Swaying along the whole way, the three of them came to the foot of the mountain. The two nephews went off to cut pig grass and dig wild greens. Yan Xi didn’t know wild greens, so she could only wander around nearby and see whether she could get anything else. Her two nephews warned her over and over not to go far, there were wild boar in the inner reaches and it was very dangerous to run into them.
The foot of the mountain was normally where the village children came looking for pig grass, it was safe and there was nothing useful there. Yan Xi walked and looked and went a little farther, and suddenly heard a clucking beside her. Yan Xi was thrilled, two days here, and at last she saw meat.
She edged carefully toward the grass ahead where the sound came from, pushed the grass aside and looked: a pheasant was laying eggs. Yan Xi’s eyes lit up and she flung herself forward and pinned the pheasant under her. Unfortunately several of the eggs broke. Yan Xi counted: five were still good, and three were cracked but still edible. She took them all. Tonight’s dinner was settled.
“Auntie, where are you? It’s getting late, we should go back.” The two nephews called for Yan Xi as they walked.
“Xiaofeng, Xiaoqing, over here, come quick, I’ve found something good.”
The two children hurried over. Seeing Yan Xi holding the pheasant by the wings with several eggs at her feet, their eyes lit up. They quickly tied the bird up and stuffed it under the pig grass, and carried the eggs in their clothes. Yan Xi helped by carrying one of the back baskets, and the three of them started down the mountain.
They met nobody on the way, and all three let out a breath. It would have been bad if anyone had found there was a chicken in the basket. You had to know that people nowadays rarely got meat, and it wouldn’t do to be seen and envied.
Hurrying and dawdling by turns, they got home and found the yard gate already open and a little wisp of smoke coming from the kitchen. Yan Xi’s mother was back and cooking.
After Yan Xi set down the back basket she was so tired she was panting. Back in the modern world, when had Yan Xi ever done this sort of thing? If there had been a Moments feed, she’d probably have walked twenty thousand steps today, an above-average performance. Yan Xi thought, making the best of a bad job.
Hearing the noise, Yan Xi’s mother came out of the kitchen, still holding greens in her hand. Seeing the basket on Yan Xi’s back, she came over and gave the two grandsons a scolding: “I told you to look after your auntie and you made her work. Are you asking for a beating? No dinner for you tonight.”
But to Yan Xi she said, “Daughter, I let you go out to get some air, why were you working? These two little rascals only know how to shirk. Eat that much every day and not a damn thing done.”
Yan Xi’s face went red listening to it, and she hurried to say, “Mom, the pig grass was all their work, I was resting. It was only because I saw it was getting late and wanted to see you sooner that I helped. Don’t scold them.” As she spoke she sent the two nephews into the house.
Hearing this, Yan Xi’s mother said nothing more. She dumped the pig grass out of the basket, and seeing the pheasant tied up on top her eyes went wide with shock, and she quickly turned the basket over and clapped it down on top of it.
“Daughter, where did you catch this pheasant? Are you hurt? Aiyo, my daughter really is a lucky star. She’s better, and the first time she goes out she can catch a pheasant. Tonight Mom will cook it and give you the two big drumsticks, build my daughter up properly.”
Yan Xi’s mother told Xiaoqing to go to the kitchen and start heating water and sent Xiaofeng to call Yan Lin back to kill the chicken, and she herself went down to the cellar and brought up a few potatoes. There were a lot of people in the house, and one chicken dressed out was under two catties. Without adding plenty of vegetables it wouldn’t even be a few mouthfuls each.
Over on the other side, old Mr. Yan and the others were still in the fields. It was Xiaofeng’s mother, Feng Yue, who saw him, and she quickly called out, “Xiaofeng, why have you come to the fields? Does your grandma need something?”
Seeing everyone about to crowd around, Xiaofeng hurried to say, “Nothing’s wrong. My auntie caught a pheasant on the mountain, and Grandma says Dad’s to go back and kill the chicken, we’re eating well tonight.”
Hearing this, everyone left the field work and packed up to go home. The second daughter-in-law, Zhou Fen, said, “How is it that Little Sister fell in the river and came back with this ability too? Before it was only ever things going out, this is the first time I’ve seen something brought home.”
The group talked as they walked home. Yan Lin got home, washed his hands, pinned the chicken down and killed it. Feng Yue carried water out from the kitchen, and she and Zhou Fen set to plucking together. By the time everything was done Yan Xi’s mother had the pot on the fire.
First she rendered a little oil in the pot from a piece of chicken fat, put in scallion, ginger and garlic, then put the chicken in and fried it through. When the chicken was fried a light brown she poured in water and let it simmer for a quarter of an hour, then put in the potatoes, the green and red chilies and the salt, tossed it evenly, covered it and let the potatoes cook, then dished it out. A wave of fragrance hit the nose and set every one of the Yans wildly drooling.
Yan Xi’s mother had also boiled a greens soup and cut a bowl of pickled kohlrabi. The staple was black-flour buns, each bun as big as Yan Xi’s palm. Yan Xi also had a separate bowl of steamed egg custard. Once the food was on the table Yan Xi’s mother started dividing it out: the strong laborers two black-flour buns and a bowl of chicken with four or five pieces of meat in it, the two daughters-in-law one black-flour bun and one bowl of meat each, the grandchildren half a bun and half a bowl of meat each, with little meat in it and mostly broth. Most of the rest Yan Xi’s mother gave to Yan Xi.
Looking at all that meat, Yan Xi quickly put a few pieces in the bowls of her father and her mother and gave a few to her nephews and niece. At first they kept refusing, and it was only when Yan Xi said they were all one family and if they were going to eat they would eat together, or she wouldn’t eat either, that they stopped.
The meal over, every one of them had a round belly, and the nephews and niece washed the dishes. The family sat in the yard cooling off until the end of the xu hour before each went back to their own room.