Chapter 2: Miscellaneous Matters – Carefree Grass

When Li Youyin inherited the family property, he got three mud-brick rooms. Though not as grand as the old family house with its blue bricks and tile roof, they were far better than thatched cottages.

The eight-year-old younger brother originally shared the east room of the main house with their parents, while the sisters Li Guo and her younger sister shared the west room. The central hall was reserved for receiving guests.

Seeing that the two older sisters had their own room, Li Wen, the younger brother, insisted that he was grown up enough to have his own room. Li Youyin relented and converted a storage room next to the main house, adding a heated brick bed (kang), making it the boy’s room.

When the two sisters woke up one morning, they were greeted by a familiar scene: Shen Shi, their mother, was outside by a table, using old cloth to make insoles a skill she practiced every year to craft cloth shoes for the family.

Li Youyin was busy in the courtyard repairing farming tools, while their younger brother was amusing himself by dangling a piece of grass to tease ants out of their hole.

Looking across the street at their neighbors’ situation, the siblings felt fortunate to have been born into a family that didn’t favor sons over daughters. Though they lived in a few mud-brick houses in the countryside, their parents were loving, and their siblings were obedient and well-behaved. Life was hard, but harmonious.

“These days of spring planting are exhausting! Why didn’t you sleep a little longer?” their mother asked.

“We’re fine, Mother,” they replied. “It’s just that the constant yelling from the neighbors is so frustrating.”

Shen Shi sighed, “I don’t know what Wang Chunhua is thinking. Back when she lived with her parents, they favored her brothers over her. All the good food went to them, and she barely had enough to eat. Now that she’s a mother herself, she still doesn’t cherish her daughters!

“She spoils her son into a little tyrant that everyone dislikes, while her daughter lives like a servant. Poor San Ya, such an unlucky girl to have parents like them!”

After breakfast, the three siblings carried baskets to the back hills to gather pigweed. As they passed through a reed marsh, they heard the sound of ducks quacking from a nearby bush.

Parting the grass, they discovered a wild duck with an injured wing lying on the ground, crying out in pain. The siblings tied up the duck, placed it in their basket, and collected three wild duck nests by the edge of the reeds, finding fifteen wild duck eggs before heading home.

“Mother, look what we found!” their brother shouted excitedly. Hearing the commotion, Shen Shi and Li Youyin came to the courtyard and saw their son holding a large wild duck. Upon learning how they had found it, Li Youyin said, “Dear, I’ll sell the duck at the town’s restaurant tomorrow, but let’s keep the eggs for the kids to eat.”

Shen Shi agreed, “Alright. Tonight, I’ll stir-fry wild duck eggs with chives for the children. I’ll go pick some chives from the garden now.”

Li Wen was thrilled, and the two sisters finished chopping pigweed for the pigs and feeding the chickens and ducks before helping their mother in the kitchen.

Dinner was a feast by their standards. In addition to stir-fried wild duck eggs with chives, there was also a dish of vinegar-glazed cabbage.

It had been a long time since the children had tasted anything so savory. Even though they were just wild duck eggs, they savored every bite. Li Youyin decided to sell the duck the next day and use the money to buy a pound of pork from the butcher to treat the family.

The following morning, Li Youyin set off for town with the wild duck. The town had three restaurants in total.

On the East Street, there were two restaurants: “Meiwei Xuan” and “Mankou Xiang.” On the West Street, there was another restaurant named “Yipin Ju.”

At Meiwei Xuan, the server was yawning out of boredom. When he saw someone enter, he immediately perked up, asking, “Welcome, guest! How many of you are dining today? We have a full menu to ensure your satisfaction.”

“Sorry to bother you, brother. I’m not here to eat. I wanted to ask if your restaurant buys wild game.”

“Our wild game is supplied by regular hunters. We don’t accept outside sources.”

“Oh, I see. Sorry to trouble you.”

As Li Youyin left the restaurant, he was rudely shooed away by the arrogant server at Mankou Xiang before he could even explain. “Where do you think you’re going, beggar? We don’t have leftovers for you. Get out!”

Feeling a bit disheartened, Li Youyin arrived at Yipin Ju. He hesitated at the entrance for a long time until a kind server noticed him and asked why he was standing there. After explaining his purpose, the server led him to the backyard.

The head chef, seeing that the wild duck was plump and large, decided to keep it. The duck weighed four pounds, and at 13 wen per pound, it sold for a total of 52 wen.

When Li Youyin returned home with a piece of fatty pork, Wen, the youngest brother, couldn’t help but gulp audibly at the sight of it. His exaggerated reaction made the whole family burst into laughter.

Shen Shi, having taken charge of cooking since her days at her parents’ house, was renowned in the neighboring villages for her culinary skills. The aroma of stir-fried pork and cabbage wafted through the courtyard, making everyone’s stomachs growl in unison as they glanced eagerly toward the kitchen.

Dinner was served: stir-fried pork with cabbage, a light egg-drop soup made with wild duck eggs, and some coarse-grain flatbreads cooked on the side of the pot. After letting the pot simmer, the meal was ready.

The stir-fried cabbage with pork was incredibly fragrant, and even the flatbreads soaked in the egg-drop soup tasted much better than usual. The family polished off every bit of food and felt completely satisfied, even stuffed, for the first time in a long while.

After a busy day, the family lay down on the heated brick bed as soon as night fell. They slept soundly without a single dream, waking up only when the sun was high in the sky.

Recalling the feast from the previous day, Li Guo resolved in her heart to work hard and earn enough money so her family could have meat on the table and new clothes to wear every day.

Taking advantage of the few days without farming tasks…

With a few days of break from farm work, Li Youyin and the three children went up the mountain to gather a large amount of willow branches and vines. They quickly realized their baskets weren’t enough, and two of the carrying baskets were broken. They needed to make more bamboo baskets and fish traps.

For several days, Li Youyin sat in the courtyard, weaving baskets until all the willow branches were used up. Besides the baskets for the family, she also made four extra carrying baskets and three vegetable baskets.

The two daughters hadn’t been idle either. They had woven over a dozen fish traps in preparation for fishing in the back hills.

The stream wasn’t deep; the deepest part barely reached their knees. Most villagers thought the fish had a strong, unpleasant smell and didn’t bother fishing there.

Each fish trap was baited with earthworms and placed in areas where the water had plenty of aquatic plants. Stones were placed on top of the traps to keep them from being swept away by the current.

As the sun began to set, the three siblings arrived at the stream to check their traps. The haul was better than expected, with grass carp, black fish, and yellow eel, along with several lively river shrimp in the other traps.

The fish and yellow eel were kept in a water bucket for the time being, to be sold at the next market along with the vegetable baskets. The river shrimp, however, couldn’t be kept overnight and were prepared for dinner right away.

For dinner, Shen Shi made a delicious stir-fry of river shrimp with chives, and the main dish was dry brown rice. The fragrant aroma from the kitchen wafted into the courtyard. Li Wen, who had been playing in the mud, couldn’t help but sniff the air and say, “It smells so good!”

Shen Shi, amused by her son’s cute expression, teased, “You little greedy cat.” At the dinner table, Li Youyin proudly poured himself a drink from his long-kept bottle of yellow wine, enjoying the moment.

There were plenty of river shrimp left from the day’s catch, so Shen Shi used a large sieve to dry the leftovers in the yard, preserving them to use as seasoning in future meals.