From a young age, Yu Ya had always roamed the mountains and fields, and she was quite skilled at catching fish.
After struggling for quite a while, she successfully caught three fish, each about the size of a palm.
“The fish in this pool are really clever—not easy to catch at all. My grandma says that if you live by the sea, you don’t even need to catch fish; you just wait for the tide to go out and pick them up right off the shore.
Not only can you pick up fish, but other things too. Every time I hear my grandma talk about the old days, I drool just thinking about it. Someday I’m going to go to the seaside and try everything she’s talked about!
Too bad being a fisherman comes with heavy taxes, and you get squeezed from all sides.”
Maybe because of her nickname, she really loved eating fish.
“Here, I’ll share one with you. I can catch more later. You two clearly don’t know how to catch fish.” Yu Ya carefully compared them and handed over the smallest one.
“I caught these, so I get the big one, and you get the small one.”
“No, no, you’ve already brought us here to dig for wild vegetables. We can’t take your fish too!”
“Ah, I already said I’m giving them to you, so just take them. I’m heading off now—my home is pretty far, and if I don’t get back soon, I’ll miss dinner.”
Yu Ya waved her hand casually, carrying a heavy woven basket on her back and holding a fish, striding off with confidence and vigor.
The two sisters carefully put the fish away and continued digging for wild vegetables.
They really didn’t know how to catch fish.
Both of their baskets and one sack were completely full, so they decided to head home.
By now, the sun was already directly overhead, and they hadn’t eaten yet.
“Sis, look!” Xiao Gu shook her sister’s arm excitedly.
“Huh?” Lin Xiaohe followed her sister’s gaze.
A wild pheasant was wandering by the pool, but startled by the movement, it flapped its wings and flew away.
“Ah~” Xiao Gu sighed in disappointment, thinking they might get to eat chicken.
“What are you thinking? There’s no way the two of us could catch a pheasant!” She tapped her sister’s forehead helplessly. “No long tail feathers, so it’s probably a hen. There might be pheasant eggs around—we can look for them.”
“Okay, okay, okay!” Xiao Gu rushed over excitedly.
Lin Xiaohe put down what she was holding.
The two picked up sticks and carefully pushed aside the grass, hoping to spot the pheasant eggs they’d been wishing for.
“Sis! Sis! Over here, I see them—there are eight!” Xiao Gu grinned from ear to ear, cheering and waving her arms.
“Be careful picking them up and putting them in the basket. Let’s hurry back.”
Having found the pheasant eggs, the two sisters were as giddy as mice that had stolen oil—their joy impossible to hide.
Even when they got home, they still wore beaming smiles.
“What’s going on? What’s got you so happy?” Liu Yuexiu looked at her two daughters.
“Hehe, we found pheasant eggs today—eight whole ones! That’ll last us a good while!” Xiao Gu couldn’t keep a secret and blurted it out as soon as she was asked.
“That’s wonderful! Xiaohe, Xiaogu, you two are really lucky. Oh, by the way, your Aunt Wu Xiang came by and brought a few bamboo bowls and wooden chopsticks.
Your father and I can’t move around much, so we had her leave them at the door.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll go get them. We really need bowls!”
Xiao Gu happily headed outside.
Lin Xiaohe reached out and felt her parents’ foreheads. “It seems like the fever’s gone down.”
“This medicine also helps with pain. Keep taking it. My sister and I can earn money, so don’t skimp. We went and dug up a lot more wild vegetables today. We’ll trade them for cash and buy more medicine.”
“Ahhh~” Xiao Man was sitting obediently on the bed, leaning back, and only made a sound after being ignored for so long.
“What’s wrong, Xiao Man? Are you hungry or do you need to go to the bathroom? Big Sis will take you.”
Lin Xiaohe picked up the little one, and when she saw the child reaching her hand toward the door, she knew she needed to go to the bathroom.
The ancestral hall was in the center of the village, not far from the public toilet. She carried her over, helped her do her business, and the happy little girl babbled “Ah ah ah” with delight.
Just a few steps later, they ran into the brigade captain.
Lin Jun spotted her and called out, “Xiaohe, how are your parents doing?”
“They’re okay, just in pain. No other problems.”
Lin Jun nodded. “Not having a high fever is already a blessing. Do you have anything to eat at home? If not, go to the village office and get a little. The warehouse is just about empty too—only two sacks of grain left for emergencies. This year’s going to be rough.”
Then, remembering he was talking to a child, he stopped himself.
“Uncle Brigade Captain, my sister and I dig for roots every day. We can still manage to eat.”
“Alright. If you’re in trouble, come find me at my house.”
He let out a helpless sigh. Last year’s harvest wasn’t great, but this year it was practically nothing—less than a third of the usual yield. Even tightening their belts wouldn’t be enough.
In past years, they had to tighten their belts and mix wild vegetables into their meals just to barely keep from starving. This year, even wild vegetables were scarce and hard to find.
By the time they returned to the ancestral hall, Xiao Gu had already ladled out the porridge.
“Sis, Mom and Dad have eaten. I’ll feed Xiaoman—you eat first.”
“Okay.” Her stomach was growling with hunger, so she didn’t stand on ceremony and started eating right away.
The porridge was thick and hearty. After finishing most of the bowl, she wasn’t stuffed, but she was about seventy percent full.
While eating, she planned the afternoon’s tasks: “Later, we’ll take the wild vegetables out and see if we can trade them for money, then exchange that for grain to bring back.
Before we leave, I’ll clean the fish and cook it—make some fish soup to help Mom and Dad recover.
When we make porridge tonight, I’ll beat an egg into it and stir it up. We’ll all have something good to nourish ourselves.”
“Hehe, sounds great!”
…
“Sis, there’s nobody around. How are we supposed to sell these?”
They followed the path from yesterday and arrived at the familiar spot. “Where should we sell them?”
Lin Xiaohe scratched her head in confusion. “Why don’t we just walk around first?”
They walked from one end to the other, then back again.
They didn’t find a place to sell vegetables, but they did find a place to forage for discarded goods.
“Oh my god! Is that an apple? It’s actually an apple!”
Xiao Gu held up an apple the size of a fist, with a fingernail-sized rotten spot at the bottom.
To the sisters, that meant it was still edible—definitely something to take home.
“I just heard someone say this is all stuff people threw away, so that means we can take it. Let’s look around and see if there’s anything else good we can bring back.”
Lin Xiaohe reached in and pulled out a bag of potatoes—a whole big bag of them, all perfectly good except for two rotten ones that made the whole bag smell awful.
They picked out the good potatoes, which would last for several meals. Potatoes were filling, too.
There were also a few sprouted sweet potatoes—those were great too, good for adding to porridge to make it more filling.
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