Chapter 15: The Greedy Mother and Son

Sun Pingmei slumped on the stool, feeling completely exhausted, until she saw her mother-in-law pull a wild pheasant out of her basket.

“My goodness, oh my dear mother, where did you get a wild pheasant?”

She was so shocked that she stood up and knocked over the stool.

Her mouth hung wide open.

“Fubao heard a bird calling and asked me to check it out. As soon as I got there, I saw this lame wild pheasant. I caught it without much trouble. And that’s not all—look inside the basket.”

Zhang Jinlan knew exactly what was going on.

The greediest one in the house was her second daughter-in-law.

So she often teased Sun Pingmei.

“This is… yellow mugwort? Mother, where did you find this? Why couldn’t Da Sao and I find any? You can make it into pancakes—it’s so delicious.”

Sun Pingmei’s voice became unusually excited.

At this moment, she felt as if she had returned to New Year’s Day.

There was chicken and yellow mugwort, and in the evening her husband and the others would bring meat home.

No—this feast was even better than New Year’s!

“Don’t just look, go wash it and chop it up. Mix it with coarse flour to make pancakes. Fubao has never had yellow mugwort pancakes in her life. This is rare; it only grows after heavy rains.

Oh, Fubao wants chicken soup? Take this wild pheasant and kill it. Remember to put the blood separately in a bowl; tomorrow we’ll stir-fry it. Keep the feathers—once dried, I’ll make a shuttlecock for Fubao. Wild pheasant feathers are beautiful; it’ll look amazing.”

After saying this, Zhang Jinlan plopped onto the stool.

She had been busy all morning and was sore from head to toe.

Having given birth to several children and worked hard all her life, her body carried many hidden ailments.

“Grandma, I’ll massage your back,” Jiang Fubao said thoughtfully.

She immediately noticed that her grandma was uncomfortable.

She quietly walked behind Zhang Jinlan, formed her little hands into fists, and began massaging her back.

“Oh, my good little Fubao, you’re so adorable,” Zhang Jinlan’s heart melted.

She felt like her granddaughter was a celestial child sent to repay her kindness.

At noon, Jiang Shoujia and her grandsons returned from the fields.

As soon as they entered the gate, the smell of meat hit them.

Already hungry, their stomachs rumbled loudly.

Just as greedy as his mother, Jiang Tongtu dropped his hoe and dashed to the kitchen.

“Mother, what are you cooking? It smells so good. Did Big Uncle buy meat?”

He thought Big Uncle and the others had brought meat home early, which explained the aroma.

“You’re so hungry you’ve gone daft? Big Uncle and the others won’t be back until evening. Look, it’s chicken soup! Fubao found this wild pheasant—without her, we wouldn’t have it. And yellow mugwort pancakes! Remember eating them once as a child? At noon, you’re in for a treat!”

Sun Pingmei spoke while sniffing the aroma of the chicken soup.

It was heavenly.

Once the meal was ready, all eleven members of the Jiang family sat around the round table.

Zhang Jinlan, along with her eldest daughter-in-law, served each person a pancake.

Paired with a bowl of chicken soup, it smelled irresistible.

Although the soup had too much water, the wild pheasant meat was lean and the oil was scarce, making the taste mild, it was still a thousand times better than wild vegetable soup.

Each bowl had a piece of chicken, small though it was.

Only Jiang Fubao’s bowl had an entire drumstick.

“All right, let’s eat. There’s still half a pot left—save it for Dahe and the others tonight,” Zhang Jinlan said.

Everyone began eating.

Slurp, slurp—
Munch, munch, munch—
Chomp, chomp—

The main room was unusually quiet, filled only with the sounds of eating and sipping.

Everyone focused entirely on enjoying the meal.

A bite of soft yellow mugwort pancake, followed by a sip of chicken soup—so fresh it made your eyebrows rise.

The soup had simmered over low heat for an hour and a half.

Jiang Fubao held the drumstick and took a bite.

Though slightly dry, the meat was tender and flavorful. Cooked over a wood fire, it was a world apart from modern farmed chicken.

“My good little Fubao, is the chicken tasty?” Zhang Jinlan smiled warmly as she watched her granddaughter nearly bury her head in the bowl.

“Delicious, Grandma! The soup is amazing, and the meat is so good. I want to eat this every day!”

Jiang Fubao’s face was smeared with oil.

She had almost devoured the drumstick completely.

Wild pheasants were small, with little meat—not like fat domestic chickens.

“You can’t eat this every day. Wild pheasants are hard to catch. Don’t worry—pork tastes even better. When Big Uncle and the others return tonight, we’ll eat it. Grandma’s stir-fried pork with pickles is absolutely delicious!”

Jiang Tongtu gulped down the remaining soup and shoved the rest of the pancake into his mouth.

His ravenous manner was identical to his mother’s.

No wonder—they were mother and son.

Cough, cough, cough.

As expected, he choked.

“You little glutton! Why eat so fast? Just like your mother—always greedy! Here, there’s still some soup in Grandma’s bowl; drink it slowly, you fool, even a pancake can make you choke.”

If Zhang Jinlan hadn’t looked worried, Jiang Fubao would have thought Grandma truly disliked Fifth Cousin.

“Cough, cough, Grandma, the soup and pancakes are too good! I promise I’ll chew carefully next time when I eat coarse rice porridge!” Jiang Tongtu laughed and shrugged off the scolding.

After a while, everyone finished their meal.

After resting for about fifteen minutes, Jiang Fubao and her two older brothers were sent by their mother to take a nap.

With dinner ingredients already prepared, the five-person wild vegetable team wouldn’t return to the mountains that afternoon.

When she woke, Jiang Fubao returned the thawed pork to storage and brought a small stool to sit in the yard, watching Grandma and her mother patch clothes.

With a large family, they had to chop wood, dig vegetables, farm, and do odd jobs, which quickly wore out their clothes.

If not careful, they would tear easily.

The best seamstresses were the original protagonist’s mother and grandma.

So any sewing task fell to them.

“Mother, look—there’s still a lot of yellow mugwort in the basket, about to wilt. Should we soak it in water?” a voice suddenly broke the quiet.

Sun Pingmei rushed out from the kitchen holding the basket and asked her mother-in-law.

“No soaking. Wash it clean and chop it. Mix it with coarse flour but don’t cook yet—cover it with a cloth. When Dahe and the others return, each person gets two pancakes with stir-fried pork and pickles—enough to eat. As for the chicken soup, we drank some at noon; the rest is for Dahe and the others. There’s still plenty of yellow mugwort in the field; we’ll pick more tomorrow.”

Zhang Jinlan glanced over and instructed.

“All right, I’ll go now,” Sun Pingmei replied promptly. Despite being greedy, she was always quick and diligent with work.

Time passed little by little.