Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

Yang's second wife stared at the bowl of meat in Yang's old wife's hand, her brows furrowed, her worries growing stronger.

She leaned closer to Yang's eldest daughter-in-law and whispered, "Sister-in-law, do you think Tang Susu's sudden delivery of meat might have ulterior motives?"

Yang's wife was taken aback: "What's the intention?"

"What else could she be up to?" Yang's second wife curled her lip, her eyes sweeping over the people in the yard. "Every household is short of food these days. She can't borrow any more from the Tang family, so she's trying to appease Mother with these few pieces of meat so she can take the opportunity to move back to the ancestral home! Think about it, her family has six people. If she moves back, won't she save on her own food supply? We don't have much food stored in our cellar to begin with. If we add six more mouths to feed, we can barely eat our fill now, but later we might not even be able to guarantee two or three tenths full!"

Old Mrs. Yang, with her sharp ears, overheard their conversation and sneered, "She wants to move back? Not so easy! When we divided the family property, we had the village head sign and affix his seal, creating a written agreement for our records. It's not like she can just move out whenever she wants!"

She had her own plans. Even if Tang Susu really had this idea, it depended on whether her mother-in-law would agree.

If you really move back, you'll have to listen to her in everything and live a proper life. You can forget about ever acting recklessly like before.

Having figured out Tang Susu's "purpose," Old Mrs. Yang was no longer worried. However, looking at the meat in the bowl, she still felt a pang of heartache: "What a good-for-nothing girl! A perfectly good silver hairpin could at least be exchanged for several hundred coins, enough to buy so much millet and buckwheat! Instead, she used it to exchange for meat, only caring about her immediate pleasure, without a thought for how she'll manage in the future!"

Despite her complaints, she still carried the bowl of meat into the yard and called out, "Children, come here!"

The six children in the yard had been staring at the bowl of meat with their mouths watering. As soon as they heard the call, they rushed over like little cannonballs, chattering incessantly around Old Lady Yang.

Without washing her hands, Old Lady Yang grabbed a piece of meat and stuffed it into Yang Dafu's mouth, who was sitting on the far side: "Eat!"

Then, she stuffed pieces into the mouths of the other children, one by one, so that each child got a piece, without any thought of it being dirty.

The warm meat melted in their mouths, and the rich aroma spread throughout. The children squinted their eyes, wishing the meat could stay in their mouths a little longer.

Yang Dafu mumbled incoherently, "Grandma, this meat is so delicious, the best meat in the world! There's just too little, I want more..."

After finishing his meal, Yang Erfu licked his lips vigorously, savoring the sweetness of the meat.

The four girls ate very politely, taking small bites and quickly swallowing the meat, their eyes still showing a desire for more.

There were four pieces of meat left in the bowl, so Old Mrs. Yang took them into the kitchen to keep them warm, specifically to save them for Old Mr. Yang to eat when he came back.

Yang Laoda stood aside, watching the children eat with relish. His throat bobbed involuntarily, but he was too embarrassed to take it from the children, so he could only turn around and go to smoke under the eaves.

Sister-in-law Yang sighed and said to Yang's eldest daughter-in-law, "Speaking of which, Su Su has become much more sensible these days. She even knows to bring meat to the old house."

Yang's second wife was filled with resentment and responded irritably.

The eldest son's wife has four children, two boys and two girls, while the second son's wife only has two girls. Just now, when the meat was being divided, it seemed like everyone got a share, but in reality, the second son's wife was the one who lost out the most.

The more she thought about it, the more aggrieved she felt, but she could only blame herself for not having a son. She silently walked to the large basin of dirty clothes, picked up a stick, and began to beat the clothes vigorously.

On the other side, at Tang Susu's small wooden table, six people were sitting together eating.

On the table was a large bowl of brightly colored and fragrant Dongpo pork, a plate of stir-fried purple clover with chicken oil, and a bowl full of white rice in front of each person.

No one spoke; all I could hear were the sounds of people shoveling rice and swallowing.

The Dongpo pork was stewed until tender and flavorful, and it was quickly devoured.

Tang Liqiang couldn't bear to waste a single drop of soup, so he poured all the soup from the bottom of the bowl into his own bowl, mixed it with the rice, and slurped it all up in a few mouthfuls. He even picked up the bowl and licked the bottom clean with his tongue.

After the four men finished eating, they leaned back in their chairs, patting their round bellies, and exclaimed with satisfaction, "This Dongpo pork is so delicious! It's simply the most delicious meat in the world!"

Miao Yulan ate in small bites while pondering to herself.

With Tang Susu's guidance, she learned that Dongpo pork is just another name for braised pork.

The method looks simple: first, render the fat from the pork, then add brown sugar and stir until melted, add soy sauce, then add the pork and stir-fry until each piece of pork is coated with syrup.

The meat itself is fragrant, and with the addition of sugar and oil, the taste is naturally superb.

She never expected that the clover, which she usually used to fill her stomach, would taste so delicious when stir-fried with chicken fat.

The emerald green wild vegetables absorbed all the oil, becoming glistening and incredibly flavorful, so delicious that you almost wanted to swallow your tongue.

After the meal, Miao Yulan stood up, cleared away the dishes, and took them into the kitchen to wash.

Tang Susu wiped her mouth, stood up and said, "Lifu, Liqiang, Gousheng, Xiaobao, come with me into the mountains."

She went to town and spent all her remaining copper coins. She urgently needed to find something she could sell to get some more copper coins.

Only when you have food in your hands and money in your pocket can you feel at ease.

The afternoon sun was still scorching, and the rice seedlings in the paddy field had all curled up, many of them withered and yellowed, a sight that was alarming.

Tang Susu led the four of them up the mountain along the winding path. When they reached the mountainside, the dense trees provided a shady spot, which relieved the summer heat considerably.

At this time, most of the women and children in the village went up the mountain with baskets in their hands, searching for wild vegetables.

The wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain have long been picked clean. Most people search for common wild vegetables such as purple clover and dandelion halfway up the mountain. Only a few daring people will venture into the deep mountains, hoping to find mushrooms, wild fruits or wood ear fungus to change their taste.

Tang Susu did not stop halfway up the mountain, but went straight into the deep mountains.

Her gaze swept over the surrounding vegetation, focusing specifically on the colorful and oddly shaped mushrooms.

These are varieties that the villagers are afraid of poisoning and avoid at all costs, but she knows that many of them are treasures.

"Ding—Natural Termitomyces mushroom detected, high in nutritional value, ready for sale."

The system notification sounded suddenly, and Tang Susu's eyes lit up.

Termitomyces albuminosus is a rare delicacy among fungi. In my previous life, a pound of it could sell for several hundred yuan. I never expected to find it here.

Following the directions provided by the system, she pushed aside the thorns by the roadside and walked to the foot of an ancient pine tree. In the bushes beneath the pine, several clusters of light brown termite mushrooms were sprouting, looking fresh and tender.

She carefully dug it out and harvested a total of eight taels.

"System, sell termite mushrooms."

[Sold successfully, received 388 coins.]

The cloth bag at her waist sank instantly, and Tang Susu felt a surge of joy as she continued walking deeper into the mountains.

Not long after, she found another patch of tea tree mushrooms and Agaricus blazei, dug them all up and sold them, earning another 132 coins.

With her previous income, she now has 520 copper coins, equivalent to half a tael of silver, which can temporarily alleviate her immediate crisis.

Tang Susu suppressed her joy and turned to the four people who had followed her, saying, "Let's split up and be more efficient. Lifu, you go and search for wild vegetables; Liqiang, you follow me and look for mushrooms, remember, don't touch anything you don't recognize; Gousheng, you go and chop firewood, and keep an eye out for wild fruits; Xiaobao, you wander around the area and look for wild fruits or wild eggs."

The four responded in unison and went their separate ways.

Just as Tang Susu was about to continue exploring deeper, she suddenly heard a commotion coming from not far away.

Curious, she pushed aside the bushes in front of her and peeked out. To her surprise, she saw her neighbor, Aunt Liu, and Hou Cai's wife wrestling together, pulling each other's hair and cursing each other until their faces were red.

"You shrew! My little fish saw these wild eggs first, why are you taking them?" Aunt Liu had the upper hand, pulling hard on Hou Cai's hair, making Hou Cai wince in pain.

Not to be outdone, Houcai's wife grabbed Aunt Liu's arm and retorted through gritted teeth, "Nonsense! My son took the eggs from the bushes; they're clearly from our family! Why should we give them to you?"

The two fought fiercely, while Aunt Liu's little fish and Houcai's son stood by, glaring at each other and cursing. The atmosphere was very tense.

Beside the bushes next to the two of them lay four round wild eggs, their shells speckled with light spots.

Tang Susu watched, swallowing hard, thinking to herself that she would have Xiao Bao search the area later, and maybe they would find something unexpected.

She didn't want to watch the commotion and was about to turn away when a spiky ball suddenly fell from above and hit her palm, causing her a sharp pain.

"Hiss—" Tang Susu gasped, picked up the spiky ball, and pried it open with force.

Inside were several plump chestnuts with reddish-brown shells that looked incredibly tempting.

She looked up and saw a tall chestnut tree hidden among the dense ancient trees, its branches laden with bright green, thorny shells. Without careful observation, one would hardly notice that the tree was already laden with fruit.

"It's a chestnut tree!" Tang Susu was overjoyed. She quickly walked to the tree, hugged the trunk, and gently shook it.

"Splash—"

After a loud noise, spiky chestnuts fell like raindrops, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

The noise startled Aunt Liu and Sister Houcai, who were fighting. They both stopped and turned to look.

Aunt Liu, with her sharp eyes, immediately recognized that what had fallen was chestnuts, and her eyes lit up instantly.

She abruptly released Houcai's wife's hair, bent down to pick up two wild eggs from the bushes, stuffed them into her pocket, and said to Houcai's wife, "Fine, fine, I'm too lazy to argue with you! These four eggs, two for each of us, stop making a fuss!"

After saying that, she didn't care whether Houcai's wife agreed or not. She picked up her basket, grabbed her child Xiaoyu, and walked quickly toward Tang Susu.