The roasted chicken and sparrows skewered on bamboo sticks gave off a rich aroma as they were roasted over a high fire. A sprinkle of salt made them a delicacy that even gods would not trade for. Zhao Qing held back his saliva as he flipped them over evenly.
The children who were playing and fighting in the camp suddenly stopped and stood by their families, eagerly hoping to have a good meal.
It is said that there are four or five families, but this is the case when there is no division. A family has at least a dozen people, so the sparrows and roast chickens they get are only a few bites, which can barely satisfy the mouth and deceive the body into thinking that they have eaten meat.
The iron cauldron burning in the raging fire was bubbling with steam and bubbles. Several of Lin Rui's cousins' female relatives followed Feng Zhenniang's example and boiled chicken blood and wild vegetables in the little clean water left.
Although there are few pheasants and sparrows, there are mushrooms and wild vegetables everywhere in the mountains. You can pick them whenever you want and eat until you are full.
Some aunts sent their grandchildren to wait for meals, while they and their wives bent over and continued to pick fruits, intending to dry them on the way, so that they could have one more food to fill their stomachs.
Lin Rui felt that this was a good idea. They were now in a treasure trove like the mountains, and they had a unique advantage in collecting food and supplies along the way.
He estimated that in the most optimistic scenario, it would take two months to cross the Lianshan Mountains and pass through two cities, but if he got lost or took a detour or encountered various irresistible elements, the time cost would increase exponentially.
He knew the amount of food he had purchased. Assuming that each person in his family ate one pound of rice a day, 500 pounds of rice could only last for two months at most. Together with the grains, pickled vegetables, bacon and salted goods that the villagers used to exchange for wasteland, it could barely last for more than two months.
But other people didn't prepare as much as he did. The food reserves in his uncle's and third uncle's homes were much worse than his, and their families were all strong laborers, so their consumption was greater than theirs.
The village head grandfather, who had some financial resources, did not have as much food as Lin Rui, who had risked more than 900 taels of silver to buy. He had no reason to watch his fellow clan members starve to death. He did not think that since they were the only family left to die, they would not be remembered by other refugees. He understood the principle of "lips and teeth are cold".
Since fleeing the famine, even though he would go back to his house every night to secretly have a snack, his stomach was like a bottomless pit, constantly consuming his energy, so he was thinking about eating all the time.
He also ate with gusto a bowl of stewed water and a pot of cooked wild vegetables, chicken blood and offal.
Sanliang ate without even raising his head. The young man had good teeth and enjoyed everything he ate. Although Mu Tou was about the same age as him, his appetite and strength were far less than his. Sanliang poured the leftovers and soup that Mu Tou had not finished into his own bowl and swallowed them down with both chewing and swallowing.
After licking the last drop of broth in the bowl with his tongue, he touched his stomach and burped comfortably. Since following Lin Rui, Sanliang felt that he had not been hungry for a long time.
"Uncle, let's take some time to pick some wild vegetables before we leave. There are dandelions and black fungus everywhere here. It would be a waste if we don't pick them. At least we can have them for a few meals!" Yu Lanhua said loudly to Lin Pingmao. Even after leaving Linjia Village, everyone was still used to listening to the village chief when encountering problems.
Every year, the season of eating wild vegetables is an indispensable activity for rural women. They dig wild vegetables all over the mountains and fields. It is not to improve the variety of food or pay attention to the balance of dietary fiber intake, but the remaining food after paying various levies and taxes every year is not enough for the whole family.
What to do when you are hungry? You can only find other ways to eat. Whether it is flying in the sky, swimming in the water or growing on the land, as long as it can fill your stomach, you will find a way to bring it to your home.
Wild vegetables are also a major source of income every year and are eaten by every household.
Lin Pingmao naturally knew the value of food. He nodded and said, "Everyone, please move quickly. We can't delay our journey."
Lin Rui was not good at hunting, but he got the hang of digging wild vegetables in a few tries. He squatted on the ground and dug without even raising his head. There were so many wild vegetables in this forest.
Lin had rested enough early and wanted to help out around the house, but Feng Zhenniang immediately told him to go back to rest again with a fierce look on her face: "Can you squat with your big belly? Don't make things worse, just rest."
Lin Susu wiped her sweaty face with her sleeve, scooped water from the puddle with a gourd ladle, and doused the charcoal on the ground to prevent it from starting a wildfire. She nodded and said, "Yes, little sister, you are a twin now. If you have a miscarriage, we can't find a doctor in this remote place."
"But I..." Lin Zao Zao felt ashamed. She wanted to say that she was not that delicate. When she was in the Jiang family, even when she was pregnant, she still did her job.
Her mother-in-law and husband never said a word of pity to her. In her mother-in-law's words, being pregnant was no big deal. When she was pregnant with Jiang Chengcai, she gave birth to her son in the fields. She was not that delicate.
Her husband also advised her to respect her mother-in-law, serve her husband, and that pregnancy was her own business and should not affect household chores and income.
But after Rui'er brought her back to her parents' home, she tried her best to take good care of her on the way to escape the famine. Except for the first day when she insisted on walking, Rui'er arranged for her to sit in the ox cart on the second day, and put several layers of thick mattresses under her to prevent her from being hurt by the bumps of the ox cart.
When she was a child, she and her elder sister were often taught by their mother to help their brothers, because in the future when they got married, they would have to rely on their brothers to support them in their mother's family.
She hadn't noticed it before, but now she realized that Rui'er's thin shoulders supported her and the unborn baby in her belly.
Seeing her little daughter's anxiety, Feng Zhenniang simply stuffed needles, thread, and some cotton cloth into her hands and said, "If you're really bored, ask your father and brother-in-law to sew a pair of gloves for you."
There were two ox carts in the house, one was driven by Lin Changxi and the other was driven by Zhao Qing. The ox carts were loaded to the brim, and every corner that could fit a person was filled to the brim.
The hemp rope leading the ox was held in the hands of the driver. The mountains and forests were mostly covered with dense vegetation, and the big blue ox had to stop to eat some grass after walking a few steps. Lin Changxi and Zhao Qing had to use all their strength to lead it back to the right path. After several attempts, both of them got big blisters on their hands.
Last night, Lin Changxi was sleeping next to Feng Zhenniang and gasping for breath in pain, which is why she discovered the situation. He had been planning to make gloves today, but now that he saw this piece of wild vegetable field, he felt itchy and wanted to pick more for his family to chew.
My second daughter is quite sensitive, so I let her sew the gloves and dig the wild vegetables myself.
Lin Zaozao was best at sewing and mending. She took the needle and thread and cotton cloth with both hands and nodded repeatedly: "Hey, Mom, leave it to me."
After giving the things to her youngest daughter, Feng Zhenniang took the cloth bag and went to the place where everyone was digging wild vegetables to join in.
There were so many wild vegetables in the woods that Lin Rui filled a bag with them in just a short while. When he was about to go back to change the container, he suddenly felt a fishy and smelly wind blowing on his face.
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