It was Director Ma’s first time visiting the army compound, so as he entered the family quarters, he looked around curiously.

But when he arrived at the Lu residence, he got straight to the point. “Comrade Lin, the marinated food you sent over today sold very well.

Following your suggestion, we offered a promotion: buy one pound, get an extra two ounces; buy half a pound, get an extra ounce.

We set the price at 0.4 yuan per pound, and it sold out quickly. So now I’m here to discuss the terms of our agreement. Based on our previous conversation, how much profit per pound are you looking for?”

Director Ma had initially planned to negotiate for the cooperative’s maximum profit, which meant keeping Lin Qingqing’s profit margin as low as possible.

However, now that he knew Lu Cheng’s background, he reconsidered.

If he set the profit too low, the regiment commander’s wife—who wasn’t exactly in need of money—would likely be unwilling.

Thus, he left the decision to Lin Qingqing.

Lin Qingqing responded, “I have two options for you, Director Ma. First, if the cooperative can provide cleaned pig intestines, pig heads, firewood, and the necessary cleaning ingredients, then I can lower the price.

But if the cooperative can’t provide clean ingredients and firewood, I won’t be able to offer any discount.

However, if the cooperative does supply these things, the quality of the cleaned ingredients must meet my standards.

After all, this is food, and if it’s not cleaned well, it’s the cooperative’s reputation that will be at stake.”

Director Ma understood this point.

Lin Qingqing was only providing the technique, but since the products would be sold at the cooperative, any quality issues would bring complaints straight to the cooperative.

For the sake of the cooperative’s reputation, Director Ma was determined to ensure cleanliness.

His name might be “Ma,” but he wasn’t one to act carelessly.

To avoid potential issues, Director Ma had discussed the matter with the cooperative’s president and concluded that it would be best to leave the cleaning of the ingredients entirely in Lin Qingqing’s hands. “I’ll choose the second option: cleaning, firewood, and cleaning materials will be your responsibility. We will only provide the raw ingredients and basic seasonings such as oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, as local households cannot easily purchase these seasonings in bulk.”

Lin Qingqing agreed, “Then I’ll set my profit at 0.1 yuan per pound. With the cooperative’s selling price at 0.4 yuan per pound, the actual cost of these ingredients doesn’t even reach 0.1 yuan per pound. Even if we estimate the cost at 0.1 yuan, after giving me a 0.1 yuan profit per pound, the cooperative still retains a 0.

“I can only make a profit of 0.25 yuan per jin on salted duck eggs. On my side, because I have a job, if I outsource the cleaning, I have to give a discount; if I hire someone to deliver firewood, I have to give a discount; hiring someone to pick up ingredients and deliver goods also requires a discount. Selling the materials for cleaning the pig intestines costs money as well. When I calculate it all, my profit is even less than the 0.25 yuan per jin profit on salted duck eggs.”

Director Ma calculated based on what she said.

If her profit was 0.25 yuan per jin, then the cleaning would only yield a profit of 0.15 yuan per jin, the delivery and pickup would also yield 0.15 yuan per jin, and delivering firewood could not yield just that little.

Considering the overall costs of cleaning, delivering, and supplying materials for cleaning the pig intestines, it would require Lin Qingqing to earn a total profit of 0.45 yuan per jin.

Of course, that was the figure they had discussed before.

However, based on Lin Qingqing’s perspective, she would definitely not agree to that profit margin.

“So…”

“Comrade Lin, just tell me how much profit you need in total,” Director Ma said, not wanting to guess anymore. “Let me know, and if I can decide, I will. If not, I will apply to the president. What do you think?”

Lin Qingqing honestly didn’t like negotiating either; it was exhausting and a waste of breath.

So she straightforwardly replied, “0.8 yuan per jin.”

“No, no, no, that’s too much. The president won’t agree to that. How about this, I’ll negotiate for you and offer 0.5 yuan per jin,” he calculated 0.45 yuan and rounded it up.

Lin Qingqing responded, “That’s not really meaningful. I’ll give you a half-point discount too, let’s go for 0.75 yuan.”

Director Ma: “…”

Lu Cheng watched them haggle over just half a point in profit, and he didn’t really understand.

However, he knew that Lin Qingqing’s 0.75 yuan was not the lowest she would go, nor was Director Ma’s 0.5 yuan the lowest.

So he suggested, “Why not settle on the midpoint of 0.5 yuan and 0.8 yuan, making it 0.65 yuan?”

Immediately, both Lin Qingqing and Director Ma turned to him.

Lu Cheng raised an eyebrow: “What’s unreasonable about that?”

Director Ma realized that if Lin Qingqing agreed to a profit of 0.65 yuan, the cost of the braised dishes would only be 0.16 yuan, allowing them a profit of 0.24 yuan.

In fact, even if they only had a profit of 0.1 yuan, they would still be happy.

So he gritted his teeth and said, “Fine, let’s go with a profit of 0.65 yuan. What do you think, Comrade Lin?”

Lin Qingqing said, “Naturally, I don’t agree.”

Huh?

Lu Cheng felt a bit awkward, wondering if he had messed up her plans.

Even Director Ma was somewhat surprised.

Normally, in family matters, if the man made a decision, the woman wouldn’t oppose it, especially since this was a company-grade officer.

Lin Qingqing smiled again, “Although I don’t want to agree, my husband said so, so I’ll let it go.”

Director Ma… Young people nowadays really know how to have fun.

So, Director Ma and Lin Qingqing began to sign an agreement, the content of which was:

Lin Qingqing will make marinated dishes for the supply and marketing cooperative with a profit of six and a half cents per pound.

The weight of the marinated dishes will be based on the weight at the time of delivery.

The weight at delivery differs from the weight of the cooked dishes, just like when buying meat—raw meat is definitely heavier than cooked meat, but can you buy meat based on the weight of the cooked version? Of course not.

Profits will be settled on the 1st of each month.

For example, it is currently June 24, and the accounts for this month will be settled on July 1.

There were also other minor details, and their agreement was written quite thoroughly.

By the time they finished the agreement, it was completely dark outside, and Director Ma rode off on his bicycle.

Although it was dark, Director Ma was in a great mood.

Of course, Lin Qingqing was even happier.

With a profit of six and a half cents per pound, she needed to give Yu Xiuyao a profit of one and a half cents.

Just as Director Ma had imagined, washing, picking up goods, delivering, and firewood would all be contracted out to Yu Xiuyao, for whom she would provide a profit of one and a half cents per pound.

Although one and a half cents seemed small, today they had 62 pounds of pig intestines and pig heads; at one and a half cents per pound, that amounted to nearly one yuan.

If this continued for a month, it would be 30 yuan, which was even higher than a secure job’s salary.

However, the Lu family only had two pots, an iron pot and a clay pot, so Lin Qingqing planned to give Yu Xiuyao another half cent of profit to borrow her kitchen to make marinated dishes.

In this way, Yu Xiuyao would effectively have a profit of two cents per pound.

Calculating for 60 pounds a day, that would be 12 mao (0.12 yuan) a day, or 36 yuan a month.

However, after Lin Qingqing deducted two cents of profit, she did not end up with four and a half cents of profit.

This was because her wood ash was obtained from the company canteen.

Although the canteen didn’t want the wood ash, she couldn’t just take it for free; she had bought it.

Nevertheless, wood ash is cheap and costs less than half a cent per pound.

So, disregarding that, Lin Qingqing would effectively have a profit of four and a half cents per pound.

In this day and age, technology always makes more money than labor.

“You first boil the water and take a bath with Haici. I’ll go to Sister Yu Xiuyao’s house and talk to her about this,” Lin Qingqing said to Lu Cheng.

Lu Cheng: “Okay.”

With a cheerful heart, Lin Qingqing went to Yu Xiuyao’s house.

In fact, Lin Qingqing wasn’t sure how long this marinated dish business could last, because it was now 1963, and by 1967, the situation would become more tense.

Many people were apprehensive about the marinated dishes, and she worried that it might lead to gossip.

So she thought that if it couldn’t be done later, she should make the most of the opportunity while she could.

“Sister, are you there?” Lin Qingqing arrived at Yu Xiuyao’s house, but she didn’t go in; instead, she called out at the gate.

“I’m here, I’m here!” Yu Xiuyao hurried out of the house. “What brings you here? I just finished tidying up, come in and sit!”

“Alright.” Lin Qingqing entered the living room.

The Qin family had four members: aside from Yu Xiuyao and her husband, there was a son and a daughter.

The son, Da Wang, was the one Lu Haici often mentioned; he was fifteen years old and in the second year of junior high.

The eldest, a daughter, was eighteen and studying at a vocational school in another city.

In this era, families with twins were rare; most families had five or six children.

However, military families typically had fewer children because the couple often lived apart.

After Lin Qingqing sat down, she directly mentioned Director Ma’s matter: “Sister, Director Ma just came to find me and signed the marinated dishes agreement.

You know I work in the cooking class of the third company, so according to what we discussed earlier, the cleaning of materials, picking up goods, delivering, and firewood will all be your responsibility. Do you have any objections?”

Yu Xiuyao replied, “No, that’s fine with me. I can pick up the goods when I deliver in the morning, and when I come back, I can clean them. In the afternoon, I can go up the mountain to gather firewood. I didn’t have much to do before, but now it looks like I have work to do.”

Lin Qingqing smiled, “Then let’s talk about the profit. I’ll give you a profit of one and a half cents per pound for these three tasks.”

“No need for that much,” Yu Xiuyao quickly said. “This is just a bit of labor; I don’t need so much money.”

One and a half cents per pound added up quickly; it would be quite a bit over the month, and she didn’t want to take advantage.

“You need to accept it; don’t refuse me. As the saying goes, ‘Even brothers must keep clear accounts.’ We are like sisters, and as long as we are clear about it, there won’t be any conflicts in the future, right?” Lin Qingqing thought that one and a half cents was not too much.

Unfortunately, labor wasn’t valued highly in this era; offering one and a half cents was already generous.

At least in Yu Xiuyao’s mind, one and a half cents felt high.

Yu Xiuyao knew Lin Qingqing was good with words.

With her straightforward personality, she couldn’t really compete with Lin Qingqing’s logical reasoning.

However, she questioned, “Isn’t one and a half cents too much?”

Yu Xiuyao wondered how much Lin Qingqing would have left after paying her that.

Lin Qingqing initially wanted to say she would borrow her…

Lin Qingqing planned to use the pots and stove at Yu Xiuyao’s place and give her an additional half cent in profit.

However, from Yu Xiuyao’s expression, it seemed she wouldn’t accept this extra profit.

Nevertheless, Lin Qingqing suggested, “Since you feel embarrassed, how about this: when making the marinated food, can I borrow your stove? Once I have more marinated food, my stove won’t be enough.”

When Yu Xiuyao heard this, she readily agreed: “Sure, go ahead and use it.”

She felt that even if the iron pot got damaged, it wouldn’t matter.

After all, the profit from one iron pot was more than enough for a month.

Besides, it’s hard to damage an iron pot.

“Thank you, Sister,” Lin Qingqing replied.

As for the half cent profit she hadn’t given away, there would be another opportunity.

According to Director Ma’s plan, he was going to collect ingredients from other places.

At that time, Yu Xiuyao would surely be too busy to handle everything alone.

She could then give away the half cent profit again and ask her to take on the role of team leader, managing the others involved in the cleaning.

After finalizing things with Yu Xiuyao, Lin Qingqing returned home.

Lu Cheng and Lu Haici had already finished bathing and were sitting in the courtyard, staring at each other.

“Dad, when will Mom be back?” Lu Haici asked, feeling bored. “I still have questions I want to ask her.”

Lu Cheng wasn’t interested in his son’s strange questions at all. “How would I know?”

“Then let’s go find Mom,” Lu Haici suggested, his little bottom shifting on the stool, unable to sit still.

Lu Cheng also wanted to go.

Hearing Lu Haici say this, he replied, “Alright, put on your shoes, and let’s go.”

“Great!” Lu Haici exclaimed, quickly putting on his shoes.

The father and son left in a hurry, but they hadn’t walked far when they turned a corner and spotted Lin Qingqing’s figure approaching from a distance.

Lin Qingqing was a bit surprised to see the two standing at the corner.

When she walked closer, she asked, “What are you doing here? Didn’t you just wash up?”

“Mom, we’ve already washed,” Lu Haici said. “Smell, we smell great.”

Lin Qingqing: “…”

She didn’t really want to smell because soap from that era didn’t have a pleasant scent.

But she feigned interest and said, “Oh really? It smells so good.”

She bent down and took a whiff of Lu Haici.

Lu Haici was taken aback for a moment, then he raised his little foot and gave Lin Qingqing a peck on the face.

It was quite a strong kiss, and Lin Qingqing couldn’t help but laugh.

Feeling shy, Lu Haici turned around and ran home.

Lu Cheng, meanwhile, was left speechless, staring at the spot where Lin Qingqing had been kissed.

Suddenly, he felt…

Lin Qingqing noticed Lu Cheng staring at her and touched her face, asking, “What are you looking at?”

“It’s nothing, right?”

Lu Cheng: “…There is.”

“What is it?” Lin Qingqing wiped her face with her hand. “Is there more?”

Lu Cheng: “There is. Let me do it.”

He took two steps forward to Lin Qingqing and gently traced his thumb across her face.

Then he said, “That’s all.”

Lin Qingqing blinked, still not reacting.

Perhaps because they had been sharing a bed these past few days, even though she was separated from Lu Haici, she had gotten used to his presence and his closeness.

So when Lu Cheng approached her this time, she didn’t even think about avoiding him.

Also, it felt normal for a friend to help wipe something off her face, so she didn’t feel the need to react dramatically. “What did you wipe off? Let me see.”

Lu Cheng glanced at her and said, “…Lu Haici’s saliva.”

Lin Qingqing felt a bit disoriented by the wind.

“Dad is talking nonsense!” Lu Haici jumped out of the yard.

He had been hiding at the door waiting for his mother to come over and had overheard his father badmouthing him.

Standing at the door of the yard, he stomped his feet angrily, “I don’t drool! Dad just makes stuff up! I’m mad now!”

His grandaunt always said that he had been well-behaved since he was little, and that he never drooled like other kids.

Lu Cheng: …What does it feel like to be accused by his son?

Lin Qingqing burst out laughing, holding her stomach, “That’s right, that’s right! What Lu Haici said is all true! Your dad is just talking nonsense! How could our Lu Haici possibly drool?”

“Humph.” Lu Haici shot his father another glare and then turned to his mother with a bright smile, “Mom, we’re not sleeping with Dad tonight.”

Lin Qingqing replied, “Okay, if you can keep your dad out at night, I will definitely support you. I’ll raise both hands in support!”

Hearing his mother support him filled Lu Haici with motivation: “I will, don’t worry, Mom!”

Lu Cheng thought to himself that his son was definitely blowing things out of proportion tonight.

He wondered if he could really keep his son out of the house or if he should just send him up to the roof to chat with the moon.

After Lu Haici made his promise to his mother, he returned to his room.

Lin Qingqing didn’t bother with him; she went to wash up.

However… when she finished her shower and came out, she heard Lu Cheng in the yard say, with a complicated expression, “You should go see what he’s doing.”