"Exactly. Those stinky men just love this stuff. I don’t know what’s so good about it. It’d be much better to spend the money on a few more meals with meat."
The women ached over the spent money. Meanwhile, the men envied Bai Jiu’s husband.
Seeing that she didn’t know much about it, the cashier started explaining it to Bai Jiu. After listening, Bai Jiu truly felt she had broadened her horizons.
It turned out there wasn’t just one type of Moutai, but several. She was familiar with the name "Flying Fairy," as its price would be hyped sky-high in later generations. However, she hadn’t heard of the rest. Since they were all Moutai, she figured she might as well buy them. She wasn’t short on money, anyway.
"Alright, I’ll take all of these," Bai Jiu said. It was only when settling the bill that she realized the Imperial Liquor was the most expensive of them all. Had it not been for the fact that pulling out even more cash would look suspicious, she would have wanted to buy a whole case.
After she paid the bill, the cashier had someone bring over a handcart to help transport everything back to her house.
On her way back, Bai Jiu ran into Lin Po and her group again. However, upon seeing Bai Jiu returning with a cart full of goods, they didn’t even dare to look at her; they simply turned their heads and hurried away. This change in attitude surprised Bai Jiu a little, but mostly, she felt satisfied—satisfied with her husband.
Since they were hosting guests, Bai Jiu sent the children out to deliver the invitations as soon as she got the groceries home. After all, they were much more familiar with the compound than she was. Besides, she didn’t plan on inviting too many people—just Deng Meina’s family and Aunt Xu’s family next door. She left the rest of the invitations to Gao Zhijun, since she didn’t know her way around anyway.
As soon as the two children headed out, Bai Jiu started rendering pork fat into lard. She did have vegetable oil in her spatial dimension—in fact, she had plenty of peanut oil and camellia oil, too. But there were limits to what she could explain; she couldn’t just take out as much as she wanted.
It was important to note that Gao Zhijun’s ration book only allotted one catty of oil per month. Meanwhile, she didn’t have a job, and her household registration was still tied to her home village, making her ineligible for commercial grain rations in the city. She had to cover her own food and living expenses. Even the children’s household registrations were tied to hers. It was no exaggeration to say that this entire family had to rely solely on Gao Zhijun to support them. Fortunately, his salary was high.
There were quite a few similar situations in the compound. Still, thinking about it made her slightly regret turning down that job offer. But for the sake of the future, she could endure it for now. If it dragged on for too long, she would probably take that job no matter how tough it might be.
Before long, the savory aroma of rendering lard wafted out of the kitchen.
Bai Jiu was never one to shortchange herself. Others might just toss the fat directly into a large pot to render it, but she refused to be so crude. Not only did she use a multi-step process, but she also added quite a few spices to the mix to remove the gamey smell and enhance the fragrance.
Sure enough, when Aunt Xu came over after receiving the invitation, she smelled the rich aroma right away. However, she didn’t just barge in. She called out from outside and waited until Bai Jiu invited her in before entering.
"Aunt Xu, you’re here just in time! I was just thinking that if you didn’t show up soon, I’d go over and ask you to lend a hand," Bai Jiu said, greeting her with a smile, spatula in hand.
"No need to ask. I just followed my nose over here." Aunt Xu knew that newcomers usually hosted a welcome banquet, but she hadn’t expected Bai Jiu to invite her.
"Well, that works out perfectly. I traded a bit of food for some free labor," Bai Jiu joked, laughing.
As soon as Aunt Xu stepped into the kitchen, she was startled by the sheer amount of ingredients covering the floor and counters.
"Just how much food did you buy?" Nobody prepared this much for a dinner party!
"It’s not that much." Bai Jiu genuinely didn’t think it was excessive. With so many people coming, they would need at least two tables. "I just found out our research institute has its own supply and marketing cooperative. If I had known earlier, I wouldn’t have bothered running all the way to the city." Thinking about it still filled her with regret.
Aunt Xu laughed. "Blame me. Blame me for forgetting to remind you. I thought you already knew." She had genuinely forgotten to mention it.
"How could I know? I arrived completely in the dark, figuring it was just like back in the countryside where you have to go into town to buy things."
"Ah, it’s no big deal. You just had to make an exhausting round trip, that’s all. The prices here are pretty much the same as outside, though the stores in town generally have a more complete selection." Seeing her frustration, Aunt Xu offered some comforting words.
"Really? I actually think our cooperative here is much better stocked." After all, there was no way she could have bought those premium liquors outside. She certainly wouldn’t have had the chance to buy them by the crate.
Aunt Xu was a fast and efficient worker. With her help, Bai Jiu’s workload was lightened significantly. When the children returned, however, Deng Meina wasn’t with them, though Lan Jing had come.
"Where is Aunt Deng?" Bai Jiu asked when she saw the children run inside without anyone following them.
"Hello, Aunt Bai. My mom went to work. She won’t be back until she gets off shift," Lan Jing replied, constantly swallowing his saliva. The smell coming from the kitchen was incredible. "But I left a note for her. She’ll come over as soon as she’s done."
"I see," Bai Jiu said. She hadn’t known about Deng Meina’s work schedule and hadn’t thought to ask yesterday. Since Lan Jing had left a note, she could rest easy.
"You’re all craving a bite, aren’t you?" Bai Jiu teased, watching the four little ones gulping down their saliva. She brought out a large bowl and filled it with the freshly fried pork cracklings. "Go on and eat."
Lan Jing took the bowl, thanked her, and ran outside with it. The other three children chased right after him. Seeing their eager expressions, Bai Jiu and Aunt Xu burst into laughter.
"It really is great being a kid. No worries at all," Aunt Xu noted.
Meanwhile, Gao Zhijun had delivered the invitations to the others. After receiving the news, Geng Rong and Hong Wei met up, looking at each other, completely baffled as to why they had been invited.
"What are you looking at? Are you going or not?" Geng Rong, who had a straightforward personality, couldn’t help but ask.
Hong Wei was a Smiling Tiger. "I’m going. Why wouldn’t I?" They couldn’t exactly slap the man in the face by refusing. "We’ll bring a bottle of liquor with us when we go," Hong Wei added cheerfully.
"Deal. We’ll split the cost half and half," Geng Rong agreed. It wasn’t that he was stingy; it was just that decent liquor was genuinely expensive.
Chi had been following Professor Mu around all day. When Gao Zhijun bumped into him, he passed on the invitation as well, meaning everyone was finally accounted for. In fact, it was Chi who had delivered the news to Geng Rong and Hong Wei.
***
"Don’t you think this is too much food?" Aunt Xu asked, looking at the prepared dishes. There was chicken, pork, and even fish. How much money must this have cost?
"It’s not that much. We won’t be sitting at the same table as those stinky men. Us women and children will have our own table, and we’ll eat separately." She had planned it all out early on.
"Just how many people did you invite?" Aunt Xu asked, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy. If there were a lot of guests, she would be too embarrassed to stay for the meal, especially since she was bringing her whole family along.
"Not many." Bai Jiu didn’t hide anything and listed off the guests one by one.
Hearing the list, Aunt Xu breathed a sigh of relief. Calculating it in her head, there really weren’t that many people, but splitting them into two tables seemed far too expensive!
"Why don’t we just squeeze into one table? We women don’t eat that much anyway." Aunt Xu was a meticulous budgeter. She knew very well that Bai Jiu’s household registration hadn’t been transferred yet. With only one main breadwinner and two children to feed, their finances had to be tight.
Bai Jiu had no idea that Aunt Xu was worrying herself sick on her behalf and just continued beaming carelessly. "It’s fine. It’s a rare occasion, after all."
Helpless, Aunt Xu could only watch as she extravagantly prepared the ingredients.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for everyone to get off work. The tables began to fill up with various dishes. The children had long since lost their patience and taken their seats. However, they were all very well-behaved; they just sat there, breathing in the delicious aromas without touching the food.