During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

With a divination slip by her side, she naturally spoke with great confidence.

After all, you carry a fortune stick with you every day; you might just find some prey.

She had long had her eye on that lucky draw. Her father was a hunter, and she wanted to learn from him how to set traps and snares, and find a way to get one in exchange for food.

As long as we can catch prey, we'll never have to worry about food!

"Alright, alright! Second daughter is craving meat, so let's eat it! As for the food rations, Dad will find a way to borrow some!"

"Sister-in-law, clean the chicken and start stewing it!"

Ye Youliang knew that exchanging grains would last for several days, but Er Yatou said she was craving meat, so even though he felt bad about it, he didn't say anything.

After all, he owed the child's father his life.

Back then, he was forced by the government to work as a laborer to build the city wall. When the wall collapsed, it was Qingqing's own father who pinned him down, saving his life.

The man died, the mother ran away, leaving only an infant child to be cared for by relatives.

Without saying a word, he took the baby back and swore to God that he would treat her as his own daughter.

Ye Qingqing was confident, but Li Chunyan was not.

"Oh? You're really going to stew it?"

She felt a pang of reluctance, as if a piece of her heart had been ripped out. Picking up the pheasant, she muttered, her eyes lowered,

"You've had a great time eating today, but what will you do tomorrow?"

If you ask me, we might as well switch to other grains. Who can go up the mountain to collect this stuff every day?

Ye Qingqing said confidently, "Sister-in-law, I'm lucky, I'll definitely succeed!"

"Well, just eating chicken isn't enough without grain..."

Li Chunyan, harboring her own thoughts, said hesitantly,

"We'll have chicken to eat anyway, Er Yatou, how about we trade the eggs for two bowls of millet or mixed grain noodles? That should last us a day or two... What do you think?"

If she replaces the eggs with two bowls of mixed noodles, she'll stew half a chicken first, then shave off some meat slices each day to make soup, which will last her for quite a few days!

Ye Qingqing laughed, "Okay, I'll listen to my sister-in-law."

"I'll go right now!"

Seeing that Er Yatou was so easy to talk to for the first time, Li Chunyan felt as if she had received a royal decree. She quickly found a basket, picked up the eggs, and ran out.

I was afraid that if I was even a little late, Er Yatou would change her mind!

Nine wild eggs were taken to a family in the village who sold mountain products in town. They exchanged them for a little over two jin of mixed flour at 20 wen per jin, at 5 dan each.

Having only drunk a bowl of thin porridge all day, Li Chunyan was starving. She gritted her teeth and took a pound of mixed noodles, along with some dried wild vegetables from the summer and autumn sun, and made about ten mixed noodle cakes.

As darkness fell, the chicken simmered on the stove.

"Slap! Slap slap slap..."

Half a pheasant was stewing in the pot, and the sound of the flatbread sticking to the side of the iron pot was indescribably pleasant.

Before long, a ring of dark yellow flatbreads was stuck to the edge of the iron pot.

The crust of the pastry was baked to a golden brown, emitting a slightly bitter, caramelized aroma.

The family sat around the kang table, swallowing their saliva, watching eagerly as Li Chunyan brought up a large earthenware basin, along with a ring of fragrant, toasted flatbreads and a few thick, snow-white scallions.

This food is better than anything you can eat during Chinese New Year!

"Grandpa, it smells so good..."

A string of glistening drool dripped from Huanhuan's little mouth, and her round eyes couldn't bear to leave the ceramic pot for even a moment.

"Grandpa is giving Huanhuan some meat to eat."

Ye Youliang picked up a piece of chicken and put it in his granddaughter's bowl, then stuffed a pancake into her little hand. "Eat, eat it all."

Ye Qingqing picked up a chicken leg and put it in his bowl, saying softly, "Dad, have a chicken leg."

"No, no, I'm not hungry... some soup will do."

Ye Youliang quickly tried to put the chicken leg back, but then he saw Ye Qingqing's face harden, and she slammed down her chopsticks. "If Father won't eat, then I won't eat either!"

"I'll eat, I'll eat!"

Afraid of upsetting her, Ye Youliang shakily picked up a chicken leg and took a bite.

Soup dripped down his chin, and he felt a tremor in his heart. He slowly closed his eyes and chewed the chicken with reluctance.

"eat!"

Li Chunyan put a piece of meat in Ye Dali's bowl, took a big bite of her multigrain pancake, and said in a fit of anger, "Let's just pretend we're not living anymore, let's eat our fill first!"

"Why would I give it to you? I'm not craving meat."

Ye Dali secretly swallowed, then put the meat into his wife's bowl and grumbled, "There's not much work to do in winter, I'll just eat two pancakes... Qingqing, Cuicui, you two eat more."

As he spoke, he licked the meat broth off his chopsticks, picked up a flatbread, and took a bite.

Ye Cuicui carefully picked up the smallest piece of chicken, lowered her head and put it in her mouth, savoring the meaty aroma, almost reluctant to chew it.

Everyone knows how precious a meal of meat is in this poor family.

Despite her stomach growling with hunger, Ye Qingqing couldn't eat anything because she saw that they were reluctant to eat.

My sister-in-law stingily stewed only half a chicken. Everyone took a few bites, and all the radish slices were gone, but the chicken in the earthenware pot only suffered some superficial injuries.

She felt a strange mix of emotions.

If the original owner hadn't been so reckless as to try and make amends to the scumbag, the family would at least have been able to have enough to eat.

She simply scooped the chicken out of the earthenware basin, ignoring everyone's attempts to refuse, and insisted on filling everyone's bowls, then put on a domineering expression and said...

"Look at you guys! I finally managed to find a pheasant, and you're all not going to eat it, that's such a disappointment!"

If anyone doesn't finish this chicken today, I'm not having it! I'll go back up the mountain tomorrow; who knows, I might find some more meat to eat!

That's more like what Er Yatou should say. She's like a completely different person today, and Li Chunyan is really not used to it.

Li Chunyan habitually rolled her eyes at her.

"Second girl, look at you, so capable! Do you think Qiushan is your own home, picking it up like that?"

However, he regretted it as soon as he said it, and his face was full of embarrassment.

This bowl full of meat, wasn't it brought back by Er Yatou?

Qiushan is certainly not ours, but it has divination sticks, so it's pretty much the same as ours.

Ye Qingqing smiled mysteriously.

"Sister-in-law, just treat her as our own."

I thought that if I just boiled chicken in water and sprinkled some scallions, ginger and coarse salt, without any oil, peppercorns and star anise, the taste would be very bland.

But when she tasted it, it instantly reminded her of that famous poached chicken, the sweet and fresh chicken flavor was simply too good!

She didn't like the bread because it was rough and astringent, and had the characteristic bitter taste of coarse grains and bean flour.

Refined grains still taste better.

It was a meal comparable to that of Chinese New Year, and the family was extremely satisfied.

Finally, divide the chicken soup into bowls, break the mixed noodle cakes into small pieces and soak them in the soup, then eat the soup and cakes clean.

For more than half a year, this was the only meal the whole family had eaten their fill.

Before going to bed, Ye Dali added an extra bundle of firewood to the kang (heated brick bed) where she and Cuicui were sleeping, looking at his two younger sisters with heartache.

"This firewood will last most of the night. Brother, when you go up the mountain tomorrow, please gather more!"

Ye Qingqing lay on the warm kang (heated brick bed), feeling the warmth wash over her, and even the thin, tattered quilt seemed a bit thick.

The first thing she thought of when she opened her eyes in the morning was to open today's fortune sticks.

What we eat today depends on this!