TPW – Chapter 23 Luncheon meat

“What?” Everyone was a bit slow to react.

“Remove a glass window? How do you even do that?”

“If you take the glass off the window, wouldn’t it just shatter?”

The eldest sister slapped her thigh hard, trying to calm herself down, laughing until her eyes were filled with tears.

“Hahaha—this is just too funny! Your man is seriously clever. He didn’t just remove the glass—he dismantled the entire wooden frame with it. Took down the whole thing completely intact! Not a crack in the glass!”

“Hahahaha—”

Laughter erupted from the crowd. Unsurprisingly, this hilarious incident was going to be the talk of the neighborhood for at least the next two or three weeks!

After the laughter subsided, the man in question walked into the courtyard, carrying a window covered in dust.

“What’s going on?” Seeing everyone’s eyes turning toward him all at once, Xu Haizhou was a bit confused, but after a quick moment, he realized what they were laughing about.

“They’re talking about how you took down that glass window,” Qiao Lu said, barely holding back her laughter as she helped him lower the window from his shoulder.

“Haizhou, come on, tell us—how did you take off Lao Ma’s window?” the eldest sister urged, laughing.

Xu Haizhou stood there catching his breath. Qiao An came running over with a handkerchief in his hand, wanting to wipe his sweat.

Xu Haizhou bent down, letting the little one gently dab his forehead. After he finished, he kissed his son’s soft little cheek, then curved his lips into a half-smile.

“He smashed one of my windows, so I took one of his. Fair trade, don’t you think?”

Xu Haizhou’s sly tone was so amusing. He had lived in the shared courtyard for four or five years now. The neighbors always thought he was a quiet, upright, and kind young man. Now they were discovering he had a bit of a vengeful streak!

Hahaha, this was getting interesting!

The aunties laughed non-stop, and even a few old men from the courtyard came over to join the fun. After hearing the story, they praised Xu Haizhou for his guts.

“Aren’t you afraid the Ma family might make trouble for you later?” After all, they were longtime locals, and taking someone’s window could be seen as a serious provocation. The old men preferred to let things slide—if a window gets broken, just pay for it, no need to escalate.

Xu Haizhou’s lips curved up slightly. Though he was smiling, there was no warmth in it. “If they want to come at me, let them. I’ll return it to them exactly as it is.”

“Hahahaha—”

Looks like the shared courtyard wasn’t going to be boring today!

…

The windows in the courtyard had all been installed at the same time back in the day, and they were pretty much the same size. Xu Haizhou removed the original window from the bedroom and installed Lao Ma’s glass—frame and all—into the wall. Surprisingly, the whole process looked smooth and skilled. He must’ve done this kind of handiwork often.

Qiao Lu wondered if all men were naturally good at installing things like this.

In just twenty minutes, the new window was up. Xu Haizhou then fetched a basin of water from the well and cleaned the glass thoroughly until it sparkled. Even if Ma Xiaoshuan saw it, he wouldn’t recognize it as the dirty, mud-speckled old window from his house.

After finishing, Xu Haizhou stood back to admire his work. When he turned his head, he found his wife giving him a sulky look, her lips pouty—she looked more like a little kid than their own child, Qiao An.

“What’s wrong?” Xu Haizhou chuckled and put the tools into the storage box.

Qiao Lu stepped forward, even her walk full of grievance: “You knew it was Ma Xiaoshuan who broke the glass. Why did you tell me you didn’t know?”

Xu Haizhou was stunned for a second, then laughed and pulled her into his arms, patting her on the back of the head like coaxing a child.

“I wasn’t sure at first, but when I saw the bruises on Ma Xiaoshuan’s face, I figured it out.”

Qiao Lu gave an unhappy hum and squirmed in his arms. “When did you realize?”

“This morning, when I went to buy tools,” he said, gently stroking her hair.

“Then why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Qiao Lu swore this was the first time she had ever “acted unreasonable.”

Seeing this side of Qiao Lu, Xu Haizhou seemed a little surprised, but then he laughed and apologized: “My fault.”

Wow, this guy really knows how to handle things.

Qiao Lu finally understood why people said girls in love become irrational.

When you’re being doted on by someone you love, it’s hard not to be a little dramatic, okay?

Her ex-boyfriends had never spoiled her like this. Terrible reviews!

Xu Haizhou looked down and stared at her a little longer. Secretly, he thought his little wife was quite cute when she was being sulky.

Especially when she puffed up her cheeks like a squirrel storing food—exactly like their son. Too adorable.

…

Because of the delay that morning, by the time they got to the market, all the good spots were taken. But Li Hongjun, that buddy of his, was such a good friend—he had saved two spots just for him!

“Thanks.”

Li Hongjun chuckled and, since it wasn’t too busy, helped him organize the goods.

“What happened this morning? You’re not usually late.” He waggled his eyebrows at Xu Haizhou and teased, “Ah, I get it. Couldn’t tear yourself away from the arms of your lovely wife, huh?”

Xu Haizhou gave him a light kick. “You’re full of it.”

Even so, he secretly agreed with that comment. He had clung to his wife before leaving, kissing her for so long his lips went numb… Ahem.

“Alright, alright, I get it, you’re shy. I won’t bring it up.”

Li Hongjun scratched his nose and grinned. “By the way, that ticket you asked for—radio? I got someone to find it for you. The TV ticket though, no luck yet. It’s insanely hard to get, and they’re all snatched up the second they go on sale. You think you can line up in the middle of the night?”

Xu Haizhou glanced at him. “Whether I have the time or not, get the ticket first. I’ll treat you to a meal later.”

“Alright. If it doesn’t work out, go find Monkey,” Li Hongjun said, then suddenly remembered something. “Oh right, around seven this morning, that female student came by again. Said she forgot her hair tie and wanted to buy one from your stall, but you weren’t here. I told her to come back at noon.”

Xu Haizhou paused as he was arranging the cloth. “She came again?”

That girl came by every week, always claiming she lost a hair tie or broke a clip… the frequency was a little too suspicious, made people wonder if she had an ulterior motive.

“Yeah,” Li Hongjun waggled his eyebrows again. “You’ve already got a wife and you still have admirers lining up. Why not share a little with your bro?”

“You can have them all,” Xu Haizhou said, facing away while arranging stock. “Find a time to let her know I’m married.”

Li Hongjun raised a brow. “Why not tell her yourself?”

Xu Haizhou glanced at him sideways. “Are you helping or not?”

That look… why did his heart skip a beat?

Li Hongjun: “…Fine, I’ll help!”

If she got heartbroken, he could swoop in to comfort her—and strike while the iron was hot!

But strangely, Li Hongjun didn’t see that girl for the rest of the day.

…

The sky was overcast in the morning and the wind carried a chill. Qiao Lu stayed home, cuddling her son by the firepit.

While cooking lunch, she saw that there were five large white steamed buns left over. After thinking it over, she decided to brush them with oil and turn them into crispy roasted bun slices—golden, fragrant, and crunchy. They’d make both a filling snack and a casual treat.

She sliced them evenly, roasted a full tray, then split it in half and placed one portion on another plate to give to the neighbors across the way—the Chen family.

“About what happened yesterday with the name—I really didn’t mean to offend. I made some roasted bun slices today. They’re super crispy. Please have a taste.”

Qiao Lu handed the plate to Auntie Chen. Even before she got close, that rich, toasty aroma had already wafted over.

Auntie Chen was clearly flattered and flustered, waving her hands. “Oh no, we can’t accept this! What are you doing, bringing things over?”

Qiao Lu smiled and explained, “Simei still seems a little upset. Please help me apologize to her.”

Auntie Chen smacked her lips, frowning. “You’re being way too polite. I already scolded her this morning. It was just a small matter, not worth holding a grudge over. Don’t take it to heart—Simei’s just being childish.”

Just then, Chen Simei came home from school for lunch. She hadn’t even sat down before overhearing the conversation and rushed out to interrupt, “I already told you, I’m fifteen, not a child anymore! And I was serious! I really feel awful about it!”

She honestly couldn’t look at her name the same way anymore! Qiao Lu had really committed a grave sin!

“Take your stuff back!” She still felt unsatisfied and added, “Oh, and let me tell you—I’ve already changed my name. I’m not Chen Shimei anymore. I’m now Chen Jiamei, and you’d better remember it!”

With that, she turned on her heel and stormed off in a huff.

Jiamei… as in “fake pretty”… if someone wanted to mess with her again, this poor kid would probably blow up all over again…

“Hahahaha—” Chen Simei—no, Chen Jiamei now—her two older brothers inside heard every word and burst into laughter.

“Hahahaha, Jiamei! Nice name! Just too bad the household registration probably won’t accept it! Hahahaha—”

“Girls care about their image, you two better knock it off,” said Jiamei’s eldest sister-in-law, Lin Caihe.

“Yeah, stop laughing. She’ll go nuclear on you again,” added her second sister-in-law, Song Qingping.

“Get lost! You’re all so annoying!” Jiamei had spent all night wracking her brain to come up with that perfect name. What the hell was so funny!?

Bang! The inner room door slammed shut and locked.

“Hey! You little brat, did you get your mom’s permission before changing your name?” Auntie Chen shouted, then turned and offered a sheepish smile to Qiao Lu. “She’s got a fiery temper and a sharp tongue, but she’s a good kid at heart. Don’t take it personally.”

Qiao Lu looked away and shook her head. “Of course not. I just feel kind of bad.”

Teenage girls sure were hard to handle—ah, it was her own fault for being too quick-tongued.

“Aiya, don’t mind my daughter. These buns smell amazing. We’re in for a treat today.”

Qiao Lu smiled and took her leave.

…

After staying in the courtyard compound for three days straight, Qiao Lu had fully adjusted to life there. No troublesome relatives, no annoying neighbors.

As dusk fell, vibrant clouds gathered in the sky, drifting in from above the factory rooftops in the distance.

Qiao Lu took her son to the neighborhood grocery store to get soy sauce. Along the way, they ran into quite a few familiar faces from the compound. Many greeted the mother and son warmly.

One distinctive thing about the 1980s was this very warmth—neighbors, whether close or not, always exchanged greetings. Unlike 30 or 40 years later, where people could live in the same apartment building for a decade and never know their neighbors.

The little one clung tightly to Qiao Lu’s hand, not daring to walk even a step faster. Whenever someone greeted them, he’d shrink behind her leg, timid and shy to the extreme.

They even ran into Ma Xiaoshuan, who ducked away the moment he saw her. Word on the street was that Ma Xiaoshuan had even more bruises on his face than before—probably got another beating from his dad.

Everyone who heard about it clapped in approval. “Serves him right! Doing such wicked things—he had it coming!”

After getting the soy sauce and heading home, Qiao Lu spotted a tall, slender woman standing at her door. She looked familiar. Squinting, she realized—hey, wasn’t that her second sister, Qiao Yan?

“Sister!”

“Auntie!”

The little one’s timid demeanor vanished. He bolted forward and threw himself into Qiao Yan’s arms.

“Aiya, my sweet little nephew! Let Auntie give you a kiss. I’ve missed you so much these past few days!”

Catching the boy, Qiao Yan took a big, exaggerated sniff of his neck, almost like she was a vampire smelling delicious, fresh blood.

After a frenzy of kisses, Qiao An’s face started to hurt. He squirmed to escape from her embrace.

Like a slippery little eel, he slipped away before she could catch him again.

Qiao Lu took her son’s hand and walked inside. “Sister, long time no see. Just got off work?”

Qiao Yan shot her a “duh” kind of look and followed her in. “Would I be here if I hadn’t?”

Qiao Lu noticed the light brown paper box in her sister’s hand and raised an eyebrow. “You even brought peach crisps? Getting formal on me now?”

Qiao Yan rolled her eyes and handed the peach crisps to Qiao An. “Here. For my sweet An’an baby.”

Back when Qiao Lu was living with Qiao Yan, she used to dote on Qiao An all day long—“baby this, baby that.” Even serious-minded Qiao Yan got influenced.

Qiao Lu giggled. Qiao An excitedly accepted the treat, thanked her, then eagerly pulled her into the bedroom. “Auntie! Come quick! I want to show you Bubble and Little White!”

“Bubble? Little White? What are those?” Qiao Yan was thoroughly confused as she was dragged away by her little nephew.

Qiao Lu strolled along behind them. “I bought him two little goldfish. Now he’s obsessed. Shows them off to anyone who comes by.”

Well, anyone but strangers.

“This kid… getting this worked up over two fish…” Qiao Yan shook her head in exasperation.

Unable to refuse his enthusiasm, she let herself be dragged to see the goldfish. They were kind of cute, sure—but Qiao Yan was twenty-eight, hardly interested in such things. She gave a half-hearted compliment, then came out and asked, “Where’s Xu Haizhou? Not back yet?”

“Mm. He’s out at the stall. Probably won’t be back till around six. That’s when business is best—between 4:00 and 6:30. He’ll come back for dinner after that.”

Same thing in the morning—he didn’t come home till 1:30 p.m.

“Sister, you came for something?” Qiao Lu poured her sister a glass of hot water from the thermos and added two large pieces of brown sugar.

Qiao Yan accepted it. The warmth instantly seeped into her palms. “Did you guys settle on a date for the wedding banquet yet?”

“Yeah, Haizhou and I talked. Next weekend—it’s a good day. I’ll go to the post office tomorrow and call the village chief’s house to let our parents know.”

“Good. Then your brother-in-law and I won’t need to take time off.”

Qiao Lu smiled. Qiao Yan watched her face closely, hesitated for a long moment, then finally got to the real question. “Did your man give a bride price to our parents?”

“He did.” Qiao Lu nodded.

“How much?”

Qiao Lu blinked. “Fifty. Same as yours.”

Hearing that, Qiao Yan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Her tone lightened. “That’s fine. For a rural girl marrying out, fifty yuan isn’t too shabby.”

Truthfully, given Yuan Jianghe’s background and status, fifty yuan was kind of pitiful. But the reason it was only fifty was because of Qiao Yan’s instruction.

Even then, she thought fifty was too much. After all, even though the bride price went to their parents, it would eventually be snatched up by her sister-in-law anyway.

Why should that woman benefit? Qiao Yan loathed her.

She still remembered clearly how Niu Qiaoli had almost ruined her chances of getting into high school. If it weren’t for Yuan Jianghe being a respectable official, she wouldn’t have let them give even that much.

The sisters chatted for a while longer. When Qiao An finished feeding the fish and came back out, he snuggled up with Qiao Yan for a bit before she got ready to leave.

Qiao Lu politely asked her to stay for dinner, but Qiao Yan declined—she said she had to go cook for Yuan Jianghe.

Before leaving, she peeked into Qiao Lu’s bedroom. She had intended to see how the new bride was doing—if her quilt was as messy as it used to be. But to her surprise, the bed was neat and tidy.

Had she really become more diligent?

Qiao Yan was puzzled. What she didn’t know was that the quilt had been folded by Xu Haizhou. The original Qiao Lu had never been the type to make the bed. The current Qiao Lu wasn’t either.

Still, Qiao Yan nodded in satisfaction. Just as she was turning to leave, her eyes fell on the bottles and jars on the vanity.

Something about them looked familiar. She picked up one to examine. “Wan Zi Qian Hong? Qiao Lu, you sure don’t hold back.”

“A woman’s got to take care of her face,” Qiao Lu replied with a smile. “This isn’t even that fancy. In twenty years, creams will cost over a thousand yuan a jar.”

“This stuff costs several mao more than Snow Cream, right?” Qiao Yan opened the lid and sniffed lightly at the mouth of the jar. It smelled rich, but not overwhelming—just the right amount of fragrance. Really pleasant.

Maybe it was psychological, but Qiao Yan felt it smelled better than Snow Cream.

“Three mao.” Qiao Lu tilted her head at her sister, grinning.

Qiao Yan’s eyes widened. She clicked her tongue. “You really don’t hold back.”

Qiao Lu covered her mouth and laughed, then winked mischievously. “It’s not my money—it’s Xu Haizhou’s.”

“Tsk, your man probably doesn’t even know how much this jar costs,” Qiao Yan said, shooting her a sidelong glance. “Right now you two are newlyweds, so he still indulges you. But give it time—he’s bound to start resenting how wasteful you are. Besides, in life, you need to budget carefully. What if business goes bad? Are you two going to survive on air?”

“Oh, listen to yourself! It’s like you’re hoping for things to go badly between me and Haizhou. I don’t care if he resents me in the future. He doesn’t right now, so I’m going to spend his money.” If he really does get tired of her later, then all the more reason to spend as much of his money as she could now!

If he ends up disliking her, he might even look for a mistress—what, should she save money so he can spend it on another woman?

The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous her thoughts got, and Qiao Lu almost made herself angry with the imagined scenario.

“Don’t worry, sister. I know what I’m doing. It’s just a jar of face cream, no need to be stingy. If you don’t take care of your skin while you’re young, you’ll age even faster.”

Honestly, she thought Wan Zi Qian Hong (the local cream) was just average. When Lian’an eventually got a large shopping mall, she’d buy international luxury brands. But that probably wouldn’t happen until the 90s.

“Forget it. I’m too lazy to lecture you anymore. You never listen to me anyway.” Qiao Yan curled her lips and turned to leave.

As she stepped out the courtyard door, she added, “Just stay home, take care of your son and your man. Don’t even think about setting up a street stall. Let your man do the earning—it’s enough.”

“Got it. Now hurry home.” Qiao Lu couldn’t help laughing. She was more nagging than their own mother.

Apart from that, Qiao Lu also found that she and Qiao Yan had a fundamental disagreement: Qiao Yan, who had a job and was a college student herself, should have understood the pros and cons of being a full-time housewife. But deep down, she probably just believed her younger sister wasn’t capable and had to rely on a man.

From Qiao Yan’s perspective, that might make sense. But Qiao Lu now had a different soul, so that was a whole other matter.

…

No sooner had Qiao Yan left than Qiao Lu’s husband came back carrying a bunch of goodies.

And this time, it wasn’t just some ordinary snacks—it was the famous Meilin canned luncheon meat!

The can was in a mesh bag hanging from the handlebars of his bicycle. He got plenty of stares on the way home. In this era, even a single cabbage could draw attention. Just now, when he entered the yard, the second daughter-in-law from the Chen family was practically green with envy.

“Whoa, where’d you get that from?”

This was premium stuff! In the early 90s, it had its golden age—there was even a legendary story about someone exchanging 500 cans for 4 airplanes from a foreign country.

Back when Qiao Lu first heard that story from the elders, she thought it was exaggerated. But after living through a period of such scarcity, it didn’t seem so far-fetched anymore.

Thinking of that delicious luncheon meat made her mouth water… so, so tempting.

“A friend got it for me. This is my first time buying it too.” Nowadays, as soon as Xu Haizhou heard about something good, his first instinct was to bring it home for his wife and son to try.

“Your friend? Li Hongjun?”

“No, someone else.” Xu Haizhou had quite a wide network. His best friend was Li Hongjun, but he had other connections too. “I’ll introduce you guys sometime.”

“Alright.” Qiao Lu curiously turned the can over in her hands, clearly delighted. She was absolutely craving it. “Dinner’s ready, so let’s save this for tomorrow. We’ll have it with noodles for breakfast—it’ll go great with that.”

Xu Haizhou had no objections. “Sure.”

Little Qiao An stared at the can with big eyes, practically drooling.

He kept looking at it, hoping his mom would open this mysterious can right away. But then… wahhh… she put it in the cupboard…

Little Qiao An’s gulping was so loud that even Xu Haizhou heard it from far away. He looked at his wife—she clearly wanted some too.

Trying not to laugh, he said, “Why don’t we open it now and have a taste?”

He took the can out again. Qiao An was so excited he started stomping his feet.

“Do you know what this is called?” Xu Haizhou teased, shaking the can.

Qiao An didn’t speak or move, just stared at him with big, innocent grape-like eyes and shook his head.

“Then do you know what it is?”

It was an oval-shaped tin with red-orange labeling and a picture of the luncheon meat printed on it. Qiao An wasn’t dumb—one glance told him exactly what it was!

“Is it meat?” he asked, raising his little pale face.

Xu Haizhou gave him an approving look. “Yes, it’s meat. It’s called luncheon meat.”

“Luncheon?” Little Qiao An tilted his head and leaned on the table. “Ah, I get it! It’s meat you eat at noon!”

Xu Haizhou chuckled. “You could say that—but you can eat it at night too.”

He deftly used a kitchen knife to cut a small opening in the can, then slowly pried it open. With a pop, the rich, oily aroma of the luncheon meat wafted out, attracting stray cats from the yard.

Canned meat in this era was the real deal—no starch fillers, just pure meat packed to the brim. A shiny layer of meat jelly coated the edges, making everyone’s appetite soar. The taste was exquisite, made with minimal seasoning yet bursting with flavor.

Each person got a small slice. It was fragrant and tender with a pleasant bounce, every bite full of genuine meaty texture. The broth inside the can was also delicious, perfect as a dipping sauce for steamed buns—absolutely scrumptious.

Even Qiao Lu, who was used to gourmet foods, found herself enchanted by the salty aroma.

With this “pre-dinner treat,” lunch was all the more satisfying. Little Qiao An, still savoring the amazing flavor, unknowingly polished off a whole bowl of rice—when he usually could only manage half.

He patted his full belly contentedly and let out a burp.

Qiao Lu chuckled.

The little guy blushed and buried himself in her arms. “Mama, don’t laugh at me.”

Qiao Lu patted his back. “I wasn’t laughing at you—I was laughing at a little stinky fart. Are you a little stinky fart?”

Qiao An obediently shook his head and said clearly, “I’m not a little stinky fart.”

“Exactly. So Mama wasn’t laughing at you.”

“Okay then.”

Pfft—her son was adorably silly.