Zhu Xiaoqi reluctantly tore his gaze away from the bowl of mushroom stewed chicken. "…No need. Feifei promised sweet potatoes, and she already gave them."
"Why stand on ceremony? We caught two chickens at Ming Dade's house today. One more bowl won't make a difference. Feifei hasn't been up the mountain much and isn't familiar with the area. If you hadn't brought her down, who knows what might have happened."
Besides, they had encountered wolves.
Such creatures were nothing to Xu Cuihua, but for Ming Fei, they were far too dangerous—she wouldn't even be a mouthful for them. This was truly a life-saving favor.
Without waiting for Zhu Xiaoqi's reply, Xu Cuihua walked inside on her own, placing the already cooked sweet potatoes on the table and pouring the mushroom stewed chicken into the bowl that had originally held the sweet potatoes.
"Feifei, let's go! Time to go home and eat chicken legs!"
"Coming!" Ming Fei put down the bag of coarse rice and followed Xu Cuihua out, turning back to remind Zhu Xiaoqi, "Brother Xiaoqi, there's coarse rice in the bag. My mom gave it to you."
Zhu Xiaoqi was taken aback. By the time he followed them out, Ming Fei and her mother had already left, and Xu Cuihua had casually taken his door plank with her. In the end, he didn't chase after them.
Holding Xu Cuihua's hand, Ming Fei returned home, where Xu Sulan was waiting by the door. Seeing the door plank tucked under her daughter's arm, she was startled again.
—Why did her daughter always bring strange things home?
"Mom, let's eat!"
"Alright!"
Xu Sulan didn't ask any questions and simply went inside. The chicken was already on the table. Besides the mushroom stewed chicken, there was another stewed dish. In the depths of winter, there weren't many vegetables, so they used the Chinese cabbage grown at home. To give the cabbage more flavor, Xu Sulan added a bit of chicken broth to it.
The little wolf had clearly caught the scent and was anxiously circling under the table. The small amount of sweet potatoes it had eaten in the morning was long gone, but Ming Fei couldn't attend to it just yet.
So fragrant, so fragrant, so fragrant!
Seasonings were scarce these days, but the chicken was incredibly aromatic. Ming Fei didn't know if it was because the chicken was free-range or because she hadn't eaten such normal meals in so long, but it was so delicious she could hardly resist swallowing the bones along with the meat.
And the Chinese cabbage—crisp, fresh, and bursting with its unique flavor. What children of this era might have grown tired of was an unparalleled delicacy to Ming Fei.
The family of four buried themselves in their meal. By the end, Ming Fei could clearly feel her little belly protruding slightly, and only then did she contentedly put down her chopsticks.
"That was so delicious. I wish we could eat meat every day."
Ming Erde chuckled at this. "Alright, alright. Mom and Dad will work hard so Feifei can eat meat every day."
"Feifei will work hard too, so Dad, Mom, and Grandma can eat meat every day." Ming Fei slumped on the stool, too full to move, but spoke up immediately upon hearing this.
Really, thinking back to the days before Moshi descended—avoiding fatty meat, refusing anything overcooked, turning up her nose at dishes that didn't suit her taste… Whether in the later days of Moshi or even now, such behavior seemed utterly ungrateful.
Xu Cuihua beat Xu Sulan to cleaning the bowls and returned to the main room a while later, sitting down and clearing her throat, clearly with something to say.
"Today, I caught two chickens and found four eggs. Second Brother took us to Ming Dade's house, where we snatched two chickens and exchanged them for two roosters and some eggs. The numbers even out, but I helped Second Brother snatch the chickens, so I win this round. Any objections?"
Ming Fei blinked but didn't say a word, instead turning her gaze to Ming Erde.
The new mom seems quite competitive, new dad, what do you think?
What does Ming Erde think?
What could he possibly think?
"You can't say that. Although I'm not like you, Cuihua, who can go up the mountain to catch chickens, that's reckless behavior. Compared to that, making Ming Dade's family feel the pain is more satisfying, don't you think? Getting two chickens without lifting a finger is obviously better than you running up the mountain and struggling to catch them, right?"
"It wasn't that hard, actually."
Xu Cuihua could tell that Ming Erde was calling her reckless and not as clever as him, but she wasn't angry. Men, sometimes they like to proudly show off their little tricks—why should she bother with that?
"But if it weren't for me, Second Brother and Feifei wouldn't have been able to make Zhao Xiulan hand over the chickens, let alone two hens."
That was true, Ming Erde admitted. With Xu Cuihua backing them up, he had managed to get his hands on the two hens.
"Cuihua definitely deserves credit. How about we call it a draw?"
Ming Fei, who had been happily watching the drama, was taken aback when Ming Erde and Xu Cuihua both looked at her. She nodded and said, "Ah, okay! Both Mom and Dad are super amazing, the best ever!"
Keeping things fair and balanced!
Xu Sulan was in the yard sorting herbs and couldn't help shaking her head at the sounds coming from inside. These two, still acting like kids.
After finishing their serious discussion, Xu Cuihua took a bowl, poured in the leftover bone scraps from lunch, and handed it to Ming Fei. "Feifei, you feed it."
Ming Fei immediately understood that Xu Cuihua was training her to build a bond with the wolf cub. Judging by her intention, feeding the wolf would be Ming Fei's responsibility from now on, making her its sole owner.
She took the bowl and crouched down. The wolf cub, catching the scent, circled around her, wagging its tail excitedly. As soon as Ming Fei set the bowl down, it rushed over and buried its face in it.
The chicken bones inside had been chopped up by Xu Cuihua and mixed with leftover dough drop soup from the morning. For the wolf cub, it was just right. Already hungry, it ate eagerly, its tail wagging happily. Ming Fei couldn't resist reaching out and stroking its back.
The wolf cub paused for a moment while eating, then continued.
It was clear that the wolf cub had been well cared for by its mother—it was plump even in the harsh winter, and its fur felt wonderful. However, it might have to endure some tough times at their house. After all, they couldn't afford to give it meat every other day.
After feeding the wolf cub, Ming Fei brought a small stool and sat next to Xu Sulan, watching her process the herbs. Ming Erde went back to his room to lie down, while Xu Cuihua stayed in the yard repairing the door panel from Zhu Xiaoqi's house.
Once fixed, it had to be returned.
Hearing a knock at the door, Ming Fei was the first to jump up and answer it. Xu Sulan and Xu Cuihua both stopped what they were doing.
Seeing the Daduizhang outside, followed by Old Mrs. Ming and Ming Dade, Ming Fei immediately realized that Ming Erde had been right to kill the chickens early.
The Daduizhang really didn't want to come!
Yesterday's incident was entirely the fault of Jin Dan and his brother. It was attempted murder—and against their own cousin, no less. Usually, Ming Erde and his wife treated Jin Dan and Yin Dan so well, yet the brothers tried to take the life of their only daughter. Who wouldn't go mad over something like that?
So even though Xu Cuihua had beaten up Ming Dade's entire family yesterday, the Daduizhang hadn't come to say anything—it was what that family deserved. Today, Ming Erde taking two hens was even better, at least giving Jin Dan and his brother a lesson and reminding Ming Dade and his family to teach their children properly instead of spoiling them rotten.
In the Dadui, twelve-year-old boys could already be considered half-adults, yet Jin Dan still fooled around outside all day, doing nothing useful.
But Ming Dade came to him, saying Ming Erde wanted to raise five chickens, which was against the rules, so he had to come check.
"Aunt Sulan, Sister Cuihua, have you eaten yet?"
As soon as Xu Cuihua saw Ming Dade following behind the Daduizhang, she immediately understood what was going on. She stood up expressionlessly, "What brings you here, Daduizhang?"
The Daduizhang glanced at Old Mrs. Ming and Ming Dade, feeling his head ache. "How many chickens do you have now? Each household is only allowed to raise three—no more."
"We only have three. Oh, are you talking about the two hens Auntie gave Feifei this morning to nourish her? They've already been slaughtered. We even had meat for lunch and haven't thanked Auntie yet. The mushroom stewed chicken was so fragrant, and we can still use the broth to make dough drop soup tonight."
Old Mrs. Ming and Ming Dade had originally wanted the Daduizhang to intervene, hoping to get the two hens back—or at least one if possible. When Ming Dade returned from work and heard both hens had been taken, his heart felt like it was bleeding.
He had been counting on those hens to lay eggs, which he could sell at the Gongxiaoshe to save up for Jin Dan's future wedding!
If he couldn't get them back, he was even willing to add some money to exchange for them.
When the mother and son heard the hens had already been slaughtered, their faces instantly changed. "How is that possible? Those two were egg-laying hens!"
How could they possibly have slaughtered them for meat?
Had they never seen meat before?!
Ming Erde came out of the house just then, holding a slaughtered chicken in his hand. "They were slaughtered, both of them. We ate one at noon, and this one is for stewing in a couple of days to nourish our Feifei. Auntie, look, here it is. Do you want to see the leftover chicken bones from lunch?"
Ming Fei sat to the side, watching her parents provoke the others. Her eyes sparkled mischievously. "Grandma, thank you for the chickens. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a shuttlecock to play with. Isn't this shuttlecock pretty?"
When Old Mrs. Ming saw the new shuttlecock in Ming Fei's hand and thought of the hens she had carefully tended to, hearing Xu Cuihua and Ming Erde repeatedly call her "Auntie," her vision darkened, and she swayed as if about to faint.
Ming Dade quickly steadied Old Mrs. Ming and immediately began reproaching Ming Erde for his lack of filial piety. "Second Brother, look how you've angered Mom. Aren't you afraid people will criticize you? What kind of son lets a woman run the household?"
"That's your mom. Auntie said this morning she doesn't have a son like me, so from now on, I'll just call her Auntie. You can keep calling her Mom."
Ming Erde was clearly being shameless. Since Old Mrs. Ming dared to threaten him by saying she didn't have a son like him, he dared to call her Auntie from now on.
The Daduizhang: "…"
His head really ached.
"Alright, alright. Since the chickens have already been slaughtered, Erde only has three chickens here—no extra ones. Let's go, let's go."
He had only come to go through the motions and really didn't want to stay any longer. He hadn't eaten yet after returning from the Gongshe.
"And there's Dade, you really ought to keep a tighter rein on Jin Dan and Yin Dan too. This isn't Erde and Sister Cuihua's fault. Jin Dan went too far. If there's a next time, they'll just call the police and have him sent off to eat peanuts. Then see if you regret it or not."
The latter part was purely to scare Ming Dade, but if Jin Dan wasn't reined in soon, it really could happen in the future. With nothing better to do all day, he was always stealing chickens and dogs—yet their family treated him like some precious treasure.
The Daduizhang turned and left. Ming Dade stared resentfully at the cleaned chicken in Ming Erde's hands.
"Second brother, Mom's getting senile. She's just angry right now. We brothers are family after all. Jin Dan, Yin Dan, and Baodan are all terrified, still crying and fussing. Since Feifei has already eaten one chicken, why not let me take this one back for Baodan?" Ming Dade said in a placating tone.
This was their own family-raised chicken—what did a girl like Ming Fei need with eating so much!
"Jin Dan and Yin Dan did wrong, but Baodan still calls you Second Uncle."
Author's note: