"Alright! Uncle, you have to get me a bag to hold the rice!" Bai Xue said bluntly.
Not having a bag was a big problem for her. The bags she had in her supermarket were all plastic, which she dared not take out. If she's going to sell in the future, she'd need to prepare burlap and cotton bags used in this era.
"Okay..." Chef Wang gave Bai Xue a strange look and quickly agreed.
Preparing a bag wasn't really an issue compared to the presence of rice.
He immediately went to find a white cotton bag that could hold fifty pounds.
"Little girl, take this bag home. I'll find three aluminum lunch boxes to pack the noodles for you. When you come tonight, you can bring them all over!" He then turned around and grabbed three fairly large aluminum lunch boxes from the shelf, helping Bai Xue pack the noodles.
"Thank you, uncle. I'll head back now; the noodles are best eaten hot!" Bai Xue thanked him, placed the three lunch boxes in the cotton bag, and carefully lifted it as she walked out.
"Little girl, walk slowly, be careful not to spill the soup! My last name is Wang, but in the future, you can just call me Uncle Wang!" Chef Wang called after Bai Xue. His name was Wang Cheng, and he was from Pingyang Town, with six children at home, the eldest being only two or three years older than Bai Xue.
When Bai Xue walked out of the kitchen, the waitress was still busy cleaning up around the place, glancing at Bai Xue with peculiar eyes, but said nothing.
Because Chef Wang had already followed her out, and she had heard him say, "Call me Uncle Wang," and didn't dare to offend the chef.
As Bai Xue stepped out of the restaurant, a cold wind hit her, making her shiver.
"I must find a way to take out the cotton clothes from my space to wear."
Her supermarket had some old-style cotton clothes and pants that slightly resembled those of this era, but the fabric was definitely better and looked nicer, with various floral patterns. Unlike this era, when clothes were either black, white, or gray, with very few in brighter colors, mostly just blue work uniforms.
She jogged all the way back to the clinic, arriving in the ward just in time to see the nurse removing the needle from Bai Daliang, who was sound asleep.
"Is the IV finished?" She set the noodles down, rubbing her face with her hands to warm up.
"Yeah! It's done! Xiao Xue, why did it take you so long? You must be freezing?" Uncle Quanzi came over and handed her a cup of hot water.
As soon as she held the hot water, the warmth in her palms spread through her whole body, making her feel a little warmer. She took a few quick sips, even though it was a bit scalding for her mouth, she couldn't worry about that — it was freezing out.
"When I got to the State-Owned Restaurant, I had already missed mealtime, so I begged the chef to make three bowls of noodles on the spot. That's why it took a bit longer! Uncle Quanzi, hurry and eat them while they're hot!" Bai Xue caught her breath for a moment, then hurriedly pulled the lunch boxes out of the bag.
Uncle Quanzi didn't stand on ceremony, as the noodles were already bought back for him. He picked up a lunch box and opened it, but upon seeing the noodles inside, he was stunned and hesitant to start eating.
Initially, when Xiao Xue told him she had bought noodles, he had assumed they were cornmeal noodles and hadn't thought much of it. At home, they were occasionally able to make cornmeal noodles; although they weren't as long and never had much oil or salt, they were still a treat.
He never expected Xiao Xue's noodles to be made with white flour.
He had never eaten such oily white flour noodles before, especially with eggs on top.
Having white flour wasn't unheard of, as the family would trade some during grain distribution, but that was saved for making dumplings once during the New Year, and the rest would be made into paste for shoes, leaving none for noodles.
"Xiao Xue, quickly wake up your dad and have him eat while it's hot! I bet your dad will heal faster after eating this bowl of noodles!" He knew he hadn't had white flour noodles, so Bai Daliang definitely hadn't either. Their mother was biased anyway, and the good food never reached him.
"Okay!" Bai Xue also understood that noodles left too long would clump and become unappetizing, so she went up to Bai Daliang.
"Dad, wake up and eat before sleeping!" Not daring to push hard, she gently nudged him.
Bai Daliang slowly awoke. Because his wound was at the back of his head, he could only lie on his side. So Bai Xue placed the lunch box and chopsticks by his head. As soon as it was opened, the aroma of the white flour noodles made Bai Daliang's eyes widen a bit, and the dizziness and discomfort seemed to lessen.
"Xiao Xue, are these white flour noodles? How did you buy them? They aren't cheap, are they?" The first thing he asked about was the price.
"Dad! I bought them from the State-Owned Restaurant; hurry and eat while it's hot! Let me feed you!" Bai Xue chose not to explain further and replied vaguely.
But Bai Daliang didn't intend to let it go, "Xiao Xue, the State-Owned Restaurant requires grain tickets, where did you get the tickets to buy these noodles? You shouldn't do anything foolish, you hear?"
Bai Xue didn't know what foolish thing he was referring to, but she was very touched by his concern for her.
Touched as she was, she was also at her wits' end, unsure of how to explain, looking around lost for a response.
"Xiao Xue, did you spend money at the restaurant to buy grain tickets?" Uncle Quanzi spoke up; he had been staring at the noodles and hadn't started eating yet.
"I remember my father once saying he didn't bring any rations when he went out, so desperately hungry he spent a lot of money to buy grain tickets to eat at a State-Owned Restaurant!" Uncle Quanzi elaborated.
"No... no, I helped the chef with something, so he didn't ask for grain tickets and sold me three bowls of noodles! Quickly eat them, they're getting cold!" Saying this, she lifted some noodles to Bai Daliang's mouth.
Bai Xue couldn't go along with Uncle Quanzi's assumption because they knew how much money she had.
"Xiao Xue, you go ahead and eat your portion. Dad's hands aren't hurt; I can eat by myself!" Bai Daliang didn't ask further nor accept the feeding, saying he would eat on his own. Bai Xue didn't insist, as she had never served anyone before, and if he could eat himself, it was even better!
"Take your time eating, Dad!" she said, opening the remaining lunchbox and started eating.
To be honest, the noodles weren't that delicious. Of all the noodles she'd eaten, these were the worst. Though there was some grease, it wasn't much, and the salt was a bit lacking, but she still found them especially fragrant. Having come to this era, she was frightfully afraid of being hungry again.
Looking at Bai Daliang and Uncle Quanzi, they were eating slowly, savoring each bite as if the noodles were gold, hesitant to consume them quickly.
"Uncle Quanzi, just eat them all! Don't think about saving them for Sister Liangliang and the others. Not only do noodles get unappetizing after a while, but I also need to return the lunch boxes to them!" Bai Xue could tell Uncle Quanzi was hesitant to eat, wanting to take the noodles home to his three kids.
He had two daughters and a son, the eldest daughter was sixteen, the son fourteen, and the youngest daughter twelve. They usually didn't eat anything this good, and getting to eat noodles would naturally make him think of his children at home.
"Alright, uncle will eat, I'm eating!" Uncle Quanzi said with his voice trembling slightly.
Bai Xue clearly saw a tear drop into his noodles.
Bai Xue thought, is it necessary? Over just a not-so-delicious bowl of noodles? But then she looked back and saw Bai Daliang with reddened eyes.
The thing that amused Bai Xue the most was seeing the nurse, who had quietly entered at some point, standing by the bed intently staring at their noodles without blinking. Holding back her laughter, Bai Xue asked:
"Nurse, do you have any matters?"
Nurse Xiao Lan snapped back to reality, having not been unable to eat noodles lately, she was a foodie who simply couldn't move when seeing food she liked.
"Well... these are antibiotics, and these are painkillers, have the patient take each after eating!" She put down the two pills with a blush and walked out.
In this era, everything was scarce, and medications were distributed one pill at a time.