By the time they finished cleaning the thatched hut inside and out, the sky had already darkened.
Originally, He Wanqing thought they could skip dinner for the night, but to her surprise, her stomach was already empty and growling.
“Are you all hungry?”
The children nodded in unison.
Alright then—it wasn’t just because she herself had eaten too little.
Just as He Wanqing was about to head into the kitchen to see what they could cook, a strange woman appeared at the courtyard gate.
She carried a vegetable basket and smiled gently at He Wanqing.
“I live next door. I brought over some vegetables from our own garden. They’ve got a few wormholes, so I hope you won’t mind.”
He Wanqing immediately walked over warmly.
“Of course not! I should be thanking you instead. I was just worrying about what we’d eat tonight. You’ve truly solved my urgent problem. By the way, how should I address you, Elder Sister?”
“My husband’s surname is Du. You can call me Sister-in-law Du.”
“My surname is He, so you may call me Madam He,” He Wanqing replied. Since all the children were outside, she introduced them one by one.
Sister-in-law Du nodded gently toward Ye Jianshan and the others before praising He Wanqing.
“You’ve raised all four sons very well. That’s truly impressive.”
He Wanqing merely smiled without responding to the compliment. She handed the basket to her eldest son and had the children empty it out.
While waiting for the basket to be returned, the two women chatted in the courtyard.
“How many children does your family have, Sister-in-law Du?”
“Three. Two sons and one daughter. My eldest son is already engaged. Once the wheat harvest is finished this year, he’ll get married.”
He Wanqing blinked in surprise.
“So early?”
“Not early at all. He’s already eighteen this year. How old is your eldest son? He can’t be much younger, right?”
“Uh… seventeen.”
“Then you should start thinking about it too. Otherwise, all the good girls will already be promised to someone else.”
Eighteen and already getting married…
Didn’t that mean she’d soon be promoted to grandmother status?
She sucked in a breath.
That was a little terrifying.
He Wanqing hurriedly waved her hands.
“There’s no rush. Just look at our family’s situation right now. What good family would willingly marry their daughter into this? Better to wait until things improve a little.”
Sister-in-law Du nodded understandingly.
“That’s true. By the way, you’re planning to build a house, right?”
“Yes. We’re planning to choose a location tomorrow. After all, this house belongs to the village, so it wouldn’t be right to stay here too long.”
“Indeed. And honestly, this house doesn’t feel very secure either. So what kind of house are you planning to build? A mud-brick house or a brick-and-tile house like the village chief’s?”
“A mud-brick house.”
Of course He Wanqing wanted a grand brick-and-tile home, but unfortunately her purse was embarrassingly empty. For now, they could only build a mud-brick house and think about upgrading later once they had money.
Sister-in-law Du kindly said,
“Mud-brick houses are fine too. Most villagers live in them anyway. But you’ll need to prepare mud bricks in advance and let them dry before they can be used.
How about this—my family still has quite a few leftover bricks piled behind our house. You can use them first and return them gradually later.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you so much, Sister-in-law Du.”
Originally, He Wanqing wanted to offer payment, but after thinking about it, she swallowed the words back down.
Buying them outright would certainly be convenient, but it wouldn’t help her family integrate into the village, and it might attract unnecessary attention. Better to keep a low profile.
Sister-in-law Du clearly appreciated He Wanqing’s straightforward personality, and her smile grew even gentler.
“No need to thank me. We’re all villagers here. Every family has times when they need help.
Still, you have many sons, so you’ll definitely need several rooms. The mud bricks at my house probably won’t be enough. Tomorrow I’ll have my husband ask around the village and see who else has extras you can borrow first.”
He Wanqing thanked her again.
Once Ye Jianshan returned the empty basket, Sister-in-law Du headed home.
He Wanqing watched her graceful figure for quite a while before snapping back to herself.
Ye Jianshan looked puzzled.
“Mother, what are you staring at?”
Coming back to her senses, He Wanqing sighed emotionally.
“Your Aunt Du is truly such a good person. Jianshan, from now on, make sure you greet Aunt Du properly whenever you see her.”
“Don’t worry, Mother, we will. Oh right, A-Ming asked me to come ask what we’re making for dinner tonight.”
“Come on, let’s go look in the kitchen.”
The sky was already dim, and He Wanqing hadn’t clearly seen what vegetables were inside the basket earlier.
Meanwhile, at the Du household—
Du Ruoyun stepped forward to take the basket from her mother.
“Mother, why were you gone so long?”
Sister-in-law Du smiled softly.
“We chatted for a bit. Is dinner ready?”
“It’s been ready for ages. We were just waiting for you.”
Du Ruoyun affectionately linked arms with her mother as they walked inside.
“Mother, what kind of people are living next door?”
That afternoon, Du Ruoyun had been embroidering inside the house and hadn’t gone out, so she hadn’t seen the newcomers.
“It’s a widowed mother with four sons. The eldest is one year younger than your elder brother, and the youngest is only ten.”
“A widowed mother…” Du Ruoyun looked slightly worried. “Are they easy to get along with?”
“They seem quite nice. The sons also look very obedient.”
Not long afterward, He Wanqing’s family of five sat around the stove eating dinner.
All the dishes were vegetarian, but since plenty of oil had been used, the taste wasn’t bad at all.
Still, He Wanqing was once again shocked by the children’s appetites.
She had deliberately cooked extra rice tonight, yet not a single grain remained in the pot.
“Why are you all eating so much today? Aren’t your stomachs full?”
The four boys all shook their heads together.
Ye Jianwu rubbed his stomach and said honestly,
“Mother, I don’t know why, but my appetite’s especially huge today. I only ate three bowls tonight, but it feels like I haven’t eaten at all. And I don’t have any strength left in my body.”
“Huh? What’s going on?”
Ye Jianshan also looked troubled.
“Mother, I feel like my appetite has gotten bigger too.”
He didn’t mention the dizziness in his head, assuming it would pass shortly.
He Wanqing then looked toward the other two.
“What about you?”
But the moment the words left her mouth, she saw tears suddenly streaming down A-Ming’s face like beads on a string.
“A-Ming, why are you crying?”
A-Ming himself seemed unaware. He raised a hand to wipe his face and stared at the wetness in confusion.
“Mother, I’m not crying. The tears just fell on their own.”
The atmosphere suddenly became strange.
He Wanqing swallowed nervously.
“Jianwen, what about you?”
Ye Jianwen frowned.
“Mother, things look blurry to me. And I really want to eat several more bowls of rice.”
The other three quickly nodded.
“Mother, we still want to eat too.”
He Wanqing had absolutely no idea what was happening, but feeding them came first.
“If you want more, then go cook more rice. Estimate how much you can still eat. Even if there’s extra, we can make porridge tomorrow morning.”
By the time the children finally finished eating after another round of cooking, half an hour had passed.
Meanwhile, He Wanqing sat nearby completely expressionless.
At first she had carefully counted how many additional bowls each child ate.
But eventually she lost track entirely.
“Burp~”
A-Ming rubbed his belly happily after letting out a satisfied burp.
“Child, tell Mother honestly—how many times did you refill your bowl?”
A-Ming held out his fingers and counted carefully.
“Three times… or four? Mother, I can’t remember.”
If even A-Ming—the one with the smallest appetite—had eaten that much, then there was no need to ask about the others.
At this rate, their family’s grain consumption would be at least triple that of a normal household with the same number of people.
At that moment, He Wanqing deeply understood the meaning of the saying:
“Half-grown boys can eat a family into poverty.”
She immediately stared diagonally upward at the night sky with a deeply melancholic expression.
If they relied solely on reclaimed wasteland to feed this family…
Just how many mu of land would they need?!
After brooding for a while, she handed the dishwashing task over to the boys and went to bathe.
Lying on the bare wooden bedboards and watching moonlight spill through the window, He Wanqing gradually drifted into sleep.
When she awoke the next morning, daylight was already bright.
He Wanqing lazily lay in bed, unwilling to get up.
Though beneath her was only hard wooden planks, this had been the soundest sleep she’d had since fleeing the famine.
Sure enough, no matter the era, having a stable place to live gave people an immense sense of security.
Still, staring at the tiny beams of light filtering through the roof, He Wanqing felt that building a new house truly needed to be moved up the priority list.
Before long, sounds of A-Ming and A-Lan playing noisily in the courtyard drifted over.
He Wanqing tidied her clothes and stepped outside.
A-Ming immediately abandoned A-Lan and flashed her a bright grin.
“Mother, you’re awake!”
“Mhm. Have you washed up yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Then do it together with Mother.”
He Wanqing walked toward a willow tree outside the courtyard and snapped off two branches, handing one to A-Ming.
She chewed one end of the willow branch until the fibers spread apart like the bristles of a comb, turning it into a primitive toothbrush.
After dipping it in a bit of fine salt, He Wanqing placed the willow branch into her mouth and instantly found the familiar sensation of brushing her teeth.
Although there had also been willow trees in the mountains during their journey, salt had been too precious for anyone to waste on brushing teeth. Every time, He Wanqing had felt as though her mouth never became truly clean.
Now that conditions had improved slightly, she thoroughly scrubbed every corner of her mouth. She ended up ruining two willow branches before finally stopping.
After brushing, she sucked in two sharp breaths from the faint pain in her gums.
These willow branches really weren’t good enough.
Once she had the means, she absolutely intended to invent a proper toothbrush.
When washing her face, the clear water in the wooden basin reflected her current appearance.
Her originally fair skin had been tanned yellow.
Her crescent-shaped brows were ruined by newly grown stray hairs.
Her bright, watery eyes had become dim and clouded.
Her smooth oval face had turned into a rough, gaunt melon-seed shape.
It could truly be said that all the hardships of the refugee journey had been thoroughly etched onto her face.
“Sigh… I wonder how long it’ll take to recover my old appearance.”
Still, despite saying that, He Wanqing quickly tossed the matter out of her mind.