Wang shi, thin and frail, made seven or eight trips back and forth between the house and the river, exhausted and drenched in sweat. She had no time to dwell on it and immediately picked up an armful of firewood. “Jiaojiao, once you’re done, come help me light the fire, or we won’t get the meal ready in time!”
Li Jiaojiao turned to glance at the three or four basins piled high with clothes by the main room’s door and quietly sighed. “Mother, go rest, I’ll cook!”
Wang shi shook her head. “Your grandmother only gave us that little bit of grain today, you won’t be able to make anything with it!”
With so many mouths to feed in the family, Deng shi had given out only two scoops of flour in total, what could anyone make with that?
In the kitchen, Li Jiaojiao told Wang shi, “Mother, I estimated that with all that rehmannia, once it’s dried a bit more, it should come to over ten catties. At two taels of silver a catty, that’s more than ten catties, so that’s twenty taels of silver!”
Wang shi was stunned. She couldn’t believe it and muttered, “Twenty… taels?”
Li Jiaojiao nodded. “The batch I made this time isn’t in the best condition yet. Once I have some money, I’ll be able to make even better-quality rehmannia, maybe they’ll pay even more for it then!”
Watching Wang shi knead the dough, Li Jiaojiao scooped a few ladles of water into the pot and frowned. “Mother, is this little bit of flour even enough to eat?”
Wang shi sighed. “Everyone’s out working today, and it’s just you and me at home cooking. Your grandmother thinks the two of us have it too easy, so she’s deliberately making it hard for us! It’s fine, Jiaojiao, go cut some chives from the back yard!”
Li Jiaojiao frowned. “Mother, are you going to make pancakes?”
Wang shi sighed. “Put in plenty of vegetables and try to stretch it so each person gets one pancake!”
“Mother, two scoops of flour won’t be enough!”
Wang shi’s face was full of helplessness. Li Jiaojiao knew this was Deng shi deliberately making things hard on Wang shi, but Wang shi had no way to fight back. During the busy farming season, Old Man Li always wanted the women cooking at home to make more food, since at this time no one could afford to slack off, everyone had to push hard to finish planting before the rain came.
“Mother, why don’t I do it instead!”
Wang shi looked at Li Jiaojiao. Li Jiaojiao stepped forward and took a small lump of dough from Wang shi’s hands. “Mother, do we still have Sichuan peppercorns at home? Get me plenty of vegetables, radish, cabbage, cilantro…”
Seeing Wang shi didn’t quite believe her, Li Jiaojiao reassured her. “Mother, just go. Trust me, I’ll definitely get everyone fed and full!”
Half doubting, Wang shi still went along with Li Jiaojiao’s request and went to the back yard to pick a lot of vegetables. After washing the vegetables clean, she saw Li Jiaojiao had added seasoning to the pot, then was pinching off the dough into small pellets with her hands and dropping them into boiling water.
“Mother, chop the vegetables up, chop them fine!”
The dough wasn’t much, so it was all pinched into pellets in no time. Li Jiaojiao immediately began seasoning, a bit of ground Sichuan pepper, a bit of salt, but even with all that, half a pot of dough-drop soup was still too watery, looking too thin!
Once Wang shi threw in the chopped vegetable leaves, the soup still looked rather thin, and because so much vegetable had gone in, there was a strong vegetal smell.
“Jiaojiao, this… if your grandmother sees this, she’ll definitely scold us!” Wang shi’s face was full of worry. Deng shi was clearly out to get her and Li Jiaojiao, she wasn’t worried for herself, only for Li Jiaojiao.
“Not done yet!”
Li Jiaojiao took a bowl and grabbed a handful of starch from behind the door, this starch was kudzu root starch, made from the kudzu they’d dug up around the Dragon Boat Festival. When food ran short, Deng shi would take some out, mix it with boiling water, and drink it down.
Kudzu starch was still starch, and since there was no other starch in the house, she used it, mixing up a starch slurry and pouring it in. She stirred it a couple of times with a lump of salt, took the salt back out, and then sprinkled on a handful of chopped scallions.
Wang shi had never thought to make it this way. She watched with her own eyes as a whole pot of watery green soup turned into a thick, hearty dough-drop soup. That half a pot of soup, once divided among everyone in the family, came to about two bowls per person!
Looking up at the sky outside, Li Jiaojiao told Wang shi, “Mother, Grandfather and Grandmother will be back soon, let me go put things away first!”
Wang shi picked up a rag, having wanted to ask Li Jiaojiao how she knew how to make dough-drop soup like this, but seeing how quickly Li Jiaojiao had run off, she swallowed the question back down.
In the back yard, Li Jiaojiao quickly put several winnowing trays into the space. The moment she turned around, she saw Li Qiaoqiao and Li Juanjuan standing hand in hand not far off, staring straight at her.
Li Jiaojiao’s heart gave a startled jolt, had they seen her just now, throwing things into the space?
Fortunately, Li Jiaojiao had strong nerves, after all, she’d lived through two lifetimes now. She took a deep breath, calmly turned around, hopped down nimbly from the stool, and walked straight toward them.
“Jiaojiao, what were you doing standing up there just now?”
Li Qiaoqiao was the younger daughter of the eldest branch, Li Chengfu and Zhao shi, a few months older than Li Jiaojiao, with a melon-seed face, slightly high cheekbones, and freckles covering both cheeks. Zhao shi didn’t have much presence in the Li family, but fortunately she’d given Li Chengfu two sons and a daughter, which kept her position in the family secure.
Li Juanjuan was just like Hu shi, sharp-tongued and never one to let things go!
“Were you off doing something not fit to be seen again?”
Li Jiaojiao stopped immediately and turned to look at Li Juanjuan. At twelve, Li Juanjuan had a face full of youthful glow, round and plump, actually quite pretty, a shame about that mouth of hers. “Li Juanjuan, is it fit to be seen when you squat over the outhouse pit? If that’s the standard, next time you go to the outhouse, I’ll call the whole village over to watch, how about that?”
Li Juanjuan flared up in fury and pointed at Li Jiaojiao. “Li Jiaojiao, what nonsense are you spouting? Say one more word and I, I’ll beat you to death!”
Li Jiaojiao glanced at her coldly. “Go ahead, then!”
Li Juanjuan was nearly furious to death. Li Qiaoqiao frowned. “Grandfather and Grandmother will be back any moment, Jiaojiao, hurry and go set the table!”
Li Jiaojiao gave a cold snort and, without the slightest hesitation, left quickly!
Li Qiaoqiao went to the outhouse, and when she came out she didn’t see Li Juanjuan anywhere, and quietly sighed to herself.
Li Jiaojiao and Wang shi had just finished setting up the table and chairs when Deng shi and Old Man Li and the others came back. The moment they walked in, they saw a full basin of food piled high on the table, with more than a dozen bowls set out beside it, each one filled to the brim with dough-drop soup.
Old Man Li glanced at it, his brow furrowing so faintly it was barely noticeable.
Deng shi’s face darkened. “The whole family’s been working out in the fields all morning, and you, Second Daughter-in-law, just whip up some watery soup for the lot of us to eat?”
Wang shi wanted to explain, but Deng shi gave her no chance at all, slapping the table. “We left you at home because your father-in-law took pity on you two, and this is how you repay us? Just look at this table full of watery soup, eating this won’t put any strength in anyone’s bones. This afternoon, don’t you dare sit idle either, get out there and work!”
Wang shi could only grit her teeth and nod. As Wang shi’s own husband, Li Chengcai instead criticized her right there. “The whole family’s out there working ourselves to the bone, hoping to finish planting the whole field today, and we leave you two women at home to enjoy an easy life, is this how you treat us? Cooking up some thin, tasteless watery stuff for us, I’d rather just drink plain water than eat this!”