Traveling back to 1952, starting a comeback from a relief station

"Young man, I think your name is Wang Anping, right? You arrived at the station yesterday, and you had a cold and fever then. How are you feeling now?"

"You also need to pay attention to nutrition."

"The doctor said yesterday that you are a little malnourished."

"Eat more these next couple of days. There will be doctors coming to provide free medical consultations in a couple of days, so you can have them take a good look at you then."

"My surname is Sun, and my family's surname is Li. You can just call me Aunt Li."

Seeing how efficient and reliable Wang Anping was, Sun Hui was pleased. While rubbing her numb hands, she gave him a few words of advice.

It was 1952, and the city still had a system where military officers and local government coexisted.

The subdistrict office has not yet been established; the subdistrict working group is in charge—this is not an independent department, but an agency dispatched by the district government and directly managed by the district government.

The work I did was similar to that of the later street office and neighborhood committee.

Sun Hui and her colleagues are members of the Yu'er Hutong Street Working Group, who are specifically responsible for the daily operations of this rescue station.

When Wang Anping entered the city yesterday, he was both sick and exhausted, and was taken to a relief station by a kind person.

Everyone who comes in has to do a simple information registration.

The shelter was bustling with people of all kinds every day, but Wang Anping stood out—he was over 1.8 meters tall, a truly "tall man" in those years when malnutrition was common, which is why Sun Hui remembered him at first glance.

Neither the original owner nor Wang Anping from his previous life could be considered an outgoing person.

The original owner was lonely and miserable all year round, and did not know how to or dare to socialize with people; in his previous life, he had been a corporate slave for too long and was too lazy to deal with interpersonal relationships.

Having been given a second chance at life and living in a completely new environment, Wang Anping's mindset has become much more relaxed.

Some of the ways of interpersonal relationships seemed to have been learned without a teacher.

He grinned, his tone revealing sincerity:

"Thank you for your concern. I'm much better now and feel quite energetic."

"You're so young, I'll just call you Sister Sun."

Hearing this, Sun Hui couldn't help but laugh.

Her son is already thirteen, but what woman doesn't love to hear others say she looks young!

"You've got a sweet tongue, young man!"

Sun Hui laughed and joked, her hands never stopping as she washed the radishes and chatted with Wang Anping.

"Where's your hometown? How come you've come all the way to Beijing all by yourself? Are you married yet...?"

[Ding dong, cooking proficiency +1!]

[Ding-dong, cooking skill proficiency +1...]

Wang Anping was secretly delighted.

Just as he thought!

I stood there watching for four or five minutes, and my skill level only increased once. Now that I'm washing the radishes myself, I can increase it about once a minute.

At this rate.

Your cooking skills will surely skyrocket!

I just don't know what level is above the "home-style" level.

As the two were chatting, two more people came over to help.

With many hands making light work, the hundred-odd pounds of muddy radishes were washed clean in less than half an hour and neatly arranged in a large basin.

Wang Anping glanced at his work and realized that his proficiency had increased by more than thirty points, which was incredibly worthwhile.

The meals at the shelter in the morning are very simple.

Steamed cornbread served with roasted radish.

Cornbread is not made from pure cornmeal, but from a mixture of cornmeal, millet flour, and some soybean flour. This makes the steamed cornbread softer, more filling, and gives it a slight soybean flavor.

Cooking radishes is even simpler: just cut the radishes into chunks, stir-fry them briefly in lard, add water and soy sauce, and simmer until tender.

Seeing Sun Hui rolling up her sleeves to prepare to chop radishes, Wang Anping took the initiative to join her:

"Sis, you rest, I'll do it."

Sun Hui initially reminded him to be careful.

After all, he's a grown man.

Even if you can smash steel ingots with a hammer, you might not be able to pick up a kitchen knife to chop vegetables.

These days, most of the kitchen work is done by women. Men are lucky if they can even cook raw rice, let alone chop vegetables.

Cutting radishes into chunks is not technically difficult.

But since it's a cafeteria, the food should at least be of uniform size so that it cooks easily and is convenient to serve.

Sun Hui was worried that Wang Anping, this young man, might not be familiar with her.

However, she soon realized she was overthinking it.

Wang Anping controlled the radish with his left hand, making it roll forward at a steady speed, while his right hand swiftly slashed the knife, producing a crisp and rhythmic "thud thud thud" sound.

Once the radish rolls to the front, only a thin, long tail remains.

On the cutting board, only uniformly sized radish pieces remained.

Wang Anping has already picked up another radish.

[Ding dong, cooking proficiency +1!]

[Ding-dong, cooking skill proficiency +1...]

Beside them, Sun Hui and the others who were cooking together looked over curiously.

Just then, the woman in her forties who had been there earlier also came over.

She wore a floral cotton-padded jacket, carried a faded canvas bag across her shoulder, and had her hair styled in a shoulder-length bob, clipped behind her ears with hairpins, looking capable and energetic.

Seeing the neatly arranged radish pieces on the cutting board, and then looking at Wang Anping holding the cleaver, her eyes lit up, and she exclaimed in surprise:

"This young man has pretty good knife skills!"

She paused, then, as if remembering something, asked:

"By the way, your name is Wang Anping, right? You used to train specifically?"

The woman's surname is Liu, and her name is Liu Yuzhi. She is the person in charge of the meals at the relief station, sent by the street work group.

People around her call her Sister Liu, and some call her Cadre Liu.

Wang Anping smiled and said:

"I haven't really had any special training."

"When I was a child, my grandfather was the village cook. Whenever someone had a wedding or funeral, they would ask him to cook."

"Back then, I followed my grandfather around, eating and drinking for free, and I learned a little bit along the way."

"Later, when I got older..."

"For some simple dishes, Grandpa will let me practice cooking them."

Wang Anping came up with an excuse.

Since everyone in my family is dead anyway, I can say whatever I want. I'm just using this excuse to give myself a heads-up.

All the ingredients were prepared, and the dough for steamed buns was almost ready.

I'll start stewing the radishes soon.

Wang Anping glanced at Sister Liu.

He volunteered, saying:

"Sister Liu, how about I do the radish later?"

"Since you're all here, you can point out anything I do wrong."

That's a very honest statement, without any hint of showing off; on the contrary, it exudes a sense of reliability.

Liu Yuzhi felt even more pleased.

This big pot of stew looks simple, but it's actually quite a physically demanding job.

For the meals of over 300 people, about 100 kilograms of radishes were poured in, and there was no need to use a spatula; they were simply stir-fried with an iron ladle.

In the past, this job was done by several women in turns.

that's it.

After the meal, my arms were so sore I could barely lift them.

Seeing how skillfully Wang Anping chopped vegetables, Liu Yuzhi knew that this young man was a good worker, so she immediately nodded in agreement.

Just then, the sound of a cartwheel came from outside.

It turned out that a grain delivery cart had arrived. Several workers carried the grain bags into the small warehouse next door, and a middle-aged man carrying a purchase list walked over quickly.

He handed the form to Liu Yuzhi and said:

"Sister Liu, this is the grocery shopping list from this morning. Please take a look."

Liu Yuzhi took the order and looked at it carefully.

Wang Anping stood to the side; he was tall, and he could easily glimpse the words on the list when he looked down.

The handwriting was crooked and messy, like a crab crawling, and full of typos—a form with only a few dozen characters contained seven or eight misspellings.

Oh, they're still using traditional Chinese characters right now.

However, Wang Anping had practiced calligraphy for a few years in his previous life and could recognize most of the traditional Chinese characters, so it didn't affect his reading.

He hadn't intended to meddle, and was about to turn away after glancing at the list, but his gaze inadvertently swept over the total price at the end of the list, and his eyes flickered slightly.

While pondering, Sister Liu was already preparing to put the list into her bag.

Wang Anping began by saying:

"Sister Liu, wait a minute, there's a slight discrepancy in the prices on this list. In the end, it's three yuan and thirty-six cents short."

The moment those words were spoken, the surroundings fell silent.

Everyone was stunned, turning to look at Wang Anping with expressions of astonishment.

Sister Liu quickly opened the list as well.

He looked at Wang Anping in surprise:

"real?"