A Change of Target
"Not bad, it's pretty sweet! Delicious!"
"If you like them, have some more!"
"Haha, all right. But the sweet cane I brought is even sweeter. Have some!"
Liang Xin didn't stand on ceremony. He grabbed a section of sweet cane, peeled it, and bit off a mouthful.
The sweet juice filled his mouth, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Wasn't this much sweeter than the candy sold at the supply and marketing cooperative?
It was even sweeter than the candy sold in my own store!
Sister Xiao Zhu really is a good person!
When she has something good, I'm the first person she thinks of!
Too bad she's married.
Otherwise, it would be great to settle down with her.
That's out of the question now. Her husband probably wouldn't agree.
"By the way, Sister Xiao Zhu, how's your cooking?"
They'd already exchanged tokens of affection.
No, they'd exchanged tasty food, and that had brought them much closer.
Liang Xin started chatting with her casually.
"Haha, good question! My parents have praised my cooking since I was little! If there's a chance-hmm, forget waiting for a chance. Have you eaten? If you haven't, come over to my place for dinner tonight!"
Your parents have praised your cooking since you were little?
My parents praised me for being good at cleaning since I was little, too.
But as a guy, was I really any good at it?
Liang Xin was trying to tell whether Sister Xiao Zhu really was a good cook, or whether her parents had been gaslighting her since she was little.
It was already this late, and Aunt He still hadn't come back.
He hadn't added any of his own side dishes to the two bowls of coarse-grain porridge he'd had at noon.
That pound and change of tomatoes hadn't filled him up much, either.
He really was a little hungry.
Now that she'd offered such a warm invitation, Liang Xin wondered if he should just switch targets.
"Sister Xiao Zhu, have you ever made scrambled eggs with tomatoes?"
"Scrambled eggs with tomatoes?" Sister Xiao Zhu looked at the bag of tomatoes in front of her.
A smile then blossomed on her face. "I really like scrambled eggs with tomatoes too, but I'm out of white sugar at home."
"I have some! Right here!"
Liang Xin ran to the cubicle and brought over the white sugar he'd just bought, still in its paper bag.
Things from the system really were good. They didn't leave people any loopholes to pick at.
Aside from the two large, eye-catching characters for "white sugar," there wasn't a third character on the white paper bag.
There was no production date, no production address, and naturally no quality certification mark or anything of the sort.
All right, it was definitely a "three-no" product, but its quality was top-notch!
"Goodness, this sugar is so white! And so soft!"
"I've never seen white sugar this good. Where did you buy it?"
When Sister Xiao Zhu saw the sugar, she couldn't resist pinching up a little and putting it in her mouth.
She immediately became excited.
That was because the sugar really was good!
It was so good that she'd never seen anything like it!
White as snow, soft as snow!
Never mind sugar this good-even ordinary white sugar was a rarity at this time.
Just look at how eagerly the children flocked to the not-very-sweet candy at the supply and marketing cooperative.
That alone showed how scarce sugar was.
Sugar had so many uses.
Not only could it make people feel happy, it was also very effective at restoring their energy.
At this time, if a family had a guest and could offer them a cup of sugar water, it brought them considerable face!
It brought even more face than serving someone a pot of gongfu tea in later generations!
Liang Xin looked at Sister Xiao Zhu expectantly:
"Sister Xiao Zhu, now that we have sugar and tomatoes, can you make scrambled eggs with tomatoes?"
"Scrambled eggs with tomatoes just seem to be missing something with coarse-grain rice. They taste best with white rice. Do you have any?"
"I do!"
Sister Xiao Zhu's last question sent Liang Xin's anticipation soaring!
It had been days-days since he'd eaten white rice!
He really missed it!
As far as he was concerned, white rice was still the best staple food.
Noodles came second.
So, with no rice to eat these past few days, he'd eaten dried noodles morning and night.
And what was that coarse-grain stuff he'd been eating at noon these past few days?
The first few bites were all right, quite a novelty, but after a few more he couldn't stand it.
If he hadn't gone hungry without eating, and if being hungry hadn't felt so miserable,
he would have thrown the porridge out, bowl and all, long ago!
What lousy stuff!
But now things were looking up. Was he finally going to eat the white rice he'd been longing for?
Liang Xin ran to the cubicle and instantly bought three jin of rice!
The rice was also wrapped in paper. The packages were neat and square, and quite nice-looking.
The two characters for "rice" stood out prominently on them.
With Sister Xiao Zhu, Brother Chen, and me, that makes three people. Three jin of rice should be enough, right?
However short of nourishment we are and however much we eat, it should be enough!
Sister Xiao Zhu was taken aback when she saw Liang Xin bring out three small, square paper packages.
Whether it was the sugar or these bricks of rice, though both were wrapped in paper, the packaging gave them a fine, high-end look.
And as far as she could tell, the sugar really was top quality.
Could this rice be the same?
She instinctively unwrapped one of the paper packages.
"Oh, the rice is this good too?"
"Xiao Liang, where did you get all these things?"
If I say now that I'm actually a rich second-generation heir here to experience life at the grassroots, is it too late?
The question is, would she believe me?
"Well, Sister Xiao Zhu, I have a very powerful relative."
"Don't ask me for the details. I can't go around bragging about this sort of thing, can I? It wouldn't be good for the leader—no, for my relative, either!"
Seeing that Liang Xin had "let slip" that these things had come from certain leaders,
Sister Xiao Zhu immediately fell silent and stopped asking.
That saved Liang Xin a lot of trouble.