Chapter 15: Where Does That Meat Smell Come From?

Uncle Li often transported people with his donkey cart, so everyone knew him, but the woman sitting in the cart this time—who was she?

Especially considering the cart was full of goods, the villagers were staring in disbelief.

Their sharp eyes had noticed that the bag on top contained not only vegetables but also meat and pig trotters!

With the brigade yet to distribute any meat, many villagers hadn’t tasted it in quite some time. Watching those fresh pieces of meat caused some to swallow hard.

What a large bag! If the top items were so good, who knew how many other delicious things were at the bottom!

Just that one cartload could rival the purchases of over ten households! Who was this daughter-in-law from such a well-off family, so extravagant?

As they pondered this, the villagers wiped the sweat from their brows and squinted to take a closer look.

However, Jiang Yuman had her straw hat on, and with the sun shining down, they couldn’t see her face. Besides, Uncle Li didn’t stop the cart, and it quickly passed by the edge of the field.

As the cart moved, the nearby villagers erupted into discussion:

“Who was that daughter-in-law just now? I don’t think I’ve seen her before!”

“I didn’t see her face clearly either, but wow, she looks really fair; just look at those arms that are showing!”

“Did you see that? All those goods in her cart cost a pretty penny…”

Amid their exclamations of surprise, the villagers frowned, feeling that it was far too extravagant.

Suddenly, an aunt voiced her confusion: “Aren’t we all supposed to be working today? How can she not be working?”

The crowd paused and realized—they were in the midst of the autumn harvest, and everyone was generally expected to participate!

This sparked another round of discussion.

But no matter how much they talked, the speed of their wheat-cutting swung steadily, as they all wanted their fair share of work points.

Zhou Yun and the others were assigned to the right side of the field and couldn’t hear the commotion along the roadside.

Taking a moment to rest from wielding their sickles, Zhou Yun noticed the animated chatter of those near the road but didn’t think much of it.

She had cooked a porridge this morning thin enough to see her reflection in it, and after working in the fields for so long, she had already digested it completely.

Rubbing her growling stomach, she couldn’t help but ask the nearby recorder of work points, “Sister, when can we head back to cook lunch?”

The recorder replied, “We’ll wait until 11:30 when we finish; it’s still only 11:00 now.”

Zhou Yun felt starved and, knowing she had to wait another hour, could only continue her labor, feeling faint from the heat.

At this time, the Fu family was also sweating profusely under the sun. This was the first time Fu Mu and Fu Haitang had worked in the fields, and they struggled to keep up with the others.

However, as the saying goes, practice leads to skill, and after a morning’s work, they gradually picked up the pace.

As for Fu Wangshan and Fu Jingchen, both of them were naturally strong and didn’t lag behind the villagers at all.

Zhou Yun, tired and hungry, glanced over at the Fu family and felt a bit more comforted.

When they returned home, they would also have an empty stove, waiting to make lunch.

Not only that, but they would also have to serve that lazy daughter-in-law!

—

While the villagers were still gritting their teeth to finish this last hour in the fields, Jiang Yuman had already returned to the youth station.

Uncle Li parked the cart right at the youth station and even got down voluntarily to carry the bag to the door for Jiang Yuman.

“Thank you, Uncle,” Jiang Yuman quickly handed him the fare.

“No problem. By the way, dear, I haven’t seen you around before; are you new here?” Uncle Li asked as he took the money, unable to restrain his curiosity.

“Yes, our family just arrived yesterday.”

“That explains it.” Uncle Li nodded and looking at the bag full of good things, he couldn’t help but comment:

“Girl, don’t take this the wrong way, but keep your goods under wraps. If people see, it might cause trouble.”

Uncle Li had been a soldier before and had a caring disposition.

When he heard Jiang Yuman say her family had just arrived, he knew they weren’t just youths sent down to the countryside. Usually, those coming for “reform” were different from the educated youth. If any jealousy arose in the village, they could easily report it, and things wouldn’t end well for her.

Seeing Jiang Yuman being polite to him, Uncle Li felt the need to remind her for her own good.

“Thank you for the warning, Uncle. I understand,” Jiang Yuman said, touched by Uncle Li’s kindness.

However, with the original owner’s mother’s certificate of merit, she felt secure and wouldn’t run into any trouble, though she didn’t feel the need to share that information with Uncle Li.

Believing her to be a good listener, Uncle Li nodded. “That’s good; you know to be cautious.”

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, he drove away.

Jiang Yuman continued to organize some items in the house.

Now that she had made a trip to town, it felt like she had traversed an entire route. She certainly couldn’t put all her new findings in neat order.

While her family had not come back yet, she took the opportunity to transfer several items from her space, especially fabric and food supplies.

Later, she headed to the kitchen to start cooking.

Since it was her family’s first day working, she planned to prepare something good, so she chose to braise pig trotters.

After chopping the trotters and washing them, she blanched them to prepare.

Then she caramelized some rock sugar, added the trotters, and stewed them.

In the youth station, there were two cooking pots.

While the trotters simmered away with the lid on one pot, she used the other pot to steam white flour buns.

Usually, when the youths were around to cook, they had to queue, but since they were absent, using two pots was just right.

The trotters and buns would finish cooking around the same time!

The pig trotters turned out a bright red, and the buns were fluffy and white—just looking at them made them appetizing!

Jiang Yuman was very confident in her cooking skills.

As for the soup, she directly used the spring water from her space, adding the seaweed and eggs she bought today to make seaweed and egg drop soup.

After sampling a spoonful, Jiang Yuman felt that the soup made with spring water was infinitely better.

With a whole basin of soup and a big bowl of braised pig trotters alongside the white flour buns completed, she finished just in time for the horn signaling lunchtime.

Jiang Yuman hurriedly opened the kitchen door and windows to air out the room and avoid any lingering smells.

Having a tasty meal was very normal, yet in a situation where everyone else was eating meager food, it could easily spark jealousy among the villagers.

Today was a special case; she had to go to the commune.

Once the others were enrolled, she could wake up early to prepare meals and store them in her space.

Pondering these thoughts, Jiang Yuman carried all the food into the house.

Before long, she heard people gradually arriving.

Zhou Yun was the first one in, famished. She rushed in to start cooking.

As she hurriedly retrieved some sorghum flour from the storage room and walked into the kitchen, she was hit by the lingering aroma of meat.

Almost instantly, Zhou Yun’s mouth watered, and her stomach growled loudly.

Her eyes instinctively scanned the kitchen but found it tidy and clean, without even a trace of minced meat.

“Sister Zhou, what are you still doing here? Didn’t you say you were starving? Hurry up and cook!” another young woman with a basin said as she walked by.

“Why do I smell meat coming from our kitchen?” Zhou Yun sniffed a few times. “You all smell that too, right?”

“The brigade hasn’t distributed any meat yet; where would that smell be coming from? Sister Zhou, are you imagining things?”