Chapter 60: Synthetic Essential Oils

Wen Jiajia didn’t continue shopping after leaving Sister Bao’s house. She took a path to the halfway point of North Mountain, where she spotted a few tender green shepherd’s purse seedlings.

Shepherd’s purse was hidden under the rotten dead leaves. She had to lift the leaves to see these green shoots.

The gradually warming weather was not yet perceptible to humans, but the delicate green sprouts were already sensing the arrival of spring.

Wen Jiajia looked at them with delight. However, the seedlings were still tender, only as tall as her little finger, and needed time to grow before they could be eaten.

Continuing further, she came across two locust trees.

These were Robinia pseudoacacia^[1]or Black Locust, a versatile tree valued for its durable wood and ability to thrive in various soil conditions. trees, known for their edible flowers that bloom in late spring and early summer. The flowers are white, with drooping clusters of petals resembling white butterflies. From a distance, they look like white windchimes.

In her previous life, Wen Jiajia loved buying these flowers to make fried eggs, but the supermarket variety didn’t taste good. She would have to get up early and go to the vegetable market to find fresh ones.

Further ahead, she saw small spring bamboo shoots emerging from the ground.

This was a small bamboo forest. After an entire autumn and winter, the bamboos remained green. Most of the bamboo in the forest was bitter bamboo. Wen Jiajia noted the location and planned to return in a month or two to pick some bitter bamboo shoots.

Although bitter bamboo shoots have a bitter taste, they become quite delicious after being blanched in water and then fried with wine lees and sweet potato starch until they become sticky.

Wen Jiajia continued up the mountain but decided to walk along the east side instead of reaching the top. She planned to head back to her home via this route.

Halfway through her walk, she encountered a mountain wall with water seeping out of it. It was similar to the mountain wall in the vegetable garden of her hometown.

The water gathered into a long, thin stream, flowed into a ditch at the foot of the mountain, and eventually made its way to the lake.

If Wei Dai had been with her, he would have cupped his hands to drink the water. Wen Jiajia, however, didn’t dare do that. Though the water was undoubtedly delicious, it also contained microorganisms that were invisible to the naked eye.

This water could be used to make tea, however. Mountain spring water filtered through layers of sand and gravel contains trace elements and has a sweet taste. Tea brewed with it would be much more fragrant than tea made with ordinary water.

Wen Jiajia made a mental note of the location. If she remembered correctly, there were two wild tea trees nearby from which she had picked tea last year.

After spending half the morning here, it was almost noon by the time she got home.

Wei Dai was heating up the food. When he heard Wen Jiajia return, he asked, “Did you go to the back mountain?”

“How did you know?” Wen Jiajia asked, sitting on a chair by the door. She took off her shoes and asked Wei Dai to fetch her slippers from the room.

The slippers were crocheted with wool—only the upper part and lining were crocheted, while the soles were rubber, bought from the department store.

She always wore these slippers at home during winter, and they were just as cozy as the plush slippers she would wear decades later.

Wei Dai pointed to the footprints left on the bluestone slabs in the yard and said, “Where else could there be so much mud and grass but on the mountain?”

Wen Jiajia smiled and said, “You know, I found a lot of good things on the mountain today. I calculated that I can pick shepherd’s purse in half a month, dig spring bamboo shoots in a month, pick bitter bamboo shoots in two months, and gather locust flowers in three months… Oh, and I also saw some wolfberry sprouts, but not many—just enough for two or three meals.”

Wei Dai placed the slippers at her feet and said, “You should make the most of it. People who have lived in the mountains for years know everything about what grows there.”

Indeed! She would explore the mountains and fields, noting the locations of wild vegetables. Others did the same.

Wen Jiajia put on a serious expression, took out a pen, and made a note on the calendar.

Wei Dai laughed and said, “Aren’t the vegetables at home enough for you? Can wild vegetables be as delicious as tender, juicy Chinese cabbage?”

Of course not! He didn’t realize the value of wild vegetables. Decades later, wild vegetables would sell for dozens of yuan per kilogram.

Moreover, wild vegetables have a distinct, natural flavor compared to those grown at home.

Wei Dai added, “That’s because you add a lot of oil, bacon, and eggs when you cook them. Of course, they taste good.”

If she saw wild onions growing in the corner of the yard, she would fry them with eggs. If she found radishes from the mountains, she would stir-fry them with bacon.

If there was no bacon at home, she would have to buy pork belly. Yet, even with pork belly, she felt it wasn’t tasty enough and was a waste of the garlic she had picked specially.

Wen Jiajia had no counterargument and decided not to argue further. Men do tend to talk too much.

She slipped on her slippers and went to the kitchen to check on the food.

There was half a fish, half a bowl of pork with preserved vegetables, and some winter amaranth soup left over from the morning. On the chopping board was spinach, washed and waiting to be steamed and then stir-fried.

“Where are the two sisters?” Wen Jiajia asked, preparing to call them for dinner.

Wei Dai replied, “They are playing basketball in the staff dormitory. Don’t go call them; they will come back when it’s time to eat.”

It was almost half-past eleven, and they would naturally return after the other children were called home for dinner.

When the meal was served, Wen Jiajia looked at the half-cooked fish and felt a bit regretful. “Fish shouldn’t be reheated. Fish jelly is perfect for this kind of weather.”

It was like eating ice cream by the fire in winter—not just the taste, but the coolness was refreshing.

Wei Dai said, “Do you like it? Use the two fish in the water tank to make fish soup, so you can have more fish jelly.” Wei Dai, who lived by the river, also enjoyed fish jelly.

Wen Jiajia swallowed her saliva and said, “One fish will be prepared traditionally, and the other will be hot and sour, both with tofu.”

“Okay,” he agreed with a laugh. Wen Jiajia really liked cooking tofu in fish soup.

By the time they had nearly finished eating, Wen Chun and Wen Xuan returned, panting.

“Wash your hands and have dinner,” Wen Jiajia instructed. She then asked, “Who were you playing ball with?”

Wen Chun placed the basketball on a shelf in the corner of the living room and ran to the kitchen, saying, “With Xiaopang and the others. Xiaopang could finally join us, so we played for longer.”

Wen Jiajia was surprised. “That’s good; it means Xiaopang is fully recovered.”

In fact, he had recovered a while ago, but Xiaopang’s grandmother had kept him at home out of caution. Many children had been ill recently, so she didn’t want to risk letting Xiaopang out.

But since it was New Year’s Day, a fresh start to the year, it was appropriate for Xiaopang to be free.

Wei Dai served food to the two children. Afterward, he came back and asked Wen Jiajia, “How did the issue between Xiaopang’s family and Sister Hong’s family get resolved?”

How was it resolved? It was simple—just let it go. Sister Hong didn’t sell the red medicine to Xiaopang’s family. Xiaopang’s parents were reasonable. After the doctor approved it, they didn’t pursue the matter further.

However, Sister Hong’s business faced consequences. The logistics department had ordered her not to bring such items back to exchange with others in the family compound.

But Sister Hong was a resilient and determined woman. According to Sister Bao, she was still harboring plans.

Sister Hong had recently started growing mushrooms again. A few days ago, she asked Wen Jiajia if there were any linden trees on the hill behind her house, as linden trees were good for growing shiitake mushrooms and black fungus.

She didn’t plan to sell the mushrooms and black fungus; that would be too risky and easy to expose. Instead, she intended to trade them for eggs and other items, which would be less suspicious.

Wen Jiajia was quite confused. How could she ensure that she could grow mushrooms and black fungus, and how could she prevent others from picking them?

Wei Dai placed a piece of fish belly meat in Wen Jiajia’s bowl and said, “Who knows? You ate this piece of fish. You’re always worried about picking out bones when you eat fish.”

Their fear of bones made them reluctant to eat fish, which would have led to starvation a dozen years ago.

He recalled that during the three years of food shortages, he survived largely on fish from the river. At first, it was fine, but eventually, the fish were almost depleted, and it took five or six years to repopulate them.

Wen Jiajia picked out the large bones and enjoyed the last bit of rice in her bowl with the fish meat.

_

The Spring Festival holiday lasts for three days: New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the day after New Year’s Day.

This year, the 28th and 29th fell on weekends, giving them a five-day holiday.

So, while she was still enjoying the New Year, the holiday ended abruptly, and she had to return to work.

Wen Jiajia often wavered between resting and making progress, all because of the inflexible work system—holidays were almost non-existent these days!

When she returned to work, she immediately sensed a change in the factory’s atmosphere. It seemed that everyone was discussing the new factory.

“Is it really a glass factory? Isn’t there already a glass factory in our city? Why not let them handle it?”

“Are you foolish? What kind of glass are we talking about? It’s pharmaceutical glass. They might make canning glass and window glass, but can they produce ampoules? Can they make ampoules of various sizes?”

“…Then they could add another production line. It’s all glass, so they should be able to start up faster than us.”

“Who knows? Maybe they won’t even get a production line, or maybe our factory will get there first. Oh, I wonder how many people the new factory will hire. My son is still at home making paper boxes every day. If he doesn’t find a job soon, he’ll be sent to the countryside.”

“However, this new factory is said to be a joint venture with the chemical plant, but I heard its parent company is the Municipal Industry Bureau.”

“That’s not true. It was originally meant to be given to the Provincial Fuel Chemical Industry Bureau, but somehow it ended up with the Municipal Industry Bureau. The head of the chemical plant is a veteran leader and actually a close relative of the Municipal Industry Bureau. Our pharmaceutical factory is like the stepmother in this arrangement.”

“Haha, that’s right! The Municipal Industry Bureau, the Chemical Plant, and the Pharmaceutical Glass Plant—three generations of connections. I feel like our pharmaceutical factory will be pushed out sooner or later.”

“Well, if we can see these problems, surely the factory leaders can too. They must have some strategy up their sleeves.”

“Then would you move to the new factory if offered?”

“I wouldn’t! I’m doing well here. Why would I move if they don’t offer a raise?”

Wen Jiajia was writing a promotional board and overheard these conversations. Once the discussion ended, she got up from the stool and went back to the office.

“This job is simple. All you have to do is copy some medicine-related content onto the bulletin board every day,” Wen Jiajia said, brushing the dust off her hands and explaining to the new employee.

The girl replacing Sha Yue was Dong Qi, who had just graduated from high school last year. With her two braids tied with light yellow bows and a youthful appearance, she looked very pretty.

Dong Qi smiled and nodded. “Okay, Sister Wen!”

“You can just call me Jia Jia,” Wen Jiajia replied.

“What about Sister Jiajia?”

Wen Jiajia said, “…That’s fine. It sounds younger than ‘Sister Wen’.”

Sha Yue’s personal belongings had been cleared out, and what couldn’t be taken away was left with Wen Jiajia.