Even if villagers passed by, they would only see Hu Lanfang drinking from a ceramic cup, unaware that the crackling, happy fat water was washing away the sourness in her mouth.
After finishing the cup of sweet happy fat water, Hu Lanfang, whose soul was about to leave her body from the sourness, finally returned to her senses. She shook her head and said, "Heavens, I can't casually accept things from others anymore."
Gu Qingcheng chuckled, dug out the roasted sweet potatoes from the stove hole, broke one open, let it cool slightly, and handed it to Hu Lanfang, saying, "Mom, eat this. Shan Mao bought it, it's guaranteed to be sweet."
Hu Lanfang saw that the sweet potato with its red heart was oozing honey after being roasted. It was a top-grade Liu'ao sweet potato, something she used to eat often at home. She quickly put it in her mouth and nibbled it in small bites, her happy expression resembling a chubby hamster.
Seeing that her mother's face finally broke into a smile, Gu Qingcheng also smiled.
In the blink of an eye, the two ate two sweet potatoes and threw the peeled skins into the stove to burn.
The fragrant aroma of the sweet potatoes, mixed with the rich aroma of the boiling meat, was not obvious.
When Gu Chaobei finished his work, Gu Qingcheng still had a sweet potato left for her father.
Gu Chaobei, having worked hard all day, was ravenous. He took the warm sweet potato and ate it in a few gulps, saying with satisfaction, "It's delicious, even more fragrant than the roasted sweet potatoes sold on the street. By the way, Qingcheng, do you think sweet potatoes can grow here? If we really go south in the future, can we popularize planting these sweet potatoes? Then people won't have to starve."
"It should be possible. Sweet potatoes are the most adaptable. Not to mention sweet potatoes, we also have high-yield rice seeds and vegetable seeds," Gu Qingcheng said, listing them like a treasure.
"What? Seeds too? Do they sell them at the Shan Mao supermarket?" Gu Chaobei was very surprised.
"Yes, they have an agricultural planting area to satisfy the preferences of gardening enthusiasts. I went there yesterday, and they have seeds for common vegetables like cabbage, Shanghai bok choy, and water spinach. There are also seeds for gourds like cucumbers, pumpkins, green gourds, fuzzy gourds, and luffa. And high-yield rice seeds and wheat seeds. The rice and wheat seeds are sold to pet owners, but they are also categorized under the high-yield planting area," Gu Qingcheng explained.
"What? Why would pet owners buy wheat and rice seeds?" Hu Lanfang, who had never owned a pet, didn't understand.
Gu Qingcheng replied, "Because pets lick their fur, and if the fur accumulates in their stomachs and they can't excrete it, they get sick. So they need to eat more roughage to help expel the fur. Young rice and wheat sprouts are the roughage pets like the most."
"So dogs and cats also eat grass? I thought they always ate meat." Hu Lanfang gained another useless piece of trivia.
Seeing the meat bubbling in the large pot, Gu Chaobei poked it with chopsticks. Seeing that the chopsticks easily penetrated the meat, he called out to Village Chief Gu, "Village Chief, the meat is cooked."
"Alright, everyone, line up with your bowls like yesterday, get ready to receive your meat!" With the village chief's order, villagers came from all directions and lined up obediently in front of the pot.
While queuing, Grandma Gu said to Grandpa Gu with a pained expression, "How much meat has Lao Liu's family wasted? Hundreds of pounds of meat yesterday, and hundreds of pounds again today. If these were sold in Jinsha City, they would fetch at least dozens of taels of silver."
Grandpa Gu's face was grim, and his eyes were filled with anger. He looked back at Lao Liu, his heart growing even more annoyed. However, when his gaze shifted to Gu Qingcheng, a deep hatred, as if it were tangible, almost pierced Gu Qingcheng.
Gu Qingcheng was talking to her mother and vaguely sensed something. She turned her head abruptly and met Grandpa Gu's gloomy gaze. Gu Qingcheng didn't back down either. She glared back fiercely, even rolling her eyes, which startled Old Man Gu. This little girl, who used to be so timid, now had eyes as sharp as knives, exuding an oppressive aura like a leopard in the forest. Old Man Gu could only sullenly withdraw his gaze.
When it was their turn to get meat, Grandma Gu said to the man distributing the meat, "This is game my granddaughter hunted, give me more fatty meat."
"Wild boars don't have much fat, it's all lean meat," the man said, but under her persistent gaze, he still gave her a small piece of meat. Grandma Gu took her bowl and left reluctantly.
Gu Xiaohua, who was behind them, never expected that one day her family would be able to eat meat because of Qingcheng. The whole village praised Gu Qingcheng like a flower, saying she was unparalleled. Gu Xiaohua felt quite resentful. A person doesn't compare themselves to or envy those who are far superior. Just as a junior programmer wouldn't envy Bill Gates. But when she discovered that someone in a similar situation suddenly stood out and surpassed her, that jealousy would be magnified infinitely. Why could she live so well? No, I must live better than Gu Qingcheng! Gu Xiaohua still used Gu Qingcheng as a benchmark.
The plan that her grandparents had set for Uncle Gu to poison Qingcheng, Gu Xiaohua had hesitated about whether to warn Qingcheng. But now, seeing Qingcheng so glorious, she suddenly didn't want to report it anymore. In the past, Qingcheng was as pitiful as herself. Every day, as soon as her eyes opened, she had to start working, fetching water, cutting pig feed, going to the fields, climbing mountains to dig for bamboo shoots... In short, they had to do all the work that adults did. When they returned home, exhausted, they would only drink wild vegetable porridge, or even rinse water from the pot. In winter, they would huddle together in haystacks for warmth, shivering. At that time, Gu Xiaohua didn't feel miserable because Qingcheng beside her was just as miserable. But now, seeing Gu Qingcheng living so freely and joyfully after separating from the main family, even receiving respect from the entire village, Gu Xiaohua's psychology was severely unbalanced. She blankly held her bowl, eating the meat, and the thought that this meat was Qingcheng's "gift" made the meat lose its appeal.
"Xiaohua, you don't like eating meat? You're used to drinking wild vegetable porridge, right? Eating meat makes you uncomfortable," Liu Cui, her uncle's wife, asked her as she came over.
"Ah?" Gu Xiaohua hadn't reacted yet, but Liu Cui's chopsticks had already reached into her bowl. Smiling, she said, "Since you don't eat meat anyway, give it to me." With that, Liu Cui picked up the large piece of wild boar meat from her bowl.
However, before Liu Cui could move it to her own bowl, Zhang Manzhi stepped forward and shouted, "Even if my Xiaohua doesn't like meat, it's not for you to eat! Give the meat back!" Zhang Manzhi wasn't tall, but she was strong and fierce as a tigress, and Liu Cui was no match for her. Seeing this, she had no choice but to turn her head with a dark expression, toss the meat back into Zhang Manzhi's bowl, and walk away with a flick of her backside. Zhang Manzhi tapped Gu Xiaohua's head with the tip of her chopsticks and said, "You're so stupid. How can you give your own meat to others?"