Chapter 15

Lian Yanmei was getting a headache. She suspected that Yao Yujun wasn’t here to help build anything, but was instead here to do ideological education!

Besides, that quote wasn’t even from the Chairman—it was from Confucius!

But now wasn’t the time to debate who said it. She was afraid Yao Yujun and Xu Aixian would start arguing again, so she quickly cut them off. “Alright, alright, enough. I’ll move over there. I used to sleep in that bed anyway.”

She had originally slept in the bed next to the wall. Later, during rainy weather, the wall started leaking, so she changed beds. Since it had always just been her and Xu Aixian in that room, she never bothered switching back.

Now that the wall was fixed and no longer leaked, moving back wasn’t a problem.

Yao Yujun said, “I’ll take that bed. I’m not picky, I can sleep anywhere.”

Lian Yanmei just let her have it and settled the matter with a final word: “Alright, if you want it, it’s yours.”

Afraid Yao Yujun would launch into another moral lecture, she quickly changed the topic. “So, the three of you—do you plan on eating at the canteen or with us?”

Ye Huan had heard from Zhao Sihai that the farm cafeteria was quite a distance from here. Unwilling to walk that far, she said she’d eat at the compound.

Li Mingjie and Yao Yujun also chose to eat at the compound like Ye Huan.

Lian Yanmei explained, “If you eat at the settlement, you’ll pay next month’s meal fee at the end of each month. Cooking is done in pairs, on a rotating schedule—each person cooks one day per rotation.”

Ye Huan felt a bit anxious—she didn’t know how to cook.

But thinking it through, learning to cook was better than walking that long distance every day. Work was tiring enough. Walking all that way just to eat and then walking back sounded exhausting. So she’d rather eat here.

Eat, then rest—that was the ideal.

Li Mingjie asked, “What about dinner tonight?”

Lian Yanmei shouted, “Qinggui, is the food ready?”

“Almost done.”

“Did you make enough?”

Gao Qinggui came over, looking a little troubled. “Not much.”

She had asked earlier if she should cook more, but no one responded.

Everyone’s rations were precisely measured monthly. Who would want to share their food with people they hadn’t even met? So no one said anything.

Lian Yanmei hadn’t been there at the time, and Gao Qinggui didn’t dare make the call herself. She just cooked the usual amount.

Lian Yanmei thought for a moment and said to Yao Yujun, “Go put your luggage away first. I’ll take you all to the canteen in a bit.”

Gao Qinggui added, “It’s already late. The canteen is probably closed.”

Lian Yanmei replied, “I’ll ask Old Li to find a way to get them something to eat.”

Ye Huan remembered that Li Xiufen had packed food for her, so she said to Lian Yanmei, “I brought food. I won’t go to the canteen.”

Yao Yujun added, “I brought food too.”

Since Li Mingjie had nothing, Lian Yanmei told Gao Qinggui to save her portion for him in the pot, then took him to the farm canteen.

Gao Qinggui turned to Ye Huan and Yao Yujun. “The stove’s still hot. If you want your food warmed up, bring it here—I’ll heat it up for you.”

She mainly said this to Ye Huan—she’d enjoyed how Ye Huan had just put Li Mingjie in his place earlier, and had taken a liking to her.

As for Yao Yujun—she didn’t really want to deal with her.

A monthly ideological education session was already enough of a headache. She didn’t want someone preaching at her every day.

Ye Huan agreed and went inside to get her food.

Everything was packed in a tote bag. When she opened it, she found flatbreads, boiled eggs, sponge cake, brown sugar, canned food, some jerky, and a jar of watermelon sauce.

Some of it had been packed by Li Xiufen, and some given by Sister Feng. Altogether it filled half the bag—no wonder it had been so heavy.

Other than the flatbread, most of the food didn’t need heating. So Ye Huan just took out a scallion pancake, an egg, and a jar of watermelon sauce.

Yao Yujun also had flatbread—but hers was mixed grain, while Ye Huan’s was pure white flour with scallions.

Li Xiufen cherished her daughter—she’d used all their white flour at home to make scallion pancakes for Ye Huan to bring.

Gao Qinggui opened the pot lid and placed their flatbreads on the steamer rack.

Soon the meal was ready, and Gao Qinggui called out, “Dinner time!”

Everyone had looked half-dead before, but now they instantly perked up, grabbing their bowls and chopsticks and crowding around the stove to watch her uncover the pot.

Dinner was a three-grain pancake, sorghum and sweet potato porridge, and pickled mustard shreds.

Even though the farm had decent conditions, it wasn’t like they could eat rice and white flour every day—especially around March and April, when the stored grain was nearly gone and the new harvest hadn’t come in yet. This was the toughest time of the year. Having sorghum porridge and three-grain pancakes was already pretty good. In some places with poor harvests, people didn’t even have food to eat.

With food in hand, everyone squatted in the yard in small groups, slurping and munching away happily.

Ye Huan’s dinner was a scallion pancake with an egg rolled inside.

Xu Aixian hadn’t eaten pure white flour pancakes in a long time—she’d almost forgotten the taste. Watching Ye Huan eat made her envious. Forgetting how Ye Huan had scolded her earlier, she walked over and said, “Your mom made this, right? Let me try and see how good her cooking is.”

She didn’t even wait for Ye Huan to respond—just reached out. Ye Huan smacked her hand away with a slap. “Did I say you could eat it?”

She hadn’t used much force, but Xu Aixian still winced in pain and grumbled, “You’re so stingy. I just wanted a taste. It’s not like I’d eat the whole thing.”

Yao Yujun, who was squatting nearby, couldn’t watch anymore. “Xu Aixian, that’s not right. Ye Huan didn’t agree to let you have any, so how can you just grab it? And she even shared her watermelon sauce. Now you want her pancake too? Did she carry all this from home just for you?”

Food was scarce. Ye Huan wasn’t generous enough to share all her food—just the watermelon sauce.

It had been fried with scallions and chili, with roasted peanuts added in. It was aromatic but extremely salty—saltier than even pickled mustard.

Because it was so salty, no one dared eat too much. They just dipped a bit with their pancakes to try the flavor.

Only Xu Aixian ate it like a main course—she polished off nearly half the jar.

And she was still eyeing Ye Huan’s pancake. No wonder Yao Yujun called her out.

Embarrassed, Xu Aixian rolled her eyes at Yao Yujun. “Alright, you’re the morally superior one,” she muttered, then scooped a large spoonful of the sauce onto her pancake and walked off.

……

Dinner ended late because of all the commotion. After cleaning up, it was nearly 9 PM.

Outside was pitch dark. There was nothing to do, so everyone just went to bed.

Lian Yanmei mentioned, “Our farm and the army both show movies once a month, but the schedules are staggered. The army does it mid-month, and we do it at the end of the month. It’s always in the big square near the gate. Everyone can go watch.”

Ye Huan remembered something and asked, “Squad leader…”

Lian Yanmei laughed, “Just call me by my name. Hey, how old are you—18 yet?”

Ye Huan replied, “Just turned 18.”

Her birthday was April 30th—she had just reached adulthood.

“Well, I’m older than you—I’m 22. You’re like my little sister. Qinggui and the others call me ‘sister.’ You can too if you want.”

Ye Huan obediently called her “Sister Yanmei.” Then she asked, “Is there a phone at the farm?”

“There is at the main office, but you can’t use it unless it’s something urgent. If you want to call home, you’ll have to go to the town post office. Good thing tomorrow’s Sunday. There’s a cart going to town. Be at the farm gate in the morning—usually leaves around 9.”

Before coming, Li Xiufen had reminded her repeatedly to call home—letters were slow. So she definitely had to make that call. She also wanted to browse around the town.

Lian Yanmei had worked all day. After a few more words with Ye Huan, she fell asleep.

Yao Yujun also fell asleep quickly. Only Ye Huan and Xu Aixian couldn’t sleep.

Ye Huan had napped too much that afternoon and wasn’t sleepy. Xu Aixian was thirsty.

The watermelon sauce was salty. She had eaten it like a meal—how could she not be thirsty?

She had already downed a big mug of water before bed and was still parched. The thermos was empty, and it was too late to boil more, so she had to scoop cold water from the water jar.

With all the water she drank, she had to pee often—so she kept going back and forth to the toilet.

Ye Huan couldn’t sleep and lay on the bed watching her run back and forth like a comedy act.

When Xu Aixian came back from the toilet and saw Ye Huan awake, staring at her with wide eyes, clearly amused, she got annoyed and snapped, “Why is your sauce so salty? Was your mom a salt merchant or something?!”

Ye Huan said, “You ate too much, that’s why. Why isn’t anyone else thirsty but you? Just wait—you’ll have diarrhea soon.”

All that salty sauce followed by hot and cold water—how could she not?

And diarrhea was the least of it—she might even end up with gastroenteritis.

Afraid of waking Lian Yanmei, Xu Aixian didn’t argue further and climbed into bed in a huff.

But sure enough, just after getting under the covers, her stomach started churning. Sensing something was wrong, she jumped out of bed, shoved her feet into slippers, and ran for the toilet.

She came back after a long time, but barely lay down before she had to jump up and run again.

Ye Huan muttered, “Told you. You might as well stay in the bathroom instead of running back and forth. If squatting’s too tiring, drag a stool over and sit by the pit—you’ll get more rest that way.”

Xu Aixian was furious and wanted to argue—but before she could even get a word out, another wave of cramps hit. Clutching her stomach, she ran again.

Ye Huan, bored and feeling sleepy, yawned, wrapped herself in her quilt, and drifted off to sleep.