Chapter 021 Chapter 21 Digging Wild Vegetables

Wang Xiuxiang was quite confident: "Leave this to me, just wait and see, I will definitely help her spread her reputation! Within a month, no one will dare to let her come to our house. However, I will take care of this matter, Xiaoyueer, don't say anything outside, she is your mother-in-law, you are not suitable to speak."

Lin Yue nodded with a smile.

Liu Jianhua was a little excited when he heard the two people's discussion, so he said, "Let me join in, too. I can help promote it."

Wang Xiuxiang smiled and pushed her, then stood up and said, "Okay, I have to go home quickly and talk to my mother-in-law, asking her not to tell anyone about this."

Lin Yue thought of Aunt Su's attitude yesterday and said hesitantly, "Will Aunt Su agree? Otherwise, let's do it secretly and don't let her know."

Wang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "First, we won't call the police, and second, we won't make a big deal out of it. My mother-in-law won't care about us. Just wait for my news!"

Lin Yue responded readily.

Wang Xiuxiang was too conservative. Within half a month, the whole village was talking about Sun Hongmei stealing things. The story was so detailed that there were five or six witnesses and several more families were robbed. But no one could tell which family was robbed or what was lost.

Sun Hongmei didn't know about it at first, and no one asked her if she really stole anything. It wasn't until she had an argument with someone and the other person scolded her about it that she realized that the rumor had spread.

But by then the rumor had spread widely, and she couldn't explain it. She couldn't say she went to her daughter-in-law's house, because then people would say she even stole from her own daughter-in-law's house. That would be self-incriminating.

Sun Hongmei was so angry that she lay at home for several days. She wanted to find trouble with Lin Yue, but she knew she was in the wrong and couldn't find any evidence against him. Besides, she was busy with her own affairs and didn't have the energy to find trouble with Lin Yue anymore. Even Zhang Xiaoxi didn't come to look for her anymore.

Lin Yue didn't feel guilty at all. They were telling the truth. Sun Hongmei did come to steal things, and Lin Yue didn't wrongly accuse her at all.

After she vented her anger, she felt relieved. She invited Wang Xiuxiang and Liu Jianhua to her home and said jokingly, "My two sisters-in-law have worked hard during the New Year. Don't leave at noon. Have lunch at my place. I will honor you."

Liu Jianhua pouted at her: "I am so young and I still need you to show me respect! But you should thank your sister-in-law Xiuxiang. I am not going to leave this afternoon. I want to stay and enjoy your cooking." He then poked Wang Xiuxiang across from him: "You can't leave, or I won't be able to eat this meal."

Lin Yue quickly said: "I am serious, I am not joking. Neither of you can leave today! I will do it now!"

Wang Xiuxiang held back her laughter, straightened her body, and said in a fake tone: "Of course I won't leave. I'm still waiting for your filial gift!"

After saying this, all three of them laughed.

Lin Yue handed the child to the two of them to help take care of, and went to the kitchen to busy himself.

She did have a lot of stuff in her space, but most of it was not suitable to be taken out. She asked the two about their tastes and decided to make a hot and sour noodle dish that was both delicious and not too formal.

Lin Yue had previously used broken clay pots to grow green onions, coriander, garlic and other condiments in the house, and placed them on the windowsill to conceal them from others, so that he could take them out from the room when needed without attracting attention.

She picked up a few scallions and coriander, and took a head of garlic from the wall, washed and chopped them, and put them in three bowls, then added some chili powder and sesame seeds, sprinkled them with hot oil, and finally made a sauce with soy sauce, vinegar, salt and sugar. She put water in the pot, and when the water boiled, she put the sweet potato noodles in, cooked them, scooped them into the bowl, scooped the soup from the pot, added some spiced peanuts, and the hot and sour noodles were ready.

The two had already smelled the food and came out, so Lin Yue invited them to come and eat. The three of them sat down on the kang with their bowls in hand and ate around the two kids.

The two little guys opened their mouths wide, stretched their hands out, and then put them into their mouths to suck on them, as if they were chewing something, which made Lin Yue and the others laugh.

The three of them ate very carefully to avoid spilling the soup on the children. However, women may have a special liking for hot and sour noodles. Wang Xiuxiang and Liu Jianhua ate with great relish and quickly finished the bowls. They all breathed a sigh of relief. Eating a bowl of hot and sour noodles in the cold winter was really very comfortable.

Liu Jianhua drank up all the soup, and holding his hot stomach, he said, "I didn't expect you to have such a skill. How do you make this? Come and teach me!"

The method of making hot and sour noodles is very simple. Lin Yue explained the steps to the two of them. Wang Xiuxiang said that she would make this when she got home at night. However, Liu Jianhua was reluctant to do so: "You really want to do it. You made good sweet potatoes into noodles. How much waste is that!"

Wang Xiuxiang's family lived a comfortable life with plenty of food, so she didn't think about this for a while. She also said worriedly, "Yes, it's still a long way to go before the grain is distributed. You can't waste the food like this. Don't you see that many families in our village can't even afford to eat?"

Lin Yue quickly begged for mercy: "Sister-in-law, please don't wrongly accuse me. I made vermicelli because I was afraid that the sweet potatoes at home would go bad. We still have a lot of food at home, so don't worry."

Wang Xiuxiang warned her: "When the weather warms up, you must plant potatoes first in the vegetable garden. They can be used as vegetables and will provide enough food. Then plant vegetables in the corners. Although they may not provide enough food, the harvest will be quick and you will have something to eat. Otherwise, you really won't be able to survive until June."

Lin Yue quickly agreed. She had the original owner's memory and knew that they were speaking from the heart.

It's not true that no children were born in the village in recent years, but they were not raised. In the disaster years, adults didn't have enough to eat, and the children wouldn't survive. Everyone knew this, so Liu Jianhua's in-laws wanted grandchildren so much that they didn't urge her to have children in recent years.

Lin Yue also knew how difficult it was to live without food, so she never delayed planting in the space. Even if she couldn't eat it herself, she would store more for emergencies.

But she soon realized that she had underestimated the horror of the famine.

After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Lin Yue took the opportunity to go to the market and found an old carpenter in Xiaokubo Village to make a set of spinning and weaving machines. He also made a simple hand-cranked cotton rolling machine that could press out cotton seeds.

She took advantage of the free time during the first month of the lunar year to learn how to weave cloth from Sun Meifeng. Weaving cloth from cotton is a very time-consuming and laborious job. Sun Meifeng was willing to teach her, but unfortunately cotton was too rare. Lin Yue didn't dare to use the cotton she bought, so she could only learn the basics.

The old carpenter recognized her as the girl who bought a lot of furniture last time. He determined that Lin Yue was a "speculator" and ripped her off. He didn't even want money, but had to exchange it for food. Fortunately, Lin Yue didn't lack food now, but even so, he was still furious at this shameless old man.

As the weather got warmer, Sun Meifeng no longer had time to teach me. It should be said that after the shock, everyone started to get busy.

Spring is the season of revival for all things. The ice and snow have not yet melted, but a lot of green has already emerged from the soil, and wild vegetables have also popped up in the fields. There is not much food left from the autumn distribution. Before the spring ploughing begins, people from the sixties and seventies to the four- and five-year-old children all go out to the wild to look for wild vegetables. Sometimes the men are lucky enough to catch a rabbit or a pheasant.

At this time, no one would say, "Everything on the mountain belongs to the collective, and you cannot go up the mountain without permission." People are starving to death, and even digging wild vegetables will be criticized. Who can accept this?

Lin Yue was also dragged by Sun Meifeng to the mountain to look for wild vegetables. She put the two little guys in a backpack and made a cover with bamboo strips to protect them from the sun.

It was still very cold, and the shepherd's purse was not big, so maybe it would only be enough to make a soup in the morning. Lin Yue had enough in a few days, and the shepherd's purse was not as good as the ones in her space, and she really had no shortage of food.

But no one believed Lin Yue. Not only Sun Meifeng, but also Wang Xiuxiang and Liu Jianhua urged her to go dig wild vegetables every day. She was called up before dawn every day, and was not allowed to go home until it was dark and she could not see the road clearly. Lin Yue was alone, but there were three of them. No matter how long she was, there was always someone to accompany her. She could not take a break. She spent all her time in the mountains every day, which was really torture.

I really don’t know how Wang Baochuan managed to persevere for those 18 years. She couldn’t bear it after only three days of digging.

A few days later, Aunt Su informed Lin Yue that she had to build the wall of her courtyard before the spring plowing.

At this time, you don't have to pay to hire someone to build a house, and building the adobe walls doesn't require any materials. Lin Yue only needs to serve tea and a meal.

Wang Xiuxiang came over early in the morning and helped Lin Yue prepare meals. She discussed with Lin Yue, "This job can probably be completed in one day. We have to make the meals decent. Although the team has assigned you the staff, how well they cook the meals depends on their mood."

Lin Yue thought it made sense, and asked, "Sister-in-law, what do you think we should do? There is no market these days, and we only have a few dishes at home. How about we kill one of the two hens at home and stew it?"

Wang Xiuxiang said, "Why do we need to kill chickens? Before the wheat comes down, everyone has to eat porridge. It's good enough that you can make some dry rice. Take me to the cellar, and I'll see what else you have, so we can work it out."

Lin Yue nodded repeatedly and took Wang Xiuxiang to see the food she had placed outside the space. Wang Xiuxiang pointed to a small piece of bacon in the basket and said, "Do you still have the pickled cabbage you sent to my house last time? Use this bacon and pickled cabbage to stew together, and add some vermicelli. It tastes much better than pork, cabbage and vermicelli stew."

Then he pointed at the wild vegetables that Lin Yue had just dug up this morning and said, "Let's make a soup with this. You have so many potatoes at home, just stir-fry some shredded potatoes. These two dishes and one soup will be enough."

She made the arrangements very clear, and Lin Yue could only nod and agree. After discussing the dishes, she asked, "How are we going to prepare the meal? We only have sweet potato flour and sorghum flour left at home. We have used up all the corn flour."