Chapter 69: Braised Pork Ribs

Jiang Cuihua clearly didn’t believe her. Something suddenly came to her mind, and she exclaimed in horror, “You wretched girl, you didn’t go to that kind of place, did you?”

Liu Yinyin decided not to hide it anymore and reassured her, “Mom, it’s not some dragon’s lair or tiger’s den. It’s not as scary as you think. Even city folks go there to buy things. As long as you’re careful, no one will interfere.”

Jiang Cuihua didn’t care about all that. She only knew that her daughter had done something wrong. She earnestly tried to persuade her, “Yinyin, you’re not lacking food or clothes now. There’s no need to take risks going to a place like that just to buy things.”

Many families in the village were far worse off than her daughter’s, yet they still managed to get by. Poor people had their own way of surviving—so long as they didn’t make mistakes, that was enough.

Liu Yinyin hadn’t expected her mother to have such a high level of awareness. She chuckled and said, “I’m just being cautious. The weather has been so unusual this year. If the autumn harvest yields less grain, won’t we end up going hungry?”

The weather this year was indeed abnormal. Jiang Cuihua thought about it and sighed, but…

She almost got sidetracked by the conversation. Quickly realizing this, she scolded, “And what does that have to do with you? Your husband eats state-supplied grain and gets a salary. Do you think you’ll starve?”

Liu Yinyin waved her hand dismissively. “That’s him. I’m still registered as a rural resident, aren’t I? I have to rely on the village’s food distribution.”

In these times, even if a rural woman married a city man, she couldn’t transfer her household registration to the city and receive state-rationed food—unless she had a job or owned a house.

Not only that, but Gu Yanyan would also have a rural registration like her.

Jiang Cuihua grumbled, “Can’t you just buy grain with ration coupons?”

Liu Yinyin sighed. “Gu Cheng only gets so many food coupons a month—how is that enough for both me and Yanyan?”

Gu Yanyan was about to turn six months old, meaning he’d soon start eating solid food.

If there wasn’t enough grain in the future, she would have to find a way to buy more.

Jiang Cuihua seemed to understand now. She didn’t strongly oppose it anymore, but she didn’t fully agree either. She hesitated and said, “Then just spend money to buy work points in the village.”

The village allowed people to purchase work points with money. Having work points meant being entitled to a share of the village’s grain. Even though they were currently operating under the communal dining system, the canteen still distributed food portions based on work points.

After going around in circles, they were back to the same point. Liu Yinyin was worried that the autumn harvest would yield less grain, so she decided to buy and stockpile food in advance.

She continued to persuade Jiang Cuihua, “Mom, the weather has been strange this year. I just don’t feel at ease. It’s better to be prepared ahead of time.”

The black market sold grain and meat without requiring ration tickets. The prices were steep but not outrageous. However, if a true famine struck, food prices would skyrocket to unimaginable levels—people wouldn’t be able to afford it even if they wanted to.

At the end of the day, Liu Yinyin’s ultimate goal was to convince Jiang Cuihua to stockpile more food. Otherwise, why would she go through all this effort?

Jiang Cuihua was somewhat tempted but only slightly. After thinking it over, she said, “It’s not that bad yet. Let’s wait and see how things go. And you—stop messing around. Your husband has a proper job. Don’t let this affect him.”

Liu Yinyin knew when to stop pushing and didn’t argue further. “…Alright, I’ll ask your son-in-law later and see what he thinks.”

After finishing the meal, Jiang Cuihua prepared to leave. Liu Yinyin packed two pounds of white flour, a bag of brown sugar, and half of the pork ribs for her.

She muttered, “Give it to Dad and the others to help nourish their bodies.”

Working every day and doing so much labor—how could they get by without a bit of nourishment in their stomachs?

Jiang Cuihua refused to accept it.

Liu Yinyin said, “Mom, just consider these things as your payment for helping me take care of the child. This way, my two sisters-in-law won’t have anything to say about it.”

If Jiang Cuihua frequently came over to help take care of her child, even if Liu Da-sao (eldest sister-in-law) and Liu Er-sao (second sister-in-law) didn’t say anything out loud, they would certainly have some complaints in their hearts.

Since Jiang Cuihua wasn’t at home, all the household chores would fall on the two sisters-in-law. Over time, resentment would surely build up.

That’s why Liu Yinyin often let Jiang Cuihua take some things home—not only as a gesture of filial piety to her parents but also to prevent any conflict between her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law.

Liu Yinyin often said, “I told you before, Mom—if you help me take care of the child, I will definitely compensate you.”

If hiring a nanny were allowed, Liu Yinyin would have hired someone to help her take care of the baby long ago.

Jiang Cuihua still refused, only saying she would come by often to check in, but in the end, she accepted the goods.

After finishing her meal, Liu Yinyin took a nap.

In the afternoon, after class, she followed her usual routine—sorting wild vegetables before starting to cook.

She had soaked a handful of dried wild mushrooms in advance.

Using a pound of pork ribs, she made a dish of braised pork ribs with mushrooms.

The rich aroma of the ribs had fully infused the mushrooms. With just one bite, the mushrooms tasted incredibly fragrant and delicious—no less satisfying than the meat itself.

She also steamed half a pot of white rice in an earthen pot.

Liu Yinyin now preferred eating rice. It was more convenient to prepare—just wash it and cook it in the pot.

Unlike flour, which required kneading and proofing the dough—a time-consuming and labor-intensive process.

As soon as Gu Cheng got home, he smelled the aroma of meat. Holding his chubby son in his arms, he walked into the kitchen.

He initially thought that Liu Yinyin had stewed the other wild chicken, but to his surprise, today’s meal was braised pork ribs.

Gu Cheng asked in surprise, “Where did the meat come from?”

“Of course, I bought it in the county,” Liu Yinyin replied.

In the entire village, only her family could afford to eat meat from time to time. Fortunately, their house was in a remote area; otherwise, people would have been coming over to ask questions.

Gu Cheng then asked, “Where did you buy it?”

Liu Yinyin: “……”

Here we go again—she would have to explain everything all over again.

Leaving out the part about smuggling goods from the system, Liu Yinyin truthfully told him everything else this time, especially about Li Ge (Brother Li).

Looking at him, she asked, “I heard that buying things from him is pretty reliable. Do you think what I’m doing is okay? Will it affect you?”

She was unsure whether to rely on Li Ge’s black market connections to acquire food supplies.

On one hand, using Li Ge as a cover would make it easier for her to smuggle goods from the system without needing to come up with different excuses each time.

On the other hand, she wasn’t sure if doing this would negatively impact Gu Cheng.

How should she put it? While smuggling supplies from the system was exhilarating, she cared more about Gu Cheng’s career prospects.

Gu Cheng didn’t say no. He only told her, “I understand. I’ll ask around later. If there’s no issue, you can go if you want.”

Hearing this, Liu Yinyin was overjoyed. “So it won’t affect you?”

“It’s fine,” Gu Cheng said indifferently. “It’s not like you’re committing a crime like murder or arson. How could it possibly affect me?”

Hearing his words, Liu Yinyin felt reassured.

In fact, she hadn’t bought anything from Li Ge today at all.

The reason she brought this up with Gu Cheng was to have him check out Li Ge’s reliability.

If he turned out to be trustworthy, she would be able to buy food and meat from him regularly in the future.