Goldfield
Chapter 56: Year of the Disaster

“Women-in-law can't take compliments on her dishes. Xiaocao was the one who made this dish. ” Lady Liu looked at her daughter proudly and gave her some vermicelli. His daughter is so good at making vermicelli that is so delicious with yam flour. His daughter should eat more as a gift!

They have made every dish in decent quantities. Madam Zhang was enjoying a delicious meal, so she did not make any comments about Madam Liu giving her children more food. He originally thought that they would spend the New Year sparingly, but he did not expect that such simple ingredients could also make a sumptuous New Year's meal.

Madam Li stuffed a mouthful of food into her mouth as she said, “Xiaocao made them? He was the only one in the family who had free time to think about these things. ”

Yu Xiaocao glared at Madam Li: ‘This fat lady never said anything good. He made it seem like a greedy person who only thought about eating! ‘

“Stop talking too much if you don't have anything good to say. You won't be able to stay still even while you're eating! ” Yu Dashan has noticed the displeasure of his second brother and hastily reprimanded his wife.

Madam Zhao, who rarely ate together with the Yu Family, placed a few small dishes in front of her. The food inside was exactly the same as everyone else. Madam Zhang knew that her youngest daughter-in-law was meticulous in eating and did not like eating from the same plate as everyone. Therefore, a separate set of dishes was prepared specifically for Lady Zhao and her son.

Little Doudou sucked a piece of vermicelli into his mouth with great difficulty, and then chewed on it with a smile on his face. He smiled at Xiaocao and said, “Feeling Second Brother is the best! Doudou liked this very long thing. It's so good!”

“This is vermicelli! Since our Doudou likes him, Second Brother will make even more for you to bring back to the city! ” Yu Xiaocao never had any resistance against cute kids. Although it is quite tiring to make vermicelli, it is also worth fixing their food with a new type of dish.

“Yes yes! The yield of sweet potatoes this year is very high. We have enough yam flour until harvest in autumn. If we make more vermicelli, we will have other types of dishes to eat during the winter! Boiled tauge and vermicelli taste very good! ” Lady Li inhaled the oil in her chopsticks, and then she used her chopsticks to tear apart the dishes. When he found a piece of fatty meat, he immediately put it in his mouth.

Heizi, who was sitting next to him, had even stood up. He wiped the snot on his blackened sleeve, then stirred the plate with his chopsticks. It seemed like he would never stop until he found a piece of meat.

Looking at the dirty looks of the mother and daughter pair, no matter how delicious the homemade dish was, Yu Xiaocao was still unwilling to eat it anymore. With his head lowered, he concentrated on eating the dried bean sprouts in front of him. He would actually vomit if he saw her any longer.

Dried fried tauge is made from sprouts that only grow about one or two centimeters. After the lard is heated in a hot pot, the dried chili is put in a pan and sauteed. After that, sprouts, seasonings, and garlic sprouts are added to the pan and sauteed. With a refreshing taste of bean sprouts and additional pork fat as a base, it is natural if the taste is not too bad.

Unexpectedly, Madam Zhang was the first to comment on Madam Li's eating behavior and her unsightly son, “How should others eat when you keep stirring and picking at the dishes? If you keep doing this, go back to your room to eat! Stop being disgusting here! ”

As he spoke, he also glanced towards his youngest daughter-in-law. It turned out that Madam Zhang, who had been watching her daughter-in-law and youngest granddaughter all along, noticed that from time to time Madam Zhao would look at her eldest daughter-in-law with disdain. Madam Zhao, who was originally enjoying the food, suddenly put down her chopsticks. Therefore, he ended up speaking up to stop Madam Li's unsightly behavior and his son.

Seeing that most of the meat on the plate had already run out, Madam Li finally stopped searching with her chopsticks. However, he was still devouring the rest of his food, as if someone wanted to fight over it with him.

The New Year's Eve lunch ended shortly after this little episode. For this meal, Madam Zhang did not limit how much each person could eat. So, even though the staple food is still coarse wheat pancakes, the whole family still eats with a rare sense of satisfaction. The main reason was because it was a more luxurious meal compared to previous years.

After eating, Madam Zhang's heart ached as she looked at the rapidly depleted food and muttered nonstop. With a grim expression, he finally stopped his grievances when Old Yu scolded him for being ‘so chatty even during New Year’.

Dumplings are usually eaten at night during the new year celebration. The Yu family didn't buy a lot of meat at first, so even though the stuffing was mixed with a lot of cabbage, it was still not enough to fill everyone's stomach.

There are only two types of stuffing in the Yu Family dumplings, namely pork with cabbage and lard mixed with cabbage. On New Year's Eve, the men were given twenty dumplings each, while the women got ten each. Children receive half of what women get.

With only five small dumplings, even the three-year-old Little Doudou was not full, let alone Yu Xiaocao and the others. Yu Heizi was dissatisfied after she finished her portion, so she quickly stole one of Little Shitou's dumplings when she didn't notice and stuffed it into her own mouth. He ignored Little Shitou's angry cries and approached Yu Xiaocao and Yu Xiaolian.

Yu Xiaocao quickly pulled his brothers to their father's table and remained beside him. In the presence of Old Yu and their father, Yu Heizi naturally did not dare to act rashly. He could only bravely go ask for his own mother's dumplings.

Lady Li was a greedy woman, who was not even willing to share her dumplings with her own child. Therefore, he pleaded to his mother-in-law without shame, “Mother, Heizi is a growing young man, who can eat as much as an adult. So five dumplings isn't even enough as an appetizer. Mother, this daughter-in-law did not dare to ask that she get the same amount as men. Give him five more so he has the same amount as us! ”

Madam Zhang looked towards Madam Liu and nonchalantly said, “If you can guarantee that no one will complain that I am biased, , then I don't mind giving him five extra dumplings because it's New Year.”

“What does a child know? A sister-in-law cannot argue with a child. Mom, I'll give you the dumplings for Heizi. ” Mistress Li not only did not discipline her son, but she was also annoyed at Madam Liu for being so harsh. It is true that the fruit does not fall far from the tree!

Lady Liu quietly entered the kitchen and divided her ten dumplings to her children. He put four dumplings into the bowl of his youngest son, and then divided the remaining six dumplings between his two daughters.

Yu Xiaocao held tightly to his own bowl and said, “Mother, I am a light eater. Five dumplings is enough for me! If you give us all your dumplings, you'll be starving tonight. Even if you give me dumplings, I won't be able to spend them. ”

Xiaolian chimed, “Mother, you rarely eat dumplings all year round. Moreover, you have been busy all afternoon. If you can't even eat the dumplings you made yourself, do you think we, your children, will be able to eat? ”

“Mother, take back the dumplings. I don't want it! ” Little Shitou quickly returns the dumplings that were in her bowl.

“You eat! Mom ate too much at lunch, so I'm not hungry right now! ” Lady Liu took the dumplings and put them in the bowls of her children.

While the four of them pushed back and forth, Yu Hai came out with a bowl of dumplings. When he saw this scene, he felt both sad and touched. In the end, he made the decision to share all the dumplings the second branch received fairly. His children each got eight dumplings, while he and his wife each got ten.

“Ten dumplings aren't enough for a grown man like you? I used to eat snacks at night, so I would feel uncomfortable if I ate too many dumplings. Here, I'll give you a few more. I will only drink more dumpling soup later.. ”Mistress Liu's heart aches for her husband and is reluctant to eat the dumplings she receives.

“There's no way you'll be full with just ten dumplings. Eat fast, otherwise it will be cold! ” Yu Hai went to the kitchen with a bowl and asked Madame Zhang to spoon a bowl of dumpling soup for her. He swiftly drank a bowl of soup and filled his stomach first before eating the dumplings. This way, after eating the dumplings, he would feel somewhat full.

On the first day of the New Year, since all the villagers knew about Madam Zhang's stingy attitude, not many children had come to greet the New Year. In addition to Eldest Grandfather, Hunter Zhao, and some close family friends, the second branch of the Yu Family also felt too embarrassed to bring their children to give New Year greetings to others.

Yu Xiaocao and his brothers did not receive the red envelopes from their own grandparents, but his eldest grandfather gave them two copper coins as lucky money. When they arrived at the Zhao Family residence, Madam Zheng specially filled the embroidered pouch he made with silver pieces worth about one mace and gave the pouch to each child.

Yu Xiaolian looked at the embroidery on the pouch and liked it very much. Seeing the admiration on her face, Madam Zheng agreed to teach her how to embroider.

On the way home, Madam Liu whispered to her husband, “Based on the aura that Madam Zheng exuded, she is definitely not from an ordinary family. Just look at the embroidery bag. Even an ordinary family in the city would not be too particular to give the children lucky money in embroidered pockets, let alone the people in the village. ”

“Not only Madam Zheng, but also Uncle Zhao and Big Brother Bufan. Their martial arts skills did not seem like the skills of an ordinary hunter family. There must be a hidden reason why Uncle Zhao's entire family lived in seclusion in the mountains. But this is not something we should ask. We should interact as usual. No need to act intentionally. ”

Yu Hai had long since realized that the Zhao Family, whether it was their eating habits, living conditions or behavior, would subconsciously reveal the manners of the noble families. The people from the Zhao Family all exuded the aura of an orderly and dignified warrior. During the last period of the previous dynasty, the imperial court became lost and immoral, and thus many godly officials decided to live in exile. The Zhao Family was probably one of those families.

As the days go by, winter shows that this year is sure to bring disaster. In January, the snow almost never stops. Many families have insufficient food reserves and can only eat once a day. So they're lucky enough to survive the famine.

However, there were a few people who died of starvation and froze to death from successive heavy snowfall. Moreover, there were even incidents where not a single family had survived. Even in the city, there were incidents of people dying of hunger …

Fortunately, in Dongshan Village, except for a few weak and elderly people who failed to survive the winter, there was no phenomenon where many people died of starvation or froze to death. However, the situation in the village was not optimistic either.

At this moment, Madam Zhang deeply regretted her stingy attitude before the New Year and did not allow her second son to buy more food for supplies. They've used all the millet flour at home. The only ones they have at home that can satisfy their hunger are the sweet potatoes in the basement and the sweet potato slices, which can only be ground into sweet potato flour.

Every day, they eat sweet potato porridge or sweet potato cornbread. Even if you occasionally try something different, it just directly uses dried yam to make porridge. The digestive system of the elderly is not too good, so they will experience heartburn after eating sweet potatoes every day. However, if they did not eat it, they would face the danger of starvation. Therefore, Yu Xiaocao had no choice but to mix the mystical stone water into the herbal medicine and give it to his family to nourish their intestines and stomach.

Continuous snowstorms caused roads to be blocked. The city's food reserves are also facing a crisis due to delivery issues. In addition, grain prices remained high with no signs of decline. White rice and wheat flour are as expensive as meat!