Chapter 518: Gossip Survival System (17)

Although it couldn't compare to chicken, this sausage was made by Xie Yang using curly-haired pig meat, and it was extremely delicious.

At her daughter's insistence, Miao Lan sliced a few pieces at noon to make a meat-topped steamed rice (claypot rice), and in the evening, she steamed the remaining half with goose eggs; the whole family ate with great relish.

"This sausage is really good! I'll ask Xiao Xie how she made it later. I'll go get some meat, and we can stuff a few links ourselves; when we can't buy meat, we can just steam a piece of sausage to eat." Zheng Guangrong took a small sip of liquor while eating the sausage.

As long as their daughter was in good health, with the positions they both held, wasn't it easy to get whatever they wanted to eat?

"I'll go ask Yang Yang-jie in a bit."

"Don't go today." Miao Lan placed a slice of sausage into her daughter's bowl. "Her family is eating chicken tonight; if you go, they'll think you're begging for food. If you were four years old, I definitely wouldn't stop you."

"..."

However, Zheng Miaomiao didn't go, but Xie Yang came over.

She brought a bowl of Gastrodia chicken soup, the golden soup submerged with a few pieces of chicken, mushrooms, and Gastrodia, along with a bowl of boiled chestnuts: "For Miaomiao to eat."

Zheng Guangrong and Miao Lan looked at each other, both somewhat surprised.

Zheng Miaomiao happily took the bowl with both hands: "So fragrant! Thank you, Yang Yang-jie! I'll wash the bowl and bring it to your house in a bit."

"No rush."

Xie Yang waved her hand with a smile and went back.

Zheng Guangrong was delighted: "Since when did our daughter get so close to Xiao Xie? Thanks to our daughter, we get to drink chicken soup tonight!"

"Dad, you should thank me. If it weren't for me often running over to Grandma Xie's house to keep her company and help look after Xiao Shitou during those last few days of summer vacation, not only would you not be drinking chicken soup, you wouldn't be eating sausage either."

"That's true." Zheng Guangrong slapped his thigh and laughed heartily. "Daughter, then you keep running over there more often; I hope there's meat to eat next time."

Zheng Miaomiao rolled her eyes slightly: "Can we not be so tacky? Helping neighbors with what we can, how can we be doing it just for food?"

"Then these chestnuts are for your dad to have with his liquor; you don't eat them."

"Hey, hey, hey! Yang Yang-jie gave these to me to eat!"

"Didn't you say you weren't after the food?"

"Well, she gave them to me, so can I not eat them?"

"..."

Miao Lan watched the father and daughter bickering and couldn't help but laugh: "Eat, eat. If you don't eat, the food will get cold."

Xie Yang's family was also having dinner.

Tonight's dishes were quite rich: Gastrodia chicken soup, stir-fried chicken with chestnuts, and stir-fried garlic crown daisy picked from their own small vegetable garden.

There were meat, vegetables, and soup.

The staple food was freshly steamed rice.

"Let's eat!"

"It should be eaten while it's hot!"

As for the little cousin, they used rice flour ground from the new rice to cook a small bowl of rice paste; they held him in his stroller, feeding him a spoonful at a time, and he would occasionally make "yi-ya" baby sounds, looking like he was eating very happily too.

That night, Xie Yang wrote a letter back to the Chen Family.

Besides thanking them for the supplies they sent, she mainly mentioned the little cousin's recent situation to let them be happy as well.

When spring comes next year, she would take him to a photo studio to take a few first-birthday commemorative photos and send a copy over then.

The letter was written, but the return gifts were not yet settled.

During the following workdays, Xie Yang would go to the State-run Market, the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, and even the black market to look around at noon.

The black market wasn't as strictly policed as before, but the prices were high, so not many people still went.

Xie Yang walked around; she hadn't bought what she needed yet, but she saw someone urgently buying Wild Ginseng and took the opportunity to sell a thirty-year-old one.

With money in her pocket, she let loose and bought—

From the wool from the grasslands, she chose black, red, and royal blue, five jin of each; there was only three jin of air-dried yak meat, also from the grasslands, so she bought it all; seeing cotton, she thought that Dongjiang County didn't grow much, so she bought twenty jin; she weighed out ten jin each of northern-style nuts like hazelnuts, walnuts, and pine nuts; there weren't many autumn pears in total, so she bought them all, planning to boil them into Autumn Pear Paste; she tasted an apricot and it was good, so she bought a few jin to take back and dry into apricot slices, which could be eaten until the New Year; the newly arrived persimmons looked good, so she picked a few jin to make into dried persimmons later.

That was all she managed to find in the black market.

Afterwards, she took the ration coupons she had at home and went for a stroll through the State-run Market.

First, she bought four sets of festive quilt covers with red backgrounds and embroidery, with patterns like dragons and phoenixes or mandarin ducks playing in water, which were great for dowries or gifts; then she bought two boxes of Peking-style assorted pastries, two boxes of tea-flavored cookies, and four Peking-style soy-sauce braised pork knuckles that could be eaten hot or cold; finally, she went to the supplement counter and selected four jin of donkey-hide gelatin.

Except for keeping one jin of each of the three-colored wool and two jars of the Autumn Pear Paste after it was boiled, and the apricots and persimmons that needed to be dried, she divided everything else into two portions and mailed them to the Chen Family and the Qiu Family.

After the return gifts and letters were mailed out, Xie Yang put her energy back into her work.

He Wenli noticed that after she returned from sick leave, she was no longer as driven as before, instead clocking in and out right on time.

If you said she wasn't diligent, she was never late or left early, and all assigned Tasks were completed on time.

But if you said she was diligent, he never saw her take the initiative to stay and work overtime.

This made He Wenli, who wanted to see her suffer but couldn't, and wanted to find fault but couldn't find an opportunity, feel as uncomfortable as if ants were crawling inside him.

After Xie Yang left work, he circled her workstation a few times, and suddenly, he discovered that the screws and nuts in the scrap parts bin were not right...

"Factory Director, look, these were found in the scrap parts bin from Yichejian."

He Wenli held a few screws and nuts that were clearly different from the processed parts, bending over to show the Factory Director, sighing as he spoke:

"I'm telling you, this child, after taking a few days of sick leave, her work enthusiasm isn't as high as before; it turns out she's making extra money on the side... Sigh, it's also my fault. For her mother's sake, I've taken care of her a bit, which has spoiled her into not taking factory rules and regulations seriously. I have responsibility in this matter too; I will reflect on it when I get back and write a self-criticism to hand in."

The Factory Director examined the screws and nuts in his hand, lost in thought. After a long while, he said to He Wenli: "Go call Xiao Xie over."

He Wenli thought the Factory Director was going to lose his temper, a trace of secret joy rising in his heart, while his face showed a look of being disappointed that she hadn't lived up to expectations: "Factory Director, I'll go call her over right now. This child, I hope she hasn't gone astray for too long and can repent in time under the leadership's education..."

"Repent for what? Who committed a mistake?"

The Secretary in charge of Party building work walked out holding a tea mug.

He Wenli immediately recounted his discovery.

The Secretary frowned: "How many times have I emphasized this? The factory belongs to the public, not to individuals. How can someone still be pulling these kinds of stunts? It seems our factory's ideological education for employees isn't being grasped strictly enough."

As he spoke, he looked at the Factory Director: "Old Yang, see when you have time? Let's hold an all-factory employee meeting and tighten their screws again..."

Factory Director Yang said helplessly: "Old Liang, this matter hasn't been verified yet. I'll call her over to ask first. If she really is taking advantage of the public to line her own pockets, then we will definitely criticize and educate her in front of all the factory employees."

"Fine! Then hurry up and verify it; I happen to have some free time right now."