Chapter 2: There's no food left at home.
Cheng Wanwan was stunned.
As she was wondering, a virtual, semi-transparent panel appeared before her eyes.
The main image on the panel is the rice paddy in front of her, with a wild vegetable on the ridge marked in red, indicating that it is sow thistle.
[Natural, pollution-free chicory, 10 coins per pound.]
Cheng Wanwan pulled out two wild vegetables from beside her feet, and the mechanical voice rang in her mind again.
[Ding! Two ounces of natural, pollution-free sow thistle, worth 2 coins. Want to sell?]
【yes! 】
In that instant, the sow thistle in her hand disappeared, replaced by two copper coins.
Cheng Wanwan's eyes were filled with disbelief.
At this moment, the floating panel changed, and a mall similar to Taobao appeared.
The price of these goods was in copper coins. Two copper coins could buy a meat bun or a bottle of mineral water.
She understood; this was a trading marketplace connecting to another time and space.
After she clicked to buy, the two coins in her hand disappeared and turned into a meat bun.
Cheng Wanwan was really starving. She ate the bun in a few bites. With food in her stomach, she also had the strength to move around.
She decided to dig up more wild vegetables to exchange for money, as there were so many things she wanted to buy.
Sow thistle is a drought-resistant wild vegetable. When there is no rain for a long time, many weeds die, but sow thistle grows in large patches and is everywhere on the ridges of the fields.
As Cheng Wanwan squatted on the edge of the field picking wild vegetables, a voice suddenly exploded in her ear.
"Which short-lived bastard stole my family's rice!"
The wind blew and the rice stalks fell down, revealing a figure.
"Oh, it's Sister-in-law Zhao!"
Aunt Wang gritted her teeth. The two were neighbors and bickered every day. She had never been able to win an argument with Sister-in-law Zhao. Today, she finally caught her nemesis in a bad way.
"Everyone, come quick! Sister-in-law Zhao is stealing our Wang family's rice!"
With that shout, many people turned to look.
The rice paddies here belong to the Wang family, and Cheng Wanwan is squatting on the ridge of the Wang family's rice paddies.
This morning, Sister-in-law Zhao returned from her parents' home with a bloody head wound, which made the villagers laugh for a long time, and now everyone is talking about it again.
"Oh, so you're stealing grain from the Wang family to supplement your maternal family's income?"
"Sister-in-law Zhao is getting more and more reckless. She'll do anything, from stealing chickens to other petty crimes. What else is she incapable of?"
"She might even cheat on you with someone else next, since she's a widow anyway, hahaha..."
Cheng Wanwan's face darkened.
This field is right in front of her house. She thought it was her own field. Who would have thought it belonged to the Wang family?
She brushed the grass clippings off her body and slowly straightened up.
She tossed out the few wild vegetables she was holding, her voice indifferent: "What, you don't even recognize rice?"
The villagers recognized it clearly; it was goose lettuce.
Bitter lettuce, also known as goose lettuce, has a very bitter taste and very hard roots and stems, making it difficult to cook. In the village, it is generally used to feed pigs and chickens. No one would think of eating this wild vegetable unless they were on the verge of starvation.
In modern times, people seek out these pollution-free wild vegetables, but in this era, bitter lettuce is not popular.
Aunt Wang, hands on her hips, scolded, "Your chickens and ducks are all gone, what are you doing digging up wild vegetables for? I think you're just looking for an excuse to steal my rice!"
Cheng Wanwan sighed and said softly, "We're out of food at home, so we can only dig up some wild vegetables to take back as an extra meal so the children can have enough to eat... If you ladies don't like wild vegetables, you must have plenty of leftover grain at home. Why don't you lend us some grain..."
She had an injury on her head, and coupled with her expression, she looked rather pitiful.
Everyone's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The usually shrewish and mean-spirited Sister-in-law Zhao was actually showing weakness and asking to borrow grain!
These days, you can't borrow anything but grain; the onlookers dispersed instantly.
Aunt Wang spat, thinking, "You want to borrow grain from her? Dream on!"
However, fearing she would get entangled, Aunt Wang turned around and went into the field to pull weeds.
Cheng Wanwan picked up the wild vegetables she had dug up earlier, took a couple of steps, and walked into her family's rice paddy.
She squatted on the edge of the field digging for vegetables. Under the scorching sun, large beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, and the back of her clothes was soaked.
She didn't know how long she dug, but she stopped when the online store indicated that she had three jin (1.5 kg) of the product.
When she stood up, she felt dizzy and lightheaded.
She remembered that the injury on her head hadn't been treated, and she hadn't taken any anti-inflammatory medication. If it got infected, it could be fatal in ancient times.
I sold three catties of bitter lettuce for 30 coins, and spent 20 coins to buy disinfectant and anti-inflammatory medicine in the mall.
Having worked so hard to earn money, Cheng Wanwan had only 10 coins left, and she dared not spend it recklessly.
She rubbed her aching lower back and started walking home.
As soon as she reached her front door, she heard lively voices coming from inside the house.
"Big brother, the wild vegetable porridge is so delicious!"
"My stomach is finally full!"
She walked into the courtyard and saw four people sitting at the table in the house; they were the original owner's four sons.
The eldest son, Zhao Dashan, just turned eighteen this year. He got married last year and is considered the pillar of the family.
The second son, Zhao Ergou, is sixteen years old this year and is the most clever among the sons.
The third son, Zhao Sanniu, is fourteen years old this year. He is very strong and looks about the same size as the second son.
The youngest son, Zhao Sidan, just turned ten years old this year. He is small and looks malnourished. At this moment, he is holding a chipped bowl, licking the bowl with his little tongue, and swallowing a little bit of the paste.
Cheng Wanwan never expected that such a small amount of wild vegetable porridge would be shared among five people, and that everyone would look so satisfied.
She truly realized that this family was incredibly poor; otherwise, the original owner of this body, who had always been loyal to her maternal family, wouldn't have gone back to her maternal family to collect debts.
Upon seeing her return, her four sons stood up in unison.
Zhao Dashan: "Mother, you're back."
Zhao Ergou: "Mom, I brought back two buckets of water."
Zhao Sanniu: "Mother, I chopped firewood."
Zhao Sidan: "Mom, I dug up some wild vegetables."
Cheng Wanwan pursed her lips.
Even the eldest son is only eighteen years old, which in modern times would be just the beginning of high school. He is still a child who is pampered by his parents.
But in this era, the ten-year-old son has already taken on some of the household chores.
[Ding! Found natural, pollution-free wild bracken!]
Cheng Wanwan looked over and saw that what Lao Si had dug up was wild bracken, which the online store indicated cost 30 coins per pound.
She dug up three pounds of bitter lettuce to earn this little bit of bracken... She's mentally exhausted, and physically exhausted too!
She bent down, picked up the wild ferns, and went into the inner room.
The four men looked at each other in bewilderment. In the past, when they came back from work, their mother would scold and reprimand them in various ways. Especially today, when their mother had been bullied and beaten at the Cheng family's house, shouldn't she have given them a good scolding? What did it mean that she was silent?
Cheng Wanwan sold the wild ferns, spent ten coins to buy five catties of rice at the mall, and had 30 coins left in her hand.
She was incredibly grateful that Dahe Village was located at the border between the north and south. In the north, people mostly ate noodles and millet, while in the south, people ate more rice.
She is from the South and her favorite food is white rice.
She carried out more than two pounds of it and threw it on the table in the main room.
"This is... white rice!"
"Where did you get the white rice from!"
Last year, Dahe Village suffered from a locust plague, resulting in a very poor harvest. They only managed to survive until this year thanks to government relief. No one in the village has enough rice left.
Even without natural disasters, after the autumn harvest, villagers would carry their rice to the town to exchange it for millet or buckwheat. One pound of rice could be exchanged for two or three pounds of millet... With enough grain, the whole family could have enough to eat and survive until the next autumn harvest.
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