When Su Cen reached the food section, she could already smell the aroma of pastries. No wonder it was the busiest area in the supply and marketing cooperative.

She glanced over the items at the counter. She wanted to buy more, but was afraid of drawing attention, so she stood to the side and observed what other people were buying.

After watching for a while, she had a general idea.

When there were fewer people, she stepped forward.
“Hello, comrade! One jin of fine salt, one jin of soy sauce, one jin of vinegar, one jin of soybean paste, one qian of Sichuan pepper, and two pieces of star anise.”

“Also, two liang of white sugar, two liang of brown sugar, and half a jin of fruit candy.”

“Half a jin each of sponge cake, walnut cookies, and egg cake, and two twisted fried dough sticks.”

“One can of yellow peach preserves.”

“One jin of sweet potato vermicelli and two blocks of tofu.”

Remembering she had two cigarette coupons that were about to expire, she lowered her voice and asked, “Comrade, my dad asked me to buy two packs of cigarettes, but didn’t specify which kind—just said they’re for a gift. Which would be appropriate?”

The saleswoman pointed at two packs. “These two are both fine. Red Sun is 5 mao per pack, Handshake is 4 mao 5 fen per pack. Both require coupons.”

“Thank you! Please give me two packs of Red Sun.”

The saleswoman nodded, her hands moving quickly. She poured the soy sauce and vinegar into small glass bottles and sealed them. The fine salt, soybean paste, white sugar, brown sugar, fruit candy, and various pastries were each wrapped neatly into square packages with oil paper. The Sichuan pepper and star anise were carefully wrapped in a small piece of paper, and the tofu, vermicelli, canned fruit, and cigarettes were gathered together.

Then her fingers rapidly flicked across the abacus. After calculating, she looked up at Su Cen and said:

“In total: 9 yuan, 4 mao, and 5 fen. Plus 2 sugar coupons, 3 pastry coupons, 3 food coupons, 1 tofu coupon, and 2 cigarette coupons.”

Su Cen counted out the money and coupons and handed them over. After confirming everything was correct, the saleswoman saw she hadn’t brought a basket, so she took a sturdy thick paper rope and tied all the items together in a crisscross bundle, making a handle for easy carrying, then handed it to her.

Su Cen took it with thanks.

Feeling the rough but strong paper rope, she couldn’t help but admire how skillful people of this era were—just one rope could securely bundle so many loose items.

By the time she walked out of the cooperative, it was already 11:00 a.m., and the state-run restaurant had opened.

Thinking it would be crowded during mealtime, Su Cen took out a cloth bag from her belongings and packed everything inside so others couldn’t see what she had bought.

When she arrived at the restaurant, Lin Jiajia and Gao Xiuqin were already seated and eating.

Su Cen nodded at them and walked toward the ordering window.

The blackboard displayed the menu:

Sweet and Sour Pork: 0.75 yuan 1 meat coupon
Cabbage, tofu, and vermicelli stew: 0.12 yuan
Stewed potatoes with green beans: 0.12 yuan
Stir-fried shredded potatoes: 0.10 yuan
Braised tofu: 0.15 yuan
Tomato scrambled eggs: 0.20 yuan

Staples:
Steamed white bun: 0.05 yuan 2 liang grain coupon
Rice: 0.06 yuan per liang 1 liang grain coupon

When it was her turn, Su Cen handed over her prepared money and coupons.
“Comrade, one serving of sweet and sour pork, one tomato scrambled eggs, and two liang of rice.”

The woman counted the payment, placed it in the drawer, quickly wrote a few words on a slip of paper, stamped it, tore it off, and handed it to her.

“Take this and go pick up your food.”

Su Cen walked to the serving counter and handed the slip to the cook.

The cook glanced at it, scooped up a ladle of golden, crispy sweet and sour pork and tomato scrambled eggs, then served two liang of rice into a thick ceramic bowl, placed everything on a tray, and pushed it toward her.

The portions were generous, with no stinginess in serving. Su Cen thought to herself—this really was the kind of state-run restaurant she had imagined.

As she carried her tray to find Lin Jiajia and Gao Xiuqin, she saw their table was already full, so she headed toward an empty seat in the corner.

After sitting down, she realized the person across from her was Gu Linchuan. He wasn’t sporting his usual messy “bird’s nest” hair today, though it was still quite long. Su Cen had a feeling he might be hiding his face just like she was.

Since they had run into each other, she greeted him, “Educated Youth Gu.”

Gu Linchuan paused slightly with his spoon. “Mm.”
Then he continued eating.

Seeing his reaction, Su Cen didn’t respond further and lowered her head to eat.

Wow—this sweet and sour pork!!

This was absolutely the best dish Su Cen had eaten since coming here—crispy, tender, perfectly sweet and sour. Paired with a bite of Northeast rice, it was incredibly fragrant!

The tomato scrambled eggs were a bit salty, but the sauce mixed with rice was still delicious.

“Su Cen, Xiuqin and I want to go back to the cooperative for a bit. Want to come?” Lin Jiajia’s voice came from beside her.

“I’ll pass. You two go ahead. Let’s meet at the main gate later,” Su Cen replied after swallowing her rice.

“Alright, we’ll go first then!”

Su Cen nodded and continued eating seriously.

Seeing how much she seemed to enjoy her meal, a trace of confusion flashed in Gu Linchuan’s eyes. Were those two dishes really that good?

Looking at his own bowl of cabbage tofu vermicelli stew and shredded potatoes, he decided to pack the same dishes she ordered later and bring them back for his grandfather to try.

By the time Su Cen finished eating and looked up again, Gu Linchuan had already left at some point.

Having eaten so much, she felt a bit too full and wanted to sit a while longer, but seeing more and more people coming in, she had no choice but to pick up her large cloth bag and stand.

She pretended to take out a lunch box from the bag. It was one she had used during her school days, with the character “Cen” engraved on it.

She went to the window to queue again and packed another portion of the same dishes, storing it in her space for the next day.

After mailing her letter at the post office, she asked the postal worker, “Comrade, are there any packages from Beijing?”

“Do you know when it was sent?”

“About four or five days ago.”

“That’s still early. Come back in about ten days.”

“Thank you, comrade!”

There wasn’t anything else she needed to buy. Her bag was already quite heavy, and seeing it was 12:20, Su Cen decided to return to the tractor and wait.

When she got there, no one was around—not even the driver.

She climbed into the back, sat in the innermost spot, and closed her eyes to rest. She hadn’t slept well the night before and still felt very tired.

“Kang Zhiqing, could you help me lift this up?”

Su Cen was woken by Zhang Yingying’s voice. When she opened her eyes, she saw Zhang Yingying standing below the tractor, holding a small bamboo basket. It didn’t look heavy at all.

Just as Kang Zijian was about to help, another pair of hands moved faster and grabbed it.

“Zhang Zhiqing can’t even carry this? I’ll help you,” Tian Xiaolan said.

“Hey, you—!”

Tian Xiaolan looked through the basket, clicked her tongue in disappointment—she thought there’d be something good inside, but it was nothing special. She secretly grabbed two fruit candies, clenched them in her hand, climbed onto the tractor, and shoved the basket back into Zhang Yingying’s arms.

“Zhang Zhiqing, if you’re going to act delicate, at least make the basket look heavier. With so little in it, even a child could carry it with one hand.”

Zhang Yingying, exposed so bluntly, was both embarrassed and angry. “Tian Xiaolan! Don’t talk nonsense!”

Turning to Kang Zijian, she said, “Kang Zhiqing, I twisted my hand last night, so I asked for your help.”

Kang Zijian smoothed his greasy hair, looking concerned. “Zhang Zhiqing, is your hand alright? I’ll help you carry things when we get off later.”

“Thank you, Kang Zhiqing.” Zhang Yingying shot a provocative glance at Tian Xiaolan.

Then, as if just noticing Su Cen, she saw the large cloth bag in front of her. Her eyes flickered, and in a syrupy tone she said:

“Oh, Su Zhiqing, you’re here too. You must have bought a lot of nice things—you’re so well-off, after all.”