The early spring tea this year was so excellent that Grandma was beaming with joy.
Over the next few days, she stayed at Song Wei’s house almost exclusively to process the tea.
However, she couldn’t handle it all alone due to her age, so Song Wei and the others had to help with some tasks.
After the tea was processed, Song Wei insisted on giving them 30% of the yield.
Originally, she had planned to split it fifty-fifty, as she was the one who led them to the tea mountain. But Grandma’s household had three people picking tea, and Grandma herself handled the processing.
Yet, they insisted on taking only 30%.
“That forest is so dangerous, full of wild beasts and venomous snakes. Without you and your wolves keeping watch, who would dare venture in? Even if we knew about the tea there, we wouldn’t have the courage to go. We’re only benefiting thanks to you. Thirty percent is more than enough.”
Lin Dayou and his wife also tried to persuade her: “This is plenty. Any more would be too much.”
In the end, Song Wei only gave them 30%.
This batch yielded a total of twelve pounds of processed tea. Song Wei set aside three pounds for herself and asked Grandma to help seal and store it.
The remaining tea would be kept until Lin Zhen returned. She planned to take a pound or two to see if it could fetch a good price.
As it grew late, Song Wei stretched lazily and went to bed.
She woke up quite late the next day.
“I’ve gotten lazy. I haven’t woken up early to exercise for days,” she muttered, yawning as she stepped outside.
She found Lin Ping’an already preparing breakfast.
“Little Lin Ping’an, what are we having today?”
Lin Ping’an was barely taller than the stove, standing on a small stool and wielding a spatula with practiced ease.
“Sister-in-law, are you hungry?”
Song Wei patted her stomach. Now that he mentioned it, she was indeed hungry.
“Starving.”
“You can start with the boiled eggs over there. I’m making bone broth for you.”
Song Wei smiled and ruffled his hair.
“You’re so sweet, just like your brother. You’ll definitely find a good wife in the future.”
Lin Ping’an grinned foolishly. “I’m too young to think about a wife now. But I have to take good care of my sister-in-law.”
To Lin Ping’an, his sister-in-law was like a mother—providing him with food and clothing, always protecting him, and even more important to him than his own brother.
Song Wei ate the boiled eggs while tending to the fire, casually tossing a few sweet potatoes into the stove and burying them in the ashes.
After finishing the eggs, she started kneading dough.
As long as she wasn’t cooking, she could handle any other task.
“Should we make noodles or steamed buns?”
Lin Ping’an replied, “Let’s have noodles. We have bone broth ready, and I’ll fry some minced meat topping.”
Song Wei had a special talent for hand-pulled noodles.
She had picked it up after accidentally seeing an old master at a state-run restaurant making them once, and she had practiced and figured it out on her own
It took many failed attempts before she finally succeeded.
Her hand-pulled noodles were tender yet chewy, even better than store-bought dried noodles.
“Deal!”
With their combined efforts, a fragrant bowl of noodles with minced meat topping was ready.
Song Wei devoured three large bowls, each the size of her face, and still felt somewhat unsatisfied after gnawing on plenty of ribs stewed with pickled cabbage.
Lin Ping’an remarked, “Sister-in-law, I think your appetite has grown again. Next time, I’ll make more. I need to eat more too!”
Eating more would help him grow taller and stronger, so he could become a dependable man even more capable than his brother.
“Keep it up then. There are roasted sweet potatoes in the stove. Do you want some?”
Lin Ping’an patted his full stomach and burped. “I can’t eat anymore. I need to walk it off.”
“Go ahead. I’ll wash the bowls.”
There were only a few bowls, so Lin Ping’an didn’t argue. With his little belly protruding, he took Bear Cub by the hand and went out to play with his friends.
After washing the bowls, Song Wei squatted in front of the stove and dug out four or five roasted sweet potatoes.
The sweet potatoes were thoroughly cooked and still hot to the touch.
Sweet potatoes roasted slowly in the embers had a particularly delicious flavor, though their skins were covered in ash and somewhat blackened.
She broke one open right in the middle, revealing steaming, vibrant orange flesh that emitted an irresistible aroma.
Compared to boiled sweet potatoes, she far preferred them roasted.
In no time, she had devoured all five roasted sweet potatoes, each as big as Lin Zhen’s fists.
Only then did she finally feel somewhat full.
With her stomach satisfied, Song Wei went out to earn work points.
But before it was even mealtime, she felt hungry again.
Song Wei: (′?ω?)？
Wait, why was her appetite getting bigger and her hunger coming on faster lately?
Frowning, she decided not to shortchange herself.
After all, in this lifetime, she was determined never to go hungry.
So she headed back home.
Lin Ping’an wasn’t home, so she boiled three eggs in sweet syrup and ate them. Then, she started kneading dough to make multigrain steamed buns.
Even though their household had plenty of food, it couldn’t sustain her current appetite. Adding some coarse grains would make it more filling and still tasty.
By the time Lin Ping’an returned home with Bear Cub, Song Wei had already steamed the buns.
“Sister-in-law, you’re back so early today! You’ve already steamed the buns!”
Song Wei hummed in agreement, munching on a raw sweet potato.
“I got hungry, so I came back.”
“Chirp!”
The eaglet’s cry came from outside. Song Wei asked Lin Ping’an to watch the stove and went out to check.
To her surprise, the eaglet had caught a mouse in the yard.
It didn’t eat it but left it neatly arranged on the ground. Then, it flew up to the roof beam, its head and eyes darting around alertly.
The next moment, it suddenly swooped down swiftly toward the firewood pile.
Another mouse was caught.
It placed this trophy beside the first mouse, arranging them neatly in a row.
“Wow, the eaglet can catch mice!”
Lin Ping’an clapped and showered it with praise: “Eaglet, you’re amazing! Those mice are always stealing our food. I used to think about getting a cat, but now that we have you, we don’t need one at all!”
The eaglet seemed to thrive on compliments. Even if it didn’t understand the words, it could sense the admiration.
It puffed out its chest proudly, holding its head high as if reaching for the sky.
Song Wei’s lips twitched, but she had to admit it was a good thing the eaglet was catching mice around the house.
It seemed its training in the wild hadn’t been in vain—the results were showing.
To reward it, Song Wei fed the eaglet some rabbit meat.
The little guy was a bit picky—it didn’t like eating mice with fur and skin, preferring to just catch them.
It also refused to eat rabbits unless they were skinned.
Only clean, skinned meat would satisfy it.
Song Wei didn’t feel like dealing with the mice either, so she had Lin Ping’an take them outside to bury them.
When he returned, she made him wash his hands several times with soap and even wiped the eaglet’s claws with a cloth.
“Time to eat.”
Unsurprisingly, Song Wei felt she ate significantly more than usual during the meal.
She frowned.
“Good thing we’re here. If it were like my previous life, I’d probably starve to death.”
She muttered quietly to herself, once again feeling grateful for whatever had brought her to this era.
With her increased appetite, Song Wei became even more diligent about going into the mountains, bringing back whatever food she could find.
When she came across wild fruit trees, she’d eat on the spot while picking.
But there weren’t many edible wild fruits available at the moment.
In another month or two, wild peaches, grapes, plums, and other fruits in the mountains would ripen.
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