The 1960s: The Story of a Country Girl's Journey to the City

Xie Laidi was a flexible person; she wasn't angry when Bao Ya rejected her, and continued to negotiate with her.

"Bao Ya, I have a few girlfriends who want to cook some offal. Could you help me make some? Don't worry, I promise you won't be shortchanged."

Xie Laidi was just trying it out; if she really encountered a fool, she might tell her the ingredients. If she didn't, she would settle for second best.

"Auntie, it's not that I don't want to help you, but that stuff is so smelly and stinky, it's such a hassle to clean up. I made a whole pot of it the other day, and I'm so disgusted I haven't been able to eat properly for the past two days."

Bao Ya said with a troubled look that the most difficult step in making braised large intestine is cleaning it. You have to rub the mucus off the outside with fine salt and tear off some of the fat inside.

Making it occasionally is fine, but if she does it every day, she probably won't want to eat pig intestines anymore.

After listening to her words, Xie Laidi thought about it carefully, and finally gritted her teeth and said:

"Bao Ya, how about this? You teach me how to wash it, and after I'm done, you help me boil it."

"Oh, is that so? Then Auntie, aren't you working too hard? You're so busy at work."

Bao Ya didn't agree immediately, still somewhat hesitant, though she was already tempted. Skipping this step would make the rest much simpler.

Blanch the raw large intestine in boiling water, then remove it, change the water, add seasonings, and cook.

Seeing that she was somewhat tempted, Xie Laidi whispered something in her ear for a while, and after hearing what she said, Bao Ya agreed.

Aunt Chen and Wen Hehua, who were standing nearby, were also a little tempted. Wen Hehua lived between Xie Laidi's and Granny Zhou's houses. Her husband, Du Ziteng, was the logistics director of the meat processing plant, and she herself was a primary school teacher.

Both the son and daughter in the family have jobs.

The couple considered themselves cultured people and didn't interact much with their neighbors. In addition, their whole family worked, which conflicted with Bao Ya's schedule, so they didn't have many opportunities to see each other.

Wen Hehua was somewhat tempted by Xie Laidi and Bao Ya's talk about pig intestines, but she was too proud to ask. She was waiting for them to ask her directly, but the two of them didn't even glance at her.

"Bao Ya, cook some for me too. I'll trade you some glass noodles."

Sister-in-law Chen quickly interjected. Xie Laidi is very cunning; she's in charge of washing all the pig intestines in the slaughterhouse, and if no one in the factory wants them, she'll dispose of them.

Who knows if she threw it away or gave it to someone else? If we don't say anything now, the factory probably won't have any pig intestines to sell by the end of the year.

The three of them were talking animatedly, and Wen Hehua couldn't get a word in edgewise, so she would glare at them every now and then.

An empty truck had already left the vegetable market, and now another truck full of vegetables had arrived. People behind were craning their necks to look ahead, afraid that they would sell out before it was their turn.

Each person can buy 50 jin of cabbage, 35 jin of radish, potatoes and green onions for winter storage, which is 85 jin per person.

For families with many members, they can buy more than a thousand kilograms at a time.

Everyone used their own ingenuity to carry things home: some on bicycles, some on handcarts, and some on their own backs. The entire road was completely blocked.

Originally, they were supposed to wander around the streets, but now they all find a quiet place to chat, and if anyone needs help, they go over and watch the vegetables for a while.

Granny Zhou and the others had finished their meal and returned, and were now chatting together.

Bao Ya was listening to Xie Laidi gossip when she suddenly saw someone walking towards her from a distance.

The man had a cigarette in his mouth, walked with his head shaking and tail wagging, and occasionally greeted people on the street.

Is this...my husband? He doesn't look quite like him usually. Am I seeing things?

Jiang Yuan approached and saw Bao Ya looking at him. He quickly raised his hand to stub out his cigarette, subconsciously straightened his chest, shrugged his shoulders, and walked towards his wife.

Seeing his deliberately upright appearance, Bao Ya almost lost her composure. Does this person have a dual personality?

Before Jiang Yuan even reached her, he heard Widow Qin say in a high-pitched voice:

"Xiao Jiang, you're off work so early? Could you help me take the groceries home? Look at your wife's family, a widow and her children, they can't possibly manage this much."

As she spoke, she put on a pitiful look. She glanced back at Bao Ya.

Bao Ya thought she was out of her mind. At her age, she still acted like that. It was disgusting.

She ignored Widow Qin's words, thinking that if the widow were even slightly attractive, she would be willing to tear her apart.

The sound was quite loud, and everyone around heard it and turned to look.

"That stinking widow is acting horny again. Any man should seduce her."

Xie Laidi spat towards Widow Qin and whispered.

Jiang Yuan ignored Widow Qin and walked straight over, taking off his coat and draping it over Bao Ya.

"Aren't you cold? Go home. You don't need to come this afternoon."

The coat, still warm from Jiang Yuan's body heat, felt cozy wrapped around her body. Bao Ya wrapped herself up even tighter, as it was getting a bit cold.

After being outside for half a day, I felt a chill on my back.

"Aunt Zhang said each family would take turns for one day."

"No need, I'm free this afternoon. The factory asked us to come out and help keep an eye on things. I'll be fine here."

Most of the people here are factory workers. They take turns coming out to buy vegetables for winter storage. The men buy vegetables for their own families and then help maintain order. The next day, another group will take their turn.

The men here can also help the supply and marketing cooperative move vegetables and load them onto the carts for buyers, which can speed up the sale of vegetables.

At this time, the factory was more humane, and in addition to completing the work, it tried its best to take care of everyone's life.

"Should we buy ours today?"

When Bao Ya went out in the morning, she never thought that her family would need to buy groceries.

"The vegetable stalls where we're helping out have all been reserved in advance, so you don't need to worry about them."

Hearing him say that, Bao Ya felt relieved and decided to go home to rest.

"Little Jiang..."

Before Xie Laidi could speak, Jiang Yuan immediately interrupted:

"Auntie, you three should all go back too. Our workers will be here soon."

Xie Laidi talked too much, and he couldn't handle it, so it was better to let her leave.

"Alright then, we won't cause any more trouble."

Xie Laidi immediately beamed and pulled Bao Ya back.

Bao Ya handed the cotton-padded coat to Jiang Yuan and followed Xie Laidi back.

Xie Laidi told her that she was going to the factory to get pig intestines and would start working on it as soon as she got back.

Bao Ya didn't hesitate. She decided to do it anyway, since it wouldn't be a hassle for her.

Bao Ya got home and took two empty bottles. She then went to the supply and marketing cooperative and bought two bottles of loose liquor that cost 40 cents a pound. She then mixed it with cooled boiled water to make eight bottles.

She only has eight empty wine bottles at home; it seems she'll have to collect more in the future.

By the time Xie Laidi brought over two buckets of pig intestines, Bao Ya had already warmed up, and Sister Chen also came over to help.

Bao Ya taught them her skills in cleaning pig intestines without reservation.

First, turn the intestines inside out and remove some of the fat. Then turn them back inside out and rub the outside with finely ground salt until the mucus layer comes off. Wash them twice more and they will be basically clean.

After cleaning the pig intestines, when it was time to blanch them in water, Bao Ya poured a bottle of pre-prepared liquor into the pot, stirred it, put the pig intestines in, and lit the fire.

When Xie Laidi and Chen Saozi smelled the strong aroma of alcohol, their hearts ached. This alcohol was more expensive than pig intestines. They never expected Bao Ya to be so generous.

Blanch the pig intestines, take them out, change the water, and start cooking.

Xie Laidi brought ten sets of pig intestines. After they were cooked, Bao Ya kept one set, Sister Chen took two sets, and Xie Laidi took the rest. Bao Ya also shared the remaining braising liquid with them.

The next afternoon, Sister Chen brought two jin of vermicelli, and Xie Laidi brought three jin of crushed biscuits, two cans of fruit, and five jin of sweet potato flour.

It seems that Xie Laidi's customers come from biscuit factories, canneries, and grain stores.

I paid a penny for a packet of spices and a little firewood, and in return I got biscuits, canned goods, and sweet potato noodles. It was a pretty good deal.

Bao Ya has started another side hustle for herself.

She knew that Sister Chen and Xie Laidi had their own ways of making money, so she didn't ask too many questions. She just wanted to get her share; how much the two of them earned was none of her business.