Chapter 18

Just as Jiang Manyue was about to head into her space to pick out something suitable to bring to her mother’s house — and maybe find something to eat for herself — she heard a knock at the door.

When she opened it, she saw Lu Jun’an standing there, holding something bulky in his arms, as if he were hiding it.

Lu Jun’an looked around cautiously to make sure neither Li Guifen nor Lu Qingyou had seen him, then slipped quickly into Jiang Manyue’s room.

“Auntie, close the door quick. I brought you something to eat.”

As Jiang Manyue shut the door, Lu Jun’an pulled a paper package from his coat and placed it on the table.

When he unwrapped it, it turned out to be the sugar cake that Jiang Manyue had brought him last time.

“Auntie, I still have some sugar cake left. Let’s share it. You barely ate anything tonight — you’ll be hungry.”

Lu Jun’an climbed onto a stool and pushed the sugar cake toward Jiang Manyue.

She stared at it for a moment, a wave of warmth swelling in her heart.

She hadn’t expected little Lu Jun’an to be so thoughtful. Even though he hadn’t eaten enough himself, he still brought what little sugar cake he had to share with her.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Jiang Manyue reached out and patted his head. “Auntie has something delicious too. I was just about to call you over. Wait a moment, I’ll go get it.”

With that, she walked to the wardrobe and rummaged around theatrically for a bit before pulling out two pork floss buns.

The buns were from the supermarket’s bakery section — soft and delicious, much tastier than sugar cake.

She handed one to Lu Jun’an and gestured for him to try it.

Without hesitation, Lu Jun’an took a big bite.

After just a couple of chews, he started to smile. His mouth was too full to speak, but he nodded eagerly at Jiang Manyue to show he liked it.

They finished the pork floss buns together. Lu Jun’an was still a small child, so one bun was enough to fill him up — he couldn’t eat anything else.

“Auntie, that pastry was so good. I’ve never had anything like it before.”

Lu Jun’an rubbed his now-round belly and let out a satisfied burp.

“If you like it, I’ll buy more for you next time. But you can’t keep skipping meals, or you won’t grow tall.”

Hearing this, Lu Jun’an pulled a long face and whispered, “It doesn’t taste good. I don’t want to eat it.”

Jiang Manyue sighed. She couldn’t eat the food Li Guifen made either. Maybe she should start cooking more often?

She could focus on just making the dishes. As for cooking rice and doing the dishes, her mother-in-law could handle those. That way, she wouldn’t be too overwhelmed, and the family wouldn’t have to eat those barely edible meals every day.

Originally, Jiang Manyue didn’t want to spend much time in the kitchen, but now she had to abandon that idea. After all, she didn’t do any other housework — cooking a couple of dishes wasn’t too much to ask.

“Tomorrow Auntie has something to do, so I won’t have time to cook. Let’s go eat at Grandma Jiang’s house, okay? You can eat with Brother Jiang Hong and the others.”

Lu Jun’an wanted to go eat with his playmates but didn’t dare agree right away — he was afraid his grandparents wouldn’t allow it.

“It’s fine, I’ll talk to them. Tomorrow night, you’ll come with me.”

Lu Jun’an happily agreed and let Jiang Manyue take him back to the old couple’s room.

Li Guifen was no longer surprised to see the two of them together, but when she heard that Jiang Manyue wanted to bring Jun’an back to her mother’s for dinner, she was taken aback.

Then she felt a wave of sadness.

She wasn’t stupid. She had seen clearly how both Jun’an and Jiang Manyue barely touched their food at dinner — it was obvious they didn’t want to eat her cooking.

Jiang Manyue already went home often to eat. Now she was even taking Jun’an with her — clearly, it was a complaint about her poor cooking skills.

“He just wants to eat with Jiang Hong and the others. Kids always find food tastier with friends around,” Jiang Manyue tried to explain, attempting to downplay the situation.

Li Guifen waved her hand. “I get it. Wait a sec.”

She went to the wardrobe, took out a box, pulled out a few ration coupons, and handed them to Jiang Manyue.

“If you’re taking Jun’an back for dinner, you should bring something too. Life isn’t easy at your mother’s place either.”

Jiang Manyue looked down and saw three taels’ worth of meat coupons, one tael of oil coupons, and a cloth coupon — enough to make a child’s garment.

Since they were given by her mother-in-law, Jiang Manyue didn’t hold back and accepted them with a smile. “Thanks, Mom. I’ll bring these to my mom tomorrow.”

Li Guifen nodded and waved her off. “Alright, it’s getting late. Head back and get some rest.”

Jiang Manyue smiled and waved at Lu Jun’an, then returned to her room.

Looking at the ration coupons in her hand, she realized that her mother-in-law was actually quite generous. She was just bringing Jun’an over for one meal, but Li Guifen gave her three coupons — and they were all genuinely useful.

She planned to bring them to Miao Xianghua, add ten yuan of her own, and pick out some more items from the supermarket to send over.

Jiang Manyue didn’t have many coupons left. She mostly had non-staple food coupons; she didn’t have much in the way of grain or oil coupons — those were practical and usually reserved for household use. Li Guifen would never let her “waste” them.

Even if she had one or two grain coupons before, she’d already used them up at the state-run restaurant. Right now, she didn’t have a single one left.

But her family didn’t lack grain coupons — they had many laborers earning work points, so they had enough to eat, just nothing very tasty.

There usually wasn’t anything special to eat at home, either. The malted milk powder Miao Xianghua had once made for her had actually been something Jiang Manyue bought and hid at her mother’s place.

If she sent over some meat and oil, that would be more practical than anything.

Once inside her space, Jiang Manyue picked out a large bundle of cured sausages, a slab of vacuum-packed cured meat, and finally her eyes landed on canned meat.

That should be enough to feed her family for several meals. Given Miao Xianghua’s frugal habits, it might last half a month.

As for where it came from, Jiang Manyue planned to tell her mom she got it from the black market in the county. She’d tell her to eat it quickly and not let anyone find out.

With that story, Miao Xianghua wouldn’t dare save the food — even if she wanted to, she’d feel pressured to finish it before it got discovered. If anyone found out, it’d be Jiang Manyue who got into trouble.

Jiang Manyue was quite pleased with her own idea — it gave a believable source for the goods and ensured they’d be eaten quickly. No matter how much Miao Xianghua wanted to save it, she’d have to finish it all fast.

Early the next morning, Jiang Manyue brought a basket from home and headed to the little house she had in the county. She spent the day removing the labels from the canned goods.

By the afternoon, she’d finally finished, stacking them all in one room.

Then she brought out the basket and loaded everything she’d prepared into it, placing the whole thing into her space.

When she reached the entrance of the production team, she found a secluded spot, pulled the basket out, and covered it with a cloth.

Jiang Manyue went straight to her mother’s house. Seeing that Miao Xianghua was about to start cooking, she pulled her aside and showed her the contents of the basket.

“Where… where did you get all this? You don’t have that many meat coupons!”

Miao Xianghua was stunned. The amount of meat this would require in coupons was beyond her imagination — and she couldn’t even begin to guess how Jiang Manyue had gotten it all.