With Gao Zhijun leaving for work late and returning early every day, the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived in the blink of an eye.
The festival fell earlier this year. Usually, it wouldn’t take place until at least October on the Gregorian calendar, but this year it landed right in the middle of September.
"Pick up my teacher tonight and bring him over for dinner. He hasn’t visited in a long time," Bai Jiu said in exasperation, looking at the man who had been shadowing her since early morning. As the festival drew closer, she wanted to give the old man a chance to relax.
She wondered what was going on with him. He used to be so busy that he was practically invisible, but lately, he followed her around like a lost puppy every single day. If she hadn’t sent the two children to the compound’s kindergarten on September 1st, she’d have three shadows trailing her instead of one—one large and two small, comprising two males and one female.
"Okay," Gao Zhijun agreed, but he didn’t budge an inch.
"Then go!" Bai Jiu was getting dizzy from him circling her. She thought, "What on earth is wrong with this bastard? He’s insatiable at night, and now he’s glued to me during the day. Doesn’t he know how annoying this is?"
"There’s no rush. He doesn’t have time to see me right now," Gao Zhijun replied. His prototype was still missing a few materials, so he had asked Mr. Xu to help track them down. With nothing else to do, he figured he might as well stay home and spend time with his wife and children. Going to the lab only meant doing repetitive tasks anyway. It was much more interesting to stay at home.
"Then go sit down somewhere. Just stop following me," Bai Jiu said, nursing a growing headache.
"I’ll help you with the chores." There was no way Gao Zhijun was going to just sit around.
Bai Jiu chuckled. "Alright then. Go to the backyard and fertilize the soil with manure, then scrub the toilet clean." If he was that bored, she’d give him something to do.
Gao Zhijun hadn’t expected her to be so ruthless. All he wanted was to spend a little more time with her!
"What’s wrong? You don’t want to?" Bai Jiu stopped in her tracks and stared at him.
He immediately shook his head. "No, I’d love to! I’ll go right now. I’ll even pull the weeds while I’m at it." Since the autumn crops had been planted, weeds had been growing wildly around the vegetable seedlings.
"Go on, then," Bai Jiu said, too lazy to scold him since he was being so obedient.
Once he was busy in the yard, she grabbed a basket and headed out. Meat couldn’t be stored for long at home, so she needed to buy some fresh cuts. It was too risky to take items out of her interdimensional space without first leaving the house, and with people always watching at the supply cooperative, she definitely didn’t dare to pull things out of thin air there. Her only option was to go shopping like everyone else.
The sounds from the front yard didn’t reach the back, so Gao Zhijun had no idea when Bai Jiu left the house.
"Are you off to buy groceries too, Aunt Xu?" Bai Jiu quickened her pace to catch up when she spotted the older woman.
Hearing Bai Jiu’s voice, Aunt Xu stopped and waited for her.
"I sure am! The Mid-Autumn Festival is right around the corner, so I want to buy some nuts and dried fruits to make mooncakes. Is your family making them this year?" Aunt Xu’s face bloomed into a bright smile.
It was only during holidays that families could loosen their purse strings a bit; they could never bear to be so extravagant on ordinary days. Making mooncakes, however, was a skill Bai Jiu genuinely lacked.
"You actually know how to make mooncakes, Aunt Xu?" she asked enviously. She absolutely loved eating mooncakes, especially the ones with lotus seed paste and salted egg yolk. She could easily wolf down two at a time without worrying about the sweetness at all.
"Of course I do!" Aunt Xu immediately launched into a description of her mooncake-making techniques, making Bai Jiu practically drool.
"Can I make them with you, Aunt Xu?" Bai Jiu asked. "I’ll provide all the ingredients, of course, and you can help me make them. Then we can split the finished mooncakes between our two families. How does that sound?" Since she didn’t know how to do it herself, she had to improvise.
She had never expected Aunt Xu to know how to make Cantonese-style mooncakes. After all, those hadn’t even spread to this region in this era yet! Since it was Aunt Xu’s signature craft, Bai Jiu didn’t have the cheek to ask to be taught for free.
"Oh, it’s no big deal! We’ll just make them together. You don’t need to provide the ingredients—I’ll teach you." To Aunt Xu, it wasn’t some valuable trade secret; practically anyone could learn it. Besides, her own rascal of a son ate plenty of Bai Jiu’s food on regular days, so helping her make a few mooncakes was nothing.
"Ah, teach me? Is that really okay?" Bai Jiu hadn’t expected her to be so generous.
Aunt Xu smiled dismissively. "As long as you don’t mind my poor craftsmanship, it’s fine." Boasting about her own skills was one thing, but getting someone else’s genuine approval was another. She had only been bragging earlier because she hadn’t expected Bai Jiu to actually want to join her.
"How could I? Your craftsmanship is definitely top-notch, Aunt Xu. I guess I’ll be taking advantage of your kindness, then." Bai Jiu wasn’t one to dawdle. Since Aunt Xu genuinely didn’t mind, she wasn’t going to put on a show of false politeness.
The two women chatted and laughed as they made their way to the supply cooperative. However, by the time they arrived, the place was already packed with people.
"It looks like everyone is here to buy things for the festival," Aunt Xu sighed as she looked at the massive crowd. It wasn’t that people hadn’t celebrated holidays before, but this was the first time she had seen so many people out shopping at once. It seemed that everyone’s living standards had improved over the past year.
"Let’s charge in," Bai Jiu said, already getting impatient. What if everything sold out?
"Alright."
The two of them plunged into the crowd like drops of water falling into the ocean, vanishing without making a splash.
Bai Jiu’s luck must have been terrible. After getting separated from Aunt Xu, she made her way to the staple foods section, only to unexpectedly run into Lin Po.
"Oh my, look who we have here!" Lin Po had apparently forgotten her previous lesson. After staying quiet for a few weeks, she was back to her old ways—gossiping everywhere she went.
She gossiped about Bai Jiu the most, always reminding her listeners not to spread it around. Perhaps the administration department had handled the previous incident a little too well, scaring everyone into silence, which resulted in Lin Po’s rumors dying out before they could spread. This had granted Bai Jiu a solid month of peace and quiet. She just hadn’t expected the old woman to be so reckless, trying to stir up trouble all over again.
"If it isn’t the wife of Mr. Gao from our compound! Why are you rushing out here bright and early to snatch things away from us common folk?" Lin Po truly had a death wish. Her voice was sharp and piercing.
For a moment, Bai Jiu couldn’t figure out what the woman was trying to achieve.
"Is there a problem?" Bai Jiu stood her ground and looked at her. "Or are you saying these goods aren’t allowed to be sold to the families of leaders?"
Gao Zhijun was a director and a leader; she wasn’t afraid to own up to that title. What was wrong with that? If Lin Po had a problem with it, she should raise a more capable grandson to surpass him!
Wherever Lin Po went, Granny Ding was bound to follow. Still mindful of their last lesson, Granny Ding saw Bai Jiu’s expression darken and immediately stepped forward to smooth things over.
"No, it’s nothing like that! Please go ahead, Comrade Bai Jiu." With that, Granny Ding stepped aside, offering up her spot in line.
Seeing her theatrical display, Bai Jiu let out a cold laugh. It was a truly insidious move. If Bai Jiu actually cut in line to buy her groceries, rumors would immediately spread about her being arrogant and overbearing, using her husband’s leadership position to exploit others. This Granny Ding was a two-faced snake—kind on the outside, but vicious on the inside.
"No need. I’m waiting in line." Bai Jiu wasn’t going to fall for that trap. Giving her a side-eye, she stayed firmly in her own spot, waiting for the people ahead of her to pay and collect their goods.
"Stop putting on an act." Lin Po couldn’t stand the sight of her. She acted so high and mighty, as if no one was worthy of speaking to her.
But the old woman never stopped to consider that no one would want to talk to someone who picked a fight every single time they met. Bai Jiu’s temper had actually mellowed out significantly since she arrived here. Back in her old village, she would have dragged the woman’s entire family to hell and back by now. It was a pity that no one here had ever seen Bai Jiu’s true wrath; otherwise, they would have been giving her a wide berth long ago.
Bai Jiu clearly heard Lin Po’s muttering, but she couldn’t be bothered to stoop to her level. Even if she didn’t care about her own reputation, she had to think about Gao Zhijun’s. Since it was a sensitive period at work, the last thing she wanted was to cause trouble for him.
Of course, if Lin Po dared to say one more word, Bai Jiu wouldn’t hold back either.