Chapter 6: 6. Chapter 6: It's Too Hard! (2)

Chapter 6: It’s Too Hard! (2)

The hard fruit candy was only about the size of a child’s thumb, but for Shuyue, it was a truly unexpected joy. When she was extremely hungry, eating a small piece should be able to alleviate the discomfort in her stomach. Thinking of this, Shuyue took two pieces and tucked them into her pocket, feeling a sense of sweet satisfaction in her heart.

Unable to think of anything else for the moment, Shuyue cupped her face in her hands and lay on the kang table. Having lived in the new era, Shuyue had never experienced the kind of hunger she had felt over the past two days.

She wanted to eat white flour steamed buns and big meat buns; she wanted to eat beef noodles; she wanted to eat white rice and braised pork; she wanted to eat...

She wanted to eat so, so many things.

Shuyue had never imagined that her wishes would one day become so simple and practical. But reality was a harsh teacher; she was still just a nursing baby who couldn't do anything. In the face of survival, being pretentious or delicate seemed redundant, and dwelling on the past wouldn't solve any problems.

Shuyue rubbed her face and fiddled with her own fair, chubby fingers.

At noon, she could get a bowl of gruel and a cornmeal bun. Although it tasted terrible, it was at least enough to fill her stomach. Drinking a bowl of pitch-black gruel in the evening should be enough to last her until the next morning.

Thinking of this, Shuyue’s mind was immediately filled with wild vegetable gruel and wild vegetable buns.

Sour, astringent, with a strange taste like dishwater.

The rough texture that scratched her throat and the burning pain in her abdomen—Shuyue recalled them clearly one by one, and she felt so aggrieved that she wanted to cry again.

She couldn't sleep in tomorrow morning; she had to get a sweet potato.

Thinking of the sweet potato gave Shuyue a little comfort, and she drifted off to sleep, dazed, while lying on the kang table.

Before falling asleep, she thought about how, after finishing lunch, she would follow Erya out to see if she could find something to eat. If all else failed, she would just follow along and dig for some wild vegetables.

She felt that even if she just boiled them in clear water, it would probably taste better than the gruel at home that challenged the limits of her taste buds.

Carrying these beautiful dreams, Shuyue entered dreamland.

Lunch gave Shuyue a surprise: it was wild vegetable gruel and sweet potatoes.

It was said that the experienced elders in the village could read the sky and saw that it was going to rain in the next two days, so the field work had to be finished quickly.

Each family was only allowed to send one person back to cook, while the rest continued to work.

The person who came back to cook for the Old Bai family was Shuyue’s grandmother. Grandmother wasn't very old, looking only about forty, and was a very gentle person with an oval face and willow-leaf eyebrows; even now, one could still see the beauty she once was.

Because they were in a rush, the family didn't make cornmeal buns, but instead just boiled a pot of wild vegetable gruel and steamed some sweet potatoes.

Seeing Shuyue come out, the old lady served her a bowl of gruel and gave her a sweet potato that was even bigger than Erya’s. "You two sisters eat slowly, I’m heading back to the fields now."

Shuyue hugged her sweet potato in surprise, her hands burning from the heat, but she couldn't bear to let go.

The old lady walked out carrying a basket of sweet potatoes and a pot of gruel. After taking a few steps, she suddenly thought of something and looked back at Shuyue with an unreadable expression.

Shuyue met her gaze and felt a jolt of alarm. When she tried to look closer, the old lady’s eyes and brows were gentle again, as if it had just been Shuyue’s hunger-induced dizziness playing tricks on her.

"I heard your dad say that little Yue likes to eat fish, right?" the old lady asked.

Shuyue gave a start.

Could this old lady have noticed something and be testing her with these words?

She did indeed like eating fish—braised fish, stone pot fish, sweet and sour fish, pickled cabbage fish, bean paste braised fish, steamed fish—they were all so delicious!

But, she was little Shuyue now. Should she like eating fish?

Shuyue felt guilty.

However, when she looked at the old lady, she had already put on a dazed, innocent, and blank expression, as if she hadn't even noticed what the old lady had said.

(End of chapter)