Chapter 10: Simple Meals Are the Best

Night had completely fallen when Song Wangshu returned with firewood to his father, Song Erquan.

Before leaving, Song Erquan hadn’t seen anyone come from his elder brother’s courtyard. He sighed at the sky, pondering why brothers needed to be at odds like this.

With no one to wait for, Song Erquan left with Song Wangshu.

The chaotic courtyard quieted down, and a dim oil lamp flickered to life in the western room. Wang Chunlan eagerly grabbed the elderly woman’s hand, her voice tinged with urgency, “Mom, tell me what happened! How did Liangzuo…?”

Song Liangzuo was, after all, a girl. She had initially been referred to as a boy by her father on a whim. Her family had treated her as a son, showing her love in front of others, but deep down, they all knew she wasn’t really one.

After witnessing so many people in the courtyard today, Wang Chunlan felt convinced that Liangzuo had shown them something that would allow her to escape today’s debacle; otherwise, how could her sister-in-law let them off the hook?

But what could Liangzuo have shown them?

Wang Chunlan wore a puzzled look.

The elderly woman’s mood brightened, and her tone became lighter, especially as she looked at Song Liangzuo with eyes that sparkled like gold nuggets. “My clever grandson! What are you two girls still doing here? Can’t you see it’s dark? Don’t you want to eat tonight? Move it, go cook for me!”

Song Zhaodi and Song Pandai flinched at their grandmother’s scolding and quickly exited the house. Only Song Liangzuo felt uncomfortable with her grandmother’s sudden change in demeanor.

Then the elderly woman gently whispered to Song Liangzuo, “Sweetheart, show that thing to your mother.”

Song Liangzuo’s face turned dark, and hesitantly replied, “Maybe we should skip that! I’ll just go take care of it.”

He tried to dash out, but was caught by the elderly woman, who playfully scolded him, “You silly child! What haven’t your mother and I see on you? Are you feeling shy now?”

Ignoring Liangzuo’s protests, the two adults easily pulled down his pants.

Wang Chunlan, witnessing the sight, gasped and covered her mouth, fearful that speaking would make everything disappear.

“Grandma, please let go! It smells terrible!” Song Liangzuo wriggled around like a worm caught in a snare.

“Who says it smells bad? My precious grandson smells delightful!” the elderly woman chuckled.

As Song Liangzuo squirmed, Wang Chunlan pieced together what was happening. Sniffing the air, she detected an odor—something reminiscent of fish but not quite right. It was tough for her to pinpoint.

“Mother, this is…”

“It’s fake. This is from a small deer.”

“A deer?”

“Yes, a deer! You have no idea how smart my grandson is!”

Song Liangzuo felt a flush of embarrassment from either the compliment or the situation and wriggled even more.

Once the elderly woman had finished her teasing, she finally released him.

“Mom, you talk to her; I’ll go take care of that!” Song Liangzuo quickly announced, rushing out of the house.

Song Xiaoxiao didn’t know whether to feel lucky or to think that the original owner had escaped disaster to still have some fortune left.

This afternoon, when they visited Hunter Lin, they had seen him carrying a young buck. After she pleaded, Hunter Lin had given them the deer’s skin as a favor.

Then she asked the old hunter if he knew where to find some gum trees, which made her feel as if the heavens were protecting her.

Hunter Lin happened to have brought some gum, but it had a pungent, fishy smell.

In her efforts along with the elder’s assistance, the result was something that looked vaguely right.

As for the stinky glue? That was pure luck—Lin Shanye, the hunter’s only grandson, had been getting ready to kill the fish he had brought back from the river for dinner.

She had bartered some sorghum to exchange for the fish, which was why she’d carried two back instead of just one.

That was her intention for getting the fish home, to stain her clothes with the fishy smell to mask the odor of the gum.

As for giving the fish to Second Grandpa? That was just her little scheme for earning sympathy—delivering fish would make her seem considerate and win some affection.

The gum was sticky, and as Song Xiaoxiao fought to remove it, she winced in pain.

Dinner was exceptionally late today, but the atmosphere was surprisingly pleasant.

As Song Xiaoxiao looked at her bowl of millet porridge, she picked it up and slurped from the rim.

The unique aroma of the millet spread through her mouth, and she couldn’t help comparing it to the porridge from her previous life; this millet porridge was much more fragrant.

After the family ate, in order to save on lamp oil, they quickly climbed onto the kang (a traditional heated bed) to sleep.

Song Xiaoxiao thought she would surely struggle to fall asleep, since the experiences of crossing over were nothing like the novels she had read.

However, when she next opened her eyes, the sky was already bright.

Sunlight filtered through the thin paper of the window, casting a soft white mist into the room. Rubbing her itchy scalp, Song Xiaoxiao scanned the simple layout of the house.

The furnishings were exceedingly basic: yellowed rough cloth surrounded the heated bed, two cupboards rested on it, and an aged table sat at the foot of the kang.

Beside the table was a chair, and next to that were two large jars nearly as tall as half an adult, filled with this year’s wheat harvest.

Getting up, she stepped outside, following the sounds of chopping she heard, and headed straight to the backyard.

There, she spotted Song Zhaodi chopping pigweed. As soon as she called out, “I’m awake!” Song Zhaodi paused her knife, excitement lighting up her face. “Little brother is up! There’s millet porridge saved for you in the pot. Come on, I’ll get you some.”

Song Zhaodi stood and led Liangzuo to the front yard.

After thoroughly washing his hands and scrubbing the dirt from under his nails, he started to eat.

Breakfast was again millet porridge, but unlike the day before when they had sorghum steamed buns, today it was vegetable dumplings paired with pickles.

After drinking half a bowl of porridge and eating one and a half wild vegetable dumplings, Song Liangzuo felt a strange pleasantness in this simple meal.

After eating, he followed his sister back to the backyard.

The backyard was filled with a plot of vegetable patch, growing eggplants, cucumbers, and beans, with pumpkin vines curling around the sides.

At the far west were the chicken coop, the pigpen, and the outhouse.

Outside the pigpen was a stove fitted with a large iron pot.

While Song Zhaodi continued chopping pigweed by the stove, Song Xiaoxiao wandered curiously around the backyard, first checking the chicken coop, where there were eight hens and one rooster. Unfortunately, she didn’t see any eggs.

The chickens were smaller than she imagined. Noticing her standing there, they cocked their heads but quickly returned to pecking at the grass.

At that moment, Song Xiaoxiao could smell the aroma of chicken soup wafting through, the realization hitting her hard.

Ah, these were real farm-raised chickens! They would surely be delicious! Just thinking about it set her drooling.