Chapter 62 – Sour Plum Soup

To be honest, when Zhou Yimin suggested setting up a school canteen, the village still felt some pressure.

After all, the food had to be taken from the village canteen, which meant there would be less for everyone else.

Now that Zhou Yimin planned to bring in a batch of grain specifically for the school, the village didn’t need to worry for the time being, which clearly eased a lot of that burden. Naturally, they were happy to see it happen.

The old village secretary instructed two young men to carry the box to Zhou Yimin’s house.

Zhou Yimin went back with them.

His grandmother was in the vegetable garden. She lifted a corner of the upside-down box and saw the bean sprouts had grown two or three finger joints long—they could probably be eaten tomorrow.

She smiled with satisfaction.

Ever since she found out her grandson wanted to eat bean sprouts, she had been checking on them almost every day.

While no one was paying attention, Zhou Yimin quietly stashed the box of seals into the store’s backpack space.

In his mind, he was already thinking about what kind of food to prepare for the school.

Potatoes first, then some sorghum and corn—coarse grains. It wasn’t that Zhou Yimin was unwilling to part with rice or flour, but rather that there was no need to.

He believed that if he brought out the fine grains, people might not even be happy.

After all, how many times more coarse grain could you trade for just one jin of fine grain?

“Don’t drink raw water,” Zhou Yimin said to Laicai, who was gulping water straight from a ladle.

He’d already said it two or three times, and the kid still wouldn’t listen.

No matter the era, just drinking boiled water and eating thoroughly cooked food could prevent the majority of illnesses.

As the old saying goes: “Illness enters through the mouth.” It couldn’t be more accurate.

“Big Brother, I’m very obedient—I always drink hot water,” Laifang immediately said to show off in front of her brother.

Laicai had to put down the ladle and defend himself, “I forgot today, but I drank hot water yesterday and the day before! My mom can vouch for me.”

Zhou Yimin noticed insect spots on Laicai’s face and suspected the boy had worms in his stomach. He figured he’d buy some Baota Candy tomorrow and give it to the village kids for deworming.

Everyone knew that Baota Candy was used to treat parasitic infections due to poor hygiene and eating habits—especially roundworms and pinworms.

Baota Candy had already existed in China for several years.

In 1952, when relations with the Soviet Union were good, Big Brother gifted China 20 grams of precious wormwood seeds and provided advanced pharmaceutical extraction equipment and technicians to help China cultivate wormwood and produce medicine.

Baota Candy was born under that context.

It was shaped like a pagoda not for nothing—pagodas have always symbolized warding off evil in Chinese tradition. Since the candy’s effects were similar to “the pagoda suppressing evil,” experts deliberately named it Baota Candy.

“Big Brother, what are we making to eat?”

“Sour plum soup. Come light the fire,” Zhou Yimin called out to his little firestarter.

The weather was brutally hot, so hot that Zhou Yimin had no appetite. He wanted to make a cooling and digestive “drink” to help with the heat.

If it was just for himself, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble—he could’ve just bought a bottle from the system store. But he also wanted to make some for his grandparents.

Elderly people didn’t digest food as well to begin with.

That’s why he thought of sour plum soup.

Sour plum soup was a traditional summer drink. Its main ingredients included smoked plums, hawthorn, dried tangerine peel, osmanthus, licorice, and rock sugar.

The ancient “Tugong Meijian” recorded in historical texts was one of the earliest forms of sour plum soup.

For instance, in the Wulin Old Affairs from the Southern Song dynasty, there’s mention of “brined plum water,” which was a similar cooling beverage.

It was improved during the Qing dynasty in the Imperial Kitchen and became an imperial beverage. With its effects of clearing heat, calming pain, relieving coughs, warding off illness, and quenching thirst, it was praised as the “Imperial Treasure Plum Soup.”

Later, it spread among the common people. Vendors selling sour plum soup could be found in front of every dried fruit shop and down every alley.

Laicai was thrilled. No one could take this “job” from him—not even his brother Laifu. If anyone tried to steal his fire-lighting duty, he’d fight them over it.

“Don’t make the fire too strong,” Zhou Yimin reminded him.

He washed the smoked plums and other dried fruits clean, then tossed them into the pot along with some rock sugar and boiled them in water.

Technically, the correct way was to soak them for an hour or two first. But Zhou Yimin was too lazy, and skipping that step didn’t affect the result much—plus, people in this era weren’t so particular.

He cooked about half a pot.

Seeing Laifang waiting eagerly nearby, Zhou Yimin tossed her two dried plums and said, “Go check on your sister.”

The girl happily bounced off to watch over Qianqian. During the day, she and her brother were mostly in charge, since Third Aunt also had to work.

Carrying the baby on the back while working was fine too, but the sun was too strong outside now, so they didn’t dare.

She’d occasionally come back to change diapers and breastfeed.

Laifang only ate one plum and saved the other to stash away for later. So far, she had hoarded quite a few of the sweets and treats her big brother gave her.

Only her mother noticed her habit of hiding food, but didn’t expose her. She planned to wait until the stash grew, then collect it all at once.

Before long, the people working on the house caught the scent of sour plum soup.

“Sixteenth Uncle made something good again.”

“Smells like sour plum soup—haven’t had it in ages.”

“A bowl of that in this weather must feel amazing.”

Zhou Zhiming glared at them. “Eat, eat, eat. That’s all you know. Hurry up and work. Besides, that stuff just makes you hungrier. You think you’re too full or something?”

He wasn’t wrong.

Sour plum soup was indeed good for digestion, and everyone was hoping the food in their stomachs would last a little longer. A bowl of that soup would make you feel like your meals had gone to waste.

Everyone fell silent.

You made a solid point—but we still want to drink it.

After about an hour, the soup was done boiling and set aside to cool.

Zhou Yimin scooped a bowl and handed it to his grandmother. “Grandma, have a couple sips.”

“Alright!” The old lady smiled and nodded.

Truth be told, she was thinking the same thing: drink this and it’ll be like she didn’t eat lunch. But this was her grandson’s heartfelt effort, and she couldn’t refuse.

Laicai and Laifang also fought to get a taste.

They didn’t care about all that—they just wanted to eat and drink whatever they could get.

Kids really liked it. The sour and sweet taste hit just right. Laicai turned into a little flatterer again, leaving Zhou Yimin speechless.

He scooped up half a basin and carried it out. “Zhiming-ge, I made some sour plum soup. Let everyone drink a bit to cool off.”

“Alright!” Zhou Zhiming responded.

Then he turned to the others and said, “If you want some, go drink it now.”

He wasn’t going to drink any himself. He had to hold back. Though he really wanted some, he worried about having an empty stomach tonight and not being able to take it.

Logic told him: Don’t sacrifice the long-term for a moment’s pleasure.

The others, however, couldn’t resist the temptation of sour plum soup. They gave in and went to drink some.

Zhou Yimin’s grandfather wandered back and had a bowl too. Since his family wasn’t short on food, he didn’t need to hold back. If he wanted to drink, he’d drink.

“Don’t run around. I’m cutting your hair later,” Zhou Yimin called out to Laicai. The two brothers’ hair was getting a bit long.

(End of Chapter)