Chapter 7

The nearest supply and marketing cooperative to Peach Blossom Village is in the town, which is inconvenient to reach. Furthermore, buying meat requires meat coupons, and although her husband’s benefits are decent, his monthly ration isn't enough for Jiang Qiuyue to eat meat every day.

There is game in the mountains, but that has little to do with Jiang Qiuyue; for one, she cannot catch them, and for another, wild game belongs to the state. As for wild vegetables, they are fine for a fresh taste, but one needs meat!

Of all things, eating is the most important! Without eating well, how can one recover their health?

Jiang Qiuyue stood against the wall for ten minutes to prevent a potbelly from forming. The original owner had been too harsh on herself; she had possessed good natural features but had let herself become haggard and unkempt.

With nothing to do in the afternoon, Jiang Qiuyue took the two children for a stroll around the village. Lin Beibei was small, but he was familiar with every corner of the village.

"Grandma Niu says there are man-eating tigers in the mountains, so she doesn't let us children go in. This small river is where Brother Zhuangzhuang catches fish. There is a larger river further ahead, but I've never been there." As he spoke, Lin Beibei looked left and right, then leaned into his mother's ear and whispered, "But I secretly heard Uncle Niu say there are wild rabbits in the mountains. They smell so good when stewed!"

The child had never eaten rabbit meat; just thinking about it made him swallow his saliva.

Jiang Qiuyue also craved rabbit meat. Several dish names flashed through her mind—spicy stir-fried rabbit head, quick-fried rabbit meat, braised rabbit...

Rabbits are so cute, one should eat more of them!

But where could she find a rabbit? Private rabbit farming was not allowed, and even the supply and marketing cooperative didn't sell rabbit meat. Only during festivals would the farm slaughter rabbits to distribute to employees.

Jiang Qiuyue was famished for it. Since the cooperative didn't sell any, she would try her luck at the city's black market tomorrow. Regardless, the meat coupons weren't enough anyway; if there were no rabbits, buying some pork would suffice.

With a plan for tomorrow's menu, Jiang Qiuyue’s steps felt lighter. Upon reaching the village entrance, she saw several grandmothers sitting and picking water celery, so she went over to join them.

She told the two children to go play by themselves, but they refused, squatting down to help the grandmothers pick water celery instead. The grandmothers were delighted and praised them for being sensible.

The water celery was wild, and the grandmothers picked it to supplement their family meals. As soon as Jiang Qiuyue asked where they had gathered it, Grandma Xu immediately grabbed a handful and gave it to her.

"Qiuyue, why aren't you out working?" Grandma Xu asked while picking the greens. They often gathered together to exchange the latest news, a form of lighthearted banter.

"Oh, I'm not feeling well, so I need to rest for a while," Jiang Qiuyue replied.

"If you ask me, you should have started slacking off long ago. Look at you, working so hard, and your mother-in-law doesn't even show you any sympathy." No sooner had Grandma Xu finished speaking than another grandmother nodded in agreement. "Among the young wives in the village, you are the most capable, but your husband's family is unfairly biased. Everyone has eyes; I advise you to separate the household as soon as possible, otherwise, you'll just be doing thankless work."

"It's not that simple. No matter how bad the in-laws are, you can't just split the family, right?" Someone still disapproved of the idea.

"It’s not the old society anymore. Wang Chunhua and her husband aren't even Lin Dazhu’s biological parents. Once you split, you... oh, Qiuyue, look at my big mouth. Come, come, let's not talk about this. You haven't heard, have you? Old Man Zhang from the next village was caught by his son having an affair with his own daughter-in-law!"

When the topic of splitting the family came up, Jiang Qiuyue had wanted to steer the conversation, but hearing about a father-in-law sleeping with his daughter-in-law was quite interesting. "And then?"

"Naturally, they got into a fight. I heard it caused such a scene that the police from town even came. Tsk tsk, truly shameless."

"Mm, shameless," Jiang Qiuyue added, emphasizing her tone in cooperation.

After chatting with the grandmothers for half the afternoon, Jiang Qiuyue had a good grasp of the village's interpersonal relationships and had heard several pieces of gossip. She decided that whenever she was free, she would come to the village entrance to sit; what an interesting tea party it was. As for working in the fields, forget about it. She had the money her husband sent back; she didn't need to struggle for work points.

***

After returning home, Jiang Qiuyue stir-fried the water celery and, before the Lin family returned, ate with the two children behind closed doors.

The next day, after preparing a meal for the children, Jiang Qiuyue had just stepped out when she bumped into Wang Youren, who was looking for her. She successfully hitched a ride on his tractor to town, then transferred to a bus to the city.

The city was much larger than the town. Following the directions she had gathered, she found the black market. Entering required a five-cent entry fee. Inside, there weren't many people, and some wrapped their heads tightly in scarves, terrified of being recognized.

Jiang Qiuyue was also a bit nervous; she had read in novels that getting caught in a black market meant detention. She only wanted to eat well and didn't want trouble.

She quickly searched for her target and managed to find someone selling rabbits.

"These are wild rabbits from the mountains, caught just yesterday. If you're sincere about buying, I'll give it to you for three yuan, how about that?" The middle-aged woman opened a bamboo basket, inside which lay a half-dead rabbit.

Jiang Qiuyue curled her lip and shook her head. "It's too thin. It definitely wasn't caught yesterday. Auntie, you've been trying to sell this for many days, haven't you?"

The woman, caught in her lie, wasn't flustered. She had intended to fool Jiang Qiuyue to drive up the price, but seeing that Jiang Qiuyue knew her stuff, she quickly smiled and said, "Wild rabbits are all like this. They look thin, but they’re delicious. You look like a kind person, how about I give it to you for fifty cents less?"

"Too expensive. This isn't my first time here. Nobody wants it at this price, otherwise, it wouldn't have been sitting here for so many days." Jiang Qiuyue looked disgusted, stopped looking at the rabbit, and turned to leave.

"Girl, don't go! Two yuan, that's the bottom line, okay?" The woman was getting anxious. She had caught this rabbit five days ago; it was getting thinner by the day, and she had to risk coming here to sell it every day. She truly wanted to be rid of it.

Jiang Qiuyue stopped. "One fifty. Take it or leave it. If it weren't for my children wanting to eat it, I wouldn't be buying a rabbit. I see people selling meat ahead; for one fifty, I could buy two pounds of pork."

Bargaining was a psychological war. Seeing the woman frown, Jiang Qiuyue sighed. "Forget it, I see you don't want to sell, I'll go buy meat..."

"Fine, one fifty it is!" The woman really didn't want to carry the rabbit back home; anything she sold it for was profit. "You girl are really something; you cut my price in half right away."

Having successfully negotiated the price, Jiang Qiuyue sweetened her tone. "You're a good and capable woman, Auntie. Here is the money. Next time I run into you, I'll definitely come to you to buy more."

"Sure thing." The woman, whose son often went into the mountains to find small things to supplement their household income, walked away with a grin.

Since she was in the city, she checked a meat stall. After asking the price, she found that meat at the black market was twenty cents more expensive per pound. Calculating the remaining money in her pocket, Jiang Qiuyue only bought two yuan worth of pork belly. She now only had five yuan left; one had to admit, a twenty-yuan monthly living allowance was truly not enough.

By the time Jiang Qiuyue arrived home, it was already afternoon. She deliberately chose a time when the villagers were in the fields to return, avoiding any curiosity about what was in her basket.

After scalding the rabbit to remove the fur and cleaning out the organs, she cut it into cubes slightly larger than a thumb and marinated them with cooking wine and soy sauce for a while.

As Jiang Qiuyue worked, she would occasionally look back. "That's it, you two are so smart, you've learned to rub the salt on the meat. Nanan, don't touch your eyes, it'll sting."

Children needed to cultivate their hands-on skills from a young age; she certainly wasn't using child labor. Besides, the more she praised them, the harder the two children worked, and both felt a sense of accomplishment.

Once the children had salted the meat, Jiang Qiuyue hung it under the eaves to dry, then fried the diced rabbit meat in oil until fragrant. If she hadn't been low on oil, deep-frying would have been even better. After frying the rabbit, she started the wok again, added garlic, green and red peppers to sauté until aromatic, then added the rabbit meat back in. She drizzled cooking wine along the edge of the wok, which hissed instantly, and added salt to taste.

A plate of quick-fried wild rabbit was served, along with a bowl of loofah soup. Lin Beibei ate two bowls of rice, his little belly round. Lin Nanan also hiccuped and rubbed her stomach, yet still wanted more.

Jiang Qiuyue was also very satisfied, but the lingering fragrance in the kitchen made Lin Dabao cry again, demanding meat.

When Qian Li finished cooking and brought the wild vegetable porridge into the room, she was full of questions. "I smelled meat the moment I entered the kitchen. Where do you think Jiang Qiuyue gets so much meat?"

Without Jiang Qiuyue’s contribution to the household expenses, the Lin family hadn't even eaten brown rice in days. Lin Sanzhu was very resentful about this. "Big sister-in-law has twenty yuan; isn't it easy for her to eat meat?"

"Even with money, meat coupons are limited," Qian Li still couldn't figure it out. "We haven't eaten meat in a long time. The cured meat Mom left behind was all eaten by Jiang Qiuyue." Otherwise, when her sister-in-law came home for the holidays, she would have at least been able to get a taste of some oil. Now, smelling the aroma from the kitchen every day made her crave it so much that she dreamed of Jiang Qiuyue cooking.

Wang Chunhua snorted. "She’s like a mouse in a grain barn, living it up. Just you wait, in a few days when the meat coupons are gone, she won't be able to eat meat anymore."

That was what she said, but she wanted to eat meat too. That damned Jiang Qiuyue had actually stolen her cured meat and eggs; the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Looking at the vegetable porridge in her bowl, she lost her appetite instantly.

With the comparison, the Lin family had no appetite. They were thinking that in a few days, after Lin Dazhu received the letter, Jiang Qiuyue's good days would be over. By then, once the money was sent to Wang Chunhua and Lin Fugui, they could also occasionally splurge and buy some meat to treat themselves.

As a result, for the next few days, the kitchen always had the scent of meat. Qian Li suffered the most, cooking and smelling the meat while she herself only ate sweet potatoes and potatoes.

***

At the army barracks, Lin Dazhu—oh no, he had already changed his name to Lin Zhengrong.

He had just returned from training and was sitting down to drink water when his comrade, Chen Guowei, walked in carrying a lunch box. "Thanks for covering my shift this Dragon Boat Festival, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go home. This is cured pig's trotter my mom made; I brought it especially for you. Also, there's your mail. I passed by the guardroom, and the person on duty said there was mail for you, so I brought it along."

Lin Zhengrong thanked his comrade. Seeing the letter was from Jiang Qiuyue, he was surprised. This was the second time Jiang Qiuyue had written to him since they were married, and there were two letters. The last time, she had mentioned giving birth to twins and that his parents said the family had more mouths to feed, hoping he could increase his living allowance.

Opening the first letter and seeing Jiang Qiuyue say the living allowance wasn't enough, his first reaction was that his parents had made her write it. His parents had been biased since he was a child; before he was even married, they had made him hand over all his wages, claiming they were saving it for him, when in fact it was all used for his younger siblings.

It wasn't until Lin Zhengrong opened the second letter that his thick eyebrows furrowed deeper. It was actually Jiang Qiuyue complaining to him, saying his parents were abusing her and the children.

He knew his parents were biased, so he sent the living allowance directly to Jiang Qiuyue, thinking she could manage it herself and have some money in hand, so life should have been fine. But Jiang Qiuyue wrote in the letter that the two children had never eaten meat since they were born.

What was going on?

"Say, Zhengrong, you should find time to go home and visit," Chen Guowei said, having traveled by train for two days and one night, now only wanting to lie down. "If I remember correctly, you haven't been back in four or five years, right?"

A few days after his wedding, Lin Zhengrong had received a secret mission that didn't end until two months ago.

He was still reading Jiang Qiuyue's letter and gave a casual "hmm."

"If you want to go back, let me know. If you can't get leave, I'll cover your shift. You should go back to see your wife and children; otherwise, the kids won't be close to you anymore." Chen Guowei thought of his own wife and children and a warm bed, and a happy smile appeared on his face.

Lin Zhengrong finished reading the letter, but he wondered what the "snow cream" Jiang Qiuyue asked for was. "Guowei, do you know what snow cream is?"

"I do. It's for women to put on their faces. This time when I went home, I brought a jar for my wife. You don't know, my wife is usually such a fierce person, but because of that jar of snow cream, she actually brought me foot-washing water; it scared me—I thought I’d done something wrong." Chen Guowei chuckled. "Why are you asking about this?"

"I... my wife wants some." Saying the word "wife" still felt a bit awkward to Lin Zhengrong.

"That's easy. Buy a bottle of liquor for Old Wu in logistics, and he can get it for you." Chen Guowei began to yawn, turned over, and soon started snoring.

This was the first time Jiang Qiuyue had asked him for something. Lin Zhengrong thought for a moment; he needed to ask someone about the contents of the letter first. As for the snow cream, he took money from his drawer and went to find Old Wu to help him buy it.