Chapter 7: The First Mission 7

Wang Juan was somewhat aware that Liu Wen’s family situation, or rather her circumstances, weren't very good, but she hadn't expected her to have to cook for seven people. "You’re amazing."

"I'm used to it," Liu Wen replied indifferently. "By the way, I don't know your taste preferences, so I made it a bit bland today."

"It's fine, I'm not picky." It was hard enough to find someone who could cook well; why would she have so many demands? As long as it was edible, that was enough.

She really wasn't demanding. As Liu Wen flipped the fish from time to time, Wang Juan helped out. "I’m really looking forward to today’s meal."

She had secretly snuck a taste of the fish soup earlier; it tasted truly excellent. She was genuinely looking forward to the days ahead.

Soon, the grilled fish was ready. Liu Wen quickly reheated the fish soup, added the prepared vegetables, let it boil for a moment, and then poured it into a large soup bowl.

Since Wang Juan had said they were eating separately, Liu Wen didn't call out to Li Yanan and Li Wang.

In any case, their attitude toward her was mediocre, and Liu Wen didn't want to go out of her way to seek them out, lest they think she had ulterior motives.

After Li Yanan and Li Wang confirmed they were going to the farm, they had kept their distance from Wang Juan and the others. They first had subsidies from home, and later, after finding boyfriends among the male educated youth at the farm, they received even more support, which led them to suggest eating separately.

They hadn't expected the new educated youth to have such good cooking skills.

If Wang Juan weren't there, and it were just the new girl, they might have been thick-skinned enough to ask for a bite, but now, how could they possibly ask?

They wanted to ignore it, but they couldn't; the smell was simply too fragrant to avoid.

"Hmph, it's just grilled fish. No matter how good it smells, it's still just that. In the village, this is all the welfare you get—no money."

"Once we go to the farm, we'll have a monthly salary," Li Wang said, taking out some pastries her boyfriend had given her and complaining while she ate.

Liu Wen and Wang Juan were just about to eat when they heard the courtyard gate being pushed open. Looking up, they saw the man who had brought her over that morning—it seemed to be Lin Yuan.

When Wang Juan looked up and saw Lin Yuan, she called out excitedly, "Lin Yuan, you haven't eaten yet, right?"

Lin Yuan gave a hum. "That's right. Did you cook?"

"My cooking skills are nothing to speak of; I wouldn't dare subject you to them. Xiao Wen made this."

"There's fish soup and grilled fish."

"It just so happens there's a bit too much." Wang Juan had originally thought there was too much food, and since it was hot and couldn't be kept overnight, she had planned to give some to Li Yanan and Li Wang to avoid waste.

Now that Lin Yuan was back, there was no need to give it to them.

Lin Yuan happened to be hungry and had been planning to cook for himself. Hearing there was both grilled fish and fish soup, he thought the meal sounded good.

Wait, that wasn't right. He remembered that Wang Juan didn't like fish soup because she was worried about fish bones. Why was she having it today?

"Thanks." Lin Yuan washed his hands and sat down at the table.

Wang Juan served Lin Yuan his rice very efficiently. Watching Wang Juan, Liu Wen couldn't help but feel she was being a bit too good to this man.

The two grilled fish were quite large, so Lin Yuan took one, and Wang Juan and Liu Wen split the other.

Lin Yuan took a few sips of the fish soup and felt very strange. It tasted like fish soup, but he couldn't see any fish. Was this even fish soup?

Seeing Lin Yuan’s puzzled expression, Wang Juan laughed. "Is it strange? Wondering where the fish is?"

Lin Yuan hummed. "It tastes very good."

Wang Juan excitedly mentioned the method for the fish soup. "We can use small fish to make fish soup from now on."

In the past, they would just throw away the small, miscellaneous fish or give them to the cats. Now, it was great; they could make fish soup without worrying about bones.

It was the first time Lin Yuan had heard of this way of making fish soup. "The soup is delicious."

"The grilled fish is too." In truth, when Lin Yuan first saw Liu Wen, his first reaction was to wonder how old this child was and why she had come to be an educated youth—she was just too frail.

Although everyone did their own work and earned their own work points, they were all living in the same courtyard. If this girl didn't have enough food, could he really just watch her starve? It would eventually become their problem.

Now that he knew she could cook well, they could let her do the cooking, and everyone could contribute a bit more staple food.

"By the way, Lin Yuan, do you know where to buy chickens and soybeans?" Wang Juan had been thinking of asking Lin Yuan about what Liu Wen had asked earlier, and now that the person in question was here, it was the perfect time.

"You want to buy some?" Lin Yuan thought Wang Juan probably wouldn't buy any. Although her family's situation wasn't too bad, she was still frugal and would mail whatever she had back home.

"It's not me buying, it's Xiao Wen." Buying a chicken was out of the question—it cost several yuan, and Wang Juan couldn't bear the expense.

"You're buying?" Lin Yuan hadn't expected the girl who had just arrived today to already know about raising chickens.

"Sure. If it's a hen that's already laying eggs, it'll be three yuan each."

"As for soybeans, it's probably about fifteen cents a jin." He hadn't been out these past few days and didn't know the exact price, but it should be around there.

"Okay, I want one laying hen, and five—no, ten jin of soybeans." Liu Wen thought about it and decided she needed ten jin of soybeans.

Ten jin of soybeans? Lin Yuan and Wang Juan looked at her, puzzled. Why did this girl need so many soybeans?

Wang Juan was the first to react. "Aren't you going to grow soybeans? Why do you need to buy so many?"

"I can grind them to make soy milk." If there was no cow's milk to drink, then she would drink soy milk; it was just as good for the body.

"And if there's gypsum, I can make tofu. Tofu soup and things like that would be great." Liu Wen felt that ten jin of soybeans really wasn't that much.

Between the soy milk and the tofu, she was quite impressive. Wang Juan’s mouth hung open. Of course, soy milk wasn't difficult, but tofu—that required some real skill.

"You know how to make it?" Lin Yuan looked up at Liu Wen. He felt he really didn't understand this girl. He had originally thought she would be a burden, but he hadn't expected such a big surprise.

"I do." Liu Wen paused. "By the way, Sister Wang, I saw a millstone in the courtyard. Can that be installed?"

All her plans depended on the millstone being usable; otherwise, she could only boil the soybeans.

"Yes, yes!" Wang Juan nodded repeatedly, then looked at Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan said huffily, "You already agreed to it without even asking me first."

"We'll see when the others get back and give it a try." Lin Yuan hadn't installed a millstone before, but he could ask someone.

"I knew there was nothing you couldn't handle, Lin Yuan," Wang Juan exclaimed excitedly.

She then turned to Liu Wen. "If you want to buy anything or don't understand something, you can ask Lin Yuan."

"If he can't do it, don't bother asking anyone else; no one else will be able to handle it either." Wang Juan kept heaping praise on Lin Yuan; in short, this guy was very capable.

Liu Wen began to understand why Wang Juan was so eager to please Lin Yuan—he was the big shot here at the farm. But she was still confused: if he was so capable, why didn't he work at the farm?

From what Wang Juan had said earlier, Li Yanan and the others had all gotten jobs at the neighboring farm through marriage, and previous educated youths had done the same. If Lin Yuan was so capable, couldn't he get into the farm?

But after all, it was someone else's private business, and perhaps he had his own reasons. Liu Wen wouldn't ask too much.