Chapter 1367: Firewood, Salt, Rice, and Vinegar

Chapter 1367 -1239: Firewood, Salt, Rice, and Vinegar

Life is not just about romance, it also includes mundane details like wood, salt, rice, and vinegar.

Every year as Winter begins to approach.

These days, horse carts are allowed everywhere, whether on main streets or in alleys.

Especially when there’s a blue background, large cabbage-drawing permit on the liberated trucks’ windows, they can travel freely on Chang’an Street.

The annual cabbage stockpiling is about to begin again.

“Boss, I need to take leave to buy cabbages.”

Zhou Jiao had no reason to refuse, and promptly approved it.

When you think about it, we also used to have our “Double 11”, also “buy buy buy”, it’s just that back then the mad rush was for a heap of cabbages!

And you could even justifiably request leave for this from your workplace or department!

During these ten-odd days, all departments have to make way for livelihood issues.

Every morning, several Jiefang brand trucks are lined up in front of the grocery store, their compartments filled with cabbages wrapped in green leaves.

Next to the trucks are two or three large scales, in front of which a queue of dozens to hundreds forms. Everyone holds a ration book in hand, supplied based on it.

And the grocery store employees naturally are all deployed. If they lack manpower, they’ll enlist nearby agencies to send cadres or senior students from schools to help.

Even those early-morning exercisers or leisure walkers, the grandpas and grandmas all over the city, joyfully carry or cart their cabbages home.

Now with the development of greenhouses, after two years, city residents can occasionally eat fresh vegetables even in winter with heavy snowfall.

However, fresh tender greens, leeks, cucumbers, loofahs, runner beans, even tomatoes, are both expensive and can’t replace staple dishes.

These fresh vegetables calculated in dimes per pound, compared to cabbage with over 90% of heart for 2.3 dimes or 50% heart for just 1.6 dimes per pound, can only serve as condiments.

Cabbage is great.

It’s cheap, good quality, easy to store, and lasts throughout winter.

Whether stir-fried cabbage, boiled cabbage, vinegary cabbage, cabbage stir-fried with pork slices, cabbage cooked with tofu, cabbage stuffed dumplings, pickled sour cabbage, or to dip in hot pot with mutton, it’s versatile.

Just like every year, Zhou Jiao, who had just slowed her pace, now began to rush again.

Though there are service staff and maids at home, her elderly master also needs attention.

With Uncle Hu and Aunt aging, many heavy purchases, like winter coal or cabbages, have become difficult for them.

Moreover, the senior brothers have their own families, and it’s her rightful duty to take care of her master.

Fortunately, for these past two years, the old residence hired two retired soldiers, and the big courtyard notifies its service staff, saving her much effort.

She had just made some pickled sour cabbage for her master with her spare time, and had not yet had the chance to care for her own family, the old man caught a cold and had diarrhea.

To put it plainly, her master was asking for it.

At his age, acting more like a child, he secretly nibbled on popsicles copycatting the kids in the alley.

Then ran back for hot pot, after which, thankfully, Zhang Guoqing came to pick up his wife in the evening, or Zhou Jiao would have been frightened to death by him.

Not five minutes after the meal, his face turned paler, and even at his age, he was unusually swift rushing to the bathroom.

Zhang Guoqing barely managed to assist him back, and upon lying down he began to shiver, stubbornly not admitting the truth, refusing Western medicine and insisting on traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions.

Knowing her master’s temperament, Zhou Jiao could only sigh silently, asking the old man to report the prescribed herbs, her hard-earned medical skills wasted on the most uncooperative patient ever.

After hearing the prescription, seeing the old man’s gray hair filled with guilt, she couldn’t bear to blame him and hurried next door to the pharmacy to grab the herbs.

Zhang Guoqing spotted something in this, angrily laughed, gripping the old man’s hand, “Alright old man, you better come live with us, it won’t do for you to be unsupervised like this.”

“Nonsense! I just ate too much mutton, can’t handle tonics.”

“Yeah, and it’d be best if you quit drinking as well.” As Zhang Guoqing said this, seeing the old man’s eyes widen and body tense, he hurriedly added, “Alright, alright, don’t get excited, I’ll listen to you.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Really, not going to the hospital is alright?”

“Hmph, I am a doctor myself.”

One who treats others yet cannot cure oneself!

Zhang Guoqing declined to argue with him, “Yes, you are a miracle doctor. May I propose something? How about we hire another maid, or even a young aide?”

Doctor Hu peered out, “Shh, keep your voice down, don’t let Uncle Hu and his wife hear this. I’ll just be more cautious from now on.”

Zhang Guoqing gave him a sideways glance, “You certainly have many concerns. How about moving to the old residence? Less restrictive than the big courtyard, right?”

“No. My old pals are all around here. I’m tired, not up for moving.”

Neither option works, closing his eyes to end the conversation, Zhang Guoqing was so frustrated he wanted to curse, giving the old man a stare but ended up tucking his quilt in instead.

Thinking of it, he felt sorry for the old man. His reluctance to move to the big courtyard or the old residence is due to concern about burdening his family upon his passing, though it’s overstated.

As his only apprentice, isn’t Zhou Jiao the same as his descendant?

He now understood better why Uncle Hu and Aunt always supported their nephew; they probably had the same concern.

Once Zhou Jiao finished boiling the medicine and fed it to the old man for rest, Zhang Guoqing instructed Xiao Zhu to report to the father-in-law, feeling it unwise to leave the old man alone here.

Who knows if he might spike a fever at midnight!

Luckily, the medicine took effect, and soon, the old man’s color improved, also stopping his diarrhea, and finally, after an hour of tossing around, light snores resounded.

Zhang Guoqing spread the bedding at the end of the kang, dismissing Uncle Hu and his wife, letting Zhou Jiao rest for a while, ready to administer a shot if anything happened!

Whether a shot of Western medicine or an acupuncture needle, he trusted his wife.

“I can’t sleep.”

“No worries, the old man has great fortune. You rest assured, starting tomorrow, I’ll have Xiao Wei and Xiao Chen take turns during the day to look after the old man.”

“Can they manage? How about hiring another person, preferably someone who can stay here at night, I worry about him waking up at night and falling.”

“Let’s have Xiao Wei and Xiao Chen for now, I plan to observe for a while, if all’s well, they’ll have larger roles to play.”

Zhou Jiao nodded knowingly at this. Such young lads being mere guards in their household is indeed a waste.

That night, the couple remained awake until dawn, finally relieved when seeing the old man devour a big bowl of porridge, then start boasting again like a youthful spirit.

This nearly centenarian, their time to accompany him is growing shorter and shorter.