After finishing his popsicle, Liu Siwei edged closer to Grandmother Liu and said, “Grandma, I want to eat biscuits and canned fruit too.”
He was only seven years old and still just a child!
“Sure, everyone gets to eat, everyone eats. I thought it was some huge crisis, seeing you grunting and holding it in for so long,” Grandmother Liu agreed immediately without a single moment of hesitation.
“Go grab a few bowls.”
The moment this boy pouted his rear, she knew exactly what kind of business he wanted to do!
Once she distributed a portion, she would lock the rest in the cabinet, saving it for her precious granddaughter to enjoy slowly over time.
Liu Siwei ran to the kitchen at top speed, grabbed the bowls and spoons, and dashed right back like a puff of smoke.
Liu Sishu edged over as well, and the two brothers watched their grandmother distribute the canned fruit with faces full of anticipation.
Seeing that they were only given two hawthorns each, they didn’t look disappointed at all; on the contrary, their smiles widened so much their mouths could hardly close.
It wasn’t a festival or a holiday, so being able to eat canned fruit at all was already grand enough; any further pickiness would surely earn them a beating.
There wasn’t much inside a jar of hawthorn canned fruit to begin with, so giving the four boys two hawthorns each and pouring them a little juice was considered quite sufficient.
Liu Siwen and Liu Siwu were older, after all. Seeing that their grandparents and parents weren’t eating, they felt a bit uneasy and kept offering it back to them for the longest time.
“Go ahead and eat. Your grandpa and grandma don’t care for this; it’s far too sour and could set our teeth on edge. Grandma is still saving her teeth to eat fish in a moment!”
Grandmother Liu had noticed just now that these three boys had caught quite a lot of fish today—half a water bucketful. Stewed with some potatoes, it would easily last them for two meals.
Grandfather Liu waved his hand continuously as well, indicating that he didn’t care to eat it either.
Elders were just like that; seeing the children eating happily made them more joyful than if they had eaten it themselves.
Only then did the few boys feel at ease to start eating, taking tiny bites and savoring the flavor slowly, looking thoroughly content.
Liu Tiantian also took tiny sips of the hawthorn juice; she didn’t care to eat the hawthorns themselves.
While the youngest ones, Liu Sishu and Liu Siwei, were busy eating, their eyes remained glued to the popsicle that Liu Tiantian had refused to finish.
Seeing their worthless behavior made Li Sufen frown slightly. There were still elders present in the household; how could they be so clueless when it came to food?
Just as she was about to scold them a bit, she saw Grandmother Liu and Grandfather Liu smiling cheerfully, so she swallowed her words back down.
Forget it!
Better not to ruin the atmosphere.
Liu Tiantian looked left and right, picked up the biscuit tin, and stuffed a biscuit right into Grandmother Liu’s mouth.
“Grandma won’t eat; Grandma doesn’t like eating them.”
“Eat it, it’s not sour. If Grandma won’t eat, Tiantian won’t eat either.” It wouldn’t set her teeth on edge! Refusal was not an option.
Unable to win the argument, Grandmother Liu opened her mouth and took it in one bite. “It’s delicious! The biscuits fed by Tiantian are exceptionally delicious.”
She smiled so broadly her mouth could hardly close.
Liu Tiantian grinned, slid down from the old lady’s lap, ran pit-a-pat over to Grandfather Liu’s side, and stuffed a biscuit into his mouth too.
“Grandpa, eat.”
Following the same pattern, she fed biscuits to both Liu Mancang and Li Sufen.
“Everyone eat! When Tiantian grows up, I’m going to earn lots and lots of money to buy lots of delicious food for Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, and Mom.”
As she spoke, she stretched out her chubby arms, making a great effort to draw a massive circle.
Indicating lots and lots.
Her adorable display made everyone burst out laughing. Grandfather Liu was especially delighted, praising her to no end.
“Good! Truly Grandpa’s good granddaughter. When Tiantian grows up, buy wine for Grandpa to drink and tobacco for Grandpa to smoke.”
Liu Tiantian nodded her little head vigorously, playing along.
Doting on her immensely, Grandmother Liu stood up, squatted down beside her granddaughter, pulled her into a tight embrace, and planted several fierce kisses on her cheeks.
After finishing his canned fruit, Liu Siwei wiped his mouth and said loudly, “Grandpa, Grandma, I will also work hard to earn work points in the future, make lots of money, and buy meat for Grandpa and Grandma to eat.
In the future, we will eat braised pork, pork and cabbage stew with vermicelli, and white flour dumplings every single day, eating as much as we want.”
Before he could even finish speaking, everyone heard a loud gulp.
The sound was so loud that everyone caught it, triggering another round of booming laughter from the crowd.
Liu Siwu unceremoniously laughed the loudest. “Oh, give me a break! Just look at how greedy you are; it wouldn’t even be enough for you to finish by yourself.”
Even Li Sufen was exasperated into laughing, scolding with a smile, “You can never get enough of anything.”
Yet, her heart felt deeply comforted. When children were filial, the elders felt as if they had eaten honey, sweet to the core.
Reflecting on her family’s conditions, Liu Tiantian knitted her tiny brow slightly. How could she reasonably bring out the items from her space to subsidize the household?
Previously, she had merely snapped the wings of wild pheasants and tossed them into the courtyard, and her family members always assumed they had struck a stroke of absolute good luck, blessed by their ancestors.
But what about grain, cattle, sheep, cotton, and fabrics?
Sigh…
Why did she have to cross over as a tiny infant?
Though the feeling of acting spoiled without any restraint was wonderful, drinking tasteless breast milk was truly miserable. Only now did she realize that what was even more miserable was possessing a treasure mountain in vain without being able to use it.
When would she be able to earn money openly and achieve financial freedom?
Sigh… her gourmet food, her beautiful clothes.
She was unwilling to eat alone inside her space; a profound sense of guilt made even chicken drumsticks lose their flavor. She pinched her chubby little arms; this was all flesh grown from eating alone.
Sigh, a meat pie couldn’t possibly just fall from the sky, right?
Wait?
A meat pie falling from the sky?
Why couldn’t a meat pie fall from the sky?
Never mind a meat pie falling; even a Sister Lin falling from the heavens wasn’t entirely impossible.
She had connections up above!
While it wasn’t right to pluck wool from the same sheep continuously, asking for a small favor should still be perfectly fine, right?
She had noticed Li Sufen’s tightly knitted brow just now. She herself didn’t think there was anything wrong with her brothers; her four older brothers were already highly sensible.
The moment school went on vacation, her eldest and second brothers would head to the production team to earn work points.
Her fourth brother looked a bit flighty, but with her third brother watching over him regularly, the two of them would head into the mountains to hunt, go down to the river to catch fish, and gather pigweed, being exceptionally capable.
At this age in later generations, children would still be the little tyrants of the household, requiring elders to coax them just to eat a piece of meat.
In her previous life, her dad always said that a child’s greed simply meant they hadn’t eaten enough; once they ate enough, see if they were still greedy?
In the final analysis, it was all caused by poverty.
The grand plan to earn money was a matter of utmost urgency.
Her goal: keep her eyes on the money, and earn it thick!
“Tiantian, what are you thinking about? A little kid like you already knows how to knit her brow.” Grandmother Liu directed her grandsons to clean the fish; during this season, the insides of the fish were quite messy, so they had to be meticulous.
The moment she looked up, she saw her little granddaughter knitting her tiny brow, clenching her little fists, a face full of absolute determination.
It was remarkably amusing.
“Nothing, Grandma. I was just wondering when the wild pear nuggets will be ready to eat,” Liu Tiantian quickly smoothed out her brow and replied sweetly.
It was fine not to mention it, but the moment she mentioned the wild pears, her mouth practically watered; she hadn’t tasted them yet in this life.
She loved eating them.
In her eyes, wild pear nuggets were the most delicious pears of all.
Sour and sweet, the flavor was exceptionally unique.
She could eat a small basinful at a single time.
“It will still take some time. Once they are properly ripened, Grandma will save them all for Tiantian.”
She hadn’t expected this girl of theirs to be such an impatient eater!
Wild pear nuggets were raw when picked, rock-hard and impossible to bite into. They had to be placed inside a wicker basket, covered with artemisia grass on top, and left to ripen for ten days to half a month. Only when they turned soft and yellow could they be eaten, and they would be exceptionally fragrant and sweet.
“Tomorrow your grandpa and the others are heading into the mountains again. Since you love eating them, I’ll have them gather plenty more.”
There were plenty of these things in the mountains; there would always be some that hadn’t been picked yet, so they weren’t considered anything rare.
Seeing her granddaughter smile, Grandmother Liu patted her little head and prepared to head out to the garden to pick vegetables, as it was almost time to cook lunch.