The nearest supply and marketing cooperative to Taohua Village was in the town, which wasn’t convenient to get to. Moreover, buying meat required meat ration coupons, and even though her husband’s benefits were considered good, the monthly quota wasn’t enough for Jiang Qiuyue to eat meat every day.  

There were wild animals in the mountains, but that had little to do with Jiang Qiuyue—first, she couldn’t catch them, and second, wild game belonged to the state.  

As for wild vegetables, they were fine for a change of taste, but what she really needed was something meaty!  

In this vast world, food was the top priority!  

How could she nourish her body properly without eating well?  

Jiang Qiuyue stood against the wall for over ten minutes—a habit to prevent a potbelly. The original owner of this body had treated herself poorly. She had decent looks to begin with but had let herself become haggard and unkempt.  

With nothing to do in the afternoon, Jiang Qiuyue took the two children for a stroll around the village. Lin Beibei was young but knew every nook and cranny of the place.  

“Granny Niu says there are man-eating tigers in the mountains, so kids aren’t allowed to go there. This little river is where Zhuangzhuang catches fish. There’s a bigger river up ahead, but I’ve never been there.” As he spoke, Lin Beibei glanced around and then whispered into his mother’s ear, “But I overheard Uncle Niu say there are wild rabbits in the mountains, and they’re super tasty when stewed!”  

The child had never eaten rabbit meat before, but just the thought of it made his mouth water.  

Jiang Qiuyue also started craving rabbit meat, her mind flashing through a few dish names—spicy rabbit heads, stir-fried rabbit meat, braised rabbit…  

Rabbits were so cute—they should be eaten more!  

But where could she find rabbits?  

Private rabbit farming wasn’t allowed, and even the supply and marketing cooperative didn’t sell rabbit meat. Only during holidays would the farms slaughter rabbits to distribute to their workers.  

Jiang Qiuyue’s craving grew unbearable. Since the cooperative didn’t sell rabbit meat, she decided to try her luck at the city’s black market tomorrow. If she couldn’t find rabbit, she could at least buy some pork. Meat coupons were never enough anyway.  

With tomorrow’s menu planned, Jiang Qiuyue’s steps felt lighter. When she reached the village entrance, she saw a few elderly women sitting and picking wild celery. She joined them.  

She told the kids to go play, but they refused, squatting down to help the grannies pick celery instead. The old women happily praised them for being so well-behaved.  

The wild celery was all foraged, and the grannies picked it to add to their family meals. When Jiang Qiuyue asked where they found it, Granny Xu immediately handed her a bunch.  

“Qiuyue, why didn’t you go to work today?” Granny Xu asked while picking celery.  

When women gathered like this, they always exchanged the latest gossip—it was a form of amusement.  

“Ah, my health hasn’t been good. I need to rest for a while,” Jiang Qiuyue replied.  

“Honestly, you should’ve started slacking off earlier. Look at you—working so hard, yet your mother-in-law never shows you any pity,” Granny Xu said. Another granny immediately nodded in agreement. “Among all the young wives in the village, you’re the most capable, but your mother-in-law is unfairly biased. Everyone can see it. I’d advise you to push for dividing the household sooner rather than later, or you’ll keep working hard for no appreciation.”  

“That’s not how it should be. No matter how bad the in-laws are, dividing the household isn’t right, is it?” Someone else still disapproved of the idea.  

“This isn’t the old society anymore. Wang Chunhua and her husband aren’t even Lin Dazhu’s real parents, so splitting—oh dear, Qiuyue, look at my big mouth! Come on, let’s not talk about this. Have you all heard? Old Man Zhang from the next village was caught by his son having an affair with his daughter-in-law!”  

When the topic of dividing the household came up, Jiang Qiuyue had been about to steer the conversation further, but the scandal of a father-in-law sleeping with his daughter-in-law was far more interesting. “And then what happened?”  

“Of course, they fought! Rumor has it the police were called. Tsk tsk, how shameless.”  

“Yeah, shameless,” Jiang Qiuyue echoed emphatically.  

After chatting with the grannies for a good while, Jiang Qiuyue had a much clearer picture of the village’s social dynamics—along with a few juicy pieces of gossip.  

She decided that from now on, whenever she had nothing to do, she’d come sit at the village entrance. What a delightful tea party! As for working in the fields? Not a chance. She had her husband’s remittances—no need to toil for work points.  

Back home, Jiang Qiuyue stir-fried the wild celery and, before the rest of the Lin family returned, closed the door to eat with the two kids.  

The next day, after preparing breakfast for the children, Jiang Qiuyue had just stepped out when she ran into Wang Youren, who had come looking for her.  

She successfully hitched a ride on the tractor to town, then transferred to a bus heading into the city.

The city was much larger than the town. Following the directions she had gathered, Jiang Qiuyue found the black market. Entry required a five-cent fee, and inside, the crowd was sparse. Some people had their faces tightly wrapped in scarves, clearly afraid of being recognized.  

Jiang Qiuyue was a little nervous too. From what she’d read in novels, getting caught in the black market could mean detention. She just wanted to eat well—she wasn’t looking for trouble.  

Scanning the stalls quickly, she actually found someone selling rabbits.  

“This is a wild hare from the mountains, caught just yesterday. If you’re serious about buying, I’ll give it to you for three yuan. How about it?” The woman opened a bamboo basket, revealing a half-dead rabbit lying inside.  

Jiang Qiuyue pursed her lips and shook her head. “Too scrawny. Definitely not caught yesterday. Auntie, you’ve been trying to sell this for days, haven’t you?”  

Unfazed at being called out, the woman had initially hoped to trick Jiang Qiuyue into paying more. Seeing that her customer knew better, she quickly smiled and said, “Wild hares are all like this—look thin but taste great. You seem like a nice person—how about I knock off five mao for you?”  

“Still too expensive. I’m not some first-timer here. No one would buy it at that price, otherwise you wouldn’t have held onto it for so long.” Jiang Qiuyue looked thoroughly unimpressed. Without another glance at the rabbit, she turned to leave.  

“Hey, girl, don’t go! How about two yuan? Final offer!” The woman panicked. She’d caught this hare five days ago, and it was getting skinnier by the day. She had to risk coming here every day to sell it—she really wanted to get rid of it.  

Jiang Qiuyue stopped. “One yuan fifty. Take it or leave it. If it weren’t for my kids wanting to eat it, I wouldn’t even bother with rabbit. I saw a meat stall up ahead—for one fifty, I could buy two whole jin of pork.”  

Bargaining was a battle of wits. Watching the woman frown, Jiang Qiuyue sighed. “Forget it. Seems like you don’t really want to sell. I’ll just go buy pork—”  

“Fine, one fifty it is!” The woman really didn’t want to lug the hare back home. Whatever she got for it was pure profit anyway. “You’re sharp, girl. Cut my price right in half.”  

With the deal successfully struck, Jiang Qiuyue turned on the charm. “Auntie, you’re so kind and capable. Here’s the money. Next time I see you, I’ll definitely buy from you again.”  

“Sure thing!” The woman’s son often hunted small game in the mountains to supplement their income. Chuckling, she walked away.  

Since she rarely came to the city, Jiang Qiuyue checked out the meat stalls. But the pork at the black market was twenty mao more per jin than usual. Calculating the money she had left, she only bought two yuan’s worth of pork belly.  

Now, she was down to just five yuan. Truly, twenty yuan for living expenses was nowhere near enough.  

By the time Jiang Qiuyue got home, it was already afternoon. She deliberately timed her return when the villagers were out in the fields to avoid prying eyes wondering what was in her basket.  

After scalding the hare, removing its fur and innards, she chopped it into thumb-sized cubes and marinated them briefly with cooking wine and soy sauce.  

As she worked, Jiang Qiuyue occasionally glanced back. “Just like that. You’re so smart—already learning how to salt meat! Nan Nan, don’t rub your eyes, or they’ll sting.”  

Kids needed to develop practical skills early—it wasn’t child labor, really. And the more she praised them, the more enthusiastic they became, glowing with accomplishment.  

Once the kids finished salting the meat, Jiang Qiuyue hung it under the eaves to dry. Then she fried the rabbit cubes in oil until fragrant. If only she had more oil—deep-frying would’ve made them even tastier.  

After browning the rabbit, she heated fresh oil in the wok, added minced garlic and green and red chilies, and stir-fried until aromatic. Then she tossed in the rabbit cubes, splashed cooking wine around the edges of the wok for an instant sizzle of fragrance, and seasoned with salt.  

A plate of stir-fried wild rabbit was ready. Paired with a bowl of loofah soup, Lin Beibei ate two full bowls of rice, his little belly round and satisfied. Lin Nan Nan burped, rubbing her stomach but still eyeing the food.  

Jiang Qiuyue ate her fill too, though the lingering kitchen smells once again drove Lin Dabao to tears, wailing for meat.  

When Qian Li brought a bowl of wild vegetable gruel into the room after cooking, she frowned in confusion. “The moment I stepped into the kitchen, I smelled meat. Where on earth is Jiang Qiuyue getting so much meat?”  

Without Jiang Qiuyue contributing to the household expenses, the Lin family hadn’t even had coarse rice in days. Lin Sanzhu was fuming. “Eldest sister-in-law has twenty yuan—of course she can eat meat whenever she wants.”  

“Even with money, meat coupons are limited,” Qian Li muttered, still puzzled. “We haven’t had meat in ages. All the cured meat Mom saved was eaten by Jiang Qiuyue.”  

At least when her sister-in-law came home on break, she could’ve gotten a taste. Now, every day, the tantalizing smells from the kitchen tormented her—even her dreams were filled with Jiang Qiuyue cooking.

Wang Chunhua snorted coldly, “She’s like a rat that’s stumbled into a rice barn—living it up. Just wait and see. In a few days, when her meat coupons run out, she won’t be eating any more meat.”  

That might be true, but she still craved meat herself. Damn that Jiang Qiuyue—stealing her cured meat and eggs! The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. Staring at the bowl of wild vegetable gruel in front of her, her appetite vanished instantly.  

With such a stark comparison, the Lin family’s meals became increasingly unappetizing. They consoled themselves with the thought that in a few days, once Lin Dazhu received their letter, Jiang Qiuyue’s days of luxury would be over.  

Once the money was redirected to Wang Chunhua and Lin Fugui, they could finally afford to splurge occasionally and buy some meat for a treat.  

But over the following days, the aroma of meat continued to waft from the kitchen. Qian Li suffered the most—forced to cook sweet potatoes and potatoes every day while inhaling the tantalizing scent of meat.  

—  

Meanwhile, in the military barracks, Lin Dazhu—no, he had since changed his name to Lin Zhengrong—had just returned from drills.  

As he sat down to drink some water, his comrade-in-arms Chen Guowei walked in carrying a lunchbox. “Thanks for covering my shift during the Dragon Boat Festival. I wouldn’t have been able to go home otherwise. My mom made this cured pork knuckle—brought it back just for you. Oh, and your mail. The duty officer said you had letters, so I grabbed them for you.”  

Lin Zhengrong thanked his friend and noticed the letters were from Jiang Qiuyue. He was surprised—this was only the second time she had written to him since their marriage, and there were two letters this time.  

The last one had been to announce the birth of their twins, followed by his parents claiming the household had more mouths to feed and demanding he increase the living allowance.  

Opening the first letter, he saw Jiang Qiuyue complaining about insufficient funds. His first thought was that his parents had pressured her into writing it.  

His parents had always played favorites. Even before he married, they insisted he hand over his entire salary, claiming they were saving it for him—when in reality, it all went to his younger siblings.  

But when he opened the second letter, his thick brows furrowed deeper. To his shock, Jiang Qiuyue was accusing his parents of abusing her and the children.  

He knew his parents were biased, which was why he had sent the monthly allowance directly to Jiang Qiuyue, assuming she could manage things better with money in hand. Yet according to her letter, the twins had never tasted meat since birth.  

What the hell was going on?  

“Hey, Zhengrong, you should take some time to go home too,” Chen Guowei said, exhausted after his two-day train ride and eager to collapse onto his bunk. “If I remember right, you haven’t been back in four or five years, have you?”  

Lin Zhengrong had been deployed on a classified mission just days after his wedding and only returned two months ago.  

Still reading Jiang Qiuyue’s letters, he absentmindedly grunted in agreement.  

“If you want to go, let me know. If you can’t get leave, I’ll cover for you. You really should see your wife and kids—otherwise, your children won’t even recognize you,” Chen Guowei said, grinning at the memory of his own warm reunion with his family.  

Lin Zhengrong finished the letters, but one detail puzzled him. “Guowei, do you know what ‘snowflake cream’ is?”  

“Of course! It’s that stuff women put on their faces. I brought a jar back for my wife this time. You should’ve seen her—my wife’s usually so fierce, but she actually brought me footwash water because of that cream. Scared the hell out of me—I thought I’d done something wrong!” Chen Guowei chuckled. “Why do you ask?”  

“My… my wife wants some too.” Saying the word “wife” still felt awkward to him.  

“Easy. Just give Old Wu in logistics a bottle of liquor—he can get it for you.” Chen Guowei yawned, rolled over, and was soon snoring.  

This was the first time Jiang Qiuyue had ever asked Lin Zhengrong for anything. He mulled it over—he needed to verify the contents of her letters first.  

As for the snowflake cream, he took some money from his drawer and went to find Old Wu.