Xiao Hua looked at the now-empty courtyard, holding up a large bowl toward Jiang Shui with her childish voice, saying, “Little Aunt, this is for you to eat.”

The mocking expression on Jiang Shui’s face, which had been directed at her third brother, disappeared.

She replaced it with a gentle smile and lowered her head to coax the child, “Little Aunt is full already, Hua Hua. You eat.”

She wasn’t lying to Hua Hua.

Their mother had eaten an egg, so there was some leftover thick porridge that had originally been for her.

Her second brother had been away for over half a month doing forced labor to repair the riverbank, and her youngest brother had only just returned home for dinner.

Today, the food had been divided equally again.

Compared to usual, there was more for her—but at the cost of her brothers getting less.

Even so, for her, it was half a bowl more than usual!

Much better than just drinking watery gruel.

“Little Aunt, you eat. Hua Hua is too full,” Xiao Hua insisted, trying to persuade her again.

Jiang Shui thought about how, if she had eaten her fill, it made sense that Xiao Hua couldn’t finish hers. But this extra portion shouldn’t go to her. “Take it to your mother,” she said.

If her sister-in-law ate more, then little Cao could also drink more.

Besides, her sister-in-law was tall and strong.

What was barely enough for Jiang Shui was far from enough for her.

Xiao Hua shook her head and whispered, “Little Aunt, there’s an egg inside. Mom told me to give it to you. No one else can see it!”

Jiang Shui immediately understood.

She had always been harsh with her sister-in-law, so for her sister-in-law to give her an entire egg, it had to be out of gratitude for protecting Xiao Hua.

But she didn’t protect Xiao Hua because she was her sister-in-law’s child—she did it because Xiao Hua was worth protecting.

There was no need for extra gratitude.

Looking at the bowl held high in front of her, Jiang Shui took it.

She had intended to give it back, but after a moment of thought, she fished out the egg from the bottom of the bowl and slowly ate it, savoring each bite. “Alright, Xiao Hua, take the porridge to your mother. Tell her Little Aunt was very happy to eat.”

Xiao Hua cheered and carefully carried the bowl inside.

Jiang Shui watched her go, only withdrawing her gaze once she had entered the house.

Then, she walked toward the reed fence surrounding the courtyard, picked up a bamboo basket, and headed out.

She couldn’t fish or catch eels in the fields like her brothers could to earn some silver.

If men got their clothes wet, it was no big deal—they could even go shirtless.

But if she did, the consequences would be either death or a fate worse than death.

Fish had their ways, shrimp had theirs.

Though she couldn’t go into the water, she could still dig for wild vegetables.

In this season of scarcity, there weren’t many vegetables in the garden, but there were plenty of wild ones.

If she gathered more, she could get an extra bowlful to fill her stomach.

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Shen Qing stepped out of the house only after her sons and daughters had all gone out to work.

She had just finished taking inventory of all her possessions inside the house.

There was pitifully little, and no matter how she looked at it, it wouldn’t magically increase.

If she wanted to earn money, she had to first step outside and look for opportunities.

The house was made of yellow mud and reed poles, consisting of three rooms.

A slanted hut built with thatch served as the kitchen, with a firewood storage room behind it, stacked with different types of firewood.

The courtyard was also enclosed with reed poles, even more rudimentary than the house, without even a layer of yellow mud.

Its only advantage was that it was spacious.

On the right side, there were two straw huts, likely a chicken coop and a duck pen.

On the left side, three plots of land had been cultivated.

The crops had just been sown not long ago, with most showing only a faint hint of green sprouting from the soil.

The only thing growing well was the chives, their rich green leaves nourished by chicken and duck manure.

Half had already been harvested, and what remained was just enough to make a single meal of chive dumplings for the whole family.

Just one meal’s worth.

Shen Qing used to buy vegetables either at the market or the supermarket, where she always had plenty of choices.

Now, for the first time, she truly understood what “seasonal scarcity” meant.

There were barely any vegetables!

The grain harvest was still months away, and the stored grain wasn’t enough, so they had to ration it carefully.

No wonder Jiang Shui had gone to dig wild vegetables—without them, there simply wouldn’t be enough to eat.

Even the coarse cornmeal porridge she had disliked before might not be enough without extra wild greens!

Right now, they weren’t just short on money and grain—they didn’t even have enough vegetables…

Shen Qing turned and walked toward the kitchen.

The kitchen was only blocked off by a thin wooden board. Excitedly, she thought, “If there’s a door, that must mean there’s something valuable inside, right?”

Otherwise, why bother having a door at all?

When she pushed it open, the first thing she saw was a large iron pot.

There wasn’t even a proper stove—just a few large stones stacked on the ground, with the pot resting on top.

Shen Qing’s vision darkened, and she nearly lost her balance.

She could only comfort herself: at least they had a big iron pot, which meant she could still cook all sorts of dishes.

Looking around, she started searching for seasonings—especially oil, which she hadn’t seen in the house. It must be in the kitchen.

From outside, she could hear her third and fourth sons chatting about going to catch fish and shrimp.

Xingcheng was near a massive river, with plenty of waterways.

Before the devastating floods caused by dam breaks, most people in Xingcheng had relied on the water to make a living.

There was never a shortage of irrigation for the fields.

Large fish, eels, and loaches could be sold for silver; small river shrimp could be eaten; and tiny wild fish and snails could be crushed to feed chickens, ducks, and geese—helping them lay plenty of eggs.

Snails weren’t tasty without seasonings, but small wild fish, as long as there was oil and a bit of salt, could be fried until golden and crispy, bones and all. They were delicious and nutritious—free, natural delicacies!

After searching around, Shen Qing finally found a rough clay jar.

She stretched her neck to take a closer look and immediately took back her earlier optimism.

Natural delicacies, yes. But not free.

Oil was the most expensive ingredient in this dish!

The small, watermelon-sized clay jar contained only a thin layer of oil at the bottom, with a bamboo scraper resting on top—clearly used to scrape out every last bit.

No wonder the gruel at lunch had no trace of oil. With only this much left, even if they scraped it into a giant pot of wild vegetable porridge, you’d need eagle eyes to spot any oil sheen.

They were almost out of oil, running low on salt—Shen Qing sighed and looked up, spotting a bamboo basket hanging from the ceiling.

She tiptoed and tried to lift it—it was unexpectedly heavy!

Excited, she mustered all her strength to take it down.

Inside, there were rows of dried fish, each about two fingers long.

They were thoroughly dried, yet the basket still had significant weight—at least twenty pounds!

This was a treasure.

In China, dried fish like this would sell for at least 20-30 yuan per pound.

Yet here, it had been casually left in the kitchen.

But thinking about it, Xingcheng had abundant water and fish.

The wealthy found these fish troublesome to eat due to their many bones, while the poor found them too insubstantial to fill their stomachs.

That explained why no one thought they were valuable enough to store inside the house.

After inspecting everything, Shen Qing realized that without oil, many dishes couldn’t even be cooked!

She had to find a way to earn money.

Tomorrow, she would head into town to look for opportunities.

As she re-entered the house, she glanced at her eldest daughter-in-law’s room, deep in thought.