"You three brothers go and help your sister wash up. After you're done, bring Yingbao to the main room for dinner," Mother said softly as she hurried back to the kitchen.

To the east of Grandma Wang Cuihua's outer room was the kitchen, a shared kitchen for four families. The kitchen had two earthen stoves, each with a large iron pot on it. One was used for boiling water, and the other for cooking. They were very useful and also served as a heater for the kang (a heated brick bed).

The weather in the north is especially cold. Grandma Wang Cuihua and Grandpa Ye Yaozu are getting old, so in winter they move from the inner room to the outer room. Every night before going to bed, they boil a pot of water, which can be used to heat the kang (a heated brick bed), and also to wash their feet and take a bath—it's so wonderful!

In the outer room, there were two cabinets pieced together from wooden planks. The larger one contained grains, rice, flour, and eggs; the smaller one held bowls, chopsticks, basins, knives, and the like. Both cabinets were locked, for fear that petty thieves would climb over the wall and steal their livelihood.

My grandparents had the foresight to divide the family property years ago, fearing that their son would get married and cause trouble among his brothers. Besides, dividing the family property didn't mean severing all ties; it just meant separating the family but not the family.

Each year, the three families contribute ten yuan to their retirement fund. Whatever they earn after that is either saved or spent, and it has nothing to do with the elderly couple. Fortunately, the brothers and sisters-in-law get along very well, and they help each other out when any family faces difficulties.

The Ye family has three branches. The eldest son, Ye Tiancheng, and his wife, Lin Wan, have three children: the eldest son, Ye Heyun; the second son, Ye Shaoyu; and the youngest son, Ye Zilin.

The second uncle, Ye Tianwang, and his wife, Zhou Xiayun, have two sons: Ye Lingfan and Ye Yuezhou.

Ye Tianyong, the third son of Wang Yitong, has four children: three sons and one daughter. The eldest son is Ye Yuanhang, the second son is Ye Haoyu, the third son is Ye Mingchen, and the youngest daughter is Ye Ying, who is also the beloved Yingbao of the whole Ye family.

Why do we say that the whole family loves us?

Because the Ye family has been all male for three generations, and they finally had a daughter after several generations of waiting, of course the whole family would love and cherish her!

The whole family was busy washing vegetables and chopping potatoes. Even the younger ones, Zilin and Yuezhou from the eldest and second uncles' families, were busy adding firewood to the earthen stove. Their little bottoms were so cute! Occasionally, when they looked up, they would see two little kittens, which made all the adults laugh non-stop!

Especially since her aunt wasn't in a hurry to have her youngest son wash his face, she was mischievously teasing her cousin Zilin: "Son, you're such a good wood-burner, Mom is so proud of you!"

But Zilin's cousin, still completely convinced, turned back to his aunt with a silly smile and said, "Really, Mom? Then I'll take care of all the little things like adding firewood from now on."

Haha~ The whole family burst into laughter again. Looking at my cousin Zilin's mysterious smile and not-so-bright look, I really wanted to shout at him, "Too bad I'm still just a baby." What a heartless aunt, how did she end up with Zilin's cousin?

"Dinner's ready. While eating her steamed egg custard, Xiaoyingbao was thinking about how to improve the Ye family's meals without getting caught."

Watching the whole family eat small wild vegetable dumplings and drink a bowl of porridge in front of them. In the eyes of modern people in the 21st century, this bowl of porridge may not even be considered soup, because there are only a few kinds of rice in the bowl. But in Huxing Village and some surrounding villages, this is considered the best meal. Some people can't even afford rice and can only eat tree bark. Some even sell their children and wives to exchange for a bite to eat.