He Wan village was surrounded by mountains on three sides, with Li Yao's house at the foot of the western mountain.
The four thatched huts had rotting black straw on the roof, and there were two big holes in the roof.
A rickety little thatched shed that leaked from all eight sides was the kitchen.
"Mother," eldest daughter-in-law He Xiaoya said, "I'm going to cook."
Li Yao was starving, with her chest stuck to her back, and her eyes were twinkling stars. It was time to eat something.
"Cook what?"
"Wild vegetable soup." He Xiaoya replied softly.
The wild vegetable soup He Xiaoya cooked was just boiling water with wild vegetables thrown in to cook, without even a drop of oil or a pinch of salt.
It was incredibly bland.
It not only cut your throat, but also scraped your intestines clean.
It was very healthy, but what Li Yao lacked now was nutrition.
"Let's eat something else today."
Li Yao went back to the bedroom. There was still a small bag of coarse rice in the cabinet, about 3 catties, and four eggs that had been there for who knows how long. This was the last food left by the original owner.
She handed the bag to He Xiaoya, eggs and all: "Cook it all, until it's dry."
He Xiaoya knew this was the last food for the whole family, but since her mother-in-law had spoken, she didn't dare ask more and hurried to the kitchen with the rice.
But she secretly scooped out half a bowl and hid it on top of a shelf in the kitchen.
While He Xiaoya was cooking the rice, Li Yao went to the hillside behind the house and dug up some wild chives and garlic.
When she came back, He Xiaoya had already filtered the rice and was about to cook wild vegetable soup.
Li Yao quickly took over: "I'll cook the vegetables."
He Xiaoya was a little surprised.
Ever since she married into this family, she had done all the housework, and her mother-in-law had never lifted a finger. Yet today, she wanted to cook by herself?
Li Yao looked at the ingredients - only half a bowl of salt left, and just a tiny bit of oil at the bottom of the jar.
So she would stir fry wild vegetables and make egg drop soup.
After washing the wild chives and garlic, she had He Xiaoya heat up the wok over high heat.
"Watch carefully," Li Yao said, "do it this way from now on."
Since she didn't plan on cooking long term, the best way was to teach someone else.
"Ok."
He Xiaoya didn't dare get careless and kept her eyes glued on every move.
When the oil in the wok was hot, Li Yao added garlic to release the aroma, then salt, and finally the drained wild vegetables to stir fry.
Sizzle—
The earthen stove burned hot and quickly wilted the wild vegetables. Out of the wok.
Looking at the green wild vegetables coated in oil, smelling fragrant, He Xiaoya swallowed her saliva while her heart felt sliced open.
Usually when she stir fried, she only dared coat the wok with a feather's touch of oil... Yet her mother-in-law still scolded her for using too much oil and being wasteful.
But her mother-in-law had added this much oil while cooking.
At this rate, wouldn't they eat 30 catties of oil in a year?
What surprised her even more was that Li Yao took out four eggs.
"Mother, what are the eggs for?"
"Egg drop soup."
He Xiaoya had eaten egg drop soup before, but never with four eggs at once!
After mixing the eggs with salt and plenty of rice soup, steaming them over the rice and sprinkling with chopped scallions, the smooth and delicious egg drop soup was ready.
Li Yao didn't immediately start eating, but scooped out the rice and left the crispy rice bits in the pot.
Along the edges of the crispy rice, she poured a little oil and pan fried them briefly on low heat, breaking them up into pieces with a spatula, sprinkling them with salt. Soon a plate of golden, crispy, aromatic pan fried crispy rice was ready.
"Time to eat."
The children had been outside, swallowing mouthful after mouthful of saliva from the aromas wafting from the kitchen.
But when the food was set on the table, no one reached for their bowl and chopsticks, obediently waiting for Li Yao to serve the rice.
With over 2 catties of coarse rice, there was plenty of cooked rice. Each person got two bowls.
Li Yao divided half the egg drop soup between herself and the children, giving the rest to He Xiaoya.
"Mother, why are you giving me so much?"
Looking at the half bowl of egg drop soup, He Xiaoya didn't even dare pick up her chopsticks.
In the past, if she took even a bit more food, her mother-in-law would rap her hand with chopsticks. She had suffered endless grievances over this.
Yet today, she was given half a bowl all at once!
That was worth two eggs!
The mother-in-law today seemed like a different person.
"Eat up since I gave it to you." Li Yao said. "You must finish the rice, eggs, and eat more vegetables. Just try the crispy rice, it's not easy to digest."
The young wife had the weakest health in the family.
And she had married over half a year ago, could get pregnant any time, so her health must be prioritized.
"Everyone, start eating."
The children immediately picked up their bowls and chopsticks.
It had been so long since they ate so much rice and oil, such delicious dishes. They ate with relish!
Especially the fried crispy rice, golden and crispy, the rich saltiness made them want to swallow their own tongues.
After finishing, they still felt unsatisfied. Wang Xiao Si even licked the serving bowl clean, shinier than if it was washed.
"Mother, the crispy rice is so tasty! Make it again next time!"
Unlike Wang Xiao Si's carefree attitude, Da Zhuang and He Xiaoya's eyes revealed a trace of worry.
They had eaten their fill this meal.
But what about dinner? What about tomorrow?
After the meal, Li Yao drank a bowl of thick rice soup, finally regaining some strength.
She took a stool and sat at the edge of the yard, looking at the other families in the village and vast fields. She needed to think hard about how to keep this family alive.
The great drought had started last year, causing crops to fail nationwide. Reportedly many places already had people who couldn't afford food, and had started fleeing in large numbers.
Add to that decades of war on the western border that had drained the national reserves. The court was also unable to care for the common people.
As He Wan village was next to the mountains, they had managed to harvest some grains last year, but this year was a total loss. No family had any spare grains, even wild vegetables were being uprooted to extinction.
So to get food, they could only try their luck in the mountains.
Just five or six hills west were the unending Hundred Thousand Mountains. Lush forests and tangled vines, miasma floating about, also many jackals, wolves and leopards, even hunters didn't dare easily enter.
But for Li Yao this was nothing.
At ten years old she had been thrown into the deep mountain forests, surviving alone for at least a month. At fifteen she traversed the Amazon rainforest alone, and came out even fatter.
So this deep mountain was no different than going back to her maternal home.
As long as she didn't go too deep and could get back before dark.
Having made up her mind, Li Yao cut a piece of old bamboo and made a simple bow and arrow, then called the whole family together.
Seeing the bow and arrow, Wang Xiao Si's eyes lit up eagerly: "Mother, is this for me?"
"Go on, what's a kid playing with bows and arrows for," Li Yao said. "This afternoon, you're all going into the mountains with me."
"What are we going to do in the mountains?" He Xiaoya asked weakly, revealing some fear.
The other day she heard of a family in White Cloud Village so destitute they ate up all their grains in one go, then the whole family swallowed pesticide together.
Could mother want to...
"Mother, our family still has half a bowl of rice left..."
"That bit you hid wouldn't even make a full bowl of congee for me," Li Yao said. "In a while, you all go dig up wild vegetables and herbs, I'll go see if I can hunt some wild chicken and rabbits."
The children all goggled their eyes at each other.
Since when did Mother know how to hunt?