Chapter 1678 - Eating Arranged Meals

"Have you implemented the arranged meal system?" Yun Suji asked. "Let's do the arranged meal then. Remember—I want to eat at a villager's home, not a cadre's home. And by the way, everyone here is from Shandong, correct? Just cook according to Shandong custom. No need for rice on my account."

The village head assented, but unwilling to trust anyone else, went to make the arrangements personally. One of the Chief's soldiers followed close behind—to ensure the Chief's food safety.

While Yun Suji waited to meet the group heads from each Jia, the village head went door to door issuing instructions:

"Zhao Xinjia's family—arranged meal today. Kill a chicken at your house, quickly now."

"What? Where should you send it when it's done? Woman, send it to the Number One Family."

"Liu Chuan's family—arranged meal today. Cook fish at your house. Don't think I don't know you've been fishing in the river; your third son just walked past with a fish basket, bare-bottomed. Use good live fish, or it'll be your hide. Send it to the Number One Family when done."

"Cai Pi, go to your uncle's place and gather porcelain from those households. Send it to the Number One Family. Official reception."

He then explained to the soldier following him: "The Number One Family is our designated household for arranged meals. I don't trust the others."

But the soldier replied: "The Chief's safety comes first. We can't have food sent from various places, nor use local tableware. Everything must be prepared in one location."

"Good heavens, how can we possibly manage that in time?"

"Just follow orders. That household up ahead—I see dried fish hanging by the door—we'll use that one. I checked it just now; it's clean and tidy. As for ingredients, we can't use just anything either. Keep it simple. I'll supervise the entire process."

The village head looked at the indicated household and muttered: "Bad luck."

But the soldier had already walked in on his own. The village head had no choice but to follow. "Kong Xiaode—arranged meal at your house today." He punctuated this announcement by glaring fiercely at the householder.

The head of this household was also from Shandong. Only he and his wife were home. The Kong family had never participated in this system before. First, they didn't understand that an arranged meal simply meant cooking on someone's behalf with payment afterward—they assumed it was no different from corvée labor or forced levies. Second, they didn't realize that ordinary home cooking would suffice; they imagined government officials required fine cuisine. Holding these misconceptions, they panicked enormously. When they saw the soldier enter, look around the house, and then carefully inspect the grain cabinet and rice jar, their anxiety intensified.

This family had few laborers and harvested little grain. Unaccustomed to eating unpolished rice, their daily fare consisted of coarse grain pancakes with scallion sauce—or, for variety, coarse grain steamed buns. The householder thought neither option was presentable. Flatbreads would be proper fare, but he had no white flour, so he had to borrow a ladle of whole wheat flour from a neighbor and told his wife to knead the dough. He also fished out a few eggs from his chicken coop, discovered there wasn't a drop of oil in the house, and had to borrow some sesame oil from another neighbor.

When Yun Suji arrived at the Kong household with his guards, he found a winnowing basket of neatly arranged flatbreads on the main room's square table, a coarse glazed clay pot filled with unpolished rice porridge, a plate of scrambled eggs with dried shrimp in the center, and four small dishes arrayed around it: pickled mustard tuber strips, cucumber with sauce, pickled chive flowers, and fermented bean curd.

One glance told him he was being treated as a guest—wheat flour was a rare commodity in Lingao. The village head must have given special instructions when arranging the meal. He washed his hands and sat down. Kong Xiaode respectfully presented a bowl of cloudy wine with both hands:

"Please eat, Chief. In our poor household, there's nothing worth eating. Please have some sugarcane wine!"

The more obsequious the courtesy, the more uncomfortable Yun Suji felt. While accepting the wine, he said: "I'll help myself! Honestly, friend—if we're eating from the same pot, why cook separately?"

"To tell the truth, Chief, we hadn't planned to prepare food at all. With the rice harvest in and winter rest approaching, we normally skip lunch," Kong Xiaode explained.

Kong's wife added: "Chief! There's really nothing here—just a few cold vegetable dishes! Not even a meat course! Back home, we couldn't have put together a meal like this even for New Year! It was only after coming to Hainan Island the year before last that we could scrape this much together!"

Yun Suji nodded, sensing this family was quite sensible. He sat down and ate slowly with his four guards. The Kong couple stood attending to them. Unable to tolerate this, Yun Suji insisted they sit as well. The couple couldn't refuse and reluctantly dragged bamboo stools over to perch at the side.

Between bites, Yun Suji asked: "You still eat only two meals a day?"

"We do indeed. During the busy farming season, we eat three—the work demands it; you can't hold up without more food." Kong Xiaode pulled out his pipe tobacco, then put it away again.

"It's no matter. Go ahead and smoke. I enjoy a few puffs myself."

Kong Xiaode packed his pipe bowl and bowed slightly. "Please forgive me, sir." He struck a match against his shoe sole and lit up.

Seeing his expression had relaxed somewhat, Yun Suji pressed on: "Does everyone in the village eat two meals a day?"

"Everyone still eats two!"

"Life seems just average, then."

Kong Xiaode couldn't quite parse the meaning behind these words. He drew thoughtfully on his pipe before replying slowly: "Nowadays, during the busy season we can eat three meals—some light, some substantial—and we even have white rice. In the past, I never dreamed of such things! These past few years back home, we couldn't even manage proper grain. During the spring famine, even households with some reserves had to gnaw on steamed corn bread." Pain flickered across his weathered features as he spoke of the past.

Yun Suji suddenly stood, walked to the stove, and lifted a bamboo cover. Beneath it, as he'd suspected, lay a stack of pancakes. Though not from Shandong himself, he was well acquainted with Shandong commoner customs: they typically made large batches of pancakes and stored them in a pancake stack to eat gradually.

The stack was about eighty percent full—the grain reserves were evidently ample.

Kong Xiaode panicked and jumped to his feet. "Chief, Chief..."

Disregarding the protest, Yun Suji picked up a pancake, returned to the table, tore off a piece, piled some pickled shepherd's purse on top, and ate heartily.

The pancake was sour, and the coarse texture indicated a high proportion of sweet potato flour. He chewed for a long time before swallowing, then washed it down with a mouthful of porridge.

"That's peasant roughage," Kong Xiaode said hastily. "Don't let it damage your teeth, sir! If there's not enough, we'll bake more flatbreads."

"If you can eat it, why can't I?" Yun Suji smiled. "It makes for a nice change of taste—trying something different."

Kong Xiaode couldn't fathom what this Chief, wherever he came from, found appealing about coarse grain pancakes. Remembering the village head's fierce glare, he dared not say more, only smiling apologetically and continuously.

As they talked, a little girl appeared at the doorway. She looked about five or six years old, with two braided pigtails and a coarse cloth jacket. Watching them eat flatbreads, she put a finger in her mouth and drooled, her face a picture of longing.

Yun Suji found her charming and called out: "Come in."

He called several times, but the girl wouldn't enter. Kong Xiaode said: "Hei Ni, come inside. The Chief is calling you."

Hei Ni was evidently familiar with the Kong household and entered at his words. Though a bit dark-skinned, her features were regular and she was chubby and adorable. Yun Suji couldn't help thinking of his own daughter. He took a flatbread from the table and offered it to her: "Hei Ni, eat."

The girl still didn't dare accept. Kong Xiaode spoke again: "The Chief gave it to you—take it and eat."

Only then did Hei Ni take the flatbread. She stood by the table staring with bright dark eyes, looking from one person to another, utterly endearing. Yun Suji teased her while asking: "Is this your child?"

Kong Xiaode sighed. "How would I be so fortunate? This is the daughter of Old Yang next door—when she got on the ship, she was bare-bottomed, thin as a skeleton, barely a breath in her body. But at least that one breath remained!" He drew on his pipe again as he spoke. Yun Suji noticed tears glistening in his eyes and understood that sad memories had been stirred.

While they were talking, Old Yang arrived looking for Kong Xiaode. Entering the doorway, he encountered Yun Suji and his own daughter. Seeing the important official eating with evident relish while Hei Ni ate alongside him, he froze in surprise. He first bowed to Yun Suji, then scolded Hei Ni: "You little corpse! What are you doing coming here to scavenge food!" He raised his hand to strike her.

Yun Suji quickly intervened: "What are you doing? Children are greedy—what does a few mouthfuls matter?" He turned to Hei Ni and added: "Eat, don't be afraid. There's more right here."

Old Yang then addressed Kong Xiaode: "Old Kong! Everyone else has already applied ammonia water to their grain. My son's been pulled out for corvée again. Could you help me apply it this afternoon?"

"I have to apply ammonia water this afternoon too!" Kong Xiaode replied.

"Then I'll help as well. We'll do yours first; I'll come late and then we'll do mine after—that works too!"

Yun Suji asked: "Old Yang, what corvée is your son doing?"

"The organization sent him to the reservoir construction site to repair canals. Every family must send at least one strong laborer. I only have one son. When he goes, I'm the only one left to do the farm work."

"Even with only one son, he's still assigned corvée?"

"Who cares whether you have one son or several? When they tell you to go, you go. Otherwise, they say you're 'anti-production' or 'dragging your feet.' Getting tied up by the militia and made to dig sand is something I can't bear. Anyway, these old bones can still manage. I just ask neighbors for help to cope. These days, life is peaceful, and having rice to eat is considered pretty good."

Kong Xiaode sensed something improper in this conversation and winked at Old Yang. But Old Yang happened to be a garrulous sort, and once he started talking, he couldn't stop. "Never mind that there are no strong laborers—even if a family has only women, they still get called to the construction site. Last winter, Chief Du insisted on building some 'Thousand Women Embankment,' requiring each village to send women to the work site. Something about 'women can hold up half the sky.' Specifically calling women to repair embankments—unheard of since the beginning of time. Southern barbarian women have it easy—never bound their feet, blessed with big natural feet. Our women are half-crippled even after unbinding. Being able to work the fields at all is an accomplishment, yet they're made to carry heavy loads! It's not just that they went—every household in the village lost its cook, the whole family with nothing to eat or drink! And the work on site was grueling too. After a few days, some injured muscles and bones, some vomited blood from exhaustion. Good heavens, when they came back, they needed people to take care of them! I have no idea what this Chief Du was thinking."

Yun Suji's smile faded. This "Thousand Women Embankment" was a water conservancy project personally championed by Du Wen. The Executive Committee had approved it at the time, believing its symbolic significance was considerable and that infrastructure genuinely required manpower. He hadn't expected the actual situation to be like this!