Chapter Fourteen: Troublemakers Are Villains

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Jiang Hua figured that gathering information would still take some time, so she took Jiang Xiaxia across the street to the state-run restaurant for noodles. Xiaxia was curious about everything, and when she saw Jiang Hua pull out some ration coupons, she stretched on her toes to get a better look.

“Little missy, haven’t you seen these before?” The waitress, noticing Xiaxia’s eager eyes fixed on the coupons, smiled and asked.

The service at the state-run restaurant near the police station was far better than elsewhere. Jiang Hua saw the young waitress’s kind gaze toward her granddaughter and smiled as she replied, “We haven’t been out much before; this is her first time.”

The waitress noticed that although the little girl was dressed neatly, she was quite thin and frail, indicating the family’s tough living conditions. So when she served their noodles, she added a few extra chunks of meat, saying, “Eat up!”

Jiang Hua glanced at it and quickly declined, “No, no, no, that’s not allowed!”

“No worries,” the waitress whispered conspiratorially, “Our head chef’s apprentice has fallen in love with a girl. In a few days, he’s going to show off his skills at his future father-in-law’s place. He’s in the kitchen right now, practicing on his own dime! What you’re getting comes straight from his pot! Just don’t mind if it’s not quite as good as the chef’s own cooking.”

“Even so, we can’t take advantage of your kindness.”

Jiang Hua initially wanted to say it was public property and shouldn’t be taken for granted, but seeing the waitress’s goodwill, she realized that would sound like accusing her of exploiting the state. So she changed her words and added fifty cents: “Bring me two meat buns as well.”

Seeing she was serious about paying, the waitress didn’t say more and quickly packed two meat buns, adding two plain steamed buns on the side.

“Money?” Xiaxia listened to the waitress and thought people these days really loved romance.

Back in the post-apocalyptic days, everyone except her grandparents was alone.

Now, just arriving here, she met two people in love right away.

So why hasn’t Uncle found a wife yet?

“Now, when you go out to buy things, besides money, you need coupons!” Jiang Hua knew the little girl had been kept indoors all along and wasn’t familiar with these matters, so while feeding her noodles, she explained, “And you can’t just wander off! When you go out, you need someone to issue a permit — a piece of paper! Only with that proof can you leave the village.”

She then took out the exit permit given to her by the village chief when she left the village.

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Xiaxia examined it carefully, then pointed at Jiang Hua’s pocket: “Coupons!”

Jiang Hua showed her the coupons again.

After a thorough look, Xiaxia patted her chest and assured her grandmother, “Money, coupons!”

She slowly took a bite of noodles, then looked up at her grandmother: “Give it to Grandma!”

From now on, whatever she earned would be given to Grandma!

Jiang Jing entered the state-run restaurant and overheard Xiaxia’s bold declaration.

He couldn’t help but step forward and ruffle her hair: “Alright, enough of that! Your main job now is to take good care of yourself. When you turn that little yellow hair into a black little crow, then you can think about making money. For now, I’m the one with the money!”

She snorted twice but didn’t argue, obediently eating a small bowl of noodles before passing it to her grandmother.

Jiang Hua shook her head. When she was questioned at the police station earlier, they gave her steamed buns to eat.

After mixing them with hot soup and eating two, Xiaxia wasn’t hungry at all.

Xiaxia reached out and touched Jiang Hua’s belly, seeing her genuinely full, then passed the buns to her uncle.

Jiang Jing didn’t mind. Seeing there were still three chunks of meat left, he knew that originally two were for their mother and one was for him—or maybe half a piece.

Jiang Hua saw her son slurping his noodles and handed him the meat buns.

Jiang Jing took a bun, tore it in half, giving one to their mother and one to Xiaxia.

“There’s still one more here!” Jiang Hua pushed forward and handed the remaining bun to Xiaxia.

Xiaxia looked at it and imitated Jiang Jing, tearing the meat bun in half — one half for Grandma, one half for Uncle!

A smile blossomed in Jiang Hua’s eyes: “Grandma won’t eat!”

“Mother, please eat! If you don’t eat, the two of us won’t be able to finish it!”

It was clear their mother usually couldn’t afford to buy meat buns, and it was only because Xiaxia hadn’t tasted anything good before that they bought both the meat noodles and buns.

Xiaxia nodded seriously: “Grandma will eat!”

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Only then did Jiang Hua take the meat bun.

By now, a few other customers had arrived at the state-run restaurant. Seeing this scene of the three generations, they smiled warmly.

“Look at that—that’s the proper way to raise a child!”

“Yes, when kids are young, they learn from their parents! See how the father cares for the mother, and the granddaughter learns to respect her elders!”

The whispers nearby were heard clearly by Jiang Jing and Xiaxia.

Proud from the praise, Xiaxia puffed up her small chest.

Jiang Jing saw her pride and smiled faintly.

After quickly finishing his food and just about to talk about that worker named Qian, Xiaxia pointed outside, then toward the kitchen: “Boyfriend!”

Then she gestured at Jiang Jing and sighed, shaking her head.

Jiang Hua also looked at Jiang Jing with some worry. She understood Xiaxia’s meaning—two random people they met already had partners. Their tall, strong, military son, why hadn’t anyone taken a fancy to him?

She sighed along with them: “Alright, tell me about that worker Qian.”

“Qian is a junior fitter at the shipyard. People say he’s meticulous at work. He started as an ordinary employee, but because of his attention to detail, he discovered a problem with one of the lathes and earned recognition. The factory saw his talent and let him apprentice under a master fitter.”

Jiang Jing went on without Jiang Hua needing to prompt him: “After I checked, I found out this guy does have issues. This Qian isn’t just working on the faulty lathe line; he can sense problems from slight deviations in the finished product. How could he not see that the woman he’s with has problems?”

“Exactly, exactly!” Xiaxia nodded vigorously.

Seeing her nodding like a little chick pecking rice, Jiang Jing poked her forehead: “What are you agreeing to?”

“There’s a problem!” Xiaxia said seriously, frowning at Jiang Jing, “She’s a bad person!”

Though Jiang Jing knew Qian had issues, hearing the little girl say that made his eye twitch.

He wondered if by the time this holiday was over, he’d even be able to get home at all.