Chapter 23: He Wants to Transfer His Household Registration

The young men had good appetites—each finished a steamed bun in a few bites and quickly drank a mouthful of thin porridge.

Gu Yuelin introduced them to Feng Mian. These two were Leng Chuan and Wei Guo, both friends Gu Yuelin had met while serving in the military.

They enlisted and were discharged at the same time.

Leng Chuan’s family used connections to get him a job at the agricultural machinery station, while Wei Guo had been in the army kitchen crew and now worked as a cook at a state-run restaurant.

The New Year holiday was approaching, and they were all off work with nothing to do.

In chatting, Feng Mian learned that Gu Yuelin originally didn’t have to retire from the military and could have had a chance for promotion, but it was all because of his stepmother constantly causing trouble—asking for money every now and then and always speaking harshly.

Unable to bear it any longer, Gu Yuelin chose to retire early.

The higher-ups wanted to give him a recommendation letter and arrange a job for him, but he refused and took his discharge pay home instead.

Feng Mian easily guessed Gu Yuelin’s reasoning: if he got a steady job, his stepmother would feed off him forever.

Better to play dumb, make himself look like a failure, so the stepmother might sell him off, like to become a live-in son-in-law.

This wasn’t like the 21st century—household registration was crucial. Only with a proper household registration could a person claim grain and ration tickets from the village.

Once his registration was transferred, a lot of troubles would be avoided.

After understanding the situation, Leng Chuan said, “Sister-in-law, you’re really something. If it were my sister in your shoes, she’d probably have cried scared out by now.”

Feng Mian smiled but said nothing.

He continued, “Just hang on a few more days. When Brother Gu arrives after the New Year, you won’t have to worry about those ruffians bothering you.”

Wei Guo chimed in, “That ruffian’s already been caught. Attempted burglary should get him two or three years, right? I remember it’s under three years, but since it’s his second offense, the punishment’s harsher—he’ll serve three years.”

Leng Chuan nodded, “Right, three years it is.”

Then he frowned, “But I don’t think that guy’s a good person. I worry after three years he’ll come back and give Sister-in-law trouble again.”

“What’s there to fear? When he gets out in three years, Brother Gu will be here.”

Feng Mian smiled faintly without answering, thinking: after three years, I might not even be in this village anymore—no need to worry at all.

After the meal, the three men got busy.

Adding two more hands more than doubled the efficiency.

They adjusted the materials, leveled the bedroom floor, and worked quickly.

For lunch, Feng Mian stewed pork ribs with daikon, grilled a whole fish over charcoal, stir-fried shredded potato with green pepper, and lightly fried cabbage. She cooked a large pot of plain rice.

In this era, where materials were scarce, Feng Mian, unlike most homes that hired professional CEOs to manage affairs, was very hands-on and relaxed.

With little else to do, she spent time watching cooking shows and learned many culinary techniques and recipes.

For them, delicious homemade meals were a rare luxury, full of color, aroma, and taste.

After all, the state-run restaurant couldn’t afford to buy or cook such good food.

The three young men ate heartily; they finished the fish completely, even using steamed buns to soak up the fish soup.

Wei Guo, being a cook at the state-run restaurant, praised Feng Mian’s cooking enthusiastically.

“Sister-in-law, even we cooks at the state restaurant can’t make fish this delicious. How do you do it?”

“That’s because I roast it first, then stew it.”

She explained the detailed cooking method, and Wei Guo listened intently.

However, he didn’t plan to make this fish at the restaurant—it was just to satisfy his own appetite at home.

After all, he was on a fixed salary, and just making the dishes on the restaurant menu was enough; no point in working harder, since it wouldn’t earn him extra money.

“Sister-in-law, you stir-fry vegetables so fragrant and crisp—this must be hard to control the heat, right?”

Feng Mian said, “To make vegetables delicious, controlling the heat is really important. If done wrong, they taste like pigweed.”

Leng Chuan envied them greatly and said to Gu Yuelin, “Brother, your wife is so capable. You’re really lucky. I’m jealous! When I marry, I want to find a wife like her.”

Who doesn’t like being pampered? Who doesn’t like sweet words? Feng Mian immediately smiled and said, “Tell me what you want to eat tomorrow.”

Leng Chuan was about to speak, but Gu Yuelin shoved a steamed bun into his mouth, saying, “Hurry up and enjoy it—there’s so much food and you still can’t keep your mouth shut.”

“Ugh, you’re going to choke me! Brother, I flatter Sister-in-law, and Sister-in-law’s happy, but you’re still not happy?”

Though they were all sweet-talking Sister-in-law with every bite, Gu Yuelin knew very well that his marriage with her was just a cooperation, and she wasn’t really his.

What if Feng Mian was fooled by Leng Chuan’s slick talk?

What if Feng Mian actually liked Leng Chuan… no, he couldn’t accept that.

Wait, why was he having such strange thoughts?

Who someone liked had nothing to do with him.

Thinking this, Gu Yuelin awkwardly lowered his head.

Feng Mian glanced over and thought, “Why is he blushing now?”

…

They ate their fill at noon and had plenty of energy for work in the afternoon.

While the young men were busy, she prepared afternoon tea: boiling tea by the stove and red bean sweet soup.

“You owe someone a favor, so you have to be nice to them.” Feng Mian was very thoughtful with the preparations, and in turn, they worked carefully.

Especially Gu Yuelin—he worked with all his might, as if he wanted to finish everything in one day.

Feng Mian happily thought, it was all thanks to her serving three meals a day—how could they work so hard otherwise?

For dinner, she made Mapo tofu, twice-cooked pork with preserved mustard greens, spicy potato chips, and a pot of vegetable soup with pork cracklings.

Since they weren’t being paid but just helping out, Feng Mian made sure the meals were good.

That way, everyone helped out happily.

She cooked a lot for dinner and even invited Feng Rongrong, the girl next door, to come eat.

Feng Feng and his wife took good care of Feng Mian, and Rongrong was a pitiful child—her father had stolen almost everything from their home to give to her grandmother, so she didn’t have enough to eat or wear.

Taking care of this child a little more was Feng Mian’s way of repaying her own parents.

Everyone ate until they were full, and then Leng Chuan laughed, “Sister-in-law, I’ll come early tomorrow to work—can you save me some breakfast?”

Feng Mian smiled, “Of course! Come earlier tomorrow, come to my place for breakfast.”

“Great, thanks, Sister-in-law.”

They finished eating just as the sky was getting dark.

Leng Chuan and Wei Guo waited outside the yard, while Gu Yuelin stood by the door, hesitating to speak several times.

Feng Mian guessed what he wanted to say and said, “I’m not going to keep you here. We’re not married yet, people would gossip.”

Hearing this, Gu Yuelin blushed deeply all the way to his ears.

“Then be careful—lock the doors and windows tight.”

“I know.”

“I already fixed the window for you and added extra latches.”

Feng Mian urged, “I know, now hurry up and go—they’re waiting.”

She pushed Gu Yuelin out quickly. He kept looking back nervously, clearly worried about her being alone and possibly encountering trouble at night.

Feng Mian patted Feng Rongrong’s shoulder, “Rongrong, will you come help Auntie with the fire tomorrow?”

Having eaten so well today, Rongrong eagerly nodded.

Feng Mian smiled, “Remember to come early tomorrow.”

“Okay.”