"Zhuang Shuhui, I think you've gone mad. You'd risk your life for a bite to eat," An Bihuai said angrily.
The two made such a commotion that all three sons got up to see what was happening outside.
The family has been in turmoil lately; their mother's unreasonable behavior has only gotten worse.
"Father, what's wrong now?" Anping asked, seeing his father sitting on the ground, looking dejected and pitiful.
An Bihuai remained silent. He was already feeling terrible at the thought of the crops in the fields being ruined, and his wife at home was constantly causing him trouble, leaving him completely overwhelmed.
"Mom, put the scissors down quickly." An Chang was startled when he saw the scissors in his mother's hand.
Zhuang Shuhui remained motionless, staring at An Chang with dead fish eyes. "An Chang, if you were my son, you would go and get me some food right now."
"Mother, do you know what you look like?" An Chang frowned, her eyes filled with anger.
Zhuang Shuhui ignored her; nothing she said would make a difference. She just wanted to eat.
“We always let you eat the best food at home first. We only dare to touch our chopsticks when you stop eating. What more do you want? The land at home has no harvest, and we are already penniless. You still want to eat good food. Where will we get the money to buy good food?”
This has never happened before. What's going on these past few days?
“Dad, I think we should find a doctor to take a look at Mom. She’s always like this, and our whole family is never at peace.” Anwang squatted down in front of his father and expressed his thoughts.
“I agree with my third brother’s idea. Mother’s behavior is indeed not quite normal,” Anping echoed.
Zhuang Shuhui got angry when she heard this and retorted, "I'm not sick. I don't want to see a doctor. What's wrong with me wanting to eat meat?"
An Bihuai grinned angrily: "You're not wrong, I'm the one who's wrong. I must have been blinded by greed to marry a spendthrift like you."
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhuang Shuhui rushed over and they began to wrestle, their three sons unable to separate them.
Yuan Doudou seemed to hear a commotion and woke up, only to find that it was already broad daylight.
I went to bed a little late last night, so I slept in a bit longer this morning.
She had just finished dressing when Angie opened his eyes and said, "Mother."
Yuan Doudou found some clothes for Anji to wear, saying, "You play by yourself for a while, Mommy will go cook."
Anji obediently got out of bed and went to the outhouse first. When he came back, he saw his mother tending the fire in the kitchen. He went into the house by himself and took out his notebook to draw.
He wanted to draw a picture of his mother cooking, to capture her beautiful moments.
Yuan Doudou boiled half a pot of water, poured it into a thermos, and left some at the bottom of the pot to cook porridge. She added dried sweet potatoes, cooked it until it was very soft, and then mixed it with cornmeal. It smelled sweet and delicious.
She doesn't know how to make steamed buns, and her usual bread is just unleavened flatbread. In the morning, she prefers egg pancakes, which have both carbohydrates and protein and are healthier.
Heat the pan, swirl the dough in the pan to coat it with oil, pour in the prepared batter, and spread it out in a circular motion with a spatula. Soon, a round dough will appear in the pan.
Crack an egg into the pan, scramble it with a spatula, and when it's almost cooked, spread some soybean paste on top. The egg pancake is now ready.
"It smells so good!" Angie came in, his mouth almost watering.
Yuan Doudou smiled and said, "It smells good, wash your hands and come eat."
Angie quickly ran out to wash her hands and then washed her face with a handkerchief.
Yuan Doudou ladled a bowl of porridge onto the table, then handed an egg pancake to Anji, saying, "Eat up."
Egg pancakes taste best when they're hot and soft.
After breakfast, Yuan Doudou went to the greenhouse. Aunt Li and the others came too. They hadn't paid for the oyster mushrooms they received last time, so they paid them together. The three of them paid a total of 1,460 coins.
"DouDou, we're thinking of taking a little more today, do you think that's enough?"
Yuan Doudou inspected the mushrooms and found that many of them were not growing well, so taking more would not be enough.
"Aunt Li, there's not much today, a maximum of five kilograms per person."
Aunt Li didn't say anything. It's fine if it's less, as long as everyone gets the same amount.
Aunt Wang joked, "DouDou, don't be biased and let Aunt Zhao and the others take more."
Yuan Doudou was truly speechless. People's hearts are unpredictable; even such a small matter could arouse suspicion.
"Aunt Wang, I can't say for sure about oyster mushrooms. The yield varies every day. It depends on your luck."
Take more if you have more, take less if you have less.
Aunt Liu smoothed things over: "Yes, it's not something that Dou Dou can decide. I think we should hurry up and get the goods; it's getting late."
Although Aunt Li was a little unhappy, she kept it to herself and followed Aunt Liu, busy picking oyster mushrooms.
Soon, all three baskets were full, and after being weighed, they all weighed exactly five kilograms.
Yuan Doudou weighed their oyster mushrooms, recorded them in the ledger, and checked the strawberries. There were some more ripe ones, so she carefully picked them, put them in her basket, and planned to take them to town to sell.
As I left the greenhouse, I ran into Wang Qiqiang. "Brother Wang, you don't need to go over to the greenhouse yet. I just came back from there."
Wang Qiqiang nodded: "Okay, I'm going to the fields to work today." He turned the soil over, filled it with water, and prepared to transplant rice seedlings.
Yuan Doudou first went home, took the Ganoderma lucidum, and brought Anji with her to wait for the bus at the village entrance.
The carriage had just come from Anping Village when the driver saw Yuan Doudou standing by the roadside in the distance. He was curious about which man she would be with this time, but after looking around, he found no one else nearby.
After Yuan Doudou got into the carriage, she gradually noticed that the people in the carriage were looking at her intentionally or unintentionally.
"Young lady, where is your man?" One of the older women couldn't contain her curiosity and finally asked.
It turns out they wanted to gossip about her personal life. They had run into her at least three or four times, and she always seemed to encounter different people, so it was normal for them to be curious.
"Auntie, to be honest, I'm a widow." Yuan Doudou didn't shy away from the truth; let them say what they wanted.
The aunt looked at Yuan Doudou in surprise, feeling a pang of sadness. What a beautiful girl she was, how did she become a widow?
"So who are you living with now?" the aunt asked with sympathy.
Yuan Doudou hugged Anji tightly and said sadly, "It's just me and the child left at home, relying on each other for survival."
Now, not only the auntie, but everyone around her began to sympathize with Yuan Doudou's plight.
The aunt felt a little guilty, as she had previously suspected that Yuan Doudou was an improper woman.
She was wrong; women shouldn't make things difficult for other women.
"How did your husband get there?" someone asked, still wanting to know the details.
Yuan Doudou didn't want to say, but hiding it wouldn't be good, so she answered truthfully, "He died in battle."
"My God, he's so young." The woman clutched her chest, thinking of her son, who had also been conscripted and whose fate was unknown.
Along the way, Yuan Doudou received sympathetic glances from everyone. When she got off the bus, the aunt insisted on giving her ten eggs to save for the child, so that the child wouldn't suffer.
Yuan Doudou politely declined. She was grateful for the aunt's kindness, but it wasn't necessary, as the aunt's life was even more difficult.
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