The meat in the pot quickly turned slightly yellow, and the sizzling lard turned into a tempting golden color.
Once most of the oil had rendered out of the pork, Ye Wenxue scooped out the cracklings, partially filtered out the lard, then put the lard into a ceramic jar and added a small handful of soybeans.
She added a small spoonful of coarse salt to the pork cracklings for flavor, and then started making minced meat and eggplant directly from the slicked-up lard in the pan.
During this time, Ye Wenxue waited until the oil residue cooled down a bit, then picked up a piece and fed it to Sanyuan, who had swallowed his saliva countless times.
Sanyuan was engrossed in watching the fire when suddenly a piece of perfectly heated oil residue was stuffed into his mouth, almost startling him.
He only thought about it but didn't do anything!
The oil residue practically jumped into his mouth on its own!
Ye Wenxue was amused by his actions: "Is it delicious?"
Sanyuan, reluctant to swallow the pork cracklings, savored the soft and fragrant meat in his mouth and nodded emphatically:
"It's delicious! Mom, you should eat some too!"
He suddenly stood up: "I'll go and call them all over, so we can all eat together!"
Ye Wenxue smiled and pressed the person down: "The food is almost ready. Go and serve everyone rice. Come to the table and eat with us right away."
Sanyuan responded enthusiastically and went to serve the rice.
Ye Wenxue picked up a piece of oil residue and tried it.
Perhaps she hadn't eaten meat for days and was starving, but she thought the pork cracklings tasted really good and didn't have the strange smell that pork usually had in the original owner's memory.
She quickly made a rough version of minced meat and eggplant, adding only a little salt for seasoning.
"Shuangshuang, go and call your older brother back. It's time to eat."
Ye Wenxue sorted the oil residue, set aside most of it, and called out to the outside.
Dazhuang happened to lead Siwang into the kitchen, and his expression wasn't very good:
"Yuanyuan is awake and crying. Shuangshuang is busy comforting her. Mom, it smells so good! What are we eating today?"
The fields were parched, and he couldn't find anything to eat, so he just gathered grass to feed the geese.
Ye Wenxue turned to the side, revealing two dishes that were already plated:
"Take the pork cracklings and minced meat with the eggplant inside quickly. You eat first, and I'll get Yuanyuan a bowl of rice porridge."
Dazhuang moved swiftly, picked up two bowls, and went inside.
Siwang followed the aroma as it wafted over.
When Ye Wenxue brought the rice soup into the house, she saw that the children's eyes were all fixed on the two dishes, but no one touched their chopsticks.
She was a little puzzled: "What? It doesn't taste good?"
That shouldn't be the case; everyone at Sanyuan said it was delicious.
Dazhuang, holding Yuanyuan, took the bowl from Ye Wenxue's hand: "No, we'll wait for Mom to eat together."
Shuangshuang, Sanyuan, and Siwang nodded while biting their chopsticks.
Ye Wenxue felt a warm glow in her heart, thinking that these kids she had given away for free were really great.
She sat down, picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and put it in her bowl: "Eat up, eat it all, eat it while it's hot."
Shuangshuang and Siwang quickly grabbed their chopsticks and stuffed the food into their mouths, their cheeks bulging out.
"Hmm!"
tasty!
Sanyuan was a beat slow; while Shuangshuang and Siwang were engrossed in eating their rice, he picked up a piece of eggplant with minced meat.
While eating, Ye Wenxue gave Dazhuang some instructions:
"Put two pieces of pork cracklings into the rice water to soak, so that Yuanyuan can also taste the oil. But she doesn't have any teeth yet, so she can't eat pork cracklings. We have to be careful."
Dazhuang did as instructed.
Siwang looked up during a break from eating and asked softly, "Mother, can we stay in Shuixi Village?"
The meals he ate in Shuixi Village were the best he had eaten all year.
Shuangshuang and Sanyuan secretly peeked out.
Ye Wenxue also wanted to find a place to settle down permanently, but it couldn't be one of the nearby villages.
She shook her head: "No, it's not safe here. We'll go to the back mountain after we finish eating."
Siwang reluctantly shoveled some food into his mouth and said, "Oh."
The moment Siwang tasted the fragrant pork cracklings, his disappointment vanished instantly.
He looked at the minced meat, eggplant, and pork cracklings, and became even more determined to listen to his mother so he could have meat to eat.
After dinner, Ye Wenxue and her five children cleaned out the unwanted items, including the old, dilapidated cart that couldn't climb the mountain.
She wore a small round pendant around her neck and carried two baskets she had brought from home on her shoulders. Each basket contained a large bag of brown rice and some usable items, such as earthenware pots, iron pots, wood-chopping knives, hoes, small stools, cloth shoes, and clothes.
Shuangshuang and Sanyuan were stronger, so they each carried a basket on their backs, which contained several heavy items.
Siwang carefully held his father's urn, leading a goose behind him.
Dazhuang gritted his teeth, carried a bag of brown rice, and then took all sorts of other things and walked at the back.
The group of six slowly made their way up the path leading to the back of the mountain, facing the rising sun.
The mountain behind Shuixi Village is not high, but there is a road leading to the towering mountains and ridges in the mountain valley, and the mountaintops are shrouded in mist all year round.
Since the severe drought, the fog on the tops of several mountain peaks has completely dissipated, with only a thin veil of fog visible in the mornings and evenings.
On the path behind the mountain, Ye Wenxue carried two heavy baskets and walked slowly, occasionally looking back at the children lagging behind.
It was afternoon, when the sun was at its hottest.
With a jerk, she shifted the weight onto one shoulder, then lifted the thin cloth covering Xiao Yuanyuan's head to let her breathe.
My throat felt like it was on fire.
Ye Wenxue swallowed hard, squinted, and looked ahead.
"There's a shady spot just a dozen steps ahead. Let's hold on a little longer and then we'll go rest up ahead."
Both of them responded with dry throats, and couldn't resist taking a sip from the water bag in their baskets. They then slowed their pace and handed the water bag to their two younger brothers.
Sanyuan and Siwang were dizzy, and when they heard the words "take a break," they subconsciously quickened their pace.
But they both stopped him: "Slow down, Mom said don't walk too fast under the sun, you'll get heatstroke."
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