Chapter 21

After speaking, the team leader hurriedly drove the ox cart toward the east side of the village. Jiang Manyue guessed that the newcomers were being housed at Old Liu’s place on the east side.

Old Liu’s house was quite large, but since he had passed away, it had been vacant for the past two years—just perfect to accommodate these newcomers.

Watching the ox cart disappear into the distance, Jiang Manyue couldn’t help but think: if she could build a relationship with them, could she get free tutoring?

She wasn’t very confident about the college entrance exams of this era. She had no idea what the test would include, or whether it covered things she’d learned in her past life.

If someone could tutor her, her chances of getting into university would improve a lot.

As she strolled home, Jiang Manyue kept thinking about how to get closer to these intellectuals.

After all, the team leader hadn’t said that villagers weren’t allowed to interact with the newcomers. If she went over and said she was just curious, it probably wouldn’t be a big deal.

Having thought up an excuse, she decided to stop by the Liu family courtyard that afternoon.

After wandering around the village a bit more, Jiang Manyue finally headed home to pick some vegetables from their private plot for lunch.

Rather than sit around doing nothing, she figured she’d cook a couple of dishes to avoid having to choke down Li Guifen’s terrible cooking again—better to do it herself than force herself to eat her mother-in-law’s bland food and give her the upper hand.

By the time Li Guifen got home from work, Jiang Manyue was already washing vegetables.

Seeing her like this, it was obvious that Jiang Manyue would be cooking again.

Li Guifen didn’t say anything. She simply went to rinse the rice. She wasn’t good at stir-frying, but she could at least manage to cook the rice.

The mother- and daughter-in-law worked in quiet coordination: one cooked the dishes, the other took care of the rice and the cleanup. Together, they prepared lunch.

At the table, the family of four ate heartily. Seeing her husband and grandson enjoying the meal, Li Guifen’s earlier irritation melted away. She even started thinking she should talk to Jiang Manyue about cooking more often.

As a reward, Li Guifen planned to give her some extra money and ration tickets—so she could buy what she needed without worry.

After lunch, before she even had time to wash the dishes, Li Guifen went to find Jiang Manyue, who was about to head to her room for a nap.

“Manyue, can I talk to you about something?”

Even though Jiang Manyue was her daughter-in-law, and cooking was part of contributing to the household, Li Guifen still felt a little guilty asking—it felt like she was demanding too much.

“I was thinking, if you have time, could you cook a bit more often? Your dishes taste better than mine, and your dad and Jun’an love your cooking.”

Not giving Jiang Manyue a chance to respond, she quickly added, “Don’t worry, you won’t be cooking for free. I’ll give you half of A-Lin’s monthly allowance, plus some meat and oil ration tickets. When you go to the county, just use those to buy what you need, alright?”

Jiang Manyue did some quick mental math—this actually seemed like a good deal. She was free most of the time anyway, and cooking wasn’t that hard. Plus, it gave her a little extra income.

She could take the money and ration tickets and give them to her mother, Miao Xianghua, saving her the trouble of trading for them on the black market.

And she could tell her mother that the money and tickets came from Lu Lin’s allowance—not from any shady dealings. That way, her mom would feel more at ease using them.

“Alright, Mom. As long as I’m free, I’ll cook. I’ll make sure to cook more meat too—help the family get some nourishment, especially Jun’an. He’s not very strong, so every extra bite helps.”

Li Guifen nodded quickly. She definitely wanted her grandson to eat more nutritious food. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to cook meat—it was just that her cooking made it dry and tough, so she rarely did.

“I’ll go get the tickets now. You just buy what you think we need.”

She returned with the meat and oil tickets and ten yuan, and handed them to Jiang Manyue.

Jiang Manyue accepted them without hesitation. She was already planning to take a fresh chicken from the supermarket tomorrow—half for soup, half braised—and make a simple veggie stir-fry to go with it. That would be a well-balanced lunch.

No one was home in the mornings anyway, so she’d just say she went to the county to buy the chicken when Li Guifen came back.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll take care of dinner too. You just need to cook the rice.”

With Jiang Manyue’s promise, Li Guifen felt relieved and happily went into the kitchen to wash the dishes.

As she scrubbed, she felt more and more pleased with her daughter-in-law. Jiang Manyue was so good to Jun’an and willing to cook for the family—what more could she ask for?

Li Guifen made up her mind. When Lu Lin came home, she’d make sure to push the couple to truly be together. Best case scenario, they’d have a baby while he was home—that would really cement their bond.

Little did she know, Jiang Manyue’s mother was thinking the exact same thing. They were oddly in sync—both wanted her to give Lu Lin a baby soon.

Meanwhile, Jiang Manyue was lying on her bed, enjoying a relaxing rest and planning to drop off the money and tickets with her mom later that afternoon, then stop by the Liu family courtyard as well.

After waking up, she took the money and tickets Li Guifen had given her and went to the Jiang family home.

Miao Xianghua was about to go collect pigweed with her third daughter-in-law, Zhang Chunhong. Seeing her daughter arrive, she set down her basket and told Chunhong to go ahead.

“Mom, come here. I’ve got something for you.”

Jiang Manyue pulled her mother into the house and shut the door before taking the money and tickets from her pocket.

“Where did you get all this money and these ration tickets? They’re meat and oil tickets too!”

Before Miao Xianghua could finish her sentence, she seemed to realize something and smacked Jiang Manyue on the shoulder.

“You little brat! I told you not to go to the black market, and you still went! Are we so poor that we need you to risk yourself like that? What if you got caught? How would I survive?”

Jiang Manyue howled in pain. “Mom! Can’t you ask first before hitting me? You might break me!”

Still fuming, Miao Xianghua snapped, “What else is there to ask? If you didn’t get them from the black market, where else would you get this much?”

Looking aggrieved, Jiang Manyue replied, “My mother-in-law gave them to me. She asked me to cook for the family, and this is my payment.”

Miao Xianghua was stunned. “You’re just cooking at home, and your mother-in-law pays you?”

Jiang Manyue nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world. “Of course. Cooking isn’t my duty. If I help her out, she should pay me, right?”

Miao Xianghua was speechless. If her own daughter-in-law expected to be paid for doing housework, there’d be a huge fight. But since it was her daughter benefiting, and living a good life with her in-laws, she was actually pleased.

“Well, why didn’t you say that earlier? I thought you went to the black market.”

She reached out to gently rub the spot where she had hit Jiang Manyue earlier, giving her daughter a slightly apologetic smile.