As soon as He Tiantian stepped into the house, she noticed that Sister-in-law Yulan was acting strangely.
She leaned closer with a gossipy look on her face and whispered, "Wanzi's mother, do you know that widow Zhang in our village?"
He Tiantian nodded, recalling the time a month ago when they went shopping together in an oxcart in town.
"Hey, you don't know, do you? This widow has no one at home. If Zhao San hadn't been wandering around the village today, no one would have told the village head about this."
Yulan's mother gave He Tiantian a knowing look with a mischievous grin.
A widow went missing, and nobody in the village noticed. The first person to discover her was that good-for-nothing Zhao San. Ha! I wonder what Gouzi's mother was thinking.
He Tiantian was speechless at Yulan's reaction. She had just escaped from Zhao Yan's mother's place and had fallen into Yulan's mother's hands.
I don't know why these people are so gossipy.
However, this gossip is actually true.
"Will the village head send someone to look for her? A month ago, she went to town to buy things with the mine's oxcart, but she didn't come back with us. Could she have stopped coming back around that time?"
Although He Tiantian looked down on Zhang the widow for seducing married women, it takes two to tango, and Zhao San wasn't a good person either.
Widow Zhang is, after all, a woman. Could something have happened to her since she hasn't returned for so long?
"Who knows!" Sister Yulan showed no worry on her face. "The village head wanted to send people to look for them, but an avalanche happened in the village, and the road into the city is blocked, so they can't get out."
The matter was discussed and then eventually came to nothing.
In the evening, He Tiantian suddenly craved fried dough sticks. Luckily, she had just bought buckwheat flour, so she could make some.
He Tiantian felt that since becoming pregnant, her cravings had increased. She would often think about modern fried chicken, KFC, beef noodles, braised pork belly, braised ribs, and so on…
When I wake up in the middle of the night from a dream about being craving something, my mouth is always full of saliva.
But she's too poor right now to afford that much meat. Besides, there are other people in the house, and she doesn't want to be so high-profile.
The task of kneading the dough was left to Yulan's mother, whose eyes lit up when she heard that they were going to make fried dough cakes.
This thing uses so much fuel, how can I bear to use it?
However, the four children were very happy to hear this, and their mouths were watering secretly.
As the name suggests, fried dough cakes require a generous amount of oil, and He Tiantian's family has a small earthenware jar specifically for storing oil. Whenever it's almost empty, she secretly buys some more from the mall and puts it in.
So even after eating for so long, the oil in the jar was still not gone.
Because there were so many people, we made five or six pancakes of various sizes that evening. We also cooked a pot of porridge and reheated the leftovers we brought from the mine during the day, making it another hearty dinner.
Narcissus blinked her big, bright eyes, and mumbled while biting into a pancake, "Mother, it's so nice to stay at Wanzi's house. There are even pancakes to eat."
Their family only gets to eat such luxurious food during the Lunar New Year.
Yulan's mother glared at her, "You brat, you've forgotten who you are after eating a little something good. We're only here because of Wanzi's kind-hearted mother's kindness in taking us in. You need to work more and eat less, understand?"
Narcissus was so frightened that she nodded vigorously.
"Hehe, sister-in-law, don't scare her." He Tiantian smiled and looked at Shuixian seriously, thinking that the girl was really pretty. "The New Year is coming soon. When I go to town to buy some pork, I'll make dumplings for you all for the New Year."
"Of course, that's only if the snow stops and the roads are clear," He Tiantian said earnestly to the four children.
In this patriarchal society, daughters were often beaten and scolded at home, doing chores but receiving no affection. This was the case for almost every household in the village.
She liked Sister Yulan's family because they didn't have such strong patriarchal ideas. The couple also doted on their two daughters.
Such a family would be incredibly happy in modern times.
After hearing what He Tiantian said, the four children, who always loved snow, began to pray every day for the next period of time that the snow would stop.
He Tiantian gets up very early every day to go to work. On her way to work, the men in the village almost always walk together.
With only seven or eight days left until the Lunar New Year, groups of men walked together, chatting and laughing, towards the mine.
He Tiantian walked alone at the very back. The snow on the road was still very thick, and the snow in the sky was not as heavy as it had been in the past few days. Only some small snowflakes were falling.
When they arrived at the mine, Erhua's mother had already arrived early.
The two men busied themselves rinsing the rice, washing and chopping the vegetables. They were almost finished with all the vegetables they'd bought last time, and they figured the oxcart would have to head to town as soon as the snow stopped.
"Second Aunt, did Uncle Li say when he's going to take the carriage to town?" He Tiantian asked while chopping vegetables.
Erhua's mother was busy lighting the fire in the stove when she heard He Tiantian's words and looked at the sky outside.
"I guess we have to go tomorrow. The snow has finally let up, so we have to hurry." Erhua's mother looked worried. She didn't know why it had snowed for so long this year, and it was so cold.
The fields are all empty now and we can't plant crops. If this delay continues, it might hinder next year's spring planting.
"That's perfect. The New Year is almost here, and we need to buy some things for the family. Otherwise, we'll run out of food."
"Sigh, who can argue with that? The grain stored in the village for the winter is almost gone. We've barely made it to the New Year, so we can't let the men and children in the family live in poverty." Erhua's mother sighed as well.
As the two were chatting, Mozhu came over to deliver more ingredients.
"Sister He, these are the ingredients for the master's meal today. Thank you for your help." Mo Zhu was very polite, carrying a grass carp in one hand and a bag of white rice in the other.
He Tiantian stepped forward and took the things, smiling as she said, "They've arrived just in time. The pickled cabbage I made a few days ago is ready to eat. Today I'll make you a pickled cabbage fish dish."
"Okay, okay." Mo Zhu left with a silly grin.
He couldn't help but lick his lips, even though he didn't know what pickled fish was. But anything cooked by Sister He must be delicious.
Even after so long, Erhua Niang still looks shocked every time she sees Mozhu delivering ingredients.
I really don't know when they'll be able to eat meat, or even just have some meat broth.
He Tiantian deboned the fish and sliced the fish meat into pieces. Then she took a handful of pickled cabbage from the jar and chopped it into pieces.
"Wanzi's mother, I have something I'd like to ask you for a favor." Erhua's mother said hesitantly, looking somewhat at a loss.
[Author's Note]: Thank you all for your support, my lovely angels! *bows*
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