Chapter 13

But now that he had asked, Sang Luo thought this child would hold onto this question until bedtime.

Sang Luo was clear that it was time to test her acting skills.

She was taken aback by Shen An’s question, then smiled.

How do you describe that smile? Three parts lonely, five parts bitter.

Shen An’s question seemed casual, but his gaze never left Sang Luo’s face. His hand holding the chopsticks tightened subconsciously, but when he saw Sang Luo’s reaction, he felt a bit puzzled.

“Sister-in-law?”

It was Shen Ning who spoke with a hint of concern.

Sang Luo forced a smile and replied, “Fishing by the river and making food from tree leaves, I’ve actually never done it before. The former is something I heard about from the children in the clan, catching fish like this in the stream. I kept it in mind. As for the latter, it’s a recipe recorded in my mother’s dowry book. My mother made it for me once when I was young, so I recognized it.”

Yes, recognized. But why hadn’t she done it before?

Shen An continued to stare at Sang Luo.

Sang Luo pretended not to notice. She smiled wryly, lowered her gaze, and only after a few moments did she look up at the siblings.

“I haven’t told you about my past, have I? I was born into a collateral branch of the family and received a different upbringing… never did things like going into the mountains or wading into the river to catch fish, especially without shoes and socks. That was something I wouldn’t have dared to think about in the past.”

“As for that fairy tofu, it’s something from my childhood. Yesterday, when I was so hungry that I felt like I couldn’t bear it anymore, I thought of my parents and my childhood life, and that’s when I remembered there was such a food.”

Shen An and Shen Ning were a bit confused.

They had heard about collateral branches and such, which were completely different from the people in their village. They couldn’t say exactly what it was, but they had heard the elderly people in the village talk about it. Many of the high-quality fields in Shili Village were leased out, and sixty percent of them came from the Wang family in the village. The Wang family belonged to a collateral branch.

The Wang family’s mansion, which the siblings had seen when their eldest brother took them to the market, was the largest in the village. The old people in the village said that the ladies of the Wang family rarely came out. They had servants and maidservants to do all the work for them, and they adhered to the principle of never leaving the house unless necessary.

In fact, if Sang Luo were to explain, there was a simple term for it: landlords.

The so-called commoner branches, commoner families, and collateral branches were derived from the scholar-official class and were also a product of the struggle for resources between imperial power and the scholar-official class.

In the time and space she originally belonged to, this class was not up to the level of the scholar-official class, but it was relatively affluent and had some social status, so it was considered a collateral branch. It was similar in this time and space.

Shen An and Shen Ning were bewildered. Their sister-in-law turned out to be a young lady from a wealthy family.

Although the siblings had relied on Sang Luo for their livelihood, they also felt that their sister-in-law was somewhat incompetent. She was afraid to go into the mountains or into the river; her vegetables died, and at the beginning, she wasn’t even very skilled at cooking or washing clothes.

They could only rely on the meager grain provided by their third uncle to survive. To be honest, their survival skills were even better than hers.

But if their sister-in-law had come from a wealthy family like the one described, then everything that seemed wrong before suddenly made sense when placed in the context of her high status.

The best lies are seven parts truth and three parts falsehood.

The facts about Sang Luo’s background, upbringing, and education were true. The only thing hidden and added was Sangluo’s crossing, as well as the origin of those skills.

Sang Luo had achieved half of her goal. Now, she has adopted a relieved attitude. “After experiencing life and death, I’ve come to accept things. Now that my parents and relatives are gone, not to mention the family and those social norms, just being alive is hard enough. Why bother caring about so much?”

Shen An, no matter how vigilant he was, was still just a nine-year-old child, mentally closer to seven or eight.

By now, he had completely let go of his guard.

Thinking from the perspective of their sister-in-law, who had originally come from such a good background but had encountered natural disasters and human calamities, losing her family and even having to exchange herself for half a bag of grain…

Well, it was all sympathy and heartache now.

In their hearts, they even regretted all their previous suspicions about their sister-in-law.

Their hearts overflowed with care for her.

“Sister-in-law, eat more fish and take care of your health.”

“Sister-in-law, don’t be sad. You’ll have me and An Ning in the future.”

The effect was so good that it not only dispelled Shen An’s doubts completely but also made the two children, who were not even a bit older, extremely attentive to Sang Luo.

…

The dinner was heartwarming.

After dinner, there were only dozens of fish and half a bowl of shrimp left.

Indeed, being able to eat three meals a day, with fairy tofu and stir-fried water spinach for dinner, along with two of the largest fish caught today, was almost like a feast for the two children who had gone hungry for a while.

Both children, with a strong sense of storing food, suggested saving the leftover fish for later.

Sang Luo also agreed. Living and supplementing nutrition were long-term endeavors, especially when it came to nurturing the body. It was all about perseverance. Compared to the refugee-like life before, today’s nutrition is sufficient.

At present, this small family had everything they needed, but these fish and shrimp were good things. They could be made into small dried fish and shrimp, which could be stored for a long time. They could be used as winter reserves, and when there were no meat dishes, they could be eaten daily to supplement nutrition and calcium.

By the time Sang Luo returned with the fish basket, it was already late. It was impossible to dry them in the sun, so after dinner, she boiled the fish and shrimp that had been prepared. Then, she went outside for a while, found a thin stone slab, washed it clean, and started roasting the fish and shrimp on it.

The advantage of living far from the village came into play at this time. In the middle of the night, the aroma of grilled fish and shrimp from the small house wafted out, lingering for more than an hour. If they had lived in the village, the neighboring children would have been driven to tears by the temptation.

A few small crabs were eaten as snacks by the two children, and the rest of the dried fish and shrimp, after roasting, weighed about a catty.

Shen An found another old, tattered empty grain bag from somewhere and packed all the dried fish and shrimp into it.

After more than half a month, the two children finally experienced the excitement of having surplus food at home.

Shen An, acting as the special steward, held two bags containing rice and small dried fish and searched around the house to find a place to hide them, not for anything else but to prevent mice from stealing their food. Those small, dried fish were really fragrant.

In the end, he hid the goods in two large clay pots borrowed from the Chen family, one placed upright and the other inverted, tightly sealed. Even insects would find it hard to crawl in, let alone mice.

Shen An was extremely satisfied with the temporary grain storage he had set up. With Shen Ning by his side, he squatted down and looked around, reluctant to move them elsewhere.

“Sister-in-law, do you think our family will have more and more things in the future? When we have money, let’s get a big jar specifically for storing food. We can ask Uncle Arita to help make a lid, and then our food storage will be secure!”

Chen Youtian was skilled in simple carpentry, and the bamboo knife Shen An used was carved by him.

Although there was only a small amount of grain borrowed from others in the house now, along with a little dried fish and shrimp saved up just today, Shen An was already imagining the days of having a warehouse full of food.

…

Unlike Shen An, who feared being targeted by mice, Sang Luo feared snakes.

Although she had lived in the mountains for a few years and was quite brave when it came to fishing, she was still afraid of the possibility of snakes entering the house. The thought of being completely asleep at night, unaware of anything while those things crawled around nearby, was terrifying.

The house she had renovated before had spent a lot of money on window screens, and the protection was quite thorough.

But now, looking at this rundown straw hut… All Sang Luo could do was to close the doors and windows tightly before going to bed, carefully inspecting the room, especially the corner where the firewood was placed.

The first day of transmigrating to ancient times ended in a busy manner. Sang Luo, Shen An, and Shen Ning squeezed onto a makeshift bed made of stools and wooden planks, falling asleep to the sound of frogs and insects.

Before drifting off into a daze, Sangluo thought to herself that when they had money, they needed to repair the house and the toilet the most.

Yes, the toilet.

Apart from the difficulty of bathing, this was the most challenging aspect.

The Shen family originally had a toilet set up a short distance away from the straw hut. Sang Luo didn’t want to comment on the specifics, but she didn’t have to use it all day long, probably because the original body lacked various substances. She only had to make one trip before going to bed at night, holding her nose in and out. It was the fastest she had ever moved in two lifetimes.

Sang Luo could only console herself that, compared to having lost her life, all difficulties could be overcome and everything intolerable could be endured for a while.

So, before going to bed, her mind was filled with thoughts of making money, making money, and making money!

Throughout the night, Sang Luo dreamed of the grand opening of selling fairy tofu in the market. Copper coins fell into her pockets one after another, and she laughed joyfully in her dreams.