She Only Cares About Cultivation

The older generation would advise that plants like Golden Vegetable, which are reaped multiple times or eaten bit by bit, are not suitable for home gardening, as they symbolize bad luck.

However, flowers and plants like impatiens are very suitable for planting at the doorstep. Though the reason is unknown, she scattered impatiens seeds at her door, and in summer she dyed her nails with them. The flowers were crushed with some alum, wrapped with a plant leaf, and turned reddish by the next day. Although her fingers were stained a yellow-brown color, it washed off after a few days, leaving the nails increasingly pure in color like natural nail polish, quite pretty.

This plant, commonly known as impatiens, is also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. Its flowers, when soaked in white wine, can invigorate blood circulation and reduce swelling, treating bruises and injuries.

Actually, not just its buds, but its roots, stems, and leaves also have medicinal value and are widely utilized in the realm of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She planted about a dozen of them at her doorstep, and they thrived well. When the flowers bloomed, she collected them, prepared for any future use.

The yard is around three or four hundred square meters, where she planted a small patch of sweet potatoes mainly for easy access to sweet potato leaves. She also grew various green vegetables, coriander, Scallion, garlic sprouts, celeriac, chili, tomato, eggplant, cucumber, green beans, etc. She harvested fresh produce every day, storing them fresh in the space. The first batch of green beans she turned into pickled beans, as they call it in the South, pickled long beans. Regardless of what it’s called, once the dish is marinated and flavored, it’s truly appetizing.

The younger the long beans, the better they turn out pickled. If they grow old, they become hollow and tasteless, lacking elasticity.

Also, the youngest cucumbers.

If green vegetables can’t be consumed in time, fearing they’d become old, they can be made into Dried Plums.

In their backyard of two or three hundred square meters, she planted solely cabbage and radish, which are winter’s reserve food. Once the Scallion grew, she’d find a spot to specifically plant and fence off, ensuring fresh Scallion in winter. These are popular storage foods in Northern regions during winter.

Yishui was quite skilled in cooking. The oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar at home were previously stored in the space, enough for her to consume for three to five years without issue. After three to five years, she replenished her supplies. Essentially, she wouldn’t run out, ensuring she eats and drinks well. She wasn’t overly extravagant, not living like future generations; her food was less salt, less oil, less seasoning. If she indulged too much, she’d be embarrassed in public if she couldn’t eat.

Many people take half a year to adapt to new places, but she was different; accustomed to various lifestyles, and with no neighbors around, she lived as usual, never delaying her life.

From Japan’s surrender to early 1953 when she arrived at Liujiatun, in those eight years, she wandered across the country, bartering goods, acquiring even seafood from the coast, all to find a suitable place to settle down. After much deliberation, she chose Northeast as her residence.

At this time, they used the first set of RMB issued from the end of 1948 to the end of 1953. However, this set of RMB ceased circulation in May 1955. She didn’t have a strong impression of this currency set due to its large denomination and rampant inflation.

The smallest denomination was one yuan, and the highest was fifty thousand yuan.

A large denomination didn’t mean buying more; fifty thousand yuan could only buy two chickens or twenty kilograms of rice, with purchasing power comparable to a hundred yuan later on, equal to the second set of five yuan RMB. The conversion rate between the first and second sets differed by ten thousand times, causing inconvenience. During those years, she primarily busied herself preparing for future food supplies and rarely used money at all.

Unless necessary for transportation, she opted for bartering, knowing this currency set would soon be obsolete. She kept two sets for memorabilia, including Republic era circulated currencies and silver coins, without particular thoughts—simply feeling it captures her footsteps across China, leaving them as mementos was nice. Coming from such turbulent times, preserving memories was essential.

In her free time, she wrote memoirs, documenting experiences, mostly in a factual style, apart from parts involving space as a cheat. Having acquired a Japanese Army camera and valuable documents, she photographed and saved all she could. The originals were submitted to relevant authorities post-war, preserved as irrefutable evidence of Japan’s indelible wartime actions.