Chapter 30: The Brother Who Knows How to Care

Wan Chunmei nodded and said, “That’s right. Pickling them is the best option. It can last for a long time, and even if we eat it for several months, it won’t be a problem.”

Wan Chunmei’s birth mother had come from a family that made pickled vegetables, and they were quite good at it. She had learned some of the techniques herself.

In the Pingyang area, pickled vegetables were usually made with summer garlic and winter bamboo shoots, but Wan Chunmei had a natural talent for making pickles. For her, almost anything could be pickled.

In the past, when the family was poor and they didn’t even have any vegetable leaves, the only thing they could make was chopped chili paste, and that was about it for her pickling options.

Old Tan listened and nodded with approval, smiling. “Sounds good, sounds good. Let’s do it the way you suggested and make pickled vegetables.”

“Alright!” Wan Chunmei smiled and stood up, feeling that the plan was set. But soon, a frown crossed her face again. “But, dear, we don’t have much coarse salt left. Coarse salt is quite expensive.”

Old Tan thought for a moment, counting the money they had left, and replied, “No need to worry. We still have some silver. Buying a bit of salt won’t be a problem. We’ll just get fine salt. It’ll make the pickles taste even better.”

In the past, when they were poor, it was the neighboring Xu family that had given them some coarse salt, and they had never even touched fine salt.

“That’s really wonderful,” Wan Chunmei said, her face brightening with a smile.

At this point, Tan Yiliang had finished washing the vegetables.

Wan Chunmei stood up to start preparing the dishes.

Old Tan and Tan Erqian headed back to the field to pick a few winter melons.

The fourth and fifth children, unaware of what was happening, were still playing in the yard with mud.

Tan Sanyuan, as usual, was taking care of his little sister.

Recently, he had noticed something a bit strange about his little sister. What was strange? Well, she kept smiling—constantly smiling.

But upon closer inspection, he saw that the smile had disappeared.

In any case, this little sister was definitely not an ordinary child.

He silently made up his mind about it, then carefully covered her with a small blanket.

Noticing her little face flushed with warmth, he worried she might get too hot, so he waved a fan gently to cool her down.

Although the Tan family had many sons, they always had clear roles and responsibilities, and the brothers got along so harmoniously that it was the envy of others.

In addition to the fact that these children were thoughtful, it was also thanks to Old Tan and Wan Chunmei’s careful upbringing.

Meanwhile, things had become chaotic at the village head’s house. Several children, upset about not getting the meat from the previous night, were crying and throwing tantrums.

“Mother, Mother, give me my meat, give me my meat!” they cried.

The meat had fallen to the ground and could have been washed and eaten, but last night, the guard dog at the house had been too quick. In just a few bites, it had eaten all of it.

Now, those children hadn’t even gotten a scrap of meat.

Liu, already in discomfort from an eye injury, patiently tried to calm them down. “How about we wait a few days and I’ll buy some meat for you to eat, okay?”

“No, no, we want to eat now!” they protested.

“That’s right, we want to eat now!”

These two children, one named Zhou Da and the other Zhou Er, were quite domineering. They were notorious for bullying Tan Erqian, with no one else in the village quite as troublesome as they were.

Originally, whether or not they ate the meat wasn’t that important, but since Tan Erqian had eaten and they hadn’t, they absolutely couldn’t accept it. That’s why they were insisting to Liu that they must have meat.

Liu was getting dizzy from their incessant noise. Frustrated, she snapped, “How am I supposed to get you meat now? Do you want to eat your mother’s flesh?!”

Zhou Da and Zhou Er exchanged a glance before saying, “Mother, go up the mountain. There are wild boars up there. Tan Yiliang even caught a wild boar from the mountain!”

Liu felt like her children had lost their minds. “What wild boar? Do you think wild boars are so easy to catch? You could end up losing your lives!”

Zhou Da and Zhou Er began crying even louder. “Mother, you’re useless, you’re really useless! The Tan family can catch wild boars, why can’t you?!”

Liu, who had always prided herself on her strength, couldn’t tolerate hearing such words. “What did you say? I’m useless? Let me tell you, back in the day, I used to kill pigs with my bare hands!”

“Then go catch a wild boar, Mother!”

Zhou Da and Zhou Er said in unison.