Chapter 8: The First Mission 8

Liu Wen woke up early and went to cook porridge; Lin Yuan had already finished grinding the soy milk.

"The soy milk for today is ready," Lin Yuan said, setting the raw soy milk aside. "I'm going up the mountain to see if there's any prey."

After watching Lin Yuan leave, Liu Wen began making breakfast. Currently, in the youth courtyard, she and Wang Juan were the only female educated youths; Li Wan and Li Ya Nan had already gone to the farm a few days ago.

Once breakfast was prepared, Liu Wen took a bucket to water the soybeans and vegetables she had planted. Looking at the sprouted soybeans, she felt a sense of joy.

"More soybeans, and then I'll have tofu to eat and soy milk to drink, and I can cook delicious food."

Although she had adapted to meals with little oil these days, if possible, she still preferred dishes that were glistening with oil. Not only did they look good, but they tasted better and were more appetizing with rice.

Unfortunately, she would have to wait until October to have soybean oil. "At least I can see the dawn."

Even though she still had to wait, seeing the light made Liu Wen feel motivated again.

Lin Yuan came down from the mountain carrying a bundle of firewood. Seeing Liu Wen watering the plants, he originally intended to help, but as he walked over, he heard her muttering a menu to herself.

Was she craving something, or was she planning to make gourmet food? Lately, Liu Wen had been doing all the cooking, and it could be said that everyone's food quality had improved significantly.

Even with similar ingredients, she somehow managed to turn them into delicacies. Lin Yuan felt great anticipation for the dishes she was naming; he really wanted to taste just how delicious the food was that could make her mutter about it incessantly.

After finishing watering the soybeans, Liu Wen planned to return to the youth courtyard. Once she finished breakfast, she had to go to the fields to work.

Although it wasn't the busy farming season and it was summer, so there shouldn't be much work, she still had to report in every day and complete the tasks assigned by the village committee. Even if the work points weren't many right now, they would affect how much grain could be distributed at the end of the year.

Although because of her excellent cooking, several male educated youths—represented by Lin Yuan—had said she could provide less of the staple foods, how could Liu Wen bring herself to do that? Besides, there was no need to mail it home, so it was better to just eat it.

"The dishes you named—can you actually make them?" Lin Yuan suddenly had an idea.

Ahhh! How could someone—Liu Wen was startled by Lin Yuan's sudden voice. She didn't understand what was happening, and more importantly, she didn't know how much he had heard.

Liu Wen truly didn't understand; Lin Yuan clearly looked like a gentleman, yet he actually eavesdropped. One really couldn't judge a person by their appearance.

"I'm sorry about just now," Lin Yuan said, only then remembering to apologize for his eavesdropping.

Since he had already apologized, she couldn't keep harping on it; she could only blame herself for not being careful. "It's fine."

"Can you make all those dishes you named just now?" Lin Yuan asked cautiously.

"Which dishes?" Liu Wen had named quite a few just now and had already forgotten.

"Squirrel-shaped Mandarin Fish," Lin Yuan asked in a low voice.

That dish! Liu Wen nodded. "I can, but unfortunately, I don't have the ingredients."

There was no helping it; even if she knew how to cook, she couldn't overcome the most important problem: the shortage of ingredients.

Although he hadn't seen Liu Wen make this dish before, Lin Yuan had confidence in her. "If I say I can get the ingredients, could you help me make a dish?"

From their time together, Lin Yuan knew she was someone who could keep a secret.

"I can pay a processing fee." Lin Yuan paused; the labor fee should be paid.

A processing fee? Wow! Liu Wen's eyes instantly widened. She could actually make money! My goodness!

Don't blame her for being money-grubbing; it was unavoidable. She was truly poor, and there were too many things she needed to buy, all of which required money.

Liu Wen had previously asked Wang Juan; after a year, after deducting the distributed grain, one could get about a hundred yuan, and that was assuming she earned high work points.

Although Liu Wen worked very hard, she couldn't make up for her poor physical foundation. Additionally, because she looked young, the tasks assigned by the village were relatively light, meaning she didn't earn many work points.

Furthermore, she had only arrived in July, meaning she had only labored for half a year. It was easy to guess that the money distributed wouldn't be much.

However, Lin Yuan had looked after her quite a bit. The firewood was something they went to the mountain to chop and carry down themselves. Now that Lin Yuan needed her help, was it a bit much to talk about money?

"No, no need." Liu Wen thought that perhaps it was just helping once, or perhaps it was for the educated youths to eat, so she certainly couldn't take the money.

Lin Yuan looked around. Although he knew that at this hour, others were either not yet up or wouldn't be walking this way, he still remained cautious.

Seeing Lin Yuan's careful manner, Liu Wen felt like crying. Looking at how cautious he was, she told herself she must be careful in the future, even if she were alone.

"It's not for the youth courtyard to eat, but for helping others cook."

"Don't worry, I can also make money." From Wang Juan's occasional remarks, Lin Yuan knew this girl's relationship with her family wasn't great.

She had been here for over a month and had only sent one letter home at the beginning, but she hadn't received any reply, and she hadn't sent any more letters.

"There are mountains around here, and it will get quite cold in the winter. I don't know how thick the quilts you brought are, but it's better to have thick quilts."

"And you don't have a thermos, do you?" It was hot now, so not having a thermos was fine, but once winter came, it would be difficult to even drink hot water without one.

Ahhh, no way, thick quilts for winter? Even though Liu Wen had brought two quilts, neither was very thick. As for a thermos, she wanted to buy one too.

"But whether it's a thermos or cotton, you need coupons." Liu Wen sighed helplessly. Sigh, it really was difficult.

"We can cooperate." Lin Yuan reached out his hand. "I can help you get cotton, and I can also find someone to help you make a cotton quilt."

"I can also help you get a thermos."

"Don't worry, I can definitely get it sorted for you." Lin Yuan indicated that none of these were problems.

Liu Wen thought for a moment. "Deal, I have no problem with that."

"Good, I'll notify you when the time comes. I'll take you out to cook." Although everyone got along well, Lin Yuan preferred to avoid the others for certain matters.

Sometimes it wasn't intentional, but a slip of the tongue could lead to a few words being spread. If the other party didn't notice, it was fine, but if they encountered someone calculating, it would be a huge trouble.

Lin Yuan didn't want to deal with such trouble. Although he was confident he could solve it, it would still be a hassle.

Take her out to cook? Liu Wen didn't mind, but the problem was she still had to go to work.

"Don't worry, I'll handle it." In short, Lin Yuan could help solve these small troubles.

Liu Wen thought of Lin Yuan's popularity in the village. Alright, he should be able to solve it, so she stopped dwelling on it.

With the matter settled, Lin Yuan naturally prepared to leave. After taking two steps, he said, "You're planting quite a lot of soybeans. Have you thought about selling them when the time comes?"

Sell soybeans? Liu Wen hadn't even considered it and shook her head directly. "I'm not considering it. I want to make soybean oil."

"That way, when cooking, I can use more oil." If there were no way to make money, Liu Wen might have considered it, but now that there was a way to earn, she certainly wouldn't let her palate suffer.

Lin Yuan understood. Ever since Liu Wen started cooking, the consumption of oil had risen, but the food was delicious.

As it turned out, they thought they were using enough oil, but in Liu Wen's eyes, they were still being frugal with it. He looked forward to seeing her true capabilities in action.

(End of Chapter)