Wang Erniu didn’t believe it. She stubbornly believed that Chen Xueniang’s refusal to get married was an attempt to flirt and be promiscuous. However, under Wang Cuilan’s threat and bribery, she assured Wang Cuilan that she would never scold Chen Xueniang again, nor would she beat Xiaoyan anymore.
After such an incident, both Wang Cuilan and Feng Qingxue lost all their sleepiness.
Just after sending away Wang Erniu and her daughter, there was a sequence of four chimes. The mother and daughter looked up to see the wooden wall clock pointing exactly at four o’clock.
"Shoot!" Wang Cuilan, being older, found it hard to sleep if she missed her sleep window. She said to Feng Qingxue, "You can go lie down in the room for a while. I’m going to queue up for meat. When I get back, I’ll make minced meat for Xibao. Also, I’ll check if there’s any pork liver."
"Aunt, I’ll accompany you. I can’t sleep either." The matter of favoring boys over girls unsettled Feng Qingxue.
When distressed, it’s hard to sleep well.
The three of them, along with Xibao, slept on the big bed in the east room. With Cheng’s mother keeping an eye on Xibao, she didn’t worry.
If there were guests at home, men and women must sleep separately. Even the male and female homeowners couldn’t share a room. This made Feng Qingxue feel rather embarrassed, fearing she would disrupt Cheng Baoguo and Wang Cuilan’s marital life. At one point, she had considered renting a place outside, but the Cheng Family insisted she stay. In the end, she didn’t move out. Luckily, she could go home once a week.
Feng Qingxue insisted on coming along and Wang Cuilan got a cloth bag.
Looking at Feng Qingxue’s puzzled gaze, she laughed, "It’s a waste of manpower for two people to queue for meat. You queue at the grain shop and I will queue for meat. The earlier we go, the sooner we’ll get our turn. If we go late, we might not be able to buy anything. Tomorrow is Sunday, a day off. Those who are unable to go shopping for meat and grain due to work will definitely swarm the market. Let’s not join the chaos!"
If it hadn’t been for Zheng Xiaoyan’s incident, she had planned to queue up on Sunday, shop at midnight, and then take proper rest.
Both Cheng’s father and mother were elderly. They needed to take care of Xibao during the day. Cheng Baoguo and Wang Cuilan were not at ease letting the two old people line up early in the morning to buy grain. So, they had done nothing after their salary and grain tickets were issued at the beginning of the month. They had been eating stored grain and the grain brought by Feng Qingxue.
"Alright!" Feng Qingxue nodded. She had learned a lot about the city’s conditions after living in the Cheng Family’s house for so long.
Wang Cuilan gave her the cloth bag, the Grain Ticket, grain book, and a sack for rice. But she didn’t give her any money as she knew Feng Qingxue had enough of her own, and as the grain price was low, she wouldn’t spend much. This arrangement also made Feng Qingxue’s stay more comfortable.
"Only your uncle and I have a salary and grain ticket in our family. He gets twenty-seven jin and I get twenty-five jin, with a proportion of seven coarse and three fine. You can buy as you see fit. Cornmeal has been reclassified as coarse grain. You buy some cornmeal, plus some sweet potato flour. Mixing the two is okay. If there is fine grain available, buy some wheat flour and rice for Xibao to make noodles and meat porridge."
Feng Qingxue smiled, "I brought some rice and wheat flour."
She had brought both coarse and fine grains. Coarse grains were eaten by herself and the Cheng Family, while fine grains were basically for Xibao.
"What you brought is yours. What we buy is supplied by the state." The two turned off the light, took flashlights, and went out. Wang Cuilan pushed out Cheng Baoguo’s old bicycle, "Put the grain on the bike when it’s bought. It’s easier for the two of us."
The grain store and the grocery store were next to each other. They hadn’t even reached the stores when they saw long lines of people outside the doors.
Men and women, old and young, some dozing off sitting down, some sound asleep curled up on sacks, some chatting spiritedly with the people around. Between them, there were empty baskets weighed down with rocks, representing people in the queue.