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

Ye Cuicui glanced at the bowl and saw that it was full of meat, as if it were free, while the cabbage and radish were sparse.

Wait, where did this pork come from?

Didn't we just buy meat at home? And now my second sister has gone to buy more meat?

No way! It takes more than two hours to go to town and back, unless she can fly!

A series of question marks hung on Ye Cuicui's forehead, her face completely bewildered.

"Third Sister, you're back!"

Standing under the eaves, Li Chunyan saw that the girl's face was red from the cold and quickly waved her over. "Are you freezing? Come inside, there's some hot food that was just served!"

Ye Cuicui slipped through the crowd and ran to her sister-in-law.

"Sister-in-law, did Second Sister buy pork again?"

Li Chunyan clicked her tongue.

"We have so much meat at home, we might as well sell it. Where are we going to buy more?"

Ye Cuicui blinked. "Then this..."

Li Chunyan was so proud of herself that her tail was practically wagging in the air.

"This was hunted by your second sister and your eldest brother, Dazhuang, on the mountain. They caught a whole litter of wild boars, two big ones and three little ones!"

"This isn't just for building a woodshed for your older brother, Da Zhuang. Everyone's been rushing to help, and Dad said it's a good opportunity to treat the villagers to a pig-slaughtering feast."

"Bang!"

Ye Cuicui dropped the basket from her hands, her lips twitched uncontrollably, and words spurted out from between her teeth.

"Going up the mountain? By taxi? Wild boar? A whole litter..."

Li Chunyan glanced at her and asked, "Are you stuck?"

Ye Cuicui's joyful heart suddenly plummeted as if she had jumped off a cliff.

She went up the mountain with her second sister early this morning and only just returned now. She managed to pick a whole basket full of frozen mushrooms.

The aunties said it could be exchanged for at least three or four hundred coins!

Thinking that he could finally earn money for the family like his second sister and become a great contributor to the family, he was feeling very happy. Unexpectedly, he was hit on the head by two wild boars!

Second Sister didn't want to dig mushrooms because she was cold. Didn't she go down the mountain with Brother Dazhuang to go home? How come she managed to hunt two wild boars in her spare time?

Two wild boars!

So what if she spent a whole day in the cold, her hands swollen like steamed buns, and her face frozen like a pig's head, and all she managed to dig up was a whole basket of frozen mushrooms?

Is it considered a side dish?

A deep sense of frustration welled up inside me...

How come my second sister is so lucky? She risked her life to earn money for the family, but she still couldn't keep up with the second sister who casually hunted a wild boar.

No wonder Big Brother Zhuang is always sticking to Second Sister. He goes wherever Second Sister goes, without even glancing at her!

"You picked up so many frozen mushrooms? Not bad, not bad!"

Li Chunyan didn't see her dejected look. She glanced into the basket and casually said,

"Frozen mushrooms are at their best right now, so tonight we're having chicken stew with mushrooms!"

"Huh? Eat?"

Ye Cuicui instinctively gripped the basket tighter, saying reluctantly, "Sister-in-law, I went through so much trouble to dig these up, how can we eat them? Aren't we going to sell them in town tomorrow?"

Li Chunyan scoffed, "Go sell that pig tomorrow, it'll fetch several taels of silver! These mushrooms aren't worth much, let's keep them for ourselves."

"Click..."

Ye Cuicui heard the sound of her own heart breaking.

I'm so heartbroken!

The frozen mushrooms she painstakingly dug up were worth almost nothing in her sister-in-law's eyes.

"What are you doing standing there in the cold? Your hands and face are all red from the cold. Go back inside and warm up!"

Li Chunyan picked up the basket from Ye Cuicui's hands, casually put it on the stove, and pushed Ye Cuicui into the house. "Dad, Er Yatou, Cuicui is back. Let's eat!"

She didn't mean to ignore Ye Cuicui's feelings, nor did she look down on the frozen mushrooms she dug up. It's just that her heart was full of joy for the pork, and her mind wasn't on the frozen mushrooms.

"You're back! Look how cold you are, come here and warm your hands."

Seeing that Ye Cuicui's hands were red and swollen from the cold, Ye Qingqing quickly got off the kang (heated brick bed), put on her shoes, went to the stove, fetched a pot of hot water, poured it into a wooden basin, added some cold water to dilute it, added some salt, and without saying a word pulled Ye Cuicui over to soak her hands.

"Come and soak your hands in warm salt water, otherwise you'll get chilblains."

This folk remedy for frostbite was given to her by her master when she was first taken back to the Taoist temple.

It works quite well. It stings a lot when you soak your hands in it, but the swelling goes down quickly. After soaking your hands two or three times, they're fine.

Later, when she became the senior disciple, she would pick up her junior disciples from the Taoist temple in winter and give them the same bath.

As her hands soaked in the warm water, the stinging sensation on her skin felt like needles. Ye Cuicui's eyes immediately welled up with tears, and she softly called out, "Second Sister..."

"The pain will subside in a while, just bear with it!"

Ye Qingqing thought her hand hurt, so she quickly comforted her, saying, "Be good, or you'll get chilblains, and it'll hurt even more!"

"Um."

Ye Cuicui nodded, tears streaming down her face.

She originally wanted to earn money for the family like her second sister and show her face in front of her family, but she didn't want to be invisible and ignored by everyone.

Especially Big Zhuang...

Unexpectedly, the fruits of half a day's hard work were no match for a pig's trotter that my second sister brought back.

My feelings of frustration were suddenly melted away by the warm water and my second sister's nagging.

Looking back, my second sister was really amazing!

The cotton-padded clothes the family wears, the white rice and flour they eat, the chicken, duck, fish and meat they eat—aren't they all brought back by the second sister?

If it weren't for his second sister, his family would still be starving. Who could compare to his second sister?

She can be a nobody in front of her second sister, so what if she continues to be her sister's little shadow? Now everyone in the village envies her for having such a powerful second sister!

Once she understood, Ye Cuicui's distress vanished instantly. She wiped her face and smiled through her tears.

"Second sister, do you know? You've found a huge patch of frozen mushrooms, there's so much you can't pick them all up!"

At first, everyone was scrambling for it, but later they got too lazy to even scramble anymore. Each person just dug one end and filled a whole basket.

"Really? I see you've dug a whole basketful! Dad just said frozen mushrooms are valuable right now, this basket could easily fetch five or six hundred coins. Wow, Cuicui, you're amazing!"

Ye Qingqing vaguely sensed that her emotions were a little off. Although she didn't know why, she immediately provided the child with ample emotional support.

"Dad said these mushrooms are especially delicious, and I've been craving them, but seeing how hard you've worked to dig them, I can't bear to eat them."

Ye Cuicui's reddened eyes lit up, and she said repeatedly,

"Eat it! We dug it up to eat! Why are you reluctant to eat it?"

Second sister, let's ask sister-in-law to stew a big pot of chicken and mushrooms tonight. I guarantee it will be fresh and delicious!

Ye Qingqing raised her hand and gently pinched her little nose.

"Okay, whatever you say!"

"Uncle, Qingqing."

Before he could finish speaking, Ye Dazhuang walked in, exuding a chilling aura, his face still expressionless. "I'm late."

"It's not late. Third Sister just got back too. Sit down and eat."

Ye Youliang waved to him with a smile, then squinted and secretly sized him up.

He was worried because the kid's origins were unknown, his skills were unbelievable, and he had a body full of muscles honed through martial arts training.

He was genuinely afraid that the boy was a deserter who would bring trouble to the family.

Ye Qingqing glanced at Ye Dazhuang and asked bluntly,

"Where did you go?"