Chapter 139 Your Family Thinks You’re Hungry
The weather in the south is relatively humid. When you wake up in the morning, the air is filled with a light scent of earth, which feels very friendly.
Su Mei found the cotton jacket she wore before her marriage and wrapped it around herself.
She had lost fifty pounds, and her old cotton shirt obviously no longer fit her. Bai Xiaofang handed the water for washing her face to Su Mei, looked at her clothes, and said:
"It's a little too big. When you take it off at night, I'll make it smaller for you. It's too big and it's leaking."
"Don't bother altering it. You won't be wearing it for a few days anyway. Otherwise, you can alter it and wear it yourself. I see that your and your brother's clothes have been patched up so much that you can't even see their original appearance!" Su Mei talked to her mother while washing her face.
Hearing Su Mei's words, Bai Xiaofang shook her head:
"I don't want it. I work in the fields every day, so why would I need nice clothes? When you and Jianguo come back, don't buy me clothes. It's a waste of money.
Alas, this dress is really too big for you. Wear the dress that Jianguo bought for me later. I don’t need it.”
"I don't want it. The dress he bought for you is obviously the style for old ladies. I only come back once a year or two, and I don't want to embarrass myself." Su Mei didn't really dislike it, but she knew that if she didn't say that, Bai Xiaofang would definitely give her the dress.
Seeing that Su Mei disliked the style of the dress, Bai Xiaofang pursed her lips in dissatisfaction and said, "After being away for a year, you have become more picky. In the past, you were willing to wear any clothes!
If you don't want it, forget it. I'll help you alter this dress tonight. You haven't worn it many times. If you make it smaller, you can wear it for another three to five years. This is made of the best corduroy fabric."
"Okay, don't worry about my clothes. I'm a grown-up, I can solve the problem of clothes by myself, and I'm planning to continue losing weight. Even if you modify it, I'll only wear it for three or five days, and when I come back next year I'll be thinner, and it will be too big again, won't it?" After Su Mei finished speaking, she handed the washcloth and washbasin to Huo Jianguo.
"Still want to lose weight?" Bai Xiaofang paused while cooking. She glanced at Su Mei and then shook her head in disapproval:
"Don't lose any more weight. You're just the right size now, neither too thin nor too fat. Being too thin can easily lead to illness. If your grandfather didn't prescribe herbal medicine for me, I would probably be sick."
"I also don't think there's a need to lose weight anymore!" Huo Jianguo suddenly spoke up and echoed his mother-in-law's words. He felt that the tender flesh was well maintained.
No matter what Bai Xiaofang and Huo Jianguo said, Su Mei's determination to lose weight did not waver at all: "I must lose weight. I want to be as thin as a bolt of lightning!"
Su Mei, who was determined to become as thin as a lightning, found that the food in her bowl had piled up into a small mountain without her noticing while she was having breakfast.
The whole family was trying hard to add more food to her meal, as if everyone was trying to shake her determination to lose weight.
There is a kind of hunger, which is when your family thinks you are hungry.
After controlling her diet for such a long time, Su Mei's food intake has actually been reduced to a very small amount. Looking at the mountain of food in the bowl, she just feels stressed.
Seeing Bai Xiaofang throwing another piece of braised pork into the bowl, Su Mei quickly dodged to the side, but on the other side, Huo Jianguo stuffed another large piece of meat into her bowl.
Su Mei suddenly became furious:
"My parents haven't seen me for a long time. It's normal for them to pick food for me out of pity for me. Why are you joining in the fun?"
"My wife weighs 200 pounds. How can you let me starve half of her? If you don't eat more to keep in shape, your brothers will suspect that I'm abusing you.
Will the five brothers-in-law beat me? "While talking, Huo Jianguo continued to add dishes to Su Mei's bowl. He needed to prove to himself that Su Mei's weight loss had nothing to do with him.
Obviously, Huo Jianguo's performance made Su Mei's parents very satisfied, and they looked at Huo Jianguo with warm eyes.
With the family's constant feeding, Su Mei burped for the first time since she traveled through time.
"What a crime! This meal is enough for me to lose weight for half a month." While cleaning up the dishes, Su Mei stood in the kitchen, touched her round belly, and sighed to the sky.
After breakfast, Su Mei's parents and brother continued to go to the fields to farm.
The weather is very good today. Su Xuanhu plans to go up the mountain to collect some herbs. Su Mei wants to learn skills from Su Xuanhu, so she naturally carries a small backpack and follows Su Xuanhu obediently.
The grandfather and grandson went up the mountain to collect herbs, and Huo Jianguo also followed them up the mountain with a sickle on his back. While the grandfather and grandson went to look for herbs, Huo Jianguo chopped some firewood in the mountain.
Although Su Mei had been practicing medicine for many years, she had never gone to the mountains to collect herbs herself.
Although she had seen many medicinal herbs in books, she was unable to recognize them quickly when she saw the herbs themselves. So Su Xuanhu had to teach Su Mei to recognize various herbs while collecting them.
There are quite a lot of medicinal herbs in the mountains. At that time, traditional Chinese medicine was in decline, Western medicine was on the rise, and the country did not promote traditional Chinese medicine too much. The development of traditional Chinese medicine encountered many twists and turns and limitations.
However, this also resulted in no one collecting medicinal herbs. Su Mei and Su Xuanhu only walked around the shallow end of the mountain and collected many medicines that could be used for daily illnesses.
Carrying herbs, the two men found Huo Jianguo who was still chopping wood. Huo Jianguo tied up the wood, then went to a buried bush and dug out a wounded and tied-up rabbit.
Huo Jianguo caught this rabbit shortly after entering the mountains.
Seeing the chubby rabbit, Su Mei's eyes lit up. She took the initiative to step forward and grabbed the rabbit's ears, smiling and saying:
"What a cute rabbit! The rabbit is so cute. It must be delicious when roasted!"
Huo Jianguo: “.........” Sometimes I feel really helpless. 】
Carrying rabbits, carrying herbs and carrying firewood, the three of them went down the mountain with a fruitful harvest. They went home to have lunch, and in the afternoon they continued to run into the mountains.
Su Mei followed Su Xuanhu to collect herbs for a whole day.
At night, the grandfather and grandson processed the herbs they had collected from the mountains today under the kerosene lamp. Some herbs needed to have their leaves and roots separated, some herbs needed to be dried, some herbs needed to be stir-fried, some herbs needed to be ground into powder, and some needed to be soaked into wine...
Su Mei had never seen all kinds of treatment methods before. She followed Su Xuanhu, learning and recording them carefully.
The grandfather and grandson were processing herbs in the house, while the other members of the Su family continued to sit around the fire in the yard. A fresh, white and tender rabbit was leaning against the fire, emitting bursts of meaty aroma in the firelight.
Huo Jianguo caught the rabbit when he went up the mountain to chop firewood in the afternoon.
Conditions on the border were poor, and the soldiers would often go up the mountain to hunt small animals that were allowed to be hunted to improve their diet during their rest time. Huo Jianguo also often did this job, so he was a good hunter, and catching a little rabbit was no problem for him.
The other people gathered in the yard were drooling at the plump rabbit. They all felt that catching such a rabbit was not an easy task.
Su Mei's elder brother Su Shengtang said:
"I've seen this creature before, but I've waited for years and never succeeded. Jianguo is so lucky to have brought back such a fat rabbit after just one trip into the mountains!"