Qin San Niang had no idea that Wu Chunhua was thinking so much. The basket was just a disguise; the contents inside were unnecessary.
However, since Fatty joined them, their pace has noticeably increased. The children were quite happy too; when A-Nan couldn't walk anymore, Fatty carried her to the stroller.
Fatty was naturally optimistic and could often tell a joke that made the children laugh uproariously. Wu Chunhua was also quiet and could chat with Liu Shi to relieve the loneliness of the journey.
Qin San Niang once again exclaimed that taking Pang Ya and her son on the road was absolutely the right decision.
At first, Liu was extremely uncomfortable being pushed around by a strange, half-grown girl. She didn't even dare to move her bottom. After all, she had spent half her life as a ferrywoman serving others, and she had never been treated like this before! Later, seeing that this chubby girl was really strong, and with the chubby girl's mother chatting with her from time to time, she gradually relaxed. She decided to take good care of her leg so that she could help her daughter with chores later.
After walking for more than two hours in the afternoon, Qin San Niang saw a group of refugees not far ahead. As for whether to follow them, after discussing it with Liu Shi, they decided to follow behind for the time being and keep a certain distance. After all, she planned to have a good dinner to reward the children, as well as Fatty and Wu Shi, who also needed to be nourished.
Qin San Niang was unwilling to be a bad boss who only made the horse run but didn't feed it!
The group found a sheltered spot to sit and rest.
Listening to Liu and the others chatting, Qin San Niang learned that it was currently the eighth month of the lunar calendar, which should have been the harvest season for crops. However, along the way, not to mention crops, even wild vegetables by the roadside were becoming increasingly difficult to find, making the story of fleeing famine truly a reality.
Come to think of it, which dynasty in history didn't fall amidst famine and drought? It's precisely because people can't survive that chaos ensues! Otherwise, if ordinary people had even a bite to eat, who would be willing to shed blood? That could cost lives in an instant!
"Mother, you and Aunt Wu rest here for a while. I'll go over there on the grassy slope and pick some herbs and wild vegetables." She pointed to a slope not far away, where there was still some green. This place had already been searched by others; wild vegetables could only be found further away.
Wu Chunhua was naturally embarrassed to wait in place and hurriedly wanted to work with everyone, but was stopped by Qin Sanniang, who said that she should help take care of A'nan and Erwa'er. The two were still young, and Liu Shi was unable to move, so she couldn't leave them alone.
Finally, she took Fatty to find wild vegetables, while Da Wa stayed behind to look after Grandma and his younger siblings. Considering that his younger siblings were still young and not very familiar with Aunt Wu, Da Wa understood his mother's look and nodded in agreement, promising to take good care of them.
Although Fatty wasn't particularly clever, she wasn't truly stupid. She could remember several herbs that Qin San Niang pointed out, including Angelica pubescens, which is very similar to Angelica sinensis, and clearly distinguish them – that was no small feat.
So God is fair; when He closes a door, He opens a window.
Knowing that these were medicinal herbs, Fatty studied how to identify them very carefully and was also very cautious when harvesting them.
Qin San Niang discovered that there were many medicinal herbs along the way. Perhaps because there were relatively few people with medical knowledge in this era, many of the herbs had lived for many years. Although these freshly picked herbs still needed to be processed before use, she could process them slowly now that she had collected them. As for brewing medicine for Wu Shi, she would simply use some relatively safe herbs, along with brown sugar, longan pulp, and red dates that she had taken from the supermarket, to boil together. Everyone could drink some to replenish their qi and blood.
After walking all day, Qin San Niang was starving and really wanted to eat something dry.
The chubby girl behind her was engrossed in digging for medicinal herbs, so she walked a little further away and took out a live chicken from the supermarket, pretending that she had just caught it.
Hearing the rooster crow, Fatty looked up blankly. She had almost forgotten how a rooster crowed, and as for chicken meat? She had only ever had soup with it during Chinese New Year!
Seeing that it really was a chicken, the chubby girl's eyes lit up with joy. It looked exactly like the chickens her grandmother raised—no, it was even fatter and bigger! As for whether it was a wild chicken, or how a wild chicken could appear here, she didn't care. All she knew was that her aunt was about to lose control of the fat chicken, and she had to go help.
At this moment, Qin San Niang truly regretted her impulsiveness. She hadn't expected the chicken to be so strong, actually managing to break free from her control. She wasn't weak herself, but having never caught a chicken before, she was a little... unaccustomed to it.
Fatty rushed over in a few steps, grabbed the chicken's two wings with one hand, and pressed down the trembling chicken's head with the other, finally freeing Qin San Niang.
Just as the two were smiling at each other, they suddenly realized that the chicken had stopped moving and making no sound. Upon closer inspection, they found that it was dead.
Qin San Niang exclaimed again, "Fatty's strength is truly amazing! She killed the chicken in an instant."
After a moment of stunned silence, the chubby girl finally realized that she had crushed the chicken in her hand to death. She was so frightened that she almost cried. In the past, she had accidentally killed one of her grandmother's chicks and was punished by not being allowed to eat and was also beaten by her grandmother. Now that such a big chicken was dead, she thought that Qin San Niang would be unhappy. Chickens are for laying eggs, and she was afraid of being disliked and even more afraid that she and her mother would be driven away again.
"Auntie, I didn't mean to, I just wanted to help you catch it... but I'm not strong enough..."
"Alright, isn't this good? Saves us the trouble of killing it." Before Fatty could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Qin San Niang. She had originally planned to eat this fat chicken anyway. Could she possibly keep it alive on the road of fleeing famine?
Seeing that Third Aunt wasn't angry with her, Fatty smiled happily again, quickly hid the chicken in her basket, and took it back to show A-Nan and the others. Although it was only half a day, Fatty and A-Nan had formed a deep friendship, and she really liked this little girl.
Seeing that Fatty knew to hide the chicken, Qin San Niang felt very gratified. Who said Fatty was stupid?!
The group of people, who had barely eaten any grains on their journey, were understandably overjoyed to see such a large, plump chicken.
Neither Liu nor Wu agreed to eat it all at once. "Third Sister, this chicken weighs five or six pounds. Let's just eat half of it and save the rest for tomorrow."
Actually, Liu had planned to air-dry the meat and eat it slowly, enough to last at least half a month. However, she then thought that the salt used for curing the meat was quite expensive, and it would spoil easily in this weather. It would be such a waste if it spoiled and became inedible.
“Yes, this chicken is very plump; it’s good for the little one,” Wu Chunhua said. She and her daughter had already gotten a great deal. She didn’t ask for much; she just wanted some soup for the little girl later!
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