I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

Heavy snow has blocked the roads, making travel inconvenient.

The New Year still needs to be celebrated. The closer it gets to the end of the year, the more lively the village becomes. Everyone is busy preparing to buy meat for the New Year. Those with money plan to go to town to buy some meat while the snow is not too heavy these days. Those who don't have much money at home will weigh their money bag and think about buying half a pound of meat to make offerings to the Kitchen God.

Apart from the Zhao family.

At Old Zhao's house, several people huddled shivering in the main room.

Granny Qian was imprisoned for three months, where she was poorly fed and frequently frightened by rats passing through the prison. When she was released, the weather turned cold, and she fell ill just two days after returning home.

Old Zhao used the money from selling grain to hire a doctor for her. It cost one tael of silver to barely cure her. After the cure, Granny Qian became very sensitive to the cold and stayed at home all day, listless and shivering.

With the Lunar New Year fast approaching, villagers were starting to prepare for the festivities, but nothing was happening at home. The children were clamoring for meat, so Sun Shi mustered up the courage to take her youngest son over and ask, "Mom, the New Year is almost here, when are we going to town to buy some New Year's goods?"

"What are you buying for the New Year!" Granny Qian said unhappily. "Isn't the grain at home enough for you to squander? Do you want to eat dragon meat?"

Feeling humiliated, Mrs. Sun returned to her room in a huff. When her youngest son, who hadn't received any meat, started rolling around on the floor making a scene, Mrs. Sun became enraged. She grabbed his arm and began hitting and scolding him.

"Keep making a fuss! I can't conjure up any more money to buy you meat! Do you think it's because someone can't afford meat?!"

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Zhao Laoda quickly stepped in to stop him, saying, "Don't hit him. What did the child do wrong? He was just jealous because he saw other people eating meat."

He's already ten years old. How much more ignorant could he be? Zhao Qi from Zhao Lao Er's family was already helping out in the fields when he was ten!

Sun wasn't really angry with the child; she was just venting her frustration from the time she'd been dealing with Granny Qian on the baby. After being stopped, she sat down angrily to the side, saying, "It's all the second son's family's fault. They shouldn't have separated the family in the first place. Now look what's happened; the house is a complete mess."

Old Zhao remained silent. If it weren't for Wen Yuan's sake and his designs on Fifth Sister, the family wouldn't have ended up like this.

In the past, there were times when they couldn't eat meat during the New Year. Zhao Laoda patted his son's head and thought: If we don't want to eat, then we don't have to. Mother is so angry, the child should be more sensible.

Although she said she wouldn't buy meat, seeing the villagers happily preparing for the New Year, Granny Qian felt very uneasy.

This summer, after the family harvested their grain, she took advantage of the floods in the south to sell most of it, squandering almost all the money she earned. If grain prices had dropped, her family could have bought more grain with the difference, but now, grain prices are only rising and show no sign of decreasing.

Granny Qian sighed, moved the yellow pear wood chest in the room, revealing a hole dug in the corner of the wall, tore off the rags blocking the hole, and took out the money box inside.

She counted out fifty coins and then called over Madam Sun.

"Here, take it!" Granny Qian said, glancing sideways. "Go to town tomorrow and buy a pound of meat."

"Oh!" Mrs. Sun carefully took the copper coin back to her room and put it into her money bag.

When the villagers went to the market together again, Sun, carrying her money bag, went to town and bought half a pound of meat.

Nowadays, everything is getting more expensive, and prices are even higher as the year draws to a close, with meat being half the usual price!

As expected, when she brought half a pound of meat home, she was scolded by Granny Qian. Sun lowered her head and went back to her room, not daring to argue with her mother-in-law.

For fifty coins, she bought this little bit of meat. Granny Qian couldn't bear to eat it, so she rubbed some salt on it and hung it above the brazier, smoking it every day. Zhao Qian was so tempted that he would sit on a stool under the brazier every day, not even realizing that his coat was almost burned by the fire.

On the day before the Lunar New Year, there was no grain for sale in the village, and the sound of chopping meat could be heard from every household.

Today is a festival, and Granny Qian took pity on Sun and allowed her to take down the meat hanging on the roof beam, cut out pieces about four fingers wide, and stir-fry them into a dish.

Fearing that Sun would steal some of the meat, Granny Qian stood aside and watched her cut the meat, counting the amount before leaving.

Sun felt a deep sadness. Usually, when her mother-in-law treated the second son's wife like this, she would just watch the show from the sidelines. She never expected that she would be the one being watched by her mother-in-law.

She laid the meat flat on the cutting board, carefully cut off a small piece from the edge, stir-fried it, and secretly kept some for herself and her child.

After dinner, everyone went back to their rooms.

Zhao Qian's little mouth was still smacking as he savored the meat he had eaten today, even though there were only two slices. "Mom—I want more meat!"

"Okay, there will be meat to eat in a few days." Madam Sun hugged Zhao Qian and touched his face.

The food at home has been getting thinner and thinner these past few months; it's almost so thin you can see your reflection in the mirror. Qian'er's little face has become so gaunt...

As Zhao Qian thought about how he should make sure his mother saved more meat for him when they ate meat in a few days, he fell into a deep sleep in Sun's arms.

The cold wind, carrying snowflakes, kept lashing against the windowpanes.

The hour of Chou (1-3 AM).

A cold front quietly swept across the land, seeping into the house through the cracks in the doors and windows.

Startled awake, Ms. Sun felt her face stiffen with cold. Her teeth chattered, and she struggled to look to the side. The man sleeping beside her was barely breathing.

Sun stretched her hand out from under the covers, and the moment it touched the air, it felt like being pricked by needles. She gritted her teeth and slapped her husband across the face, "Tiezhu! Tiezhu!"

After being slapped twice, Zhao Tiezhu, who was either asleep or unconscious, slowly woke up. Feeling the chill of the night, he was taken aback.

Sun called for the child in her arms again. Zhao Qi was called for a long time before he woke up. As soon as he woke up, he felt so uncomfortable that he wanted to cry.

Sun dressed him and wrapped the child in a blanket.

Old Zhao had already dressed and was wrapped in a blanket when he went to open the gate to the courtyard.

He was gone for a full fifteen minutes before returning.

"How is it?" Mrs. Sun asked anxiously.

"Fortunately, there's a brazier burning in my parents' room, so it's nothing serious." Zhao the eldest closed the door, and his chilling aura forced Sun to take a few steps back.

Zhao Tiezhu had lived in Wangli Village for so many years, and this was the first time he had encountered such a situation. Sun Shi was no different. Neither of them dared to sleep anymore, and they told their youngest son not to sleep either. The three of them wrapped themselves in blankets and huddled together, eagerly waiting for dawn.

On the other side, when the cold front arrived, Zhao Ningning was the first to sense that something was wrong.

Ever since she returned from the capital city, she has been sleeping on a makeshift bed in the entrance hall every night. Although her body is inside the space, she can still sense everything that happens outside.

When the cold wave hit, Zhao Ningning immediately sensed something was wrong. She was almost frozen numb as soon as she stepped out of the space. She went back and put on her thickest cotton coat, then grabbed a leather jacket and hat before braving the cold and snow to go see her family.

She reacted quickly. Since there were braziers burning in all the rooms of the house, after being woken up, the two of them were afraid that it would be unsafe for Zhao Qi to live alone, so they stayed in their room with Ningning.

Ning's father got dressed and went to light the kang (a heated brick bed).

Two bundles of firewood were added, and soon the kang (heated brick bed) became warm and cozy. Ning's mother had already spread out the extra quilts and invited Zhao Qi to lie down next to Ning's father.

Zhao Ningning brought out a large pot of cola ginger water from her space. The four of them held the bowls, warming their hands as they drank.

"Why is it suddenly so cold?" Ning's mother sighed. "It happened in the middle of the night, all of a sudden. I wonder how things are in the village."

"It should be alright. I was half asleep when I was suddenly woken up by the cold. Just as I remembered, my sister came to call me." Zhao Qi said, wrapped in a blanket. "The villagers should be fine too."

Fortunately, she had stocked up on a lot of firewood at home some time ago. Ning's mother calculated that this amount of firewood would last for more than two months if burned every day, and only then did she relax.

Wangli Village quietly welcomed the dawn amidst the cold wave.

After daybreak, the village head and village chief called on several men from the village to go door to door to check on everyone. After taking stock, they found that everyone in the village had survived the cold snap the previous night.

However, a few people caught a chill and developed high fevers. The village's barefoot doctor was called around and prescribed medicine to dispel wind and cold for many families.

The Zhou family was also safe and sound.

Following her father's instructions, Zhao Ningning rummaged through a pile of herbal packets and found a packet of Chinese medicine labeled "dispelling cold." She then handed it to her father to boil and give to the family.

After the cold wave, the heavy snow that had been falling for days miraculously stopped, and the temperature didn't seem so low. Everyone thought it was a good omen. Since the New Year was approaching and the villagers had nothing else to do, some went to replenish their New Year's goods and started preparing the New Year's dishes in a lively atmosphere.

Zhao Ningning's family was bustling with activity.

Ning's mother asked Zhao Qi to light two stoves, one for frying fish and the other for frying pork ribs.

Zhao Ningning was asked to take all the meat out of the freezer to thaw, and Ning's mother took out a bag of flour that had been stored before and poured it into a basin.

After the ribs thawed, Zhao Ningning washed them with hot water in the kitchen of the space, and then took them out for her father to cut them up.

After chopping the ribs into small pieces, Ning's mother rubbed salt on them, added bay leaves, Sichuan peppercorns, ginger slices, star anise and other spices, and marinated them aside.

She then went to process the fish.

These fish weren't caught by Ning's dad; they were sea bass that Ning's mom had bought to make fish balls. Sea bass have few bones, lots of meat, and are quite large. Ning's family used to fry them for Chinese New Year.

Before putting the sea bass in the refrigerator, it had already been scaled and gutted. Ning's mother worked quickly, grabbing the gills and cutting the fish in half with a knife. She cut off the tail and threw it aside, chopped the remaining body into pieces, and finally cut off the head and set it aside to make fish head tofu soup later.

After marinating the fish, Ning's mother asked Zhao Ningning to get cabbage and tofu from her space. The tofu was frozen tofu that she had stocked up on for hot pot. It was freezing cold and there was nowhere else to buy it, so Ning's mother made do with what she had. She washed and shredded the cabbage and radish, blanched them, chopped them together with the tofu, and then kneaded them into a ball.

These are vegetable meatballs.

Later, they made meatballs, and even the dried green beans that Zhao Ningning hated the most were coated in batter and fried by Ning's mother.

Zhao Ningning picked up a freshly fried green bean and ate it. Compared to fresh green beans, dried green beans are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside after frying. To be honest, the taste is quite good.

Ning's mother was busy from morning until noon. She stewed a pot of fish head and tofu soup, and lunch consisted of various fried New Year's vegetables with the soup. The group ate together around the stove. After cleaning up, Ning's mother started frying some side dishes in the afternoon.

Zhao Ningning also dug out eggplant fritters, lotus root fritters, and small yellow croakers and ribbonfish that had been stored away in the freezer and fried them. Anyway, they were just sitting in her space, and taking them out to eat would refresh the space.

The items in Zhao Ningning's kitchen that have been eaten or used will be refreshed the next day. However, if you take them out but haven't eaten or used them—sorry, the space won't give you any more.

There are also limitations to refreshing. Food items will refresh the next day once they are eaten, but the refresh time for kitchen items varies.

The set of porcelain that Ning's father sold was only re-released about ten days after he returned to Fengning County.

Ning's mother could only try to use up the food in the freezer and refrigerator, and she and Ning's father tried to cook different meals for the two children. Zhao Ningning had gained four pounds in the few days since she returned from the prefectural city.

The New Year's dishes were prepared. The next day, Ning's mother asked Ning to take out the steamed buns to steam. In the freezer where cooked food was stored, there were not only steamed buns, but also bags of sealed noodles. Ning's mother took out a handful and fried them for Zhao Ning to eat as a game.

Besides steamed buns, there were also milk-flavored mini steamed buns, custard buns, red bean buns, barbecued pork buns, meat buns, and rice cakes. Ning's mother steamed each one, and after steaming, she stored them in her own space. Her space could freeze time; what went in was hot, and what came out was still hot.

It's freezing cold now, so she only needs to spend two days cooking. After that, she won't need to come to the kitchen to cook anymore.

After steaming the buns, she asked Ningning to take out the meat from the freezer that was inconvenient to fry. She cut the pork belly into large pieces, split the pig's trotters, and put a whole chicken, duck, and goose into the pot and braised them all.

There were still eggs in the refrigerator, so Ning's mother asked Zhao Ningning to wash them, boil them, peel them, and then put them into the braising liquid to simmer.

The aroma of braised pork filled the air in the afternoon, making the villagers extremely envious, and even their own stir-fried pork tasted bland.

I wonder who is so generous as to make the meat taste so good!

After braising the meat, Ning's mother made two more pots of soup the next day. One pot was mutton soup, and the other was hot and sour tripe soup. When she didn't feel like cooking, she would eat the braised meat and New Year's dishes with it, which was extremely comforting.

Knowing that Ningning liked sweet things, she washed the pot and made a special pot of glutinous rice ball soup for Ningning, with rice wine added. It tasted sweet, and not only did Zhao Ningning like it, but Zhao Qi also wanted to drink it after drinking it a few times.

In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, Zhao Ningning's family was always busy, as was the Zhou family.

Although their stall wasn't as large as Ningning's, they still prepared several pots of New Year's dishes. Now that their daughter's family had separated from Old Zhao's, He Shi wasn't worried that Old Zhao's family would take away the things she sent. She had her son take a pot of the fried New Year's dishes directly to Ningning's family.

After Zhao Ningning's family accepted the food, Ningning's mother sent Zhou Jian back with a bowl of braised meat, which made He Shi feel extremely pleased.

Since the family separated, the daughter's family has been doing better and better.

On Lunar New Year's Eve.

Early in the morning, Zhao Ningning's house became lively. Ningning's father called Zhao Qi to put up the couplets and asked Ningning to check if they were crooked.

After putting up the couplets, the family went to the kitchen to help Ning's mother, who prepared ten dishes and a soup.

During the Lunar New Year, it's natural to have a variety of dishes. Only after Ning's mother brought out the last dish, sweet lotus seed soup, did everyone begin to eat.

Steamed sea bass, braised pork ribs, spicy diced chicken, shredded pork with sweet bean sauce, garlic vermicelli shrimp, glutinous rice balls... and Ningning's favorite New Year's dish, eight-treasure rice.

As soon as she picked up her chopsticks, Zhao Ningning reached out and scooped a piece of rice into her bowl with a spoon, eating it with relish. Her mother laughed at her, saying, "If you eat sticky rice now, be careful you won't be able to eat meat later."

Zhao Ningning wasn't afraid at all; she was going to stay up all night for the New Year! Staying up so late would give her plenty of time to digest!

After finishing her New Year's Eve dinner, Zhao Ningning put the dishes and chopsticks into the dishwasher in her room and went to the kang (a heated brick bed) with her family to celebrate the New Year.

The kang (heated brick bed) was warm. Ning's father took out a wooden deck of cards that he had commissioned from a box. The four family members each occupied a spot, eating melon seeds and dried fruit while playing cards.

At 9 PM, Zhao Ningning couldn't resist the drowsiness and swayed back and forth while holding the mahjong tiles. Her father covered his mouth and chuckled, while her mother glared at him, helped Ningning lie down, and tucked her in.

Zhao Ningning nestled comfortably on the warm kang (heated brick bed) next to her mother and fell asleep peacefully.

That night, at an unknown time.

Zhao Ningning woke up from her dream again.