"Ah! Our little YingEr is the cutest and prettiest one in our family!"
Liu Sisi laughed and picked Di Ying up, spinning her around in the room. This made Di Ying giggle even more.
Di Xuan, who was adding firewood to the stove, looked at them with envy and happiness shining in his eyes. How long had it been since he had seen YingEr laugh so happily?
"We'll make do with meat porridge for lunch today. Later, when the sun isn't so strong, we can go out and dig up some wild vegetables to eat."
Liu Sisi was really starving. She smelled the appetizing aroma from inside the pot and reluctantly let go of Di Ying, uncovering the pot again.
She scooped a spoonful of the sorghum meat porridge to check its consistency, and it looked perfectly cooked - not too thick and not too thin. She filled a small bowl halfway for YingEr and placed it on the small table. Then, she scooped a bowl for herself before finding a large bowl, washing it clean, and pouring the remaining porridge into it.
"Be careful, it's hot." Liu Sisi saw Di Ying taking a small sip from the edge of her bowl as she walked over with the cleaned spoon and quickly handed it to her.
Liu Sisi then called Di Xuan, who was still standing by the stove: "Stop dawdling, it's already noon, let's eat quickly, so we can go dig up wild vegetables on the hill later."
Di Xuan didn't talk, he just walked over, picked up the large bowl, and started drinking the porridge.
The warm meat porridge slid down their throats and into their stomachs. The feeling of warmth was intoxicating for Liu Sisi. Soon, her bowl was empty. The two children, who were clearly hungry, drank their porridge quickly with happy and content expressions on their faces.
After they finished eating and were washing the dishes, Liu Sisi reminded Di Xuan: "Later, Mom will go out and see if I can find more food. You take care of YingEr at home, be cautious. If someone comes to bother you, hide quickly and don't try to fight back, alright?"
"Yes, Mom, YingEr will behave at home and wait for you to come back." Despite being just four years old, Di Ying was very sensible and didn't fuss, making Liu Sisi feel pity for her.
"YingEr is so good."
Seeing the clouds covering the sun outside, Liu Sisi then picked up the bamboo basket and left the house.
She followed the small stream that flowed through the village entrance. Liu Sisi naturally refused to touch the wild vegetables growing in the fields, as she didn't want to be considered a thief on her first day out. Although she was unsure of the specific season, she could tell it was midsummer from the rice, corn, and sorghum fields that were currently in bloom.
With the mentality of leaving no stone unturned, Liu Sisi collected various wild vegetables that she recognized along her way - dandelions, shepherd's purse, wild celery, and wild scallions, as well as a small patch of Manchurian wild rice, all of which made her very happy!
This patch of Manchurian wild rice was growing beside the stream. She pulled apart the leafy stems to reveal tender, white wild rice. Although there were only a few of them, Liu Sisi was still delighted.
She continued along the stream and reached a bamboo forest. The bamboo was lush and grew along the riverbank. The young shoots were almost as tall as the older bamboo and swayed in the river breeze.
It occurred to Liu Sisi that there might still be some late bamboo shoots emerging from the ground. She searched around the bamboo forest and managed to find four or five young shoots that had just sprouted.
After peeling off the outer layer of the bamboo shoots, Liu Sisi's heart leaped with joy. She had now gathered enough vegetables to feed everyone for two days!
The thing that made her the happiest was, while looking for bamboo shoots, she also caught quite a few bamboo insects and bamboo grubs. These bamboo grubs, when fried in oil, have a crispy chicken flavor! They are delicious, but some people are allergic to the bamboo grubs and can't eat them.
As for the bamboo insects, Liu Sisi quickly broke off their front claws, skewered them on bamboo sticks, and attached them to the edge of the bamboo basket to take back for the two children to play with. She then put the bamboo basket on her back and continued to walk up the stream.
Not too far away, her gaze fell upon the various holes along the small stream bank. These holes were naturally dug by eels, crabs, and snakes along the riverbank.
Due to individual differences, eel burrow entrances are the smallest, occasionally only leaving a small bubble at the entrance. Crab burrow entrances are a flat oval shape, and you can tell the size of the crab inside by the size of the entrance. As for snake holes, they are naturally round and smooth! Especially those holes that house water snakes; the mud at the hole's entrance that is close to the water source will become smooth.
Of course, most of the holes are empty and have nothing inside. However, some water snakes camouflage themselves by digging their holes inside the entrances left by crabs. This type of situation is the most terrifying!
Imagine thinking there's a crab inside a hole, but what you dig out turns out to be a water snake...
Liu Sisi slowly put down her basket, carefully choosing and exploring hole by hole. Her fingertips followed along the holes, quickly finding a soft foreign object. Overjoyed, she eagerly dug out a large chunk of river mud and promptly caught a slippery body.
She originally thought it was an eel, but it turned out to be a loach! Nonetheless, even without fish and shrimp, this was at least a good sign!
Delighted, Liu Sisi proceeded to explore cautiously, catching small crabs, small river shrimp, small loaches, small clams, and small field snails. As long as they were edible, she didn't discriminate!
She didn't stop until she had searched every shallow area along the riverbank. Looking at the variety of food at the bottom of her basket, especially the eels and loaches strung together with wild grass, Liu Sisi was utterly satisfied.
She was used to catching these things in her previous life, so she was quite skilled at it. Seeing that she had enough, she picked up her basket and headed home.
As she walked, she pondered what dishes to make that night. With so much food right now, in addition to the wild vegetables that needed to be eaten quickly, some loaches and field snails could be kept for a few more days until they had expelled all the sand inside them. The Manchurian wild rice could also be kept for a couple more days...
"Where have you been? Why are you only coming back now?"
The sudden questioning from up ahead startled Liu Sisi, causing her to instinctively raise her head and instantly lock eyes with a pair of black pupils.
Her deer-like, moist eyes were full of grievance, which instantly mollified Di Yelei's irritated heart.
He then smiled at Liu Sisi, took the bamboo basket from her, and carried it on his shoulder.
"Next time you want to eat wild vegetables, just tell me, and I'll go dig them up fast. If you're feeling fine, you can just stay home and embroider or cook."
"Who wants to stay home and embroider? I don't want to!" Liu Sisi instinctively protested.