My Ancient Rural Life Chapter 10

When Sang Luo came, she was holding a bowl, and when she left, she carried a wooden bucket for fetching water. She placed the bowl she brought and the hemp extractor borrowed from Old Man Chen in the bucket, while Shen An and Shen Ning each held a large ceramic basin in their hands.

Seeing that Sang Luo had cheered up on her own, Old Mrs. Chen sincerely hoped that she could provide a good life for her two children, Shen An and Shen Ning, so she was willing to help. She moved things around in her own house and saved up a lot to get her enough things she needed to do business at the market.

After Sang Luo went to Chen's house, she now had all the equipment she needed for the next market transaction. She was in such a good mood!

After walking a few steps out of Chen's house with the two children, Shen Jin poked his head out from the courtyard of the Shen family next door and asked, "Shen An, why are you going to Chen's house? What are you holding in your hands?"

Shen An glanced at his cousin and said, "I borrowed something."

He didn't even slow down his pace.

Seeing him like this, Shen Jin became even more curious. He ran out of his yard and approached the three people. He came close to the brother and sister and took a look. Seeing that they were holding an empty pottery bowl, he felt bored. Thinking of what he had seen from afar just now, he asked, "What did you send to Chen's house just now? I saw it. There was something in the bowl, green."

Shen An pursed his lips subconsciously, his eyes showed a sense of defense, but his voice remained normal, without showing any abnormality, and he said calmly: "Wild vegetable dumplings."

Although Shen Jin didn't think it was the case, he was far away and didn't see clearly. Thinking that Shen An had to go to their house to beg for food, it must be that there was nothing good. He curled his lips and asked, "Why didn't you come to beg for food this morning? My mother said that you knocked on our door in the middle of the night. Aren't you hungry?"

The word "begging" made Sang Luo frown.

Shen An's focus was not there at all. He just stared at Shen Jin, "So Uncle and Auntie heard it last night?"

Even though he already knew what was going on, when he heard Shen Jin talk about it, Shen An clenched his hands holding the pottery basin until his knuckles turned white.

If Grandpa Chen and Grandma Chen hadn't sent candy and food yesterday, who knows what would happen to the eldest sister-in-law now. At least she would not be able to walk and laugh like she is now, and would not be able to take him and Aning around to find food.

Shen Jin didn't know what the difference was: "I heard it. My mother said someone came to borrow food in the middle of the night. My father specifically asked my mother to leave some food for you this morning. Why didn't you come today?"

Before Shen An could say anything, Shen Ning, who usually looked soft, stood in front of his second brother and retorted: "Grandma Chen borrowed food from us last night. If it were today, my sister-in-law would be dead, and we are not beggars."

The little girl was not very good at arguing with people. She was obviously very angry, but her words were weak and lacked strength. As she spoke, her eyes turned red.

Sang Luo saw her body shaking and her eyes red, and thought to herself, this child might have tear incontinence.

He rubbed Shen Ning's head to comfort her. He said nothing, but turned to look at Shen Jin and asked, "Xiao Jin is eight years old this year, right?"

Shen Jin looked puzzled: "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Sang Luo curled her lips, but her smile was cold: "Eight years old is not an age for ignorance. Begging for food refers to beggars. Shen An is your cousin. You should go back and ask your parents if what you said just now is appropriate."

She had no interest in disciplining other people's naughty children. After she finished speaking, she ignored Shen Jin's confusion and patted Shen Ning's shoulder: "Okay, in the future, sister-in-law will find a way to make sure you have enough food. You don't have to borrow food everywhere. Let's go back."

The three of them left. Shen Jin stood there in a daze for a long time before he came to his senses. Did the eldest cousin scold him for being uneducated? Right? Right!

Shen Jin was also angry. He kindly asked why he didn't come to dinner, but why did he scold him? He gritted his teeth and turned around to run back to imitate his mother, and also let his father listen!

If you don’t want to eat it, then don’t eat it. From now on, don’t even think about borrowing a grain of rice or a ball of rice from them.

Mr. and Mrs. Shen were just about to take a nap when they saw their eldest son running in and starting to complain.

After hearing this, Li was amused: "Hey, that's what they said themselves. It's better if they don't come. I can save money if they don't come."

Then he looked at Shen San: "Did you see that? I am their aunt. They don't take me seriously because we are not related by blood. But you are their uncle. Even if they have a few wild vegetable dumplings, it is nothing for you as their uncle. Don't worry about it anymore."

He also said disdainfully: "A few wild vegetable dumplings, who cares how precious they are."

Things that the Li family didn't value, the Chen family, now that they were all together, valued them to their heart's content.

Farmers originally had two meals a day. How could they eat anything other than mealtime?

But the thing brought by Sang Luo was too novel. No one in the Chen family had seen it before. Chen's youngest granddaughter, Xiao Yaer, heard from Shen An and Shen Ning that this thing was especially delicious. As soon as Sang Luo left, Xiao Yaer pestered her grandmother to try a piece first.

You can’t resist the taste of it. It’s green in color and tastes like jelly. How could the farm children in ancient times have ever eaten this?

The little girl's eyes lit up as she ate. She scooped up a piece with a spoon and put it into her grandmother's mouth.

"It's really delicious, grandma, try it too!"

The food was brought to her mouth. After taking a bite, Mrs. Chen found that it was sweet and tasted really good.

In the end, the piece that was originally intended to be given to the little girl to try first ended up being tasted by the whole family together.

The old lady brought the bowl of what Shen Ning called the magical tofu to the main hall for everyone to taste, and she sighed: "Half of the two small pieces of maltose we sent over last night was melted in syrup by Sang and mixed into this magical tofu and sent to us."

There was just something to eat, and Baba sent it over here, and he was willing to mix in that little bit of sugar.

The old lady felt so relieved and felt very conscientious. It was not in vain that she bought an extra liter of rice yesterday.

Chen Youtian and Qin Fangniang also tasted a piece each. They knew it was good stuff, so they refused to eat more and left it all for the two old people and the two children. Qin Fangniang watched her daughter eat it with relish. She also felt relieved when she heard that her mother-in-law had sent two liters of rice to the Shen family's eldest wife in the mountains in the morning. She praised, "Sang has such a skillful hand. I don't know what made it in the mountains and what method she used to make it so beautiful."

Mrs. Chen glanced at her and said, "Don't ask about craftsmanship if it's not our business. Otherwise, it will easily offend others."

Chen's daughter-in-law was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly explained: "Mom, I didn't mean that."

Mrs. Chen smiled and said, "I know. I just want to say one more thing. The child will probably make a living from this skill in the future. If they can send things to our house, it means they trust us. Don't say anything when you are outside."

Then he looked at his grandchildren and said, "You too, don't say outside that your sister-in-law Shen prepared this food, okay?"

Qin Fangniang and the two children nodded repeatedly.

On the other side, Shen An and Shen Ning followed Sang Luo back in silence. After walking for a while, Shen Ning couldn't help but ask.

"Sister-in-law, can we really feed ourselves in the future?"

Today, my sister-in-law turned the leaves from the mountains into food. The food was both beautiful and delicious, but Shen Ning was still unsure.

Shen An was happy that his sister was protecting him, but he couldn't bear to see his sister sad and scared. Without waiting for Sang Luo to speak, he advised her, "Why are you afraid? We ate wild vegetables every day before, and now our sister-in-law can make magic tofu. When we run out of food, we can eat magic tofu every day. Magic tofu is so delicious!"

It is much better than boiled wild vegetables.

"And my sister-in-law also said that we can make this stuff and sell it for money, and with the money we can buy food."

Sang Luo listened with a smile as the ancient version of the sister-protecting maniac comforted his sister, and affirmed at the right time: "Xiao An is right, the fairy tofu is a good thing, but it is definitely not something you can eat as a meal. But it is true that selling the fairy tofu can buy food."

After hearing what his sister-in-law and second brother said, Shen Ning's brows relaxed. His future seemed to become bright all of a sudden, and he had hope for the future.

The three of them walked back chatting and laughing. Along the way, they saw some wild onions and purslane, so they picked some and took them with them. When they went to collect the fish baskets in the evening, they would look for purslane purposefully, and the whole thing would make a dish for dinner.

When he got home, Shen Ning's face was no longer worried. He put down his tools and helped Sang Luo peel hemp.

Shen An, on the other hand, kept glancing at the mountain. After a few glances, he discussed with Sang Luo, "Sister-in-law, should I go pick some more leaves from the fairy tree? We can cook some for dinner."

He actually didn't eat enough at noon.

Shen An and Shen Ning had lived with their uncle and aunt since they were young. Shen Lie was just a teenager at that time. Although he could take care of his younger siblings a little, hunting birds and taking eggs in the mountains, catching fish and crabs in the water to secretly add some meals to their meals, the two children had never eaten any snacks.

The magic tofu was truly a top-notch delicacy for the two kids who were eating it for the first time. How could they not be greedy? With that bowl shared by three people, they could never have enough.

After hearing what his brother said, Shen Ning also looked at Sang Luo, and was obviously moved.

Sang Luo laughed: "Okay, just look around, don't go too deep."

Shen An nodded repeatedly: "No need to go deeper, there are a lot of these nearby."

Shen Ning couldn't stay any longer, so Sang Luo simply waved her hand and said, "If you want to go, go with me. I can peel the hemp myself."

Shen Ning's eyes sparkled: "Then I'll go and find some purslane by the way."

The two little ones ran away happily. As they walked, Shen An whispered to his sister, "Don't break the branches, and pick the good leaves that my sister-in-law told you to pick. Don't pick them in a scattered manner. Don't pick them all together. Otherwise, there will be nothing to worry about in the next few days. But if the villagers know that we are selling this at the market, they may find out something if they come here for a while."

Shen Ning nodded vigorously: "Second brother, I will remember it."