Wu Qian spoke as if she were making a wish to a deity.
His eyes held sincerity and expectation. Although his sister-in-law treated him and his brother in a rather indifferent way, neither particularly good nor bad.
But having an adult at home makes me feel more secure and at ease.
To avoid further embarrassment, Wei Yuyan quietly slipped out again.
"Cough cough~".
Wei Yuyan coughed twice at the door before slowly walking in.
"I'll do it."
Wu Lei saw the kerosene lamp in her hand, stood up, took it, and lit it by the fire.
"Is the hot water ready?"
Wei Yuyan thought she would wash up before going to sleep.
"Okay, I'll bring it over to you in a bit."
Wu Lei handed over the lit kerosene lamp, and then went to get a wooden bucket and basin to fetch water. He used the basin to fetch water for his younger sister to wash her face and feet, and the bucket to fetch water for his sister-in-law.
Wei Yuyan returned to her room, wanting to look in the mirror to see what she looked like, but there was no mirror. She decided to look at her reflection in the water tomorrow.
"Sister-in-law, the water is here."
Wu Lei placed the bucket at the door.
"Thank you, get some rest."
Wei Yuyan thanked her and carried the bucket inside.
Wu Lei went back to the kitchen to get a towel to wash his sister's face, but he felt that his sister-in-law seemed a little strange.
She actually thanked me. Before, when I said that, she would just reply with an "Mmm".
After washing herself, Wei Yuyan poured the water into the back of the house and lay comfortably on the bed. Fortunately, the original owner of this body was also a clean person.
Although the house was extremely poor, everything was clean and tidy. The clothes and blankets were all washed clean, and I slept very comfortably.
Wei Yuyan began to think about whether she should leave this home, but where could she go if she left?
Wei Yuyan thought about it and realized that even if she were to leave, she couldn't go back to her parents' home.
Otherwise, my life will be controlled by others again. I'd better leave this place and go far away.
But you need money to travel far away, otherwise you'll starve to death.
Wei Yuyan felt very annoyed when she thought about these things.
"Oh dear~".
Wei Yuyan sighed, unable to come up with a perfect solution. She decided to learn about it for a few days first. After making up her mind, Wei Yuyan fell asleep.
Unexpectedly, Wei Yuyan slept quite comfortably, and when she opened her eyes it was already dawn.
I got up to fetch water to wash up and found a bowl of corn porridge warming on the kitchen stove.
Wei Yuyan fumbled and braided her hair into a pigtail, then looked at her reflection clearly in the water.
She has an oval face, her skin isn't very fair, it's slightly yellow, and she has almond-shaped eyes. She's fairly pretty, but she's eating very poorly and doesn't look well.
Wei Yuyan was fairly satisfied; thankfully, he wasn't an ugly monster.
Wei Yuyan picked up the corn porridge from the kitchen, took a sip, and almost spat it out. It tasted awful!
The corn porridge tasted alright, with a slight corn flavor, but it was a bit coarse.
"It's better to make pancakes," Wei Yuyan decided, deciding that she would cook lunch for herself.
I was so hungry that I had to drink the corn porridge. After washing the bowl, I looked around the other rooms, but the brother and sister weren't home. I wondered where they had gone.
Wei Yuyan tidied up the yard, found the dirty clothes in the room to wash, and since there was a well in the yard, she could just draw water to wash them.
After washing up, Wei Yuyan wandered around and discovered that there was a vegetable garden behind the main room, with some vegetables inside, which she guessed were planted by the original owner.
There are carrots, scallions, chili peppers, white radishes, shepherd's purse, bok choy, and spinach that hasn't sprouted yet.
Wei Yuyan simply went to the kitchen, found a small hoe, dug out some red and white radishes, and picked some chili peppers to stir-fry later.
Upon arriving at the kitchen, which was clean but somewhat messy, Wei Yuyan rolled up her sleeves and began tidying up, putting the dishes and chopsticks away neatly.
While sorting through my cooking oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, I discovered that I only had a little bit of lard left. No wonder I haven't been cooking lately. I also don't have much salt left; it should last me another ten days or so.
Looking at the rice and flour in the grain cabinet, I finally understood why they ate corn porridge every day.
Inside the cupboard, there was a large bag full of cornmeal, probably weighing about 100 jin (50 kg), and a small half bag of wheat flour and rice, probably weighing about 40 jin (20 kg).
We usually can't bear to eat refined grains, only during festivals or holidays, or when we're feeling unwell like yesterday, we'll cook and eat refined grains.
But this isn't a good solution. Even I, an adult, find corn porridge unpalatable, let alone the two of them.
Wei Yuyan thought for a moment, then scooped out two-thirds of the cornmeal and one-third of the wheat flour and mixed them together.
Let's have a two-in-one cornbread for lunch today.
After kneading the dough and covering it to let it ferment, Wei Yuyan washed two carrots and some chili peppers.
I looked at the sun in the sky. Luckily, I used to live in the countryside, and my grandfather taught me how to tell time from the sun. It was almost noon.
Wei Yuyan was curious about where the two children had gone. Just as she was about to go to the door to see if they were playing outside, Wu Lei pushed the door open and came in.
Wu Lei carried a hoe on his shoulder, with Wu Qian following behind. They looked like they had just come back from the fields, their shoes and pants covered in mud.
"You went to the fields?"
Wei Yuyan was somewhat surprised; how could two children this young already be doing farm work?
"Yes, there were some weeds in the field, so my sister and I went to pull them out."
Wu Lei nodded and led his younger sister to wash her hands by the well. The land in their home was crucial to whether the family could have enough to eat for the whole year.
Wu Lei dared not be careless. He would pull out any weeds in the field, water it when it was dry, and loosen the soil when it was firm.
Wei Yu thought back for a moment and realized that the Wu family had a total of two mu of paddy fields, and they originally did not grow corn or wheat.
However, the rice produced was not enough to eat, so they had to exchange it for cornmeal, which was barely enough to fill their stomachs.
Wei Yuyan thought she could check out the soil quality here in the afternoon. How could two acres of paddy fields not be enough to feed them? Strange.
"I'll go cook some dishes, you guys have some water and rest for a bit."
Looking at her two thin children, Wei Yuyan felt a pang of sadness. They didn't even ask her to help with the farm work.
I turned around and went to the kitchen to chop vegetables, but I chopped two fewer chilies because the child can't handle too much spice.
Blanch the carrots first, otherwise they might burn if you stir-fry them without oil.
Knead the fermented dough and cut it into small pieces.
Wu Lei and Wu Qian then came in.
"The food isn't ready yet, it'll be a while."
Wei Yuyan thought the two children were hungry.
"Let me help you start the fire."
After Wu Lei finished speaking, he took his younger sister's hand and sat down in front of the stove to start a fire.
Wei Yuyan poured a little oil into the pan and started making pancakes. She made a total of twelve pancakes today.
Wei Yuyan thought that the three of them would each eat two at noon and two at night, making a total of twelve.
Wu Lei and Wu Qian swallowed hard as they looked at the steaming hot pancakes in the pot. Their sister-in-law's cooking skills hadn't seemed this good before; they felt the pancakes would taste delicious today.
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