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

The city is holding recruitment exams in full swing, but Lin Baoya has given up on the idea of ​​taking the exams to find a job.

Since neither she nor the original owner of this body could come up with a complete answer, she decided to stop wasting her time.

Having figured things out, Bao Ya stopped being fixated on having a job and started looking for things to do again.

Chen Fang would occasionally bring one or two people who made clothes to see her.

Xie Laidi and Sister Chen would come to her house from time to time to cook pig intestines.

She would never charge a penny for exchanging items with her neighbors, to avoid future trouble.

Their stove was built in the yard, so when they were cooking, the smell could be smelled throughout the entire street.

At the meat processing plant, everyone can buy pig intestines; that's no secret. Whether you can do it well depends entirely on your skill.

Although braised pig intestines smell delicious, they still have a slightly gamey smell, so her family cooks them every day and no one complains.

She was cooking pig intestines at home when she heard a rapid knocking at the front door.

"Who is it?"

Bao Ya, who was tending the fire, asked casually.

There was no response from outside; instead, the banging on the door grew even louder.

What's wrong? I knock on the door and there's no answer; in fact, the knocking gets louder and louder.

Bao Ya leisurely stoked the fire, then glanced at the large intestines in the pot before slowly walking towards the front door.

"Open the door! Open the door quickly! We're here to inspect!"

Hearing that they were there for an inspection, Bao Ya's heart tightened. She tiptoed to the door and peeked through the crack.

Having clearly seen who it was, Bao Ya breathed a sigh of relief, stood to the side, gently unscrewed the door latch, and then took a step back.

Then a person tumbled and crawled in from outside, kneeling on the ground with their upper body sprawled on the floor.

"Ouch! Why didn't you say anything before opening the door? You almost killed me!"

The newcomer was a boy of about sixteen or seventeen, who was sitting on the ground hugging his knees and baring his teeth as he yelled.

The man was skinny, with his hair parted in a 3/7 ratio, wearing blue overalls, a military green shirt, and a military overcoat.

Looking at his expression, Bao Ya looked disgusted. This brat needs to be taught a lesson.

The man who came was the beloved son of the meat processing plant manager, who rode a beat-up bicycle all day, leading a group of teenagers around.

His nickname is Monkey, mainly because he's so skinny and can eat whatever he wants without gaining weight.

The factory manager and his wife are both the big, burly type, but their only son never gains weight no matter how much he eats.

Some people even gossiped behind her back, saying that the factory manager's wife abused her son and didn't feed him. This infuriated the factory manager's wife.

Her family had only one son for three generations, so how could she not want to feed him?

What are you doing here?

Bao Ya was relieved to see that it was just the boy alone.

"I heard your family eats meat every day, so I came to check and make sure you don't make any mistakes."

As he spoke, the monkey scrambled to its feet, dusted itself off, stretched its neck, and followed the smell toward the pot.

He could smell meat for days, it smelled really good, so he followed the smell here today.

"Hey, don't touch my pot, your hands are filthy."

Seeing that he was about to lift the pot, Bao Ya quickly stopped him. Her sleeves were covered in dirt, and what if some of it fell into her pot?

"Tch, so much trouble."

When the monkey heard Bao Ya say his hands were dirty, he didn't lift the pot. He just stood there waiting for Bao Ya to open it for him. After all, he was a hygienic person.

Seeing him staring at her longingly and swallowing his saliva repeatedly, Bao Ya decided to let him see and quickly send him away.

Bao Ya lifted the lid of the pot, scooped some out with a spoon, and a string of fatty intestines was caught on the spoon handle and lifted up.

"What is this?"

The monkey opened its eyes wide, looking at the steaming object with a slightly dazed expression, unable to immediately discern what it was.

"Pig intestines? You don't even recognize this? What a useless piece of trash."

Bao Ya put the large intestine back into the pot. She put the lid on and continued cooking.

Upon hearing that it was pig intestines, the monkey covered its nose and jumped far away, shouting:

"What? You eat pig intestines? Are you out of your mind?"

Damn it, how can you talk like that? This brat really needs to be taught a lesson.

Bao Ya slammed the spoon down on the pot lid with a "thud," took two steps forward, put her hands on her hips, and started yelling at the monkey:

"Do you think I'm your father? You can't just give me as many meat coupons as you want. You're lucky if you get any pig intestines. You're so picky. You've spoiled yourself with these bad habits. Get out of here, get out of here right now."

Startled by Bao Ya's shout, the monkey tried to remain calm, but his imposing manner weakened, and he muttered under his breath:

"How can you start cursing like that? Jiang Yuan must be blind to marry such a tigress."

"You little brat, how dare you talk to me like that? I'll give you a good beating!"

As Bao Ya spoke, she reached for a fire poker and rushed over to hit him.

"Hey, what's wrong with you, woman? Why are you hitting people..."

The monkey shouted and ran backwards towards the yard. He hadn't even asked for food yet, so why was he being attacked?

Having spent so much time in the meat processing plant's residential compound, everyone there was always someone who was easy to talk to and negotiate with. How did he end up with someone even more reckless than himself?

Bao Ya chased after him to the door, but the boy jumped on his bicycle and sped away.

I thought he was very capable, but it turns out he's all bark and no bite.

Bao Ya waved the fire poker at the door, turned her head and saw Granny Zhou across the street, standing there waiting for her to speak.

Granny Zhou just saw the monkey go to her house and thought that the spoiled brat was going to cause her trouble.

I had been listening intently, waiting to see her make a scene, but I never expected that Bao Ya would chase me out with a fire poker.

Is this brat really that crazy? She even dared to hit the factory manager's son. I really misjudged her.

He forced a smile at Bao Ya, then quickly picked up the winnowing basket and went home.

Jiang Yuan thought that scaring the kid away would prevent him from coming back, but unexpectedly, when Jiang Yuan returned at noon, the monkey followed him back.

He wasn't as arrogant as he was this morning. He came in all smiles, calling her "sister-in-law" repeatedly. Bao Ya thought he had taken the wrong medicine.

"Sister-in-law, what are we having for lunch today?"

Bao Ya looked at him in disbelief; anyone who didn't know better would think he was a monkey's twin brother.

"Third Brother, what's he doing here?"

Bao Ya ignored him and turned to ask Jiang Yuan.

"He wanted to try your braised pork intestines, and he spent half the morning pestering me about it."

Jiang Yuan was unaware that the boy had been kicked out by Bao Ya that morning. He assumed the boy had smelled something and was tempted, so he took him home with him.

Bao Ya glanced at the monkey but didn't expose him. She then brought all the prepared dishes to the table.

The monkey didn't stand on ceremony and immediately picked up a piece of pig intestine and put it in its mouth. After chewing a few times, its eyes lit up.

I never expected that this smelly stuff could taste so good. I kept eating it, one bite after another, and started working on the plate of fatty intestines.

He held half a cornbread in his hand, and only after he had eaten his fill did he manage to finish the remaining half. He forced down the porridge in the bowl while frowning.

He devoured two-thirds of the plate of pork intestines himself, but didn't touch a single vegetable dish on the table. Bao Ya realized that this guy was exceptionally picky about food.

In this day and age, not many people are picky eaters; it's good enough to have food at all.

After eating his fill, the monkey grinned and spoke again:

"Sister-in-law, do you know how to cook braised pig's head?"