"Sis! Sis! You got the chicken back! You really got it back! Why are you so powerful?!" The depressed Little Bruiser had become a lively chatterbox again.
Yu Wan carried the chicken soup into the kitchen. Little Bruiser followed her like a little tail, circling around Yu Wan.
Yu Wan felt dizzy from his spinning and pointed to a small stool beside her. "Sit down."
"Oh." Little Bruiser obediently sat down.
Yu Wan opened the lid of the earthen jar. The chicken was already cooked. After braising the meat in the earthen jar for a while, the smell of the chicken disappeared. The fragrance of bamboo shoots permeated the earthen jar as if it had been fermented. The two flavors blended perfectly together, making the chicken soup even more fragrant than before.
Little Bruiser could not stop drooling.
Yu Wan picked a piece of golden chicken and stuffed it into Little Bruiser's mouth. Little Bruiser stared blankly for a moment, and then he felt a strong meaty aroma spreading in his mouth…
"Is it good?" Yu Wan asked.
Little Bruiser nodded tearfully. Delicious! So delicious that he almost cried!
"Does your face still hurt?" Yu Wan asked again.
Little Bruiser shook his head like a rattle-drum. With meat to eat, he didn't hurt anywhere!
Yu Wan saw that the red marks on his face had indeed faded a little. She nodded and did not pursue the matter any further. Suddenly, she thought of something and turned to look at Little Bruiser. "Where did you say you've eaten these few days?"
"Grandma's family," Little Bruiser said. Then he looked at Yu Wan carefully.
Yu Wan thought to herself, I didn't forbid you from eating at other people's houses. Why do you look like you're afraid that I'll flip out? But what did Grandma look like? The Host didn't remember this person.
"You said you weren't full," Yu Wan added.
Little Bruiser choked. "That's… that's…"
"I'm sure Grandma's family is having a hard time too," Yu Wan said softly.
"Eh?" Little Bruiser said, his eyes widening.
Yu Wan pulled open the cupboard and found a big bowl. She scooped out half of the chicken and winter bamboo shoots. "Send it to Grandma. I'll cook another dish."
"Grandma's already dead. Only Uncle and the others are left," Little Bruiser said as if he had seen a ghost. It was unclear whether he was surprised that Yu Wan did not remember Grandma's passing, or surprised that Yu Wan actually wanted to deliver food to them.
Yu Wan said without batting an eyelid, "Of course I know that Grandma isn't around anymore. I'm talking about sending this over to their family."
Yu Wan packed the chicken and placed a bowl on top of the big bowl. She tied the bowl tightly with a cloth and handed it to Little Bruiser. "It's not hot anymore. Take it over. There's no need to be reluctant. I've left a lot for you."
Little Bruiser puffed up his chest. He would never be reluctant to give something to Grandma's family!
Little Bruiser took the chicken soup and left in high spirits! Although he did not know how Sis became different from before, he really liked this kind of Sis!
...
Uncle Yu's house was on the way from Ah Wan's house to the vegetable field. It was in a completely opposite direction from the Zhao family's house. Ah Wan would pass by Uncle Yu's house when she was working.
Grandma Yu passed away at the end of spring this year. Little Bruiser had gotten used to calling her that for several years and had never changed his way of addressing her. Every time he mentioned this place, he would still say "Grandma's house".
When Little Bruiser arrived at the house with chicken soup in his arms, Uncle Yu was sunbathing at the door with a walking stick in his arms.
When Uncle Yu saw Little Bruiser, a benevolent smile appeared on his face. "You're here, Bruiser. Why are you so late today? Your aunt and the others are all out. The porridge is in the pot. I'll heat it up for you." With that, he stood up with his walking stick.
Little Bruiser shook his head and handed over the big bowl in his arms. He said in a crisp voice, "Uncle, I'm not here to eat today. I'm here to deliver chicken soup! There's a lot of chicken meat in the soup! There's also a lot of winter bamboo shoots! My sister made them! She asked me to send some over!"
Uncle Yu's smile froze.
...
It was winter, and the sky was dark early. The night had already darkened in the evening, and there was still some snow floating around.
Elder Aunt came back with the three children.
Today, a distant relative from the neighboring village was hosting a banquet. They went over to help, but they didn't receive much wages. However, they received five catties of corn noodles, two catties of coarse rice, and half a bowl of lard. Although these things weren't enough to last through the winter, they could still last for three to five days.
Three to five days sounded quite short, but who asked them to have so many family members? Besides their three-year-old daughter, everyone else was a big-eater.
"Bruiser hasn't eaten his fill for the past few days. I'll steam some corn bread for him," Aunt Yu said as she headed to the kitchen.
Uncle Yu stopped her and told her about Ah Wan asking Little Bruiser to bring chicken soup over. The few of them looked at the large bowl on the table and revealed looks of disbelief.
"Where did she get the chicken?" asked Aunt Yu.
"Why would she give us a chicken if she had one?" The eldest son mused.
"Maybe it's just a chicken butt!" The second son sneered.
"Butt." The youngest daughter said after him.
Aunt Yu hugged her daughter and glared fiercely at her second son. The second son rubbed his nose resentfully and lowered his voice. "Anyway, I don't believe that she would be so kind as to really give us…" Halfway through his sentence, he opened the big bowl on top of his head. Then, his words were stuck in his throat.
Ah Wan did not have a good relationship with them.
Ah Wan's father was not Old Master Yu's biological child. He was picked up by Old Master Yu from the mountains when he had drunk too much once. Old Master Yu and his wife had a total of five children, but only two were really raised. The second child was a daughter.
The Old Master and his wife thought that one son was too little, so they might as well raise one more so that they could be cared for when they're old.
Although Ah Wan's father was picked up, they had developed feelings for him and the two elders also treated him as their own.
Ah Wan's uncle and auntie treated their younger brother very well. With them around, they would never let their younger brother starve. If anyone bullied their younger brother, they would be able to carry the hoe and chase them into their fields.
When Ah Wan's aunt got married, Ah Wan's father chased after the ox cart and cried for half of the village. After that, a sudden war broke out in the northwest, and the officials came to Lotus Flower Village to capture the able-bodied men. Originally, it was supposed to be the eldest son, but Ah Wan's father got his big brother drunk and took his place in the middle of the night.
That year, Ah Wan was ten years old and Madam Jiang had just gotten pregnant with Little Bruiser. It must have been extremely difficult to make such a decision. However, in order to repay the Yu family for raising him, Ah Wan's father went without hesitation.
Ah Wan didn't know about these things, but people gossiped in front of her and said that her father was picked up from the streets. Back then, when they're capturing people to be soldiers, it was supposed to be her uncle. But the Yu Family couldn't bear to part with their biological son, so they pushed him out to die.
The battlefield was filled with flames and smoke. If a person who had never trained before going to war, wouldn't he be sending himself to his death?
Ah Wan believed these evasive words. Since then, her relationship with the eldest branch had faded, and after that, they had separated from each other. She would not even be willing to give them a single feather, let alone a chicken butt!
The chicken soup was delivered in the morning. After an entire day, the soup had already frozen. Under the creamy white chicken fat was a large bowl of winter bamboo shoots and chicken pieces. There were few winter bamboo shoots and plenty of chicken pieces. There was even a complete chicken drumstick.
W-what was going on?
The whole family was stunned.