Wei Donglai first went to the alley beside the supply and marketing cooperative to find a ticket scalper and buy some coupons, then went inside the cooperative.
That was how things were in this era: you needed coupons to buy anything.
In another couple of years, though, things should gradually get better.
He first bought a mosquito net and had some candy weighed out. Then he bought seasonings, dried chilies, garlic, and the like, before finally having four jin of meat weighed out.
Altogether, the pile of things cost nearly ten yuan, most of it for the mosquito net and meat.
After returning to the village, Wei Donglai went straight to his mother's place.
The children had been sent to school, so only his two sisters-in-law and his mother were in the courtyard.
When Li Yue'e saw the pile of things in Wei Donglai's hands, especially the conspicuous great slab of pork belly, sparks flew from her forehead.
"You little brat, didn't you eat enough last night? And today you've brought back another huge piece of meat. Do you think money comes floating in on the water?"
"Mom, funny you should say that. The flood really did float quite a bit my way last night."
"I think you're asking for a beating."
Seeing Li Yue'e pick up a stick, Wei Donglai hurriedly explained, "Mom, I caught a few big mud crabs last night and sold them for ten yuan."
Li Yue'e swung the stick straight at him.
"You, making ten yuan in a single night? You think you can come up with any old excuse and fool me?"
Wei Donglai felt more wronged than Dou E. "If you don't believe me, go ask Li Laosan. See if I didn't sell him nine yuan and forty fen's worth yesterday."
Hearing Wei Donglai give such a precise sum, Li Yue'e was half convinced. "Really?"
"Really. I'm not lying to you."
The stick came down again. "You've barely made a little money and you're already showing off. What family eats meat the way you do? And what family has someone who can spend money like you?"
Wei Donglai suspected his mother was deliberately looking for an excuse to hit him, but he couldn't find any proof.
"I made some money and went to buy meat first thing this morning, all because I wanted to show you some filial piety. I didn't expect you to beat me for it. Are you really my mother?"
"This is for me?"
"What else? I thought it had been a long time since the family bought meat, so I had four jin weighed out. I'm keeping one jin for myself and bringing the rest to you."
At those words, Li Yue'e's face instantly softened. "Good son, Mom misunderstood you. Mom apologizes."
As she spoke, Li Yue'e reached for the meat in Wei Donglai's hands.
"So I got beaten for nothing?"
"What else? You want your mother to let you hit her back?"
He wouldn't dare.
Seeing Li Yue'e's eyes open wider than bronze bells, Wei Donglai sensibly shut his mouth.
He had to take a beating with a stick before he could show a little filial piety. Surely he was the only one.
The pitifully aggrieved look in Wei Donglai's eyes made Xue Li and Chen Fengying struggle to hold back their laughter.
Without their brother-in-law around, the family really would be a lot less lively.
Li Yue'e chose to ignore how aggrieved he felt. "Anything else?"
Wei Donglai wanted to ask his mother how her mouth, at thirty-seven degrees, could utter such icy words.
He wasn't asking her to invite him to stay, but couldn't he even get a cup of water?
Had she stopped recognizing him as soon as she got the meat?
"Mom, do we have any scallions and ginger? I kept a sea bass yesterday, and I'm planning to make some fish balls."
Li Yue'e was sitting in the courtyard again, as if she had never taken any meat.
"They're in the field. Go pick them yourself."
Wei Donglai felt so aggrieved he wanted to cry.
Sure enough, once he'd been thrown out of the house, the love had disappeared too.
"I picked some scallions this morning. I'll go get them for you."
Xue Li ran into the kitchen and came right back with a handful of scallions and some ginger, which she handed to him.
"Is that enough? If not, I'll pick some more in the field and bring them over later."
"It's enough, sister-in-law!"
Sure enough, his eldest sister-in-law cared about him. Wei Donglai felt his icy heart finally regain some warmth.
Wei Donglai remembered he had brought a bag of candy too. He immediately dug it out and handed it over. "Sister-in-law, there's a bag of candy here too. Give some to the children later."
"Why spend money on this? Keep what little you earn for yourself. Don't spend it recklessly."
Wei Donglai glanced at his mother. Look at that. That's the difference.
"Lili, don't spoil him. The family's field is right there, and it's not like he has no hands or feet. Can't he get whatever he wants himself?"
Wei Donglai turned and left. At that moment, he felt not the slightest reluctance to go.
"When the fish balls are ready, bring some over later. The little ones like them."
Watching the figure outside stumble and hurry away, Xue Li was a little puzzled. "Mom, haven't you always doted on Donglai the most?"
"The blows land on my son's body, but the pain is in my heart. Don't I dote on him enough?"
Was that how it worked?
Xue Li felt she couldn't quite wrap her head around it.
Chen Fengying, on the other hand, understood.
"Sister-in-law, Mom's afraid Donglai will spend money recklessly. That fellow-never mind ten yuan, if Mom doesn't warn him, he could spend a hundred."
After Wei Donglai left the courtyard, there wasn't much grievance on his face.
In fact, those two blows with the stick hadn't been very hard.
His parents were both accustomed to being frugal. If not for him, they would only have eaten meat during festivals or when the family had something to celebrate.
Wei Donglai didn't see things that way, though. Having lived another life, he had no intention of living miserably. If he had the means, he would eat well, and if he didn't, he would create the means.
If he really waited until his parents were old and couldn't eat much anymore, it would be too late to think about getting them good food then.
After returning to the house he was looking after, Wei Donglai brought out the fish meat he had filleted the night before.
After removing the skin and bones, Wei Donglai reckoned there were still around three and a half jin of meat.
He then began cutting the fish into small cubes before mincing it into a paste.
By the time he was done, Wei Donglai's hands were a little sore.
He missed having a meat grinder.
Doing it by hand was a bit hard on the hands, but the fish fibers were also a little coarser, giving it more chew.
He then cut some fatty meat from the pork he had brought back and minced it into a paste as well. After making some scallion and ginger water, he added it in three batches, stirring constantly until the mixture became springy.
Wei Donglai liked his fish balls a little firmer, so he added some sweet potato starch to the fish. Only after mixing it evenly again did he start seasoning it.
He lit the fire and started cooking.
An hour later, a basin of bouncy, springy fish balls was ready.
He kept about a third for himself. Along with the rest, he took two of the three mud crabs left from yesterday over to his mother's place.
"Oh, they're ready already?"
Only his two sisters-in-law were in the courtyard at the moment.
"Second sister-in-law, where's Mom?"
"What, haven't you been beaten enough?"
Seeing Wei Donglai bring the fish balls over, Chen Fengying picked one up with her fingers and popped it into her mouth.
"As expected of our family's chef. Your cooking really is good."
Wei Donglai rolled his eyes at her irritably. Where had all this enthusiasm been when he'd brought the meat over?
"Even good food can't keep your mouth shut."
Chen Fengying didn't mind. "Mom said Yuanyuan kept her up last night, so she's catching up on sleep now."
Wei Donglai knew that Yuanyuan liked sleeping with his mother. Seeing Xue Li looking curiously at the fish balls he had made, he held the basin out to her.
"Sister-in-law, try one too."
"All right, I'll have a taste."
Xue Li gently picked one up, bit off half, and tasted it carefully.
"Well? Is it good?"
Xue Li nodded. "It's so chewy, and it tastes good too. There's no fishy smell at all. How did you make it?"
Wei Donglai kept nothing to himself and explained the method to his eldest sister-in-law.
When Chen Fengying heard that meat had to be added too, she reckoned only this spendthrift would be willing to make them that way.
The fish balls really were delicious, though. In the short time they'd been talking, she'd stuffed another two or three into her mouth.
"Xiaohai must have gotten his love of food from you."
Chen Fengying rolled her eyes at Wei Donglai and couldn't be bothered to respond.
"Sisters-in-law, there are two mud crabs here too. Save them for dinner."