A single bowl of braised pork belly contained only a few pieces of meat, which the family quickly split and finished.
“Dad, you eat this big pork trotter. This one is for you. Eat more meat so your leg heals faster, hee-hee!”
“Mom, you eat the big chicken leg and drink the blueberry juice. As for these two chicken legs, Jinjin and Mommy will have one each, hee-hee!”
Jinjin looked at the food on the big stone, generously pushed the plate with the big trotter in front of Jin Yao, and then picked up one of the two big chicken legs from another plate to hand it to Liu Dujuan.
There was only one cup of blueberry juice, so she gave it to her mother first so she could taste it.
She had drunk it before, so she could just ask for another cup next time.
Liu Dujuan took the chicken leg, but looking at the brightly colored cup, she didn’t take it, asking in surprise: “Jinjin, what is blueberry juice?”
“It’s juice squeezed from blueberries, it’s super delicious! Mom, give it a try. Just poke this straw into this small opening!” Jinjin instructed Liu Dujuan to insert the straw into the designated hole on the cup lid and encouraged her to try it.
Liu Dujuan turned the colorful beverage cup around, hesitating a bit.
She didn’t know what blueberries were.
However, seeing her daughter already happily gnawing on the chicken leg, she slowly brought the straw to her mouth and took it in.
Instantly, a sweet and sour flavor burst open in her mouth!
Liu Dujuan’s eyes widened instantly, and she handed it toward Jin Yao: “Husband, this tastes so good! It’s a flavor we’ve never tasted before, try it.”
Yet, Jin Yao stared at Liu Dujuan’s mouth, his eyes round with disbelief. How had Dujuan’s mouth turned black?
“Dujuan, your mouth…”
Liu Dujuan froze, subconsciously wiping her lips with her hand, instantly leaving a patch of dark blue-black on her skin.
“Ah, what happened to me? Husband, I couldn’t be poisoned, right?” Scared, Liu Dujuan quickly set the blueberry juice on the big stone, wiped her mouth frantically, and asked Jin Yao in a panic.
Jinjin was instantly amused by her mother’s reaction and burst out laughing.
“Mom, you look just like I did the first time I drank blueberry juice, ha-ha-ha!”
Jin Yao was just about to stand up to check on his wife when he paused at Jinjin’s laughter. The couple looked at Jinjin, perplexed.
Jinjin said with a smile: “This blueberry juice is just this color. It’s not poison; it’s a drink made from squeezing small dark blue fruits into juice. Mom, if you drink some water later or eat something else, the color will go away.”
Only then did Liu Dujuan and Jin Yao understand, letting out a sigh of relief in unison.
“The world truly is vast and full of wonders. To think there’s food of this color, and it tastes so good too!”
Once Liu Dujuan understood, her mood relaxed. Savoring the taste of the blueberry juice again and realizing she had made a fool of herself, she made a self-conscious sigh.
Jin Yao, piqued with curiosity about the blueberry juice by her reaction, took it over and took a light sip. His facial features instantly scrunched together, and he quickly handed it back to Liu Dujuan.
Liu Dujuan took it back and asked with a smile, “What’s wrong, Husband?”
“So sour! I don’t like this flavor. You drink it!” Jin Yao waved his hand.
He didn’t like this taste.
“It’s not sour at all, it tastes great and it’s sweet too.” Liu Dujuan held it up to continue drinking, occasionally taking a small bite of her chicken leg.
Jinjin was indeed her daughter; she loved all the food her daughter had asked for her.
“Jinjin, what is this?” Jin Yao ate a few bites of the meat on the trotter, pointing at a red paper box on the side to ask Jinjin.
“This is a hamburger. In a little bit, we can taste it together!”
“I can also smell the aroma of roasted sweet potato,” Liu Dujuan said curiously, scanning the boxes and small bags on the big stone.
“Mm-hmm, there’s roasted sweet potato!” Jinjin nodded.
Speaking of sweet potatoes, Jin Yao smiled and told them a funny story about when he was a teenager. He, Yang Hu, and the others went hunting, got hungry, dug up two sweet potatoes from someone else’s field, and roasted them, only to have the owner chase them to their doorstep to scold them.
“Jinjin, can we put these foods in the house and eat them tomorrow?”
The family had shared the braised pork belly and the big trotter. Besides Jinjin and her eating the chicken legs, hamburger, and blueberry juice, they couldn’t finish the remaining food, so Liu Dujuan asked Jinjin.
Jinjin shook her head, “No, it’s summer right now and we don’t have a refrigerator. Putting these inside the house will make them go bad.”
That was what her mother used to tell her.
“What is a refrigerator?” Jin Yao and Dujuan both had question marks on their faces.
“It’s a big box that’s cold inside. If you put unfinished food inside during summer, you can still eat it tomorrow,” Jinjin said, recalling her family’s refrigerator.
Liu Dujuan remarked with emotion, “The world Jinjin visited is really wonderful. There’s even food that can’t be finished? We have never eaten our fill before, let alone have leftover food.”
Jin Yao nodded in agreement. This meal was perhaps the fullest he had eaten in his entire life, and the meal with the most meat.
Jinjin pursed her lips and looked at them. Her parents used to be so pitiful!
“Eat up, finish it all! In the future, Jinjin will ask for meat for Mom and Dad every day!” Jinjin grinned and said.
Jin Yao and Liu Dujuan exchanged a glance, thinking that made sense. The family could only divide and finish the remaining food. Fortunately, those were small portions; split among three people, each took a small piece and finished it.
Feeling completely full, the family subconsciously rubbed their bellies and let out a full burp. So full!
To avoid others discovering Jinjin’s anomaly, Jin Yao, after seeking Jinjin’s permission, threw the packaging boxes of the food into the makeshift stove to burn them.
As for the white porcelain plates, Liu Dujuan carefully washed them clean and placed them back into the wooden basin inside the house, which would conveniently come in handy for them later.
Fearing that Jinjin might feel uncomfortable in her tummy during the night, Liu Dujuan took Jinjin for a walk back and forth on the open ground in front of the door.
Jinjin suddenly remembered Xiaobai.
“Oh no, Dad, Jinjin was too hungry and forgot to save meat for Xiaobai!” Jinjin stuck out her tongue, speaking apologetically.
Jin Yao smiled softly: “Xiaobai only eats raw meat, you don’t need to save cooked meat for it.”
“Oh, that’s good then, hee-hee!”
Jinjin grinned, responding obediently. So Xiaobai couldn’t eat cooked meat!
Their family ate happily tonight, completely unaware that this scene just now was seen in its entirety by Mistress Xu, who was hiding behind a large tree spying on them.
Because of the distance, she couldn’t see clearly what they were eating, but she smelled the rich aroma of meat. She was certain it was meat.
She also saw Jinjin holding the broken bowl brought from home, muttering something on the big stone, only to suddenly look into her bowl and become extremely excited.
Afterward, she placed the bowl on the big stone and said something, and even more things appeared on that big stone, along with plates and other items.
Later, seeing their whole family gather around to eat, Mistress Xu was so consumed with hatred that she nearly dug a hole into the trunk of that large tree.
Not only was she mad with anger and jealousy, but she was also drooling with greed.
She felt there must be something peculiar about that broken bowl. Could it be a divine bowl?
The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. It must be so! She wished she could rush out directly and snatch it away.
This bowl was taken from their home, so it should originally belong to them. All this meat should also belong to their eldest branch and be given to their Haohao to eat instead. Her Haohao was the one who would carry on the family line for the old Jin family!
The more Mistress Xu thought about it, the more hatred filled her heart. They shouldn’t have let them take a single item away; it would be best if they starved or froze to death outside. This dirty family of wretched wildlings didn’t deserve to live in this world.
Living with them these past few years, she had been gritting her teeth and enduring it.
Ever since she learned about Jin Yao’s life background from the old woman, she felt sick to her stomach every time she saw Jin Yao.
However, Mistress Xu held back.
Now Jin Yao’s leg looked like it was getting better, and she was afraid of getting beaten. She had to go back and tell those two old fools, letting them come and demand this broken bowl back from Jin Yao!