Chapter 6: Poor, poor, lacking everything
Xiaohua looked at the empty yard, held the big bowl towards the river, and said in a baby voice, "Auntie, this is for you."
Jiang Shui's original mockery towards his third brother disappeared completely, replaced by a gentle smile. He lowered his head and coaxed, "My dear, you are full. Please eat now, Huahua."
She didn't lie to Huahua. Mother ate the eggs and ate less porridge, leaving her portion of thick porridge empty.
My second brother was away from home for more than half a month doing corvée labor to repair the riverbank, and my younger brother only came back for dinner;
Today, they split it equally again. It was much more than usual, much less for the brothers, but definitely more than half a bowl for her! It was much better than the usual water filling.
"Auntie, please eat. Huahua can't eat anymore." Xiaohua continued to persuade.
Jiang Shui thought that since she was full, it was normal for Xiao Hua not to finish her meal, but she shouldn't eat so much: "Take it to your mother."
If sister-in-law eats more, Xiaocao can also drink more. Besides, sister-in-law is tall, so the amount that is barely enough for her is far from enough for her.
Xiaohua shook her head and whispered, "Auntie, there's an egg inside. Mother told me to give it to you. No one can see it!"
How could the river not understand?
She has always been mean to her sister-in-law. Her sister-in-law was willing to give her the whole egg, which must be because she was grateful to her for protecting Xiaohua.
She protects Xiaohua not because she is her sister-in-law's child, but because Xiaohua deserves it, so her sister-in-law doesn't need to be extra grateful to her.
Looking at the big bowl held high, Jiang Shui took it. He wanted to return it at first, but after thinking about it, he fished out the fried egg at the bottom of the bowl and ate it slowly and carefully. "Okay, Xiaohua, take the porridge to your mother. She said that my aunt was very happy to eat it."
Xiaohua cheered and walked carefully into the house with the big bowl in her hand.
Jiang Shui watched Xiaohua enter the house before he looked away. He walked towards the courtyard wall surrounded by reeds, picked up the bamboo basket and went out.
She couldn't compare to her brothers who could go into the water to catch fish or go to the fields to catch eels and sell them for money. It was okay for men to get their clothes wet or even go shirtless, but if she got her clothes wet outside, she would either die or suffer a fate worse than death.
Fish have their own paths, and shrimps have their own paths. Although she cannot go into the water, she can go digging wild vegetables. During the lean months, there are not many vegetables in the vegetable garden, but there are plenty of wild vegetables. If she digs more, she can have an extra bowl to fill her stomach.
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Shen Qing walked out of the house only after seeing that his son and daughter had all gone out to work.
She had just counted all the property in her house. It was pitifully small and would not increase no matter how much she looked at it. If she wanted to make money, she had to go out and see if there were any other ways.
There were three rooms made of yellow mud and reeds, and a slanted thatched house next to it as a kitchen. Behind the kitchen was a woodshed where various firewoods were stored.
The yard was also made of reeds, and was even more crude than the house, not even covered with yellow mud. Its only advantage was that it occupied a large area. On the right side of the yard were two thatched houses, which should be the chicken coop and duck shed.
On the left hand side, three plots of land were opened up. Not long after the seeds were sown, most of the plants had only a light green color. The only thing that was flourishing was the leek. The chicken and duck manure was fertile, and the leek was green and tender. More than half of it had been harvested, and the remaining part was probably enough for the whole family to have a meal of leek boxes.
Just enough for one meal.
Shen Qing went to the vegetable market or the supermarket to buy groceries. No matter where he went, there were always many choices. Now he finally had a concrete feeling about the "gap between the old and the new".
There's really no food!
It will take several months for the grain to be harvested, and the stored grain is not very sufficient, so it has to be eaten frugally. No wonder Jiang Shui has to go digging wild vegetables. If he doesn't dig wild vegetables, there will be nothing to eat.
Without adding a lot of wild vegetables, even the cornmeal that she dislikes as irritating to her throat might not be enough!
Now we are short of money, food and even vegetables...
Shen Qing turned and walked towards the kitchen.
The kitchen was also blocked by a thin layer of wood. She excitedly wondered if the presence of a door meant there were good things inside.
Otherwise there would be no need for a door.
When I pushed open the wooden door, the first thing I saw was a big iron pot. There was not even a stove, just a few big stones piled on the ground, with the iron pot placed on the stones.
Shen Qing's eyes went dark and he almost lost his balance.
I can only comfort myself that at least I have a big iron pot, which does not affect the preparation of various fried and cooked dishes.
She looked around and began to search for the seasonings, mainly the oil - she didn't see it in the house, so it should be in the kitchen.
She heard the third and fourth sons chatting in the yard. They went to catch fish and shrimp.
Xingcheng is close to a particularly large river with a lot of water. Before the heavy rain broke the dam and caused floods, most of the people in Xingcheng relied on the water for their livelihood.
There is no need to worry about watering the fields. I catch big fish, eels and loaches and sell them to supplement the family income. Small river shrimps improve the family's diet. I also crush small wild fish and snails to feed the chickens, ducks and geese, which lay a lot of eggs.
Snails are not tasty without seasoning, but small wild fish can be fried with oil and a little salt, and they become crispy and fragrant. Even the bones can be chewed and eaten. They are very delicious, and most importantly, nutritious!
Free natural delicacy!
After searching around, Shen Qing finally found a coarse pottery jar. He stretched his head, looked at it carefully again and again, and decided to take back what he had just said.
Natural and delicious is right, but it doesn’t mean it’s free.
Oil is the biggest cost of this dish!
There was only a thin layer of grease left in the coarse pottery jar the size of a small watermelon, with a bamboo stick placed on it, apparently used to scrape off the grease.
No wonder there was no oil droplets on the porridge served at noon. The oil scraped off the bamboo strips was put into a big pot of wild vegetable and corn porridge and cooked. It takes really good eyesight to see the oil droplets!
There was almost no oil and not much salt. Shen Qing looked up at the sky speechlessly and found that there was a bamboo basket hanging on the roof?
She stood on tiptoe to try it and found it was still quite heavy.
He was delighted and used all his strength to take the bamboo basket down.
There were small dried fishes filled inside, each about two fingers long, dried in the sun. Even so, the bamboo basket was still very heavy. Shen Qing estimated that it weighed about twenty pounds!
This is a good thing. If it were dried like this in China, the small fish would weigh at least 20 to 31 kilograms. I didn't expect it to be placed casually in the kitchen.
Then I thought about the abundance of water and fish in Xingcheng, especially small dried fish, which have many bones and are difficult for rich people to eat.
There is little edible food and the poor feel it cannot fill their stomachs.
No wonder there was a reason why it was left in the kitchen instead of being kept in her house - it was not valuable.
After walking around the kitchen, Shen Qing thought that it would be impossible to cook many dishes without oil!
Especially for small fish and shrimps, if you have oil, coat them with the prepared batter and fry them in the pan. The first time they are shaped, and the second time they are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. They are delicious, nutritious and can replenish oil and water. I guarantee that everyone in the family will grow meat.
The most important thing now is not to gain weight, but to survive. Lack of food is more serious than anything else!
I can only go to the city to look for business opportunities tomorrow. Shen Qingxin returned to the house with a cold heart.
When he entered the house, he looked at his eldest daughter-in-law's house opposite, as if thinking about something.
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