Reborn to Strive

 People in those days all got up early and went to bed early. Shi Zhen had already started work at half past seven in the morning. At eleven am, he ate lunch, and after lunch was done, he started working again at noon, then finally got off work at half past four in the afternoon.

    Altogether, it added up to an eight hour workday, but even an ironman [as in an Ironman triathlon athlete] couldn’t work continuously. Standing a moment to rest a bit was fine, and in the afternoon everyone stopped for a snack break, or else they’d be too hungry to work.

    Of course, it wasn’t a large meal. They usually ate baozi or mantou; yesterday’s baozi had salted vegetables and tofu filling.

    Yesterday had been his first day of work and Shi Zhen hadn’t had the chance to meet everyone, but today, he was familiar with all the people working around him. In his previous life he had gone to business mixers, and felt that getting people to form a good opinion of himself wasn’t too difficult.

    After they were familiar, everybody started chatting with him, asking where Shi Zhen’s family was from, and why someone so young would come out to do unskilled labor.

    Unskilled labor was tiring work, the natives of J Municipality were ordinarily reluctant to let their young family members sweat away at such a toilsome job.

    Shi Zhen said, “My family home is quite far away, and not in this area. I came out here in order to look for my cousin . . . as for work, I can’t find any other kind of job.”

    His words were to the point, and he didn’t stop working while he spoke.

    The guy chatting with him reached into his pocket for a smoke, and leaned on a shovel in the middle of the river to take a break. Seeing Shi Zhen busy as a bee, he asked, “Your parents really were willing to let you leave?”

    “My family is too poor, who can be bothered with being willing to part or not?”

    “Naturally one ought to toil a little, make some money, and take a wife.” That guy sighed with emotion. This person was more than 40 years old, and was used to suffering. In the past he’d even gone through times of starvation.1 He had been speaking with Shi Zhen because his own child was about the same age.

    Seeing Shi Zhen fully exerting himself on the job, he reiterated his previous topic, “Life at present is truly improving. I almost starved to death in the past, but who could imagine that today not only can I eat until I’m full, I can even often eat meat.”

    Their work site’s meals included a bit of meat, so as to ensure that they would have enough energy to complete the work.

    Taking advantage of the opportunity to chat, Shi Zhen learned more about Anshan Town.

    Although he still had a few memories of this time, they only covered particular circumstances. He still needed to talk to people to understand how to manage the current situation.

    In this era, certain industrial development to produce cheap goods was expensive, while other things were very inexpensive compared to what they would cost in later generations. Additionally, this being a coastal area and an area where private enterprises flourished, everyone wanted to engage in trading goods.

    Today’s noon meal was pig blood and tofu geng. [A thickened soup]

    The geng was piping hot, and had a top layer of lard that contained bits of cracklings and chopped green onion as garnish.

    Shi Zhen ate less than half a bowl, planning to bring the remaining food home to Guan Baiyu.

    “Lao Wang, what are we having for dimsum this afternoon?” The guy who had been chatting with Shi Zhen earlier asked the foreman.

    The foreman, who each day Shi Zhen offered up five yuan in ‘sacrifice’ to, and had recruited Shi Zhen to the crew, was named Wang Chenghua. Hearing the question, he answered, “I’ll go buy guoci later.”

    Guoci were one of this region’s specialties, made from glutinous rice flour mixed with water until it formed a paste-like consistency, then roasted in a large iron kettle. When the paste was fully dehydrated, it was ready to eat right away. Alternatively, you could soak it in hot water before you ate it. 

    When families here had guests visiting, the host would undoubtedly serve them a bowl of guoci soaked in a brown sugar soup.

    “Those aren’t very filling, how about instant noodles?” someone asked. “Previously, when people were working this job, each worker was given a pack of instant noodles for their afternoon snack!”

    “In your dreams! Some places still don’t provide lunch, let alone an afternoon snack,” Foreman Wang retorted. Guoci were very inexpensive, but instant noodles weren’t cheap at all!

    When the afternoon arrived, he just purchased a big sack of guoci and brought it back. Spending a bit of cash, he found someone in the neighborhood to sell him some boiling water water. Everyone took out their own cups, and brought them over. Each person was given a scoop of guoci and a lump of saccharin. Saccharin was a sugar substitute – it wasn’t sugar, but it only took a bit of it to make things incredibly sweet.

    Shi Zhen didn’t want the saccharine that later generations had long since stopped using. Others wanted it, because they craved the sweet taste. Adding more of it left a bitter aftertaste, but diluting with water made it sweet again.

    These past couple days, water had repeatedly leaked into his boots; both of Shi Zhen’s feet had soaked in the water and had become pruney and swollen. He wanted to dry them by removing his boots during breaks, and as a result his toes had gotten so chilled, as it was still late winter, that his toes had nearly lost sensation.

    “Uncle Wang, how much is a packet of instant noodles?” Shi Zhen asked. He remembered that in his previous life in J City, Shi Xinghuo had seen someone eating instant noodles while they were at the construction site, and he longed to eat them . . . regrettably, Shi Zhen never had the chance to buy them for Shi Xinghuo. 

    And then there was Guan Baiyu. He was raised by his grandma who was a rural granny who would squeeze two cents worth out of every cent, if she could. So of course Guan Baiyu had never had the chance to eat instant noodles yet.

   Wang Chenghu said, “Seventy cents for a packet.”

    This price was high compared to the wages at this time, but after Shi Zhen got off work, he still went and purchased two packets.

    Buying them, he discovered that these seventy cent packets of noodles had only one seasoning envelope inside.

    Returning home that evening, Shi Zhen gave one packet to Shi Xinghuo. Taking the other, along with the meal he saved from his lunch, he went over to Guan Baiyu’s place.

    He had gotten off work early. When he arrived, Guan Baiyu had just returned home and hadn’t yet started cooking. Shi Zhen asked him if he wanted to eat instant noodles.

    Guan Baiyu said in a daze, “No, I’ll eat them next time.”

    A while later, he added in a whisper, “I’ve never eaten instant noodles before.”

    The fifteen year old youth saying these words was somewhat embarrassed, but after he’d spoken, he turned to Shi Zhen and smiled. 

    Shi Zhen’s heart felt full as he was overcome with emotion.

    Guan Baiyu had an extremely well behaved appearance, and his smile revealed his two little canines, making him look unbearably adorable.

     If Guan Baiyu was capable of bearing children, his and Shi Zhen’s child would have been about this age when Shi Zhen had died.

    Shi Zhen said, “I’ll light the fire for you.”

    Guan Baiyu didn’t decline the offer, “Thanks.” 

    Shi Zhen lit the fire while Guan Baiyu filled the cooking pot with water, and added rice. Seeing the rice hadn’t been washed clean of rice straw bits, he scooped the bits out and put them to the side.

    Done, he put a bowl of salted vegetables in the steamer tray, but didn’t add a drop of oil.

    When his grandma was alive, his life was actually not too bad, to the extent that . . . he hadn’t thought there was much difference between him and the people nearby. At that time, everyone was poor.

    But after his grandma passed away a couple years ago, the people in this area slowly started becoming more prosperous, and everything was changing.

    His foster parents paid him absolutely no heed. Other than giving him the 200 yuan tuition fee for each semester of school, they did nothing, and he was too embarrassed to ask them for money.

    Salt was cheap, so he could afford it, but oil and such he went without.

    Other families could use the rapeseed they had raised themselves to exchange at the oil mill for oil, but where could he get rapeseed?

    He never expected that he would unexpectedly . . . gain an elder cousin.

    Guan Baiyu looked at Shi Zhen, paused, and then loudly called out, “Ge, thank you.”2

    Shi Zhen was taken aback.

    He remembered that Guan Baiyu’s disposition was a bit aloof, and didn’t like approaching people, so he always thought it would take quite a few days before Guan Baiyu would accept him.

    But after only three days, Guan Baiyu had already called him ‘Ge’?

    “You’ve acknowledged me?” Shi Zhen asked.

    Guan Baiyu didn’t understand — this was his cousin, how could he not acknowledge him?

    Shi Zhen had planned to go slowly, keeping the big picture in mind, letting Guan Baiyu become gradually familiar with him, but now that Guan Baiyu had so enthusiastically called him ‘Ge’ . . . it seems Shi Zhen had been a bit mistaken. He could proceed a little faster.

    She Zhen said, “You’ve acknowledged me, and are willing to call me ‘ge.’ Don’t worry, I’ll look after you from now on! Tomorrow, I’ll buy some ingredients and bring them over to cook a delicious meal for you!”

    He had already made this plan earlier. By cooking at Guan Baiyu’s house, the meals for the three of them would all be improved.

Chapter Notes:

1 – Apart from any other causes, a 40+ year old rural resident in 1993 would have lived through the lean years of the Cultural Revolution and had to endure severe food shortages as part of government programs (some successful, some not) to level the accessibility of food for everyone.

2 – ‘Ge’ is a term used for elder male family members in your generation or older male friends also in your generation. It means brother, but mostly indicates closeness and familiarity, not that someone is literally related to you. Can be used for strangers if you’re a particularly friendly person or the social situation calls for it, but Guan Baiyu is definitely not casually friendly.