Chapter 23

Jiang Yao was very satisfied with her work environment—there weren’t many people, which meant far less drama. Just earlier, she had overheard two saleswomen in the neighboring counter bickering with hands on their hips.

Aunt Chen, seeing that Jiang Yao had already gotten the hang of things and handled her first customers smoothly, nodded to herself in approval and stepped away to chat with familiar colleagues.

When Jiang Yao finished serving a group of customers and had a free moment, Aunt Chen introduced her to the coworkers in the same storefront. As for those from other sections, she said Jiang Yao would get to know them in time.

If she hadn’t thought this young girl was promising, she wouldn’t have gone out of her way to introduce her to her old colleagues.

“Xiao Jiang, Auntie will introduce your coworkers. This here is Jiang Shengnan—you can call her Aunt Jiang. She’s a longtime colleague here at the co-op. If you don’t understand something, just ask her.”

“Hello, Aunt Jiang, I’m Jiang Yao. These are some dried dates my brother sent me—I brought them for you to try.”

“Oh, how generous of you, little comrade! Dates are really nutritious. They’re especially good for pregnant women. As it happens, my daughter-in-law is expecting, so I won’t be polite!”

“It’s hard to get dates around here unless you’ve got a doctor’s note for some nutritional need. Then maybe you can go get some.”

“Xiao Jiang, what does your brother do? He’s able to send you so many nice things.”

“My brother’s a soldier stationed out on the frontier. Over there, dates are as common as plums are here—everywhere.” Jiang Yao didn’t hide the fact that she had a soldier brother. Sometimes it helped to “borrow a tiger’s skin” to avoid being treated like a pushover.

“The frontier, huh? That makes sense. But mailing them all the way here must cost a lot. Your brother must really care about you.”

Aunt Jiang gave Jiang Yao a once-over. No wonder this Xiao Jiang had taken over Aunt Chen’s post—besides family support, she had a brother in the army.

Though she came from the countryside, Jiang Yao was dressed no differently than a city girl. A cloth floral dress paired with little leather shoes—and she even had a bicycle.

In this era, a soldier’s salary could support a whole family—it was no exaggeration.

“Hello, Comrade Jiang Yao! I’m Pan Man. You can just call me Big Sister Pan. Welcome to the co-op!”

Pan Man looked at Jiang Yao expectantly. She’d seen the dried dates being handed to Aunt Jiang and was absolutely craving them—she hadn’t eaten dried dates in ages.

Just the thought made her mouth water. This new coworker was so kind—willing to share something as tasty as dried dates. If she took the initiative to greet her, maybe she’d get a handful too.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jiang Yao, the new sales assistant. Sister Pan, try some of these dates—they’re delicious.”

Seeing how Pan Man’s eyes were practically glued to the dates in her hand, Jiang Yao couldn’t help but smile and handed her a generous portion.

She had only noticed the dried dates before heading out that morning—her brother had mailed back half a sack, saying he’d bought them especially for the family because they kept well.

Jiang Qisheng’s dried dates had been fairly distributed among the Jiang family by Li Guihua. Initially, she had even wanted to give a small bag to the second branch of the family, but Jiang Yao’s sister-in-law had strongly objected.

Unwilling to share with relatives they had past conflicts with, Li Guihua gave up on the idea.

The original Jiang Yao hadn’t liked dates much, so there were still plenty left. Seeing them this morning, Jiang Yao figured she might as well use them to build rapport with her new coworkers.

After all, maintaining decent coworker relationships was important—she had no interest in office politics.

“Well then, I won’t be polite! Thank you, Comrade Xiao Jiang! You’re not just pretty, you’re kind too. Whoever marries you is one lucky guy!”

Pan Man meant it sincerely. She even felt a little regret—if she or her husband had a younger brother, they could’ve tried matchmaking with Xiao Jiang. Just sitting and eating with her would be a treat—her very presence was refreshing.

Aunt Chen chuckled when she heard Pan Man’s teasing.

“Pan, your sweet tooth is as bad as ever. Now, this last one here is Xie Xiao. She’s in charge of the candy counter next to yours. If you ever want some White Rabbit candy, just ask her to set a few aside.”

Xie Xiao picked up the thread with a smile:

“That’s right, Aunt Chen isn’t wrong. If you’ve got a craving for sweets, come find me—I’ll save some for you. You’re younger than me, so just call me Big Sister.”

“Sure! If I ever want candy, I’ll definitely come find you. Sister Xie, try some of these—take some home and let your family taste them too.”

Xie Xiao suddenly found a handful of dates pressed into her hand. She tried to return them in a fluster, but Jiang Yao insisted, and after a bit of back-and-forth, Aunt Chen stepped in and told her to just accept them.

Seeing how quickly Jiang Yao integrated with the other colleagues, Aunt Chen smiled in satisfaction and stopped hovering. Her mind drifted to what she needed to bring when she visited her son.

At lunchtime, Aunt Chen led Jiang Yao to the cafeteria. She used ration tickets and money to get braised pork with vermicelli and stir-fried radish.

Communal meals were amazing—not only cheaper than eating at a state-run restaurant, but you got to eat meat every day.

Jiang Yao followed Aunt Chen to a table where she joined Pan Man and others. The group sat together chatting and eating—getting along quite well.

She listened as Sister Pan and Sister Xie shared co-op gossip:

• The young guy who sold pork had a thing for the girl at the fabric counter, and they were quietly dating.
• The man in charge of cooking oil was henpecked and had been scolded at the co-op by his wife…

Jiang Yao half-listened, her mind wandering back to the braised pork with vermicelli.

The cafeteria cook’s skills were comparable to the chefs at the state-run restaurants. If only she had a tenth of that talent, she thought. Then the rewards in her recipe system would be hers in no time.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have those cooking skills—everything was still trial and error for her.

After lunch, Aunt Chen was about to head home when Jiang Yao asked:

“Aunt Chen, does the co-op provide dormitories?”

Aunt Chen stopped in her tracks and slapped her thigh.

“Oh dear, Xiao Jiang—I completely forgot about that! The dorms have been tight lately. We just brought in a bunch of new hires, and most of the rooms are being given to the procurement team. I’m afraid we don’t have one available here.”

“Even Pan, who started before you in this very section, didn’t get a dorm.”

As for Aunt Chen herself, she’d worked at the Yanjun County Co-op for years. She’d originally been assigned a dorm, but since her home was already in town, she’d swapped it long ago with a colleague—mutually beneficial.

She had simply forgotten Jiang Yao’s special case: coming from a rural village, with no relatives in town. Commuting back and forth every day would be hard—and unsafe for a young woman.

“Let me go talk to the supervisor. I’ll try to get you a dorm room. Your home is too far, and it’s really not safe for a girl to be traveling like that every day.”