◎ Taro Rice ◎

Qi Yuzhen confirmed that Educated Youth Tang was fine, then returned to work.

During the designated lunchtime, everyone could go home or find a place to rest alone—it was relatively free.

When it was lunchtime, Qi Yuzhen and her younger sister took Educated Youth Tang to find Sister Feifei.

“Sister Feifei, we need to talk to you about something. Can you come over for a moment?” Qi Yuzhen went forward alone to speak with Fei Feifei.

Even though she had already called her name, Fei Feifei still confirmed once: “Are you looking for me?”

“Yes, we’re looking for you.”

Once she confirmed it was her they were looking for, Fei Feifei handed the unfinished meal to her husband Qi Taoyuan to watch over.

There weren’t many people where the couple were staying. Fei Feifei had deliberately chosen this place to eat. But Qi Yuzhen still chose to take the three of them to a spot where no one was in sight to avoid others.

When they arrived, she explained the purpose. A hesitant look appeared on Fei Feifei’s face.

The hesitation was mainly out of fear of trouble.

Qi Yulian already understood the situation and knew why her sister wanted to connect Educated Youth Tang and Sister Feifei: “Sister Feifei, Educated Youth Tang also doesn’t like talking to people. She doesn’t want to be asked all sorts of questions just to collect a meal from another commune member’s home. My sister thinks your family is the most suitable.

Educated Youth Tang will hand the lunchbox directly to you. When it’s time to eat, she’ll go to the agreed spot to collect it. No extra words will be said.

If your family doesn’t eat dinner, then Educated Youth Tang won’t eat dinner either. Tomorrow morning, when you make breakfast, just pack the breakfast into the lunchbox for Educated Youth Tang to collect herself. Everything is up to your arrangement.”

Qi Yuzhen continued from her younger sister’s words: “Yes. You can pick a place close to your home. Do it however is convenient for you.”

“I’ll go ask Taoyuan. I can’t agree to this on my own.” Fei Feifei could make the decision, but she didn’t want to, to avoid trouble later and having all the responsibility fall on her.

Qi Yulian: “Sister Feifei, if Brother Taoyuan agrees, remember to tell him clearly that it has to be you delivering the food. Other family members won’t do.”

They had known Sister Feifei for quite a long time. Qi Yulian could also understand someone like Educated Youth Tang.

It seemed Educated Youth Tang was even more introverted than Sister Feifei. Unless it was absolutely necessary, she didn’t want to interact with people.

It really was hard on her to be sent down to the countryside for labor, having to live communally with a group of strangers.

“Mm, I’ll tell him… Yuzhen, how many more days until it’s your family’s turn to cook?” Since Yuzhen had taken the initiative to come, Fei Feifei asked a question she had been particularly curious about.

During the busy farming season, a few designated families took turns preparing lunch. The population of the team wasn’t very large, but not small either. If a family took on the task of making lunch, the people cooking wouldn’t have to work in the fields that morning.

Their team arranged for each family to cook for two days. The selected families had all been screened, had good reputations, and decent character—they wouldn’t steal the collective’s grain.

The collective could not tolerate parasites.

Fei Feifei didn’t know the detailed arrangement among the families.

She and her husband’s small household, which they were in charge of, did not sign up. The big household, which was led by her father-in-law and mother-in-law, did sign up, but because her mother-in-law had a large appetite, they were not selected.

The team leader and others probably worried that her mother-in-law would eat a portion or two of the commune members’ food during cooking, so they didn’t choose her parents-in-law.

As for the cooking arrangements, Qi Yuzhen could tell Fei Feifei: “The day after tomorrow and the day after that it’ll be our family’s turn. But you might be disappointed. At that time, lunch will be made by me and my younger siblings. My mom has to help my dad with drying and shelling work.”

In the past, their mother used to cook for the collective, and she would help. This year, since their father became the team leader, their mother had gotten much busier. So the cooking could only be done by her and her siblings.

Fei Feifei: “That’s alright. At least you all can keep the food clean.”

Since among the four people present, two were dull and one was her biological sister, she wasn’t afraid of gossip being spread. Qi Yulian gossiped a bit: “The lunch made by Aunt Zhao’s family was not only undercooked but also had dirty stuff in it. All kinds of dirty things could be found. I saw thread—red thread! It was so obvious and she didn’t even pick it out.”

Fei Feifei: “Sigh, mine had a few strands of hair in it. The rice already had small stones, which made it hard to eat, and on top of that, there was hair. My appetite was more than half gone in an instant.

Yuzhen, if some hair accidentally falls into the food while you’re cooking, it’s alright. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You and your siblings will definitely cook more carefully than Aunt Zhao.”

She usually didn’t talk much, only said a few words when her husband nagged her. She wasn’t afraid of saying the wrong thing and upsetting her husband, but she was afraid of upsetting Yuzhen by saying the wrong thing.

Making someone with a good temper angry—what a terrifying thing.

Qi Yuzhen could understand what she meant: “We’ll cook seriously. Any visible sand or small stones, we’ll pick them out.”

After she finished speaking, Fei Feifei went to ask her husband. Before the afternoon work started, she would be able to give a definite answer.

There should not be much of an issue with Sister Feifei’s side. The two sisters and Educated Youth Tang returned to eat their own lunch.

After walking a few steps, Educated Youth Tang suddenly said that although her rice had no hair or thread, it was undercooked, and every bite contained small stones.

It was painful to eat.

“Educated Youth Tang, if you don’t mind, I’ll give you half of my potatoes.” Qi Yulian understood Educated Youth Tang’s situation and knew she had fainted from hunger in the morning. She split a few pieces of potato from the potato rice at lunch for Educated Youth Tang.

At least the potatoes were cooked. She wouldn’t bite into stones while eating.

Educated Youth Tang did not refuse: “Thank you.”

…

Very soon, it was Qi Yuzhen’s family’s turn to cook. The meal they made was taro, mushroom, and snow vegetable rice. Qi Yuzhen and her third brother Qi Taoming were responsible for lunch for Squads One to Three, while her second brother Qi Taosheng and younger sister Qi Yulian were responsible for Squads Four and Five.

The younger brothers mainly did the physical labor. Qi Yulian usually liked to stick to her sister, but for this task of distributing meals, she didn’t stick close to her sister.

The siblings had prepared their parents’ lunchboxes in advance and delivered them. Once their parents’ lunch was delivered, they began serving meals to the commune members. They arranged the two buckets of rice and the pickled radish slices and waited for everyone to come after finishing their work.

They didn’t have to wait long before people lined up for lunch.

“The pickled radish is quite salty. If you don’t want it, just let me know.” Qi Yuzhen was in charge of serving the rice. Her third brother was in charge of placing the pickled radish slices on the rice—three slices per person.

Serving rice requires strength. Qi Yuzhen was worried that if her brother wasn’t careful while serving, some commune members might get more and some less, so she did it herself, trying to make each portion nearly equal.

When it was An Lin’s turn, she asked if she could have two extra pieces of pickled radish.

Qi Yuzhen: “That’s fine. Taoming, give Educated Youth An two more pieces of pickled radish.”

Qi Taoming followed his sister’s instructions and added two extra slices of pickled radish to Educated Youth An’s lunchbox.

Pickled radish was acceptable when paired with porridge, but not so much with salty rice, so the commune members didn’t reject it but didn’t ask for more either.

Educated Youth An asking for more didn’t make any commune member feel dissatisfied.

“Just one piece of pickled radish for me.” Song Xunzhou was the last one. When it was his turn, there were still four or five slices of pickled radish left in the basin.

“Alright.” Qi Yuzhen took his enamel mug and filled it with rice.

The remaining rice in the two buckets could not even form one whole piece of taro. Only one piece of taro was left, which Qi Yuzhen had intentionally saved after calculating the number of people.

She had no special feelings toward Educated Youth Song. She just thought that the taro tasted good at noon and wanted everyone to have a taste, so she had saved one piece for him.

Since only one piece of taro was left when it was Educated Youth Song’s turn, she gave him the rest of the rice as well.

Qi Taoming deliberately picked the largest piece of pickled radish for Educated Youth Song. Once Educated Youth Song carried his enamel mug off to eat lunch, he went to collect the lunchboxes that their parents had finished. By this time, their parents should already be done eating.

After the younger brother got the lunchboxes, the siblings returned. Halfway back, they met An Lin, who ate with Qi Erya. An Lin praised the lunch: “Now this is food fit for people. Can the person who cooked today keep doing it every day?”

Qi Yuzhen: “Lunches are made in turns by several families. It can’t always be the same family.”

An Lin knew it could only remain a wish. But there was one thing: “Then you all should be more careful next time. Don’t let careless families cook. The lives of educated youth are lives too. Cooking meals that are barely edible—isn’t that just wasting food?”

Qi Yuzhen said nothing in response, but in her heart, she was already planning to report to her parents. Next time, Aunt Zhao’s family really shouldn’t be allowed to cook again.