Chapter 22
With his warning echoing in her ears, Qiao Wei felt a bit guilty. Carrying the basket and holding Yan Xiang’s hand, she hurried back home with quick steps.
Once home, she closed the courtyard gate and only dared to take out the four jars of canned food after returning to the house, placing them on the Eight Immortals table in the main room. The four glass jars gleamed brightly, looking for all the world like spoils of war.
Yan Xiang even stood on his tiptoes, gripping the edge of the table, and kept going, “Wow~ Wow~ Wow~”
Qiao Wei patted the top of his head. “Have you ever eaten this before?”
“Yes!” Yan Xiang’s voice was crisp. “But I’ve never had so many.”
In an era of scarce resources, who would buy four jars of canned food at once? Besides, the town wasn’t like the city with its large shipments. The small town was only so big; when the Supply and Marketing Cooperative received goods, they were distributed among the retail outlets, leaving each shop with only one or two boxes.
It was only because her timing today was incredibly lucky, just as the goods were being put on the shelves. The salesman had also told her that this was because people didn’t know yet; once they found out, they would rush over to buy them, and they would be sold out in an hour or two.
In the past, Qiao Wei could never understand hoarding-themed novels, but now she could finally appreciate the thrill of stockpiling.
When she was cleaning the house yesterday, she had already done a rough inventory of their household assets and belongings. Basically, except for rice, flour, grain, oil, and coal, there was no surplus of any other items.
Aside from those, the only thing they had a surplus of was cigarettes. It wasn’t that Yan Lei was heavily addicted to smoking; in fact, her memories told Qiao Wei that Yan Lei usually only smoked when he was in a bad mood or at social gatherings.
But cigarettes could practically be considered hard currency among men. Any man with a bit of connections would find a way to get some to keep at home, as they were very useful when needing to ask someone for a favor.
Everything else was basically kept strictly to the rationed amount.
Qiao Wei’s family was considered well-off because her husband had a high salary and was allocated many industrial coupons.
In Regimental Commander Zhao’s family, although his salary and various coupons were similar to Yan Lei’s, he couldn’t help having a large family with high consumption. The most direct reflection of this was in clothing, which was consumed rapidly. Thus, even for a cadre’s family, the two youngest children wore clothes with quite a few patches, and their shoes were hand-me-downs from their older siblings.
It wasn’t because they lacked money, but because they didn’t have enough coupons.
Regimental Commander Zhao’s salary was certainly enough to support five children. However, high as the salary was, an individual’s coupons were strictly rationed.
Yan Lei also returned from work in a jeep, parting ways with Regimental Commander Zhao and the others at the intersection to head home.
As soon as he got home, Yan Xiang rushed over. “Daddy, Daddy!”
Yan Lei scooped Yan Xiang up. “Son!”
Clinging to Yan Lei’s shoulder, Yan Xiang’s eyes sparkled as he broke the good news to his father. “We bought canned food, canned yellow peaches!”
Canned food wasn’t something you could buy anytime; you had to be lucky enough to catch it. Yan Lei’s eyes also lit up when he heard this. “The Supply and Marketing Cooperative got canned food in?”
Yan Xiang leaned close to Yan Lei’s ear, cupping his hand around his mouth. “We bought four jars. Mommy said not to tell anyone, otherwise we won’t be able to buy them in the future.”
Yan Lei was very surprised.
If it were him, he could certainly manage such a thing. But Qiao Wei… Qiao Wei was a child of the working class with a politically impeccable background from the city. Having relocated to this small town, she looked down on everyone here equally. Asking her to handle these kinds of interpersonal relations would only result in her giving you the cold shoulder for three days.
Yan Lei patted Yan Xiang. “Have you eaten any? Is it good?”
“Not yet!” Yan Xiang said, his eyes full of anticipation. “Mommy said it doesn’t taste good warm; it has to be chilled to taste good. We’ll eat it tonight.”
In an era without refrigerators, they could only use cold water. Qiao Wei had soaked the jars in a bucket. The groundwater pumped up from the hand-cranked well was icy cold.
Yan Xiang pulled Yan Lei to see the jars soaking in the bucket, and then pulled him to see the other three jars stored in the cupboard. To a child, canned food was a moment of pure happiness.
His family had four jars, so that was happiness times four.
Yan Lei smiled and patted Yan Xiang’s head, telling him to go play. He went inside to take off his uniform, and when he came back out, he saw the rubber shoes airing out under the eaves to get rid of the smell.
He headed toward the kitchen, and sure enough, Qiao Wei was cooking.
With his hands in his trouser pockets, he leaned against the doorframe and watched her.
Qiao Wei stirred the food in the wok, turned to see him, and smiled at him. “You’re back.”
This was quite nice; the few cadres had a unified shuttle car to pick them up and drop them off, so their work hours were extremely punctual, with no such thing as overtime.
Yan Lei asked her, “How did you manage to get four jars of canned food?”
“Just at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. They got two boxes of canned food yesterday afternoon, and only put them on the shelves this morning. I happened to pass by and saw them before anyone else knew.” Qiao Wei gestured with her spatula. “So I snapped up four jars with lightning speed.”
Yan Lei didn’t believe her. “How were they willing to sell them to you?”
“That male comrade’s child wanted to buy a pair of rubber shoes but didn’t have any industrial coupons. I gave him one of ours. Is that okay?”
She turned to look at him. After all, industrial coupons were relatively hard to come by here. If he said it wasn’t okay, she wouldn’t do it again.
But Yan Lei didn’t reject her action. Instead, he looked her up and down with a peculiar gaze. “Not bad, you’ve made progress.”
Qiao Wei asked, “So there’s no problem with me using the industrial coupons, right?”
“Go ahead and use them. Our family isn’t short of them,” Yan Lei said reassuringly. After a pause, he added, “If you ever run short, just tell me.”
A smile crept into Qiao Wei’s eyes.
Yan Lei seemed to particularly like saying, “If you run short, just tell me.” It couldn’t exactly be called peacocking, but in this era, it was indeed of the same nature as a domineering CEO in future romance novels telling someone to “buy, buy, buy.”
“I also bought myself a pair of rubber shoes today, which cost another industrial coupon,” she said. “I spent two in a single day.”
She stared with wide, round eyes, as if she felt uneasy about using two industrial coupons in one day.
Yan Lei straightened his back even more. “Those things are meant to be spent. What else would we keep them for, to breed? Buy whatever you need.”
This man is really easy to coax.
Qiao Wei suppressed a smile. “Alright.”
Yan Lei remembered to ask, “Why buy rubber shoes? Why not wait to go to the city to buy a pair of new leather shoes? Isn’t your pair of leather shoes old?”
Leather shoes were considered valuable items, and Qiao Weiwei’s pair of leather shoes had been patched twice. She had wanted a new pair, but leather shoes had to be bought in the city. It wasn’t easy to go to the city, as a round trip would take at least a whole day, and she had been unwilling to ask Yan Lei.
Yan Lei had once taken the initiative to ask her if she wanted to go to the city. At the time, she was reading a book sent by The Technician, and thinking he was bothering her, she impatiently snapped, “Not going,” and ignored him.
Having met with such a cold rebuff, Yan Lei never brought it up a second time.
Today, however, he took the initiative to mention it to Qiao Wei.
Qiao Wei didn’t want to wear those leather shoes at all.
Being old was secondary; the main thing was… they were quite ugly.
Although this era was rustic overall, Qiao Wei still saw a difference. Some things, like the blue homespun side-buttoned tunics and handmade cloth shoes worn by the old grandmas in town, were definitely considered more rustic than leather shoes by the locals. But in reality, to Qiao Wei, these traditional items carried a sense of cultural heritage. On the contrary, the “fashionable” leather shoes in others’ eyes were tacky as hell to her.
“I feel like I’m lacking exercise, so I want to start jogging every morning or something. That’s why I bought a pair of rubber shoes.”
Rubber shoes were also called Liberation shoes, featuring army-green rubber soles and canvas uppers. They were what was issued in the Military Unit.
Qiao Wei had originally wanted to buy a pair of white sneakers that her mother had told her about.
Her mother had said that when they were young, there were no such things as athletic shoes or casual shoes; those came later. Even earlier, everyone wore white sneakers at school. They were like a combination of athletic shoes and white canvas shoes. When Qiao Wei wanted to buy shoes for running, this was the first thing she thought of.
She had thought white sneakers were standard in this era. Who would have known she had gotten the era wrong; this was an even earlier period than her mother’s “childhood.” The salesman at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative told her that fashionable things like white sneakers were only sold in big cities. The town only had Liberation shoes.
She then bought the Liberation shoes.
Liberation shoes were already popular now, and they would become even more popular in the future.
In the future, the streets would be filled with a sea of green.
Rounding it up, she could just treat them as a pair of fashionable canvas shoes.
“The food will take a little longer. Go read your book first,” she shooed him away.
For some reason, Yan Lei was a bit reluctant to leave.
Watching her busy in the kitchen and having such a peaceful, warm conversation with her made him feel comfortable deep down inside.
He searched for something to say. “Why does it smell so good? What are you making?”
Yan Xiang looked up from the courtyard, his eyes shining. “It’s pork cracklings! Daddy, the cracklings smell so good! Hurry, ask Mommy to give you some! They’re delicious!”
Amused, Qiao Wei put down her spatula, picked up a piece with her chopsticks, dipped it in a bit of salt, and walked quickly to Yan Lei, holding the chopsticks in one hand and cupping her other hand underneath. “Open your mouth!”
Yan Lei obediently opened his mouth and was fed a piece of pork crackling. Qiao Wei had specifically picked a piece that was part fat and part lean. It was incredibly crispy to chew and burst with flavor.
Yan Lei swallowed it. “Another piece.”
Qiao Wei fed him another piece.
Was it an illusion? Why did she feel like the man’s facial features had softened?
The “sharpness,” “sternness,” and “coldness” from when they first met were completely gone. He chewed while keeping his eyes fixed on her.
The temperature in the kitchen seemed to rise.
Qiao Wei let out an “Ah!” which instantly broke the atmosphere!
She spun around, dropped the chopsticks, and picked up the spatula to stir the food again. “It almost burned! Hurry up and get out, get out! Stop getting in my way!”
Yan Lei smiled and went out.
He went to get the book and read it sitting on a small bamboo chair under the eaves. Looking up, he could see his son playing in the courtyard; listening closely, he could hear his wife busy in the kitchen.
As he turned the pages, he felt nothing but peace of mind.
When Qiao Wei called out, “Dinner’s ready!” he quickly inserted his bookmark and went over to help.
At the dinner table, he told Qiao Wei, “I asked someone about that thing you wanted. It can be made. But the wood needs to be coated with oil.”
“To prevent rot, right?” Qiao Wei chimed in.
Yan Lei glanced at her. “You really know everything.”
It was actually just common sense. But one shouldn’t underestimate the dissemination of information. People exposed to a large volume of information would know a lot of common sense. Conversely, for those with little access to information, many things that should be common sense might be something they had never even heard of.
Even in the future era of the information explosion, one could still encounter many people lacking common sense on the internet, let alone in this era where communication relied on shouting.
But Yan Lei naturally attributed it to “her high level of education” and “as expected of an intellectual.”
“They even praised you, saying you really know how to find solutions.” He scooped a mouthful of rice and praised her.
Qiao Wei realized that Yan Lei had a very good personality. Perhaps because he was a cadre who led soldiers, he clearly didn’t skimp on praising and validating others.
This showed that he was actually someone who could communicate very well with others.
“It’s nothing, just the lever principle to save some effort,” Qiao Wei said modestly.
Terms like “the lever principle” were enough to instill a sense of awe for knowledge in Yan Lei. The way he looked at her was filled with yearning and reverence for knowledge.
No way? Really?
Qiao Wei recalled how this man made an effort to show off in front of her, acting like “spend all the money and coupons you want.”
Could the grand male lead actually be insecure deep down in his bones?!
