Chapter 42: Bananas

“Second Auntie, what are we having for breakfast today?”

After watching her family leave, Jiang Fubao trotted into the kitchen on her little legs, wrapped herself around her second aunt’s leg, and asked sweetly.

“There’s a little meat left from yesterday. This morning I made congee with half white rice, half millet, with a bit of shredded pork. And one boiled egg. Does Fubao like that?”

The moment Sun Pingmei saw her niece, her eyes curved into a smile.

She set down the bowl, picked Fubao up, and spoke gently.

“Oh right! Yesterday Eldest Uncle and Second Uncle sold bird eggs and rice, and they bought meat back home. Fubao forgot, hehe.”

Jiang Fubao giggled foolishly.

Grandma doted on her.

She had saved a whole dou of polished rice just for Fubao.

But when Fubao saw the family wasn’t eating it, she refused to eat it alone either.

So Grandma had no choice but to mix the rice with coarse millet—
turning it into “two-grain rice.”

Cooked into porridge, it was soft and glutinous, yet carried a bit of chewiness.

Just like modern mixed-grain porridge.

Delicious.

“Come, Second Aunt will take you to wash your face.”

Sun Pingmei carried her niece into the courtyard.

The water was already drawn.

After washing her face, Jiang Fubao sat on a little stool, holding a bowl in both hands, sipping the porridge spoonful by spoonful.

“Fubao, here, Second Aunt has peeled the egg for you, eat it while it’s hot.”

Sun Pingmei held out a perfectly white boiled egg, ready to drop it into her niece’s bowl.

“Second Aunt, you eat the first bite.”

Fubao moved the bowl aside and shook her head.

Because she had produced extra eggs, Grandma believed hens could lay three eggs a day. So the family’s eight children each had one boiled egg every morning.

But the adults had no such blessing.

Fubao knew her second aunt craved eggs the most, so she wanted to share one with her.

“Second Aunt is already full. Fubao, you eat it—finish the egg so you’ll grow strong.”

Though greedy by nature, Sun Pingmei loved her niece even more. How could she snatch food from the child’s mouth?

In the end, the egg landed intact in Fubao’s hands.

After breakfast, Sun Pingmei and Zhang Yanzi strapped bamboo baskets on their backs and went to the mountains to dig wild wormwood.

Fubao, too, was ready to follow her brothers to catch insects.

She clutched her egg, nibbling it bit by bit as she walked.

At the foot of the mountain, she ran into the annoying Jiang Sanniu.

“Hmph—”

Before Fubao even spoke, Jiang Sanniu gave a cold snort, chin raised high, and strutted off with three little girls behind her.

The oldest wasn’t even ten.

They walked so fast that in moments their figures disappeared.

“Sanniu, why do you always pick on Fubao? She’s never offended you.” Jiang Ernü looked back at her younger sister with confusion.

“Exactly! Fubao is so cute, why do you keep going against her? Everyone in the village avoids her family, yet you’re the one running over to stir trouble. Look at your knees—they’re still swollen from kneeling. Maybe next time you’ll learn a lesson and stop provoking people.”

Even Jiang Daniu couldn’t understand her cousin’s behavior.

“During New Year, Fubao even gave me half her sugar candy—it was so sweet, so sweet. Third Sister, don’t bully Fubao, alright? Fourth Sister likes her.”

Little Jiang Siniu also spoke up for Fubao.

“You ungrateful brat! Taking sides against your own kin? I’m your real sister! And what is she? Just a wretched little thing. If you dare beg her for food again, I’ll tell Mother!”

Jiang Sanniu jabbed her finger hard into her younger sister’s forehead.

Her sharp nail left a red mark.

“Waaah—”

Five-year-old Siniu burst into loud sobs.

“You’re really something now, huh? Bullying outsiders is bad enough, but now even your own sister? What, you think you run the Jiang family?”

For the first time, eldest sister Jiang Daniu was truly angry.

She scooped up the crying Siniu, gave Sanniu a fierce glare, and walked off with her two sisters.

“Wretched things, all of them! Why was I born to my mother, and why does Jiang Fubao get such good luck? Hmph! Eating eggs now, is she? She should’ve drowned in the river! Pah!”

Jiang Sanniu was so sour it oozed from her pores.

Seeing her sisters gone far ahead, she quickly chased after them.

If she went home with an empty basket, her mother would surely scold her.

—

Meanwhile, Fubao was being carried in Second Brother’s arms.

They headed deeper into the inner woods, back to where they’d caught insects the other day.

Fubao toddled to the pit, placed the eggs she had been hoarding there for two days, and then ran off a bit.

From her secret space, she pulled out a whole bunch of bananas.

Seventeen in total.

She peeled one and took a small bite.

Soft, sweet, delicious—though a little too cold.

She wasn’t eating because she craved it, but to show her brothers that bananas weren’t poisonous.

After swallowing, she held up the banana and walked toward them, shouting:

“Waaah, so sweet! Fubao found fruit! Second Brother, Third Brother, Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, Seventh Brother—come quick, come eat fruit!”

She had to call every single one of them, otherwise someone would sulk.

It was exhausting.

“What fruit? Where’d you find fruit? Let Fifth Brother taste it first!”

The fastest to arrive was gluttonous Jiang Tongtu.

At the word “fruit,” he tossed aside the bugs and dashed over.

“Here, fruit! It’s so sweet. Fubao picked it up there.”

Fubao put the bunch of bananas in his hands, pointing casually in some direction.

The half-eaten banana she still clutched tightly.

“Little Sister, spit it out quick—what if it’s poisonous?”

Jiang Tongmu had never seen this fruit before.

Panicked, he reached to pry it out of her mouth.

“No poison! So sweet—Brother, taste it.”

Fubao was frightened and hurriedly stuffed the banana into his mouth.

The sweetness exploded on Jiang Tongmu’s tongue.

He couldn’t help but bite down.

“It really is sweet. But that doesn’t mean it’s safe! Let’s hurry down the mountain and ask Grandpa.”

He dared not swallow—spitting the banana out, he scooped his sister into his arms, and together with his brothers, rushed downhill.

—

At the same time, on the east side, Sun Pingmei and Zhang Yanzi had just finished digging wild vegetables and were also descending.

The two groups met at the fork near the foot of the mountain.

“Hey! You brat—running like mad with your bug basket. What, was there a Bug King chasing you?”

Sun Pingmei teased her panicked nephew.

“Second Aunt, Third Aunt—Fubao ate poisonous fruit!”

Jiang Tongmu was beside himself with worry, no mood for jokes.

“What!”

“Ah?”

The two women froze in shock, almost collapsing to their knees.

Zhang Yanzi quickly snatched her daughter from the boy’s arms, flipped her upside down, and smacked her back.

“Spit it out! Fubao, don’t scare your mother, hurry and spit it out!”

Fubao was about to faint with frustration.

Instead of spitting, she was smacked so hard she started coughing violently.