"Get lost, you can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth!" Yang Zhaodi cursed, but she was secretly delighted. The reason she had changed so much was all because her father-in-law always gave her the best food and drinks.
Even her clothes were better than others. Although she didn't know what material her clothes were made of, they were warm and comfortable to wear, so they must be very expensive.
The shoes all have soles made of multiple layers.
If the last time was when she came back to borrow grain to solve her husband's family's famine.
So this time, she came to relieve her family's famine.
The mindset is completely different.
It felt like returning home in glory.
Yang Silang grinned foolishly and hurried home. Before he even got there, he called out, "Mother, my third sister is back!"
As they were talking, a middle-aged woman dressed in coarse linen clothes, with a cloth strip tied around her head and a face full of wrinkles, came out of the house. She was also holding a rolling pin in her hand. "Who's back?"
"My third sister!" Yang Silang excitedly pushed open the courtyard gate.
Yang's mother's eyes lit up with joy, but her face was full of worry.
"Mother, I'm back!" Yang Zhaodi looked at her incredibly weathered mother and felt a pang of heartache.
"Are you hungry? Come in and eat!" Yang's mother's eyesight wasn't very good, and she didn't notice her daughter's change. Although she was happy, she was more afraid that her daughter would come back to borrow grain, because this time, she really couldn't afford any more millet.
"Mother, where is my father?"
"He went out and hasn't come back yet!"
Yang's mother responded, took out freshly baked wild vegetable pancakes from the kitchen, and handed them over, saying, "You certainly know how to pick your time to come home. They're freshly baked, have some!"
"Mother, I'm hungry too!" Yang Silang said, swallowing hard.
"Your sister just got back, what are you arguing about?" Yang's mother glared at her son.
Looking at the steaming hot wild vegetable pancake in her hand, Yang Zhaodi found it hard to take a bite. There was no millet in the pancake, only rice bran, and she even saw sawdust.
This is tree bark powder.
Eating a small amount will make you feel full, but eating too much will cause bloating and stomach pain.
She even found Guanyin clay in the cake.
Compared to what she eats at her in-laws' house, it's incomparable.
She suddenly realized that the famine in her family home was more severe than she had imagined.
She put down the pancake and said, "Mom, we're not eating this for lunch!"
"What, you think it's not enough?" Mother Yang said, somewhat angrily. "That's all, we don't have any more. Do you think we run a grain shop?"
Sensing the anger in her mother's voice, Yang Zhaodi wasn't angry. She ran over and closed the courtyard gate before lifting the cloth covering the bamboo basket. "This is five catties of pork that my father-in-law asked me to bring back. These are ten eggs and ten duck eggs, also to nourish you and Dad."
"There are two feet of cotton cloth here, which is very warm. My father-in-law asked someone to buy it from the county town. This is enough for you and my father to make a set of clothes."
"This is two catties of white sugar, which is even better than the frosting sugar that the city lords eat."
"These are canned persimmons, made by my father-in-law himself. He specially asked me to bring back a small jar for you to try!"
Yang Zhaodi pulled out one item after another from the bamboo basket, her eyes dazzled by the sight.
Yang Silang was dumbfounded. "No wonder it was so heavy. There were so many things inside!"
Yang's mother was also stunned.
"Mother, there are twelve catties of millet in here. Two catties are what my father-in-law asked me to return to our family. The extra ten catties are what my father-in-law said is to apologize to our family."
He said that the matter of Brother Stone's burial had caused some unpleasantness, and he hoped that you would not take it to heart.
"Moreover, my father-in-law invited our whole family to the small mountain village. He said he would cook for us himself and that he would also treat my father to drinks!"
Looking at the heavy bag of rice in her daughter's hand.
Yang's mother was shocked.
Yang Silang took the bag, opened it, and exclaimed, "Good heavens, it really is millet!"
She immediately exclaimed in disbelief, "Third Sister, Zhao Laosan, oh no, Uncle Zhao, has really struck it rich?"
Any one of these items, taken individually, is something they couldn't afford.
Here, there are nearly ten kinds.
Not counting the fabrics, bottles, and jars, the food alone weighed about thirty pounds!
If we're careful with what we eat, it can last for two months.
Yang's mother's hands were trembling, and her throat tightened. "This, this is far too valuable!"
"Mom, you rest, I'll cook for you." Yang Zhaodi patted her dazed younger brother. "Go wash the rice. We'll have millet rice for lunch today!"
"What? Millet rice?" Yang Silang swallowed hard, then exclaimed with delight, "Sister, really?"
"It's boiled!" Yang Zhaodi shook her head helplessly, looking at her younger brother's sunken eye sockets with some heartache, and said, "Also, cut off a big piece of fatty meat and stew a few pieces of meat for us to eat!"
Yang Silang let out an excited "Awooo!" "Oh, there's meat to eat!"
"Shut your dead mouth! Do you want others to know that we eat meat in our family?" Yang Zhaodi laughed in anger.
Yang Silang quickly covered his mouth and picked up the rice and meat to get busy.
Yang's mother was in a daze for a long time before she came to her senses. "Oh dear, you spendthrift son, make less of this. This much is enough for our family to eat porridge for three days."
"This meat is too precious. Stewing it would be a waste. It's best to render the fat so it can be stored for a long time. The cracklings can be eaten as a dish and can also be stored for a long time."
"Zhaodi, is this how you live in your husband's family? How did I teach you to manage a household?"
Yang's mother was heartbroken. Her son cut off a large piece of fatty meat, as if he were cutting off her own flesh.
When that big tub of rice was put into the water, her eyelids twitched uncontrollably.
What kind of family is that?
So extravagant.
Even landlords and rich people wouldn't dare to eat like this!
Yang Silang hesitated and looked at his third sister.
"Listen to me," Yang Zhaodi said to her mother. "Mother, you should rest today and listen to me."
Looking at the items on the table, Yang's mother hesitated to touch them.
She even had a feeling that it was unreal.
Yang Zhaodi shook her head; she deeply understood this feeling as well.
When her father-in-law pulled a bear paw out of the cellar, she felt like she was dreaming.
Now, she's used to it.
"Alright!" Yang Silang was incredibly excited. He used to hate doing these things, but now he was full of energy.
Yang's mother sat to the side, lost in thought.
Suddenly, she slapped her thigh, "Oh dear, if I had known you were coming back, I wouldn't have let your father go to borrow grain!"
Yang Zhaodi frowned. "Mother, where did Father go to borrow grain?"
"He...he went to the Zhong family!" Mother Yang said with a bitter smile, "We really have no rice left to cook, and we've run out of tree bark powder. If this continues, we'll only be able to eat clay."
"But eating too much of this stuff can kill people. Your father had no choice but to borrow grain!"
Upon hearing this, Yang Zhaodi felt a pang of heartache. If she hadn't gone home to borrow those two jin of millet, perhaps her father wouldn't have gone to borrow grain.
Yang Silang's eyes also dimmed. "It's all my fault for being useless. If I weren't so young, joining the army would definitely have solved the family's famine!"
"Even if you're old enough, you can't join the army." Yang Zhaodi frowned. "You're the only son in the family. If something happens to you, will your parents still be able to live?"