Chapter 9: Peeling Clams

At six in the evening, the family compound was at its liveliest.

The men were coming home from work, the children were back from school, and the women had meals prepared.

But at Commissar Yu’s house, the kitchen was cold and unused.

“What’s going on?”

Commissar Yu returned home, took off his military cap, and hung it on the hook behind the door. He looked at his wife, Wang Cuilan, who was sitting on the sofa, scribbling in a notebook.

Sniffing the air and not catching the familiar scent of food, he curiously asked, “No dinner today?”

With a loud slap, Wang Cuilan threw her pen onto the table and snapped, “Eat, eat, eat—that’s all you know! Did I owe you something in my past life that I have to cook for you every single day?”

Commissar Yu wasn’t the least bit upset by her outburst. Instead, he chuckled and said, “What’s wrong? Who did you argue with?” He sat down beside her on the sofa.

Wang Cuilan huffed, “It’s those people in the logistics department. Can you believe it? It’s already this late in the month, and half of the families here still haven’t received their ration coupons! Other coupons can wait, but without grain coupons, how are people supposed to eat?”

Commissar Yu glanced at her notebook, which was filled with messy handwriting, listing names one by one. “So, you wrote down all the families who haven’t received their coupons?”

Wang Cuilan nodded. “Yes, I went door to door today and counted them all. I noted down the ones missing or not distributed properly. Tomorrow, I’m going to the logistics department to figure out what’s going on.”

Commissar Yu pointed at a character in her notebook and said, “You’re missing a stroke in the character ‘Han’ here.” He picked up the pen and added the missing stroke.

Wang Cuilan took the notebook and examined it. “Oh? Really?”

Looking closely, she realized that the character did indeed look more proper with the correction. She handed the notebook back to him.

“Then check the rest of the characters for me. See if any of them are missing parts or written incorrectly. I don’t want those people at the logistics department laughing at me tomorrow.”

Wang Cuilan had grown up in the countryside and hadn’t been able to read a single character as a child. During the Anti-Japanese War, she had joined the guerrilla forces and attended a few literacy classes, but she still recognized more characters than she could write.

Commissar Yu took the notebook and carefully looked through it, correcting any mistakes while quietly explaining them to Wang Cuilan.

Once he was done, Wang Cuilan happily closed the notebook.

“Oh my, it’s gotten so late! You haven’t had dinner yet, have you? What do you feel like eating? I’ll cook something for you.” She glanced outside at the darkening sky.

Commissar Yu smiled. “Noodles. I haven’t had them in a while.”

Wang Cuilan agreed readily. “Alright, wait here. I’ll go knead the dough and roll out some noodles. We still have some Laba garlic left—you love that stuff.”

—

At the Xia family’s dinner table, their meal was once again from the canteen.

They had stir-fried pork with lettuce, braised clams with scallions, and seaweed egg drop soup. The staple was the region’s specialty stir-fried rice noodles. These rice noodles were much thinner than those in Haishi, almost resembling glass noodles, but they had a crispier texture.

The entire meal cost three dimes and eight cents, along with one liang of meat coupons and three liang of grain coupons.

Meng Yufei scooped a small bowl of soup for her daughter and set it aside to cool. “I think I should go ahead and transfer our ration book records tomorrow. From what Sister Wang said today, the logistics department seems to be having financial issues?”

They weren’t short on money, but getting meal coupons for daily meals was a real problem.

Meanwhile, Xia Junshan was peeling clams for their daughter. The clams had already opened after being cooked, but the meat was still attached to the shells. He was worried she might cut her fingers, so he carefully peeled them one by one for her.

“The logistics department here is technically under the military’s general logistics, but its finances and personnel management are handled independently. My salary and ration coupons are issued directly by the army, and there’s never been an issue with those.”

After thinking for a moment, he added, “I do remember hearing some complaints from the families about ticket distribution lately. Since we never collected ours from there before, I don’t know the exact situation.”

Meng Yufei said, “Then I’ll go check it out tomorrow. By the way, where’s the logistics office located?”

Xia Junshan replied, “It’s right above the canteen we went to today. The logistics office is on the second floor. There’s a separate staircase on the west side of that building—just go up from there.”

Meng Yufei nodded. “Got it.”

At that moment, Xia Qinqin spoke up, “Daddy, I’m full.” She let out a small burp.

Xia Junshan paused in the middle of peeling a clam, surprised. “You’re full already? You barely ate anything!”

Meng Yufei rolled her eyes at him. “Did you forget? She finished off the leftover strawberries this morning. You washed them all and gave them to her after her nap.”

Xia Junshan laughed sheepishly. “It wasn’t that much… How was I supposed to know her stomach is so small?”

Meng Yufei turned to her daughter. “If you’re full, go wash your hands at the tap and get your pajamas from the wardrobe. Mommy will give you a bath later.”

“Mm-hmm! Okay, Mommy!” Xia Qinqin obediently left the table and went to the courtyard to wash her hands.

Watching their daughter’s small figure walk away, Xia Junshan sighed emotionally, “Our Qinqin is really well-behaved.” Then, he turned to his wife. “You’ve worked hard, raising her so well. I owe you both too much over the years.”

Meng Yufei smiled. “She may seem obedient now, but just wait until she starts causing trouble—you’ll be the one with headaches then.”

Xia Junshan laughed. “Our Qinqin is so good, how could she possibly cause trouble?”

Meng Yufei simply smiled and took a sip of her soup without saying a word.

In Qiongzhou, the average temperature in March was over twenty degrees. The mornings and evenings were cool, but midday could get quite warm.

In this kind of weather, people who cared about cleanliness bathed every day, while others, less particular, might go several days without washing.

Meng Yufei could never go without a bath in this heat—especially after running around all day and working up a sweat.

One advantage of having a private courtyard was having their own bathroom. Unlike the row houses, which shared a communal restroom, it was much more convenient.

A few days ago, Xia Junshan had someone build a small room next to their bathroom to serve as a bathing area.

That night, the three of them took turns bathing before settling down in the master bedroom’s double bed.

Lying between her parents, Xia Qinqin glanced at her mother on the left, then at her father on the right, feeling inexplicably happy.

She secretly thought to herself: Now I’m just like Zhuangzhuang—I can sleep between Mommy and Daddy every night too. Hmph, it’s no big deal after all.

She couldn’t help but smile.

Meng Yufei pulled a small blanket over her daughter’s belly and asked with a smile, “What story does Qinqin want to hear tonight?”

Xia Qinqin blinked her bright eyes and said crisply, “I want Daddy to tell a story.”

“Huh?” Xia Junshan was a little surprised. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Hmm, then Daddy will tell you a story I heard when I was little—a story about a shepherd boy.”

“Once upon a time, there was a little boy who herded sheep. Every day, he would take a big flock out to graze…”

As Xia Junshan’s deep voice carried on, Xia Qinqin gradually drifted off to sleep.

—

The next morning, when Xia Qinqin woke up, Xia Junshan had already left. He had only taken two days off, so today he had to return to the army for work.

Sitting on the bed, Xia Qinqin stared at the room for a few seconds before remembering that this was her new home. She climbed out of bed, slipped on her little slippers, and ran to the living room.

Meng Yufei was standing in front of the sofa, measuring its size with her hands. She planned to sew a sofa cover when she had time—the sofa was quite old, and leaving it uncovered in the living room looked rather unappealing.

“Mommy, where’s Daddy?” Xia Qinqin asked.

Seeing her daughter awake, Meng Yufei smiled. “Your daddy left for work early this morning.” She took Qinqin’s hand and led her outside. “Let’s brush our teeth and wash our face first, then we’ll have breakfast.”

Xia Qinqin crouched by the faucet under the eaves, spat out the mouthwash, and lifted her head, obediently letting her mother wipe her face with a towel.

“Mommy, don’t you have to go to work?”

In Xia Qinqin’s understanding, all adults had to work—only retired people like Grandma didn’t need to.

Meng Yufei wrung out the towel and hung it up to dry, explaining, “Mommy doesn’t have to work for now.”

She then took Xia Qinqin back to the room to change clothes. The temperature today was about the same as yesterday’s, so she picked out a light blue dress for her daughter. The hem was decorated with a ring of tiny white floral patterns. Worried about the chilly morning breeze, she added a beige button-up shirt as a jacket.

For herself, Meng Yufei wore a beige shirt dress with a simple design. A closer look would reveal its sharp, well-fitted tailoring—especially around the waist, which gave her a straight, elegant posture.

She then grabbed their ration book, meal coupons, and some loose change, putting them all into her shoulder bag.

At the shoe cabinet by the door, she helped Qinqin put on a pair of white rubber shoes—light and breathable—while she slipped into a pair of low-heeled beige leather shoes.

By the time they stepped out, it was 7:30 AM. Most people had already finished breakfast by then.

By the time the mother and daughter strolled over to the canteen, there were only two or three people left inside, eating their morning meal.

The portions at the canteen were quite generous. The fried dough sticks were golden and crispy, nearly as long as half an arm. The buns and steamed bread were even bigger than a fist.

Meng Yufei ordered just one fried dough stick, a vegetable bun, and a bowl of porridge.

Xia Qinqin ate a quarter of the fried dough stick, half a vegetable bun, and drank half a bowl of porridge before patting her round belly and announcing she was full.

Meng Yufei finished the rest of the food. She was already full when only half of the bun was left, but she didn’t want to waste food, so she ate it anyway.

After breakfast, she checked her watch—8:05 AM.

Meng Yufei then took her daughter to the west side of the canteen, where they happened to run into Wang Cuilan. She smiled and greeted her, “Good morning, Sister Wang.”

Then she turned to her daughter. “Qinqin, say good morning to Auntie Wang.”

Xia Qinqin obediently said, “Good morning, Auntie Wang.”

Sister Wang had only met Meng Yufei briefly yesterday, but she recognized her instantly and greeted her warmly, “Ah, it’s Xiao Meng! Good morning.”

She then bent down, smiling as she gently touched Xia Qinqin’s little braids. “Good morning! Your braids look so pretty today.”

Xia Qinqin grinned and said, “My mommy did them for me!”

Sister Wang chuckled. “Your mommy is really skilled.” Then she looked up at Meng Yufei and asked, “Are you here to transfer your records?”

Meng Yufei nodded. “Yes, after hearing what you said yesterday, I figured it would be best to get it done as soon as possible.”

Sister Wang said, “Then just head straight to the personnel office—they handle this. I happen to be going to the finance department, so let’s go up together.”

Saying that, she led Meng Yufei and Xia Qinqin upstairs.

As soon as they reached the second floor, they saw a long corridor. On the right, facing south, was a row of windows, while on the left, individual offices were partitioned off.