Chapter 29: The Ration Coupons

Tuesday, 8:20 AM, Family Compound Canteen.

There were still ten minutes before the meeting started, but the canteen was already packed with family members. People continued to trickle in through the entrance, greeting familiar faces and sitting together in small groups, chatting warmly.

“Wow, you all came so early today!”

“Didn’t they announce it over the loudspeaker yesterday? After today’s meeting, they’ll be handing out the ration coupons! How could we not rush over?”

“That’s right! My kids have been waiting for this month’s meat coupons.”

“Who isn’t? Thank goodness fish and shrimp are still free around here.”

“This week, the accountant finally finished calculating the coupons.”

“Oh my! You don’t know? Accountant Zhou quit a while ago. There’s a newcomer in the finance department now.”

“What?! No wonder I thought it was strange that Accountant Zhou suddenly became so efficient.”

“Shh—lower your voice! Accountant Zhou just walked in.”

—

At the canteen entrance, Accountant Zhou—oh, now it was Teacher Zhou—stepped inside. She glanced at the noisy canteen, looking for a seat.

“Accountant Zhou, you’ve worked so hard for us. We’re finally getting our coupons today!”

Teacher Zhou turned her head and saw a woman smiling at her. It took her a moment to recognize that this was the wife of the recently arrived Deputy Regiment Commander, Qi Huiying.

Teacher Zhou smiled and said, “I’m no longer in the finance department. The coupons will be distributed by the new accountant.”

Qi Huiying asked in surprise, “A newcomer? Who?”

Teacher Zhou pointed toward the front, below the stage. “See? The one talking to Director Wang—that’s the new accountant, the regiment commander’s wife, Director Meng.”

“Her?!”

Qi Huiying looked over in shock. Could it be that the job Director Wang mentioned—the one assigned by the division commander—was actually a finance department position?

Teacher Zhou said, “It’s a good thing Director Meng is here. Now I can finally focus on teaching without worry.”

Qi Huiying turned back in surprise and asked, “You’re going back to teaching?”

Teacher Zhou frowned slightly at her sharp tone but still explained, “I’ve always been a teacher. I only stepped into the finance department temporarily to help out. But now that we have a professional handling it, I can finally put this burden down and return to school. I heard Director Meng used to work at a bank in Haishi, so we won’t have to worry about ration coupon issues anymore…”

But Qi Huiying wasn’t listening anymore. Her mind was consumed by a single thought: If she’s going back to teaching, then what about me? Isn’t there only one teaching position at the school?

Teacher Zhou continued speaking for a while, but when she saw Qi Huiying staring blankly into space, clearly not paying attention, she felt annoyed. What kind of person is this? She was the one who started the conversation in the first place!

Since there were many people around, she didn’t say anything, just shot Qi Huiying a glare before turning to find a seat.

Qi Huiying snapped out of her daze, wanting to ask if the school was still hiring teachers. But before she could, the person in front of her had already left. She fumed—what kind of person just walks away without even saying goodbye? So rude!

As she turned around angrily, she bumped into someone by her leg, causing her to stumble and nearly fall.

“Who is it? Walking without looking?!” Qi Huiying was already in a bad mood, and her tone was even more impatient.

She looked down and saw a little girl sitting on the ground—someone who looked somewhat familiar.

The child who had fallen was none other than Xia Qinqin. She had been following Meng Yufei earlier. But while Meng Yufei was talking to Director Wang, Qinqin had gotten bored and started looking around the canteen. When she spotted Fangfang not far away, she instinctively ran toward her.

However, after only a few steps, she got lost in the crowd. From her perspective, all she could see were adults’ legs moving around, blocking her view. She couldn’t find Fangfang anywhere.

She turned back, intending to return to her mother, but accidentally bumped into someone and fell straight to the ground. Her right hand instinctively pressed against the floor, and now a sharp pain spread from her palm.

“Ouch!” Xia Qinqin lifted her right hand, looking pitifully at her scraped palm. Tears welled up in her big eyes.

Seeing the little girl sitting on the ground about to cry, Qi Huiying grew even more annoyed. Ugh, crying children are the worst!

“Whose kid are you? Running around blindly like that?”

Xia Qinqin looked up at the fierce-looking auntie. Just then, she heard an impatient female voice in her head: What a bad day! First, terrible news in the morning, and now I run into a brat—so annoying!

Who is she calling a brat? Qinqin thought, feeling wronged. I’m not a brat!

“Oh my, Qinqin! How did you end up here?”

The voice belonged to Xiao Cui from the Women’s Committee. She walked over and helped Xia Qinqin up, asking with concern, “Did you get hurt?”

Just as Qinqin was about to raise her hand to show her scraped palm, Qi Huiying sneered sarcastically, “Some people really need to keep an eye on their kids! Letting them run around and bump into others without even apologizing.”

Xiao Cui turned to look at Qi Huiying and frowned. “Comrade Qi Huiying, if you have a problem with me, just say it directly. Why take it out on a child?”

Qi Huiying scoffed. “Oh, please. I think you did this on purpose. Did you tell this kid to run into me?”

The two women already had a grudge. Last month, they had clashed over Women’s Committee affairs—a dispute known to everyone in the family compound.

Now, seeing Xiao Cui helping Xia Qinqin, Qi Huiying assumed she had orchestrated the whole thing. She accused, “You’re really petty, huh? Didn’t you already get the Women’s Committee job? What more do you want?!”

Hearing Qi Huiying twist the truth so blatantly, Xiao Cui almost laughed out of sheer frustration.

The Women’s Committee had been planning to hire someone for a while. Director Wang spent a long time evaluating candidates before finally choosing Xiao Cui.

Then, Qi Huiying had arrived on the island with the military and, after hearing about the job opening, immediately ran to self-recommend herself to Director Wang.

Of course, Director Wang rejected her. But Qi Huiying had made a big fuss about it, accusing Xiao Cui of pulling strings and stealing her job. The drama escalated to the point where even the division commander got involved.

Thinking about this, Xiao Cui got even angrier. I’ve been here for years, waiting patiently for a work assignment. Qi Huiying just got here, and she dares to say I stole her job? How shameless!

“What nonsense are you spouting? You think I told a child to bump into you? Why don’t you check who ran into who first!” Xiao Cui rolled her eyes at her, too lazy to argue. With so many people around, getting into a shouting match would only embarrass herself too.

“This is Director Meng’s child. I was just helping look for her. You’re a grown adult—who would send a child to bump into you?”

She then bent down and said to Xia Qinqin, “Auntie will take you to find your mom, okay? Your mom is looking for you.”

“Okay,” Xia Qinqin sniffled. She could keenly sense the tension between the two women, so she held back her urge to cry and obediently nodded.

Qi Huiying looked down at the child in front of her and suddenly recalled seeing her at the street corner that day, playing with that brat Han Jianhong. Then, the image of the encounter in the canteen a few days ago resurfaced in her mind, and she finally remembered who this child was.

This little brat… Her mother stole my job, she teamed up with Han Jianhong to scare me with a snake, and now she ran into me? Nothing good ever happens when she’s around!

How great would it have been if she had gotten bitten by that snake back then?

Hearing the muttered voice behind her, Xia Qinqin shuddered in fear. Xiao Cui noticed and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xia Qinqin shook her head and whispered, “I want my mom.”

She had to tell her mom that this auntie was really mean—she wanted to set a snake on her!

Earlier that morning, Meng Yufei had come to the canteen to discuss invoice matters with Director Wang. But when she turned around, she suddenly realized her child was missing!

Fortunately, this was just the canteen, so she wasn’t too worried about Qinqin getting lost. After searching around for a bit, she spotted Xiao Cui bringing Qinqin back and quickly went over to thank her.

“Xiao Cui, thank you for helping me find Qinqin.”

“I just happened to see her fall, and since I knew you were looking for her, I brought her over right away.” Xiao Cui handed Qinqin back to Meng Yufei. “Sister Meng, the meeting is about to start. I have to go get things ready.”

“Go ahead, thank you again.”

Xiao Cui turned and ran toward the podium to adjust the microphone. Meng Yufei crouched down and gently scolded, “Qinqin, how could you run off without telling Mom? If this were outside, you might have been taken away by a bad person!”

Xia Qinqin lowered her head and said softly, “Mom, I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

Meng Yufei stroked her head and said gently, “Next time, if you need to leave, you must tell Mom first, okay?”

“Okay, I understand.” Xia Qinqin nodded obediently.

Meng Yufei then asked, “Auntie Xiao Cui said you fell earlier. Did you get hurt? Does it hurt?”

Xia Qinqin raised her right hand and pitifully said, “Mom, my palm hurts!”

Seeing the scraped skin on her daughter’s palm, with faint traces of blood, Meng Yufei felt a pang of heartache. She carefully examined it, then gently blew on it and softly comforted her, “It won’t hurt anymore. Mom will blow on it for you. Our Qinqin is a brave little girl, right?”

Xia Qinqin nodded firmly, holding back her tears. “Yes, I’m a brave child.” But even as she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.

Meng Yufei’s heart ached terribly, but she forced a smile to comfort her. “Qinqin is amazing!”

Holding her daughter’s hand, she walked over to Director Wang and said, “Director Wang, I’ll take Qinqin back to the office to get the coupons. You can start the meeting without me.”

Director Wang nodded. “Alright, go ahead. Our meeting will last about an hour, so just be back before then.”

“Alright, I understand. I’ll get going now.”

Meng Yufei took Xia Qinqin upstairs to the office and pulled a handkerchief from her bag, gently wiping Qinqin’s injured palm.

The moment the handkerchief touched her hand, Xia Qinqin flinched from the pain, her lips trembling as if she were about to cry. Meng Yufei quickly comforted her.

After carefully wiping off the dust, Meng Yufei reminded her, “Next time, when you’re walking, remember to go slower and watch your step. Don’t rush, okay? If you rush, you’ll trip and fall.”

Xia Qinqin nodded. “Got it. Mom, but I didn’t trip this time—I bumped into a mean auntie.”

“An auntie?”

“Yes! That auntie was really mean. She argued with Auntie Xiao Cui and even said she was going to use a snake to bite me!”

“?!”

“What did you say? She said she was going to use a snake to bite you? Who was it?” Meng Yufei asked urgently.

Xia Qinqin complained, “That really mean auntie! She also called me a ‘little brat.’ Mom, what does ‘little brat’ mean?”

Meng Yufei hugged her daughter and patted her back. “You’re a good child, not a little brat.”

A snake…

Why would that person suddenly mention a snake to scare Qinqin?

Could it be that what happened that day wasn’t just an accident? Meng Yufei’s gaze darkened as she fell into deep thought.

Suppressing her suspicions, she patiently chatted with Qinqin for a while. Once her daughter had calmed down, she got up, opened the drawer, took out the prepared coupons, and placed them in her bag before leading Qinqin downstairs.

The canteen meeting was already halfway through. On the stage, Director Wang was speaking into the microphone about women’s rights. The women seated below were in varying states—some whispering in small groups, some nodding off, and some doing handicrafts.

Only those in the front rows seemed to be listening attentively.

Xiao Zhang spotted Meng Yufei and ran over. “Sister Meng, I brought the account books down earlier this morning, but I couldn’t find you just now.”

Meng Yufei said, “I was in the office getting the coupons. Once the meeting is over, I’ll distribute them. You’ll verify the recipients and have them sign the register. If they can’t write, they can use a fingerprint instead.”

Xiao Zhang nodded. “Got it. I also brought the ink pad.”

The two of them sat in a corner at the front and focused on Director Wang’s speech.

“Alright, that concludes today’s meeting. Everyone, please don’t leave yet. The newly appointed Finance Director, Meng Yufei, has recalculated the coupon distribution. Starting today, all the owed coupons will be issued!”

“Now, let’s welcome Director Meng Yufei to the stage!”

Hearing that the coupons were finally being distributed, the crowd stirred with excitement. Applause erupted, and all eyes eagerly followed Meng Yufei as she walked up to the stage.

She handed her daughter over to Xiao Zhang before stepping onto the platform. Taking the microphone from Director Wang, she smiled and said, “Hello, everyone. I’m Meng Yufei. I recently joined as a military spouse with the unit. My husband is Regiment Commander Xia Junshan.”

“Director Wang heard that I previously worked in banking for a few years, so he recommended me to the division commander for a position in the finance department. I want to thank both the commander and Director Wang for trusting me and giving me this opportunity to serve everyone.”

“With the cooperation of our colleagues in the logistics department, we successfully completed the task without letting our leaders down. Our finance department has compiled a list of the coupons each household receives every month into a single chart,”

As she spoke, Meng Yufei took out the chart from her bag and continued, “From now on, if anyone wants to check whether they received the correct number of coupons, you can verify it directly on this chart. This chart will be posted on the finance department’s wall.”

“In addition, we have also recorded each household’s monthly coupon allocation into a register. From now on, when you receive your coupons each month, please verify them on the spot and sign to confirm.”

Someone from the crowd asked, “What if we can’t write?”

Meng Yufei smiled and said, “If you can’t sign, a fingerprint will do.”

She then raised the bag containing the coupons for everyone to see. “The coupons are here. Let’s begin distribution now.”

Excitement spread through the crowd, and they clapped enthusiastically—finally, coupon distribution was happening!

Director Wang called out loudly, “Starting from the first row! Come up row by row, form a proper line, and no cutting!”

Meng Yufei sat behind the table on the stage, with Xiao Zhang beside her. Xia Qinqin played behind their chairs.

Director Wang and Xiao Cui were busy organizing the families into a queue.

“May I have your name?”

“Zheng Daya, from Third Regiment, wife of Battalion Commander Ge Shuisheng.”

“Alright, let me check… Got it. Your household consists of one adult, entitled to 25 jin of grain coupons per month, two children, aged eight and seven, each receiving 13 jin, totaling 26 jin, and a two-year-old child, who receives 7 jin per month. This month, your household’s total grain coupon allocation is 58 jin.”

“In addition, your household’s meat coupons are…”

Xiao Zhang quickly read out the details while Meng Yufei organized the coupons and handed them over.

“Please count your coupons and confirm everything is correct. If there are no issues, kindly sign here.”

“I’ll just stamp my fingerprint. This system is great—everything is calculated clearly and accurately!”

Families lined up one by one, and the process moved quickly. Since the accounts were clear, there was much less debate compared to before.

Those in the front rows received their coupons and left, while those in the back waited impatiently.

The wife of Captain Cao sighed, “If I had known, I would’ve sat in the front.”

“Come on, you always pick the last row at meetings.”

“How was I supposed to know they’d start handing out coupons from the front? If I had known, I’d have grabbed a front-row seat for sure!”

“Everyone will get theirs eventually. What’s the rush? Just wait.”

“Alright then…”

Director Wang efficiently managed the distribution, calling up each row in turn and ensuring everyone queued in an orderly manner.

By the time they reached the last two rows, Xia Qinqin, who had been standing beside Meng Yufei the whole time, gently tugged at her sleeve.

Meng Yufei looked down and asked softly, “What is it?”

Xia Qinqin leaned close to her mother’s ear and whispered, “Mom, the auntie standing at the very back—that’s the mean auntie.”

Hearing this, Meng Yufei looked toward the end of the line and saw a woman standing there. She was wearing a dress, her hair loose, with a striped headband.

This person…

Meng Yufei narrowed her eyes slightly, recalling that this was the wife of Deputy Regiment Commander Chen, who lived next door to Sister-in-law Zhang. If she remembered correctly, her name was Qi Huiying.

Did she have some sort of grudge against their family?

A flood of thoughts rushed through her mind, but Meng Yufei kept a calm expression as she continued distributing the coupons one household at a time.

When Qi Huiying stepped forward to collect her coupon, Xia Qinqin glanced at her, then quietly hid behind Meng Yufei. Meng Yufei gently patted her daughter’s shoulder to reassure her.

Xiao Zhang noticed and asked with concern, “Qinqin, are you bored from waiting? Just hold on a little longer—Auntie and Mom are almost done.”

“Hey, are you giving out the coupons or not?” Qi Huiying said impatiently.

Xiao Zhang frowned. “I was just saying a few words to the child. What’s the rush?”

Qi Huiying snapped, “If you want to play with kids, do it at home! You’re just wasting everyone’s time here.”

“You—” Xiao Zhang, angered, was about to argue with her, but Meng Yufei stopped her.

“Xiao Zhang, let’s just hand out the coupons first.”

Seeing Meng Yufei’s response, Xiao Zhang held back her temper and continued distributing the coupons.

Qi Huiying took her coupon, shot a glance at Meng Yufei and her daughter, then turned on her heels and strutted away, the sharp sound of her heels clicking against the floor.

Her actions immediately sparked whispers among the people waiting for their coupons. Many speculated about her ongoing conflicts with the logistics department. Just a while ago, she had quarreled with Xiao Cui from the Women’s Committee, and people were still gossiping about that incident.

It wasn’t until nearly noon, around twelve o’clock, that all the people who had come to collect their coupons had received them.

Director Wang walked over and asked, “How’s it going? All done?”

Meng Yufei replied, “Everyone who attended the meeting has received their coupons. There are still seven family members who couldn’t take leave from work today, and three others who have returned to their hometowns and are temporarily not on the island. Oh, right, Director Wang, Comrade Xiao Cui—these are your families’ coupons.”

She handed their coupons to them, then turned to Director Wang and asked, “Director Wang, Doctor Huang wasn’t here today either. Should these coupons be delivered to the commander’s house?”

Director Wang said, “She’s been on duty at the hospital these past few days. Just keep them with you for now.”

Meng Yufei nodded. “Alright.”

Director Wang and Xiao Cui started packing up the microphone and tidying up the table, and Meng Yufei and Xiao Zhang quickly stepped forward to help.

Once everything was cleaned up, Director Wang said, “Alright, we’re done for the day. Xiao Meng, I’ll be heading over to your logistics department this afternoon to talk to Deputy Director Fu about the kindergarten matter. You’ll be there, right?”

Meng Yufei nodded. “Yes, I will.”