Chapter 200 Dutch Goods
Sister Zhang deliberately drained the fat from the roast duck and stored it in an enamel bowl for later use in stir-frying. The preserved mustard greens she had previously pickled were steamed with the duck fat, making them fragrant and delicious with rice.
I also stewed the duck carcass with winter melon to make soup, thinking that I could cook noodles for the children tomorrow.
The soup boiled, and milky steam rose up, blurring the darkening sky outside the window.
The children had tidied up the books and stationery on the table early, washed their hands, and sat around the table, waiting obediently.
My mother-in-law is setting the table.
Sister Zhang hung the remaining half of the roast duck in a well-ventilated spot on the balcony, thinking she could have another meal tomorrow.
The grandmother ladled out a bowl of soup and instructed her eldest grandson, "Hailiang, take a bowl of duck soup to Grandma Liu, and be careful."
Hai Liang let out a soft "Hey!" and carefully picked up the soup bowl to walk outside.
A short while later, he returned with an empty bowl and eagerly sat back down at the table.
The mother-in-law said, "Let's eat."
Hailiang quickly picked up a duck leg and gave it to his younger sister, Juanzi, saying, "Juanzi is the youngest, so she can have the leg." He then picked up a duck wing for his younger brother, Haibo, saying, "Haibo, you can have this."
Seeing her eldest son's sensible nature warmed Sister Zhang's heart.
Li Dayou, however, was engrossed in gnawing on a duck neck. His hands were covered in oil from eating when he suddenly said, "Half isn't enough. Bring the other half too."
"How dare you!" His mother-in-law slapped his hand with her chopsticks. "You think you're something special just because you drank some cat pee! This was given to you by the chief's wife because she loves her children, and you have the nerve to covet it?"
Li Dayou muttered as he withdrew his hand.
Juanzi carefully divided her duck roll in half and gave half to her father, whispering, "Dad, you can have mine..."
Sister Zhang immediately stopped her daughter, "Juanzi, you eat it yourself."
She saw her mother-in-law slowly sucking on a duck bone with hardly any meat, so she picked up a piece of meatier duck meat and put it in her mother-in-law's bowl, saying, "Mom, you eat."
Her mother-in-law smiled, ladled out a bowl of duck soup, and handed it to her: "You should eat too, you've had a long day."
As the children were glistening with oil from their mouths, Haibo suddenly said, "Mom, I want to be a military officer when I grow up! I'll buy you roast duck every day!"
The adults all laughed.
Sister Zhang picked up a piece of meat and gave it to him, saying, "Good son, Mom and Grandma are waiting to enjoy your good fortune."
The sound of a neighbor's radio could be heard coming from outside the corridor, broadcasting the news.
The noise in the tenement building gradually subsided, and everyone sat around the dining table.
Seeing the children eating so heartily, Sister Zhang also picked up her soup and took a sip.
She suddenly realized that life is like this duck bone soup; if you simmer it for a while, it will eventually develop some flavor.
After dinner, the mother-in-law urged Li Dayou to take the two children to the public bathhouse to take a shower, saying, "If you go too late, there won't be any hot water left."
Li Dayou was drunk, Hailiang helped his father, Haibo packed up the bath supplies, and the three of them, one big and two small, staggered out.
When the three men returned home, Sister Zhang, her mother-in-law, and her daughter had also finished washing up.
The room where the Zhang family lived was about 30 square meters, divided into three small rooms by curtains and wooden boards.
The entrance has a dining table and two trunks that serve as the living room. To the left is the couple's private room, just big enough for a double bed. At the foot of the bed is Sister Zhang's dowry trunk, which is filled with neatly packed old clothes.
The right side is larger, with bunk beds. Hai Liang sleeps on the top bunk, and Hai Bo sleeps on the bottom bunk.
The innermost room, partitioned off by a wardrobe, is where Grandma and Juanzi live, the two of them sharing a bed.
Although the house was crowded, it was clean and tidy, and the children's certificates of merit were displayed on the walls.
Nothing was said that night.
As dawn broke, Sister Zhang quietly got out of bed. Her mother-in-law had already cooked cornmeal porridge and served her a bowl of it to cool before giving it to her daughter-in-law.
"Mom, I said I'd do it when I get up..." Sister Zhang said in a low voice.
The old woman waved her hand: "I'm getting old and don't need much sleep. It's good for you to sleep a little longer. Eat quickly, I'm almost cold."
She hunched over as she fried eggs for the children.
Sister Zhang quickly finished her porridge with some pickled vegetables, then picked up her vegetable basket and went out.
I ran into Aunt Liu and Sister Zhao, who were also going to buy groceries, at the entrance of the tenement building.
The plumper one is Aunt Liu, who helps out at the political commissar's house.
The tall, thin woman is Sister Zhao, who serves the chief of staff and his family.
The three of them walked together familiarly towards the farmers' market outside the compound.
Aunt Liu asked, "What are you buying today?"
Before the two could answer, she waved the small notebook in her hand and began to read aloud in a rhythmic tone, "One pound of winter melon, two tomatoes, two ounces of pork ribs, one piece of ginger... The Chief of Staff's wife weighs everything at every meal, and she'll nag for ages if it's even a penny too much."
Sister Zhao sighed, "My family is even worse. They even keep track of the scallions that a fellow villager gives them for free. Yesterday, they were short five cents in change, and his daughter-in-law chased after him to the kitchen to ask about it."
Sister Zhang didn't dare say that Madam Gu never cared about these things, and even let her take the money for the groceries from the drawer herself.
When she handed over the accounts at the end of the first month, Madam Gu only glanced at the total and said, "I trust Sister Zhang to handle things." From the second month onwards, she simply stopped looking at the accounts altogether.
On one occasion, she offered to reimburse the expenses, but Madam Gu interrupted her with a smile, saying, "Just buy whatever you think is best; freshness is the most important thing."
This trust made her extra careful when buying things, always choosing the freshest seasonal goods, with price being secondary.
Sister Zhang mumbled, "I'm just buying some seasonal vegetables today... It's summer, cucumbers and tomatoes are fine."
The three of them walked and talked.
Sister Zhao asked, "Did your family have roast duck yesterday?"
Sister Zhang sighed inwardly. That's what it's like living in a tenement building; even a fart from inside can travel two miles.
She brushed it off, saying, "My child got a perfect score on the test, so I'm giving them a little something as a reward."
Sister Zhao pressed further, "I heard that your salary has increased to 40 when you're working for Gu Jia?"
Sister Zhang quickly said, "No, who told you that? We're all the same."
She looked up and saw a farmer from the suburbs selling fresh lotus products at a stall outside the market.
Green lotus pods stood next to pink and white lotus flowers, along with fresh lotus roots and water chestnuts covered in mud.
Sister Zhang immediately remembered the withered lotus pods in Nan Zhiyi's study, which Minister Gu had picked up with his wife and Xiaoman at Yuyuantan Park last year.
She leaned closer to the farmer and asked, "How much are these lotus leaves?"
Aunt Liu and Sister Zhao followed, asking in surprise, "Why are you buying this? Your master instructed us to do so."
"Hmm...the host said to buy some."
Sister Zhang gave a vague reply, carefully selected five half-open pink lotus leaves, three lotus pods, and also weighed out a pound of water chestnuts and a pound of lotus root.
The farmer carefully wrapped the items in a large lotus leaf and handed them to Sister Zhang.
This time, Sister Zhang really made the decision on her own without asking Madam Gu's opinion, but she just felt that Madam Gu would definitely like it.
She was also thinking: lotus seeds can be peeled and used to make porridge, water chestnuts and lotus roots can be stir-fried, and lotus flowers would be perfect to put in a celadon vase in the study.
Sister Liu muttered, "What a picky person... My wife, the wife of a high-ranking official, even thinks it's a waste to buy a silk flower."
Sister Zhao chimed in, "Perhaps it's because Sister Zhang's family likes this."
Sister Zhang lowered her head and didn't reply.
After the three finished their shopping, they headed towards the army compound.
Aunt Liu's basket contained meat and tofu bought strictly according to the menu, while Sister Zhao carefully checked the expenses in her notebook.
Sister Zhang was only focused on carefully protecting the fresh lotus flowers, which still carried the fragrance of morning dew, making people feel relaxed and happy.
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