A month passed quickly. Xia Qingqing carefully put the letter she had written into the envelope and then affixed a stamp.
Liu Huimin was engrossed in reading when she heard Xia Qingqing say she was going to the post office to mail a letter. She quickly called out to her, "Qingqing, wait a minute. I also have a letter to mail back. Could you mail it for me while you're at it? Thank you for your help. I'll mail it for you next time too."
"It's a small matter, nothing to do," Xia Qingqing said, taking the letter from Liu Huimin and putting it into her handbag.
Upon arriving at the post office, Xia Qingqing handed the letter to the staff and received a package and a letter in return.
Back in her dorm, Xia Qingqing first unpacked the package. Inside were clothes Zhang Hongyan had made for her and three large bottles of small fish chili sauce. The sauce contained small fish and shrimp that Xia Heping had caught in the river, making it incredibly delicious with rice.
There was also a letter inside, which rambled on about what had happened at home recently, and Gou Dan also shared some funny stories about his school days.
Xia Qingqing placed two bottles of small fish chili sauce on the table in her dormitory, planning to eat them with her roommates that evening.
The other bottle was quietly put into the system warehouse, with the intention of bringing it to Song Ze another time.
Liu Huimin's mouth watered when she saw the small fish-shaped chili sauce on the table: "Qingqing, Auntie sent you chili sauce again!"
"Yes, we'll save it as a side dish for dinner tonight," Xia Qingqing said with a smile.
"Let me try it first. I can't wait until tonight, my mouth is already watering," Liu Huimin put down her book, picked up the bottle, opened it, and took a sniff. Instantly, a rich aroma filled the entire dormitory room.
Liu Huimin took out her chopsticks, picked up a small dried fish, put it in her mouth, and squinted her eyes happily: "This is the taste! It's so delicious! Auntie's cooking skills are absolutely amazing. If you sell this, a lot of people will definitely buy it."
"How could it not be delicious? These small fish and shrimp are all deep-fried, and they sizzle with oil when you take a bite," Xiang Qiu chimed in from the side, reaching for the chili sauce in Liu Huimin's hand.
Ordinary families are reluctant to use oil when stir-frying vegetables, so who would be willing to use precious oil to fry small fish and shrimp?
Chen Xiu, watching the two eat with relish, silently swallowed her saliva. She tried to resist but couldn't, so she grabbed a piece and joined in.
Chen Xiu is a typical person who is both a savory eater and loves to eat. Xia Qingqing brought them this small fish chili sauce when school started. However, Chen Xiu gets a headache easily when eating spicy food. Every time she finishes eating it, she is covered in sweat, as if she has been pulled out of the water.
The other three were worried and didn't want her to eat too much, fearing she might get a stomachache or something. But Chen Xiu herself felt that the spiciness was okay, still within her acceptable range. Sweating so much from eating spicy food was simply a matter of her constitution.
When Xia Qingqing wrote home, she mentioned this to Zhang Hongyan in the letter. Her original intention was to tell her that the small fish chili sauce was very popular. Unexpectedly, Zhang Hongyan sent three more bottles.
Zhang Hongyan's thinking was simple: since her daughter and roommate liked it, she would make more. After all, the chili peppers were grown on the family's private plot, and the small fish and shrimp were caught from the river. It would only take a little more oil and salt. As long as her daughter liked it, she was willing to spend the money.
Xiang Qiu hissed as she snatched the bottle from Liu Huimin's hand: "You can't eat any more, or it'll be gone. Save it for dinner tonight."
In just a short while, the three of them had consumed nearly a fifth of the bottle. There were only two bottles in total, and they would be gone in a few days, so they had to be careful with them.
Liu Huimin reluctantly put down her chopsticks: "Okay, let's eat again tonight."
Chen Xiu put the last bite of the small fish into her mouth, and then quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from her forehead: "Qingqing, does Auntie sell this sauce? I want to buy two bottles to take back to my family to try."
Liu Huimin and Xiang Qiu's eyes lit up, and they waited expectantly for Xia Qingqing's answer.
This sauce is so delicious! It must be made with high-quality ingredients and cost a lot. I feel a little embarrassed to let them keep eating Xia Qingqing's for free. It would be even better if they could pay for it.
Xia Qingqing paused for a moment before saying, "I hadn't thought about this at all. I might need to write to my mom to ask."
She directly said it was free, and giving away one or two bottles could be considered normal sharing between roommates. But what if the other person wanted five or eight bottles? Would they expect it to be free?
Chen Xiu nodded happily: "Okay, if Auntie is willing to make them, I can pay 2 yuan per bottle, I want 5 bottles."
The price she offered wasn't low, but it included the cost of making the chili sauce, the labor involved, the cost of the containers, and the postage for shipping. Most importantly, it tasted delicious!
Liu Huimin only ordered two bottles because she was eating them herself, while Xiang Qiu also ordered five bottles so that her family could try them.
Urged by her roommates, Xia Qingqing wrote another letter on the spot, and then went to the post office with the three of them.
When Xia Qingqing went to bed that night, she remembered that she still had a letter she hadn't read.
The letter was sent from Haishi, and among the people she knew, only Liang Shuang was from Haishi.
Since Liang Shuang went to university and returned to Haishi, she would send Xia Qingqing a letter every one or two months to tell her about her recent situation. Of course, Xia Qingqing would also reply to her and Ding Miao, and the friendship between the three of them has been maintained.
In this letter, Liang Shuang once again shared her daily life and studies.
The only difference was that in this letter she briefly mentioned that she had run into Zhang Jianguo, the son of the brigade leader, at home. Zhang Jianguo was her brother's comrade-in-arms.
Liang Shuang and Xia Qingqing simply thought the matter was a coincidence, but they never mentioned that their mother wanted to matchmake them with Zhang Jianguo. In Liang Shuang's opinion, her mother was just obsessed and shouldn't be taken seriously.
After reading the letter, Xia Qingqing secretly marveled at how wonderful fate was. The country was so big, yet it was still possible to connect people who were thousands of miles apart.
......
"Wife, Qingqing sent a letter back!" Xia Heping called out happily towards the kitchen, holding a letter in his hand.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Hongyan rushed out of the kitchen. Ever since she mailed the package, she had been waiting for her daughter's letter, and she was so glad that it had finally arrived.
"Quickly open it and see what Qingqing said in the letter."
Xia Heping was slowly preparing to open the envelope when Zhang Hongyan snatched it away, saying, "Why are you taking so long? Let me do it."
"I was just afraid of tearing it," Xia Heping muttered softly, then slowly took out a letter from his pocket and carefully opened it.
Zhang Hongyan was completely unaware of his actions, intently reading the letter in her hand word by word, when Xia Heping excitedly patted her shoulder twice: "Wife, take a look at this letter!"
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