Transmigrated as My Aunt in the 70s

Tian Sisi still didn’t know that just one encounter had made Xu Feifei jealous of her. At the moment, she was strolling around the town, which only boasted a Supply and Marketing Cooperative, a restaurant, and a vegetable market — utterly simple.

Tian Sisi had only eaten a potato at noon and was quite hungry. Tian Xinhua and the others hadn’t eaten their fill either, so upon arriving in town, they went straight to the restaurant and each ordered a bowl of dumplings. Hu Weiwen, having eaten five large steamed buns, couldn’t eat anymore and just watched as his younger siblings ate.

The dumplings here were genuinely substantial, large and full of filling, made with mutton and onion flower, a local wild vegetable which is delicious whether it’s the stems or the blossoms, wonderfully aromatic. Local onion flower mutton buns were particularly famous, and they tasted pretty good in dumplings too. Tian Sisi ate about ten but couldn’t eat any more; she let Tian Xinhua eat the rest.

The restaurant also sold roasted lamb legs and hand-grabbed meat, with its fragrance filling the air. Hand-grabbed meat was truly a dish that represented Inner Mongolia and was also a staple food for locals. This meat really tested the quality of the lamb because it was cooked without any seasonings or salt, purely in its own juices; if the lamb was not good, it would be hard to swallow. Locals made hand-grabbed meat with young lambs that were fattier and tenderer, boiling them in clean water until they were about seventy to eighty percent done; the meat was fresh, tender, and delicious—an incredibly tasty dish.

Seeing Tian Sisi gaze unblinkingly at the meat, Tian Xinhua smiled, asked the restaurant waiter to bring two roasted lamb legs and a large plate of hand-grabbed meat, and got the seasonings ready, saying, "Let’s take it to Brother Wei Wen’s dorm to eat, and let his roommates have some too."

Hu Weiwen hurriedly took out money and coupons from his pocket to pay, unsure if he had enough. Usually, such luxury was beyond his imagination, but how could he not pay today when his younger siblings wanted to eat!

"No need, Brother Wei Wen, I have money. You only get a five yuan allowance a month; better save it for necessities." Tian Xinhua stopped Hu Weiwen and paid first.

Hu Weiwen didn’t mind, just smiled and put the money back into his pocket. Here, a five yuan allowance a month was barely enough; if it wasn’t for family sending money and food coupons occasionally, and his third uncle frequently bringing some food, he really couldn’t have managed.

The small town really didn’t have much to offer. Tian Sisi bought all of the restaurant’s onion flower mutton buns for the evening to pair with the hand-grabbed meat; the extravagance of these two made Hu Weiwen astonished, repeatedly saying, "Xinhua, Ah Nan, have you two struck it rich?"

Tian Sisi cheerfully pointed at Tian Xinhua, "It’s Brother Xinhua who struck it rich, so Brother Wei Wen, don’t be shy, buy whatever you want!"