The others were already used to the old lady completely ignoring them.
Setting down the gunny sacks and back baskets, they piled their haul in the middle of the courtyard for the time being. Then, one by one, they rushed into the kitchen, picked up the water ladle, and gulped down cold water, absolutely parched.
The four boys each grabbed a cornmeal cake first and devoured them ravenously.
“Eat slower, don’t choke. There are still more in the wok,” Li Sufen said, pouring them a large tin mug of hot water.
She had made two consecutive batches of cakes on the wok that evening, and the second batch wasn’t done yet.
“Burp… Mom, we were practically starving to death. Grandma brought food for Tiantian, but she didn’t bring any for us. If we hadn’t eaten our fill this morning, and if Third Uncle and the others hadn’t brought a little food, plus the fact that Tiantian didn’t finish her food and let us eat it, we wouldn’t even have had the strength to walk back. Our legs were literally shaking on the way down the mountain,” Liu Siwei complained, looking aggrieved as he ate.
The other three boys of the Liu family didn’t talk much, focusing instead on stuffing the cornmeal cakes into their mouths.
The moment Old Mrs. Liu walked out, she heard her youngest grandson speaking ill of her. She glared at him and said, “Is that my fault? You guys said before leaving that you’d only go for the morning. I made a huge amount of food at home for lunch, and in the end, it was just your mother and me eating it.”
If it weren’t for the fact that her precious granddaughter hadn’t lost a single hair and hadn’t been bitten by mosquitoes—leaving the old lady in an excellent mood—he would have definitely tasted the business end of a broom handle.
Seeing Old Mrs. Liu come out, Liu Siwei didn’t dare to whined anymore and went quiet. But in no time, he was instantly fully revived and clamored, “Grandma, we wanted to come back early too, but we just couldn’t! There were way too many good things.”
He wiped his mouth casually with his sleeve, stopped eating his cornmeal cake, and grabbed Old Mrs. Liu’s arm, pulling her out into the courtyard.
“Grandma, look! We had a massive harvest today. Look at all these wild pheasants! The fattest one among them was caught by me.”
As he spoke, he rummaged through a gunny sack to find the wild pheasant he had caught and held it up next to Old Mrs. Liu, gesturing for her to look.
Old Mrs. Liu grinned so wide her eyes narrowed into slits. She lifted the pheasant up to gauge it. “It’s really rare to see a wild pheasant this big.”
“It must be at least eight or nine catties, right?” Old Mrs. Liu estimated, weighing it in her hand. “This is fatter than a domestic chicken.”
The others agreed and nodded. Old Man Liu puffed on his tobacco pipe, his face full of smiles. “Every single one of them is this fat.”
The Liu family’s eldest boy, Liu Siwen, the second boy, Liu Siwu, and the third boy, Liu Sishu, also hurriedly lifted the other good things for Old Mrs. Liu to see, their expressions carrying a hint of pride.
Over the past few years, their hard work had counted too!
“Oh my! That’s quite a lot, isn’t it? Could the mountains nearby really have this many good things?”
It shouldn’t be possible! Old Mrs. Liu found it a bit strange.
No wonder they didn’t return until it was almost dark. If other people saw this, who knew how green with envy they would be.
Old Mrs. Liu counted them up and was stunned. Five wild pheasants, four wild rabbits, and even a roe deer. There were also two gunny sacks full of hazel mushrooms and a basket of wild pears.
Hiss…
That was a mountain of meat!!
She looked at her old man in astonishment. She still understood her husband very well; he was highly reliable and would absolutely never take the children into the deep mountains.
Not to mention that their granddaughter was only two years old; even among the grandsons, the oldest, Siwen, was thirteen, Siwu was eleven, Sishu was nine, and Siwei was only seven. The two boys from the third son, Liu Manjin’s family, weren’t big either.
Seeing that the third son’s family hadn’t followed them here, they must have gone straight home first, and they should have taken a good amount of things back with them too.
Li Sufen also poked through the haul with great curiosity. She looked at Liu Mangcang and asked, “Mangcang, did you guys raid a pheasant’s nest or something?”
Those things were incredibly hard to catch and clever as devils. In the past, it was considered a good day if they occasionally caught one or two.
Liu Mangcang splashed water to wash his face. Grinning wide as he wiped his face dry, he replied, “It’s exactly as you said, we did raid a pheasant’s nest. We just had great luck today.”
“Let me tell it, let me tell it!”
Liu Siwei set down the wild pheasant and bared his teeth in excitement. “It was my little sister’s sharp eyes and keen ears. She was the very first to hear a chicken clucking. None of us heard it at first, but later Second Brother also said it sounded like there was a chicken clucking, so we quietly snuck over. Who would have thought it was real! A whole flock of them was just scratching around for bugs to eat there. They didn’t even know to run when they saw people, just standing there completely dazed. They were so easy to catch! There were eight in total. Third Uncle said his family has fewer people, so no matter what, he refused an equal split. After much persuasion, he took three, and our family took five. The rabbits were caught later, and my sister was also the first to spot them. Both of our families got four. There’s only this one roe deer, so we’ll process it at our house before dividing it.”
Old Mrs. Liu and Li Sufen both nodded in agreement.
The place where their family lived was quite spacious, spanning the size of two residential plots. Although they had neighbors, the houses were far apart, and their courtyard gate was built high. Elm trees were planted all around the perimeter of the courtyard, blocking the view completely. It made doing anything very convenient.