The elderly woman waved her hand. “I only suffered during the year of the famine. Other than that, I was cherished by my parents and brothers in my maiden family, and even after marrying the old man, I didn’t endure much hardship. I’ve been blessed. Even if I die now, it’s just my time to go, and I’d still be a fortunate old lady.”
She spoke without any reservation: “That day will come eventually. If my skills can be passed down to you, it’ll be worthy of my parents. Tomorrow, go call Lin Zhen and Song Wei over and have them learn together.”
Hearing this, everyone softly agreed.
Old Man Lin, smoking his pipe, waved his hand. “Go on back now.”
Lin Zhen and Song Wei were unaware of what had happened here, but they were also discussing tea.
Lin Zhen massaged Song Wei’s lower back. “Since we’re not short on money, let’s not sell the remaining tea for now. We can sell it when we need the money.”
Song Wei nodded. “I was thinking the same. Didn’t Great-Grandma say that tea becomes more valuable the longer it’s stored, as long as it’s preserved well? I think there are quite a few people who appreciate tea.”
Tea, throughout history, has never lacked admirers, especially fine tea.
Lying together, Lin Zhen carefully placed his hand on Song Wei’s belly.
The next moment, he suddenly felt a small nudge against his palm.
In that instant, his entire body went numb.
His eyes widened in disbelief.
Song Wei felt it too.
“Did the baby just move? Was it a hand or a foot? Could you tell?”
It was Song Wei’s first pregnancy, and the sensation felt extraordinarily novel.
Lin Zhen nodded, his voice hoarse with excitement.
“Yes, it moved.”
They waited for a while, their excitement still unabated, when the little one in her belly moved again.
“Haha… is the little one saying hello to us?”
Lin Zhen suddenly hugged Song Wei. “This is wonderful.”
He remembered how happy his mother had been when she was pregnant with his younger brother, but the family had fallen apart before his brother was born.
Now, he had a family again.
Song Wei patted his shoulder.
That night, the couple stayed up late.
After moving a couple of times, the baby settled down to rest.
The next afternoon, after finishing work in the fields, Lin Zhen and Song Wei were summoned to Great-Grandpa’s house.
Lin Ping’an tagged along.
After hearing Great-Grandma’s words, they finally understood why they had been called.
Lin Zhen opened his mouth to speak but found he couldn’t refuse.
When Great-Grandma had been processing tea at their house, she hadn’t kept them in the dark. Instead, she had subtly taught them the steps.
Since they already knew the general process, refusing now would seem disingenuous.
Song Wei held his hand and looked at Great-Grandma’s family. “We’ll learn.”
Great-Grandma chuckled. “Then today, everyone should gather some leaves and such. I’ll teach you how to process tea.”
They worked during the day and learned how to process tea in the afternoon.
Though exhausting, no one complained or refused to learn.
This skill might come in handy someday.
However, the lessons didn’t last long before they were put on hold.
The autumn harvest had arrived.
During the busy farming season, even children were temporarily excused from school.
The educated youth responsible for teaching also had to participate in the harvest.
Song Wei, heavily pregnant, wasn’t allowed to work in the fields by Lin Zhen.
He toiled alone in the fields until late, his skin sunburned.
Song Wei, heartbroken for her husband, sought out Old Ji for sunburn medicine.
She also took the wolf pack and the white eagle into the mountains to hunt.
There’s no expecting anything from that little bear, since it’s quite friendly with everyone in the production brigade, Song Wei never sends it into the mountains to hunt.
Otherwise, if its wild instincts were triggered, it might accidentally hurt someone while interacting with people.
The way things are now is just fine—bears are omnivores, so feeding it a mix of other foods and some meat is enough.
But the little bear isn’t idle either; Lin Zhen has called it to help out in the fields.
This guy is like a tall, strong child with the intelligence of a few-year-old, and its immense strength is quite useful.
For example, it follows behind Lin Zhen with a basket on its back, and once the basket is filled with wheat, it carries it over to the tractor along with the others.
The little bear is incredibly strong—aside from not being able to cut wheat or drive a tractor, it’s practically as useful as a young adult laborer.
It might even be more capable than some.
Every time it finishes carrying a basket of wheat, Lin Zhen gives it a piece of fruit or a slice of egg cake.
For the sake of a tasty treat, it’s more than willing to help.
“Brigade Leader, should we assign work points to the little bear?”
A bear helping with the wheat harvest—this is the first time any of them have seen something like this in their lives.
The Brigade Leader: ………
“Sure, put them under Song Wei’s account.”
After all, it’s raised by Lin Zhen and Song Wei’s family.
The little bear has thick fur, and on such a hot day, it gets impatient after carrying loads for a while and plops down under a big tree, refusing to work anymore.
So, even though it’s strong, it can only earn about five work points a day.
Those five work points alone are the envy of countless people.
Gao Le is absolutely green with envy: “Why didn’t I ever raise a bear like this?”
They do have dogs, but dogs can’t carry nearly as much.
During the busy farming season, lunch is usually eaten right in the fields—a quick meal before getting back to work.
Sweat drenches everyone’s clothes.
Song Wei isn’t idle at home either. Even on a short trip into the mountains for game, she manages to bring back at least a rabbit.
She doesn’t head home with her catch but goes straight to Great-Grandpa’s house.
The elders in their family are too old for fieldwork, so Great-Grandma is responsible for cooking at home.
“Great-Grandma, your cooking is the best. Could you prepare this pheasant and rabbit? I’ll take it to Lin Zhen and the uncles.”
The old woman scolds her lightly: “Why did you bring meat again? Our family has already taken so much advantage of yours.”
“You know I can’t cook—anything I make is inedible. Let me help you knead the dough instead.”
She prepares the pheasant and rabbit, saving the offal instead of discarding it. She chops it up, marinates it with scallions and ginger, then stir-fries it with pickled chili peppers. This mostly eliminates the gaminess, and the stir-fried offal turns out delicious.
Great-Grandma thoroughly cleans the large clay pot usually used for brewing medicine. The whole chicken is simmered directly over a small stove, and later, various dried mushrooms are added—making it incredibly flavorful.
As for the rabbit, it’s stewed with assorted vegetables and sweet potato noodles.
This makes another large pot, enough to feed the whole family. The vegetables and noodles, infused with the meat’s flavor, become wonderfully fragrant.
Large steamed buns are essential.
But during this period, everyone has a bigger appetite, so it’s not practical to make buns with only white flour—that would be too wasteful.
There are also cornmeal wotou, and sweet potatoes are steamed right in the steamer alongside the wotou.
This meal is both delicious and filling.
With Song Wei’s help handling the heavy tasks, the old woman doesn’t find cooking such a large meal too exhausting.
“I’ve made a lot of mung bean soup with rock sugar—it’s sweet. Take it to them.”
“As for the meat, it’s best to stuff it inside the buns. Don’t eat the chicken now; wait until after work to avoid drawing too much attention.”
Song Wei nods and heads to the fields with the mung bean soup and a large basket of buns and wotou stuffed with meat and vegetables.
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