Mrs. May’s Survival Diary

Chapter 4 – Chai, Rice, Oil, and Salt

[Chapter update schedule: every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday]

In the morning, Rong Yinshuang and her two sons went to the wonton stall in a side alley in the city. First, she asked the price of wontons and then ordered two bowls.

[T/L: A wonton is a type of savoury roll or dumpling. Wontons are a Chinese dish that has gained popularity in other East and Southeast Asian cuisines.]

The stall owner, who was an old man, told them to sit down there till the food was ready.

The eldest son was already taller than the table, so he climbed onto the stool and sat down by himself. The younger son was too small, although he could sit on his own, and he couldn’t reach the table, so Rong Yinshuang hugged him and let him sit on her lap.

Seeing Da’er staring at the pancakes next to the wonton stand, Rong Yinshuang asked him, “Daer, do you want to eat pancakes?”

Da’er’s eyes flickered, obviously wanting to eat, but he shook his head and said, “No.”

Rong Yinshuang smiled, took out two coins from her purse, and asked him to buy two pancakes. The elder’s eyes showed surprise. Although he really wanted to save money for his mother, he was only five years old. The child couldn’t hold back at last, took the money, ran to the pancake stand quickly, bought two pancakes, and came back.

At this time, the old man had already prepared two bowls of wontons and brought them over. Seeing the mother and the two children, he asked, “Are two bowls enough for the three of you?”

Rong Yinshuang smiled lightly, nodded, and said, “Yes, enough. The two of them may not be able to finish eating, so I will just eat the rest. If they finish eating, I will call again later.”

The old man left without saying anything. Rong Yinshuang stuffed a spoon into Da’er’s hand and told him to eat by himself. He was very hungry, so he held the pancake in one hand and scooped wontons with the other. After being beaten yesterday, he had bruises at the corner of his mouth that made Rong Yinshuang feel distressed, so she told him to eat more to heal the wound quickly.

Mo’er was not idle here either; with two chubby little hands holding pancakes, he ate slowly. Rong Yinshuang blew on the hot wonton soup to feed him while wiping his mouth.

Occasionally, she raised her eyes and suddenly saw a person standing behind the old man’s wonton stand. That person was an old woman with a fat body and a pale complexion, wearing a very ordinary blue dress.

Rong Yinshuang suddenly realised that the old woman was a ghost. She pretended that she couldn’t see that woman.

At that time, the old man came over with a small high chair and another bowl of wontons. “Let the child sit here, and you can eat some, “he said to Rong Yinshuang.

Rong Yinshuang looked at him in surprise, only to hear the old man say it again. “You woman… It’s not easy to bring two children, so I’ll give you this bowl free of charge.”

After being kicked out of their home, this was the first time a living person showed kindness to her. She sincerely thanked the old man, placed her younger son on the high chair, and took the bowl of wontons.

The old man went back to the back of the stall to tidy it up, and when Rong Yinshuang said the food was delicious and he had worked hard, the old man replied, “Ha, I didn’t do it; it was my old woman’s recipe. If I had such ingenuity, she wouldn’t have to suffer with me.”

“Where is the old woman? Why didn’t I see her?” Rong Yinshuang glanced at the old woman behind the wonton stand and asked.

The old man was silent for a while, he sighed and said, “Dead. She just left me alone to guard this stall.”

Rong Yinshuang showed a surprised expression and then asked again, “Oh. So the old lady has passed away.”

At this time, there were no other people near the wonton stall, so the old man began to talk with a sad expression. “Yes, she passed away. She left so suddenly, leaving me alone. She used to nag all the time and spent her entire life telling me that she had hidden a sum of money, but she died without even revealing where the money was hidden. I didn’t care about the money, but I just wanted to say that she left in a hurry, and I used to hate her nagging, but now… I miss her so much.”

While the old man was talking, Rong Yinshuang’s eyes subconsciously fell on the old woman’s ghost, and the ghostly old woman also looked at Rong Yinshuang, making her heart tremble. After thinking for a while, she looked up and said something to Da’er and Mo’er, who were still eating. “Mother is going to that corner to buy something. You two have to stay here until Mother comes back, okay?”

Da’er nodded, telling her to go quickly, and Mo’er nodded to her with a spoon in his hand.

Rong Yinshuang moved to a back alley that appeared to be a place where people gathered different things. She sensed a cold sensation on the back of her neck as soon as she entered. Turning around, Rong Yinshuang noticed the pale old woman without a shadow.

Rong Yinshuang once again cast a worried gaze at the wonton stand. The old man had already sat back on the recliner after finishing his task, while the two kids were still deeply involved in their meals.

The elderly woman (ghost) bowed and spoke in an ethereal tone, saying, “The money is hidden in a small hidden box in the wall behind his bed. I hid money there, fearing that our children would not look after us when we got old. Without money, it’s difficult to live on our own in old age.”

Rong Yinshuang heard the truth from the old woman’s words, and she felt touched, thinking of her husband, who died in a foreign land. She sighed, nodded to the old woman, and said, “I’ll help you tell him; do you have any other wishes?”

The old woman shook her head, and Rong Yinshuang walked out of the alley. Before the children finished eating, she walked up to the old man, took out six yuan from her purse and put it on his wonton stand, and said, “Old man, I have an uncle, and my aunt left suddenly. Before she left, she was in charge of the money for their family. After she left, no one knew where she had hidden the money. My uncle turned the house upside down, and nothing happened. But I found it. Guess where I found it in the end?”

The old man stood up from the recliner, and looked at Rong Yinshuang, only to hear Rong Yinshuang say again, “In the wall behind their bed. My aunt lived frugally all her life, fearing that the family members would spend the money recklessly and have a bad life in the future. So she hid it secretly in the wall without telling anyone.”

Without giving the old man a chance to speak, Rong Yinshuang went back to the table, sat there, and ate her food. After finishing eating, the mother and her two sons left the wonton stand and walked to the market.

From the thirty-two coins she had, eight were used up for breakfast, and there were twenty-four coins left. Rong Yinshuang didn’t know how much rice and noodles cost per catty, so she took the two children to the food market. Rong Yinshuang bought two catties of rice and two taels of salt under the rice shop boss’s disgusting gaze and then went to the iron pot shop next door. After asking about the market price, the most common iron pot cost more than 30 yuan. Rong Yinshuang counted the money in her purse and found that there was only 17 yuan left, so she could only buy a casserole. The boss saw that Rong Yinshuang was a woman with two children who looked really pitiful, so she gave them two bowls and two pairs of chopsticks, and Rong Yinshuang couldn’t help but thank her.

[T/L: a weight measurement used in China that is typically standardised at 50 grams. The term “tael,” often spelled “tahil,” can refer to any of the various weight measurements used in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Typically, it alludes to the Chinese tael, a unit of cash and weight in the Chinese system.]

After buying the things, Rong Yinshuang went back to the Taoist temple. She looked around the temple carefully to find out whether there were some furniture and other things that they could use. Except for some mottled statues of the ancestor of the Taoist mausoleum enshrined in the temple, there was only a long incense table that was covered with an old yellow cloth. Additionally, there were two chairs, and Rong Yinshuang smashed one to make a fire last night, so only one could be used. Then there was a lot of straw in the corner. The roof of the Taoist temple was not bad. The whole Taoist temple was not too big. Except for being a little dirty, it seemed even snakes, insects, rats, and ants had never been here. There was a well in the corner of the yard that was covered with weeds, and there was a small house that should be a kitchen behind the well. Rong Yinshuang felt she was very lucky to find such a place after all.

Rong Yinshuang asked Da’er and Mo’er to sit on the threshold to play, and she walked into the pile of weeds. She pulled up the weeds with her bare hands and piled them all together to clean the yard.

Fortunately, the yard was not so big. Rong Yinshuang only worked for half an hour, and it was almost done, revealing the true appearance of the yard: the ground was paved with polished round cobblestones, and a set of stone tables and benches added a lot of points to the yard.

After finishing her work in the yard, Rong Yinshuang walked to the door of the kitchen and saw there were a lot of sundries inside, all of which were in dilapidated condition. ‘ I don’t know how much effort it will take to tidy them up. I’m afraid I couldn’t finish tidying them today.’

It was already noon, Rong Yinshuang found a wooden bucket from the kitchen, tore the curtain into rags and tied them together, tied them to the bucket, and finally dug out the water in the well. With half a bucket of water, she went into the house and took out the casserole, bowls, and chopsticks she just bought. Although the Taoist temple had been abandoned for a long time, the well water was surprisingly clean. Rong Yinshuang quickly washed the pots and bowls, lit the fire, and cooked the rice.

Until the rice was cooked, she went to the well and fetched another half bucket of water, brought it into the house, and started scrubbing the floor.

After the rice pot was cooked, Rong Yinshuang washed her hands, sat at the stone table in the yard, and made rice balls for the two children. She didn’t buy vegetables, and she didn’t have a stove, so she couldn’t cook more dishes.

Da Er and Mo Er were very obedient. They used to eat various types of vegetables and meat dishes when they were in their mansion, but today they ate the rice balls without saying anything.