Eating with porridge, of course, spring rolls are the best.

But in this border area, there was rice, but no rice flour.

Chen Lina was a picky eater, and once she thought of something, she had to have it.

If she couldn’t get it, she would be restless and uneasy.

So, she made flour into a kind of thin pancake, similar to how one makes niang pi, by first washing away the tough membrane inside, then spreading it out on a small flat aluminum pan and steaming it.

The result was a thin spring pancake, even thinner than the ones made with flour, and it tasted very much like gua juan (a type of wrap).

Soon, she called out, and the three children immediately ran in, followed by Chen Tiantian, wearing a pink cotton jacket, pink cloth shoes, her hair messy.

People often call girls with messy hair “yellow-haired girls,” as it seemed that young girls always had trouble keeping their hair tidy.

“Aunt Chen, are the wraps really delicious?” The little girl bit her lip, not quite believing it.

It seemed like big dishes were easier to prepare, especially snacks—they were so much more troublesome.

The borderlands actually didn’t lack tomatoes, and the base issued plenty of vegetable coupons.

However, there were only a few kinds of vegetables, with tomatoes, potatoes, and napa cabbage being the most common.

She spread tomato sauce over the freshly made thin spring pancakes, added a few mung bean sprouts she had grown herself in a thermos, and stir-fried napa cabbage shredded into strips.

Each little pancake was the size of a palm, wrapped up and eaten in one bite.

It went perfectly with porridge and was incredibly delicious.

Xiao Chen ate one in a bite, gave a thumbs-up, and said, “If only we had some roasted duck, it would taste even better.”

Roast duck?

This year, the base distributed mostly lamb.

Even beef had decreased by 30 pounds compared to previous years.

The families had little meat to eat, and the oil workers would rush out to hunt rabbits after work.

There were only four chickens, and ducks were out of the question.

Chen Lina didn’t say anything.

She wrapped one up for San Dan and fed it to him, watching him chew it on his own.

She wrapped one for herself as well.

“Sister-in-law, with your education and degree, don’t you have any interest in working at the base?” Xiao Chen asked, taking a large sip of porridge.

Chen Lina shook her head: “Not for now, but what are your plans?”

“Most of the base’s family members came with the workers, and they have no education, so they can’t work. But you’re different, Xiao Chen, you’re a university graduate. Haven’t you thought about contributing to our mining district, about adding to the development of the border area?”

It was no wonder Xiao Chen was the son of the car factory director; listen to how tactfully he put things.

Chen Lina smiled and said, “Is it true that the family members have a lot of complaints about me, saying I’m wasting the base’s resources?”

With Nie Bozhao’s salary and the three children’s allowances, she drove the only car in the mining district in and out every day.

The staff and cadres didn’t say anything because they knew the significance of Nie Bozhao’s research achievements.

But the short-sighted family members thought differently.

To them, all the families were the same, and it had only been a few days since she arrived, yet she was receiving such special treatment?

And wasn’t it because of the late Worker Sun?

“Since you came here, it must be because the family members caused such a ruckus and the leaders couldn’t handle it anymore, right?” Chen Lina asked.

“Our Chief Engineer Wang has thought it over. Right now, there are two positions in the mining district. One is in the finance office, and they need a cashier. You could take that job. The other is for a teacher at the soon-to-be-established Workers’ Primary School. The Chief Engineer wants you to teach. You can choose which one you like,” Xiao Chen responded.

As long as she had a job, she’d become part of the base, and the family members would stop complaining.

Chen Lina laughed upon hearing this: “Neither of these jobs appeal to me.”

Sitting there counting other people’s money, but none of it was hers, and her legs would get fat.

She didn’t want that.

Teaching children and eating chalk dust? She didn’t want that either.

“Well then, what should we do? It’s not easy for the republic to cultivate a university graduate. You can’t just waste your talent,” Xiao Chen said, meaning she couldn’t stay home and eat idle meals.

Chen Lina replied, “Alright, tell Chief Engineer Wang that Chen Lina won’t just use his car for nothing. I’ll take on a job that will make everyone at the base respect me. If I can’t do it, I’ll return the car.”

Xiao Chen ate several wraps and drank a bowl of hot porridge before rubbing his belly, standing up, and preparing to leave.

“Hand over Su Xiu, immediately, now! Hand over Su Xiu, who’s hiding in the oil base!”

Outside, the loudspeakers blared with cries, and with the amplifier, it took Chen Lina a while to realize they were talking about Su Xiu at the base.

Before long, Sister Wang came to the door, scooped up Chen Tiantian, and said, “It’s Sun Dabo! He’s the head of the Mulan Farm people. I don’t know who provoked them. Well, Tiantian, let’s go home quickly. We don’t want Sun Dabo to cause trouble. It’ll be bad if he hurts the kids.”

As the saying goes, the brave fear the reckless, and the reckless fear those who have nothing to lose.

If Chen Lina was known for her boldness, then Sun Dabo was someone who had no fear of anything.

Raised by a mother who spoiled him beyond measure, and with an influential sister like Sun Zhuanman (a former veteran and current head of security at Mulan Farm), Sun Dabo was a figure no one could easily control.

Xiao Chen’s face instantly turned pale, his hands trembling. “This is bad. He’s definitely coming for Anna. What are we going to do?”

Chen Lina pointed a finger at Xiao Chen. “Oh, so you’re the one sneaking people in and out of the base at night, letting them go during the day?”

Nie Bozhao also became furious. “Xiao Chen, what era are we living in, and you’re still bringing women from Mulan Farm into the base?”

“Who is Anna, anyway? Is she one of those women from Mulan Farm, a prostitute? If she is, we need to get her out of here before any of the revolutionaries come and ruin our production.”

Xiao Chen defended her. “Anna is not a prostitute, she’s my girlfriend.”

It turned out Anna was from Shanghai, and her father had been a student studying in the Soviet Union during the Sino-Soviet cooperation years.

She had lived a carefree life as a child, but when her father passed away and she was sent to the frontier at just 18 years old, everything changed.

She was sent to Mulan Farm with the “sent-down youth” (young intellectuals sent to rural areas during the Cultural Revolution).

Despite this hardship, Anna stood out in the farm community.

She was intelligent, charming, and talented—especially in dancing and singing, which made her popular with the young men there.

But life at the farm was far from easy.

Mulan Farm, like any place, had its own power structure.

While the sent-down youth were supposed to be working under the organization’s management, the true power in the area was Sun Dabo, the head of security and the driver’s team.

Sun Dabo had tried every means to win Anna’s favor, but she loved Xiao Chen.

Because of her status as a “Soviet revisionist” (a label given to those with ties to the Soviet Union), they could not be together openly.

After being rejected multiple times, Sun Dabo used his power to have Anna sent to a remote area of the farm to work with the other youth digging ditches in the freezing cold.

Life was hard, and Anna even developed frostbite on her feet.

In desperation, she reached out to Xiao Chen, who arranged for the youth working with her to help cover up her absence, sending her to the base to rest.

Xiao Chen even asked Chen Lina for some snowflake cream to treat Anna’s frostbite.

This arrangement had been working for some time until Sun Dabo and his security team showed up last night, searching the camp.

Unable to find Anna, they interrogated some of the youth and traced her to the base.

“Anna, was her father’s name An Heshan?” Chen Lina asked, feeling a sense of familiarity with the name.

Xiao Chen confirmed, “Our families have been close for generations. An Heshan was my uncle.”

Chen Lina suddenly realized that Anna was the daughter of her pen pal’s teacher.

She knew of her but had never met her. Concerned for Anna, she said, “Alright, go check if Anna has left the base. If not, I’ll handle this.”

Before leaving, she stopped and turned to Nie Bozhao, “Do you really want to get involved in this?”

“Anna is the daughter of my pen pal. I can’t just ignore her. Besides, your brother-in-law Sun Dabo was chasing our car the other night. Now he’s practically the boss at Mulan Farm. Do you think I can just stand by and do nothing?”

Nie Bozhao agreed. “No, you can’t.”

He knew that someone as good-hearted as Anna didn’t deserve to suffer such injustice.

“Do you want to take charge of the situation yourself?” Chen Lina asked again.

Nie Bozhao didn’t have any strong feelings toward the Sun family. In fact, the thought of dealing with them made him feel a headache. However, as a researcher, he was not the type to argue or confront others.

As for Sun Zhuanman, she was the only female cadre who had sacrificed her life at the base, and her memory stood as a monument.

If Nie Bozhao dared to speak out, Sun Dabo would likely call him an ingrate.

“It’s no use, just push the matter to the mining area and have Secretary A or District Chief Gao deal with it,” Nie Bozhao said.

Chen Lina smiled faintly, thinking to herself, “Ah, men! An old lady like Huang Huacai can be kicked around because dealing with her is just a boring task.”

But Sun Dabao was different.

After all, if Sun Dabao caused trouble, it would harm the workers and villagers at the Mulan Farm.

In fact, even if Sun Dabao didn’t stir up trouble, Chen Lina had already wanted to take care of him.

The passionate educated youth came to the frontier with the hope and zeal to change the region, to turn the barren land into a grain storage, to transform the mountains into something new.

Most of them would devote their entire lives to the frontier.

They endured severe frostbite, gnawed on dry rations full of ice, and dug alkali ditches on frozen ground in the dead of winter.

This was because the land in the frontier had high levels of alkali and wasn’t suitable for growing crops.

Continuous irrigation was needed to drain the alkali from the land—a tough but meaningful job.

This work could turn the barren wasteland, which had been unable to grow crops for thousands of years, into fertile fields.

The grains grown here would one day feed much of the population of the Republic.

As for the frontier, Chen Lina thought that anything could be forsaken, but the blood and passion of the educated youth could not be betrayed.

This Sun Dabao had to be dealt with by her.

However, she had to first find out if Anna had already been taken away by Sun Dabao.

Xiao Chen immediately went out to inquire about this.

“Chen Lina, Sun Dabao has been at Mulan Farm for eight years. He used to pick wheat ears as a child and later became the head of the security team. Your usual tactics of throwing a tantrum won’t work on him,” someone warned.

Chen Lina smiled and said, “Comrade Nie, do you think I only know how to throw tantrums?”

“Throwing tantrums can work, as long as it’s not in front of me.”

Just thinking about her holding a kitchen knife, looking like she had touched high-voltage electricity, made Nie Bozhao genuinely fearful.