After dinner, Wei Dai went to the river to pick zongzi leaves. There were many growing by the river in the army.

There are two kinds of rice dumpling leaves. People in the north mostly use reed leaves, while people in the south use bamboo leaves, both of which are fragrant.

Compared to reed leaves, bamboo leaves are wider and more suitable for wrapping rice dumplings.

Some families used dried leaves to wrap the rice dumplings, but Wei Dai felt that fresh leaves were more fragrant.

He picked up a lot at once. Zongzi are durable, and when they are about to go bad, they can be cooked and eaten again.

After picking up half a basket, Wen Jiajia was dumbfounded when she saw it. “How much glutinous rice do I need to soak?”

Wei Dai said without hesitation, “It should be 10 kilograms.”

“…”

“Do we have 10 kilograms of glutinous rice at home?” Wen Jiajia asked him. After looking in the cupboard, she found more than 10 kilograms—at least 15 kilograms.

Wen Jiajia thought that Wei Dai must want to give some to others, so she followed his instructions and soaked 10 kilograms of glutinous rice in water.

After picking the rice dumpling leaves and washing and hanging out his backpack and some dirty clothes, Wei Dai rode his bike to buy food.

Since they were going to make zongzi, they should eat to their heart’s content.

Wen Jiajia thought about it and decided to make the rice dumplings with richer fillings.

She planned to make two kinds of rice dumplings: sweet and salty, so her family could enjoy both.

For the sweet rice dumplings, she used red bean paste. So after soaking the glutinous rice, she also soaked the mung beans.

In fact, Wen Jiajia preferred red bean paste to mung bean paste. But there weren’t enough red beans at home, so she could only use mung beans.

For the salty rice dumplings, Wen Jiajia took out the dried mushrooms, dried peanuts, and salted duck eggs she had saved.

She soaked the dried mushrooms and dried peanuts in water and removed the white part of the salted duck eggs, keeping only the yolks.

She didn’t waste the egg whites of the salted duck eggs. She mashed them and put them in a bowl to use when frying eggs over the next two days.

Don’t underestimate the egg whites of salted duck eggs. Adding them to the egg mixture and frying them with chopped green onions makes the fried eggs much more delicious than ordinary ones.

Meanwhile, Wei Dai had arrived in the city and was buying food.

He did not rush to buy meat but went to a remote vegetable market and to the stall in the innermost part.

“Hey, Brother Wei, long time no see.”

“I’ve been quite busy lately.” Wei Dai squatted down to look at the shrimp in the bucket, touched them with his hand, and said, “Weigh one pound for me.”

The stall owner nodded and served up a pound of shrimp.

This was a public vegetable market, but it was too far from the city gate. If he didn’t take a shortcut, it would take at least two hours to get here from home. Wei Dai had never brought Wen Jiajia here.

As for the shortcut, they would have to pass through a mixed housing area. The population there was chaotic and the roads were confusing. Wei Dai had gotten lost there once and had his tires punctured. He didn’t want to take his wife through there.

“What about abalone?” Before leaving, Wei Dai caught a glimpse of the abalone hidden under the basket.

The stall owner had a bitter face. He had saved this for a friend, but who knew Wei Dai would see it.

“Give me eight abalones.” Seeing that the abalones were still moving and large, Wei Dai wanted to buy some.

“My family is having a party today,” the stall owner reluctantly packed the abalone for him.

Wei Dai took it and said, “No, it’s for my wife’s health.”

After saying that, he left, crossed east and west again, and returned to the city gate.

He did not go back immediately but found a friend at the meat processing factory and bought three pounds of pork belly from him.

Before he left home, his wife had repeatedly reminded him to buy pork belly.

Fortunately, the factory had collected a lot of pigs recently, and two fat pigs had just been slaughtered because of the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival, so Wei Dai was able to buy the pork belly.

“There are still bones. Do you want them?” the man asked.

Wei Dai replied, “Yes, give me two spare ribs. By the way, do you have any pork fat?”

The man was speechless and shook his head. “Where can you find lard when you come here? Even the leg meat is gone.”

Today’s pigs are fat, resulting in thick leg meat. Everyone is scrambling for the leg meat, so the leaner part of the pork belly is left behind.

Wei Dai left with regret and went to the nearby vegetable market to buy two live fish and two large blocks of tofu before leaving the city.

But this time, he still did not go back to the army directly. Instead, he went to the nearby village to exchange an old hen with his fellow villagers. After the exchange, he returned with two large bags full of things.

“You’ve used up all your meat coupons for this month!” Wen Jiajia was so shocked that she jumped down from the tree.

Wei Dai was amused by her. “Why did you climb up the tree? Has the incident with the tree been completely forgotten in your mind?”

Wen Jiajia threw the pumpkin vine in her hand away and said, “Who knew that the pumpkin vine could climb up the tree when no one was paying attention? I couldn’t pull it down, so I had to climb up the tree.”

The pumpkin was planted next to a jujube tree. She thought it would climb up the wall along the corner, but it climbed up the tree instead.

Wen Jiajia was really afraid that her jujube tree would be damaged. She had heard from Wei Dai that this jujube tree could bear a lot of dates, and she was still looking forward to eating the red dates.

Wei Dai laughed again.

Wen Jiajia didn’t react and was completely focused on the big sack.

After untying the sack, she was stunned for a moment. “I was wrong. Not only did you use up all the meat coupons for this month, but you must have also spent all the ones you saved from the previous two months.”

Wei Dai tied up the chicken. “Actually, it’s okay. The chickens didn’t use meat tickets.” Instead, they used industrial tickets.

He added, “As for the meat coupons… it’s okay, I’ll find a way to exchange them for some other day.”

Seeing that he had a solution, Wen Jiajia didn’t care anymore. She just wanted her to have meat tickets every week to eat the stir-fried eel in the cafeteria.

Sha Yue didn’t lie to her. The stir-fried eel in the cafeteria was indeed delicious.

“Let’s go eat, I’ll clean up.” Wen Jiajia pushed Wei Dai into the house, then took out the pork belly from the bag with great interest.

She marinated the pork belly with soy sauce, rice wine, and spices, and poured the abalone and shrimp into the bucket.

The abalone was still moving, and some of the shrimp were dead while others were still full of energy.

As for the two fish, Wen Jiajia scratched her head and said, “You bought too much. We can’t finish the fish today.”

Wei Dai quickly said, “One is for the neighbor next door.”

The couple had talked last night, and Wei Dai had also learned from Wen Jiajia that the Xie family next door had been taking good care of her recently.

She had become increasingly busy, sometimes not getting home until seven o’clock. Thanks to the help of Teacher Shen next door, the two sisters Wenchun and Wenxuan did not go hungry when they came home from school.

Wen Jiajia slapped her forehead and said, “It’s overdue!”

No one was home next door now, so Wen Jiajia put the fish aside and planned to prepare it later and send it over in the evening.

In the evening.

When the two sisters knew that Wei Dai had returned, they did not stay outside to play but rushed home as soon as school was over.

Apabila mereka sampai di rumah, mereka berkeras untuk memanjat ke belakang Wei Dai. Wei Dai mencangkung dan membawa kedua-dua kanak-kanak di belakangnya.

Wen Jiajia just came out of the room, and the two girls waved at her.

Wen Xuan shouted excitedly, “Auntie, come up too.”

Wen Jiajia carried the fish that Wei Dai had prepared to the next door. Before leaving, she patted Wen Xuan’s butt. “Don’t fall.”

“No way, your uncle is stronger than you!” Wen Xuan yelled immediately.

The bayberry trees on the mountain were in season, and last week my aunt insisted on carrying her on her back to pick the bayberries from the trees.

Who knew that she would fall down while carrying her on her back, like falling headfirst. My aunt was fine, but she had a big swelling on her head, and it hurt so much that she cried.

Wen Jiajia felt guilty and ran away.

This girl is really vindictive.

When she came to the next door, Shen Xunzhen was cooking.

Wen Jiajia hung the fish by her window. “Teacher Shen, take this fish and eat it.”

Then she left after saying that.

Shen Xunzhen was really confused. She wiped the water off her hands and chased after her. “Why are you giving me fish for no reason?”

Wen Jiajia replied, “Thanks to you for taking care of Wen Chun and Wen Xuan during this period. Please don’t be polite with me, just accept it.”

Seeing Shen Xunzhen untying the fish, she quickly said, “It’s just a fish, you really have to accept it. Wen Chun and Wen Xuan will need to trouble you in the future.”

Besides, the two sisters came to someone else’s house every day to listen to the radio, which was also taking advantage of the other person.

After saying that, she left quickly. When Shen Xunzhen arrived at the door carrying the fish, Wen Jiajia was nowhere to be seen.

She sighed, shook the fish in her hand, and went back into the house.

Wen Jiajia entered the yard, humming a little tune. The two children had already gotten off Wei Dai’s back and were now pestering him, wanting him to make a seesaw for them.

Wen Jiajia teased them, “Our yard is so small and full of vegetables. Where is the space for a seesaw?”

Wen Chun pointed outside the house and said, “You can put it outside.”

Wen Jiajia asked her, “What about other children who want to play?”

Wen Chun was confused and embarrassed. She didn’t want to share, but the teacher said she had to learn to.

Wen Xuan was decisive, “That’s ours. Don’t let them play with it.”

After a pause, she continued, “Xiaoyi and his brother can, Jiaoyang can, Axing can, Feifei, Feifei always says that I’m a glutton, but she gave me milk biscuits, so that’s okay…” As she counted, her face wrinkled, and her voice became smaller and smaller.

There are only two positions on the seesaw, and with so many people, how can she and her sister play?

Wen Jiajia’s head ached, “So forget about the seesaw. The land outside the house is not ours. It is a public area belonging to everyone. Seesaws are not allowed there. Be careful, or the uncle in charge of logistics will criticize you and report you to your school.”

When the two children heard this, they felt that it would be extremely embarrassing if they were reported to the school.

So, they went back to their rooms with their heads down, not even paying attention to the chicken soup bubbling in the kitchen, until they came out when the aroma of the chicken soup filled the air.

The abalone chicken soup tasted really good, but no matter how good it is, you will get tired of it if you eat too much.

Wen Jiajia was forced by Wei Dai to eat two chicken legs and two large abalones, and she was full of resentment all night.

Oh my god, my teeth are stuck!