The Daily Life of Farming and Raising Children in Ancient Mountain Residences

Chapter 171: Envy

Once the Xu family was settled, Wei Lingzhen used the ingredients they had to steam two batches of glutinous rice cakes. Mrs. Xu packed them individually and, carrying them in a basket, set out with her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson to visit each household, introduce themselves, and get to know the neighbors.

The first house they visited was the Shen family. Wei Lingzhen had heard a lot about Shen Lie and Sang Luo. Ever since her mother-in-law had taken the children, her brother, and her nephew to seek refuge in the mountains, she had been immensely grateful to them.

Earlier, the family had been busy reuniting and it had been quite chaotic, but now they were making a proper visit to express their gratitude. As they got to know each other, Wei Lingzhen was genuinely delighted. Sang Luo, as described by her family, was well-mannered, righteous, and generous, with a natural, clean, and peaceful demeanor that made people feel comfortable.

A former first-class maid from a big household, Sang Luo had been released from service and provided with a dowry and a good marriage, which spoke volumes about her character. She conversed in a way that put people at ease, and she praised Shen An and Shen Ning generously. After expressing her gratitude for Sang Luo’s care for her family, Wei Lingzhen chatted for a while longer before noticing the time and heading to the next household.

They visited the Chen, Shi, and Zhou families, and finally, the Lu family.

Wei Lingzhen indeed saw what her daughter had described: every house had new beds and furniture in their caves. She also saw something no one had mentioned—a small cave inside the large one, fenced and locked, with a woman lying inside doing nothing. When the woman heard the commotion and saw the strangers, she stared at them intently.

Wei Lingzhen was discreet and did not stare, maintaining her composure as she conversed with the Lu family’s women and handed over the rice cakes she had made.

As they were leaving, Mrs. Lu said, “There’s someone in the family who causes trouble. I apologize for the embarrassment.”

Wei Lingzhen did not pry, and Mrs. Xu smoothly changed the subject. They chatted briefly before excusing themselves to prepare dinner.

On the way back, Mrs. Xu explained to Wei Lingzhen, “That was the Lu family’s eldest daughter-in-law. I forgot to mention her to you.”

Wang Chunniang had been confined for so long that she was only allowed to walk in the main cave at specific times under supervision, so Mrs. Xu had genuinely forgotten about her.

While the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were talking, Wang Chunniang seized the moment when Mrs. Lu and Feng Liuniang went out to see off the guests. Clutching the wooden fence, she anxiously called out, “Danniu, come here! Who were those people just now? From the Xu family?”

She still recognized Mrs. Xu.

There seemed to be something unusual in the valley today. Lu Er had come back briefly, and the whole family had rushed out. Upon returning, the old man and old lady even carried out some grain.

Wang Chunniang had been curious for a while, but she had been stuck in the cave with either the second branch people or Lu Sanlang, without a chance to ask her children.

Now that people had come to the door, it was obvious that outsiders had entered the valley, and quite a few!

Could Wang Chunniang hold back from asking?

As soon as Mrs. Lu and Feng Liuniang left, she quietly called her daughter, Lu Danniu.

Lu Danniu hadn’t been out, but she knew that when the adults went out, she and her brothers usually stayed in the cave to watch over their mother.

However, she did know a bit from the others who went out. She was aware that people had entered the valley and that there seemed to be bandits outside, but she didn’t know much more.

When Wang Chunniang asked her, she answered truthfully, “Those people just now were from the Xu family—Mrs. Xu and Wenbo and Wenyin’s mother. The other two were probably Wenbo and Wenyin’s brothers.”

Wang Chunniang gripped the wooden fence tighter, “The whole Xu family came into the valley? How many of them?”

Lu Danniu, feeling nervous under her mother’s intense gaze, lowered her head and replied, “Mr. Xu, Mrs. Xu, Wenyin’s two brothers, and maybe an uncle? I heard that bandits are attacking outside.”

Wang Chunniang breathed heavily.

Five!

Another five. The Xu family alone had ten people now.

She asked Lu Danniu, “Then who did your grandparents take grain to? The Xu family is so wealthy, they wouldn’t need help from families like ours, would they?”

Lu Danniu, feeling tense from her mother’s questioning, stammered, “No, it was for Xiaojin, Xiaoyin, and Xiaotie. The three brothers also came into the valley.”

Wang Chunniang let out a light snort.

Back then, she was ostracized and had to carry grain into the mountains just for letting a few things slip to her natal family, and was even tied up for a few days. But now, look—another batch from the Xu family could come in, and Shen Lie even brought in Xiaojin and the others. Despite their estranged relationships, they didn’t count as separate families?

So it was just her they didn’t like, huh?

Rules only applied to her, huh?

Her face darkened, scaring Lu Danniu pale. Nervously glancing at the cave entrance and seeing that neither her grandmother nor second aunt had returned, Lu Danniu quickly whispered, “Mom, don’t say anything reckless. Many people outside have died. Xiaojin’s parents and sister are gone.”

Wang Chunniang’s eyebrow twitched. Hearing footsteps outside the cave, she knew Mrs. Lu and Feng Liuniang were back from seeing off the Xu family. Without another word, she turned and lay back on her bed.

…

No one knew about the conversation between Wang Chunniang and her daughter. As evening approached, smoke rose from the chimneys of each household in the valley.

For the next couple of days, everyone still ate together to take care of the children. Dinner was porridge again, but this time with minced meat and finely chopped vegetables and scallions, making a savory meat porridge.

When it was time to serve the porridge, Shen Ning hesitated with a half-filled bowl. Sang Luo took the ladle and filled the bowl, whispering, “Saving doesn’t start here. Adding more water and vegetables to the porridge is easy. If you all skimp on your portions, do you think Xiaojin and the others will dare eat their fill?”

Shen Ning understood and immediately nodded, filling each bowl to the brim before carrying them out.

However, the Shen Jin brothers were too scared to eat from their full bowls. Shen Jin ran to his backpack, pulled out three bowls, and split one bowl of porridge among the three brothers. Holding their bowls, they looked at Sang Luo and said, “Sister-in-law, we’ve been hungry for so long that our stomachs have shrunk.”

Being long hungry was indeed true, and Sang Luo nodded, “Eating little but often is also good. If you get hungry, you can help yourselves to more.”

Shen Tie, who had eaten egg drop soup with sugar twice that afternoon and had familiar children around him, was noticeably more energetic. He could even sit on the backed seat by himself now.

It was also then that the family noticed Shen Tie ate extremely quickly. From the moment Shen Jin placed the small bowl of porridge in front of him, his eyes locked onto it, and despite his weakness, he devoured it as if he was ravenous, not caring if it was hot or not, just wanting to fill his mouth.

He was truly afraid of being hungry.

Shen Jin quickly pressed down on his hand, “Eat slower.”

Shen Tie, with his hand held down, looked at Shen Jin with wide eyes, “I’m so hungry.”

The family fell silent.

This wasn’t just physical hunger but the fear of hunger from the heart.

Sang Luo couldn’t quite imagine the feeling of being so hungry that even after eating for several days, he could only eat one or two bites of dirt cakes a day.

When she first crossed over, she was hungry too, feeling like she couldn’t go on. But the original host had been in a half-starved state for about ten days, during which there were still wild vegetable soups with some rice grains. However, the hardships of fleeing and the lack of food had ruined her health, and she fell ill, delirious, and eventually was replaced by Sang Luo.

When she arrived, she was only hungry for a short time before Shen Ning fed her a few wild fruits in the moonlight. Soon after, the Chen family’s elders brought salt, sugar water, and rice. Maybe her own spiritual body’s restoration of the physical body helped her recover quickly. After a few days of rice porridge and fish soup, she slowly got better.

So neither the original host’s memory nor her own experience could truly understand Shen Tie’s feeling of extreme hunger despite having food, nor did she know how to deal with it.

Shen Jin held Shen Tie’s hand and said, “You won’t go hungry anymore. We won’t go hungry ever again. We left the county town, and Big Brother and Uncle Xu brought us out. Look, there are mountains everywhere, and Big Brother, Sister-in-law, Grandma, Grandpa, and the uncles gave us food. Big Brother will take me hunting. Really, we won’t be hungry again. Eat slowly.”

Seeing Shen Tie still holding the spoon, Shen Jin pointed to the other two bowls of porridge, “See, if you’re hungry, there’s more to eat.”

Sang Luo pushed the plate of glutinous rice cakes sent by the Xu family towards Shen Tie, “Eat. You can have a piece of cake, but it’s made of glutinous rice flour and is hard to digest, so just eat one piece first.”

Seeing that everyone’s bowls on the table were filled with food, Shen Tie swallowed hard, and the extreme fear of hunger in his heart eased a bit. However, after Shen Jin let go of his hand, even though he tried to control himself, he still ate quickly. Despite his ravenous eating, he had a clear sense of boundaries, not touching what wasn’t explicitly given to him.

At six years old, he didn’t know the phrase “living under someone else’s roof,” but he vaguely understood its meaning.

Sang Luo didn’t say much. This wasn’t something that could be resolved in a day or two; it would take time to heal.

…

After dinner, they boiled some water and, once it was warm, everyone who had been outside washed up. The brothers washed their own clothes.

Shen Ning wrung out a cloth and wiped down the bed, mat, and pillow where Shen Tie had slept during the day. Sang Luo measured some beans and soaked them in water, preparing for the next day’s breakfast.

That night, Shen An and Shen Ning did not study as they usually did. Instead, the younger siblings chatted for a while until it got late, and then they turned off the lights and went to sleep.

The next morning, Shen Lie got up early and ground the beans that Sang Luo had soaked in the kitchen. By the time Sang Luo woke up, soy milk was already cooking in the pot.

She smiled and took over, and once the soy milk was ready, she filled a large bowl with it and added prepared brine to make tofu. After scooping out a large bowl of tofu pudding, she used a small tofu frame that Shen Lie had made, lined with cloth, and pressed it with a board and a stone. This produced four blocks of tofu.

One block was for their own consumption, and the other three were for the Chen, Shi, and Xu families, who had pre-ordered them by sending over soybeans or grains. There weren’t many vegetables in the valley, so each household would exchange for tofu or tofu skin from Sang Luo occasionally.

Shen Ning, having finished washing up, asked if she should make tofu dregs pancakes. She then took some leftover vegetables from the day before, finely chopped them, measured a small spoonful of flour, cracked an egg, and started cooking. She also brought out the condiments for the savory tofu pudding.

Breakfast consisted of soy milk, tofu pudding, golden fried tofu dregs pancakes, the glutinous rice cakes sent by the Xu family the day before, and the remaining porridge from Shen Jin and his brothers, which Shen Ning reheated.

The table was set, and those from the main house, accustomed to such meals, were fine. However, Shen Jin and his brothers were stunned, not knowing where to start.

Shen Ning laid out the bowls and chopsticks. Seeing the three brothers standing there dazed, Sang Luo said, “Don’t just stand there. Help yourselves to whatever you want. It’s all made from beans. Whenever we make some at home, we’ll save a portion for you.”

Beans?

The three brothers couldn’t see how this resembled beans at all.

Shen Jin quickly recalled what his mother had asked him to investigate earlier. Without further questions, he thanked his sister-in-law, grabbed some soy milk, and, along with Shen Yin and Shen Tie, started their breakfast with a pancake.

Shen Lie and Chen Dashan had been out for nearly a month and had just returned. Lu Erlang, Lu Sanlang, Shi Dalang, and Shi Erlang had long been anxious to go out. This morning, after an early breakfast, they headed straight to the Chen and Shen households.

After applying snake repellent powder to his shoes and leggings, Shen Jin, excited, grabbed his backpack, slingshot, and vegetable knife.

Shen Lie saw this and gave him a hatchet, along with Shen An’s bow and arrows.

The children in the valley still practiced archery from time to time, but they had rarely been taken out. Besides when they transported grain, they hadn’t really had much use for it afterward.

A group of half-grown boys, including Shen An, gathered around, looking at Shen Jin with envy. They also wanted to go out, but everyone knew the difference between the inner and outer areas. Hunting and venturing into the mountains were different; while they could avoid wild animals in the mountains, their training only taught them to quickly climb trees and hide if they encountered danger. They could occasionally help a little, but hunting required going to places where wild animals were common. The likelihood of these younger ones becoming a burden was high, so they could only look on with envy.

Xu Wenqing, standing aside, was also envious. What young person doesn’t like knives and arrows? Mr. Xu found it amusing. He had seen the boys from Shili Village, all of whom had bows and arrows, and said, “Later, you can borrow a bow and arrows from Xiao An and practice a bit. Have Xiao An teach you. Once you get the hang of it, you can join your elder brother and Big Mountain Brother on their outings.”

Shen An, who had heard this, turned and smiled at Xu Wenqing, replying enthusiastically. He then turned to Shen Jin and said, “Don’t be afraid, Xiao Jin. Learn well and master the skills. You’ll be impressive in no time. Maybe I’ll rely on you to lead the way when we head into the mountains.”

Shen Jin gave his first smile since coming to Yun Valley: “I’m not afraid.”

With his elder brother leading, he wasn’t afraid at all.

Shen Lie’s eyes also twinkled with a smile. He patted Shen Jin on the head and said, “Don’t forget how to climb trees. This time we’re specifically going to areas with wild animals. You’ll set some traps and handle small game. But if a big one starts climbing the tree, you need to be cautious of insects and snakes as well.”

Shen Jin held the bow tightly and nodded repeatedly: “Got it.”

Shen Lie smiled and looked towards the cave.

Sang Luo had filled two bamboo tubes with water. He walked over, took the water, and placed the bamboo tubes into the backpack. He then said to Sang Luo, “Shall we go now?”

Sang Luo smiled and nodded: “Be careful.”