Back to the 60s: The Struggle Career of a Charmed Wife
Chapter 301 - 0301: Martyr’s Orphan 1_1

Chapter 301: Chapter 0301: Martyr’s Orphan 1_1

Lu Jiang received the letter the day before the winter solstice.

Without a bowl of dumplings on the winter solstice, no one cares if you lose your ears to frostbite.

The army’s canteen got half a pig, and they started bustling early in the morning, making a meal of dumplings filled with pork and cabbage. At home, Feng Qingxue and her family also wrapped several trays of white flour dumplings.

Lu Tianjun and Guan Yu were both coughing a bit; therefore, she didn’t cook with pork stuffing, instead switching to mutton.

Mutton and Chinese cabbage make the perfect match.

Two parts mutton fat, three parts meat, seven parts cabbage and spring onion.

The mutton was acquired through greasing Zhang Yuejin’s palms, using meat tickets to purchase a piece of fattened sheep meat. While mincing the meat for stuffing, she secretly added a piece of mutton with half fat and half lean from her space, also mixing in a bit of flour from the same space into the white flour. Anyhow, no one else could tell.

Ever since Zhang Yuejin married Wang Jiao, it became much more convenient for Feng Qingxue to shop. She had tickets, both sent by Huo Beiting and sent with Lu Jiang’s letters. When Zhang Yuejin slaughtered pigs or sheep, she would tell him what kind of meat she wanted and he would always set it aside for her in advance. If she wanted other subsidiary food products, Zhang Yuejin would also help her bring them back to the Wanglou Brigade.

Once Lu Tianjun brought the pot of water to a boil, Feng Qingxue dropped in a big pot of dumplings, scooped them out into a basin with a strainer, and put the basin filled with dumplings into a food box. She then called Guan Cheng and said, "Acheng, you take these to Jiang He. Be quick."

"Yes, Aunt Xue!" Guan Cheng rubbed his eyes and rushed out the door with the food box.

The house of Jiang He and their group was close to the cowshed, just to the west of it, naturally farther from the other families of the production brigade than the Lu family house. The selection of this plot for the residence was Feng Qingxue’s painstaking effort to make it less noticeable that she was helping them.

As it was so cold, Guan Cheng didn’t run into anyone on the way.

When he took the big basin of piping hot dumplings out of the food box, the eyes of Jiang He and Zhang Erya reddened immediately, but the younger children cheered and looked greedily at the plump, white dumplings.

"Dumplings, dumplings! Big Sister, white flour dumplings!" Erya, being the youngest, kept tugging at Zhang Erya’s clothes.

Guan Cheng smiled and said, "Jiang He, Erya, you quickly put the dumplings into the bowls, I need to take the basin back."

"Okay!"

Jiang He and Zhang Erya put the dumplings into the large porcelain bowls without delay.

The coarse porcelain bowls and bamboo chopsticks at home were all bought and sent by Feng Qingxue.

When Guan Cheng returned home with the empty basin, the second pot of dumplings was just finished, steaming hot.

Master Lu was sitting at the head of the table. Feng Qingxue was handing out chopsticks, and Lu Tianjun was bringing the last bowl of dumplings to the table while calling Guan Cheng, "Acheng, come quickly, eat them while they’re hot, they won’t taste good once cooled down."

Guan Cheng replied and sat down in his seat.

No dish can beat dumplings. Everyone was engrossed in their meal. Apart from the sound of chewing, there were no other sounds from the table.

The kids’ stomachs are small; Lu Tianzhi, Guan Yu, and Qingyun were full quickly and ran out to play after they left the table. Only Master Lu, Feng Qingxue, Guan Cheng, and Lu Tianjun continued to eat slowly.

There was just one dumpling left in Feng Qingxue’s bowl when the three children led a man in his fifties into the room.

"Sister, someone is looking for you!"

Feng Qingxue looked up at the entrance but didn’t recognize the person. She nevertheless put her bowl down and stood. "Comrade, may I ask your name?"

The man was dressed as a farmer in patchwork black cotton-padded jacket and trousers, with his trouser legs tucked in under grass sandals. He had a smoking pipe tucked into the waistband and carried a bundle on his back. His coppery face was creased with wrinkles.