"Nan Nan, check if the time is up, what should we do!" Ma Minghua called out to the beggar's chicken.
Yan Xiaonan quickly spread out the cleaned leaves, then used two machetes to hold the beggar's chicken and placed it on the leaves.
As they knocked away the soil, a fragrance unlike any found in barbecue wafted into everyone's noses, causing everyone's mouths to water.
The most clever ones from the north and south took out their knives and started tearing the pheasant apart. The pheasant weighed at least three or four pounds, and everyone got a piece.
Bei Nan gave one chicken leg to Ma Mingyuan and another to Ma Mingchun: "Eat up, it smells so good."
Ma Mingchun and Ma Mingyuan grabbed the chicken legs and stuffed them into their mouths, chewing and muttering, "Delicious, delicious, how can it be so delicious?"
Yan Beinan tore off a chicken wing and stuffed it into her mouth, asking as she ate, "Nannan, what kind of chicken did you make? It's so delicious!"
"Beggar's chicken, I heard about it from my older brother, so I'll give it a try today." Yan Xiaonan didn't hesitate to pass the buck.
No one doubted Yan Xiaonan's words; Dongnan was a college student, meaning he was cultured and knowledgeable.
"Nan Nan, we're taking a day off tomorrow and we'd like to go to town to buy some quilts and stuff. Do you have time to come with me?" Ye Chen'er asked.
Yan Xiaonan nodded; she really wanted to go to town and see what the situation was like now.
"Also, do you know who can make cotton-padded jackets? The clothes we brought aren't thick enough. Of course, we'll pay for the work," Ye Chen'er said again.
Bei Nan glanced at Ye Chen'er. This little girl was a year younger than him, and quite sensible.
"You and Nan Nan shouldn't go tomorrow. I'll take your brother. If we find anything, we'll buy it. If not, we'll figure something out," Bei Nan said.
Ye Chen'er was a little embarrassed; the town was quite far, taking more than half an hour to walk there.
"Nan Nan, can you go back and borrow a bicycle from your dad?" Yan Bei Nan asked.
Yan Xiaonan said "Oh," realizing that her third brother wanted to ride a bicycle. Indeed, ever since Bei Nan fell while learning to ride a bike last time, Yan Xiaoqiang had forbidden Bei Nan from touching a bike.
"Third Brother, you want to ride a bicycle, right?"
Yan Beinan was a little embarrassed. It was one thing not to have a bicycle at home, but it was another to have a bicycle that was not allowed to be ridden, which was really frustrating.
Ye Chenming smiled, pursing his lips. The Yan family's children were too adorable.
Ma Minghua didn't care about any of that. She saw the chicken soup on the shelf and quickly took out a bowl and served everyone a bowl of soup.
Yan Xiaonan also took out eggs. Fortunately, Cuihua had cooked a lot, otherwise there wouldn't be enough for two more people.
Holding the eggs, Ye Chenming was deeply moved. Food was very precious in this era, yet these children selflessly shared their good things. How could he possibly repay them?
Ye Chen'er's eyes reddened. It had been more than two months since they arrived in Mushroom Village. The two siblings had eaten all the braised meat they had, and all they had left were sweet potatoes.
Eating too many sweet potatoes can cause heartburn, nausea, and malnutrition, but sweet potatoes are the only food they can eat right now.
My brother and I had some money and tickets on us, and when we left, our parents pooled together three hundred yuan for us.
Three hundred yuan is a huge sum of money, but Ye Chenming's father, Ye Liguo, said: "Three hundred yuan may seem like a huge sum of money, but it can only last for two or three years at most, so the two of you must find a way to support yourselves within three years."
"Nan Nan, I really want to go back and see my dad and mom, and my grandpa and grandma," Ye Chen'er said sadly.
Yan Beinan glanced at them and remained silent. He was the same age as Ye Chenming.
Their lives were completely different, and compared to Ye Chenming, she was far too happy.
From now on, I must take good care of my grandmother, my parents, and my younger sister. Now that my older brothers have moved out of the family, I should be the one to shoulder the responsibility.
Yan Xiaonan was unaware that Ye Chen's few words had changed Bei Nan's mindset, but she knew that once the educated youth came here, it would be difficult for them to go back.
"Sister Ye, cotton quilts are actually very expensive. We usually buy fabric and cotton to make our own quilts."
Ye Chen'er's eyes lit up: "Nan Nan, we can make our own quilts. How do we do it? Who knows how?"
Yan Xiaonan felt even more sorry for Ye Chen'er. Just by listening, she could tell that this little girl must have been spoiled at home.
However, being able to adjust one's mindset in the shortest amount of time requires immense willpower.
Then there's Ye Chenming, whose hands are fair and slender, hands that should be used for writing and playing the piano, but now he spends his days turning over soil and pulling weeds with a hoe.
“Ye Chenming, if you really don’t have enough food, you can borrow some from my father and pay him back with work points at the end of the year,” Ma Mingyuan reminded him.
The Ye siblings were overjoyed; they were surprised they could do something like that.
“Two years ago, many families in the village ate sweet potatoes, but they couldn’t keep up and had to borrow grain from the village. Some families are still losing their grain production quota,” Ma Mingyuan continued.
"What does 'centimeter inverted' mean?" Ye Chen'er didn't understand.
"It's because they earned less work points than they owed, so they had to pay the difference," Ma Mingchun explained.
Ye Chenming felt somewhat at ease: "Chen'er, since that's the case, then we should save our own money and try to support ourselves with our work points."
Ye Chen'er nodded, took out a small bag from her pocket, and then took out twenty yuan and some tickets from the small bag and handed them to Bei Nan.
“Bei Nan, I don’t know the price of cloth and cotton. My brother and I need cotton-padded coats and quilts. Do you think we have enough? If not, I’ll get more.”
Bei Nan shrank back in fright. He never had more than five yuan in his hands, and twenty yuan was no joke.
Ye Chenming pushed the money back: "Brother still has some money here. Also, you can't just take out money casually in the future. Fortunately, today we are all Bei Nan's family and friends."
Ma Minghua also said, "Sister Ye, my mother said that you shouldn't flaunt your money. What you just did was too dangerous. I only have three cents on me right now, and I don't even dare to tell anyone."
With a "pfft," Yan Xiaonan spat out a mouthful of chicken soup, but fortunately, he turned his head at the crucial moment, preventing it from hitting anyone.
The gloomy atmosphere vanished instantly. Ma Mingyuan looked at his younger sister with worry, wondering how the troublemaker had become so stubborn.
Ye Chen'er laughed too: "But what if I find out you have three cents now?"
"Ah, how did you know? I didn't know." Ma Minghua started to get nervous.
Ye Chen'er looked at Ma Minghua with a smile and repeated what Ma Minghua had just said. Yan Xiaonan wanted to laugh again.
Ma Minghua got angry, her eyes turned red, and it looked like tears were about to fall. Yan Xiaonan quickly called for the Golden Cudgel, because only the Golden Cudgel could make Ma Minghua's mood change from cloudy to sunny.
The golden cudgel was indeed powerful; it stood on Ma Minghua's head and tickled her, and her silvery laughter echoed through the mountains.
The Ye siblings learned something new today—knowledge that isn't in books, but comes from real life.
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