A couple of days ago I saw there was still a little more than half a tank of rice left, but now it's almost empty.

Song Yinhua poured out the remaining rice, which was only a small handful.

She took out the wild mushrooms and wild shepherd's purse she had just picked that afternoon from her basket and cooked a pot of shepherd's purse and mushroom porridge, adding a few drops of rapeseed oil from the oil bottle on top.

After spending the day weeding in the fields, Qiao Guilan returned home to find Song Yinhua pouring rapeseed oil into a pot. Feeling sorry for her, she snatched the oil away.

"There's only this little bit of rapeseed oil left in the house. Are you raised by a rich man? You're pouring such precious oil into the pot just to cook porridge."

Qiao Guilan looked at the remaining rapeseed oil in the bottle and felt that much less had been used up. She felt as if her heart had been ripped out.

"Mom, I just added a few drops to make it taste better..."

"Why are you adding seasoning? You should be grateful to have something to eat. Do you think you're some rich man raised in a wealthy family, needing seasoning even for your porridge? You're already twenty-five, how can you still be so immature? Other people your age already have children in school. You should hurry up and get married."

Qiao Guilan couldn't stop talking.

Song Caixing brought in the prepared lobsters and said in a good mood, "Big sister, the lobsters are ready."

"Where did the lobsters come from?" Qiao Guilan asked.

"I caught them all myself in the river and pond," Song Caixing said proudly. "My older sister said she'd cook spicy crayfish for dinner..."

Before Cai Xing could finish speaking, Qiao Guilan took the small basket of lobsters from her hand.

"It's not too late to do it when your dad and your brother come back."

“We don’t know when Dad and Baogen will be back. It’s so hot, so we’ve already processed these lobsters. They’ll spoil if we leave them out for too long.” Song Yinhua took the lobsters. “These were caught by Caixing with great difficulty. When Dad and Baogen come back, we can go fishing in the river and pond again.”

Song Caixing stood next to Song Yinhua, nodding repeatedly, her eyes full of anticipation as she urged the lobsters to be cooked; she wanted to eat them.

“Your dad and brother are taking Qiuxue to university in the provincial capital, not fleeing famine. They’ve been gone for three or four days. Aren’t they coming back tomorrow? We’ll make the lobster tomorrow.”

Song Caixing stood silently behind Song Yinhua, watching expectantly as her mother, Qiao Guilan, was about to take the lobster away. She looked at her eldest sister with hopeful eyes.

"If it's done tonight, we can save some for Dad and Baogen." Song Yinhua insisted on doing it tonight.

"Yinhua, what's wrong with you these past few days? First you pushed over your sixth aunt's grandson to steal his amulet, and now you're going against me every day! It would be so much better if we cooked lobsters together when your dad and brother came back. You're becoming more and more inconsiderate. How can you be so selfish?"

Qiao Guilan began to nag incessantly.

"Cai Xing, start the fire and cook the lobster!" Song Yinhua lifted the pot lid and began washing the pot and cooking.

Upon hearing this, Cai Xing excitedly started a fire.

"Eat, eat, eat! All you ever do is eat! You'll eat yourselves to death!" Qiao Guilan turned and left in a huff.

Song Yinhua glanced at her mother, who had left in anger. In her past life, whenever she disagreed with her mother, she would constantly compromise and give in as long as her mother said she was being unreasonable.

Young women are shameless.

Her mother felt sorry for her father and brother, and she could understand that.

But it's so hot now, unlike twenty years from now when every household will have a refrigerator.

These lobsters have all been processed; they might spoil overnight.

—

It had gotten dark, and fireflies were flying everywhere.

The bright moonlight illuminated the whole world as if it were daytime.

At that time, Songzhuang Village was not yet fully connected to electricity.

Song Yinhua and Song Caixing carried the dining table outside and brought out the cooked shepherd's purse and mushroom porridge and spicy crayfish.

"Big sister, the lobster I just cooked is gone."

Song Yinhua ran into the kitchen, struck a match to light the kerosene lamp, and searched the entire small kitchen but couldn't find the freshly cooked crayfish.

Where's Mom?

"I didn't see it."

The two sisters searched the entire yard.

Song Yinhua guessed what was going on and ran out of the courtyard. She had only taken a few steps when she ran into Qiao Guilan, who was coming back from the opposite direction.

She was still holding a plate of lobsters in her hand.

Qiao Guilan smiled broadly, "Yinhua, where are you going so late at night?"

"The freshly cooked lobster is gone."

A hint of guilt flashed across Qiao Guilan's face. "Your sixth cousin's grandson said he wanted to eat crayfish, so I sent some over."

"Who told you to give away the lobsters without even saying goodbye?"

"Sixth Aunt's grandson is only three years old. Why are you arguing with a little kid? He wants some lobster, so we send it over for him to try. Why are you getting so angry?"

"Those lobsters were caught by Cai Xing. You gave them away to others, couldn't you at least leave some for yourself?"

"There are plenty of crayfish in the pond. You can catch more later if you want to eat them," Qiao Guilan said, trying to persuade her. "I've already taken the crayfish over. Let's go home. Caixing can go fishing again tomorrow. Your dad and brother should be home by tomorrow. We can eat them together then..."

"How did Sixth Aunt's grandson know we had lobsters?" Song Yinhua asked.

Qiao Guilan gave an irrelevant answer, "It's getting late, hurry back and have dinner. The porridge will get mushy and won't taste good if it's left out for too long."

Song Yinhua took the plate from Qiao Guilan and ran to find her sixth cousin.

She pushed open the door and saw her sixth cousin and her aunt's family eating crayfish around the table.

The room was brightly lit.

Only a dozen or so households in Songzhuang Village have electricity, including my uncle's family.

The group paused for a moment while eating lobster, and when they saw it was Song Yinhua, they all greeted each other as if she didn't exist.

"Keep going, keep eating!"

"Grandma, these crayfish are delicious."

"Eat more if you like it, Hanwen. Stop looking and eat too."

"Fifth Sister, don't just let your son and granddaughter eat, save some for my grandson."

Song Yinhua saw that more than half of the lobsters on the plate had been eaten, and she had wanted to take the lobsters back, but now she didn't have to.

She walked over and angrily overturned the table.

"Stop eating! Stop eating!"

With a crash, the crayfish, porridge, and pickled vegetables on the table were spilled all over the floor.

"Ahhhhh..."

"Waaaaah..."

The grandson of the sixth cousin and the granddaughter of the eldest aunt were both frightened and started crying.

"Song Yinhua, you jinx, what are you doing here causing trouble at my house?" Song Hanwen grabbed Song Yinhua, about to hit her. "Your mother brought these lobsters over. If you want to make a scene, go make a scene at your mother's house. What are you doing here?"

“I poisoned the lobsters, I was afraid they would all die!” Song Yinhua said to Song Hanwen.

Aunt Tang Suxiang and sixth cousin Tang Su'e both tensed up, fearing that she had been poisoned.

Qiao Guilan chased after them for a while, and when she caught up, she saw a mess on the ground and Song Hanwen grabbing his daughter and about to hit her.

"No poison, no poison, I didn't poison you," Qiao Guilan quickly explained.

Afraid of offending anyone, she immediately sided with her sister-in-law and sixth cousin. Glancing at the mess on the floor, she snapped at Song Yinhua, "Yinhua, did you overturn the table? It's just a plate of lobster. If your sixth cousin's grandson likes it, let him have some. Why are you so selfish? What are you doing here causing trouble like a mad dog?"

Aunt Tang Suxiang added, "Yinhua, did you hear that? It was your mother who came all the way to your sixth cousin to complain that you were too inconsiderate and selfish, and offered to send over the lobsters, which we didn't want."

Qiao Guilan was exposed in public by her sister-in-law. Feeling guilty, she didn't dare to look at her daughter and kept apologizing to her sister-in-law and sixth cousin.

The sister-in-law said with a condescending look, "Forget it, we're all relatives. Do you really expect your family to compensate for the food and broken plates?"

The sixth cousin added sarcastically, "Your family is so poor, you can't afford to pay compensation. Hurry up and leave, don't get in the way here."

Qiao Guilan thanked her repeatedly in a humble manner.

Seeing her mother like this, Song Yinhua was speechless. She pushed away Song Hanwen's hand that was gripping her clothes and left angrily.