In the dark of night, ZhiXia lay in her grandmother's arms, really feeling she was happy enough already.
Look, there are still people who truly love and care for her.
As for parental love, which life is ever perfect?
Perhaps they are just that one imperfection in her life.
Knowing contentment leads to happiness, people should be satisfied, she comforted herself in her heart.
Before dawn had broken, the old lady was already busy getting up.
ZhiXia had just opened her eyes when the old lady said, "Your fourth brother is leaving at noon today. I told Mrs. Zhou last night to come early to help prepare some food. Your mother has been so busy these days she probably won't have time to make food for him."
Going into the army, these first couple years away from home were going to be tough, new recruits couldn't come home for two years, and there was intense training too. Thinking about it made the old lady's heart ache unbearably.
But unlike Zhou Nan, the old lady was broad-minded, and understood that she couldn't selfishly delay her child's future.
"These last few days I also prepared some snacks and things to eat for fourth brother," ZhiXia also got up with her, "Don't worry grandmother, I'll go help Mrs. Zhou make food. You were up so late last night you didn't rest much, you should sleep a little longer."
"ZhiXia, if anyone needs more rest it's you. And your belly..." the old lady anxiously and carefully asked her, "You're really alright? Don't force yourself child. Remember, your third brother is a doctor. Our family might not have much, but we do have some connections at the hospital."
"I'm really fine. And more than anyone, I cherish my own life. If anything happens I definitely won't hide it from you all," ZhiXia said.
The old lady also couldn't fall back asleep, so the two of them just got up.
ZhiXia knew her grandmother had never once set foot in a kitchen, she didn't plan on making her work at all.
The old lady knew her own lack of cooking skills, she didn't want to torture her grandson's stomach either. She just watched from the side, telling ZhiXia, "There's fine wheat flour in the cabinet, use as much as you need, no need to save it. Your fourth brother has a big appetite, make more for him to bring."
"Okay." ZhiXia certainly wouldn't stand on ceremony, she reached in and took out the small amount of wheat flour from the cabinet.
The An Family's life was a little better off, everyone had pretty good salaries and benefits, but their daily staple was still steamed buns made from coarse wheat flour. Only once in awhile did they use fine flour to improve their meals.
In this era, no one was well off, even those who were well off didn't dare spend money openly, mostly they hid away their assets afraid of others finding out.
And buying grain wasn't so easy either. Because of the shortage of goods, each person only had a small ration every month. To buy more you not only needed money but ration tickets, and a grain registration card and side dish registration card. Trying to buy more through official channels wasn't realistic.
She'd heard her fourth brother would spend two or three days on the train. She had to make food that was not just enough to eat, but could keep.
ZhiXia planned to make two kinds of flatbread, pan-fried buns and long lasting dried crackers that were a staple travel food at this time, and didn't spoil easily.
She also had pickled cucumbers and spiced beef sauce prepared in her room. Rolled up with some vegetables in the flatbread, there was enough for one day's portions. The next two days he would just have to make do with the dried crackers and beef sauce.
Actually, she had also made some crispy biscuits in her room too. But without an oven in the house, she didn't dare let the old lady know.
As for her fourth brother, when he got on the train and discovered these things, he would probably just assume ZhiXia had bought them.
The old lady watched ZhiXia knead the dough, using hot water, then cold water, and adding oil. She realized this was quite an eye-opener.
Even back when they had the big kitchen and chef, he didn't make such complex dishes did he?
"ZhiXia, who taught you these cooking skills?" the old lady asked her.
"No one really taught me. I just figured it out myself over time," ZhiXia could only lie to her grandmother. "I was often hungry in the past, and when I was hungry I would think of all kinds of delicious foods, and figure out in my mind how to make them taste good."
The old lady's eyes flickered slightly, "Oh."
Actually, deep down she didn't quite believe it.
Seeing how skilled ZhiXia was, it didn't seem like her first time making these foods.
And she knew what conditions were like in the countryside. Their staple foods were mostly coarse wheat noodles. The Gaos weren't a wealthy family either. Seeing the Gaos were willing to make the child swap, their personal characters meant the family food was unlikely to be that good.
Some people had talent in certain areas, that she believed. But no matter how good someone's talent, it was impossible to be born already knowing foods she had never even seen before.
This was also why ZhiXia had a trove of knowledge, yet never revealed anything different in front of her family.
Like how many books wrote of female leads getting things from the black market, or buying things from shops, much of it wasn't realistic.
The An family's circumstances weren't so dire that the children needed to take risks going to the black market. Such places did exist, but mostly only people in utter desperation would go take that risk.
In the age of ration tickets, you needed tickets to buy anything. Like that time Zhou Nan used up the whole family's fabric ration tickets to buy ZhiXia two sets of clothes.
As for preparing a dowry for Gao Meiyun later, she probably went to trade with others for those tickets.
But she still didn't expect the old lady's thoughts to be so astute. She was able to guess something was different just from ZhiXia's cooking methods.
ZhiXia slapped the flatbreads out just as Mrs. Zhou arrived, still holding the vegetables and meat she had rushed to buy from the veggie stand and meat counter early that morning. "Whew, good thing I went early today. So many people buying vegetables and meat, I stood in line forever it felt like, I rushed over worried I wouldn't make it in time to prepare for ZhiAng."
"You came at just the right time. ZhiXia got up early this morning and has been baking flatbread. Now that you bought meat, we can make some spiced shredded pork rolls," said the old lady.
Mrs. Zhou usually just stir-fried the shredded lean meat, but ZhiXia had her marinate it first.
Sure enough, the marinated shredded meat tasted even more fragrant and tender when stir-fried, with a nice slippery mouthfeel. After the patriarch got up he ate two pork rolls in one go before stopping.
After breakfast, they hurriedly went out.
Zhou Nan was still at home gathering things for ZhiAng, packing things left and right. He complained she was packing too much.
ZhiXia and her grandparents came in from the entrance and immediately saw ZhiAng's even more upright figure in his military uniform.
"Fourth brother, you look so handsome in uniform!" ZhiXia said happily as she entered, "This morning grandmother and I made some food for you to eat on the way."
Zhou Nan came over helplessly, "Perfect timing then. I finished taking care of the elders and children this morning, just in time to make him a day's worth of food. I was worried he wouldn't have enough to eat on the way and would have to buy food himself. He's so picky, later when he gets there he might find he's missing things and it'll be hard to buy. "
The old lady also advised, "Your mother is right. Better safe on a long road, no harm in bringing more."
"But I do have to be able to carry it all! You're trying to exhaust me to death on the road with all these big and little packages," ZhiAng groaned, taking the package from ZhiXia's hands and immediately grinning, "But I definitely have to bring what my little sister made for me, even if it kills me I can't throw it away."
The old lady laughed at him, and stuffed some money and ration tickets into his hands. She repeatedly told him to write home often once he arrived, and to send telegrams or call if anything urgent came up.
Seeing it was almost time, the whole family finally prepared to set out for the meeting point lugging large and small packages.
