Pickled cabbage buns were simply buns with a pickled cabbage filling, but the dough wasn't made from white flour—it was made from cornmeal.
Generally, no meat was added when making them.
The reason was simple: no one could afford it.
But Xu Changlin's family didn't have to buy their meat.
So, when Xu Baoshan was a child, the only time he had ever eaten pickled cabbage buns with meat was at Xu Changlin's home.
To the young Xu Baoshan, they were the best thing he had ever tasted.
For a long time after that, even when his own family's circumstances had improved enough that they could afford to add meat to their own buns, Xu Baoshan found they never tasted as good as the ones made by Xu Changlin's wife.
Throughout those years, Xu Baoshan always longed to visit Xu Changlin's home for another meal of pickled cabbage buns.
This longing persisted until he began working. On his very first day assigned to the Forest Farm, Xu Baoshan visited Xu Changlin's home, gifts in hand.
