The Smell of Roasted Eggplant

In the year when the household responsibility system was implemented, our family of six was allotted about five or six acres of land. Among these few acres, my mother insisted on setting aside three or four acres that were not outside the main grain fields for vegetable gardens. She left a road in between, forming two small plots. She planted vegetables on both of them, with common peppers and Chinese cabbage being the main ones.