Chapter 28 : These are all good stuff!

Song Shiwei curled her lips into a slight smile.  

“You’ll find out when we come back to the beach this afternoon!”  

Fortunately, the two children were obedient. After all, they had eaten the egg pancakes she made in the morning, and as the saying goes, one should be grateful when receiving kindness from others.  

They had no choice but to comply. Each of them filled a bucket of seawater and followed her back home.  

There was an old earthen pot in the house that had never been used because it required firewood.  

Zhou Tingyue, afraid that she wouldn’t be accustomed to using it, had bought a lot of coal with coal ration coupons.  

But Song Shiwei thought using coal to process seawater would be too wasteful, and she was reluctant to do so.  

She waved at Zhou Cheng, Zhou Lin, and the others.  

“Is there anywhere around here where we can gather firewood?”  

Zhou Cheng glanced at the earthen pot in the kitchen and asked, “Are you planning to cook with it?”  

Song Shiwei smiled and nodded.  

“If you want to catch something good this afternoon, we have to prepare something first. With this, I guarantee we’ll get plenty of delicious seafood later!”  

Upon hearing this, Zhou Wei jumped up excitedly.  

“I know, I know where to get firewood! If you go left after passing the sentry post, there’s a big forest over there! There are reed marshes too! My brother took us there before to look for sea duck eggs!”  

Song Shiwei’s eyes lit up immediately.  

“There are sea duck eggs there???”  

Before Zhou Wei could respond, Zhou Xinxin eagerly chimed in.  

“Yes, yes! Big brother found four or five of them last time! He roasted them for us, and they were so good!”  

Seeing Song Shiwei looking at him, Zhou Cheng scratched the back of his head awkwardly.  

“Yeah… There are indeed sea duck eggs. Linzi and I have seen sea ducks there before. There are quite a few of them!”  

Song Shiwei felt a surge of excitement.  

“Can you and Zhou Lin take me there? We’ll gather firewood and see if we can find some sea duck eggs. If we do, I’ll pickle them for you! Pickled salted duck eggs are the best, when you take a bite the golden yolk is so rich, it’s practically oozing oil!”  

As soon as she described it, the four little ones swallowed their saliva in unison.  

Zhou Lin, who had previously been wary of Song Shiwei, had already forgotten his reservations.  

At this moment, his mind was filled only with the thought of salted duck eggs.  

“I’ll take you there!”  

Zhou Cheng glanced at him and sighed internally.  

But for the sake of his younger siblings having something delicious to eat, he decided to give in.  

“Alright, I’ll take you there.”  

Seeing the boy’s reluctant but determined expression, Song Shiwei couldn’t help but laugh.  

It seemed that these little ones weren’t so difficult to get along with after all.  

They were still just kids, not hopeless cases!  

Since she was worried about poisonous insects in the forest, she didn’t allow Zhou Wei and Zhou Xinxin to come along.  

Hearing this, Zhou Wei pouted in dissatisfaction.  

“I want to go too!”  

Song Shiwei patted his shoulder reassuringly.  

“It’s not that I don’t want you to come, I actually have a very important task for you! Stay home and take care of your sister. Later in the afternoon, I’ll take you to get some really good food. We’ll all go together then!”  

Although he still wanted to go, Zhou Wei had no choice but to nod in agreement.  

After all, taking care of his sister was more important than just going out to play!  

Just then, Sun Meimei, their neighbor, happened to see Song Shiwei taking the two older boys out.  

Curious, she asked, “Big sister, where are you going?”  

Song Shiwei smiled and explained, “I’m going to gather some firewood!”  

Sun Meimei was surprised.  

“You know how to cook with an earthen pot?”  

Seeing her shocked expression, Song Shiwei couldn’t help but laugh.

“Of course I can. I’m not some sheltered young lady who’s never done women’s work!”  

Sun Meimei laughed as well, realizing she had underestimated her.  

From the moment they first saw her, everyone had been wondering whether this delicate and pretty girl could handle the hardships here, whether she’d give up and leave early.  

But unexpectedly, she seemed to be someone who could endure tough conditions.  

Following Zhou Cheng and Zhou Lin, Song Shiwei passed through the sentry post and took the path to the left.  

The road was indeed barren. It was unclear whether the land here was simply unsuitable for farming, but aside from weeds, a thick layer of salt and alkali had accumulated on the exposed soil.  

It seemed that the proximity to the sea had made the land too salty, preventing most plants from growing.  

As she observed the surroundings, Song Shiwei couldn’t help but frown.  

Just then, she spotted a middle-aged woman squatting on the ground, digging something up. Curious, she walked over to take a closer look.  

She saw that the woman was digging up a type of wild vegetable that looked familiar.  

“Sister, is that yellow beard vegetable you’re digging up?”  

The woman looked up at the sound of her voice and was momentarily taken aback.  

The girl in front of her was too fair-skinned, it was obvious she wasn’t from around here.  

And her accent didn’t seem local either.  

But she was clearly acquainted with Zhou Cheng and Zhou Lin, who were standing behind her.  

“Chengzi? Linzi?”  

Zhou Cheng and Zhou Lin called out, “Second Aunt!”  

It turned out that the woman was from a nearby village, Zhoujiazhuang, and was related to Zhou Cheng’s family.  

Hearing them call her “Second Aunt,” Song Shiwei was a little surprised.  

Meanwhile, Li Guifen was even more surprised to see her.  

“Are you the girl that Captain Zhou just married?”  

Song Shiwei nodded.  

Li Guifen scrutinized her from head to toe.  

This girl looked very young, much younger and prettier than Captain Zhou’s previous wife.  

Her skin was especially fair and radiant, making Li Guifen wonder whether she could actually endure hardships.  

She was just about to sigh, thinking about how hard life had been for Captain Zhou and his children when Song Shiwei suddenly asked,  

“Sister-in-law, are there a lot of yellow beard vegetables in this area?”  

Li Guifen hadn’t expected her to recognize the wild vegetable so quickly.  

She raised her hand and pointed toward the wasteland behind her.  

“There are plenty around here. We country folk dig them up whenever we have time and use them as vegetables.”  

“As you can see, life here is tough. Much of the land isn’t suitable for growing crops or even vegetables. Poor families who can’t afford proper food have no choice but to gather wild vegetables to eat!”  

Hearing this, Song Shiwei couldn’t help but frown.  

Logically speaking, this place was surrounded by the sea how could they be this poor, struggling to have enough food?  

“Can’t people just go fishing?” she asked.  

Li Guifen chuckled as if she had just heard a joke.  

“Little girl, I can tell you’re not from around here. Fishing isn’t that simple. You need a boat. Wooden boats can work, but seawater corrodes them quickly. Building a boat is no small task. Only steel boats last long and can go out far enough!”  

“But we don’t have the money to buy such a big boat. And even if we did catch a lot of fish, where would we sell them? The government doesn’t allow private sales. We can only eat what we catch, but we can’t finish all of it, so it ends up being wasted. Who would go through all that trouble for nothing?”  

Song Shiwei quickly grasped the situation. Given the current policies, private selling was prohibited, making fishing an unsustainable livelihood for the locals.  

By now, Li Guifen had gathered quite a lot of vegetables enough for her family’s lunch. She picked up her basket and left.  

Meanwhile, Song Shiwei squatted down and started digging for wild vegetables herself.  

Zhou Cheng was confused.  

“You… why are you digging for these?”  

Song Shiwei smiled, her eyes curving playfully.  

“You just don’t get it, do you? These are treasures!”