"No way, I must eat meat today!" Bai Xue took a couple of steps back, unwilling to give up, and looked around.
Just then, she saw a large tree that would take two people to wrap their arms around on the left. She quickly ran over, hid behind the tree, and entered the supermarket space.
Standing in the meat section, looking at the dazzling array of meats — pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, fish — she was practically drooling.
She turned to the deli section, grabbed a chicken leg to eat, and worried as she looked at the mere twenty or so chicken legs in the deli case. Only this much wouldn't last for twenty years, surely not enough, while eating happily, feeling just right in the perfectly temperate supermarket space, Bai Xue finished the whole chicken leg with her hands and finally felt comfortable.
She then ran to the snacks section, grabbed a bottle of juice to drink, not worried about getting an upset stomach, and drank it joyfully.
When leaving, she took a whole chicken from the cooler, put it in a black plastic bag, and exited the space.
Looking around, it seemed like no one had been there. She boldly carried the chicken back home.
After entering her own yard, she tossed the black plastic bag back into the space, hastily carrying the chicken inside, quietly took the cutting board from the outer room, and began chopping the chicken.
The sound of chopping startled the people in the room, and they finally realized their elder sister had returned; the four little ones rushed out. Seeing the chicken on the cutting board, their eyes widened as they covered their mouths.
"Big sis, where did the chicken come from?" Bai Ruchuan was the first to ask. His elder sister had clearly said she was going to Grandma Zhao's in the East Yard to trade for eggs, but after being gone so long, she returned with a chicken. How could he not be surprised? He hadn't noticed his elder sister had already brought the eggs back and left again.
"Shhh… keep your voice down, it's a wild chicken. Big sis just caught it; don't shout loudly, or when grandma comes, we won't get to eat it!" Bai Xue warned them.
The little ones indeed dared not make a sound, nodding frantically.
Bai Xue knew these kids had never eaten wild chicken meat; they had only eaten home chicken a few times, so they wouldn't know the difference between wild and domestic chicken, unlike Bai Daliang, who could immediately tell the difference.
Fortunately, Bai Xue quickly chopped up the chicken, and Bai Daliang, lying on the kang, couldn't see it at all. She placed the chicken pieces in a basin.
"Xiao Shan, Xiao Chuan, bring in firewood to start the fire! We're having chicken tonight!" Bai Xue announced.
The little ones' eyes lit up at her words.
"Big sis, can we eat too?" asked Bai Ruxia.
"Of course you can!" Bai Xue said, taking six to seven pounds of cornmeal from the grain sack Bai Daliang brought back and pouring two pounds into a basin.
Facing the dish cupboard and while the little ones were drooling over the chicken, she discreetly took out a small packet of yeast from the supermarket and mixed it into the flour. She worried the corn cakes would be too hard if baked.
"I thought it was for mom to nourish herself!" Bai Ruxia said again.
"Mom does need nutrition, but you all do too! Look at yourselves, skinny like monkeys; you won't grow tall like this!" Bai Xue handed the dough basin to Bai Ruyun.
"Xiao Yun, you knead the dough, and we'll have corn cakes tonight!"
"Big sis, if we make corn mush, it would last us two to three days!" Bai Ruyun said softly as she took the dough basin.
"Mush doesn't taste good! Don't worry, big sis won't let you go hungry! Go knead the dough!" Bai Xue pushed her over to the stove to knead the dough.
She herself waited for Bai Rushan to heat the pot and then quickly poured all the chicken into it to start frying.
The aroma of chicken instantly filled the air, tempting not only the little ones but Wang Cuihua and Bai Daliang in the room as well.
After frying for a while, Bai Xue added water and the only seasoning they had, salt, and let it stew.
She considered taking seasoning from the supermarket, but had no way to explain it. The chicken story was already a bit unconvincing, so she stuck to simple cooking.
After stewing for a while, the cornmeal had risen. Bai Xue, recalling the original owner's memory, made decent-looking corn cakes and neatly placed them around the chicken stew, covering the pot with a lid.
The room was filled with steam, and they didn't dare open the door. Even though Bai Xue wasn't afraid of Grandma Bai causing trouble, it was bothersome, wasn't it? It's best to eat good things behind closed doors.
Soon, the pot was bubbling, and the corn cakes were cooked. The children had already set up the kang table.
With a large basin each of corn cakes and chicken soup, they were just brought to the table when Bai Daliang couldn't help but ask.
"Xiao Xue, where did this chicken come from?"
"Dad, I went to the back hill and got lucky, caught one. It seemed injured, so I easily brought it back!" Bai Xue fibbed.
"Don't go to the back hill anymore, it's too dangerous, remember when you fell last time?" Bai Daliang was happy his eldest daughter finally talked to him, but also scared, remembering last time she fell and scared him half to death, and by coincidence his wife was giving birth, making him all sorts of anxious that night.
"Exactly, Xiao Xue! Listen to your dad, being hungry won't kill us, but what if something happens to you? How could mom live?" Wang Cuihua chimed in, and started to cry.
"Got it, mom, I won't go anymore! Don't worry! Stop crying! Such delicious chicken, why cry? Eat more, so Xiao Feng and Xiao Cai can fill their bellies too!" Bai Xue quickly stuffed a soft corn cake into her mother's hand and added a chicken leg to her bowl.
"Okay, mom will eat it! But you can't take risks anymore in the future!" Wang Cuihua wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and took a bite of the corn cake.
"Xiao Xue, this corn cake doesn't taste like the ones mom used to make, it's soft, fragrant, sweet and delicious!" Wang Cuihua remarked.
"That's because, mom, you haven't had it in a long time; it just feels special this time," Bai Xue diverted, adding another chicken leg to her dad's bowl, "Dad, you have a wound on your head, eat more!"
Generally, they wouldn't eat such solid food unless it was planting or harvest time, to save it.
"Oh, alright!" Seeing the chicken leg in his bowl, and then looking at his five kids, Bai Daliang decided to eat it himself, thinking it'd be unfair to give it to one and not another, so better to eat it himself.
"You all eat too! Help yourselves! Eat more!" Bai Xue urged the four little ones who weren't moving their chopsticks.
The four then picked up their chopsticks and started eating, chewing slowly instead of gobbling it down like the porridge soup.
"Hurry up and eat, not good?" Bai Xue jokingly looked at the four little ones.
"Big sis, the chicken is just too delicious, I can't help trying to keep it in my mouth a bit longer!" said Bai Ruchuan.
"Yes, eating slowly lets you taste it. I couldn't even taste the porridge yesterday before gulping down a big bowl! I want to savor the chicken!" said Bai Ruxia.
The other two nodded with their mouths full.
"Alright! As long as you're full! Keep eating!" Bai Xue served Wang Cuihua a bowl of chicken soup and started eating herself.
She wasn't hungry at all, having already eaten a big chicken leg in the space in the back hills, but not eating wasn't an option, as her parents would suspect she saved it for them, and then they'd stop eating.
This dinner was especially filling for the family. Bai Daliang and Wang Cuihua each had a chicken leg and stopped eating meat, only drinking soup and having cakes, even though Bai Xue had to make them eat meat.
If it had been Bai Dahe, it'd be good if he didn't snatch the food from his children's mouths, really! Just like they say, you can't make all ten fingers equal!