Then Lin Changsong abruptly changed tack. “I was the one who got it wrong. Once Minghai passes the xiucai examination, becomes a juren, and rises to become a high-ranking official, we in the Second Branch will be able to enjoy the benefits too! By then, we’ll eat white-flour steamed buns every day and have meat at every meal! Erya will be able to marry well, and Goudan will be able to attend school! What’s the big deal about going hungry for a few meals now?”
He even began imagining their future life of “luxury.”
“By then, we’ll have Minghai arrange an easy job for his Second Uncle at the county office, set up a shop for his Second Aunt, introduce Erya to one of his classmates, and find Goudan a good tutor…”
Old Madam Liu and Xiao Liushi’s faces turned green the instant they heard this.
Old Madam Liu kicked him away and cursed, “Shut up! Stop dreaming your ridiculous dreams! Do you think you’re worthy of benefiting from Minghai’s success?”
Xiao Liushi also believed that everything Minghai had belonged to the First Branch. How dare the Second Branch covet it? It was practically an unforgivable crime!
At the same time, the words “the Second Branch wants to suck them dry” successfully took root in the hearts of both women from the Liu family.
The four of them slipped away as fast as their feet could carry them, while the continuous stream of Old Madam Liu’s curses poured out from the main room.
Apart from Lin Mingjiang, who had stuffed his belly full of cabbage, none of the people from the First Branch had eaten a bite yet.
Old Madam Liu was in a foul mood that day, and her brain hurt. She also forgot that her precious eldest son was still hungry, so she returned to her room, grumbling and cursing all the way.
However, there was no shortage of food in the First Branch’s room. Once the couple shut the door, they ate pastries.
Therefore, in the old Lin household, the only person who truly went hungry that day was Lin Daya.
When Old Madam Liu had smashed the bowl earlier, flying shards of porcelain had cut the back of her hand.
Lin Daya returned to her room on an empty stomach and buried her head in her arms, crying for a while.
Lying in bed, Old Madam Liu had been frightened by the Second Branch’s “madness” that day. It reminded her of her youngest daughter, Lin Xi.
Lin Xi had originally been a useless daughter who could not get a single word out of herself even if someone beat her with a stick. Yet ever since she had “married” that cripple, she had dared to return home and raise her voice at her!
Later, Lin Xi had become even more like an iron rooster, unwilling to give up even a single feather.
Old Madam Liu was worried that the Second Branch would learn from that wretched girl Lin Xi and suddenly become uncontrollable.
She still did not know that the members of the Second Branch had already been starved to death by her, and that the four members of the family had changed from the inside out. In the future, they would only go farther and farther down the road of being “uncontrollable.”
The next day, when Shen-shi came to collect the grain for breakfast, Old Madam Liu gave her the amount needed for the entire family with a stony expression.
Once the food was ready, the people from the Second Branch came in. Before Lin Changsong could even begin to “show filial respect,” Old Madam Liu immediately darkened her face and cursed, “Eat quickly! Once you’re done, get out and go work! You’re all lazybones, good-for-nothings, and barren hens! Why don’t you just eat yourselves to death!”
As long as no one was called out by name, the people from the Second Branch did not take the words personally. After eating a bland, flavorless breakfast, they went off to work.
Lin Changsong was supposed to follow Old Man Lin and Third Son Lin to the fields, but he had always been the type to slack off whenever possible. As the old saying went, “A lazy donkey has excessive piss and shit when it reaches the mill.” He had not even been in the fields for fifteen minutes before claiming that his stomach hurt.
Old Man Lin and Third Son Lin were used to it. They waved their hands and let him leave.
Meanwhile, Wang Ya took her children to accept the household’s assigned tasks of gathering firewood and cutting pigweed. The chores of feeding the chickens, washing clothes, sweeping the floor, and cooking were left to the people of the Third Branch.
This suited Old Madam Liu perfectly. She had been afraid that the Second Branch would steal food while cooking.
Thus, the four members of the Second Branch successfully met up at the foot of the mountain.
They had arranged this the day before. Now they had neither food nor money, so they could only go into the mountains and search for something to eat.
The great green mountains stretching endlessly behind Kaoshan Village had saved several surrounding villages during years of disaster. By now, the vegetation on the mountains had mostly recovered, so finding something edible there was not difficult. That morning, they had only drunk a little rice water and eaten half a hard, dry wowotou each. Their stomachs were still empty.
“Let’s go! Up the mountain! The Chairman said it himself: If you work with your own hands, you’ll have plenty to eat and wear!” Lin Changsong waved his hand, looking very much like he did back when he had led students into the countryside for fieldwork.
Along the way, Professor Lin’s agricultural spirit began to burn brightly.
“Look! That’s purslane! It’s excellent blanched and served cold!”
“Oh, there are wild scallions here! They’re a seasoning miracle!”
“Wife, look quickly! Wild Chinese yams! Good stuff! Dig them up!”
“Son, that patch over there is wild fiddlehead fern. They’re still tender—pick them!”
“Xiaowei, there are wild fruits on that tree! Hey, hey, don’t eat them directly. Some will sour your teeth, and some might be poisonous. Let Dad examine them first!”
Lin Changsong instantly transformed into a human wild-vegetable identification machine. His eyes flashed as he directed everyone with absolute confidence.
Wang Ya and Lin Minghao were responsible for gathering the plants. Their movements were clumsy, but their enthusiasm was high.
Lin Xiaowei had a more important task—to start the fire.
As a cultural-heritage blogger with millions of followers across the internet, she had also made wilderness-survival videos during the early days of her career. Starting a fire was not difficult for her.
She found dry dead grass to use as tinder, selected thin, dry branches for kindling, and then found two relatively smooth sticks. Recalling the key points of drilling wood to make fire, she began.
“Sis, are you sure this is going to work? On television, I always see people rubbing for ages…” Lin Minghao expressed his doubts while pulling up wild vegetables.
“Shut up.” Lin Xiaowei held her breath and desperately rubbed the stick in her hands.
Her palms were almost rubbed raw when, at last, a wisp of green smoke began to rise!
“It’s lit! It’s lit!” Wang Ya cried out in delight.
Lin Xiaowei carefully tipped the ember into the tinder she had prepared, then blew gently. At first, a plume of green smoke rose. Gradually, a small flame sprang to life and danced merrily!
“It worked!” Lin Xiaowei was bursting with a sense of accomplishment. Although her palms hurt terribly, her face blossomed into a smile. “Quick, add more firewood!”
They did not have a pot either, so they broke the Chinese yams into sections and placed the whole pieces directly into the fire to roast.
Wang Ya found some slender branches, threaded the wild scallions onto them, and held them over the fire. Once they were nearly done, she sprinkled on a little salt and divided them among the four of them.
“Mom, where did you get salt?” Lin Minghao asked curiously.
“Ahem… I grabbed it when we left the house.”
Lin Xiaowei gave her a thumbs-up. People really could not go without salt.
The salt these days was far too coarse, though, and it even tasted bitter. Once they moved out and established their own household, she would make fine salt herself.
The yams were almost roasted. Wang Ya used a branch to pull them out, heedless of the heat, and carefully peeled away their outer skins, revealing the white, soft, sticky flesh inside.
“Wah… These roasted yams are soft, sticky, fragrant, and sweet. Even three Michelin stars couldn’t tempt me to trade them away!” Wang Ya ate until tears of emotion filled her eyes.
“Roasting them like this makes them fragrant! So fragrant!” Lin Changsong gnawed at his yam with his entire mouth covered in ash.
“Sis, starting this fire was so timely! You’re my god!” Lin Minghao showered her with flattery.
It was a primitive barbecue feast. Although it was crude, it was the first time they had managed to fill their stomachs in this unfamiliar era through their own efforts.
Looking at the considerable amount of yams and wild vegetables that remained, Wang Ya fretted. “If we take these back, that old hag will definitely search them out and confiscate them.”
Lin Xiaowei’s eyes shifted, and she revealed a sly, foxlike smile. “Dad, Mom, we need to make use of our subjective initiative. If we can’t do it openly, we’ll do it secretly! We need to find a place to establish our own ‘secret base’ and ‘little treasury’!”
Lin Minghao thought for a moment, then his eyes lit up. “I know a place!”
The other three looked toward him. He stood up and dusted off his backside.
“Come on. I’m the only one who knows where it is.”