Sister Zheng: "Red-braised pork is eighty cents, steamed fish is thirty-five cents, two white flour buns are ten cents plus four ounces of grain coupons, the total is one dollar and twenty-five cents plus four ounces of grain coupons."
After Jianshu paid the money, he heard Sister Zheng say:
"If you want to pack, give me the lunch box."
Jianshu just remembered that there are no take-out boxes now, and when you go to a restaurant to take out food, you have to bring your own tableware.
"Sister, I left in a hurry and forgot to bring my lunch box. Please wait a moment, I will go back and get it."
Jian Shu turned around and was about to leave when the elder sister called him:
"Hey, wait a minute. I have a lunch box here. You can use it first. It will take quite a while for you to go back and forth. It will be lunchtime soon, and there will be a lot of people around soon."
Jianshu thought about it and felt that what he said was right: "Okay, thank you, big sister, I will send it back to you later."
The eldest sister said politely: "It's okay, no rush, you can send it over when you're done."
Jianshu is not so tactless. In this day and age, even a needle is important, not to mention a lunch box. Don't take other people's courtesy seriously.
While waiting, Jianshu chatted with the elder sister. People of this era are more straightforward and don't beat around the bush. After a while, Jianshu found out that the elder sister's name was Zheng Hong and her father-in-law was the master chef here, so she was able to come in and work as a waitress.
Her husband, Zhang Quan, works at a slaughterhouse. They have two children: their eldest, Zhang Qing, thirteen, who has just started middle school, and their youngest, five, who is at the age of hating cats and dogs. Her mother-in-law, who is unemployed, stays at home to take care of her grandchildren.
Zhang Quan is the eldest, and has a younger brother, but they have already separated from the family, and their parents-in-law live with them. From what Sister Zheng said, there is some friction between the two families.
There are three workers in the family of six. Zhang Quan also works in a meat processing factory. From time to time, he can take back some scraps and buy some pig's trotters without tickets. They live a good life.
However, there is no need to worry about food. Daily necessities such as cloth are still in short supply. Most things are now supplied with tickets and cannot be bought even if you have money.
That's why Zheng Hong wanted to build a good relationship with Jianshu, hoping to have an insider channel to buy some things without tickets. She also told Jianshu that next time she comes to eat, she should tell her in advance so that she can save a portion of the good dishes for her in case she arrives too late and they're sold out.
After a while, the dishes were ready and people came in one after another to order food. Jianshu said hello to Zheng Hong who was busy, took the dishes and left.
Back in the courtyard, Jianshu took out two lunch boxes from the space, poured all the dishes into them and put them into the space to keep warm.
I took out the detergent and washed the lunch box with tap water. Jianshu had just discovered that there was tap water, which was great and much more convenient than drawing well water.
I left the lunch box to air for a while, and when the smell of the detergent had dissipated, I locked the door and went out.
When I arrived at the state-owned restaurant, I found Zheng Hong was still busy, so I didn't bother her too much. I returned the lunch box to her and left.
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