Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Shelling Clams

Six o'clock in the afternoon is the busiest time of the day in the family compound.

The men got off work, the children got out of school, and the women prepared meals.

However, everything was fine at Political Commissar Yu's home.

"What are you doing?"

Political Commissar Yu returned home, took off his military cap and hung it on the hook behind the door, and watched his wife Wang Cuilan sitting on the sofa writing and drawing in a notebook.

I sniffed and didn't smell the familiar aroma of rice, so I asked curiously, "You didn't cook today?"

Wang Cuilan slammed her pen on the table and said unhappily, "Eat, eat, eat. All you do is eat. I owe you this in my last life. Should I cook for you every day?"

Political Commissar Yu was not angry at her rebuke. Instead, he smiled and said, "What's the matter? Who did you quarrel with?" Then he walked to the sofa and sat down.

Wang Cuilan said, "It's the people in the logistics department. Tell me, it's already this time of the month, and half of the families haven't received their coupons. The others can wait. If they don't get the coupons, won't it be a problem for them to have food?"

Political Commissar Yu looked down at the crooked words on the notebook, which contained names of people. "Then remember that these people did not receive any tickets."

Wang Cuilan nodded and said, "Yes, I went door to door today to count the missing items. I'll write down the missing items and go to the logistics department tomorrow to find out what's going on."

Political Commissar Yu pointed to a character on the notebook and said, "This character 'Han' is missing a horizontal stroke." Then he picked up a pen and filled in the stroke.

Wang Cuilan took the notebook and said, "Oh, is that so."

After a careful look, she found that it looked better with the horizontal line. She handed the notebook over and said:

"Then show me the words above and see if there are any missing parts. Please fill them in for me. Otherwise, when I go to the logistics department tomorrow, those people will laugh at me."

Wang Cuilan was born in a rural area and originally could not read a single word. During the Anti-Japanese War, she joined the guerrillas and attended several literacy classes, but she still could only recognize many words but could not write them.

Political Commissar Yu took the notebook and read it carefully. He corrected the typos from time to time and whispered them to Wang Cuilan.

After changing the words, Wang Cuilan closed the notebook with satisfaction.

"Oh, it's so late. You haven't had dinner yet. What do you want to eat? I'll make it for you." She said as she glanced at the darkening sky outside the window.

Political Commissar Yu smiled and said, "Let's have some noodles. I haven't had them for a long time."

Wang Cuilan said cheerfully, "Okay, wait a minute. I'll go and knead the dough and roll out the noodles. I have some basil and garlic left at home. You'd love to have some."

—————

At the Xia family’s dining table, dinner was still served from the cafeteria.

Stir-fried pork slices with lettuce, grilled clams with scallions, and seaweed egg drop soup. The staple food is the local specialty fried rice noodles. The rice noodles here are much thinner than those in Hai Shi, and look a bit like vermicelli, but have a crisper texture.

This meal cost thirty-eight cents, using one ounce of meat coupons and three ounces of grain coupons.

Meng Yufei poured a small bowl of soup for her daughter and put it aside to cool. "I think I should go and transfer the grain capital relationship tomorrow. From what Sister Wang said today, is there a financial problem with the logistics department?"

His family is not short of money now, but the food coupons needed for daily meals are a problem.

Xia Junshan was peeling clams for his daughter. The clams were opened before frying, but the meat was still attached to the shells. He was afraid that his daughter might cut her hands, so he peeled them one by one for her.

"Although the logistics department of the family compound is under the general logistics department of the army, all financial and personnel matters are independent. My salary vouchers are all issued by the army, and I have never missed them.

After thinking about it, he said, "I seem to have heard about the family home complaining about the issuance of tickets recently. No one in my family has ever received tickets there before, so I don't know the details."

Meng Yufei said, "Then I'll go there tomorrow. By the way, where is the office of the logistics department of this hospital?"

Xia Junshan said, "It's above the cafeteria we went to today. The second floor is the logistics department. There is a separate staircase on the west side of the building. Just go up from there."

Meng Yufei nodded, "Okay, I understand."

Xia Qinqin said at this time: "Dad, I'm full." Then she burped.

Xia Junshan stopped peeling the shells and asked in surprise, "Are you full after eating just this little?"

Meng Yufei rolled her eyes at him and said, "You forgot, you washed all the leftover strawberries for her to eat after she woke up from her nap this morning."

Xia Junshan smiled awkwardly and said, "Not much. Who would have known that the baby's belly was so small?"

Meng Yufei said to her daughter, "When you are full, go to the faucet and wash your hands. Then go to the closet and find your pajamas. Mom will give you a bath later."

"Yeah, okay, Mom." Xia Qinqin left the dining table and obediently followed her mother's instructions to go to the yard to wash her hands.

Xia Junshan looked at his daughter's back and said with emotion: "Qinqin is so sensible." Then he said to his wife: "Thank you for your hard work in raising our Qinqin so well. I owe you and your daughter so much over the years."

Meng Yufei smiled and said, "Don't think she's so well behaved now. You'll have a headache when she gets naughty and causes trouble."

Xia Junshan said: "Our Qinqin is so well behaved, how could she possibly get into trouble?"

Meng Yufei curled the corners of her mouth slightly and drank a sip of soup, but smiled without saying anything.

The average temperature in Qiongzhou in March is over 20 degrees. It is cool in the morning and evening, but a bit hot at noon.

In this kind of weather, people who are particular about cleanliness will take a shower every day, while some sloppy and careless people will only take a shower once every few days.

Meng Yufei naturally couldn't stand not taking a shower in this weather, not to mention that she was sweating all over from walking several times today.

The advantage of having a yard is that you have your own toilet, unlike the public toilets in the townhouses, which is very inconvenient.

A few days ago, Xia Junshan asked someone to build a small hut of a few square meters next to the toilet to use as a bathroom.

The family of three took a shower one after another and lay on the double bed in the master bedroom. Xia Qinqin looked at her mother on the left, then at her father on the right, and felt inexplicably happy.

She thought quietly in her heart: Now I can sleep between my parents every day just like Zhuangzhuang. Humph, it's not that great.

I couldn't help but smile.

Meng Yufei covered her daughter's belly with a small blanket and said with a smile, "What story does Qinqin want to hear tonight?"

Xia Qinqin rolled her beautiful eyes and said crisply, "I want to hear my dad tell a story."

"Ah?" Xia Junshan was a little stunned. After thinking for a while, he said, "Well, let me tell you a story I heard when I was a child. It's a story about a shepherd boy."

"Once upon a time there was a shepherd boy who would take a large flock of sheep out every day..."

Accompanied by Xia Junshan's low voice, Xia Qinqin gradually fell into a dream.

…

The next day, when Xia Qinqin woke up, Xia Junshan had already gone out. He had taken two days off and had to go back to work in the army today.

Xia Qinqin sat on the bed and looked at the room for a few seconds before she remembered that this was her new home. She climbed out of bed, put on her slippers, and trotted to the living room.

Meng Yufei stood in front of the sofa, measuring the size with her hands. She planned to tear a piece of cloth to make a sofa cover when she had time. The sofa was really old and it would look too ugly to put it in the living room.

"Mom, where is Dad?" Xia Qinqin asked.

Seeing her daughter wake up, Meng Yufei smiled and said, "Your father went out to work early in the morning." Then she walked over and took her daughter's hand and walked out, "Let's go brush our teeth and wash our faces first, and then go have breakfast."

Xia Qinqin squatted beside the faucet in front of the eaves, spit out mouthwash, raised her head and obediently let her mother take a towel to wipe her face.

"Mom, don't you have to go to work?"

In Xia Qinqin's understanding, adults all have to go to work, and only retired people like her grandmother don't have to work.

Meng Yufei picked up the towel and hung it up, explaining, "Mom doesn't have to go to work recently."

As he said this, he took Xia Qinqin back to the room to change clothes. The temperature today was about the same as yesterday. He found a sky blue dress from the closet for her to change into. The hem of the dress was decorated with white floral patterns. In case the wind was strong in the morning, he also put a beige shirt on her as a jacket.

Meng Yufei herself wore a beige shirt dress with a simple design. If you look closely, you will find that the tailoring is very neat, especially the waist, which makes her look tall and energetic.

Meng Yufei found her own and her daughter's ration books, took the tickets and change, and put them in her bag.

Coming to the shoe cabinet at the door, I put on a pair of white rubber shoes for my daughter, which were light and breathable, and took a pair of beige low-heeled leather shoes for myself.

It was 7:30 when the two of them went out. Most people had already had breakfast at this time. When the mother and daughter walked slowly to the cafeteria, there were only two or three people eating breakfast inside.

The breakfast in the cafeteria was very filling, with deep-fried dough sticks half the length of an arm, fried to a golden brown, and steamed buns, which were also bigger than a fist.

Meng Yufei only ordered a fried dough stick, a vegetable bun, and a bowl of porridge.

Xia Qinqin ate a quarter of a fried dough stick, half a vegetable bun, and drank half a bowl of porridge, then she touched her round belly and said she was full.

Meng Yufei ate all the rest. She was full when there was only half a bun left, but she couldn't waste food, so she ate it anyway.

After breakfast, I looked at my watch. It was 8:05.

Meng Yufei brought her daughter to the west side of the cafeteria and happened to run into Wang Cuilan. She smiled and walked over to greet them, "Good morning, Sister Wang."

Then he said to his daughter, "Qinqin, say hello to Aunt Wang."

Xia Qinqin obeyed and said, "Auntie Wang, good morning."

Although Sister Wang had only seen Meng Yufei briefly yesterday, she recognized her immediately and said warmly, "It's Xiao Meng, good morning."

He bent down again and touched Xia Qinqin's braid with a smile, "Good morning, your braid looks really good today."

Xia Qinqin smiled and said, "My mother combed my hair for me."

Sister Wang smiled and said, "Your mother is really skillful." She looked up and asked Meng Yufei, "Are you here to make connections?"

Meng Yufei nodded, "Yes, after listening to what you said yesterday, I thought it would be better to do it earlier."

Sister Wang said, "Then go directly to the Personnel Department. They are in charge of this matter. I happen to be going to the Finance Department today. Let's go together."

As he spoke, he pulled Meng Yufei and her daughter upstairs. When they reached the second floor, they saw a long corridor. On the right hand side facing south was a row of windows, and on the left hand side were separated offices.