Chronicle of the 70s

Li Xianglu entered the home and greeted everyone, then sat down neatly by the kang table, smiling as she asked, "Mom, how have you been feeling lately?"

Old Mrs. Wu, hearing her granddaughter’s soft voice asking about her health, broke into a smile that lit up her wrinkled face like a chrysanthemum: "Good, I’ve been quite well recently. The white flour you gave me, your aunt makes me noodle soup every now and then. It’s really nourishing, I’ve gained quite a bit of weight."

Li Xianglu noticed that Old Mrs. Wu indeed looked good, but it wasn’t as exaggerated as she mentioned, there wasn’t any noticeable weight gain, just that she looked somewhat nourished.

Li Xianglu opened her cloth bundle, and first took out a paper package. It was high-quality pastry bought from Shanghai, flaky and in each pound there were twelve pieces. Qin Xi had bought four pounds, and Xianglu took a variety of flavors, eight pieces total. She thought about her paternal uncle’s family which was large; taking too few would mean not everyone would get a piece.

Carefully placing it on the table, she grinned and said, "Mom, these are pastries from Shanghai First Department Store, very flaky and incredibly delicious. Please have a taste."

Old Mrs. Wu, curious, opened it and became excited, "Oh my, even prettier than the pastries from the county. The flaky layers are almost falling off. Just how much sugar must be in this?"

Everyone chuckled, and Li Xianglu laughed as she added, "Exactly, without enough sugar, it wouldn’t hold together well."

Old Mrs. Wu carefully picked one up, broke a piece off for her drooling little grandson next to her, and gave the rest of that half to Li Xiangwei. She rolled up the rest and carefully handed them to Liu Aidang, saying, "Xiangwei’s mother, please keep these safe, be careful- the pastry crumbles easily."

Hearing her mother-in-law instructing her to keep them safe, Liu Aidang’s stern face burst into a radiant smile. She quickly accepted and carefully took them away.