The two mother and daughter chatted for a while, discussing how to make overalls, making gestures. When Ping An woke up, Zhou Jiao fed her son and looked at her watch. It was almost time for dinner, so she looked at her worriedly.
"Mom, are you hungry? Didn't you buy some snacks? Eat some first. Do you want to eat with me later? There are so many people in the main room, and you won't be used to it. I'll talk to my mother-in-law later."
Lin Lishan shook her head. "It'll be just a few days. It depends on how your mother-in-law arranges it. I think she'll let you and I eat in the room. If you tell me, it'll be bad if there's a misunderstanding."
After that, not long after, Zhang's mother brought her eldest daughter-in-law Huang Cuilan in with food. When she saw Lin Lishan, she said embarrassedly: "Sister, I won't be polite with you. I will just let you accompany Jiaojiao to eat in the room. You watch her, her appetite is too small, let her eat more.
We'll start building the house tomorrow, and I'll be busy preparing meals. The villagers who come to help will have a meal at our house. It's quiet here with all the people coming and going. Otherwise, someone might come and pull you aside and say something, and you won't be able to eat. It just so happens that I don't have time to take care of Jiaojiao either, so I'll feel at ease if you stay with her."
Lin Lishan nodded and took the food. "Sister, this is the best. We can eat and chat together. I'll help in the kitchen tomorrow. If you need anything, just call me."
Seeing Lin Lishan take the bowl, Zhou's mother quickly put the kang table on the kang, took the basket from Huang Cuilan, took out the three dishes inside, and placed soup and two large bowls of rice on the table.
"No, there's more than enough people to do the kitchen work tomorrow, with the three of us and my two sisters-in-law. If I'm too busy, I'll call you. No need to be polite. Jiaojiao, let your mother take care of you for the next few days. I'm afraid I'll get too busy."
Zhou Jiao nodded and said to Huang Cuilan apologetically, "Sister-in-law, I'm sorry for the hard work. Xiaowu and I didn't even do anything to build a yard for us to live in, and you and Big Brother had to run around everywhere. I feel embarrassed just thinking about it."
"Why are you feeling embarrassed? You and your wife have always helped us. We're all family, so don't be so picky. Just focus on taking care of yourself. If you take good care of yourself, your child's grandmother will be relieved when she returns."
Lin Lishan looked at the food and said, "Sister, if you treat me as your own family, don't prepare so much next time. There are too many dishes, and we, mother and daughter, can't eat so much. It's quite a waste. From now on, I will follow your meals and there is no need to cook separately. I will just keep Jiaojiao's confinement meal separate so that you don't have to prepare it three times separately."
Mother Zhang laughed and said, "Just separate Jiaojiao's meal. You're the same as us, so there's nothing else to prepare. If I'm busy tomorrow, I'll cook less, so you can eat it. After you finish eating, go get it yourself. I won't be polite with you."
After saying this, he waved his hand and took the old man away.
Zhou Jiao looked at the food and knew it was specially made for her mother. She didn't say anything. If her mother ate those steamed buns, she would cry too. She absolutely didn't want to see those steamed buns.
While eating, Lin Lishan kept nagging her to eat more and to try to eat even if she couldn't.
"Jiaojiao, what does your mother-in-law usually eat at home? There's meat and chicken here. They definitely don't have these. I guess the meat is all in these two bowls."
Zhou Jiao was drinking soup when she heard this. She quickly put it down and leaned against the window to listen to the noise outside. She moved to the side, closer to her mother, and whispered, "Haha, Mom, you can tell by my expression. The conditions in the surrounding villages are relatively good. Now they are all allocated fine grains, which they exchange for coarse grains in the city. Even with the coarse grains, most families only have two meals a day, one of which is vegetable porridge.
Their family eats three meals a day, which is considered a good deal for the surrounding villages. In the morning, they have steamed cornmeal porridge, at noon, they have steamed cornmeal porridge, and in the evening, they have sweet potato rice with a few vegetables. Their dishes are not oily at all, and they have steamed cornmeal 365 days a year.
The steamed buns are made of coarse grain flour, water and wild vegetables kneaded together. That's it. Many people are jealous of the Zhang family because they can eat their fill.
Xiaowu said that his family's steamed bread can be changed every year, but it is still steamed bread. It makes your throat hurt. You have to stretch your neck to swallow it, otherwise it will get stuck.
Haha, you say everyone eats like this, what do you do? I didn't eat much at Zhou's house, but we didn't have these steamed buns. We always ate wild vegetable porridge and sweet potato rice with grandma, which were all soft. Xiaowu and I ate in the school cafeteria most of the time, and he would take me to restaurants from time to time.
It wasn't until I got married that I realized there were even steamed buns that were so hard to swallow. We didn't have much food, and I couldn't bring myself to tell anyone I couldn't eat, so I just ate less. Xiaowu and my mother-in-law would secretly cook for me anyway. My mother-in-law was quite nice, secretly cooking two eggs and hiding them in our room. Sometimes, she'd wait until everyone else was at work and then secretly leave some steamed buns in our room. That's why they always said I had the appetite of a cat.
Zhou Jiao took a bite of the rice and continued, "Xiaowu and I couldn't stand it anymore, so we bought some rice. We asked her mother to make porridge with red dates and white rice for me to drink while I was pregnant, and for the whole family to drink as well. I hope we don't have to eat cornmeal steamed bread every day. I got stuck. I drank some cornmeal porridge, and then I really got stuck.
We couldn't say this out loud, because that's how they eat, and they all enjoy it, and they're all very happy. So we couldn't bring ourselves to say it. Luckily you came and brought back all that rice and flour, or I'd be dead.
At five in the morning the day after Xiaowu was born safely, she rushed to the county town and asked someone to buy two pig's trotters and two black-bone chickens, asking her mother to quickly stew them for me. However, my mother-in-law said to save them for later, saying one pig's trotter would last a day. As for the black-bone chicken, Xiaowu asked her to roast one for the children at home and stew the other. But she disagreed, saying it was nothing for a child. They were all postpartum food, and the whole family would have enough to eat, so there was no need to cook them.
Even if I had the money, I wouldn't dare buy more. Buying too much would be too expensive, and buying too little would mean I wouldn't have anywhere to cook. I'm so lucky you came, or I wouldn't be able to survive. We're all ready to buy a stove, stewing game every day, and secretly cooking a little rice.
Xiaowu said he almost cried while eating, but he didn't dare to say anything. Because his family always ate like this, even Xizi and the others ate like this. He was away from home because he was at school, so he took his food rations to the cafeteria to eat. If he really said it, he would be heartless and his parents would be sad.
Lin Lishan laughed and listened to her while eating.
Zhou Jiao continued, "Why is Xiaowu the best chef at the Hexian Restaurant? It's because I catch pheasants and rabbits and have him cook them. He then secretly brings some over to me. If I don't have meat coupons, I can only order from the restaurant. Once he gets familiar with the food, he'll cook more."
Didn't you say I'm thin now? That's because I was even thinner before you saw me. In the winter, when the snow and wind blow, I don't dare go out. Seriously, the wind pushes me to run; I don't even have to walk, I just push. Haha, that's why I never go out in the winter unless it's important.
Before I got married, I had no money. Everyone called me a "golden baby," but I truly was broke. I relied on Xiaowu to take me out for a good meal. After I got married, I had money, but then those damn coupons came back. Without food coupons and meat coupons, money was useless, especially without food coupons, you couldn't even go to a restaurant. But at least I ate wild game, and I grew stronger.
You brought so many things with you this time, but food is the most valuable. Even if you have money, you can't get enough. If you don't go to the countryside, you won't know how scarce food is. It's the same in the county town. The food supply only allows you to eat 80% full, and you should plan on having white porridge for the whole family in the morning and only 80% full in the evening. Where did you buy all this food? Isn't there a food shortage in the capital?"
Lin Lishan drank her soup, sighed, and shook her head. "We are short of food, but we won't be short of food. Soldiers will be in trouble if they don't have food. I should have brought more."
Zhou Jiao smiled, "Don't bring food next time. We'll have a way to buy food next time. The New Year is coming soon, and the markets will be open. Those in the countryside who have fine grains will also sell them. We can buy them secretly, buy more, and store them for later. It doesn't matter if it's a little more expensive.
Mom, you really haven't seen how poor those families are. For example, when winter comes, one-third of the people in Zhangjia Village don't have cotton-padded jackets. What do they do? Girls just wear jackets, shivering as they go about their chores, while men take turns wearing cotton-padded jackets when they go out. There are still many families who use straw as quilts. This is why the most people die in winter. It's so heartbreakingly poor. So, we're doing well now, and we should be happy and blessed.
Lin Lishan nodded. "Yes, we should feel happy. I looked around and saw that in some places people only drink porridge. They only have a dry meal on New Year's Eve."
"Mom, go get some food. I'll be awesome if I finish this bowl."
Lin Lishan shook her head. "I can't eat anymore. This is usually all I have. I'll clean up after you finish eating. Is there enough food for your grandfather and the others? They haven't been working in the fields."
Zhou Jiao glanced at her mother unhappily. "You've forgotten that grandparents get a monthly salary and allowance, so they have enough to eat. Even if they have to support a bunch of people in the main house, they can still eat their fill. In the past, there were no food coupons, so you could buy things with money. After we had food coupons, we added wild vegetables to our diet, and our food was comparable to people in the county town."
But they have bad manners. They eat like they're robbing, scrambling for food, talking loudly and drooling all over the place. It's really disgusting to think about them. When I get back to the Zhou family, there's nothing to eat. After we leave, they cook for us, and everyone eats so well. Huang Zhaodi is twice as fat as you. You can't believe there's nothing to eat at home.
"Haha, you are really that fat. You weren't fat before, you looked pretty good. Time really makes people grow old. Have you finished eating? I'll clean up and send it over to you. Lean back first, don't lie down." After saying that, he cleaned up the food and put it in the basket and took it out.
After a while, Lin Lishan came in. Zhou Jiao stared at her mother, and seeing that no one had followed her in, she winked and pouted. Lin Lishan rolled her eyes at her, watching her make faces, and then covered her mouth and laughed.
"There was only your sister-in-law in the kitchen. They were all eating. I didn't go into the main room. There was a smell of sweet potatoes in the kitchen. It must be the sweet potato rice they had in the evening. They gave us all the white rice and they ate the sweet potato rice. Their children are well-educated and don't make any noise."
Zhou Jiao nodded. "They're well-educated. They never mess around when they come to my house. When I give them candy, they know to take it home for their younger siblings. And when the younger ones see candy, they know to take it back for their older brothers."
Lin Lishan went to the kitchen to get some hot water and brought it to the room. After they washed up, they turned on the radio and lay on the kang to chat.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
