Chapter 46

Gu Xiangqian mentioned Ning Xingdou’s situation to Su Ye, and they discussed inviting him over for a meal.

To Su Ye, inviting a close friend over for a meal seemed like a small matter, but since Gu Xiangqian specifically brought it up with her, she thought he was quite considerate. He was much more civilized than Fang Xiulian, who would bring people over without any notice.

Recently, her income had been good, and Su Ye was in a great mood. She agreed readily, saying, “It’s no trouble, let Xingdou come over. I don’t just make red-braised pork, you know…”

Su Ye took two dried sausages that had been sun-dried for a week. After soaking up enough sunlight, the sausages turned out perfectly, with a red and white marbled appearance. When sliced, the thin blade of the knife was coated with a layer of oil.

Su Ye is being unusually generous, spent a pound of meat coupons at the cafeteria to get some pork belly, which she braised into a rich red-braised pork dish.

Gu Xiangqian was the male lead of the novel, and the friends and brothers around him were either wealthy or influential. Although Su Ye saw Fang Xiulian and her husband as poor people who often came to mooch off meals, they were still among the few who could eat pork regularly. Ning Xingdou was even more notable. Although she hadn’t interacted with him much, he was described in the novel as coming from a scholarly family. His father was a professor in the field of astronomy, which is why he was named “Xingdou” (meaning “Star” in Chinese).

His family were national treasures in research institutions, though they didn’t have much money, and it wasn’t uncommon for them to go without food. Su Ye held intellectuals in high regard, and whenever she saw Ning Xingdou, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of pity.

When Fang Xiulian and her husband came to mooch a meal, Su Ye wouldn’t bother getting a pound of pork, but when Ning Xingdou came, she’d certainly make sure to cut some pork for him.

The next day, when Ning Xingdou came over to the Gu family’s house for dinner, as soon as he entered, he smelled the rich aroma of food.

He scratched his head, flashing a bright white smile, “I could smell the fragrance from far away.”

He glanced at the table and was immediately impressed. The table was laden with a variety of delicious dishes, including the marbled red and white sausage and green bean rice, the braised pork cooked to a beautiful agate color, sweet potato leaves, and shredded lettuce.

He stood in shock for a moment before exclaiming, “Sister-in-law, you’re being too extravagant!”

For someone as poor as Ning Xingdou, not only was it rare for him to have two meat dishes in one meal, but he’d been eating cornmeal buns for several days. Su Ye inviting him over for a meal was like releasing a hungry wolf into a sheepfold.

Ning Xingdou finally got to taste the long-craved red-braised pork, stuffing two pieces into his mouth at once. He ate like a wolf cub, not holding back at all.

The cured meats in the green bean rice were sliced as thin as cicada wings, and when lightly grilled, they released a transparent oil. The sausages were chewy and flavorful, while the rice had crispy corn kernels and soft, glutinous green beans. The fried rice was fragrant, rich without being greasy, with an intoxicating aroma.

Ning Xingdou sighed with envy, saying, “So this is how luxurious Brother Xiangqian’s injury recovery days have been.”

In comparison to his recent days of eating cornmeal buns, it made his own situation seem miserable.

He finished a bowl of rice, then took a steamed bun and dipped it into the red-braised pork sauce. The delicious taste was so blissful, it felt like eating in heaven.

Indeed, Sister-in-law is the best!

Once, Yao Chunyu had casually mentioned to Ning Xingdou that Su Ye was wasteful and extravagant, spending Gu Xiangqian’s hard-earned money, and suggested that he should try to talk to her about saving. Ning Xingdou remembered this when he was about to eat, but once he started, he completely forgot about it.

After finishing his meal, Ning Xingdou said, “Sister Chunyu said Sister-in-law doesn’t know how to manage money and asked me to talk to you about saving. But I don’t think it’s necessary.”

Yao Chunyu had no idea that her efforts—taking care of Ning Xingdou, warming him up, and even lending him ration coupons—had been so easily swept aside by a meal with Su Ye.

Ning Xingdou silently thought to himself, who wouldn’t envy Su Ye’s generosity? When she visited him in the hospital, she brought a bag of tea eggs and a lunchbox of red-braised pork. Every patient in the ward couldn’t help but envy her.

Su Ye might be extravagant, but at least she spent it on him. Li Maogang’s wife was wasteful, but she spent everything on herself. Besides, it was her money, and her husband hadn’t complained. Who were outsiders to comment?

After dinner, Su Ye brewed a pot of tea but ended up choking on it.

How could the original female lead have the nerve to criticize her for being wasteful?

Su Ye remembered that in the original story, Yao Chunyu, taking advantage of her rebirth, had donated national assets publicly, but secretly sold off valuable family property.

She wasn’t like Gu Xiangqian, who was so honest. After donating his family’s wealth, he left with nothing but two empty sleeves. Fortunately, he still had his monthly salary to get by, or he’d be left eating nothing but the ^[1]“northwest wind” in this context is a metaphor referring to extreme poverty or a harsh, cold existence. It implies that someone has nothing to eat, and they are so poor that the only … Continue readingnorthwest wind. Yao Chunyu was different. With those assets, she privately enjoyed the good life—though she didn’t have pork to eat, it wasn’t like there was any for sale in the market anyway. Her house was full of luxury foods like malted milk, eggs, milk, and chocolate.

This showed that one shouldn’t be too honest, Su Ye thought, shaking her head. She’d been too honest, always so cautious even when going to the black market, practically changing her face to avoid recognition. It was even hard to buy anything other than pork when she was craving something else. She also wanted to drink malted milk, milk, and eat fruit candies.

If only Su Ye had seen the barrage of comments on the screen, she would have been met with ridicule everywhere.

Pfft—one commenter sprayed a mouthful of soda on the screen. Su Ye’s face, where is it?

I just can’t stand the way Su Ye looks so serious when she spouts nonsense.

Since Yao Chunyu was living like this, it meant she could accept that way of thinking. How could she criticize Su Ye for being wasteful?

Su Ye thought about how the original “Su Ye” had gained a reputation for being lazy and greedy. The original character didn’t earn a penny and lived off Gu Xiangqian’s savings. Su Ye looked at herself. From an outsider’s perspective, apart from having an extra job, she didn’t seem too different from the original character.

Gu Xiangqian’s expression grew more serious after hearing this. He gently patted Su Ye’s back when she choked and reassured her, “Don’t mind what others say.”

He glanced at Ning Xingdou.

Ning Xingdou saw that Gu Xiangqian’s expression had changed and immediately understood. The people who had met Su Ye could understand her, but there were many people in the compound who didn’t know her. What would others think when the rumor of “extravagance” spread?

He quickly said, “Next time I run into Sister Chunyu, I’ll correct her and tell her not to misunderstand Sister-in-law.”

Su Ye smiled and wrapped a piece of sausage in paper, handing it to Ning Xingdou. “It’s fine. I’ll talk to her personally next time.”

“This is the sausage your Brother Xiangqian made. It tastes really good. Take it home and let your family try it.”

Speaking of which, Yao Chunyu wasn’t exactly known for being “thrifty.” After returning to the compound, she had invited relatives and friends to several meals at the cafeteria. Su Ye had bumped into her a few times, and it was Yao Chunyu who was more ostentatious. Su Ye eating meat was “just luck,” but what about Yao Chunyu? She couldn’t even sort things out for herself, yet she thought she could meddle in others’ business?

Ning Xingdou firmly declined the sausage. “Sister-in-law, just inviting me to eat is enough. I can’t take this. You should keep it for yourselves!”

Although he refused graciously, Ning Xingdou probably wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about Gu Xiangqian’s sausages once he got back.

Su Ye pushed the sausage into his hand. “Take it. Stop being so shy, you’re acting like a girl.”

Did Ning Xingdou think this was for him to eat? Wrong. This was a gift from Su Ye to the national treasure-level big shots, to help them tackle more challenges and make contributions to the cause of science.

Unfortunately, Ning Xingdou didn’t understand. He thought his sister-in-law couldn’t bear to see him suffer, and he left the Gu family with a warm heart, holding the package of sausage.

A sausage weighed about five taels, and without at least two or three jin of pork belly, this kind of favor wouldn’t have been possible.

At a time like this, giving two jin of pork belly was a life-or-death kind of friendship. A sausage had warmed Ning Xingdou’s heart.

—

Meanwhile, at another location, the No. 1 Middle School.

The group of teenage delinquents had a hard time believing Su Ye’s “glorious achievements” from a while ago. But when they gathered around the bulletin board at No. 1 Middle School and saw the financial statement for the current quarter, they were stunned. The numerous columns of funding for underprivileged students left everyone speechless, in a state of shock.

The delinquents were truly stunned by the numbers in the report. For them, it seemed like an astronomical figure, an amount so large that it would take ten years of not eating or drinking to save up.

Xu Le asked Yang Chenxing, “Hey, is Su Ye really that capable?”

With such abilities, why is she teaching at the No. 1 Middle School? She could probably even be qualified as a technician in a factory.

Xu Le’s casual mention of Su Ye’s name showed just how little respect he had for her. As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Chenxing gave him a disapproving look and proudly said, “Yes, Teacher Su is amazing. She’s a very interesting person.”

“You guys probably don’t know, but some of the middle school students spent their free time fixing radios for the neighbors, and the money they earned was much more than what you guys collect for protection fees.”

Radios were a fashionable item at the time, and every household had one. After using them for a while, they would inevitably break down. A skilled radio repairman could earn much more than factory workers.

Yang Chenxing said this with pride. As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the crowd’s breath become heavy and muddled.

He couldn’t help but smile to himself. What was a little money like that? Su Ye’s vision was truly far-reaching. She would tell her students that fixing watches and radios might bring in some pocket money now, but what she hoped for them was to design airplanes and rockets in the future.

Tan Lan, who was standing by the bulletin board reading the financial report, was looking at it very seriously. Su Ye didn’t seem much older than they were, and they hadn’t respected her much. But Su Ye had done so many big things.

Tan Lan said with a complicated expression, “What she said is true. We at least need to get our graduation certificates.”

The others finally reluctantly nodded in agreement with Su Ye. One of them suddenly said, “Teacher Su seems really capable. I want to learn from her how to make money!”

—

The next afternoon, after school, Su Ye was supervising the group of teenagers when she unexpectedly noticed how hard they were working. They even straightened their backs. It was really heartening…

After finishing grading a stack of test papers, Su Ye turned around and saw pairs of dark eyes staring at her, their intense and eager gazes almost making her feel like she was being scorched.

“Teacher Su, how did you make your money? Can you teach us?”

“I’m not afraid of hardship, not afraid of working hard, not afraid of bleeding or sweating. Teacher Su—please teach me, okay? I heard middle school students can fix radios and make money.”

Su Ye rarely cleared her throat seriously. “It’s not impossible to learn how to make money from me…”

Everyone sighed with relief. They had been worried that after failing to learn dancing, she would refuse to teach them how to make money.

Su Ye paused for a moment, then smiled and said, “First, you must make sure to get your graduation certificates and take the college entrance exam.”

Everyone sighed in relief. After all, they also wanted to get their graduation certificates, otherwise, why would they be willing to waste time staying to listen to her lessons?

“Second, everything you do must follow my instructions. If I tell you to do something, you must do it.”

Hearing this, everyone hesitated. Do whatever she says? One of the tough guys suddenly grew serious and said, “That’s not right. If you tell me to kill or commit crimes, I won’t do it.”

Su Ye chuckled, “Of course, I won’t ask you to do anything illegal. But if you’re going to follow me, you have to listen to my words. Understand?”

Everyone couldn’t help but grumble in their hearts, feeling a bit uneasy. How come teaching middle school students to fix watches and radios is so easy for her, but when it comes to teaching them, there are so many conditions, and even favoritism?

However, they thought about how repairing radios was a traditional skill that could feed them for life. Once learned, they wouldn’t have to worry about food, no matter how tough things got. It was worth it.

While hanging out with Lu Siyuan might seem fun, their family situations weren’t great, and how long could they keep collecting protection fees? In nicer terms, they were collecting protection fees, but in harsher terms, it was just robbery.

Now, with the government cracking down on lowlifes, they were just students who didn’t know much. Although the rumored boss of Shanghai Bund might be handsome, when it came down to real danger, they’d back off. They gritted their teeth and reluctantly agreed.

After the students left, Su Ye took out a letter from her bag, written by the village chief of Shanggou Village.

The letter was accompanied by a proof of “self-produced and self-sold” goods, handwritten with a statement that said, “It is allowed to distribute the tea leaves returned from state-owned factories to the villagers of Shanggou Village. The villagers are allowed to sell the tea leaves from the spring of 1960. Please support this effort, and the leadership in cities, counties, and villages should give their backing.” The letter was stamped with the official seal of the Shangxi County Revolutionary Committee.

Su Ye smiled. The leaders who stamped this probably thought they were doing a great favor by helping the farmers solve their food issues using the unwanted tea leaves, thus lightening the burden on the country. That’s why they made the terms as loose as possible.

They probably thought these tea leaves weren’t worth much and wouldn’t sell in such difficult times. Su Ye touched her nose and thought to herself, it’s precisely because food and vegetables are hard to get these days that people are willing to spend money on tea!

The village chief, Ma Gensheng, wrote in the letter, “This year, the village is not distributing relief grains, and these tea leaves are our last food. Please help us, sister.”

Su Ye wrote back, telling him to bring the tea leaves over. Ahem… free labor was coming her way, and she wasn’t about to turn it down.