a few large nuts. She washed them with water and tied them directly to the four corners of the gauze. This time, the weight was enough, and she could safely open the lid of the soy sauce vat and start drying the soy sauce.

At the end of the month, Gao Mei came to find her: "Jingyan, come with me to my mother-in-law's house to get some vegetable seedlings."

"So fast? I remember we only started planting vegetables this month, and they're already sprouting?" Jingyan asked. Although she asked, her hands were still...

“The seedlings of cabbage don’t take long to sprout. My mother-in-law started sowing them at the beginning of the month, and this is the first thinning. In another half month to a month, there will be a second thinning. This is a normal speed. Sister, didn’t you grow vegetables at home before?” Gao Mei expressed her doubt.

Jingyan touched her nose somewhat awkwardly: "When I was at home, my fourth sister took care of all these things. I really didn't pay much attention. I just had to follow her instructions. She rarely let me do this kind of work."

“Your fourth sister really spoils you. I can only be lazy at my husband’s house and pick up ready-made seedlings to plant. Before I got married, my sister and I did all this work at my parents’ house. The men in the family had to go out to earn work points, and we women had to take care of everything inside and outside the house. After we finished the housework, we also had to go to the fields to earn work points.” Gao Mei shook her head, still feeling bitter when she thought about the old days.

"Sister Gao, aren't you from the city?" Jing Yan had always thought Gao Mei was a local from Jiang City.

Gao Mei shook her head: "I'm not from the Great Northern Wilderness. My family is from a rural area in Jilin Province. There are five of us siblings in my family. With so many children, life was tough, but no matter how difficult it was, my parents always managed to support all five of us through our schooling."

When we took the junior high school entrance exam, only my third brother and I passed. The others who didn't pass stayed home to earn work points to support our schooling. Just as I was about to graduate, we encountered a three-year drought, a time when people could literally starve to death.

Fortunately, I met a classmate in junior high school. Her family was very well-off. When we graduated from junior high, in response to the national call to support rural development, her family had to send one child. Her parents couldn't bear to give up either of them, so they announced at school that whoever was willing to take their daughter's place in the rural area would receive a sum of money from her family.

"So, you went to the countryside in her place?" Jingyan asked knowingly.

Gao Mei nodded: "There's money to be made. The reason others are unwilling is because they are city kids, their families can make ends meet no matter what, and they've never done farm work. But I'm a country kid. What others worry about is very common for me."

Her family gave me four hundred yuan, enough for my eldest and second eldest brothers to get married, and enough to buy a lot of food to get through the food shortage. It was such a good deal. My parents told me that I had earned back all the money they had spent on raising me and sending me to school, so I didn't need to do anything for the family after I went to the countryside. They said that it was already a disservice to them that they couldn't help me.

I was sent to a farm under Jiang City. At that time, the subsidies for rural areas, especially farms and forestry farms, were high—a resettlement fee of 400 yuan. My family didn't keep this money for me; I took it all with me. Back then, the places that gave that much money were truly tough, but I adapted quite well.

Later, by chance, I met my current husband, married him, and transferred my household registration to Jiang City. Later, when the Hongqi Community Street office was hiring, I passed the exam and got the job. I've been working there for almost eight years now, and I'm likely to advance further in my career; I've been promoted quite quickly.

"So what year did you go to the countryside?" Jingyan asked curiously. She had a rural household registration and didn't need to go to the countryside. After all, her home was in the countryside, and all the educated youth went to their area. Why would she need to go out herself?

"1961 was the most difficult time, with drought everywhere. But things were alright here. I've never gone hungry since I came here. It's just tiring, but we have the whole winter to rest, so it's not bad."

“I was only six years old that year. My memory is of being hungry. I would pick up a corn kernel on the road and stuff it directly into my mouth. But it seems like I wasn’t hungry for long, so my memory is not very deep. The only memory I have is of a child eating yellow paper at the door. I was curious why they would eat paper when they had food. Later I found out that it was dried tofu. I had never seen it before, so I didn’t know. Thinking about it now, it’s quite funny,” Jing Yan said.

The two arrived at Gao Mei's in-laws' house amidst reminiscing about the past hardships. Jing Yan took a closer look and saw that the yard was indeed large, with a lush green vegetable garden that looked very pleasing. Gao Mei smiled at the old lady squatting in the yard and said, "Mom, I'm back." After greeting her, she pushed open the gate and invited Jing Yan in.

The old lady looked up when she heard the voice, saw the two people enter, smiled and responded, then stood up: "Meizi is back. Is this the Xiao Zhang you were talking about?"

Jingyan greeted her in return, "Hello, Auntie, I'm sorry to trouble you."

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all. My yard is big, and I can cut out quite a few rooms. If I don't give them to you, I'll give them to someone else."

"It's fate that you and Xiaomei get along so well. We have a wide variety of vegetables; just tell Auntie what you want, and I'll cut the strongest seedlings for you."

"Thank you, Auntie," Jingyan said.

"Mom, Jingyan doesn't have many requirements about what to plant, so just prepare a portion for her as I did for her." Gao Mei didn't stand on ceremony at all.

The old lady was very happy: "That makes things simple. Your portion is already prepared, and the third son's portion is also ready. You can just take the third son's portion and I'll prepare his portion later. Anyway, they live close by."

"Thank you, Mom. I won't stand on ceremony. I'll go back and plant the seedlings as soon as possible, and I'll come to see you again when I have a holiday in a few days."

"Okay, take your time on the way back. These seedlings need to be planted within three days. When you get back, put them in a shallow basin of water so they don't run dry. If any of them don't survive, come back and get as many as you need." The old lady instructed again.

After saying goodbye to the old lady, Gao Mei accompanied Jing Yan home first and personally helped her divide the planting areas before she went home to do her own work with peace of mind.

The yard doesn't look very big, but it was actually quite a task. It took two days to finish planting the seedlings. We connected the water pipe to the tap, put the seedlings in the furrows to irrigate them, and only turned off the water when we felt they were almost ready.

Rubbing her aching back, which was almost too sore to straighten, Jingyan gritted her teeth and moved back into the house. She took off her outer clothes and threw herself onto the quilt, grabbed a corner of the quilt and covered herself up. Soon she fell into a deep sleep.

I slept until almost 10 a.m. the next day, and I was woken up by hunger. My back ached terribly, like it was about to fall apart. I struggled to sit up, looked at the undergarments I was still wearing, and sighed, "I really miss the bathhouses of the 1980s. If I could get a scrub, it would be so relaxing. And if I could have a sauna too... ugh, I can't think about it, the more I think about it, the more uncomfortable I feel."

She got up, boiled water in the steamer, and prepared to take a bath. It wasn't just a simple wash as usual; she was determined not to stop until she had scrubbed herself clean. After boiling the water, she took out the loofah, scrubbing cloth, and brought in the largest iron basin from the storeroom. This basin was originally used to wash bed sheets and duvet covers, but this time she planned to use it as a temporary bath tub.