On the way to escape famine, my parents divorced

(Thanks to the username that already exists for voting 2 monthly tickets.)
When Li Shiyue and Shitou returned home, snowflakes had already started falling from the sky again.

Li's mother beat eggs, boiled water and made egg drop soup for the two of them to warm up.

Li Shiyue looked at the poached eggs in the bowl, raised her head and said to Li's mother: "How about we adopt a few hens next year and keep them for eating eggs."

"Do you still need to think about this?

Your aunt and I have already asked about it. Aunt Liu said that in the spring, there will be a market on the official road outside Qingshan Town on the 8th and 18th of every month. When the time comes, we can buy three or five and raise them in the yard."

In the next few days, the kitchen of Li Shiyue's family was never idle. The stove was burning all the time, making Li Shiyue feel very hot when sleeping on the kang at night. He was always woken up by the heat in the middle of the night, feeling dry mouth, and had to get up to get a bowl of water to drink.

Fortunately, within two or three days, Li's mother and Zheng Meiniang used up the half bag of coarse noodles that Li Shiyue bought. They had all kinds of noodles, whether steamed, baked or fried.

I went to Zhao You's house to buy bean cakes, and I also bought two barrels of oil, and I used up half of it.

On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, Gou Laosan came to the door carrying a bunch of meat.

The third dog said to Li's mother and the others a little embarrassedly: "It's just me and my aunt at home. I want to ask shamelessly if I can come and stay up with you tomorrow to celebrate the New Year?
After midnight, we will leave!"

Of course Li's mother would not refuse Gou Lao San's request, and since it was the first year for them to settle down and celebrate the New Year together, the more people there were, the more lively it would be.

After the third dog left, Li Shiyue heard her mother say to her, "Since we have invited the third dog to our house to celebrate the New Year together, why shouldn't we invite others too?"

Li Shiyue didn't want to invite others to her house, but she heard her mother say, "You just said that you wanted to bring everyone to do papermaking business and live a good life in the future. Now you are not happy about it?"

"Mother, if they want to spend the New Year at home, it would be bad if I ask them to come to our house to celebrate the New Year."

Li's mother thought about it and agreed. In the end, Zheng Mei Niang said, "You should go ask Erdan's mother and Wang Shisan's family. There are only two people at home in each of their families. It's not easy for orphans and widows.

As for other people's homes, you can go and take a look, explain things clearly, and if they don't want to come, then they won't come."

After both his aunt and mother spoke, Li Shiyue had no choice but to resign himself to his fate, put on his fur hat, and go outside in the wind and snow.

They went to Erdan's mother's house first. When Erdan's mother heard Li Shiyue's question, she agreed immediately. I don't know what she was thinking about, but she was about to cry out loud in the wind.

Li Shiyue was a little overwhelmed, so he quickly said something and went to Li Wangshui's house next door.

".Now Brother San has come to ask, and it would be bad if I didn't ask you;

But I was afraid to ask you, because you have already planned to live a good life at home, and you still have to agree to me, which is not my intention.

So, Uncle Wangshui, Aunt Lanhua, if you want to come, then come. If you don't want to, then come. I'm just asking a few more questions."

“Oh, that’s good!

Dazhuang and Xiaozhuang also said they wanted to play with Erdan, Shisan and the others!
This is a good thing! We will definitely go!

Don't worry, our family of four will all go in October!"

After hearing what Li Shiyue said, Wang Shisan was very happy and agreed immediately, saying that he would go over to celebrate the New Year together that day.

As for the families of Mazi, Mole and Yangzai, Li Shiyue did not go there. After all, these families had quite a lot of people, including young and old, so there was no need to live with them.

On New Year's Eve, the wind and snow became stronger and stronger. It snowed all night long, and the snow was up to people's calves. If a child was short, the snow would probably be submerged.

As soon as Shitou came up, he was assigned a task to quickly sweep the snow in the yard and on the road outside. Sisters Li Shiyue, Li Qiutian and Li Xiatian, listened to Li Wangming's instructions from below, and the three sisters stepped on the wooden ladder and took tools to clear the snow on the roof.

The house is made of yellow mud and grass. The snow is piled up deep and there is a risk of collapse.

I haven't swept the roof in the past few days, and there is already a thick layer of water on it.

Sweeping the roof is not the end. The horse stable and the donkey shed must be cleaned, the three precious animals at home must be fed, and then everything must be washed and scrubbed. It is already noon.

People from the Li family also came in one after another.

The first one to come was Gou Laosan, who was carrying his third aunt on his back. Gou Laosan also brought a lot of things, including a small bag of flour.

"Hey, come on now. What are you taking? Put it down quickly. When we leave, you take it back."

Gou Laosan and Third Aunt were just being polite with Li's mother when there was movement at the courtyard gate again.

As soon as Li Shiyue opened the door, he saw Li Wangshui's family, Erdan's mother who was carrying Erdan on her back, and Wang Shisan and his grandmother who were walking slower behind them.

None of the three families came empty-handed. Li Wangshui even came with a basket on his back.

As soon as he put down the basket, Li Shiyue heard a sound. There must be a living creature in it!
Sure enough, when Li Wangshui opened the lid, he saw two pheasants trapped inside!

"Uncle Wangshui!

Did you get this when you went up the mountain?"

"No, no, I don't have that ability. I just learned how to make a trap from others. I was lucky and caught these two.

Today, let’s stew this and eat it!”

With more people around, Li Shiyue's yard suddenly became lively. Dazhuang, Xiaozhuang and Erdan followed Wang Shisan in the yard to look at the horses and donkeys, and listened to Wang Shisan telling the three of them the story of the time when he followed Li Shiyue to the grassland to look for the barbarians' horses.

Wang Shisan spoke in a startling manner, and Li Shiyue, who was listening nearby, found it interesting.

The women were busy in the kitchen, and Li Wangshui and Gou Laosan were not idle either. Didn't they have to boil water, kill chickens and pluck their feathers?
However, these two pheasants must have been very hungry during the winter, and there was not much meat on their bodies. They could only be used to add flavor to the stew.

When it got dark, two kang tables were placed facing each other on the kang in the east room.

There was also a table on the ground, and the dishes on it were all the same.

A bunch of people were sitting in their seats, making a lot of noise. Mother Li even took out the wine that Li Shiyue and her friends had bought in Sanshan County.
Except for the children, everyone was given a bowl, and the women also had some.

There was a bowl in front of Li Shiyue. Actually, she didn't like drinking this kind of thing, but it was New Year's Day and she didn't want to ruin the atmosphere, so Li Shiyue still asked for a bowl.

Mother Li stood up and faced the crowd. Just as she was about to speak, her nose felt sore and she wanted to cry. She opened her mouth and waited for two breaths before she uttered a word: "May we have a prosperous and happy life in the coming year!"

Mother Li drank the bowl of wine in one gulp. The others also followed Mother Li's words and drank it in one gulp!

Li Shiyue had no choice but to respond and drank it in one gulp.

This spicy bite made her almost cry. (End of this chapter)