Yue Jiuyue didn't stop them. She waited until they had left three or five dumplings in their bowls and started eating. Then, she started serving them one dumpling at a time. The three old ladies felt embarrassed to serve them any more, since they had already started eating and had used their chopsticks.
Yue Jiuyue could understand the feelings of the three old ladies. They were probably lonely old people without any descendants, and they felt inferior.
Regardless of whether they were infertile or failed to conceive, it's understandable that they felt inferior at their age without children. After all, one of the conditions for divorce in that era was "having no offspring." This shows just how serious the consequences of not having children were.
Because of this mindset, no matter how much she tried to persuade her, Liu still hoped that this pregnancy would result in a son.
The two old men, on the other hand, were not as reserved as the old ladies. Although they were embarrassed at first, they relaxed once they started eating. After all, who doesn't love such delicious food as dumplings?
The dumplings were so delicious! We all ate until we were stuffed.
Unexpectedly, even after lunch, the rain still hadn't started. The elderly men and women, not wanting to cause any more trouble for Yue Jiuyue's family, strolled slowly through the cave to digest their food, while Yue Jiuyue's entire family went outside.
Although Lin Chaodong and his men had cleaned the cave very well, it was still a cave, stuffy and damp, and they really couldn't stand it.
“Mother, while it’s not raining right now, I’ll go with the third brother to the mountains to chop some firewood, and leave the fourth brother to watch over you.”
Lin Chaodong played with his little girl for a while, but seeing that it still wasn't raining and the dark clouds in the sky didn't seem to be getting any darker or heavier, he figured it probably wouldn't rain anytime soon. So he wanted to hurry up and get some firewood so that he wouldn't run out.
"Okay, you two be careful. Just do it right here and don't go too far."
Yue Jiuyue gave a word of advice, then continued bending down to pick the fresh, tender shoots of wild vegetables that were sprouting near the cave.
The dumpling filling was made from tender wild vegetable shoots picked near the cave entrance. Although this rain had its downsides, it brought new greenery back to the barren mountain that had suffered from drought and locust plagues, making people feel refreshed.
Of course, since wild vegetables dare to sprout new shoots, they are just waiting for people to come out and pick them. They are all good at managing their lives. Their families don't have enough food to eat, so now that they finally have "supplementary food," they will certainly eat them to their heart's content.
The mountains outside have been almost completely stripped bare by the villagers. Only Yue Jiuyue's family has enough to eat. Liu Shi is not currently in charge of the kitchen, so wild vegetables are rarely seen on their table. They only cook soup or make cold dishes, and there are no wild vegetable pancakes or wild vegetable steamed buns.
Just as Yue Jiuyue thought of this, she heard Liu Shi muttering to herself again.
"Mom, let's pick more wild vegetables while it's not raining. We don't need to waste grain, and it's not busy farming season, so we don't need to eat too well. Making some wild vegetable pancakes and cornbread will be enough to fill our stomachs!"
This was Liu's philosophy, and she had indeed acted accordingly before she became pregnant.
Thinking back to the year before the rain, Yue Jiuyue felt she couldn't go on living like that. Every day she ate wild vegetable dumplings and wild vegetable steamed buns, and sometimes she couldn't even eat those. She could only drink two bowls of wild vegetable soup.
"You can't say that. Isn't the purpose of growing grain to eat? If you eat wild vegetables and go hungry just to save grain, aren't you ruining your health? That would be putting the cart before the horse."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
