Xie Yan tugged at Yu Yuehui's arm and shook his head at her, "No, it's for a childhood friend of mine. He's working in the countryside in Hainan, so he should have some seaweed. I just suddenly had a craving for seaweed, so I wanted him to send me some. In return, I'll send him some of our local specialties too."
Although Yu Yuehui was puzzled, Xie Yan seemed to have never talked to her about his parents. Judging from his tone just now, there must have been something between them before, but Xie Yan didn't say anything. She wisely didn't ask. There would be plenty of time in the future, and he would tell her someday.
"Okay, I'll take a look later. We dried a lot of mountain produce before. See which ones are suitable to send, and we can send them to him later. Or I can go up the mountain to pick some in the next couple of days. The weather is good now, and they'll be completely dried in a day or two!"
Xie Yan thought for a moment. Zhou Siyuan's family was similar to her own. Children from families like theirs could eat almost anything, let alone after going to the countryside. Getting enough to eat was a problem, so it was hard to talk about liking or disliking anything at this time.
That's too extravagant!
Most people prefer meat; they only think about eating well when they are full!
"How about this? I'll see later, and I'll pack him a little bit of everything, I think he'll like it!"
Yu Yue thought about it and agreed. "I'll give him a few of everything the first time. Then you can write to ask him what he likes to eat. If he likes it, I'll dry more and save it for you to exchange for seaweed."
Xie Yan: "Uh! There's no need for that. It's too much trouble to sun-dry it for him!" For a lazy person like Xie Yan, it's better not to eat it at all!
Yu Yue glanced at Xie Yan and said, "What's the trouble? Even if we don't make it for him, we'll dry it ourselves! Like the dried apricots you've been soaking in water these past few days, I dried them a while ago!"
Thank you banquet!
The apricots were still on the tree, weren't they? How did they turn into dried apricots? The apricot tree right in front of their door still has apricots on it!
"Weren't those last year's apricots the ones I soaked? Aren't this year's apricots still on the tree?"
Yu Yue replied, "Uh!"
It's her fault for not explaining clearly; she assumed Xie Yan knew these basic facts!
"The apricot tree in front of our door is a late-ripening variety. The rest of the apricots were all ripe before you arrived, and these dried apricots were dried at that time!"
"We have many apricot trees here. When they ripen, every household dries a lot of them. They're not worth much; there's plenty of them!"
Xie Yan realized!
This is exactly what Zhou Siyuan needs! The weather there is hot, and this sweet and sour treat is both refreshing and thirst-quenching—it's the perfect gift for him!
Xie Yan quickly asked Yu Yuehui, "Wife, how many dried apricots do we have?"
"A whole bag, and a whole sack of snakeskin bags. What's wrong? Not enough to drink? Shall I dry some more late-ripening apricots?"
Xie Yan quickly waved her hand, "No, no! I was thinking that if there were a lot, I would send more to Zhou Siyuan. It's very hot there, and he would like the sweet and sour taste of dried apricots soaked in water!"
Actually, Xie Yan was worried that if she didn't have enough dried fruit at home, she would send some to Zhou Siyuan, and then she wouldn't have enough to drink herself, since he really loves drinking it!
Having gotten to know Xie Yan's personality better over this period of time, Yu Yuehui quickly reassured him, "Don't worry, we have enough for you to drink. If it's not enough, I'll go to my mother's and get some more. I'll make sure you have plenty to drink!"
Xie Yan hugged Yu Yuehui and said with a grin, "I knew you were the best to me, my wife!"
After following Yu Yue back to the kitchen, Xie Yan spent a long time trying to persuade her, but still decided to tell her about the situation at home.
The reason Xie Yan hadn't said anything was mainly because he felt embarrassed and ashamed! He actually cared a lot about his image in his wife's eyes!
This is something that's really hard to talk about!
But it seemed the time had come to speak, so Xie Yan gritted his teeth and recounted his family's situation, emphasizing that he had been abandoned by them and that he must not suffer any losses or be weak in the face of them in the future.
"Actually, I live alone. I just maintain a superficial relationship with them. If you don't want to see them when we go back, you don't have to!"
"Let's just close the door and live our own lives!"
Yu Yuehui hugged Xie Yan tightly, feeling very sorry for him, and patted his head. "It's okay. It's their loss that they gave you up. They were blind. I'll always be there for you. I will never give up on you!"
"Even if there's a famine in the future, I will never let you go hungry!"
Xie Yan was initially quite moved, but somehow the conversation suddenly turned into talking about going hungry. Based on his limited understanding of history, it seemed like there wouldn't be any more famines in the future!
But for the monthly meeting, it is the most sincere promise!
In her limited life, the greatest difficulty she encountered, which was also the greatest difficulty in rural areas, was famine, a natural disaster that was beyond human control!
You saw your friend yesterday, and today you hear the news of their death!
Everyone is under the threat of death, with the Grim Reaper's scythe hanging over their heads, and they are always at risk of starving to death!
At that time, many families that were originally quite wealthy were destroyed and killed because of the famine!
Yu Yuehui had an uncle who had nine sons, all of whom starved to death at that time, with only three surviving.
The whole family was scattered just like that. Two of the remaining three sons became live-in sons-in-law. After the disaster ended, only one person remained of the whole family!
Life is fragile and vulnerable in the face of natural disasters!
Every grain of dust in the era, when it falls on an individual, becomes a heavy, insurmountable mountain.
In those days, it wasn't just this family that died! People were starving to death everywhere.
Therefore, people from that era always cherished food, and would even pick up a single grain of rice that had fallen on the ground, blow on it, and eat it.
Because they are more afraid of going hungry than of getting sick from eating, and only those who have truly experienced hunger can understand that kind of pain.
So even though the disaster is over, people still habitually hoard food, and they panic when their cellars are empty!
The people of Xiliu Village have a particular fondness for drying goods. They dry wild vegetables they find, and they dry radish slices from radishes they grow in excess. They dry and preserve anything that can be dried!
Storing food has become ingrained in their bodies, an instinct.
Yu Yuehui was even better than them. She had exceptional survival skills in the wild. Over the years, she would sneak into the mountains from time to time to hunt wild animals and gather wild vegetables and mushrooms.
If we can't finish eating them all after bringing them home, we'll dry them all in the sun!
Once, she went into the mountains and didn't return for three days. She not only brought back various wild vegetables, but also dug up a wild ginseng of good quality.
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