Wang Guixiang suddenly rummaged and found a few herbs in the basket.
“Huh? What’s this?” Frowning, she picked them up with a look of confusion.
“Mother! That’s astragalus! Don’t ruin it! Sister-in-law said this can be sold for money.”
Xiao Yue grew excited instantly, and she immediately chattered away, explaining everything that had happened on the mountain.
Wang Guixiang was stunned by what she heard. She couldn’t help but look at Su He. “You actually know medicinal herbs?”
As expected of mother and daughter, their reactions were identical.
“Yes. Back in the estate, I learned some basics from the physician,” Su He repeated, her expression completely natural.
“Now that is a real skill.” Wang Guixiang looked at her, her gaze noticeably shifting.
At the border, both grain and medicine were valuable, and not many people knew how to recognize herbs. She fell silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke up.
“Take Xiao Yue with you when you go up the mountain from now on. Dig up more of it.”
This sentence was an unspoken acknowledgment of Su He’s status in the household.
Xiao Yue was thrilled. “Mother, Sister-in-law even said we can cultivate the astragalus!”
“Cultivate it?” Wang Guixiang blanked. “This stuff can be grown?”
“Yes,” Su He nodded. “We can nurture these few plants in the courtyard for a bit. Once they grow a little larger, they’ll fetch an even better price.”
In reality, she could easily accelerate their growth with her superpower, but on the surface, there had to be a process. Most importantly, there were still too few astragalus plants right now. Making a dedicated trip to the pharmacy would be a hassle, so it was better to wait a few more days.
“Then let’s give it a try.” Wang Guixiang looked at the few stalks of astragalus and nodded. She gestured toward a corner of the yard. “That patch of land is empty. If you want to plant them, do it over there.”
Su He followed her gaze. There was indeed a small patch of land in the corner of the yard. The soil was cracked dry and the weeds were sparse; it didn’t look like a place where anything could grow. But in her eyes, it was an opportunity.
“Alright.” She carefully set the astragalus aside and emptied the wild vegetables into a basin.
“Sister-in-law, let me wash them!” Xiao Yue smiled, her eyes curving like crescents. She had clearly accepted Su He as one of their own.
Wang Guixiang watched this scene without a word, lowering her head to continue cleaning the vegetables, but the corners of her mouth relaxed slightly. This new bride wasn’t as delicate and useless as she had imagined.
Su He asked for a small hoe and walked over to the empty patch of land in the courtyard. She felt the soil on the ground and knew at a glance that it was semi-sandy land.
It didn’t matter. No matter how barren the land was, she could still grow crops on it. She bent down and began loosening the soil, her movements highly practiced. Back in the apocalypse, she dealt with cultivation fields every day and had long grown used to this kind of work.
Before long, she dug a few small pits, carefully transplanted the astragalus inside, and covered them with soil. Then, taking advantage of the moment when the others weren’t paying attention, she quietly funneled a bit of wood-element energy into the earth. Nourishing and stimulating them with her superpower over the next two days would strengthen their root systems, naturally driving up the selling price.
Once she finished, she stood up and scanned the area, finding that a large portion of the vegetable patch was still empty, which felt like a waste.
“Auntie, do we have any seeds at home? I’d like to plant some more.”
Wang Guixiang blanked for a moment, then thought about it. “Wait here.”
Promptly, she went into the house, searched around for a bit, and came out with a small packet of vegetable seeds. “These were left over from the spring planting selections. The seeds aren’t very good, but if you want to plant them, take them and try your luck.”
It was rare for the new bride to show such initiative, proving she was industrious and proactive, so Wang Guixiang didn’t want to dampen her spirits. She would let her plant them for fun; after all, these seeds didn’t cost any money anyway.
“It’s fine, Auntie. Actually, I have quite a knack for farming. As long as there are seeds, I can make them grow.” Su He smiled as she took the seeds, smoothly laying down another layer of groundwork for her capabilities.
By the water trough, Wang Guixiang and Xiao Yue had already washed the two baskets of wild vegetables completely clean.
Handful after handful of purslane was laid out in the wooden basin, tender green and bright. Just looking at it made one feel at ease.
“This vegetable is so tender,” Wang Guixiang couldn’t help but murmur as she sorted through the greens. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen wild vegetables this good.”
Xiao Yue smiled, her eyes curving like crescents. “That’s because Sister-in-law has great luck!” Anyone else would have completely missed them. As she spoke, she snuck a glance at Su He.
In her heart, she was now entirely convinced that her sister-in-law possessed an auspicious aura. Following her from now on would definitely bring good things.
Seeing that it was about time, the mother and daughter began busying themselves with the morning meal for the family.
The stove fire was quickly lit, the bottom of the pot glowing red from the burning firewood. Wang Guixiang dumped the chopped wild vegetables into a wooden basin and added a large handful of coarse grain flour. This kind of flour was milled from wheat bran mixed with sorghum rice; it was dark yellow, coarse-grained, and naturally incomparable to fine white flour.
Wang Guixiang poured in a bit of water and worked the dough slowly with her hands, softening it as much as possible so it wouldn’t scrape too harshly against their throats when swallowed.
Before long, a basin of wild vegetable dough was thoroughly mixed.
Xiao Yue added more wood to the hearth, causing the flames to instantly surge brighter. Once the pot was heated through, Wang Guixiang shaped the dough into flat cakes and slapped them directly onto the sides of the pot.
Sizzle~
This was the traditional method of pan-searing. Not a single drop of oil was used; it relied entirely on the food’s natural moisture. As the coarse grain flatbreads met the heat, they slowly released a faint, toasted wheat aroma. Combined with the fresh scent of the wild greens, a savory fragrance soon drifted across the entire small courtyard.
Out in the yard, Su He was squatting on the ground, delivering a final touch of superpower nourishment to the newly opened vegetable patch. From her angle, she could see right into the kitchen. Although it was a common, everyday scene, it touched her deeply. She hadn’t seen a family gathering around a stove to prepare a meal in a very long time. It brought her a profound sense of peace and a gentle warmth of contentment.
On the other side of the yard, Xiao Jun couldn’t resist the smell any longer and edged closer to the stove. “Mother, is it ready yet?” His stomach had been growling for ages.
Wang Guixiang glared at him. “What’s the rush? It’s not done yet.” Despite her words, she still handed him the very first flatbread that finished cooking. “Gorge yourself on this first.”
The saying “a half-grown boy can eat a father out of house and home” was no joke. A fifteen- or sixteen-year-old lad had an appetite like a bottomless pit, not to mention they had a grown, heavily built man in the house who possessed immense physical strength. It was no wonder their grain supplies depleted so rapidly.
“Thanks, Mother~” Xiao Jun grinned broadly, taking a huge bite of the flatbread without even caring if it burned his mouth.
“Go to the back yard and call your eldest brother to eat.” Her eldest son was also someone who couldn’t stay idle; he had gotten up early in the morning to chop bamboo behind the house.
“Alright~” Xiao Jun took two quick bites, slightly appeasing the hunger pangs in his stomach, and walked toward the back yard. “Eldest Brother! Time to eat!”
“Heard you,” Xiao Zheng called back. He deftly tied up a bundle of bamboo and dragged it to the front yard. Now that the household had an extra person, they were missing quite a few daily implements.
The moment he reached the front yard, his nose caught the faint scent of baking flatbreads. The family’s rations improved?! At the thought, he felt his stomach growl with a deeper hunger.
Wang Guixiang peeled the cooked wild vegetable flatbreads off the pot one by one, stacking them in a wooden platter. The thick stack of flatbreads was noticeably larger in volume than their meal yesterday afternoon.
“Alright, set out the bowls and chopsticks, we’re opening the meal right away!” Wang Guixiang called out to her children, and everyone immediately split up the tasks.
Soon, the table was set with a bamboo basket piled with wild vegetable coarse grain flatbreads, a basin of wild vegetable soup, a plate of lightly tossed purslane, and a bowl of dried pickled vegetables. It was similar to yesterday’s fare, but the portions were significantly larger, and the flatbreads themselves were a full size wider.
“Eat up, quickly.”