Chapter 29: Finding the Team Leader

“Who could refuse the delicious food that Grandma Bai makes?” Tang Wan said with a sigh after taking a sip of porridge.

Grandma Bai’s eyes lit up as she looked at Tang Wan.

“I came here today to talk to you about this — I wonder if you’d agree to let me eat together with you here?” Tang Wan, a bit shy, leaned forward slightly toward Grandma Bai, almost like she was coaxing her.

“You little girl, you’re teasing me! Hurry up and eat. When you’re done, I’ll take you to find the team leader to let him know,” Grandma Bai said, unable to hold back, lightly tapping Tang Wan’s head with a hand, showing indulgent helplessness.

“Alright, just so we’re clear—I’ll hand over five yuan a month plus the meat and grain coupons, and I want my share of the grain too,” Tang Wan said as she drank her red bean porridge.

Grandma Bai’s cooking was truly excellent, and the meals were much better than elsewhere.

“That’s too much, no way,” Grandma Bai immediately refused.

“It’s not too much. At the Youth Point, a male educated youth eating at someone else’s place pays several yuan a month, and he earns more work points than I do, so he also gets more grain. You know, I don’t have many work points myself,” Tang Wan quickly explained what she had heard that morning.

“Don’t try to fool me. That male youth only pays three yuan a month and hardly needs any coupons. And they eat way more than you do,” Grandma Bai said.

Tang Wan didn’t expect Grandma Bai to know more about Liu the educated youth’s shared meals than she did.

“With your appetite, two yuan a month is enough,” Grandma Bai waved her hand.

“That won’t do. Your cooking is so good—even state-run restaurants don’t match this level. There’s almost always white noodles, two yuan won’t cover it. If you only want two yuan, I won’t eat here. I don’t want to take advantage like that,” Tang Wan said calmly.

“Well, think it over. That male youth only pays three yuan even though he eats a lot. If I charged you five yuan, the village folks would say an old lady like me is ripping people off,” Grandma Bai said, half-joking but with a point.

Grandma Bai’s reasoning made sense.

“But your meals are really good…” Tang Wan reminded her.

“Okay, you don’t have to pay five yuan, I won’t ask for two yuan either. Let’s just say three yuan like that male youth,” Grandma Bai decided firmly.

“Alright,” Tang Wan agreed without further argument.

At worst, she could just buy a bit more stuff for herself to compensate. It would sound bad if she ended up paying more than the male youth for meals here.

But Tang Wan knew deep down the quality of these meals was worth a higher price.

With this settled, Grandma Bai seemed to have resolved a big worry and happily took Tang Wan to the team leader.

Grandma Bai looked hard to approach but was quite well-liked in the village.

She greeted people they met along the way.

Some gossiping women saw Grandma Bai bringing Tang Wan and curiously asked, “Grandma Bai, where are you taking Tang the educated youth?”

“To the team leader, to let him know Tang will be eating with us,” Grandma Bai said cheerfully, not hiding it at all.

For the villagers, this wasn’t something to hide but rather a good thing.

A male laborer in the village earned only a few dozen yuan a year, less than eight yuan a month. But with an educated youth sharing meals at home, they’d get several yuan a month, which over a year would exceed what a city worker made in a month. Plus, they got extra coupons, sometimes even industrial coupons the villagers couldn’t get.

So Grandma Bai’s happiness made perfect sense to everyone.

“That’s really a good thing. Tang the educated youth must have been attracted by Grandma Bai’s cooking — her pickled vegetables are excellent,” one woman said to Tang Wan.

“Grandma Bai’s cooking is indeed very good,” Tang Wan replied politely.

Without stopping, Grandma Bai said, “Enough chatting. I’ll take her to the team leader first.”

The group chatting watched as Grandma Bai and Tang Wan walked away before commenting:

“This Grandma Bai is really lucky. Tang looks like she comes from a well-off family.”

“Yeah, she’s all soft and delicate, obviously never worked before. When she first came, she even got sunstroke working in the fields — so fragile, like some capitalist young lady,” a young wife said with envy as she stitched shoe soles.

“Shh, don’t say things like that now. Don’t cause trouble for the team,” an older woman warned.

“We’re just chatting among ourselves. I’m not stupid. I wouldn’t say this to others. If it got out, it would be on you guys,” the young wife said without fear.

“I think Grandma Bai really likes Tang,” another woman who had been quiet said.

“Impossible. That frail little youth won’t even be able to have kids. Her family’s the only child of that ‘Yan Wang’—they need someone good for having children,” the young wife scoffed. She’d been married for three years and already had two kids; Tang Wan looked like a poor candidate for having kids.

“Alright, don’t let that ‘Yan Wang’ hear you. He’s not someone to mess with.”

Everyone quieted down and quickly changed topics.

Talking about that ‘Yan Wang’ was dangerous—he wasn’t to be trifled with.

Tang Wan and Grandma Bai had already walked far away and didn’t know about the gossip.

But even without hearing it, Tang Wan could guess what they might be saying. In this village, any small movement could become gossip fodder.

No one knew how they’d be talked about.

The two arrived at the team leader’s place, explained their business, and got everything settled immediately.

The team leader said he was aware of it and had no problems. Such matters had precedent, so it wasn’t difficult.

After seeing the team leader make a note in his book and have both of them press their fingerprints, Grandma Bai finally relaxed.

She happily led Tang Wan back home.

If possible, Grandma Bai even wanted Tang Wan to live with her directly, but without a proper, open reason, it wasn’t suitable.

Her house had Qin Zheng, an unmarried adult man, and rumors might harm Tang Wan’s reputation.

Last time it was only because Tang Wan’s foot injury gave a reasonable excuse.

But now, just having Tang Wan eat here was enough.

Things had to be taken step by step; whether Tang Wan could live there depended on Qin Zheng’s capability, and Grandma Bai wouldn’t interfere.

Tang Wan didn’t know Grandma Bai’s thoughts at all. She was thinking that now that she would be eating here, she could go directly to the town to buy things to keep at home, and Grandma Bai would surely accept that.

Thinking different thoughts, the two parted ways at the crossroads.

Tang Wan headed to the Youth Point to bring over her grain ration, since she wouldn’t be eating there anymore.

Those grains were lent by the team to new educated youths like her, and they would need to repay with work points later.