Yesterday’s regular customers who came for dumplings — as soon as they heard today there were beef dumplings, even though they were twenty cents more expensive, all chose the beef dumplings and praised them as they ate.

“Shuping…”

Aunt Wang and Aunt Zhao came walking together.

Li Shuping greeted them, “Oh my, Sister Wang, Sister Zhao, come, come have a bowl of dumplings — it’s on me!”

Aunt Wang playfully narrowed her eyes at her, “Who needs you to treat? It’s not like we don’t have money.”

“That’s right,” Aunt Zhao agreed with a laugh.

They had heard from the people in the compound that their old friend was selling dumplings at the alley corner, so they had specially come today to support her business.

And truthfully, they were also craving her handmade dumplings.

Aunt Wang said, “The biggest taboo in doing business is not charging just because someone’s a friend. Good relations are one thing, but you should still collect the money.”

Li Shuping laughed and gave in, “Alright, alright, I won’t treat. Would you two like beef and celery or chive and egg?”

“There’s beef filling too?” Aunt Zhao’s eyes widened.

Li Shuping explained, “I got lucky today. When I went to the farmers’ market, I happened to run into someone from a production brigade selling freshly butchered beef — a cow had broken its leg and couldn’t be saved, so they slaughtered it and brought the meat to market. Super fresh! I bought ten jin to make dumpling filling.”

“Well, we can’t miss that. Give us each a bowl of beef dumplings.”

“Got it! I’ll cook a few extra for you two.”

She cooked five extra for each of them — a bowl normally had twenty dumplings, but theirs were piled high.

When the dumplings were brought out, the other customers called out, “Hey, big sis, why do their bowls have so many more?”

Li Shuping laughed heartily, “These are my old sisters, here to support my business. Of course I have to give them a few extra!”

The beef and celery dumplings were tender and fragrant, and Aunt Wang and Aunt Zhao were too busy eating to say a word.

Originally, they’d thought: while the kids were all off at work and the grandkids were at school, they’d slip out at lunchtime to help an old friend’s business.

But after tasting these beef dumplings, they started feeling guilty about eating them alone.

So after finishing, they went home, brought back a big bowl, and bought some uncooked dumplings to take home — both beef and chive-egg flavors.

…

At the steel mill cafeteria

Lin Yongnian and Lin Guodong got their meals and found an empty table to sit down.

No sooner had they sat down than Old Wang, seated ahead, turned around and said, “Old Lin, I heard your ex-wife divorced you and is now selling dumplings at a street stall?”

Lin Yongnian didn’t respond — he’d already heard this gossip countless times today.

The others in the cafeteria also turned to look.

“If you ask me, you’re the one in the wrong,” someone chimed in. “They say a couple shares a hundred days of kindness for every night together. You two were married over twenty years! How can you just watch her struggle day and night, working her fingers to the bone at a street stall? Be the bigger man, go talk to her, coax her, bring her home.”

“Yeah, a couple fights at the head of the bed but makes up at the foot of it.”

“Someone’s got to give in first. You can’t really stay separated forever, can you?”

Others chimed in with agreement.

Lin Yongnian stiffened his neck, “She’s the one who wanted a divorce, she’s the one who abandoned her husband and child, left the family. Why should I coax her? If she’s out there selling dumplings and feels ashamed, that’s her own doing.”

Could he admit that he’d already tried to persuade her?

Of course not. If people found out he’d gone to talk to her and she still preferred working a street stall over coming home, he’d become the laughingstock of the whole place.

At least by not admitting it, people would think he just wasn’t willing to bow his head first — he could still protect his dignity as a man.

“Ah, Old Lin, you’ve been together for decades, just be the one to back down first,” someone urged.

Lin Yongnian: “…”

As if he hadn’t already tried?

“Why should we men be the ones to bow our heads?” someone else objected. “Women who fight with their men like this just haven’t been disciplined enough. She wanted a divorce? Let’s see how well she manages after leaving us men behind.”

“Old Lin, don’t you dare go coaxing her. A woman who abandons her husband and child, who doesn’t care about her family’s reputation, what use is she?”

These words hit Lin Yongnian right in the heart.

Ever since the divorce, people kept saying he was at fault — like he was a bad husband and that’s why his wife left.

While they were laughing at him, they were also urging him to go apologize, coax her, bring her back.

But what had he done wrong?

It was clearly Li Shuping who was unreasonable, who abandoned her husband and child.

She was the one in the wrong!

“Old Lin, listen to me,” said Zhao Laizi confidently. “With your job and salary, if you want to find another woman, there are plenty of young widows willing to marry you. If you actually found someone else, your ex-wife would panic.”

Old Liu, who lived in the same compound as Lin Yongnian, glared at Zhao Laizi, “Zhao Laizi, stop spouting nonsense all day.”

“Nonsense? I’m not spouting nonsense. Old Lin, if you don’t believe me, just pretend to find someone — I guarantee your ex-wife will be scrambling.”

Lin Yongnian lowered his eyes, remembering back when they were young.

Back then, he had merely gotten a little close with a worker-peasant-soldier student who came to the factory to study, and Li Shuping had been so anxious that she’d gone to the factory leadership to get the girl reassigned to a different mentor.

He’d been so embarrassed by her going to the leaders that he’d stayed in the factory dorm for half a month, and she had come every day to bring him meals, begging him to come home, terrified he’d leave her for another woman.

So, she had always loved him, always cared about him.

If he really went and pretended to find someone else…

..

Meanwhile, Lin Guodong didn’t know what his dad was thinking, but just hearing the factory people’s gossip was enough to make him annoyed.

Every time someone brought up his mom, it was to mock them — his resentment toward his mom grew even stronger.

..

At the cafeteria’s bone broth line, Lin Xiaoyu held her steamed rice box, waiting her turn.

The so-called bone broth dish was vegetables boiled in broth made from big bones — two cents per ladle, and if you were lucky, you might get a little bit of meat scrap.

“Oh, isn’t that Lin Xiaoyu? You have money for bone broth today?” said Zhao Siyu, a classmate, walking over with a few other girls.

Lin Xiaoyu frowned slightly, ignoring her.

She had never offended Zhao Siyu, but for some reason, Zhao Siyu always loved to mock her, picking on her for no reason.

Zhao Siyu’s sidekick Zhou Meng added, “She has no money. Her family never gives her pocket money — even when her shoes had holes with her toes sticking out, she was still wearing them.”

Ahem…

Lin Xiaoyu cleared her throat and deliberately stretched out her foot, showing off her brand-new shoes.

A classmate noticed, “Whoa, Lin Xiaoyu, aren’t those the newest Warrior brand sneakers? I saw them at the state store on Saturday — they cost six yuan!”

Wang Meng exclaimed, “No way!”

But sure enough, they were the newest Warrior sneakers.

Lin Xiaoyu lifted her chin proudly, “They are the newest Warriors. My mom took me to the state store last weekend to buy them.”

“Wow, your mom treats you so well. I wanted a pair, but my mom wouldn’t buy them for me,” a classmate said enviously.

Zhao Siyu bit her lip, giving Wang Meng a meaningful look.

Wang Meng caught on immediately and raised her voice, “Your mom bought them for you? That’s a lie, isn’t it?”

“You used to always tell me your mom only made you work, only cared about your two brothers, and never gave you pocket money, right?”

Lin Xiaoyu glared furiously at Wang Meng.

Back in junior high, they had been classmates and even deskmates — she had thought Wang Meng was her friend and had confided many things to her.

But in high school, Wang Meng had changed, becoming Zhao Siyu’s follower, and often brought up the things Lin Xiaoyu had once told her, using them to mock her.

Wang Meng sneered, “Did you steal money from home to buy them? You’d better be careful — if your mom finds out, she’ll beat you to death!”