“Sizzle—”

Song Zhi threw the glowing red forged iron farm tool into the water tank, producing a sharp, ringing sound.

Yan Naqian was startled!

She had already noticed that Song Zhi seemed to be… displeased with her?

Taking advantage of the fact that no one else was around, she gathered her courage and said, “Song Zhi, are you…?”

“Get lost.”

Song Zhi spoke coldly.

He hated women who stirred up trouble, tried to make conversation for no reason, or danced around the point instead of speaking directly.

Yan Naqian was stunned, both embarrassed and angry. “Brother Song Zhi, how could you—”

Song Zhi suddenly turned his head and glared at her.

Frightened, Yan Naqian stumbled back, then turned and ran.

Song Zhi finally got the peace and quiet he wanted.

= =

After the Bai family split up, the second branch moved into their new house. They started cooking their own meals and no longer had to worry about Chen Juxiang, Li Cui’er, and the others. Their days were growing more and more satisfying.

Although food was still a bit scarce, the women in the family were clever and resourceful.

For example, in the past, the three daily meals were two servings of porridge and one of solid food. Regardless of breakfast, lunch, or dinner, beans had to be mixed into the staple food, and wild vegetables had to be added to the dishes.

Now, the mother and daughters discussed it and decided: since beans had to be added to every meal, why not eat porridge in the morning, pure bean rice at noon, and plain white rice for dinner?

Once they had the idea, they acted on it!

However, pure bean rice truly didn’t taste good.

So the women tried making cold jelly from red beans and mung beans. The process for making bean jelly was similar. They soaked the beans, ground them with water into a paste, then wrapped the paste in cloth and kneaded it repeatedly, separating the bean dregs from the starch water.

The bean dregs could be mixed with homemade bean paste, steamed in a pot, and served as a side dish for porridge.

After letting the starch water settle for a few hours, the starch naturally separated from the water. Then, they boiled water in a pot, added starch, soda ash, and salt, cooking and stirring over low heat until the mixture thickened and turned transparent.

Once the jelly was cooled and set, it was cut into strips, placed in bowls, and topped with homemade garlic chili sauce, along with a drizzle of vinegar and sesame oil…

It was absolutely delicious!

And so, the Bai family changed their menu.

Breakfast was thick red bean or mung bean porridge, paired with bean paste dregs and a boiled sweet potato for each person.

Lunch featured red bean or mung bean jelly in generous portions, often accompanied by a pot of wild vegetable soup. After finishing the jelly, they’d drink two bowls of soup… it was filling enough to make them feel incredibly happy!

For dinner, everyone could enjoy a bowl of steaming hot white rice, usually accompanied by one meat-and-vegetable stir-fry, one purely vegetarian dish, and a soup.

Most families in Ruyi Village couldn’t afford to eat meat.

Taotao’s family couldn’t either.

However, Wu Rui’an had given Bai Zhengqian many gifts, including cured meat, sausages, and lard.

In addition, ever since the second branch moved out of the ancestral house, they had started setting traps together in the mountains—something that was an unspoken practice in the village.

Bai Dongsheng and his two cousins from the second branch took turns checking the traps at night. If they made a catch, the two families split it evenly. Of course, there wasn’t always a catch, but occasionally, they’d snare a rabbit or pheasant. Tang Liren would clean and prepare these animals, adding a bit to dishes every two or three days, letting their vegetables absorb some meaty flavor.

Life was gradually becoming more comfortable. They couldn’t eat meat every day, but at least they didn’t have to constantly deal with unpleasant people, which always led to trouble… Everyone was quite content.

That day, Taotao carried a small basket and left the house.

Recently, she had been doing well, speaking eloquently and often leaving people at a loss for words. Every evening, when Song Zhi assessed the children’s study progress, Taotao was either first or second. Because of this, her parents and family were a little more at ease and allowed her to go out alone. However, they strictly warned her not to go more than two hundred steps from home and told her she had to respond immediately if someone called her.

Otherwise, if she broke the rules, she wouldn’t be allowed out again.

Taotao was obedient and treasured the chance to go out.

But staying within two hundred steps of home?

That was impossible.

Taotao was clever and often ran to find Song Zhi.

—The blacksmith shop where Song Zhi worked was five hundred meters from her house. She often wandered around the area, using it as her base. That way, if her family caught her breaking the rules, she could use Song Zhi as a shield.

Today was no different.

Taotao ran to the blacksmith shop, greeted Song Zhi, then pretended to play nearby for a while. When she saw villagers coming to talk to him, she quietly slipped away.

She wasn’t there for any particular reason. It was just that Little Grape had told her that not far from the village, in a remote and desolate area—what people called the old burial ground—there were lots and lots of potatoes buried underground!

Little Grape explained that there hadn’t been many potatoes there initially, but after twenty or thirty years without anyone tending the land, the few potatoes had multiplied…

Taotao wanted to check it out.

She took several twists and turns along the way before finally finding the wasteland. At the spot Little Grape mentioned, she actually dug up a string of potatoes!

Looking carefully at the withered vines on the surface, Taotao understood—the potato plants on the surface had mostly died. Even those that hadn’t died were covered by wild grass. Given that the burial ground was nearby, it was no wonder no one dared to come here.

She happily put the potatoes in her basket, marked the spot, and quickly ran home.

Halfway there, she saw the flustered and panicked Silly Xingxing.

Taotao immediately knew—uh-oh! Her family must have realized she was gone and sent Xingxing to find her!

She quickly hid near the cornfield and slipped inside, lying flat on the ground. After Xingxing ran past, she was just about to leave when—

Suddenly, she heard a man and a woman walking out from the depths of the cornfield, talking as they went.

The woman said, “You sure know how to pick! You spotted her at a glance! Hmph, which young man in this village doesn’t like her?” Her tone was sour and jealous.

The man laughed. “Oh? You’re actually jealous? It’s normal for men and women to marry at the right age. I have to take a wife someday!”

The woman sneered. “Fine! I’ll make it happen for you!”

The man said, “You’re really mad? You’re so petty—your heart is even smaller than the tip of a needle! Alright, alright, I promise you. Even if I marry her, I won’t forget you. You’re my… precious darling!”

After a pause, the man added, “Alright, it’s settled then. Take this two yuan. In a few days, when I go to Bai Zhengqian’s house to propose, you should go to town for a bit instead of staying in the village! And don’t cause trouble, understand?”

Bai Taotao frowned as she listened.

The woman said, “Are you afraid I’ll make trouble?”

The man replied, “Afraid? I’m scared to death of you, my lady… If you ruin this for me, would it do you any good?” Then came the sound of exaggerated kissing and smacking noises.

The woman acted coquettishly for a while, and then the two of them left the cornfield one after the other.

Taotao stayed hidden in the cornfield. She felt the woman looked familiar, but she didn’t recognize the man at all.

—But was this man really coming to propose at her house?

Who was he proposing for?

By age order, it should be her sister, Lizi.

Taotao frowned.

Just then, Silly Xingxing ran past her again, crying and shouting, “Sister! Sister… where did you go? Wuuuu^[1]The sound of crying…”

Taotao picked up a potato from her small basket and threw it over!

The potato rolled to Xingxing’s feet, startling her. She cried out, “…Who’s there?”

Taotao said, “Guess!”

Xingxing widened her eyes. “Sister! Where are you? Come out!”

“I’m not coming out! If you have the guts, come find me!”

Xingxing spun around anxiously. The cornfield was too big, and no matter how hard she looked, she couldn’t find Taotao. In the end, she had to beg and plead before finally coaxing the little ancestor out.

The two sisters went home.

Sure enough, the disobedient Taotao got a scolding from Tang Liren.

But Tang Liren still felt sorry for her daughter, who was covered in mud. She scolded while feeding Taotao salted fried peanuts. After scolding for a full ten minutes and finishing the small bowl of peanuts, she finally asked, “You said you found potatoes at the mass grave site?”

Bai Zhengqian thought for a moment and said, “I remember before Liberation, that land belonged to Landlord Zhao. Ma Er rented it. Later, he died at the hands of the Japanese, and the land was left abandoned… Could it be that he planted them back then?”

Tang Liren lowered her voice. “Tonight, let Dongsheng and Song Zhi go check it out.”

Bai Zhengqian nodded.

That night, Bai Dongsheng and Song Zhi carried baskets and hoes, followed the markers Taotao had left, and dug around nearby. Sure enough, they found the ground full of plump potatoes!

The two immediately dug out a basketful each and rushed to inform Second Uncle Bai’s family. Second Uncle Bai quickly brought his two sons to join the digging.

By the end of the night, they had worked together to haul back five hundred jin of potatoes. Before dawn, they even went back to turn over the soil and covered the ground with wild grass to conceal it.

By morning, the five strong laborers were exhausted.

Meanwhile, the cellar now held five hundred jin of potatoes!

At dawn, the men dragged themselves to work with dark circles under their eyes. Second Aunt Bai’s wife and her daughters-in-law came over, cheerfully making potato starch noodles.

As for the potatoes in the cellar, by evening, they secretly split half with Second Uncle Bai’s family.

At lunch, Taotao tasted the potato starch noodles, which were even better than mung bean starch jelly.

But she felt a little down.

—Who exactly wanted to propose to her sister Lizi?

She tried asking, but her mom said it was none of a child’s business!

Taotao made up her mind. If the person coming to propose was the man she saw in the cornfield… there was no way she’d let Sister Lizi marry such a man. Hmph!