Chapter 1

“Although Xiangqian’s family has fallen on hard times, we shouldn’t be slandering people like this.”

“Xiangqian only returned to the team yesterday, and this lazy person slept like a log in the middle of the night. Poor Xiangqian had to make do in the reception room all night. My husband’s arms and legs are covered in blisters from rubbing against things, and Xiangqian is probably no better off. It’s bad enough that no one in the house knows how to care for others, but there’s also a burden to deal with.”

“Before dawn, he had to go on an emergency mission. He works so hard, who knows if he’ll survive another day.”

The indirect insults reached Su Ye’s ears and woke her up.

When Su Ye woke up, her body felt sore all over. What happened? Didn’t she die?

What caught her view was a pair of large, brand-new double happiness characters, a hot water kettle, and a shiny new enamel basin.

A worn but well-polished old wooden table, a bookcase missing a leg but patched up well, and the glass of the bookcase was clean, displaying a complete set of ‘^[1]“Marxist Thought” is a set of ideas by Karl Marx that critiques capitalism and focuses on class struggle, economic inequality, and the goal of creating a classless society through … Continue readingMarxist Thought’ and ‘^[2]“Quotations from Chairman Mao”, also known as the ‘Little Red Book’, is a collection of speeches and writings by “Mao Zedong”, the founding leader of the … Continue readingQuotations from Chairman Mao’… Although the room was tidy and clean, it couldn’t conceal the dilapidated aura of the old house.

The calendar hanging on the wall showed the date: January 1, 1960.

Su Ye was struck with a shock, rubbing her eyes to confirm that she hadn’t mistaken the year 202x for 1960. The sixties… She wasn’t seeing things, right?

What did the sixties mean? Hunger, poverty, backwardness. A bleak image of poverty flashed before Su Ye’s eyes.

Outside the door, a barrage of curses continued. “Su Ye, did you hear that? Open the door! Xu Xiangqian must have been cursed for eight generations to end up marrying a woman like you!”

“What’s the point of saying so much? That lazy person is still sleeping soundly. It’s already midday, and she hasn’t woken up. No manners at all!”

Su Ye heard the familiar voices outside the door and felt an increasing sense of recognition.

“Su Ye,” “Xu Xiangqian,” and so on… weren’t these characters from the historical novel she had read last night?

In that novel, Su Ye was a hopeless case—lazy and gluttonous, relying on her ancestors’ fortune to marry a promising soldier. Compared to the excellent and beautiful female lead, Su Ye was like fish eyes compared to pearls. Her face would be slapped senseless by the smart and capable heroine.

At first, Su Ye didn’t realize that the person being insulted was her. But now, she understood.

Weren’t they insulting her (the original owner)?

Su Ye touched the bump on her head, then looked at the puddle of water on the floor, now frozen. What was there to not understand?

The original owner had fallen last night, and when she woke up, she had become Su Ye. The original text didn’t describe the fall, only mentioning that the original owner had slept so soundly that she didn’t open the door for the male lead, missing the opportunity to meet him for the first time. As a result, the original owner had to spend a month alone in an empty house after her wedding.

When the male lead returned from his mission, the hopeless woman caused trouble every other day, becoming the laughingstock of the entire compound.

The two military wives outside had scolded until their throats were dry, but there was no response from inside, so they had already left.

After recalling the plot, Su Ye’s awareness returned, and her stomach let out a thunderous growl.

Su Ye was so hungry that her eyes were full of stars. She felt so weak that she just wanted to faint again.

She quickly searched for food, but despite turning the entire room upside down, she couldn’t find a single grain of rice. However, she did find some items with a strong sense of the era in the original owner’s military green backpack.

Five grain coupons worth one pound, several small coupons, totaling six yuan and twenty-eight cents.

As Su Ye counted the money, she suddenly remembered that the 1960s were a time when people ate from communal pots. The army’s dining hall prepared the meals, so of course, there wouldn’t be any food at home.

—

Su Ye took the food ration book to the dining hall for lunch.

As a military family member, the original owner had just arrived at the army and had not yet secured a job. The first allowance she received was a ten-pound food ration as a transitional aid. However, the original owner was too lazy, and after eating up the ration, she still hadn’t found work, which led to criticism.

As Su Ye approached the dining hall, the smell of food hit her immediately. Her mouth began to water uncontrollably, and in the short distance to the hall, she swallowed several times.

She was starving, dizzy, her legs felt weak, and the corrosive stomach acid seemed to eat through her stomach. Su Ye was overwhelmed by a hunger like she had never felt before.

The burp she let out seemed to carry the sour scent from her stomach, making her feel like she could devour a whole cow.

She entered the dining hall early. It had just opened, but most of the pork had already been taken. Only one portion was left.

The pork didn’t look very good—dark and seemingly overcooked with some parts scorched. In the past, Su Ye wouldn’t have even looked at these scraps of meat.

But under the lighting, the pork now glistened with an oily sheen, and it looked incredibly tempting. Su Ye’s eyes shone with desire as she couldn’t stop imagining the wonderful taste of the meat. Her mouth watered, and she kept swallowing.

Su Ye took out her ration book, smiled, and said, “Please give me a portion of meat.”

Unexpectedly, the cook glanced at the number on the ration book and said, “Sorry, comrade, you can’t exchange for meat.”

Su Ye’s smile immediately froze. Looking closely, she saw that the original owner’s ration book indeed only had two liang (about 100 grams) of food left.

The military wife standing behind Su Ye quickly handed over her bowl and boldly grabbed the meat. “I’ll take this portion of meat. Comrade, give it to me!”

She ordered the cook without hesitation, “Our whole family is counting on this meat for the month. Give me all the meat juices. Wash the plate with hot water, clean it well, and don’t waste a single drop of the meat juice. I specially brought a bowl to hold it.”

The cook nodded and fulfilled her request. After serving the meat, he meticulously picked up the water kettle and washed the meat plate until it shone brightly.

A large bowl was filled with hotpot water, with scattered oil droplets floating on top. The woman, holding a portion of meat and a bowl of hotpot water, walked out of the dining hall with a satisfied smile, as though she were holding the entire world in her hands, her steps light and happy.

Su Ye was stunned, speechless. It was really shocking that someone could reach such a level.

But no one around her reacted at all, which showed that this was a common occurrence.

Su Ye watched as the last portion of meat was taken away, and a wave of resentment rose in her heart.

She was taken aback by her own resentment. It was just a piece of meat—was it really worth getting upset over?

Su Ye swallowed and tried to suppress the disappointment inside her. Her gaze shifted to a nearby white steamed bun. She forced a smile and said to the cook, “Could I have a steamed bun instead?”

“Sorry, comrade, but we don’t have any steamed buns left,” the cook said, puzzled. He couldn’t help but ask, “It’s not even mid-month yet, how is your ration book already empty?”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone behind them chuckled and broke the awkwardness. “Master Hong, don’t you know her? She’s the new wife of Xiangqian!”

The cook immediately understood who Su Ye was and why her ration book was empty. His expression softened but only to be replaced by disdain.

She came in asking for a portion of meat, wanting a refined steamed bun made with the best flour—what a wasteful woman! The rumors about Su Ye were truly not exaggerated. Poor Comrade Xu Xiangqian, fighting valiantly, yet he married this extravagant woman!

In the end, the cook reluctantly handed Su Ye two blackened steamed buns and wiped out the last of the food on her ration book.

Su Ye took a bite of the blackened bun, and as the first bite went down, her vision went black, and the bun got stuck in her throat. She nearly choked and had to pound her chest violently. People around her quickly rushed over.

One of the women, quick on her feet, pushed Su Ye and forcefully patted her abdomen.

“Comrade, even a starving ghost wouldn’t try to eat so much at once!” the woman teased.

Su Ye looked at the lump she had just coughed up, tears uncontrollably streaming down her face. After taking a few deep breaths, she wiped her tears and thanked the kind woman, saying, “Thank you, comrade.”

“No need to thank me. You must be new here, right? I don’t recognize your face. My name’s He Meimei. This year’s harvest wasn’t great, so the buns in the army are a bit too hard, but they fill you up,” the woman replied.

The two women chatted amicably about how to eat the hard buns, with Su Ye dipping the bun in water to soften it.

Su Ye had never eaten such hard, uncomfortable food, it was so dry and tough, she just wanted to throw it in the trash.

But when she looked around, she noticed that most of the people had the same blackened buns, dipping them in water and eating with gusto, as if they were a delicacy. She paused for a moment, and the words “poor harvest this year” seemed to echo in her ears.

In the end, Su Ye pocketed the bun instead of throwing it away, keeping it as emergency rations for later.

—

The next day.

As soon as the sky lightened, Su Ye woke up early with her access pass and left the family compound.

The original owner’s ration book was empty, and Su Ye needed to buy some food. Although she was new to this, she wasn’t quite used to such a poor lifestyle just yet.

However, her good attitude and adaptability allowed her to adjust quickly and start figuring things out.

Su Ye made her way to the supply and marketing cooperative. She couldn’t afford the state-run restaurant—eating there for a few meals would wipe out all of the original owner’s savings.

There was a long line outside the cooperative, and on the chalkboard by the entrance, the prices were listed: pork, 56 cents per jin, rice, 17 cents per jin, coarse grains, 9 cents per jin, eggs, 35 cents each.

After asking around, Su Ye learned that the city residents were all waiting for the supply of “Fuqiang flour” that the cooperative was offering that day.

Flour is divided into three grades: the highest-quality flour is called “Fuqiang flour,” the next grade is called “Jianshe flour,” and the lowest grade is called “Shengchan flour.”

Fuqiang flour is in short supply, and the cooperative rarely provides it, so the city residents were excited and lined up before dawn, forming a long line. Su Ye, in order to buy some coarse grains, had no choice but to pinch her nose and reluctantly stand at the back of the line.

The line was so long that Su Ye had been waiting from 9 a.m. until noon. The cold wind blew fiercely, and Su Ye was frozen stiff. The midday sun was glaring and made her dizzy. Her stomach growled uncontrollably, sour bile rising in her throat.

The citizens waiting in line seemed to feel bored too, and started chatting casually. Su Ye, afraid of revealing herself, remained silent and just listened carefully. She overheard some common knowledge from the 1960s.

For example, almost all goods in this era had to be purchased with ration coupons, and there were hundreds of different types of coupons.

However, most of the time, having a coupon was not very useful because many items were frequently out of stock. Today, there was no Fuqiang flour, the day after tomorrow, there would be no rice, there might be a whole month without pork supply, and it was common to lack milk powder, sugar, or oil. If you held onto coupons and couldn’t use them, they were simply wasted.

For some scarce daily necessities, if there was a supply on a given day, a long line would form outside the cooperative. Gradually, city dwellers became accustomed to waiting in line. Whenever they saw a long line, they instinctively joined it, confident that if they were in line, they’d be guaranteed something. The act of waiting in line had trained the city’s residents’ patience. Once they put down their stools, they could chat with others for hours.

To get a cabbage, people have to get up at 6 am to line up, Fuqiang flour, being a rare fine grain, required getting up at 3 a.m. to line up, pork, although it was usually in adequate supply, had a monthly limit for each household, so many families only had pork once every few months. Farmers in the countryside might only taste meat at the end of the year or perhaps never at all…

Su Ye felt a chill in her heart as she listened.

What the city dwellers had long become accustomed to seemed incomprehensible to Su Ye.

She couldn’t understand their enthusiasm and patience for food, or why they would wait in line for an entire day just to get a bag of fine grain. But before yesterday, Su Ye had never experienced the hunger that made her dizzy while walking, never had to wake up so early for food, and had never waited in such long lines.

At noon, after a long wait, Su Ye finally squeezed into the grocery store. She saw the woman ahead of her calmly take out a meat coupon, labeled 002 jin (10 grams), and hand it over. The cooperative worker took the coupon and hesitated for a moment.

There’s even a 002 jin meat coupon? Su Ye felt a twinge of bitterness, doubting whether it was possible to precisely cut out 10 grams of meat in this era without electronic scales.

“What are you staring at? Haven’t you seen one before?” The woman intentionally placed her hands on her hips and glared at Su Ye.

Su Ye honestly shook her head, “No, I haven’t.”

“Hmph.” The older woman huffed proudly. The meat coupon was indeed scarce enough to be surprising, but she felt that being able to have meat made her far better off than Su Ye, who hadn’t seen the world, so her tone was tinged with self-satisfaction.

Soon, the moment of truth arrived for the ^[3]“Soul-testing knife skills” is a playful and exaggerated way of describing the extreme precision and care needed to cut a tiny amount of something, like the 10 grams of pork in the story. … Continue readingsoul-testing knife skills.

The worker put down the weight in his hand, and with dedication, he pulled out a ruler to measure the pork. Then, carefully, he sliced out a piece of meat the size of a die. His respectful and cautious demeanor made it clear that he was cutting gold.

Su Ye watched and immediately felt a sense of reverence.

Finally, it was Su Ye’s turn to buy food. She purchased a pound of cornmeal and a packet of yeast. She had originally planned to buy five pounds of cornmeal to avoid having to run around, but she hadn’t anticipated that even cornmeal was subject to a purchase limit, with each person allowed to buy only one pound per day.

Having seen the 10-gram pork coupon, Su Ye’s expectations for the limited cornmeal were already quite low. She left the cooperative content with her single pound of cornmeal.

On the way back, Su Ye counted the money she had left and sighed deeply, beginning to worry about finding a job. She needed to solve the food problem quickly.

—

After returning home with the flour, Su Ye swiftly started kneading and proofing the dough.

The house didn’t have a coal stove, so Su Ye spent fifty cents and, shamelessly, borrowed a coal stove and coal from her neighbor downstairs, an elderly woman.

The house didn’t have a steamer, so she used an iron pot as a substitute. Steaming in it would still yield steamed buns. However, after searching for a long time, Su Ye couldn’t find the iron pot, and only then did she remember that a few years ago, the iron pot had been taken to be smelted into steel.

Right now, every household is short of iron pots, so Su Ye gritted her teeth and switched to a clay pot. The stove and coal were borrowed, the clay pot was borrowed, and even the rolling pin was borrowed. To get a good meal, Su Ye unleashed her untapped potential.

She kneaded the dough, added yeast, and formed fist-sized steamed buns. One pound of cornmeal turned into two pounds of buns.

Su Ye’s neighbor loved freshly baked food.

White steam rose in wisps, and the boiling water bubbled away. Su Ye crouched by the stove, warming herself by the fire, greedily inhaling the delicious aroma of the food.

Su Ye took out the steamed buns, tasted one, and despite not adding any sugar, the corn buns were sweet. Their texture was soft and moist, with a light fragrance that intensified as she chewed, making her appetite grow.

What a fresh corn bun! Finally, she got to eat proper food! As Su Ye bent down to scoop out the buns, the hot steam almost brought tears to her eyes.

Su Ye finished her lunch in a few bites, then turned to check the clock—it was already 2 PM, and she had only just managed to have breakfast after all the hustle.

When you’re hungry, anything tastes good. Hunger truly is the best seasoning.

Ding—Welcome to the “Labor Leads to Wealth” live broadcast room! Congratulations to the streamer for receiving a beginner’s gift, please open it on time.

Ding—A random beginner’s gift has been dropped: one pound of pork belly.

A fresh, fatty piece of pork belly appeared on the plate right in front of Su Ye.

Su Ye stared at the piece of meat that had suddenly appeared, incredulously rubbing her eyes. Since waking up, Su Ye hadn’t had a good meal. She couldn’t control her saliva and swallowed, her breath quickened.