After fleeing the famine, my older sister and I married the brother next door.

At midday, under the blazing sun, the vegetable patches in the yard were a delightful sight of lush greenery. The chives had already been harvested, and the new shoots were a vibrant green; cucumber vines had climbed the trellis, topped with yellow flowers and adorned with tiny, finger-length cucumbers; the eggplants and peppers had also borne fruit, not yet fully grown, but already displaying a vigorous vitality. The green beans were growing wildly, their emerald vines laden with clusters of tender pods.

As Su Xiaoyin cleared the dishes, she looked at the lush, almost overgrown vegetable garden and said to Chen's mother, who was sewing shoe soles, "Mother, look at all these vegetables in the garden. They've all been harvested and are growing very well. We've been eating them so much these past few days, but we still can't keep up. Some of the green beans and cucumbers are getting too old. How about... we pick some and dry them into dried vegetables? We can save them for winter; they'll be a good vegetable."

Upon hearing this, Chen's mother put down her needlework, walked to the eaves, shaded her eyes with her hand, and carefully examined the vegetable garden. She nodded and said, "That makes sense. There are plenty of vegetables in the summer, and it would be a waste to waste them. We can dry them into dried vegetables, and in the winter, we can soak them in water and use them for stewing meat or making fillings. Okay, then tomorrow morning, while the dew has dried and the sun isn't too strong, let's pick all the vegetables we need, wash them clean, slice the ones that need to be sliced, blanch the ones that need to be blanched, and dry a batch properly."

She thought for a moment and then said, "We need larger bamboo sieves and trays to dry vegetables, and the ones we have at home probably won't be enough. I'll talk to Xiaohe later and ask him to weave a few more large bamboo baskets with mesh to allow air to pass through, so that the dried vegetables can be stored more easily."

Hearing this, Su Xiaoqing, who was tidying up the embroidery thread next to her, smiled and said, "Xiaohe's bamboo basket weaving skills are really good now. The one with the lid that she wove last time was perfectly fitted, lightweight and sturdy, and it was especially good for storing things."

A relieved smile appeared on Chen's mother's face: "This boy is quick-witted and skillful; he does this quite well."

At lunchtime, the family sat around the shady entrance of the main room to eat. After finishing the last bite of rice in his bowl, Mr. Chen put down his chopsticks and talked about the afternoon's plans: "The few acres of cultivated land at home are still fertile, so we don't need to do much with them for now. It's just that the fourteen acres of newly cultivated wasteland have a poor soil base, so we need to fertilize it more. This afternoon, Da Shan, Xiao He, and I will take baskets and shovels to the old forest on the shady slope behind the mountain and dig up some rotten leaves and black soil. We'll mix it with the manure we've composted and, while the weather is good, apply a layer to the wasteland."

Chen Dashan and Chen Xiaohe both nodded in agreement. The yield of the barren land was crucial to the family's livelihood for the next few years, so the three of them were very concerned.

After lunch, they rested for a while as usual. Seeing that her two daughters-in-law looked tired, Chen's mother urged them, "You two go back to your room and take a nap. You'll be more energetic for your embroidery this afternoon. I'm going to the back hill to gather pig feed. The piglets from both families are getting bigger and bigger every day. They barely ate anything this afternoon."

Su Xiaoyin hurriedly said, "Mom, it's hot, you should rest too. We'll go get pig feed later."

"It's alright, I'll just stretch my muscles a bit while I'm at it. You all rest." Mother Chen waved her hand, picked up a basket and an old wood-chopping knife from the corner of the wall, put on a straw hat, and went out.

Unable to dissuade them, Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing had no choice but to go back to their room for a rest. When the two sisters woke up, the sun was already setting, and the courtyard was quiet. Chen's father and the others had not yet returned from the mountain, and Chen's mother was nowhere to be seen.

The two women washed their faces with cool water to refresh themselves, then sat back down by the window to continue the embroidery they hadn't finished that morning. Colorful silk threads weaved across the fine white fabric, gradually outlining intricate and beautiful floral and bird motifs. This was their first attempt at a medium-sized embroidery piece, far more laborious than a handkerchief or pillowcase, but also imbued with greater anticipation. After embroidering for a while, they would tacitly stop, get up and walk around the room, or stand at the doorway, gazing for a moment towards the distant mountain path—both to relax their eyes and to think of their families working away from home.

"Sis, it's hot at night and I don't have much of an appetite. How about we make a spicy and refreshing mixed salad with the cucumbers and scallions we just picked from the garden? And let's also make some mung bean soup to cool us down," Su Xiaoqing suggested.

"Good idea." Su Xiaoyin nodded. "The mung bean soup needs to be cooked now. It needs to be simmered over low heat to get it to be smooth and creamy."

The two sisters got right to work. Su Xiaoqing went to the well to fetch water, rinsed a small bowl of mung beans, put them in an earthenware pot, added enough water, and first brought it to a boil on the stove. Then she removed some firewood, turned the fire to a simmer, and let the pot bubble slowly around the edge of the stove. Su Xiaoyin went to the vegetable garden, picked a few tender cucumbers with blossoms and thorns, a handful of fresh scallions, a few bright red chili peppers, and two heads of fresh garlic from the garlic braids hanging under the eaves.

She took the vegetables to the well, washed them carefully, smashed and cut the cucumbers into sections, chopped the scallions, and minced the chili peppers and garlic cloves, putting them all into a clean bamboo basket. After thinking for a moment, she tied the basket with a rope and lowered it into the cool well water to soak. This way, the vegetables would be even cooler and crisper by dinnertime.

The aroma of mung bean soup wafted gently from the stove. The two sisters then went to the backyard to check on the livestock. The half-grown piglets were sleeping soundly in their pen, grunting twice at the sound of movement before falling asleep again. The chickens, ducks, and geese were all huddled in the shade, looking quite energetic, and the troughs were still full of food and water. They felt a little relieved; in summer, their biggest fear was that the livestock would suffer from heatstroke and illness.

The sun sank further in the west, tinging the clouds on the horizon with a pale golden-red hue. Finally, Chen's mother appeared at the courtyard gate, carrying a large, overflowing basket on her back, a similarly full small basket in her left hand, and a bulging coarse cloth bag in her right.

"Mom! You're finally back!" Su Xiaoyin and Su Xiaoqing rushed to greet her, taking the heavy things from her hands. "Why did you carry so much? Sit down and rest, have some water! The mung bean soup will be ready soon."

Mother Chen took off her straw hat; her forehead was damp with sweat, and her face was flushed from work, but instead of fatigue, she radiated a joyful satisfaction. She took the cool boiled water Su Xiaoqing offered and drank half a bowl in one gulp before letting out a sigh of relief. Pointing to what she had brought back, she smiled and said, "When I was gathering pig feed, I went a little too far and found a wild plum tree. The fruit was plentiful and quite ripe. I tasted two; they were sweet and sour, and quite delicious. I thought you would definitely like them, so I picked some. Look, there are plums in the basket, more in the cloth bag, and more at the bottom of the basket. Picking them took up so much time."

Looking at the plump, round wild plums with their green and red hues, Su Xiaoyin felt a warm glow in her heart: "Mom, you can keep them for yourself. You've walked so far and carried such heavy loads. Sit down and rest. Xiaoqing and I will cook dinner."

Chen's mother sat down on a small stool by the well, fanning herself with a palm leaf fan. She watched her two daughters-in-law bustling between the kitchen and the well, then looked at the vibrant vegetable garden in the yard, and listened to the faint grunting of livestock coming from the backyard. A peaceful and content smile appeared on her face.