“What’s there to save? A jin of wild greens buys several of these. If you like them, use them!”
Lin Xiaohe waved her hand grandly and ruffled her sister’s hair.
“Let’s look around some more—see what else we can buy.”
Though the shop wasn’t big, it was packed with all sorts of things.
They browsed carefully.
A lot of stuff was nice, but not suitable to bring back home.
“Sis, look—this soap looks just like the kind back home!”
In an inconspicuous corner, Xiaogu had found several types of soap—white and yellowish, translucent bars.
“Let’s get some! This is great for washing clothes.
Oh—and we said we needed something for washing dishes too, but we forgot.
The brigade leader’s family has some—I saw his wife using it by the river. When she rubbed it on the clothes, white suds appeared, and it scrubbed away even the dirtiest stains.”
“Okay—let’s buy a bunch. We can see if Second Aunt wants some too—if she does, we can turn it into cash.”
“Oh—we don’t know when Second Aunt’s coming. We should stock up on more grain at home.”
The only place to hide things was the cellar out back.
At first, they’d bring some grain back every day.
Lately, with all the other shopping, they’d been buying less grain.
“Right—Second Aunt. We should buy more.”
The soap was 2 yuan a bar—she grabbed ten.
“Can we use this for washing dishes?”
With all the oil and fat in their food lately, the bowls weren’t easy to clean. Before, when they were eating plain, a quick rinse was enough.
“Little girl, next to it is dish soap—that’s what you want for dishes. Soap doesn’t work well for that.”
The shop owner had been listening with one ear—business was slow, so she wanted to make sure they got good service.
She answered immediately upon hearing the question.
Lin Xiaohe jumped, then relaxed.
She looked at the dish soap—a tall, round bottle, under a jin, priced at 5 yuan.
Might as well grab one.
Try it out first—if it worked well, she’d get more.
“Sis, I think we’ve bought enough—any more and we won’t be able to carry it.”
Xiaogu was already struggling with the basket.
“Alright, let’s head back. We’ll drop this stuff off first, then buy some grain.”
She planned to check the supermarket first, then buy more from Aunt Fang’s grain and oil shop.
“Okay—let’s go.”
They made one trip back, and by then, it was fully dark.
The market was still brightly lit—almost no shops had closed.
They walked along the road, out of the market, toward the supermarket.
“Hey, you two kids—move aside!” A gruff voice shouted nearby, startling them.
They hurried to the side of the road, right by a shop entrance.
A truck roared past, loaded with all sorts of things.
It looked like it might topple over any second.
They were standing in front of a small supermarket. The owner leaned out from behind the counter and spat toward the street.
“You two okay? That’s the scrap yard’s delivery truck—always barrels through like that, like they’re trying to run someone over.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine—Auntie, was all that stuff on the truck scrap?”
Lin Xiaohe was staring at the back of the truck—it looked like there were bicycles and tricycles loaded on it.
“Yeah—all unwanted stuff. Every time they haul, they pile it sky-high and drive like maniacs. Something’s gonna happen one day.”
The shop owner was snacking on sunflower seeds, full of disdain.
Every time that truck passed, it was like a bullet train roaring by.
So loud!
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes grew brighter. “Auntie, where’s the scrap yard? We’d like to go take a look.”
“Just walk straight ahead—it’s at the very end. If you want to go, you’ll have to wait till tomorrow—they’re closed and unloading now.”
“I see. Thanks, Auntie.”
“No problem—just a few words.”
Filing that away, Lin Xiaohe took her sister’s hand and headed to the supermarket.
“Come on—let’s check out the supermarket.”
It was pretty lively in the evening—quite a few people around.
They grabbed a basket and went in.
“Sis, should we get more eggs?” The eggs had been moved to a prominent spot near the entrance.
“Not yet—we’ve still got some at home.” Lin Xiaohe shook her head. “Let’s look at other stuff. It’s not even that much cheaper—only a few mao off.”
“Okay—what should we look at?”
“I don’t know—let’s browse.”
They wandered, stopping here and there, not sure what to buy.
“Special discount! Don’t miss out! All prepared food—20% off! All prepared food—20% off!”
Hearing that, Lin Xiaohe immediately pulled her sister over to check it out. A crowd had gathered—she’d never seen this many people in the supermarket before. She nearly lost a shoe in the shuffle.
On the counter, boxes of food were pre-packed with price tags.
“Sis, should we get some? Look at that braised pig head—it looks so fragrant, and a whole box is only 9.80 yuan.”
Though it was cheap, there wasn’t much in each box. Lin Xiaohe eyeballed it—probably half a jin at most. That worked out to about 20 yuan per jin, even after the discount.
“Let’s get one—just to try. It’s bound to taste better than what we make ourselves.”
“Okay!”
Being short, Xiaogu easily slipped to the front of the crowd and picked the box that looked like it had the most meat.
“Sis, what else are we buying?”
“Let’s look around—the rest are all so expensive.”
Lin Xiaohe had never realized that off-cuts from pigs and chickens could cost this much. A box of braised pig trotters—barely half a jin—was over 20 yuan. That was insanely expensive!
They circled the area and ended up buying a 9.90 roast chicken.
“Hehe—perfect for a late-night snack. It smells so, so good.”
The dark, rich, soy-glazed roast chicken had these two small-town kids completely spellbound.
“How do they make food taste this good?!”
Xiaogu was both drooling and puzzled, dying to know the secret so they could make it themselves.
“Probably a lot of seasoning. Let’s buy more spices.”
Lin Xiaohe wasn’t much of a cook—she wasn’t even at the age for it. She’d been thrown into it out of necessity. Her food was edible, but definitely not delicious.
“Hehe—then let’s buy plenty of spices and experiment!”
Xiaogu was eager. Once she was full, she started thinking about flavor. If her sister couldn’t do it, she’d take over!
It was just tasty food—she’d master it in no time.
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