In the middle of the night, the villagers were awakened by an overwhelmingly rich scent—the distinct, mouthwatering aroma of rendered pork fat.
In this freezing, snow-covered landscape where not a single blade of grass survived, how could there be the smell of meat?
They all unanimously assumed they were dreaming.
“It’s a hallucination!
It has to be an illusion!”
At the eastern end of the village, in the Tian Family’s home, Tian Ergou was sleeping with his wife and son in a room as cold as an ice cellar.
He dreamed that a glistening, fatty piece of meat was floating right before his eyes.
He opened his mouth wide and took massive bites, chewing until the rich juices burst forth, sliding down his throat to warm his belly.
His stomach comfortably full from the greasy fat, he woke up with a smile on his face.
Only to wake up to absolutely nothing!
The burning, gnawing agony of starvation in his stomach made him groan in misery.
Suddenly, he paused and gave a sniff.
“The smell of meat!”
No!
This wasn’t a hallucination.
He really did smell meat.
His breathing abruptly quickened.
Fighting against the biting cold, he sat up in bed.
An intensely rich, overpowering aroma of meat filled his nostrils, sending a jolt through his entire body.
Who was eating meat?
Every household in the village had run out of food a long time ago.
They would be lucky just to find tree bark to chew on, so how could anyone possibly be eating meat?
Yet, he clearly hadn’t mistaken the scent.
He opened the door, and a blast of freezing wind slammed into him.
His gaze shifted toward one specific direction—Brother Yun’s house.
Last night, when he and a few friends had gone up the mountain to strip tree bark, he had smelled a strange, tantalizing aroma coming from Brother Yun’s home.
He had figured the Yun Family might have luckily found a dead rabbit, even though deep down he didn’t really believe rabbit meat could smell that ridiculously good.
But what about tonight?
There was an undeniable scent of meat drifting from Brother Yun’s house.
He was absolutely certain he wasn’t mistaken this time.
“Er Gou, what are you doing standing by the door?
The wind blowing in is going to freeze us to death.
Close it, hurry!”
His sleeping wife had been awakened by the cold.
She pulled the coarse blanket tighter around their son and, seeing her husband standing at the door as if his soul had left his body, urged him to shut it.
“Alright!” Tian Ergou replied, his curiosity itching fiercely.
He wanted to march over to Brother Yun’s house right then and ask if they really had meat to eat.
But it was pitch-black outside, and the family was likely already asleep.
He would definitely go and get a good look tomorrow.
At the Zhou family’s home, which was closest to the Yun Family, Li Cuilan had just lain down when she caught the rich scent of meat.
Her stomach immediately let out a loud GROWL.
“Is that the smell of meat?
Is it really meat?” she cried out in shock.
Without even stepping outside, she was certain it was coming from the Yun Family’s home at the end of the village.
Last night, she had also smelled a strong aroma.
She hadn’t been sure exactly what it was then, but she had followed the scent all the way to Zhen Niang’s house.
Now, there was no doubt that this mouthwatering scent of meat was also coming from Zhen Niang’s house.
She was thoroughly bewildered.
“Zhen Niang’s family is made up of the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled.
Where on earth did they get meat to eat?” she murmured, then shoved her husband awake.
“Dashan, wake up!”
Zhou Dashan groggily opened his eyes.
“Cui Lan, what are you waking me up in the middle of the night for?
Are you hungry?
Sigh, we’re out of food.
Just go to sleep.
Once you’re asleep, you won’t be hungry anymore.
You might even have a nice dream about eating meat.
I was just dreaming that I was eating meat.”
He rubbed his shriveled belly, swallowing hard as he decided it was better to just dream.
“I can even smell the meat right now.
I’m going back to my meat-eating dream.” With that, he promptly began to snore.
“Oh, come on!” Li Cuilan pushed him awake once more.
“Dashan, you’re not dreaming!
There really is the smell of meat!
Someone is eating meat.
Get up and take a good sniff.”
Zhou Dashan, who was drifting back to sleep, instinctively sniffed the air at his wife’s words and suddenly sat bolt upright.
“Cui Lan, meat!
I smell meat!” he exclaimed.
Was he dreaming?
The heavy snow had sealed off the mountain, and the entire village was out of food, yet he was actually smelling meat?
His imagination ran wild.
“Could it be that we’ve starved to death, and this smell of meat is just our final dying fantasy?”
“It’s not a fantasy.
It’s Zhen Niang’s family eating meat,” Li Cuilan interrupted.
Zhou Dashan was completely awake now.
The rich, savory aroma permeated the air, so tantalizing it made their mouths water.
“Zhen Niang’s family?” he asked, dumbfounded.
“Where would they get meat to eat?
Even with our stored provisions, we only lasted a few days.
Zhen Niang’s family didn’t even have stored grain to begin with; they probably don’t even have dried wild vegetables left.
And they’re eating meat?”
“I don’t believe it either, but we have no choice but to believe our noses,” Li Cuilan said.
“Do you remember that smell from last night?
It was every bit as good as this.”
Last night had also been filled with a rich, oily scent.
“That smell last night came from Zhen Niang’s house, too,” she added.
“I thought I was just so starved that my nose was playing tricks on me,” Zhou Dashan said, shocked.
Clearly, he had smelled the aroma last night as well, but had firmly believed it was a hallucination.
After all, let alone meat, hardly any families in the village even had grass roots left to eat.
“Zhen Niang’s family has food?” he continued.
“Yun Xiu and his wife have received plenty of help from the villagers in the past.
They aren’t ungrateful people.
By all rights, they wouldn’t hide away and eat in secret.”
Zhou Dashan simply couldn’t understand it.
Yun Xiu was open-minded, intelligent, and a scholar who had raised a wonderful child like Zhen Niang.
He was always kind to the villagers and lacked any of the typical scholarly arrogance.
He didn’t seem like a selfish person.
Li Cuilan’s expression grew heavy.
“It’s been snowing for almost a month, and every household in the village is out of food.
Perhaps Yun Xiu and his wife simply want to ensure their daughter and granddaughter survive, which is why they didn’t plan on sharing their food with everyone.”
Even as she said it, she still felt a bit uncomfortable inside.
Yun Xiu had grown up eating meals provided by the whole village, and everyone had pitched in to support his education.
Every household in Taoyuan Village had contributed.
After his leg was broken and his face ruined, the villagers had continued to help the Yun Family however they could.
Subconsciously, Li Cuilan still felt a bit disgruntled.
“How about I go ask Yun Xiu?” Zhou Dashan suggested.
He refused to believe that his good brother Yun Xiu was an ungrateful man.
They had grown up together, and when they were kids, Yun Xiu would always share half of whatever he had to eat with him.
Although this year of the snow disaster was incredibly harsh, Yun Xiu couldn’t possibly be looking out only for himself.
There had to be a misunderstanding.
“It’s the middle of the night, and they’re already asleep.
We’ll go take a look tomorrow,” Li Cuilan said, wanting to confirm whether Yun Xiu truly was only caring for his own family while ignoring the rest of the village.
If he had difficulties he couldn’t speak of, it would be the perfect chance to clear up the misunderstanding.
It wasn’t as if they were going to force Yun Xiu to hand over a bite of food.
But if Yun Xiu truly was acting out of pure selfishness, they would just accept that they had misjudged him.
“Alright!”
Clutching their agonizingly hungry stomachs, the couple slipped back under the covers.
The smell of meat in the air was painfully tempting, but they closed their eyes, hoping that once they fell asleep, the hunger would fade.
Li Zheng, the village chief, had also smelled the meat.
He knitted his brows tightly.
“That aroma is coming from Zhen Niang’s house!
In a snow disaster year like this, where did they get meat?”
His wife clutched her chest in horror.
“Old man, do you think Yun Xiu might have boiled and eaten Xiaobao?”
For a family so poor that they lacked food and clothing even in normal times to suddenly have meat during a snow disaster…
It was absolutely terrifying!
“Shoo, shoo, you old woman, you just overthink things.
Yun Xiu is a scholar.
He grew up right under our noses.
Wouldn’t we know what kind of person he is?” Li Zheng felt his wife was letting her imagination run wild.
He knew Yun Xiu’s character well; the man would sooner carve off his own flesh to feed his wife and daughter than ever lay a hand on Xiaobao.
“But they ate meat last night, and they’re eating meat again tonight.
Tell me, Yun Xiu hasn’t left the village, and neither has Zhen Niang.
Can meat just appear out of thin air?” his wife retorted.
“Couldn’t it just be that Yun Xiu cut off his own flesh to feed his wife and child?” Li Zheng argued.
His wife suddenly realized the possibility.
“You’re right, that must be it!” She had let her thoughts wander in the wrong direction; Yun Xiu was such a good man.
“It’s all because of this cursed snow disaster!” she cried, wiping her tears.