People worship gods, yet they also fear them.
Once they discover that even though gods are powerful, they also have fatal weaknesses, evil thoughts will arise in their hearts.
They would attempt to manipulate the gods, using their power to its fullest extent before utterly destroying them...
This is human nature; Liu Yingying dares not gamble, nor can she afford to!
But she pretended to be like everyone else, taking her three children into the mountains to dig for wild vegetables...
The current climate is so arid that even the deepest mountains are desolate.
However, when people reached the foot of Xijiu Mountain, they were surprised to find that there were many wild vegetables such as plantain and dandelion growing there, and they all rushed to dig them up...
"Zhaodi, take your brothers and dig up some plantain and dandelion here. These can be used as medicine."
"Yes, Liu Niang!" Zhao Di and her two siblings replied in unison and began to get busy.
Liu Yingying, carrying a bamboo basket on her back, continued walking westward up Mount Jiu...
Based on Liu Yingying's geographical knowledge from her previous life, theoretically speaking, since Xijiu Mountain can store a large amount of water, there must be many wild plants and animals living nearby.
So she decided to try her luck.
The mountain road was extremely rugged and steep, and it took about two or three hours to reach the original mountain village.
However, the village was still quite a distance from the summit. Liu Yingying walked along the path leading up to the reservoir for a while longer and gradually noticed that the flowers and plants along the way were growing more and more lushly.
Every now and then, a wild rabbit would dart across the bushes ahead.
This made her overjoyed!
Then I saw the vines twining around the tree trunk, bearing fruit; the red berries emitted an enticing aroma...
To her even greater surprise, as she passed a slope, she saw round, green objects hidden in the grass, which was half a meter high.
It's winter melon!
Even with just a cursory glance, I counted at least a hundred or so!
Liu Yingying carefully avoided the thorns and walked over, then bent down and picked up a winter melon to test it.
Wow! This winter melon must weigh at least fifteen pounds.
With so many winter melons, if one person tried to carry them all down the mountain, they would surely suffer a herniated disc from exhaustion!
However, Liu Yingying did not intend to eat alone. Firstly, she had no shortage of food, and secondly, she had never liked eating winter melon since she was a child.
Although I picked two medium-sized winter melons and put them in my basket, it was just for show.
She then went down the mountain and told the villagers who were digging for wild vegetables about finding the winter melon.
At first, no one believed it.
After all, it's not easy to find wild vegetables these days, so how can we expect anything else?
But when they saw the two big, heavy winter melons in Liu Yingying's basket, they all rushed to run up the mountain.
They were afraid that if they arrived too late, the winter melons would have been picked by others.
Zhao Di quickly called her two younger brothers forward to help Liu Yingying take the basket off her back.
"Liu Niang, you must be exhausted carrying such a heavy winter melon down the mountain. Take a rest..."
Seeing Xiao Zhaodi's concerned expression, Liu Yingying felt a warmth in her heart and reached out to pat her little head.
That adopted daughter of mine was well worth the love!
As for those two boys... well, she's just supporting them on the side anyway.
Today everyone had a "good harvest." Apart from the Zhu Erqiang and Zhu Sanqiang families, almost every household in Taoyuan Village picked one or two big winter melons.
In ancient times, when there were few seasonings available, winter melon did not taste very good.
But for disaster victims who were running out of food, winter melon mixed with some bran and boiled in water was an excellent way to fill their stomachs!
Liu Yingying then took her three children up the mountain and picked four or five winter melons to take home. She put all the winter melons in the cellar so that they could be preserved for a longer time.
Seeing that it was almost dinnertime, Zhao Di asked her, "Liu Niang, are we having winter melon for dinner tonight?"
"Do you want to eat?"
"Yes!" the three children answered in unison.
“Wang Jiafu, go and fetch a bucket of water. Zhaodi, come to the kitchen and help me out.”
Just as Liu Yingying finished giving her instructions and was about to leave, Zhu Jiawang's small face behind her was filled with dissatisfaction.
"Why do we always have to do the heavy work? Shouldn't it be my older sister who does these physical tasks?"
Previously, the original owner and Zhao Di were the main servants in the household, while the three men in the family only needed to be waited on hand and foot.
Upon hearing such outrageous words, Liu Yingying, who had been in a good mood, instantly darkened her face, turned around to look at them, and remained silent.
The two brothers chickened out.
"Let's go get water right away!" After saying that, he picked up the bucket and ran towards the gate as if his life depended on it.
Zhao Di felt a pang of pity. "Liu Niang, let me fetch the water next time. The younger brothers are still too young!"
Liu Yingying disagreed, "Still young? I remember you started doing this kind of work when you were seven or eight years old, and you were a girl. They were young before, but now they've grown up, and it's time for them to grow up too!"
Watching Liu Yingying walk into the kitchen, Zhao Di bit her lip slightly and followed her...
The grain she bought in the county last time was almost gone, with only some brown rice and flour left, and three eggs. Liu Yingying was thinking to herself that she would have to go to the county town again tomorrow.
She instructed Zhaodi to cook the rice, mix the flour, roll it into wide noodles, and stir-fry the eggs with some dandelion to make a dipping sauce.
After doing all that, I cut another third of the winter melon and sliced it into thin slices about half an inch thick.
Pour oil into a pot, add the winter melon slices, then add salt, chicken bouillon, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, chopped green onions... stir-fry until fragrant, then it's ready to serve.
The entire kitchen was filled with the enticing aroma of winter melon.
Zhao Di stared intently at the seasonings she had never seen before in Liu Yingying's hand.
"Liu Niang, what are you sprinkling into the dishes?"
"Was this also one you bought from the county last time?"
"Yes, I bought it from a Hu (non-Han) merchant last time. He said that using this to season the dishes would make them taste better," Liu Yingying explained without changing her expression.
Zhao Di believed her words without a doubt.
Then Liu Yingying served a portion of each dish to Grandma Zhang and her grandson.
When Zhao Di returned after delivering the food, she had an extra bag of rice in her hand.
"Aunt Liu, Grandma Zhang said she feels bad about always eating and drinking at our house for free, so she insisted that I take home the rice her nephew brought last time..."
Zhao Di's voice grew softer and softer.
She was frustrated, wondering why she couldn't even do something this well.
Liu Niang definitely wouldn't accept Grandma Zhang's rice; she had originally refused to take it no matter what, but she couldn't persuade Grandma Zhang otherwise...
But Liu Yingying did not blame her. Instead, she smiled and said, "Alright, since it's Grandma Zhang's idea, let's keep this rice. From now on, they can eat with our family."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the Zhu brothers, Zhu Jiawang and Zhu Jiawang, arrived home, carrying a bucket of water with great effort.
"You two go wash your faces first, then come eat..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
