Help others? It's better to help yourself - Chapter 56

The mung bean soup in the pot was ready, so she ladled it out and set it aside to cool.

She shaped the dumplings into two different forms, placing them in the steamer. Thirteen minutes on high heat was enough. There were two batches of vegetarian dumplings with chives and eggs, and one batch of fennel and pork dumplings with oil residue. Each dumpling, with its slightly golden dough, was as large as the palm of her hand.

Half of them were made with whole grain flour. The dough was darker in color and didn’t have the softness of white flour dough. The texture was a bit firmer. As soon as the dumplings were ready, Shen Yue came home. The moment he entered the house, the aroma in the air made his stomach growl uncontrollably.

Gu Panpan smiled and looked at him. “Hurry up and wash your hands. The meal’s ready.”

Shen Yue quickly ate four white flour dumplings (two with meat, two vegetarian) and drank two bowls of mung bean soup before he was finally satisfied.

Gu Panpan waited until he had almost finished eating before asking, “Should I send some to the neighbors?”

Shen Yue nodded. “No one around here has had any issues with their families that I’ve heard of.”

That meant the relationships were just average, not particularly close.

“The families in front of us and to the left, I get along well with their husbands.”

That meant they saw each other often and were fairly familiar with one another.

“The ones I’m really close with, the ones I work with often, don’t live in this area.”

“Should we invite them for dinner?”

“Sure, tomorrow and the day after, if you have time. When would you like?”

“Tomorrow, I guess. Today, I was lucky to be the first in line at the meat stall. I bought three pounds of fatty pork for the oil and dumplings, and I still have two pounds of pork belly left for tomorrow. If I leave it too long, it’ll spoil.”

“Alright, I’ll give them a heads-up this afternoon.”

“Then I’ll go deliver the dumplings first. We’ll confirm the dishes and count the guests later so I can prepare the food.”

“Do you need me to go with you?”

“No, it’s just a quick greeting to the neighbors. It’s not necessary for you to go; it would seem too formal.” Gu Panpan quickly refused.

She took a large bowl filled with two vegetarian dumplings, one meat dumpling, and three whole grain dumplings, and ran back and forth twice to deliver them to the neighbors.

Shen Yue looked at the noticeably different dumpling skin but didn’t say a word. In these times, if someone has something good, they have to keep it hidden.

Relationships are built through mutual exchanges. If you give away something that far exceeds what the other person can return, what can they do?

If they give you something of equal value, the burden on them increases. If they give something that doesn’t match the value, it makes them look bad, and you feel uncomfortable too. Over time, the relationship will sour.

As the saying goes, “A great favor is like a great grudge.” That’s the idea behind it.

When Gu Panpan returned, she didn’t have an empty bowl. One family gave her homemade sauce, and another gave her their homemade pickled vegetables.

The two of them discussed for half an hour and temporarily settled on nine dishes: braised pork with potatoes, sauerkraut fish, “three treasures of the earth” (chili, eggplant, and potatoes), pan-fried pumpkin cakes, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, cold spinach noodles with vermicelli, stir-fried celery with meat, spicy green beans, and smashed cucumbers. Gu Panpan asked, “Are the dishes enough? How many can we expect? I’ll add a soup to make it ten!”

Shen Yue replied, “Six people with large portions should be enough. When we eat here, we usually only invite the men, not the families. Otherwise, if you invite the wives and children, it’s hard to afford!”

Gu Panpan said, “The two pounds of pork belly I bought today will be enough. I’ll see how the vegetables are tomorrow and add more if necessary. Also, remember to go to the cafeteria tomorrow afternoon to buy some buns or rice, whatever they like. We won’t have time to make the staple food ourselves.”

It wasn’t even certain if they’d be able to get fish tomorrow, so they might have to change the dish.

At one meal, Gu Panpan ate two dumplings, and Shen Yue ate eight. She knew that soldiers had big appetites, but who would’ve guessed it would be this much? Gu Panpan was left speechless, staring in amazement.

When Shen Yue left, he packed the remaining whole grain dumplings in a clean cloth bag to take with him.

For dinner, they had porridge with dumplings, and Shen Yue ate another eight dumplings in one go.

The last dumpling was eaten by Gu Panpan herself.

The next morning, Shen Yue and Gu Panpan went to the nearby rural areas to trade for goods. They managed to get all the vegetables, but didn’t find any fish. On the way back, they encountered someone catching small river shrimp and bought half a bucket for a dime.

Shen Yue went back to the army camp to continue his work, and Gu Panpan finished preparing the rest. She washed and chopped all the vegetables, then began to make two cold dishes, the pumpkin cakes, and braise the pork. When the guests were almost there, she would start cooking.

When the time was right, she scooped out some of the braised pork, then added potatoes (more potatoes than meat, of course). In another pot, she added some oil to fry the pumpkin cakes. Once they were ready, she made the “three treasures of the earth” dish. After that, she made scrambled eggs with tomatoes, spicy green beans, and switched the sauerkraut fish for stir-fried chives with river shrimp. The last dish was stir-fried celery with meat (using the meat she had just scooped out).

Gu Panpan was pouring the sauce over the cold dishes when she heard many people chatting and walking into the house.

“Your cooking is really good, sister-in-law! We could smell the fragrance from far away.”

“You’re working hard, little sister-in-law.” Gu Panpan greeted everyone with a smile, leaving the rest for Shen Yue to take care of.

The table was piled high with dishes, and the most important thing was the large quantity. Instead of plates, they used large enamel bowls meant for serving rice and soup.

“Wow—” Everyone was surprised when they saw the spread. No one expected that Old Shen’s wife would prepare so much. After this meal, the rumor that “Shen Yue and his wife are genuine people” started circulating in the army camp.

Everyone had been hungry all morning, so they grabbed buns and ate heartily.

After the guests left, Shen Yue didn’t let his wife do any work. He cleaned up the house, the kitchen, and the dishes. Before leaving, he said, “Don’t cook tonight. Take a rest this afternoon, and I’ll bring something back from the cafeteria.”

Gu Panpan lay on the bed. “Okay, I am really tired.”

After resting for two days, Shen Yue cleared a piece of land for planting vegetables and built a bathroom in the yard. Gu Panpan also began interacting with other military wives, gradually integrating into the new life.

Their relationship became visibly sweeter. By October, Gu Panpan found out she was pregnant. Shen Yue was overjoyed, and everyone around them understood and was happy for them.

This year, Shen Yue turned 35, and anyone who saw them would comment that the couple had gone through a lot. In the twelfth month, they received a letter from Shen Yue’s mother, saying that she wouldn’t be able to come until after the New Year.

After the New Year, Gu Panpan received a package sent by her sister-in-law from her husband’s family. It contained clothes, hats, woolen shoes, diapers, and blankets for three children, all washed very clean and neatly folded. She could still smell soap and sunshine when she picked them up.

Her sister-in-law had clearly put a lot of effort into washing and ironing them.

Looking at these items, Gu Panpan knew that the past was behind her.

She thought for a moment and realized that her mother-in-law had been helping take care of the children of her second brother-in-law’s family. From what Shen Yue had mentioned, when his second brother got married and had children, Shen Yue, as the eldest, had helped a lot.

She now had two children on the way, and thinking it over, it seemed her own family had suffered. Moreover, her mother-in-law couldn’t stay with them all the time, nor could she keep coming back to take care of her after every child was born—it wasn’t realistic.

It seemed she would have to speed up and have another baby soon!