The little one didn’t think much about it.

Hearing the adult’s question, he immediately agreed without asking about the trade. “Sure, I’ll help Auntie with the task.”

Lin Qingqing said, “Then after we finish lunch, can you help your aunt wash the pig intestines for a while?”

Ji Yang, seeing the things he had washed earlier, confidently replied, “Sure! I’ll definitely help Aunt wash this!”

“That’s not necessary. Just help for a little bit, then you can go sit in the living room and we’ll eat together later.”

“Okay!”

Ji Yang headed towards the living room, calling out, “Lu Haici, Aunt wants me to eat with you!”

Lu Haici had already settled down obediently, “Then come sit here next to me.”

He offered Ji Yang the seat on his right side; on his left was his mom, and directly across from him sat his dad.

He thought to himself that he was clever for separating Ji Yang from his mother.

Although his mom said she liked Ji Yang because he was a good friend, Lu Haici still hoped his mom would like only him.

Lu Cheng returned to the kitchen, holding a plate of scallion oil enoki mushrooms in one hand and a bowl of rice in the other.

He was quite skillful with his balancing act.

Lin Qingqing carried a bowl of rice in one hand and a small bowl of tofu soup in the other.

She didn’t serve Ji Yang any rice since she knew he had already eaten at home.

Ji Yang had definitely eaten enough at home, and coming here for more food would make him too full.

So, she prepared him a small bowl of easily digestible tofu soup.

Once everyone was seated, Lin Qingqing announced, “It’s time to eat.”

She took the lead and sipped her tofu soup, finding it delicious.

The flavor of the tofu blended beautifully with the umami of the mushrooms, making it really tasty.

Seeing this, Lu Haici imitated his mom and took a sip of his tofu soup, “Wow…” he exclaimed. “Mom, this is really good!”

The soup appeared even thicker because it contained both tofu and starch.

Lin Qingqing noticed that this little guy always said everything was delicious, no matter what he ate. “Then you should eat more. If you eat a lot of tofu soup, you should eat less rice, or else it’ll upset your stomach.”

Lu Haici responded, “I have a big stomach!”

Lu Cheng gulped down a couple of spoonfuls of tofu soup and then picked up a piece of braised pig intestines with his chopsticks.

Lu Haici quickly added, “But not as big as Dad’s!”

Lu Cheng almost choked on his food.

He even glanced at his own stomach; it wasn’t visible under his clothes.

But he thought to himself, his stomach was all abs, so it shouldn’t be that big, right?

Ji Yang chimed in, “My stomach is bigger than Lu Haici’s! I can eat more than Lu Haici!”

Upon hearing this, Lu Haci exclaimed, “Then let’s have a contest to see who can eat more!”

“No, no,” Lin Qingqing interjected. “Ji Yang has already eaten. If he eats too much more, he’ll feel uncomfortable. After you guys finish lunch, you can see who eats more.”

“The pig intestines will be cleaned even better. The winner can have an extra slice of salted egg yolk pumpkin for dinner!”

“Then I’ll definitely clean better than Ji Yang,” Lu Haici guaranteed confidently. However, he added, “Mom, what is salted egg yolk pumpkin? Is it the pumpkin cake we’ve had before?”

Lu Cheng was focused on his meal, but he was listening intently.

Salted egg yolk pumpkin obviously meant something made with salted egg yolk and pumpkin, but he wondered if they could really be combined in a dish.

Nonetheless, he knew that whatever Lin Qingqing made would surely taste great.

“It’s a secret, so I can’t tell you,” Lin Qingqing said with a smile.

With two little kids around, today’s lunch was lively.

Ji Yang had one bowl of tofu soup and didn’t want any more, so Lin Qingqing let him stand in the living room for a while to digest.

In fact, Ji Yang was already full from lunch and couldn’t drink a second bowl.

Lu Cheng then went back to washing the pig intestines, and as soon as the two little kids saw him doing that, they eagerly joined in.

Lin Qingqing took the opportunity to wash the dishes.

By the time she finished, she noticed that Lu Cheng had already cleaned half of the pig intestines.

It was nearly 1:30 PM, and he needed to head back to the army.

Lu Cheng stopped washing, saying, “I’ll go to the army now; I’ll clean the rest when I come back.”

Lin Qingqing replied, “No need, I’ll leave them here for now. I need to make a trip to the carpenter’s house, and when I return, I’ll call Sister Xiuyuan to help wash them.”

“That’s fine then, I’m off,” Lu Cheng said.

“Take care,” Lin Qingqing called after him.

“Take care!” Lu Haici mimicked his mother, sweetly saying goodbye to his dad.

However, his father didn’t seem to care much.

Once Lu Cheng left, Lin Qingqing prepared to head to the carpenter’s house.

She told Lu Haici, “Haici, I’m going to a nearby village. Can you stay home and play with Ji Yang?”

Lu Haici immediately asked, “Mom, can I go with you?”

Lin Qingqing replied, “No, you can’t, because I’m going to buy some grain, and it needs to go in the back of the bicycle. If you come along, there won’t be any space for the grain. But I promise that when I come back, after dinner, we can go for a walk outside, okay?”

“Okay.” Although Lu Haici felt a bit sad, he understood that his mom had important things to do and that he should behave instead of throwing a tantrum like a three-year-old.

Before leaving, Lin Qingqing locked the kitchen, just in case the little ones went in and played with fire or knives.

It didn’t take long to get to the carpenter’s house from the army; it was only a ten-minute bike ride.

When Lin Qingqing arrived, she found that only the carpenter’s wife was home, as the others had already gone to work.

The reason the carpenter’s wife didn’t go to work was that she had been injured during childbirth and couldn’t handle heavy labor.

Thankfully, her husband could earn money; otherwise, a woman who couldn’t work in another family might be drowned in her in-laws’ complaints.

“Aunt, I’m sorry I’m a bit late. You must have waited for a long time,” Lin Qingqing explained as she walked in.

The carpenter’s wife replied, “Oh, no worries! I figured you must have had something to do.”

She was drying sesame seeds since the sesame planting season was approaching.

Lin Qingqing’s eyes lit up when she saw the sesame seeds; there were both white and black ones, and they smelled fragrant. “Did you plant sesame at home?”

The carpenter’s wife said, “Of course! Sesame is nutritious, and we can grind some into sesame powder to nourish our bodies. Plus, we don’t have oil tickets, but we can exchange sesame for oil at the grain and oil station. But we can’t get much because we only grow sesame in our personal plots, and we still need to plant vegetables and grains there, so there’s limited space for sesame.”

Upon hearing this, Lin Qingqing suddenly had an idea: “Aunt, I have oil. Can I exchange it with you for sesame and sesame powder?”

With her braised pig intestines business continuing, the supply and marketing cooperative would provide her with a certain amount of oil each day.

She had secured that oil for herself, of course.

She planned to use the oil money to buy doubanjiang (fermented bean paste) instead of taking advantage of the cooperative.

Lin Qingqing would never do something dishonest; her grandmother had taught her from a young age that one should never engage in petty theft or take small advantages.

Sometimes, it was better to take a step back to see a broader perspective.

Her grandmother, who only knew a few characters in that era, was indeed a person of great wisdom in her eyes.

“Of course, that’s fine!”

For the carpenter’s wife, exchanging with the grain and oil station or with Lin Qingqing was essentially the same.

However, she needed to clarify a few things: “But Comrade Lin, we exchange two jin of sesame for one liang of sesame oil. What about with you?”

Lin Qingqing knew the oil yield of sesame; with modern technology, one jin of sesame could yield two liang of oil, but given the technology of that era, one jin of sesame might be equivalent to half a liang of oil.

That was quite reasonable.

Lin Qingqing replied, “Let’s do it that way then.”

She didn’t offer any extras but said, “However, I do have tickets, so I can prioritize you for the exchange.”

This was great news for the carpenter’s wife. “We plant about two mu of sesame each year, which is around twenty jin. This year, we planted sesame in July, and we can harvest it by late September. How much does Comrade Lin want?”

Lin Qingqing answered, “I’ll take all of it.”

“You can grind sesame seeds to make a powder for drinks, and you can also sprinkle it when cooking.”

“However, I want to use equal parts white and black sesame.”

“Of course, that’s no problem.” The carpenter’s wife was delighted; with about twenty pounds of sesame, she could exchange it for a pound of oil. “By the way, Comrade Lin, I still have last year’s sesame, and I’ve stored it well, often letting it get sun exposure. Do you want it?”

They could only plant sesame once a year due to limited land, and it’s only sown in warmer weather.

Lin Qingqing replied, “Yes, how much do you have left?”

The carpenter’s wife brought out all the last year’s sesame and opened it for Lin Qingqing to see.

Lin Qingqing grabbed a small handful.

The sesame was indeed well-sun-dried, showing no signs of insects, and it had a fragrant sesame aroma.

Seeing the sesame reminded Lin Qingqing of peanut butter, so she asked, “Auntie, does anyone here make peanut butter?”

Asking about peanut butter naturally led her to inquire about Doubanjiang (fermented broad bean paste).

Lin Qingqing was taking a chance, thinking that people in this era were quite skilled in making various sauces.

For example, the original owner’s grandmother was excellent at making Doubanjiang.

Thinking of this, Lin Qingqing decided to write a letter to that grandmother later, asking if she could send some Doubanjiang, which would save her a trip to the department store.

This would also help the grandmother earn some money.

The carpenter’s wife replied, “Yes, there are families here that grow peanuts. Peanuts can also be exchanged for oil at the grain and oil station, two pounds of peanuts for one ounce of oil.”

“Peanuts yield more than sesame, right? Why doesn’t your family grow peanuts?” Lin Qingqing asked out of curiosity.

The carpenter’s wife felt a bit aggrieved when discussing this: “Because I can’t eat peanuts, and my children have followed me. When I was pregnant, I had an allergic reaction to peanuts, which almost caused me a lot of trouble and resulted in a premature birth. Both my child and I suffered because of it. The children have made up for it over the years, but my health has been a bit compromised. So we don’t grow peanuts at home.” Otherwise, exchanging sesame for oil would be much more economical.

Lin Qingqing felt a pang of regret in her heart.

The carpenter’s wife continued, “Comrade Lin, if you want peanuts, I can go exchange for some with the villagers.”