Chapter 8
While the sun was still high in the sky, Shu Wanxiu took a newly acquired wooden bucket and a wooden basin and ran up and down the ground twice to fetch water.
After filling both containers, she said to Shu Shouyi, who had been following her closely, "After dinner, Auntie will boil some water for you to wash up."
The events of the evening felt like a dream. After returning to reality in a daze, the first thing Shu Wanxiu did was to teach Shu Shouyi not to forget to be grateful.
After repeatedly confirming that Shu Shouyi hadn't forgotten, she relaxed and shared with him, "Now our family not only has so many more household items, but you and your aunt each have a change of clothes. Take a good bath tomorrow and you can change out of what you're wearing."
It's hard to say exactly how long it's been since they had a proper bath. After all, when fleeing famine, the dirtier the women and children are, the less likely they are to be harmed.
Listening to Shu Wanxiu's arrangements, Shu Shouyi lowered his head and sniffed his own body, then quickly made a gagging expression.
Shu Wanxiu was amused by him and couldn't stop laughing. "Shouyi couldn't stand it anymore either, could he?"
"Um!!"
Shu Wanxiu was overjoyed to see that Shu Shouyi had become a bit more lively, vaguely resembling his mischievous self before fleeing the famine. She didn't even sit for long before rolling up her sleeves and preparing dinner again.
"Let me tell you, I thought I would have to wait more than a month to eat vegetable porridge, but I didn't expect to receive some green vegetables from the kind aunties today."
Originally, Chen Sanhe's gift was enough to last two or three days, but later Aunt Pang and Aunt Lin Xinghua also sent over some vegetables.
At this moment, in the shady corner of the Shu family's main room, there were not only green vegetables, but also several kinds of gourds, such as golden gourd, wild gourd, and white gourd, which are both durable and easy to store, as well as about thirty eggs.
Shu Wanxiu took out a stalk of purslane, peeled off all the leaves, washed them clean, and twisted them into small pieces by hand. But she didn't rush to put them into the pot; instead, she placed them in a bowl to the side for later use.
It was already completely dark. Shu Wanxiu didn't want Shu Shouyi to stay up too late, so she added two large pieces of firewood to the pot while cooking the porridge. The fire was very strong and the porridge boiled very quickly.
To prevent the rice from burning, she gently stirred the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon until the rice was cooked through and ready to be served.
Without saying a word, Shu Shouyi brought out two stools, stuffed one under Shu Wanxiu's bottom, and sat on the other, swinging his short legs and staring longingly at the porridge on the fire.
"Don't rush."
Just before it was ready to be taken out of the pot, Shu Wanxiu took an egg from beside her, decisively cracked it into a bowl, quickly whisked it, and poured it into the pot.
Watching the egg liquid change color, finally add small pieces of wild mustard greens to blanch before serving the porridge.
From the moment the egg was added, Shu Shouyi's mouth was practically watering. As soon as he held the porridge in his hands, he eagerly pressed his mouth to the rim of the bowl to drink, unsurprisingly burning his mouth and wincing in pain.
Shu Wanxiu quickly confiscated his porridge and scooped a ladle of cold water from the bucket for him to cool his mouth.
"Auntie," he said, his lips still red from the rotting paint, as he looked up. It wasn't that he was thinking about the porridge; instead, he pointed with his short hand at the eggshells Shu Wanxiu had placed on the ground and asked, "Can the egg whites on the shells be baked and eaten like at home?"
"Okay." Shu Wanxiu's main attention was on him, but that didn't stop her from answering decisively.
When you crack a raw egg into a bowl, it's very difficult to pour out all the egg white.
It is sticky, and even if you scrape the inside of the shell two or three times with your fingers, a small amount of egg white will still remain on the shell.
Every farming family knows that eggs are a good thing, so even a little bit of leftovers shouldn't be wasted.
The best way to prepare it is to use tongs to hold it near the fire. In no time, the small amount of egg white inside will be baked into shape by the high temperature. Peel off the shell, and even that tiny bit of white and fragrant baked egg white can be a delicious treat for children from poor families.
Because he handled it properly, his lips didn't get blisters from the burn. After the porridge cooled down, Shu Wanxiu served it to him again.
Although there wasn't much rice in the porridge, the addition of eggs and vegetables made the portion much more substantial.
Shu Shouyi drank two bowls of egg and vegetable porridge with satisfaction and happiness. As soon as he put down the bowl, Shu Wanxiu put the freshly baked egg shells on his plate and gave them to him.
"Auntie will eat too."
Of the two pieces of eggshell, Shu Shouyi only reached out and took one.
"Auntie is full from the porridge, you can eat the rest."
How could Shu Wanxiu fight with a child over something so small, barely the size of a fingernail? But seeing her nephew thinking of her even when eating just a little bit, she felt incredibly touched.
She washed the pot clean, put the fire back on, and heated water to wash her body.
After turning his back for only a moment, Shu Shouyi couldn't resist eating the eggshells and swallowing them.
After finishing his meal, he quietly looked up to see Shu Wanxiu's expression.
He didn't know that eggshells are brittle and make a sound when you eat them.
Shu Wanxiu heard this, but she neither got angry and scolded him for being greedy, nor did she tell him to spit out the eggshell.
Since we've even eaten tree bark before, how could we think eggshells are bad?
The child was starving from fleeing famine, and the sudden appearance of more than thirty eggs in the house did not make him feel at ease.
In fact, even Shu Wanxiu didn't feel at ease.
Receiving so much kindness today was unexpected, and she was very grateful. However, she also knew that from now on, she and her niece would really have to rely on themselves, and they would definitely have a long period of hardship to endure.
You need to grow more vegetables yourself, but you can't grow eggs. You can only try to raise a few chickens later.
The problem is, when will they be able to buy chicks and raise them to adulthood?
She had never heard of anyone getting sick from eating eggshells. Since they were edible, she didn't object to Shu Shouyi eating them sparingly.
As Shu Shouyi watched anxiously, she bent down and patted his head, soothingly saying in a calm tone, "Next time, Auntie will wash the eggshells more thoroughly."
Not being scolded, the child's eyes immediately lit up.
The next moment, seeing the bowl of bitter medicine that Shu Wanxiu poured out, it suddenly turned into a dull and lifeless appearance.
After eating so much, Shu Shouyi's stomach was already bulging. He forced down a bowl of medicine, then let out two burps and slumped back in his chair.
A moment later, my eyelids closed up on their own.
Seeing that he would fall asleep immediately, and since he needed to take a bath tomorrow anyway, Shu Wanxiu didn't insist that he clean himself up before going to sleep.
Shu Wanxiu dared not let him sit by the fire, for fear that he might fall asleep and fall into the fire pit.
I moved the stool further away, poured some warm water to wash his face, and finally carried him into the room and covered him with a light blanket.
Because she was worried about the matter of calming the spirit, Shu Wanxiu dared not sleep soundly at night, waking up at least three or four times. Fortunately, Shu Shouyi did not seem to have any restlessness each time.
She finally managed to fall into a deep sleep before dawn.
...
As dusk turned to dawn, the aunt and niece woke up to find it still broad daylight.
Shu Wanxiu picked a small handful of flat vegetables, washed them clean, twisted them into small pieces, and cooked a pot of vegetable porridge.
While having breakfast, Shu Wanxiu was glad that she lived on a desolate mountain without any neighbors, otherwise, getting up so late every day would probably leave a lazy impression on others.
Before anyone knew it, Shu Shouyi pointed to a direction at the foot of the mountain and said, "Auntie, there's smoke coming from that place too!"
She looked in the direction Shu Shouyi pointed with disbelief, and was puzzled to find that there was indeed a wisp of smoke rising from a chimney, not far from their house.
Could it be that other families in the village also eat breakfast this late?
Although she met some of the villagers yesterday, she did not know where each family lived.
After a brief moment of confusion, she stopped thinking about it and took her nephew to pull weeds in front of the house, just like yesterday.
Today's goal is to clear a plot of land and plant two kinds of vegetables.
At the foot of the mountain, Xun Yi returned home last night, but did not sleep in today.
His daily routine was the same as most families in the village; he would get up at dawn.
As a blacksmith, he did manual labor every day, so he cooked a pot of rice early in the morning and ate three bowls of rice with the pickled vegetables his sister had made before her wedding.
After the meal, he took out the iron materials that had been brought back yesterday, took out some for today's forging, and locked the rest back in the house.
The blacksmith used to make charcoal. Most of his firewood was piled up under the eaves, and the woodshed was full of charcoal. Every day before starting work, he had to carry a load to the furnace room first.
After finishing his preparations, he locked the door and headed towards the center of the village.
A note from the author:
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Golden Pumpkin: Pumpkin
Wild melon: loofah
White melon: winter melon
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