Steaming beans and cooking red bean paste used up a lot of firewood, and Lin Lan remembered that the woodshed was running low.
Every household in the flatlands was short on firewood. In this day and age, some things couldn't be bought even if you had the money.
Where could she get more firewood? Lin Lan furrowed her brow, worried.
Turning her head, she saw a broken jar of charcoal in the corner of the stove and suddenly thought of coal. 'Coal isn't expensive these days,' she mused. 'It's more practical to buy coal for burning.'
She didn't have any coal ration tickets, but the peddlers in the Eucalyptus Forest sold all sorts of things. If she bought a few cartloads of coal from them, she wouldn't have to worry about firewood anymore.
Having made up her mind, Lin Lan felt at ease. Seeing the fire in the stove catch, she went out to the stone steps under the eaves to trim fava beans with the old lady.
