Chen Yunyun scooped out the cooked yams, arranged them neatly on a plate, and poured the prepared blueberry sauce and honey over them.
The sweet aroma whets the appetite.
Chen Yunyun picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. The sweet and sour taste lingered on her tongue and helped to cut through the greasiness!
The yam wasn't cooked until it was soft, but still crunchy, making it very addictive.
The eldest child doesn't like sweets, so Chen Yunyun and Niu Niu ate the whole plate of blueberry yam slices.
"Mom, you cook so well!" Niu Niu mumbled with a yam in her mouth, looking especially adorable.
After being cared for by her for half a month, the little girl visibly gained some weight and grew taller. Now she's finally not a skinny little bean sprout anymore, but a little dumpling.
Chen Yunyun couldn't help but stroke Niu Niu's soft hair and asked gently, "Does A-Tian want to learn?"
Niu Niu's full name is Xu Jingtian. Since she started learning to read and write, Chen Yunyun no longer calls them by their original names. She calls them Arun, Atian, and Asheng instead.
The children all liked their new nicknames quite a bit, especially A-Tian.
A-Tian had wanted to change her name for a long time, because in Xujia Village, out of dozens of people, there were seven or eight girls, all of whom were given humble names by the villagers in order to make them easier to raise.
A-Tian doesn't like this name. She's not a lowly girl. She wants to listen to her stepmother, study hard, leave the mountains, and go to university!
Ah Tian nestled close to Chen Yunyun and softly replied, "I don't want to study, I want to eat!"
Chen Yunyun laughed out loud, "Alright then, from now on, only Ah Sheng will be able to carry on my mantle, you three siblings."
Ah Sheng, still half asleep and gnawing on his nails, tilted his head. Was his mother calling him?
He couldn't understand what was being said, so he wobbled and ran into Chen Yunyun's arms, saying in a childish voice, "Mother, I'm hungry..."
"You glutton!" Chen Yunyun said with a laugh, then turned around to prepare milk powder for Ah Sheng.
Jingrun was sitting under the eaves, engrossed in a book, when a fragrant roasted yam was handed to him.
"Brother, have something to eat." It was Ah Tian who handed it to him.
Jingrun took it; the yam was still warm, burning his palms. He looked up at the kitchen, where the woman was holding her younger brother, humming a strange little tune, and constantly stirring the milk powder.
Jingrun's expression softened unconsciously, and he thought inappropriately that this winter didn't seem so cold.
In the courtyard west of the village, Zhang the hunter took Tiger's mother to find the village chief again.
"Uncle, what did our great-grandfather say? When will we descend the mountain?"
Yesterday was the day the village offered sacrifices to the ancestral god. The village chief must have told the ancestral god about it.
The village chief put down his pipe, exhaled a long puff of smoke, and didn't reply.
When Zhang the hunter saw this, his heart sank. Could it be that the founding emperor was unwilling to go down the mountain?
"Our ancestor cast a divination and asked me to convey a message to you."
Tiger's mother glanced at her husband, her face full of tension. What had the Great Ancestor said?
"Shunzi, there are things you should do and things you shouldn't do. Go back and figure it out for yourself."
Upon hearing this, the three men reacted with varying expressions.
After returning home, Zhang the hunter sat on the warm tiger-skin recliner, his whole demeanor turning gloomy.
He understood what the Great Ancestor was saying; it was telling him to let go, and he trusted the Great Ancestor.
But the thought of his beloved son's miserable state filled Zhang with rage.
After a long while, he loosened his clenched hands as if all his strength had been drained, and let out a long breath. He said, "I'll let those Xu family brats go for the sake of my great-grandfather and uncle. But if there's a next time, I will never back down."
After thinking it through, Zhang the hunter picked up his bow and arrows and prepared to go out.
Tiger's mother was feeding Tiger soup. Tiger had been in bed for four or five days and had recovered well, but Tiger's mother was still worried and made sure her son stayed in bed with someone to take care of his food and clothing.
Seeing her husband about to leave, Tiger's mother asked, "Husband, it's almost noon. Are you going up the mountain to hunt? The snow is so heavy outside. Why don't you have lunch first?"
Zhang the hunter didn't reply, but turned to look at Hu Zi, saying, "Dad went up the mountain to catch mountain rats for Hu Zi to play with."
Tiger perked up immediately upon hearing this, "Dad! Catch more, catch the fat ones, I want to eat meat!"
"Okay, okay," Zhang the hunter readily agreed.
In the afternoon, Zhang the hunter caught a nest of mountain rats, two large and three small.
Tiger pushed away his mother's hand that was trying to stop him, jumped off the bed, and shouted, "Don't stop me! I want to go out and play!"
Tiger's mother, who was pushed away, was not angry. Instead, she looked worried, took a thick cloak, and followed behind him. "Oh dear, my little darling, wear more clothes, don't catch a cold."
Tiger looked impatient, but his expression turned to joy the moment he saw the mountain rat. He grabbed the rat cage and ran out, and Tiger's mother couldn't catch up with him at all.
"Don't follow me, I'm going to find Xiaoshanzi to play."
Hearing this, Tiger's mother stopped in her tracks. Little Shanzi was Tiger's sidekick, and the two often played together.
They claimed they were playing together, but in reality, the two of them ganged up to bully other children in the village.
There is a large flat area in the village. A platform is set up for sacrificial rites, but it is usually a playground for children.
Tiger, carrying the mountain rat, strode arrogantly into the dam. The children scattered and hid at a distance to watch what he was carrying.
Xiao Shanzi dropped the crying little girl in his arms and ran towards Hu Zi, "Brother Hu Zi, what's this?"
Tiger shouted, "This is a mountain rat that my dad caught for me. It's fat and big, and it tastes amazing!"
Xiao Shanzi looked on with envy. "Brother Hu, your dad is so good to you. I'm so envious. Wow, this mountain rat is so fat. It would be delicious to roast it."
"Look at you, you timid coward who's never seen the world before. Tch, today I'll let you try some roasted mountain rat." Hu Zi was overjoyed with Xiao Shanzi's flattery, his nose in the air.
They caught two small mountain mice from the cage, and Xiao Shanzi cooperated by picking up stones and sharp bamboo skewers, piercing the mice through, and then starting a fire to roast them.
Some timid little girls watching nearby were already crying from fright at the cruel methods used.
Tiger didn't take it seriously and turned around to curse, "Cry, cry, all you do is cry. If you cry again, I'll roast you too."
The little girl immediately covered her mouth and ran away in a panic.
Tiger and Xiaoshanzi enjoyed a delicious meal of mountain rats. Actually, the taste wasn't very good because it was too cold outside and the meat wasn't cooked through. But the two of them didn't mind eating raw meat. After finishing the mountain rats, only some skin and bones were left on the ground.
Tiger's mother knew that her son had roasted and eaten the mountain rat, but she didn't say anything. She just muttered a few words, "What's cooked outside isn't as good as what's made at home. Eating undercooked rats will give you diarrhea."
Tiger interrupted impatiently, clearly not taking it to heart.
As night deepened, Tiger's mother helped the father and son to bed. After pouring out the water for washing their feet in the yard, she also hurried to bed, as it was getting colder and colder outside.
At first, you could still hear the sound of turning over, but soon the Zhang family became completely quiet, with snoring filling the air.
However, things were not peaceful at Xu Liangping's house, which was not far from Zhang's. A dim yellow kerosene lamp was lit in one of the rooms, which was particularly conspicuous in the dark night.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
