Chapter 3 Wild Garlic and Eggs Many people meant lots of trouble in Yue Family. The first branch"s Mrs. Chen relied on the fact that she was old Mrs. Chen"s niece, as well as, having two sons which made Patriarch and old Madam very happy, to pushed her family "s share of work when she can. If she doesn"t want to work, she won"t.
Although Mrs. Han of third branch wasn"t like old Mrs. Chen and others, she was also very formidable. If it wasn"t her share of work, she determined not to be involved in the work. In addition, Mrs. Han stayed in Cuifeng Village for a few days all the year-round. Therefore, only two family work in turn and the work pushed away by the first branch fall onto You Jin"s and others" shoulders.
Standing at the door of the main room, she (Mrs. Chen) watched You Jin and You Yin carry a bucket of pig food with a lot of effort. She laughed with an evil look and lively tone: "You Jin, You Yin ah, you have to be careful. This pig food is to be fed to the pigs. And in a few months, it"ll be Chinese New Year. Now it"s time to gain fat, and if you spilled pig food ... "The unfinished words" meaning was very obvious, and finally followed by "hehehe" sound of few chuckles.
You Jin looked at her att.i.tude of spectating and not caring of causing a ruckus and said coldly: "If Aunt want to say like this, then feed the pigs by yourself. This would save the worry of us, sister spilling the pig food and being unable to explain to Grandma."
You Jin"s voice just fell, when old Mrs. Chen"s cold scolding thundered through the main room"s window: "Afraid that others don"t know you did a little work, right? Eat so much every day. Feeding pigs are better than feeding you! Have a mouth that only knows to talk back to adults besides eating. She"s really a money-wasting thing from the backcountry, and the daughter she taught is so annoying!" This pulled in Mrs. Su who was laid on the bed to settle the pregnancy into the scolding.
"Mother, my second sister-in-law just got miscarriage symptoms and is resting in bed. What to do? If by chance she heard you talk like this, lose strength and mistreat your precious grandson!" Sowing seeds was something Mrs. Chen regularly does, so can say she was proficient.
Mentioning this, old Mrs. Chen got angry, "It"s just a money-wasting thing that can only lay girl eggs. Can she even give birth to a grandson? She just a money-wasting thing that gave birth to seven money-wasting things!" This was bringing up the past account to make trouble.
You Yin heard them scolding their mother like this, became a little bit upset. When she was about to say something, she was stopped by You Jin. You Jin grabbed her sister"s sleeve and gave her look so that she wouldn"t argue with these two shrews. Seeing You Yin listlessly closed her mouth and didn"t speak, You Jin let go of her. Then she dumped the remaining pig food in the bucket into the pig trough, brought the empty bucket back to the kitchen, and carried a basket she usually on pig feed foraging in the mountain on her back: "Grandmother, Aunt, I"m going to gather the pig feed."
"Aiya, I have troubled You Jin. It"s Aunt"s fault to sprain my hand two days ago. It"s tough on you ah!" Mrs. Chen"s said with a Cheshire cat"s grin. She interchanged between sprained hand or neck and pretended to appear severely injured.
"Eat mine, use mine. How hard is it to get pig feed! A money-wasting thing!" Old Mrs. Chen"s voice came from behind the window. You Jin"s eyelids and face were half-lowered so that people could not see what she was thinking. After instructing a few words to You Yin, she went up the mountain alone.
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Cuifeng Village was back to back with Cuifeng Mountain. The village was divided into two by the Cuifeng River winding down from Cuifeng Mountain. The village was also named after Cuifeng Mountain behind the village.
The Yue Family You Jin lived in, was situated on the east side of the river in Cuifeng Village. Most of the villagers lived on the river"s east. Therefore, You Jin walked out of the Yue Family yard, through the village and then greeted the villagers sitting at the roadside or under the banyan tree.
"You Jin, why are you still going up the mountain during this noon and poisonous sun?" The woman who sat under the banyan tree"s chilly side and was gossiping while doing some needlework saw You Jin and enquired with a smile.
"Third Shupo, I"m going to forage some pig feed, otherwise the pigs at home will have to be hungry at night." You Jin answered the old woman who asked her with a smile.
Third Shupo looked at this big sun and sighed deeply. They also knew the situation of Yue Family. Reminiscing about that old Mrs. Chen who was the most roguish in Yue Family, Third Shupo didn"t have much to say, just warned: "The sun is getting bigger, you should watch out."
"I know la, Third Shupo. Then I will go now!" You Jin smiled as she bid her goodbye and pulled her legs toward the mountain. In fact, many villagers in ancient times were very kind and honest. Although they were a little poor, many may not be able to eat enough, but there are really few odd families like theirs. But it may be because she wasn"t born in someone else"s house, so she doesn"t know.
Now it"s high noon, so naturally, there are fewer people who pick wild fruits and forage pig feed on the mountain. When she reached the foot of Cuifeng Mountain, she couldn"t see anyone else.
You Jin picked on some branches and made a straw hat and put it on her head. It can block a little bit of the sun. She walked along the winding path that was created by villagers" frequent footsteps over a long period of time. After going for half an hour, she reached the boundaries of Cuifeng Mountain.
The main peak of Cuifeng Mountain was about 1,400 meters high. The series of mountain ranges occupy a length of at least several kilometers and have various birds and beasts. Although You Jin"s previous life was a soldier, with her young and malnourished body and no tools in her hand, it was suicidal to enter the old forest of the deep mountain.
You Jin was not so stupid, but however, in order to find a bird nest for her sister and get some eggs for nourishment, she took the risk to reach the border of the deep mountain where villagers normally dare not come.
She forcibly broke a two-finger thick branch with her leg, cleanly broke off the ends of that branches and You Jin used the stick in her hand as a tool to open the way.
It was early September now, and the golden autumn is the season when the pheasant and hare are the fattest. Trapping the rabbit and the pheasant, these basic wilderness survival skills are naturally mastered by You Jin, but the pheasant and hare can"t be handled with when she brought it back or being afraid that Mrs. Chen and others will s.n.a.t.c.h it. Every time, You Jin would find some wild chicken eggs or bird eggs to bring for her sisters to secretly eat. While old Mrs. Chen and others go out to market, she would take chance to occasionally catch a pheasant or rabbit, roasted it on the mountain and then brought it back to satisfy younger sisters" craving.
But today, old Mrs. Chen and others are all at home. Naturally, You Jin can"t hunt something back and can only concentrate on finding the pheasant egg or bird egg.
Maybe because the villagers don"t come to the border of the deep mountain often, so You Jin found two nests of bird eggs and one nest of wild chicken eggs without much effort. Seeing the eggs in the basket add up to seventeen in total, You Jin searched an open place to light the fire with the flint she carried with her, and then puts the newly obtained chicken eggs and bird eggs into the fire. Then, taking advantage of the time of cooking eggs, she cut a basket full of pig feed nearby. Sitting next to a fire that was left burning some red charcoal, You Jin sat on the ground, and then took the stick in her hand to sweep through the nearby wild gra.s.s and bushes, but inadvertently saw a large cl.u.s.ter of wild garlic on the side.
Seeing a relatively familiar species, You Jin walked over curiously, and then pulled out a few to inspect it carefully. It was indeed wild garlic, but compared with the garlic planted by later generations, these wild garlic look pet.i.te. In this unknown time and s.p.a.ce, garlic wasn"t popular yet. As it grew wildly on the roadside of the mountains and the smell of raw garlic was very pungent, everyone treated it like wild gra.s.s.
"Wild garlic ..." You Jin recalled the pickled garlic she had made with her Biaoshen in a distant kin"s house in the past. When one has no appet.i.te and ate a few cloves of this garlic, it will refreshingly open up the stomach. She sighed, "Unfortunately, I can"t even fill my stomach now, so how can I have the appet.i.te to eat pickled garlic?" After commenting, the wild garlic in her hand was thrown away, but she did note down this spot. Can"t use it now, but maybe it will be useful in the future?
She picked a few large leaves, packed the baked eggs in it carefully and then pressed them to the bottom of the basket to hide it. After hiding the eggs, You Jin examined it carefully a few times. When she felt that there was no problem, she then went home with her back basket.
Once she got back home, it was already in the afternoon. Now it wasn"t the harvest season and Yue Family found outside too hot, so they all took a nap in their room. You Jin quietly pushed open the door of the courtyard, found silence in her home and sighed out in relief. When she came in, she turned and closed the courtyard door. When she looked back, she found Mrs. Chen"s third son Yue Wen Wei narrowing his triangular eyes, looking at her with bad intentions.
You Jin was surprised, but she quickly calmed down: "Why are you watching me like that?"
Yue Wen Wei looked at her indifferent look and snorted: "Are you hiding food?" He felt like he smelled egg and his intuition told him that this lowly girl hid the chicken egg and didn"t tell him. "Be tactful and quickly take out the egg, or I"ll tell the grandmother that you"ve stolen the eggs in the house.
Listening to this first branch"s little fatty who only knew to eat and bully her little sisters, You Jin narrowed her eyes coldly: "Do you have any evidence that I have stolen eggs in the family?" While taking a deep breath, she suppressed her inner desire to slap him.
Who expected that in Yue Wen Wei"s eyes, her reaction was a sign of guilt, so he shouted loudly: "On the count of three if you don"t take the eggs out, I"ll call for grandmother!"
You Jin wasn"t afraid at all. She let him act like a fox pretending to be a tiger. Seeing her appearance of a dead pig who was not afraid of boiling water, Yue Wen Wei rushed directly into the main room: "Grandmother! That cheap girl, Yue You Jin stole your eggs!" He proudly looked at Yue You Jin, who stood in the middle, to see if she dare to be so arrogant!
Sure enough, old Mrs. Chen was the most stingy person, so as soon as she heard her baby grandson shouting that someone had stolen her eggs, she scrambled up from the kang: "This lowly little girl is really getting bolder. Dare to steal this old lady"s eggs, this old lady wouldn"t have the surname Chen if I beat her to death today! ” Soon afterwards, she took the bamboo whip at the main porch and bolted out. “Where did you put the stolen eggs! You money-wasting thing! A dastardly girl who has a father but got no mother teaching, still dare to steal from this old lady! I must beat you to death today! "
"I didn"t steal any eggs." Yue You Jin stood upright in the middle of the yard, looking at old Mrs. Chen, "Grandmother"s eggs have a fixed amount, grandmother go counts and see if there are any missing? Or go to the west wing to find see if there are any shadows of eggs."
"You money-wasting thing, you dare to steal and still talk back. If I don"t hit you to death today, you won"t know how powerful this old lady is!" Old Mrs. Chen waved the bamboo whip as she rushed toward You Jin.
Naturally, You Jin won"t stand in the same spot and wait for her to hit her. Just one second before the whip touch her, she nimbly dodged the whip old Mrs. Chen used with all her strength. Old Mrs. Chen didn"t hit anyone and almost fell on her face. She was so angry that she was burning with rage. "You money-wasting thing dare to hide? If you have the ability, then avoid it all today!" Finished saying this, she flung the bamboo whip over.
Unexpectedly, You Jin flashed away again: "I didn"t steal anything, why should I be beaten?"
Now was the time for a quiet lunch break. This lively ruckus in Yue Family"s courtyard quickly attracted the villagers in the neighborhood to come to spectate.
Old Mrs. Chen"s heart was exploding when she saw this cheap girl dare to confront herself like this in front of the villagers. "Didn"t steal anything? Wen Wei saw that you had stolen eggs, yous still not admitting?"
"Why should I admit what I haven"t done?" You Jin stood coldly at the side and watched gasping old Mrs. Chen. "Could it be that grandmother wants to beat a confession out of me?" Naturally, You Jin saw the villagers lying on the wall as they spectate the event and You Yin stopping her younger sisters. She was internally relieved. As long as her younger sisters were hit, it was fine.
A spectating younger generation spoke out, "That"s right, old Shenzi, You Jin meizi said she didn"t steal it, maybe it was a mistake?"
Shupo: Husband"s father"s younger brother"s wife
Shenzi: aunt or father"s younger brother"s wife
Meizi: yuonger sister or young girl
Comment below if you want me to choose this as my main project over my covid 19 isolation!