"Shiyue, we've brought you firewood!"
Jiang Dong was clearly a bit too friendly; he greeted Shi Yue from afar.
Shiyue never expected that after they left, they would go to chop firewood for their family.
She had no choice but to go back.
After arranging the firewood, He Lixuan looked around and asked, "Where is Yu Chuxia?"
"I don't know, they probably went out," Shiyue replied.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Dong and Ye Pu'an both looked crestfallen, with Ye Pu'an even unconsciously rubbing his stomach.
Shiyue was very familiar with this action; was he hungry?
However—these days, nobody has any surplus grain at home.
She could only pretend she didn't understand.
After the three of them arranged the firewood, Shiyue began to shoo them away: "Go and see if Yu Zhiqing is washing clothes by the river."
As she spoke, she put the bamboo basket back on her back.
Even though they didn't explicitly tell them to leave, their attitude was clearly conveyed.
Jiang Dong's face twitched even more.
Ye Puan glanced at Shiyue's expression and asked cautiously, "Comrade Shiyue, do you have any dry food at home? Anything is fine, steamed buns or cornbread are both acceptable."
He pursed his lips, looking extremely embarrassed.
He didn't even dare to look Shiyue in the eye, but instead turned his head to the side, staring intently at the stack of firewood, as if trying to see right through it.
Then, in an extremely low voice, he said, "We haven't eaten for almost two days."
After Ye Puan finished speaking, the four people standing there fell silent.
He Lixuan clearly wanted to stop him, but Ye Puan spoke too quickly and finished before he could say anything.
He could only press his lips together again.
He Lixuan reached into his pocket, pulled out an envelope, and looked at Shiyue, saying, "We can pay, money or tickets, it's all fine."
Shiyue silently put down the bamboo basket.
We've all experienced hunger; who hasn't suffered such hardship?
She didn't respond to He Lixuan's words, but lowered her eyes and said, "You guys go wait in the kitchen."
Then he went back to his room.
With the money she earned in the group-buying group, plus a bag of rice as a reserve, Shiyue finally felt more confident and stopped being so stingy.
She took out half a basin of dried sweet potatoes from the hut, thought for a moment, then scooped up a spoonful of cornmeal, and then went out of the hut.
Because the family used a heated kang (a traditional heated bed), the fire in the stove was never extinguished.
She stoked the fire, brought the water on the stove to a boil, and then added the cornmeal and dried sweet potatoes.
"That's all we have. Make do with what we have. I didn't steam any buns. Let her steam them when the educated youth comes back."
As Shiyue spoke, she opened the cupboard and took out the pickled radish she had made herself.
With a few quick thuds, it was sliced into thin strips and placed on a plate on the table next to it.
Sweet potato chips and cornmeal are not difficult to cook; they are basically cooked after the water boils and they are cooked after a couple of turns.
Shiyue ladled out a large bowl of the cooked porridge for each of the three people and served it to them.
Although sweet potato and corn porridge wasn't exactly a good meal, the three of them were extremely hungry.
The aroma of the food was so enticing that I couldn't stop drooling.
Even the usually aloof He Lixuan couldn't help but stare at the steaming bowl, unable to look away.
Seeing the three of them not even caring about the heat and burying their heads in their food, Shiyue sighed softly to herself.
She didn't mention the money or coupons. Instead, she picked up the bamboo basket again and carried it on her back, saying, "After you finish eating, wash the pots and pans, and then stay here as educated youth. It's warm in this room."
He Lixuan looked up, his gaze falling on Shiyue's basket, and asked, "Are you going out now? If you don't have enough firewood, we'll chop more for you tomorrow."
“Yes, yes, we’ll get up early tomorrow and go chop firewood for you before we go to work,” Jiang Dong chimed in.
As he spoke, he exclaimed, "Shiyue, your kimchi is so delicious! It's absolutely amazing with corn porridge!"
Shiyue smiled, ignored their words, and walked out with her basket on her back.
Through the slightly ajar door, the three of them watched her retreating figure.
Ye Pu'an, who had been silent until now, lowered his voice and asked, "Li Xuan, where do you think Shi Yue went?"
He glanced outside again, then looked at the two people on either side of him: "Do you really believe she went to chop wood?"
He Lixuan lowered his eyes and remained silent, but the image of Shiyue kneeling in the bushes behind the mountain appeared in his mind.
He stared at the steaming porridge in front of him, remained silent for two seconds, and then said, "Eat quickly, everyone, speed things up!"
Shiyue followed the path up the back mountain for more than half an hour before reaching a fork in the road.
It's very secluded here.
Because few people usually walk on it, the path next to it is hidden by overgrown bushes and branches.
People who aren't very familiar with this place might not even notice it after passing by several times.
Shiyue pushed aside the tangled branches and turned onto the path.
She walked for another ten minutes or so, then stopped in front of a half-collapsed earthen slope.
This collapsed during the previous heavy rain.
If the land hadn't collapsed, Shiyue would never have known that a large patch of wild yams actually grew here!
When she was at the Sun family's house, she would come here to dig up some food when she was really hungry and secretly find a place to roast it and eat it.
This is Shiyue's secret base, and she can't bear to tell anyone about it.
But things are different now.
With the group buying group, today Shiyue plans to dig up as many mature yams as possible!
After all, things could go wrong if they stayed out too long; they might get discovered at any time.
Thinking of this, she remembered the three male educated youths in her family, and He Wenxuan's eyes that seemed to see through everything.
Shi Yue felt a chill run down her spine and her hands moved even faster.
But reality is always crueler than dreams; yams seem particularly hard to dig today.
Shiyue used all her strength and dug for almost two hours before she finally dug out two, and they were both relatively thin ones.
The two together weigh at most ten kilograms.
Looking at the hole she had just dug, which was already almost two meters deep, Shiyue had half her body inside and could barely reach the bottom, but she still hadn't dug to the very bottom of the yam. This made her a little impatient.
This yam was the thickest and longest she had seen in recent times. Although she hadn't dug it all out yet, she knew that this one would definitely weigh more than all the yams she had just dug up!
But Shiyue really didn't have the strength, and the tools in her hands couldn't help her dig any deeper.
Are you just going to give up like this?
But it would be such a waste to just break the yam in half like that!
Shi Yue looked up at the sky; the sun was already setting in the west.
Her palms were rubbed raw and red from the hoe.
Unwilling to give up, she reached her hand back into the hole, grabbed the yam, and tried to loosen it, but she couldn't budge it at all.
Just as Shiyue was about to cut it down in disappointment, she heard footsteps behind her.
Immediately afterwards, a familiar voice rang out: "Shiyue? What are you doing?"
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