Lu Qiqi brought the two bottles of shampoo that she had packed in bamboo jars the night before to the noodle shop for Liu Tong and his apprentices to use.
One jar is for washing hands, and the other is for washing hair.
Lu Qiqi looked at the two women washing dishes in the kitchen and thought to herself that she would make some dish soap when she had time to use it for washing dishes.
Even now, noodle shops still use the oldest method to wash and remove grease from noodle dishes: scalding them with boiling water.
Scalding with boiling water not only removes oil but also disinfects and sterilizes.
However, in winter, no matter how much you scald the dishes with boiling water, they will still be greasy and slippery. With dish soap, the problem will be solved with half the effort.
It was almost noon, and Lu Qiqi was working as a cashier at the noodle shop. When Zhu Zi and Dun Zi were too busy, they would roll up their sleeves and help clear the tables.
At this time, Lu Changhu and Lu Dazhuang were helping people carry heavy bags at the dock, introduced by their fellow villagers.
They loaded the goods onto ships, which would then be transported by waterway to various places for sale.
One person can earn eighty coins for carrying a large bag for a day, plus a lunch provided.
Lu Dazhuang thought the price was fair, so he and Lu Changhu took on the job.
At noon, meals were served at the dock, and Lu Changhu and Lu Dazhuang joined their fellow workers in queuing to get their food.
When Lu Changhu received the two steamed buns and a bowl of water, his face turned green, but under the urgent urging of the people behind him, he had no choice but to quickly take the food and leave.
Lu Dazhuang found a secluded corner to sit down, munching on the steamed bun in his hand and occasionally taking a sip of water from his bowl.
Lu Changhu squatted on the ground, looking at the steamed bun in his hand with a look of disgust, and said, "We do such hard work, and all we get to eat is steamed bun and drink is plain water. The foreman here is too stingy!"
Lu Changhu felt a burning pain in his shoulder; after carrying the bag for most of the day, he was afraid his shoulder was going to be chafed raw.
Lu Dazhuang swallowed a mouthful of steamed bun, glanced at Lu Changhu indifferently, and said, "It's good enough that you have something to eat. When we were eating chaff on the way to escape, I didn't see you eating less."
Lu Changhu didn't dare to quit in front of his father, since his mother wasn't around and there was no one to protect him.
Lu Changhu could only tear at the steamed bun in his hand with resentment and unwillingness, just like a wild beast tearing at its prey.
After carrying heavy bags all day, Lu Changhu's shoulders were already chafed raw, with flesh stuck to his clothes. Even the slightest movement caused him to grimace in pain.
Lu Dazhuang gently lifted Lu Changhu's clothes, and looking at his shoulders that were worn and bruised, he felt a little sorry for him.
He spat out a mouthful of his own saliva and wiped it on Lu Changhu's shoulder.
Lu Changhu didn't care about being disgusted, since he had no other way to relieve the pain.
The foreman paid the wages. Lu Dazhuang and Lu Changhu were considered temporary dockworkers carrying bags, and their wages were settled daily.
Lu Dazhuang accepted the wages handed to him by the foreman, repeatedly smiling and bowing in gratitude, "Thank you, foreman."
The foreman snorted coldly, not taking the two men seriously at all.
Lu Dazhuang didn't care, after all, he was just doing things according to others' opinions.
But Lu Changhu clenched his fists. When he was in Maoshan Village, he had never been looked at like that. Once he had a firm foothold at this dock, he would teach this snobbish foreman a lesson.
Lu Dazhuang counted the money; it came to exactly 160 coins for the two of them.
Lu Changhu stared at the money in Lu Dazhuang's hand, his eyes darting around, and said, "Dad, why don't we take this money and buy some meat?"
"Eat, eat, all you ever do is eat!"
Although Lu Dazhuang complained that his son only knew how to eat, he was actually very impatient with it.
Their family hadn't smelled meat in a really long time.
Lu Changhu, unusually, did not argue with Lu Dazhuang. He said, "Our family has not eaten meat since we fled. Even if you and I don't eat it, Grandmother is old and her body is so weak. Doesn't she want to eat it?"
"Besides, we still have to come to the dock to work tomorrow. Let's have a meal today and save the money we earn for work tomorrow so we can go back to farming in the spring."
Lu Dazhuang felt that his son's words made sense; his mother's health had not been as good as before since they began fleeing the war.
Lu Dazhuang thought about how old his mother was and how she didn't know how many days she had left. He decided to treat her to a good meal whenever possible, since he was also craving meat.
In the end, Lu Dazhuang and Lu Changhu spent all of the 160 cash they earned carrying loads at the dock.
They spent 100 coins to buy a bushel of rice, 30 coins to buy pork rump, and another 30 coins to buy coarse salt.
And so, Lu Dazhuang and Lu Changhu returned to Heping Village with their large and small bags.
......
Lu Qiqi had just returned to her wooden house in the Veterans' Village from Qingshui Town when a light drizzle began to fall outside.
Before long, the rain intensified. At first, raindrops pelted the muddy ground and were instantly swallowed by the soil.
Until the raindrops turned into a beaded curtain, they followed the eaves and gathered into small puddles, forming tiny, pitted mirror-like surfaces.
Lu Qiqi looked around and saw that there were only Lu Yao, Xi Bao, and Zeng Shi in the house. She thought that Lu Dahai and the others were still in the fields and would definitely get wet when they came back.
Lu Qiqi quickly told Lu Yao to start a fire and boil water so that Lu Dahai and the others would have hot water to take a bath as soon as they returned, so as not to catch a cold.
Lu Yao obediently did as she was told, and Lu Qiqi took a few pieces of ginger from a basket in the corner of the kitchen.
Lu Qiqi washed the ginger, sliced it thinly, and boiled a kettle of water.
Once the water boiled, Lu Qiqi put in the ginger and a little brown sugar, so that Lu Dahai and the others could have a bowl when they returned to dispel the cold.
Lu Qiqi cooked ginger and brown sugar water, and Lu Dahai and the others, soaked to the bone, ran back into the wooden house.
Lu Qiqi filled a large porcelain basin with ginger and brown sugar water, and Lu Yao followed behind her with a bowl. The two sisters placed the ginger and brown sugar water on the table.
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