Bai Fumei in the 70’s

After Zhao Lanxiang's cooking had all sold out, she hurriedly rode the bicycle and soon disappeared from Qinghe County town. She rode quickly to an inaccessible mountain road before stopping to take a breath and counting the money in her pocket.

She got a thick stack of banknotes, plus thin scattered cents and some meat tickets. Besides the duck meat that was given to guests as samples, she had made a total of fourteen yuan and four cents in notes, and seven and a half cents in coins. After deducting the cost of buying duck meat for six yuan and the cost of spices, she was netting more than six yuan, but she also earned nine pounds and sixty-liangs worth of meat tickets.

Zhao Lanxiang felt refreshed, like she just had a cold and sweet Sprite.

However, she hadn't reached the point of ecstasy. The young man who had been selling food in the stall next to her was floating in her mind. Although he looked like a good person, he was dressed very cautiously. She also needed to be more wary if she wanted to continue buying and selling on the black market.

Zhao Lanxiang habitually took a circle around the remote mountain road, and then went to the local town from the county town. She didn't dare stay in the county town after selling things, only when she arrived in the local town, she dared to buy a pound of pork belly, a pound of sugar, and five pounds of rich and high gluten flour with a banknote. After she finished shopping, she noticed the hot sun hanging in the noon sky and went back to the village.

Returning to Hezi village, Zhao Lanxiang first needed to return the bicycle and invited Tang Qing to eat noodles at the He family's home on the way. When she arrived at Tang Qing's, he was playing the violin in his room. On the way, Zhao Lanxiang accidentally met Jiang Li at the captain's house.

When Jiang Li saw Zhao Lanxiang, she let out a deep hum from the depths of her nose, "What are you doing here?"

In Jiang Li's eyes, Zhao Lanxiang's image of stalking her brother had been deeply ingrained, and she was also used to Zhao Lanxiang's kindness to her. When Zhao Lanxiang became a little colder, Jiang Li was more sensitive than anyone else and immediately felt uncomfortable, especially when she was living so miserably. At the same time, Zhao Lanxiang's life was extremely comfortable.

In the past three days, she also asked for a leave, just like Zhao Lanxiang, only to be scolded by Li Dali. But when it was Zhao Lanxiang's turn, it became a natural thing. Li Dali never picked at her faults and treated her pleasantly. How can Jiang Li not unhappy?

Jiang Li said angrily, "My brother has written to me, do you want to see it?"

Jiang Li happened to be back from the village post office to get the letter. She took out a white letter from the bag and showed it to Zhao Lanxiang.

Jiang Li knew that her brother wrote to Zhao Lanxiang. After reading her brother's letter, won't Zhao Lanxiang treat her well in the future?

The last time Jiang Li didn't eat Zhao Lanxiang's meat buns, she was outraged. She wrote to her brother that she was assigned to Hezi village with Zhao Lanxiang. In the end, she wrote a lot of bad things about Zhao Lanxiang.

As the elder brother, Jiang Jianjun, was surprised when he received the letter, but he understood it immediately.

Zhao Lanxiang might be taking the roundabout route. She was finally being smarter and knew how to use his sister to attract his attention.

Jiang Li was a baby princess that the whole family adored. Jiang Jianjun's uncles and aunts gave birth to six boys at once. And finally, after four years, his mother gave birth to this one sister. The Jiang family loved this single seedling deeply.

Jiang Jianjun knew in his heart, since when was his sister so easy to please?

Zhao Lanxiang's gaze fell on the envelope, and she uttered "Oh" with a lack of interest.

She didn't have to read it and knew that Jiang Jianjun's letter must be for her to care for Jiang Li; That Jiang Li had never suffered ever since she was a child. If she can help her more, and that Jiang Li's temper was impulsive and was easy to deceive. You should pay more attention to her, and so on.

Of course... she was not Jiang Jianjun's wife in this life yet, so Jiang Jianjun would keep his tone of making these requests more subtly and euphemistically.4

Zhao Lanxiang didn't have any desire to see this kind of appetite-ruining letter.

So she said with a smile, "Oh... Really? It's inconvenient for me to read your private letters as an outsider. I still have other things to do... I won't bother you."

She walked to Tang Qing's room, she knocked on his door and called a few times.

Soon the violin in the room came to an abrupt halt. He pushed open the door and saw Zhao Lanxiang. The young man's face became more relaxed and happy. "You're finished with the bicycle?"

Zhao Lanxiang nodded and said generously, "I bought some noodles in the town. Since today is a good day, I'll invite you to have a meal."

She had to go to the county town at least three times a month to do the "bad things" that make money. Surely it's not safe to take a car, and walking on the mountain road with just two feet will exhaust people. The best way would be to borrow Tang Qing's bicycle, so she had to have a good relationship with Tang Qing so that it would not be too embarrassing to borrow his bicycle all the time.

Tang Qing didn't refuse. He was very happy to hear that he was invited to eat. "Then, I am grateful to Comrade Zhao! I'll change my clothes first. I'll trouble you to wait."

He was wearing a white undershirt that he usually wore in his room, showing off his arms. To eat noodles at a girl's invitation, he must wear some proper clothes.

Zhao Lanxiang waited patiently by the door. Her eyes moved from the wooden door to Jiang Li's body.

Jiang Li's pretty face was already red with annoyance at this moment, watching Zhao Lanxiang, her eyes full of vigilance, "What the hell are you doing here?"

Zhao Lanxiang was surprised by this glance and suddenly thought of something. Jiang Li came to the captain's house, might not necessarily be to look for the captain. She probably came for Tang Qing.

Combined with the intense hostility in Jiang Li's eyes, Zhao Lanxiang is 100% certain of her guess.

Tang Qing's temperament is good, and his parents are high intellectuals who are professors at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He also had a clean and neat appearance. Also, he was friendly and helpful.

Zhao Lanxiang's eyebrows wrinkled slightly at this moment.

Jiang Li's attitude also reminded her that she should keep a certain distance from Tang Qing. It would be inappropriate to invite him to eat at home alone.

So she said to Jiang Li, "I bought some flour and invited Comrade Tang to eat noodles as a thank you. Do you want to eat together?"

Jiang Li was happy. She immediately answered because she didn't manage to eat the steamed buns before, "I want to eat steamed buns."

Zhao Lanxiang gently refused, "It's too late to make steamed buns. Let's eat the noodles."

After she finished speaking, Tang Qing's room door opened, and he had changed into a dark blue shirt, which was very wide and neat. He was afraid to make girls wait, so he just wiped his face indiscriminately and came out with water droplets still in his hair.

Tang Qing said, "It's good to eat noodles. Comrade Zhao's noodles are delicious."

Since Tang Qing had said that, Jiang Li was reluctant to speak anymore. She was both shy and sweet in her heart. She dared not look directly at Tang Qing. She dropped her head and said, "Is that so? Then eat noodles."

Zhao Lanxiang looked at the appearance of this little girl. It was as if she'd never seen her before.

Zhao Lanxiang's hand clenched into a fist, covered the corner of her mouth to conceal her muffled laugh.

She walked ahead with her huge school bag and led the two to the He family house. Jiang Li was quite satisfied that Zhao Lanxiang avoided disturbing them. Although she walked beside Tang Qing, she was too shy to speak.

And Tang Qing... All he was thinking about was that bowl of elaborate, fragrant noodles.6

After Zhao Lanxiang returned to He's house, she discovered that Sister He was not at home.

Sister He was assigned the work of raising the brigade's cattle. The cattle need to be taken care of every day. At this time, Sister He should be in the cattle barn for the forage. Zhao Lanxiang looked around and found He Songbai chopping wood in the yard. She put down her school bag and hugged the flour, and took the meat and sugar she bought into the kitchen.

She glanced around randomly. The charcoal of the stove was completely cold, so she knew that He Songbai did not eat lunch. She took out the high-quality flour, cracked an egg into it, added water, and began to knead the dough. Noodles made with eggs would be more resilient. After 30 minutes, she took the dough and worked it repeatedly with a rolling pin, kneading and throwing, folding it in half, over and over again, the white dough was unbelievably obedient under her hands, until it was soft though firm.

She fried the spicy pork belly with lard and added a little raw flour to make the pork belly crispy. Finally, the pork was placed onto the cooked noodles, and with a sizzling sound, the hot oil was poured into the clear soup.

She filled four bowls of noodles, one for each person. Zhao Lanxiang knew that He Songbai doesn't like to eat with strangers. So she brought a bowl of noodles to his room before moving to her room and calling Tang Qing and Jiang Li to eat.

Tang Qing and Jiang Li happily went to the kitchen to eat, but Zhao Lanxiang went over to He Songbai.

The man was sweating under the hot sun as he split the thick pieces of wood into small, manageable bits of firewood. This batch of firewood was thinner than before.

When Zhao Lanxiang saw that, her heart was unprepared.

Zhao Lanxiang recently had an unavoidable trouble. She was not used to cooking with a wood stove in the countryside.

Because when cooking with this type of stove, she needed to control the fire. When the food was almost ready, she needed to turn the fire smaller. In her past life, she only had to turn the gas stove switch to adjust the flame. But now the firewood was dirty, smokey, and not easy to use. He Songbai cut the firewood smaller, of course, so that it would be more convenient for her. She only needed to control the amount of firewood. When she needed the fire to be big, she can add more, and when she needed the fire to be small, she can add less.6

She said with a smile, "I made a bowl of noodles and served it in your room."