Bai Fumei in the 70’s

He came to a deep alley with a calm face. He stretched out his hand, and an identity certificate was placed into his hand.

He held a stack of papers, counted them, and give out the money to settle the bill.

A thin young man said, "Brother Bai, take care of our business in the future."

"Mr. Bai is going back now? Don't you consider staying in S City for development?"

"Yeah, I won't say much. I'll see you in the future. We will take good care of the business that Mr. Bai pointed out. I will thank you when I get rich in the future."

Several young people in the community talked to him one by one.

He Songbai handed everyone a cigarette, and soon a box was finished. He struck the matchbox, and the fire lit up like a meteor flashed out.

There was a very faint smile on his stern eyebrows, "These things will be returned to you later."

He Songbai raised the identity certificate in his hand.

He exchanged all his wealth from debt collection with eight "Longines" watches. These delicate little guys in his arms were all his hope. Before the post office closed, He Songbai entrusted a few people to go to different post offices and sent the watches back to the countryside.

The eight parcels were packed and placed on the shelves, waiting for the courier to pick them up tomorrow morning.

...

After Zhao Lanxiang packed up her luggage, she wanted to ask He Songbai what he would like to eat at night, and then go to the black market to buy some food or something. Unexpectedly, she went to his room and found that apart from the neatly packed luggage on the bed, the room was empty.

"Really, didn't even say a word when he went out." Zhao Lanxiang grumbled.

Zhao Lanxiang went to the black market by herself, carrying her wallet and food tickets. She bought ten pounds of crabs in one go and added another pound of white wine and various seasonings.

Zhao Lanxiang bought the spices one by one according to the list she had written in advance... Good crabs are good ingredients. The crabs in S city are big and fat, and they are delicious and sweet. The meat is dense and elastic. This is difficult to find in N city. She planned to make more crabs on the last night and take it back to the countryside.

Zhao Lanxiang steamed the crabs in a basket, removed the crab legs, and divided the crab meat. The meat of the crab shells was picked clean, and the white liquid was crystal clear under the light. She had not added any seasoning yet, but when she tore a piece to try, it was sweet and delicious, and the roe was like curdling fat.

She bought a clay pot and poured half a pound of white wine in it. She waited for the crab meat to cool down and mixed it into the wine. She chopped up the seasoning according to her secret recipe, sautéed them one by one, and buried them under the crabmeat. Then, she tightly sealed the clay pot. It would need to be marinated for three or five days in cold weather to be ready to eat. It was fresh, sweet, and fragrant.

This is called drunken crab, also called stuffed crab legs. An attractive snack, which is suitable to eat with rice and wine.

Zhao Lanxiang weighed the heavy clay pot, grabbed the remaining four crabs with satisfaction, and started cooking dinner for tonight.

When He Songbai came back from the outside, he smelled the fragrant smell from the kitchen on the first floor before he went upstairs.

The girl at the front desk of the guest house complained and said enviously, "If I know, I would not lend the kitchen to that girl!"

"She made good food every day, better than the food we provide. Guests have already complained."

People complained about her making all the good things, but hid them and refused to take them out to entertain guests, the injustice!

The girl at the front desk wanted to say more, but the man had disappeared.

He Songbai walked up the stairs expressionlessly, but his brisk footsteps revealed his joyful mood.

Zhao Lanxiang filled a bowl of rice for him, and said with a smile, "We will be able to catch the train tomorrow after we are full."

He Songbai pulled out two sleeper tickets from his arms, squeezed them in his sweating hand, and handed them to Zhao Lanxiang. "You hold this."

Zhao Lanxiang smiled and put them in her pocket without asking when he bought them. Brother Bai now has money and skills. He can buy sleeper tickets if he wants. She didn't have to think about many things, because he had done it silently.

He Songbai began to eat with a big mouthful, without concealing his love for crab meat.

Zhao Lanxiang murmured word by word, "Crab stuffed orange, crab meat meatball, fried butter crab, snowflake crab ball, fried crab noodles."

She sighed and said, "Unfortunately, I haven't made it for you."

He Songbai bitterly frowned deeply and looked at the girlfriend.2

"Don't say that......"

How can she think about such a beautiful thing?

He Songbai felt that the garlic stir-fried crab in his bowl was already delicious and unreal. His mouth was full of meat and he said vaguely, "This is delicious."

Zhao Lanxiang curled her lips and smiled.

...

A few days later, they returned to Hezi village.

When He Songbai carried the clay pot home, he passed by the cowshed and the drunk Teacher Gu.

Gu Huaijin asked, "You are back?"

He Songbai nodded inexplicably.

Gu Huaijin's eyes stared straight at the large pottery jar carried by He Songbai.

Faced with this kind of gaze, He Songbai was not surprised. After all, he has been stared at countless times on the train in the past few days.

Every time they had lunch, the girlfriend lifted the lid and picked some out to taste it, and the passengers in that compartment would look at them.

It's so fragrant!

The rich and sweet aroma of wine overflowed with the savory flavor of crab meat, made the travelers who take out the dry food to eat, snuffed out the scent like a side dish. Even those who can afford a train meal stared at them with distress.

He Songbai had to take a clean bowl and get some crab meat out.

Teacher Gu leaned against the railing of the cow shed and yelled inside like an old immortal. "Have you finished?"

His calm tone revealed a hint of impatience, "It made the shed all dusty, ah, are you brainless!"

Wu Yong came out with a big broom, and said gently, "Okay, okay! Teacher, you can sleep peacefully."1

Gu Huaijin ignored him, all his attention was attracted by the meat in the bowl. The clear and sweet wine made the crab meat crystal clear and exuded a refreshing fragrance. The slightly thin crab shell was soaked slightly, and the red crab claws were still hard.

Gu Huaijin was born in the north, and he rarely had an opportunity to eat seafood.

The whole person was intoxicated. His tongue is mixed with the sweetness of wine and the sweetness of crabs. The crab shells were crunchy enough to chew, and he sucked out the delicate white meat inside. The pieces of crab meat were as white as snowflakes. His teeth were so refreshed that his heart felt a spring breeze and ripples across the lake.

Gu Huaijin finished licking the wine in the bowl, and his face was slightly reddish.

"Really tasty!"

"After waiting for so many days, it is not a loss, but... isn't this too little?"

He Songbai reluctantly adds another half a bowl to Teacher Gu, and reminded him, "It's a little cold, don't eat too much, be careful of diarrhea."

Gu Huaijin waved at him indifferently.

Wu Yong took the rag and started to wipe the cow's food trough. He carried two large buckets of water on his back, as diligent as an old cow, and meticulously wiped clean Gu Huaijin's old den.

But Gu Huaijin wouldn't thank him. The old man was rather sullen and ate his food well. This kid was too stupid to make a pile of dust.

Gu Huaijin had to hold the bowl and squatted under the eaves of the He family's house, enjoying his lunch with his bottom against the cool bricks.

He scooped up a bowl of rice from the cafeteria, which was warm and served with wine trough crabs.

After he finished eating, Wu Yong walked over while wiped his sweat gently, and said, "Teacher, I will go first."

"In the future, if you need anything from me, just give me instructions. I did something wrong before. I only kept my mind and protected myself, and forgot the teacher's methods and ideas for the project."

"I'm ashamed."

Gu Huaijin had wandered among the poor and vulgar country folks. He had already thrown away all his original high spirits. He was able to yell out a few country curses and suddenly, he met such a concise language, and his bones were creaking while he listened.

He still immersed himself in the meal, nonchalantly saying, "Forget it, forget it!"

"Being a teacher is all debt. Just treat it as I owed you, and I have paid it off!"

Gu Huaijin muttered in his heart, his children didn't dare to collect debts like this. But these turtle boys turned their backs on him. He was very careful and had a grudge.

Whether they were Sun Xiang and Wang Yang who were squatting in the prison, or Hu Xianzhi and Wu Yong who began to reflect on their hard work every day, these people were expelled from his trust list. After falling once, he could not fall again at the same place.

Seeing Gu Huaijin's indifferent appearance, Wu Yong didn't say much. He only carried two empty buckets and a broom and left silently.

...

He Songbai went to Master He and begged him to keep the piglets and don't rush to kill them. He had decided to take them.

Master He sees that he returned to book the piglets and of course he is happy. Those piglets were only a few pounds of meat, and they didn't make much money if they were killed. He was not willing to kill them. He kept them and waited for He Songbai to take over.

He responded, "I know!"

"I will keep the suckling pig for you, but you have to make up enough money quickly. It is already a loss to give you half of the credit..."

Master He grumbled.

He Songbai nodded and said solemnly and seriously: "I will get it for you as soon as possible, and I will thank you by raising good pigs and making money!"

He left a pack of "Dazhonghua" cigarettes and retreated.

Master He opened the exquisite cigarette pack, took one to smoke, and scolded with a smile. "This stupid boy, he is so poor and he still buys cigarettes."

He couldn't help but think about the scene a few months ago, when this kid came to the pig farm to kill pigs. He was thin and tall, and now he grew tall and strong with the meat that was given to him every day. He looked quite handsome, with thick eyebrows and strong spirits.

It made people feel at ease.

He hoped that these last batch of piglets in his pig farm will be sold sooner, so he could go home earlier and spend a leisure time on his farm...