Looking at her sensible children and the grain in her hands, Madam Liu felt hope return to her life.
At last, they had food!
They no longer had to worry about starving to death.
As night fell, Madam Liu cooked a pot of thick rice porridge. It was already dark, so the fatty pork would have to wait until tomorrow to be rendered into lard, and the bones would also be stewed another day.
It was the first time Gu Nian’an had ever drunk rice porridge. He squinted his eyes in bliss.
So rice porridge didn’t scratch the throat at all—and it was sweet!
It was unbelievably delicious!
After crossing over for several days, Gu Nianzhi was finally eating rice for the first time as well.
Her stomach felt much more comfortable.
They slept soundly through the night.
The next morning, Madam Liu got up early and rendered lard in the cracked clay pot. The entire house was filled with the rich fragrance of pork cracklings.
“So fragrant!”
Gu Nian’an opened his eyes and stretched his neck to sniff the smell, only for Gu Nianzhi to poke his little head.
“Looks like we’re having pork cracklings this morning.”
“Pork cracklings?!”
Gu Nian’an screamed.
He was actually going to eat pork cracklings!
Back at the old house, pork cracklings were only made during the New Year. Grandma would give a few pieces to Chengwen and Chengwu. As for their second branch, they were lucky if they got a few mouthfuls of wild vegetable mush cooked with pork fat!
Overjoyed, Gu Nian’an scrambled off the bed and ran to Madam Liu, not even bothering to wash his face.
It really was pork cracklings!
Seeing the greedy look on her son’s face, Madam Liu couldn’t help but feel a pang in her heart.
Following her, the child had truly suffered.
Gu Nianzhi also came out slowly and took Gu Nian’an by the hand, preparing to wash up by the river.
Now they lacked everything—even a washbasin. Their home was truly bare to the walls.
After washing their faces and returning, Madam Liu had already finished rendering the lard and was about to cook rice porridge.
Remembering how watery the porridge had been last night, Gu Nianzhi decided to cook instead.
Madam Liu couldn’t argue with her and took Gu Nian’an to pull weeds behind the house.
Soon, a pot of fragrant steamed rice was ready. Since they only had one broken clay pot, Gu Nianzhi didn’t stew the ribs. They ate plain rice with pork cracklings instead.
Each of them had a full bowl of dry rice, with a bowl of cracklings placed in the middle.
Madam Liu had originally planned to save the cracklings to add to wild vegetables later. Seeing that Gu Nianzhi had used up half of them in one meal made her heart ache.
“Sis, pork cracklings are so good! Can we hunt more often in the future, sell what we catch, and trade it for meat?” Gu Nian’an asked eagerly.
Hearing him talk about hunting, Madam Liu smacked him lightly.
“What nonsense are you thinking? Do you know how dangerous hunting is? Now that we have one tael of silver, if we buy coarse rice and rough flour and eat them with wild vegetables, we can survive the whole winter.”
As she said this, Madam Liu finally felt relieved.
As long as they didn’t starve, there would always be a way next year.
Unlike Madam Liu, Gu Nianzhi actually agreed with Gu Nian’an.
People needed ambitions. Only by refusing to settle could life keep getting better.
After the meal, Madam Liu took Gu Nian’an to continue clearing weeds in the courtyard. Gu Nianzhi made an excuse about buying pots and bowls, but in reality, she slipped alone into the deep mountains.
After walking for half a day, she harvested a wild chicken, six eggs, and even dug out a rabbit burrow—three baby rabbits!
Thinking about how fast rabbits reproduced, she figured that raising them would mean endless rabbit meat in the future. She tied the rabbits up and carried them with her.
She strolled leisurely down the mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, smoke curled above Lihua Village, and the cornfields were lush and green. Looking at this peaceful scene, no one would imagine that next spring, people would be forced to flee their homes and become refugees.
As she neared home, she hid behind the grass and took out six small bowls, several plates, a pair of chopsticks, and after some thought, a large iron pot from her storage space.
Iron was expensive and tightly controlled by the government. Taking out several pots at once would be hard to explain, so one large iron pot would do for now.
When she walked through the door, Madam Liu and Gu Nian’an stared at Gu Nianzhi—who was carrying pots and bowls in one hand, rabbits in the other, with a wild chicken hanging off her—completely at a loss for words.
Had she gone hunting… or shopping in town?
“Mother, come help me! This stuff is heavy,” Gu Nianzhi reminded them.
“Oh—oh!”
They hurried over and took the things from her hands.
“Wow! Rabbits! Mom, Sis caught three live baby rabbits!”
Madam Liu also noticed the three lively little rabbits.
“We’ll raise them. Once the big rabbits give birth to more babies, our family will have endless rabbits to eat,” Gu Nianzhi said.
Madam Liu nodded.
“Then let’s build a rabbit pen quickly, so they don’t chew through the rope and run away at night.”
They got to work immediately. The three of them gathered wood and mud and built a low enclosure.
Worried that covering the top with straw might let the rabbits escape, Madam Liu went into the village and borrowed a piece of fencing from Aunt Daniu, whom she used to be close with.
By the time they finished, the sky was nearly dark. The three brought the pots and bowls inside and lit the stove.
“Such a big iron pot must’ve cost a lot of silver,” Madam Liu said, holding it with a sigh.
Back at the old house, three families shared a single iron pot. Everything else was clay. Even then, Old Madam Gu treasured that iron pot dearly and rarely let anyone use it.
“It wasn’t expensive. I ran into a wealthy family moving house on the way. They sold these cheaply. I spent two hundred copper coins and got a great bargain,” Gu Nianzhi said smoothly.
“Heavens bless us! Our luck these past few days has been incredible. Once life improves, we must go to the temple to give thanks,” Madam Liu said earnestly.
“Mom! Sis also brought back a wild chicken and eggs today!” Gu Nian’an said happily, placing the chicken on the ground.
Though the chicken wasn’t big, it was enough for the three of them to have a meal.
“After buying the pot, I saw it was still early, so I went up the mountain to dig wild vegetables. I didn’t expect to run into a wild chicken—and even find a rabbit burrow and eggs,” Gu Nianzhi explained.
Madam Liu only thought her daughter was lucky. It never crossed her mind that Gu Nianzhi would dare to hunt alone deep in the mountains.
“Should we sell the chicken in town tomorrow?” Madam Liu suggested, thinking of how poor they still were.
“Mom, the chicken won’t be fresh tomorrow, and it won’t sell for much anyway. We might as well eat it ourselves.”
As she spoke, Gu Nianzhi lifted the chicken to pluck its feathers. Hearing there was chicken to eat, Gu Nian’an rolled up his sleeves eagerly.
Before long, the chicken was plucked clean.
Madam Liu shook her head.
Men in the village earned only two hundred copper coins a month hauling goods in town, yet these two kids already didn’t think much of that amount!
Still, since the chicken was caught by the children, she didn’t interfere. She simply planned to dig more wild vegetables tomorrow and store more food.
Soon, a pot of rich wild chicken soup was ready. Gu Nianzhi also used the clay pot to stew a large pot of bone soup. The family enjoyed a wonderful meal, still savoring it even as they lay down to sleep.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve eaten meat until I was full,” Gu Nian’an said, lying on the straw and rubbing his belly.
“You’re only six years old—what do you mean ‘in your life’?” Madam Liu laughed.
“I mean, since I was born, this is the first time I’ve eaten meat without holding back. I’m so happy!”
Hearing this, Madam Liu felt grateful in her heart.
Leaving the Gu family had been the right choice.
Their lives were only getting better.
Soon, the siblings began to snore softly.
Madam Liu stroked their heads and finally fell asleep at ease herself.