Old Man Liu cast a smiling glance at his youngest grandson and said nothing. Unhurriedly, he extended his chopsticks and picked up a piece of meat.
He moved it slowly toward his mouth but deliberately didn’t eat it. Only when he saw his grandson’s eyes welling up with tears did he feel satisfied enough to change direction and place the meat into Old Mrs. Liu’s bowl.
Receiving a glare from his wife, he gave an awkward light cough and said, “Let’s eat!”
Instantly, chopsticks flew in all directions. The four boys, quick, precise, and ruthless, each snatched a huge mouthful of meat and stuffed it into their mouths. In no time at all, half of the large basin of meat was completely devoured before their pace finally slowed down.
Seeing that her grandparents and parents seemed reluctant to eat much, Liu Sitian stood up. Using a spoon in her left hand and chopsticks in her right, she worked them together to scoop up plenty of meat and distributed it into their bowls.
“Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, eat. Lots of meat.”
After speaking, she sat back down, picking up her spoon to eat her fragrant white-flour noodles and poached egg. This was a privilege exclusive to her birthday.
Do not look down upon this simple bowl of noodles. In this era, apart from the elders, which young people or children ever celebrated birthdays? Even for the elderly, birthdays were usually only celebrated for grand milestones like turning sixty or sixty-six.
The four boys who had been scrambling for meat paused. Liu Siwen, being the eldest, felt especially ashamed; he actually hadn’t noticed that his grandparents and parents hadn’t eaten much.
He hurriedly used his chopsticks to scoop up a few more pieces of meat for them. “Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, Mom, please eat. My brothers and I are on vacation these few days. We’ll be more diligent about going up the mountain, and maybe we can catch some more!”
Liu Sitian curled her lips secretly in her mind. Without me, how could you guys possibly catch anything?
Slurp… The noodles were quite chewy and firm! Delightful!
The other three brothers, Liu Siwu and his siblings, also nodded along. Liu Siwei even piped up, “Once the rain stops in a bit, we’ll go catch some fish.”
Old Man Liu loved eating small river fish like loaches, minnows, and sleeper fish. Stewed together with potatoes, soybean paste, and a bit of wild mugwort, it was incredibly fragrant.
“Good, good, good, everyone eat,” Old Man Liu said three “goods” in a row.
The other three adults were also very happy. Who didn’t love eating meat? Even adults craved it! They just loved the children too much to bring themselves to eat it.
Old Mrs. Liu stroked her granddaughter’s little head, her face full of tender affection. Her granddaughter was truly a sweet little quilted jacket—the most filial of all.
After breakfast, Liu Siwen stayed behind to help at home, while the other three boys took their homemade fishing nets and buckets to catch fish.
Liu Sitian stuffed the eggs she hadn’t eaten the night before into her four older brothers’ hands, exactly one for each of them. Half-grown boys grew hungry quickly.
She had slept like a log last night, only waking up once in the middle of the night in a daze. She turned on the flashlight herself, crawled down from the kang to use the small chamber pot, and then climbed back up to continue sleeping, so she hadn’t touched the eggs at all.
Liu Siwei happily pulled a radish for his sister. “Little sister, except for you, no one else ever gets to eat Grandma’s boiled eggs. Don’t you worry, Fourth Brother will definitely catch lots and lots of fish for you to eat today.” He slapped his chest righteously.
This earned him a roll of the eyes from Liu Sitian. I didn’t eat the boiled eggs, but have I eaten any less egg custard or egg drop sauce?
Liu Siwu mocked him without ceremony, “More like catching them for yourself to eat. If we had to wait for you to catch fish, we’d all starve to death craving it. It’ll be a miracle if you can even catch a single tiny crucian carp.”
“Who are you looking down on? I caught a wild pheasant yesterday, and it was fatter than any of yours.”
Seeing that Liu Siwei refused to back down, Liu Siwu ruthlessly exposed the truth, “Don’t think I didn’t see it. That pheasant yesterday got caught on a tree branch. More likely than not, the pheasant took pity on you because it saw the rest of us caught something while you had nothing, so it tripped itself on purpose.”
“Grandma, look at Second Brother bullying me!” Exposed and left tongue-tied, Liu Siwei could only look for outside help, lodging his complaint with a face full of tragic indignation.
Old Mrs. Liu chuckled warmly, “Grandma isn’t going to judge your dispute. Hurry along now, and don’t forget to bring back a bundle of mugwort when you come back from the river.”
“Got it, Grandma.”
With the fishermen gone, those staying at home also had plenty of chores to do. Only Liu Sitian was a lady of leisure, sitting in the courtyard out of boredom, looking over her home and daydreaming.
Their family courtyard was large because, on paper, her grandparents and their household were officially separated, which meant they possessed two residential plots.