Chapter 24: Crab Sauce

When Meng Yufei was halfway through washing the crabs, Mrs. Zhang from next door came over with her little daughter, Fangfang.

The yard door was not closed, and Mrs. Zhang stood at the entrance saying, “Sister, are you washing crabs at home?”

Meng Yufei looked up and saw Mrs. Zhang, quickly smiling and saying, “Sister, you’re here, come in!” She got up and added, “Come, sit inside.”

Mrs. Zhang waved her hand repeatedly, saying, “No need to be so polite, I’ll help you wash them.” She walked over, squatted down, and began cleaning the crabs.

Meng Yufei hurriedly handed her stool over, smiling, “Thank you, sister. Please sit.” She then turned to her daughter and said, “Qinqin, take Fangfang inside to play. Go to the snack box and get some candy for her.”

Xia Qinqin tilted her head and asked, “Mom, can I have candy?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Meng Yufei replied.

“Okay!” Xia Qinqin happily took Fangfang’s hand, and the two little girls went inside to play.

Inside the living room, Xia Qinqin, familiar with the house, ran over to the chest of drawers next to the sofa, opened the middle drawer, and found a large biscuit box. She opened the lid, revealing a variety of candies.

Since Fangfang was her good friend, Xia Qinqin didn’t hesitate and grabbed a handful of milk candies. Sitting on the sofa, the two little girls happily shared the candy.

Fangfang quietly asked, “Qinqin, can I see the doll again?”

Xia Qinqin nodded, “Sure, it’s in the small room. Let’s go get it and play.”

The two girls took the doll out and placed it on the sofa. One changed its clothes, while the other braided its hair.

Outside, Mrs. Zhang and Meng Yufei continued chatting while washing the crabs.

Mrs. Zhang said, “You went beachcombing yesterday. Why did you only collect crabs? You didn’t pick up any other seafood. These crabs are a hassle to clean, and there’s not much meat in them.”

Meng Yufei pointed to the shells under the eaves and said, “We also picked up those shells. I don’t know how to handle other seafood, so bringing them home would be a waste. Sister, didn’t you go beachcombing yesterday?”

Mrs. Zhang replied, “Ah, when I first moved here, I used to go all the time. I’d bring home a pile of seafood, but cleaning them was troublesome, and they didn’t taste that great when cooked. After a while, I stopped going.”

Meng Yufei nodded, “We only went for the novelty. Today, I’m already regretting washing these crabs.”

Mrs. Zhang glanced at the yard gate and whispered, “Sister, yesterday I listened to you and spent the whole day making shoes at Captain Cao’s house. The soles are already done, and everyone knows about the terrible thing Wei Shufang did.”

Meng Yufei was a bit surprised, “So fast?”

Mrs. Zhang replied, “There are always a lot of people coming and going at Captain Cao’s house. Everyone in our yard who likes to gossip gathers there. There’s usually nothing to do, and people love hearing all the rumors. I mentioned making shoes, and they couldn’t stop guessing what grievances Jianhong had suffered at home.”

Meng Yufei said, “You’re just telling the truth. As for their guesses, that’s their own doing.”

Mrs. Zhang asked in confusion, “Sister, it’s strange. According to what they said, it seems they’ve known all along that Wei Shufang is a bad stepmother. Why didn’t anyone say anything before?”

Meng Yufei explained, “Maybe no one stood up before to point it out. No one wanted to offend Wei Shufang by talking about it for no reason.”

Mrs. Zhang nodded, “That makes sense.”

After cleaning the crabs, Meng Yufei lit the coal stove and began preparing to steam the crabs.

Mrs. Zhang, puzzled, asked, “You’re cooking this early? I heard that crabs cook quickly, it won’t take more than a few minutes.”

Meng Yufei explained, “I’m making crab sauce.”

“Crab sauce? You can make a sauce with crabs?”

Meng Yufei clarified, “Yes, first you steam the crabs, then remove the crab meat and roe, and cook it in a pan with some oil on low heat to make a sauce.”

Mrs. Zhang shook her head and said, “Making a sauce sounds like a lot of work.”

Meng Yufei smiled, “It is a bit of work, but the flavor of the sauce is very fresh. Whether it’s mixed with noodles or served with rice and steamed buns, it’s delicious.”

“Sister, when it’s done, you should take some home and try it.”

Mrs. Zhang said, “How could I take such a labor-intensive dish?”

Meng Yufei replied, “I learned this recipe from my mom, and I haven’t made it myself yet. After you try it, I’d also like to ask if you could give me some pickled vegetables, as I don’t know how to make them.”

Mrs. Zhang said, “That’s easy. I have several large jars of pickled vegetables at home. The good thing about this place is there’s plenty of vegetables, we have fresh vegetables all year round.”

As they spoke, the crabs were done steaming, turning a bright red.

They took them out to cool, and Mrs. Zhang helped Meng Yufei peel the crab meat. This was the most time-consuming part, and the two of them spent most of the afternoon doing it. From half a bucket of crabs, they only got half a basin of crab meat.

Originally, Meng Yufei planned to continue cooking the crab sauce on the coal stove, but Mrs. Zhang suggested, “The fire on the coal stove is small, and the pot is too small. It takes a long time. Let me burn the clay stove, and you can cook it.”

After adding oil to the pot and heating it, they added ginger slices. Once the ginger dried up, they removed it, then added the crab meat and roe to the pot, cooking it slowly over low heat.

When the crab meat turned golden and shiny, the crab sauce was done. Meng Yufei took a soup bowl, scooped the crab sauce into it, and let it cool. Despite using so many crabs, they only ended up with one bowl of crab sauce.

Mrs. Zhang said, “Wow, this color is really beautiful, and it smells amazing.”

Meng Yufei took out a bowl from the cupboard and said, “It’s best to store this crab sauce in jars. We don’t have any jars at home, so you can just use a bowl to take some.”

Mrs. Zhang replied, “I have jars at home, they’re from fruit cans I used before. I’ll go home and bring some.”

Mrs. Zhang went home and returned with two glass jars.

She opened the jars and said, “These are from canned yellow peaches we had during the New Year. I cleaned them and kept them. Today, they’re just right for use.”

Meng Yufei poured the crab sauce into the jars, and one bowl of crab sauce perfectly filled two glass jars.

She used a cloth to wipe the edges of the jars clean of any spilled crab sauce. Looking at the jars, Meng Yufei said, “I’ve been to the supply and marketing cooperative a few times, but I don’t think I’ve seen any fruit cans for sale.”

Mrs. Zhang replied, “We have plenty of fruit on this island, so even if the cooperative had fruit cans, no one would buy them. These two jars of yellow peach cans were bought from a department store in the city during the New Year. These kids are so picky, even though there are so many fresh fruits on the island, they still want to eat yellow peach cans.”

Meng Yufei said, “Yellow peaches grow in the northwest and southwest regions. We don’t seem to have them on this island, so it’s normal for the kids to want them.”

Mrs. Zhang said, “It wasn’t until I came to this island that I realized there are so many types of fruit in the world. Back home, we mostly ate apples and pears.”

Meng Yufei smiled and said, “This is one of the perks of living on the island.”

Mrs. Zhang nodded, “Yes, at first I thought this island was a miserable place with poor conditions, but who knew, except for the inconvenient transportation and the hot weather, everything else is pretty good.”

After their conversation, Mrs. Zhang noticed it was getting late and decided to head home. Just then, Xia Junshan returned. He opened the faucet in the yard to wash his hands, noticed the door was open, and smelled the aroma of the crabs. He shouted inside:

“Feifei, you cooked the crabs already? Why didn’t you wait for me to come back? With so many crabs, didn’t you get tired doing it all by yourself?”

Mrs. Zhang, holding Fangfang and carrying a jar of crab sauce, walked out of the house and laughed, “Commander Xia really knows how to care for his wife.”

Xia Junshan looked up and saw Mrs. Zhang, and quickly greeted her, “Sister, you’re here.”

Mrs. Zhang, addressing Meng Yufei, who came out of the house, said, “Sister, Commander Xia, I’ll head home now. Thanks for the crab sauce. Remember to come by my house this afternoon to get some pickled vegetables.”

Xia Junshan said, “Sister, stay a little longer. I just came back and interrupted your conversation.”

Mrs. Zhang waved her hand, “No need. I’ve already sat for the whole morning. I think Old Ma should be home by now. I need to go cook. You two stay and keep busy.” With that, she walked toward the gate.

After washing his hands and face, Xia Junshan said to Meng Yufei, “You made crab sauce this morning? That must’ve taken quite a bit of effort.” He had eaten crab sauce made by Meng Yufei’s mother before and thought it tasted great, even asking how it was made.

Meng Yufei handed him the towel she had taken from the clothesline, saying, “With Sister-in-law Zhang helping, it didn’t take too long. How was your ‘pest control’ mission this morning?”

Taking the towel, Xia Junshan wiped his face and replied, “We found a lot of insect eggs and cleaned them up in advance. There will be fewer mosquitoes this summer. We also caught a few mice and sent them to the head chef in the dining hall—he has a big cat. We didn’t see any snakes, so it looks like it was just a coincidence that Qinqin and the others ran into one.”

Meng Yufei paused and asked, “Junshan, last time you said the snake Qinqin encountered was a water snake?”

Xia Junshan finished drying his face and replied, “Yeah, it was. But water snakes are usually found near freshwater. The nearest pond to our compound is several hundred meters away. How could the snake have traveled so far?”

Meng Yufei speculated, “Could it have been brought here by someone?”

Xia Junshan paused in hanging up the towel and turned back to her, “You mean someone might have intentionally tried to harm Qinqin?”

Meng Yufei replied, “It’s just a guess, but it shouldn’t be possible, right? We’ve just arrived here and haven’t offended anyone.”

After thinking for a moment, she added, “Maybe someone brought the snake in and accidentally let it loose, and it just happened to run into Qinqin.”

Xia Junshan said, “This is about Qinqin’s safety. I’ll look into it when I have time.”

Meng Yufei said, “This is all just speculation. If you decide to investigate, please do so quietly and don’t make it public.”

Xia Junshan nodded, “Got it.”

Meng Yufei glanced at her watch and said, “It’s time for lunch. I’ll go to the dining hall to get our meals.”

Xia Junshan patted the towel and said, “I’ll go with you.”

The two of them grabbed their lunch boxes and some change, walking side by side toward the dining hall, with Xia Qinqin, of course, tagging along, each of them holding one of her small hands.

Today, the dining hall was serving sticky rice ribs. Considering they had sticky rice steamed buns in the morning, it seemed that the supply ship had brought in some sticky rice.

A serving of sticky rice ribs cost fifty-seven cents, plus an additional two taels of meat coupons. It was a bit expensive, but sticky rice and ribs were both considered precious ingredients.

They also ordered some braised bamboo shoots for ninety cents, as the spring bamboo shoots were very tender this season.

The soup was spinach soup, priced at thirty cents per bowl, light and refreshing. The staple food was still white rice, which they would eat with the crab sauce when they returned home.

Back at home, Xia Junshan brought several white porcelain plates from the kitchen, transferring the dishes onto them. He even carefully wiped the edges of the plates clean with a cloth.

Meng Yufei and Xia Qinqin washed their hands and came in. Xia Qinqin immediately dashed to the dining table, climbed up onto a chair, and looked at the sticky rice ribs in the plate, exclaiming, “It smells so good!”

Xia Junshan saw the little greedy look on her face and picked up a piece of rib from the table with chopsticks, bringing it to her mouth, smiling, “Then you can try it first.”

Xia Qinqin looked at the ribs in front of her, swallowed, but shook her head and said, “We need to wait for Mom to eat together.”

Xia Junshan, feeling pleased, said, “Good girl, Qinqin really understands. We’ll start eating when everyone is here.”

Meng Yufei took the crab sauce she had made in the morning from the kitchen and said with a smile, “Perfect timing to try the crab sauce, this is my first time making it, so I’m not sure if it tastes good.”

Xia Junshan said, “It’s definitely delicious.”

Xia Qinqin nodded and added, “It’s definitely delicious.”

Meng Yufei laughed, “You haven’t even tasted it yet, how do you know it’s good?”

Xia Junshan said, “Just by smelling this aroma, I know it’s going to be great.”

Xia Qinqin nodded her little head in agreement, “Qinqin smells it, and it smells really good.”

Meng Yufei opened the lid and scooped a spoonful of crab sauce onto each of their bowls of rice, saying, “Since that’s the case, go ahead and try it.”

Xia Qinqin pointed at the bowl in front of Meng Yufei and said, “Mom, eat together.”

Meng Yufei also scooped a spoonful of crab sauce into her own bowl, covered the lid, and sat down, saying, “Okay, now that everyone’s here, let’s eat.”

Xia Junshan picked up a bite of rice mixed with crab sauce and put it into his mouth. The rich and fresh crab flavor spread across his tongue, and the crab oil soaked into the rice, making it soft, sticky, and fragrant.

“Mm, this is really good. It’s much better than just eating the crab itself,” Xia Junshan nodded and praised.

Xia Qinqin also spoke up, “It’s so good, Mom’s crab sauce is just as good as Grandma’s.”

Meng Yufei picked up a rib and put it into Xia Qinqin’s bowl, reminding her, “Don’t talk with food in your mouth. Wait until you finish eating to talk, okay?”

“Mm-hmm.” Xia Qinqin nodded obediently.

Next door at Regiment Commander Ma’s house, the table was filled with everyday dishes prepared by Mrs. Zhang—braised asparagus with salted pork, stir-fried potato strips, and stir-fried green peppers with chives.

Ma Weiliang sat at the table, dissatisfied, “Mom, why’s there no meat?”

Mrs. Zhang didn’t even look up as she replied, “Isn’t salted pork meat?”

Ma Weimei complained, “How come we still haven’t finished the salted pork? The weather’s hot here, is the meat going bad?”

Regiment Commander Ma grumbled, “If you don’t like it, don’t eat it. You’ve all gotten used to living comfortably, even complaining about salted pork. When I was a kid, I didn’t have salted pork to eat, I couldn’t even drink soup.”

The kids all lowered their heads, unhappy, and pouted. Mrs. Zhang stood up, went to the kitchen, and brought out some crab sauce. She scooped a spoonful into a bowl and said, “This is the crab sauce that your Aunt Meng made. Try it.”

Ma Weimei couldn’t help but take a bite with rice, surprised, “This is really good, it tastes so good with rice.”

Ma Weidong also nodded and said, “Mom, next time, ask Aunt Meng how she makes it. When I go to the army, you can make two jars and send them to me.”

Ma Weimei shot back, “Why don’t you ask her yourself? This might be her secret recipe. Besides, you can tell from the look of the crab sauce that it’s not easy to make. And you want me to send you two jars—such a big request!”

Ma Weidong shouted, “You little brat, why do you talk so much? I didn’t even ask you to make it.”

Ma Weimei retorted, “Why don’t you let my mom make it? What’s wrong with that?”

Ma Weidong replied, “But that’s still my mom!”

Regiment Commander Ma slammed his chopsticks on the table and shouted, “Enough! Shut up, or no one gets to eat!”

Mrs. Zhang also said, “You two are something else, even arguing during a meal. Alright, enough talking, let’s eat quickly.”

Finally, the children stopped talking and lowered their heads to silently eat.

Regiment Commander Ma pointed at the jar of crab sauce and said, “This tastes pretty good. I never thought crab could be made into a sauce. Let’s have hand-pulled noodles for dinner tonight, it’ll probably taste even better than with rice.”

Mrs. Zhang nodded, “Alright.”

—

At Deputy Regiment Commander Chen’s house, after spending the whole morning catching pests, Deputy Regiment Commander Chen returned home and saw Qi Huiying still curled up in bed. He asked, “What’s wrong? Are you still feeling unwell? Didn’t you go to the hospital yesterday? What did the doctor say?”

Qi Huiying turned over and didn’t respond.

Seeing she didn’t answer, Deputy Regiment Commander Chen turned and went to the yard to grab a hoe and continued weeding. He had already finished half the work in the yard, so he decided to finish the rest.

At noon, Deputy Regiment Commander Chen came back from the cafeteria with lunch. He called out to Qi Huiying to eat, and this time she got up and came out.

Sitting at the dining table, she saw the dishes in her lunchbox: scrambled eggs with chives and stir-fried asparagus strips.

Qi Huiying frowned and asked, “Didn’t the cafeteria have any meat today?”

Deputy Regiment Commander Chen picked up some scrambled eggs with chives, scooped a big bite of rice, and said, “They did. The cafeteria made glutinous rice steamed ribs today.”

Qi Huiying was momentarily stunned and asked, “Then why didn’t you buy some?”

Deputy Regiment Commander Chen kept eating, saying, “I saw the ribs cost fifty-seven cents for a portion, and you also need two liang of meat coupons. That’s not worth it. Ribs are mostly bone, not much meat. With that money, I’d rather eat braised pork.”

Seeing Qi Huiying not eating, he urged, “Why aren’t you eating? The scrambled eggs with chives taste really good.” He then picked up a piece of egg and put it in her lunchbox.

Qi Huiying looked at the eggs in her lunchbox, with a grain of rice on top. A hint of disdain flashed in her eyes as she took a deep breath and said, “Tell me, do you think Commander Xia’s side sent any gifts to the division commander’s family? What kind of gifts do you usually send? ^[1]“Moutai” (茅台) and “Zhonghua” (中华) refer to two high-end, luxury items in China, commonly associated with gift-giving, social status, and official corruption during … Continue readingMoutai? Zhonghua?”

Deputy Regiment Commander Chen paused, his chopsticks stopping. He asked in surprise, “What are you talking about? Moutai, Zhonghua? Our unit doesn’t have any of those bad habits of gift-giving. That’s corruption!”

Qi Huiying rolled her eyes, “You didn’t send any, can you guarantee no one else did?”

Deputy Regiment Commander Chen replied, “Since I joined the army, all the way up to now, I’ve never given a single gift, and I’ve never heard of anyone getting promoted because of gifts.”

Qi Huiying sneered, “Look at Commander Xia, he’s so young but already a full regiment commander, and the division commander trusts him so much. And his wife—out of nowhere, she got a job there. You still don’t get it?”

Deputy Regiment Commander Chen said, “Commander Xia may have only just transferred here, but at the division’s martial arts competition, he won first prizes in both shooting and combat. We all respect his abilities. And don’t forget, he went to the battlefield in the Korean War when he was sixteen, earning numerous battle honors.”

Qi Huiying retorted, “What about his wife? Did she ever go to the battlefield and earn honors? Why did the division commander give her a job?”

Deputy Regiment Commander Chen said, “The division commander must have his reasons for doing that. Besides, it’s just a teacher’s job. It’s not like we’re lacking those two extra money. I can support you.”

After speaking, he quickly finished his meal in a few bites, put down his chopsticks, and said, “I’m done. You take your time. I’m going to lie down for a bit, I’m exhausted after this whole morning.”

Qi Huiying stared at his retreating figure, angered, and slammed her chopsticks down with a loud bang.