Chapter 25

Jiang Yan was in front and Lu Yunsheng was behind, about half a meter apart, as they walked into the supply and marketing cooperative one after the other.

Jiang Yan felt guilty and did not dare to look back at Lu Yunsheng the whole time, but Lu Yunsheng’s eyes were completely glued to her.

Seeing her reserved look, Lu Yunsheng couldn’t help but smile. It turns out that young wives can also be shy!

During the past few days of getting along, Jiang Yan was always very proactive, and sometimes so enthusiastic that he could hardly bear it. It would be nice to make his young wife shy for once.

When we arrived at the meat section of the supply and marketing cooperative, there was not much meat left. All that was left were ribs, pig’s trotters, offal, pig ears, pig snouts and so on.

Jiang Yan hesitated about what to choose and looked up at Lu Yunsheng behind her.

“Is there anything you want to eat? Spare ribs can be braised, pig’s trotters can be stewed, pig’s offal can be made into braised pork intestines, and pig’s liver can be fried and is also delicious.”

“I just don’t have any marinade ingredients. Otherwise, I would have marinated the pig ears and mixed them with red oil to make a cold dish, which would also be great.”

Lu Yunsheng didn’t want Jiang Yan to work too hard, so he said, “It’s up to you. Just do what’s easy and troublesome.”

It was useless to ask Lu Yunsheng. Jiang Yan looked at the staff at the meat stall and asked about the prices of various types of meat.

Lean meat is 60 cents a pound, spare ribs are 0.30 cents a pound, pig’s trotters are 0.30 cents each, and pig offal is 1.41 a pair, no tickets are required, pig snouts, pig ears, etc. don’t require meat tickets either, they are 0.25 cents a pound.

These days everyone is short of oil, so fat is the most expensive, costing 80 cents per pound. Suet is even more expensive, costing one dollar per pound. Most of the ribs and pig’s trotters are bones, so they are cheap.

The others have little oil and a strong smell of pig offal. Many people don’t know how to cook them and they don’t taste good, so naturally fewer people buy them.

After asking the price, Jiang Yan did not decide what to buy immediately. Instead, she went to the grocery area next door to ask the staff and found that they had traditional Chinese medicinal herbs for marinade.

And because not many people bought it, no ticket was required, but the price was a bit expensive.

Jiang Yan decided to buy some so that she could keep them even if she couldn’t use them all.

After spending 80 cents on marinade ingredients, Jiang Yan returned to the meat stall and bought two pounds of lean meat, two pounds of ribs, a set of pig offal, and two pig front trotters.

I originally wanted to buy a fatter hind hoof, but the hind hoof was shaved very cleanly and there was no difference between it and the front hoof, so I bought the front hoof.

Because she bought too much meat, Jiang Yan bought a bamboo basket on the spot. Because there was some meat left on the ribs, she got a half-pound meat ticket for every pound of meat, but no ticket was required for pig’s trotters, so the total cost was four yuan and three pounds of meat tickets.

However, I still have to go to the town near the staff compound early tomorrow morning to buy some fat and pork belly. After all, people of this era love oil.

After buying the meat, Jiang Yan went to the vegetable area next door, while Lu Yunsheng moved the bamboo basket containing the meat to the car.

Looking at the two people’s behavior, others cast puzzled looks at them.

“Why did this family buy so much pig offal?”

“You say they are poor, but they bought so much meat. But if you say they are rich, they only bought cheap pig offal and pig’s feet. Only the ribs have some meat.”

“Pig offal stinks so bad that even if you fry it, it still stinks. This is because they are running out of meat.”

Ignoring the people around her, Jiang Yan picked some vegetables from the vegetable section.

Potatoes, lotus roots, and sweet potatoes are all vegetables that can be stored for a long time. They are sold all year round and are relatively cheap. Other vegetables such as green peppers, green vegetables, and tomatoes are more expensive.

Because there were so many people eating, Jiang Yan bought some more, spending a total of one dollar and thirty cents.

Salt, soy sauce, vinegar, onions, ginger, garlic, cooking wine, pepper powder, and so on were all bought last time, but Jiang Yan didn’t find any MSG, which was a bit regretful.

Looking at the bright red chili powder on the stall, I couldn’t help but buy some chili powder to fry in red oil.

Seeing that Lu Yunsheng had not returned yet, she wandered around the supply and marketing cooperative and bought some small items that did not require a ticket, spending one dollar.

After Lu Yunsheng came back, the two loaded the things into the car and went to the farmers’ market to buy chicks.

As a result, after walking around the farmers’ market, there were no chicks for sale.

After asking around, I found out that newly hatched chicks are difficult to raise and are not sold in the state-owned agricultural and sideline products markets.

If you want to buy her, you can only go to the farmers’ homes in the countryside to ask, or buy eggs and hatch them yourself.

Jiang Yan had no choice but to think of another solution and go back to ask Sister Hongxiu.

Back home.

It was already late, so Jiang Yan simply stir-fried some lotus root slices and lean meat, and then steamed a basket of multi-grain buns.

There’s breakfast for tomorrow, too.

While eating, Jiang Yan told Lu Yunsheng about her plan.

“The main course is twice-cooked pork, braised spareribs, braised pork intestines, braised pig’s trotters, stir-fried pork liver, stir-fried kidney, and shredded potatoes. The dessert is candied sweet potato.”

“If the other pig offal can be fried, then fry it. If not, make it into braised meat, and then make it into a cold dish.”

When Lu Yunsheng heard that Jiang Yan was going to prepare so many meat dishes, he was shocked. “You are preparing a whole banquet. Those people will be so happy tomorrow night.”

Jiang Yan smiled and said, “It only costs three pounds of meat tickets in total. No tickets are required for the pig’s offal and pig’s trotters. I hope everyone doesn’t mind.”

“They don’t care what it is, as long as it tastes good and has meat.”

Yesterday’s meat pie and today’s lotus root fried meat fully demonstrated his wife’s cooking skills. Lu Yunsheng was not worried about the taste. He looked at Jiang Yan and asked:

“I will be back to work tomorrow. Can you handle it by yourself? Or you can cook fewer dishes.”

Jiang Yan knew that Lu Yunsheng had been asking for leave to borrow a car from time to time these days. Now that he was married, he had to go to work normally. If he asked for leave again, the leaders of the group would definitely have opinions.

“It’s okay. Don’t we still have Sister Hongxiu? I didn’t have the conditions before, but now I want to eat these dishes too.”

The couple agreed on this. After dinner, Lu Yunsheng went to wash the dishes, and Jiang Yan simply washed the meat she bought today, put it in an enamel basin and put it in the water tank, then covered it with a wooden lid and pressed it down with stones.

When she finished her work, Lu Yunsheng also boiled the hot water.

He knew that his young wife loved cleanliness and had to take a bath every day, and even if she didn’t take a bath, she had to wipe her body.

Jiang Yan hurried into the master bedroom and took some clean clothes, and Lu Yunsheng also brought water into the bathroom.

Listening to the sound of water in the bathroom, Lu Yunsheng looked away uncomfortably and walked to the yard with a hoe in hand.

Jiang Yan had made a small plan before, with the courtyard gate as the dividing line, the middle as the entrance, vegetables planted on the left side of the courtyard, and poultry raised on the right side.

Coming out of the bathroom, Jiang Yan saw that there was no one in the room, and heard some noise outside, so she knew that Lu Yunsheng was loosening the soil.

She untied her wet hair and walked to the door of the living room. “Don’t be busy. I’ll dig it again in two days when I have time. Go take a shower.”

“Yeah, okay.”

The dim light in the room shone on Jiang Yan’s face, making her fair complexion look even more delicate, and the hazy light made people’s hearts move. Lu Yunsheng stood in the dim light and responded.

Jiang Yan looked at him strangely, then turned and went back to the master bedroom.

Time suddenly slowed down. Jiang Yan lay on the bed, listening to the faint sound of water splashing in the bathroom, and a picture formed in her mind.

Jiang Yan suddenly felt a little excited.

From today on, she will have a handsome man sleeping next to her. Every time she opens her eyes, she will see such a pleasing face and feel good.

In view of what happened during the day, Jiang Yan decided to be more reserved tonight, so she lay down with her eyes closed early, secretly listening to the noise outside.

After waiting for a long time, everything outside became quiet, but there was no sound in the house.

Hey!

Could it be that Lu Yunsheng has already come in and his kung fu is so good?

Jiang Yan tried to open her eyes, but there was no ghost around.

Lu Yunsheng went back to sleep in the second bedroom.

What’s the meaning?

Do you still need to sleep in separate rooms even though you’re married?

It would be fine if she couldn’t eat such a handsome guy, but was she even deprived of the right to sleep in his arms?

Jiang Yan acted faster than she thought. She got up from the bed and walked to the door of the second bedroom. She looked unhappy and tears slowly filled her big eyes.