When Su Wan traveled to the educated youth center of the Hongqi Production Brigade in the 1970s, the coarse grains distributed in the team were so good that people could choke on them. While others were counting the days until they could return to the city on their fingers, she was thinking about the black iron pot at the Educated Youth Point——
Cornmeal mixed with wild vegetables can be steamed to make a soft and sweet vegetable nest; small fish larvae caught by the stream are wrapped in multi-grain noodles and fried until they are golden and crispy and can be served as a wine dish; even the old pumpkins that no one wants at the educated youth restaurant, after she steams and stirs them, they turn into sweet, glutinous and dense pumpkin cakes, which are fragrant with milk when they are cold.
The educated youths who used to avoid her now find new ways to get in front of her stove: the male educated youths bring chopped firewood to exchange for pancakes, and the female educated youths secretly feed her the saved fine grains to make white flour steamed buns. Even Shen Yanqing, who always hid in the corner chewing hard cornbread and only read books about sages, for the first time stood by the stove while she was cooking sweet potato porridge and asked softly: "Tomorrow... Can I put half a spoonful more sugar?"
In the barren years, Su Wan used a spatula to turn ordinary meals into delicacies, filling the deserted educated youth spot with the aroma of fireworks. The days are warmed up by bowls of hot rice, and the figure that is always approaching quietly in the fragrance of rice has a temperature hidden in the eyes that is a bit brighter than the flames in the stove. She heated up the food and softened a heart that was tense during the hard years.
