Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

chapter 30

“So many? Did you pick all these YingEr? You really are awesome! Here, mom will taste one… hmm, very sweet!”

Liu Sisi picked one and put it in her mouth, it tasted just as she remembered from her childhood, exceptionally sweet. The unique flavor of the loquat is far tastier than other fruits like mulberries and peaches! Once she ate one, she couldn’t stop and wanted another…

And indeed, that’s just what Liu Sisi did!

After eagerly eating three, Liu Sisi finally felt a little embarrassed and stopped!

“The fruits picked by YingEr are the tastiest! Here, let’s gather them up and take them all back!”

As she spoke, Liu Sisi carefully put all the loquats into her pocket, then led the two children back home.

The house was exactly as it had been when she left that morning. However, Liu Sisi still carefully inspected it once more, served two bowls of the porridge she made in the morning, and alongside the leftover vegetables from the morning, they enjoyed a large bowl of rice.

Next, she went to the roadside to pick a few pumpkin leaves to use for cleaning mushrooms.

While YingEr was sleeping, Liu Sisi opened up the basket full of mushrooms and prepared to carefully pick through them. Picked mushrooms often have a bit of dirt mixed in. Liu Sisi sorted them one by one and then carefully laid them out to dry. There should be no problem selling them tomorrow morning.

After thinking about it, she selected two from each type of mushroom, cleaned them, and put them in the water. After a while, she also threw in a small handful of rice— this is a method to determine whether the mushrooms are cooked or not. It is generally believed that when the rice cooked with the mushrooms is ready, the mushrooms are also cooked.

As for Di Xuan, whenever he had free time now, he would squat in that corner, holding a tree branch and continuously drawing and writing with great focus.

By the time Liu Sisi had finished sorting and processing all the mushrooms, those in the pot were also cooked.

Looking at Di Xuan’s eyes, which were firmly fixed on the pot, Liu Sisi hesitated for a moment and ultimately decided not to let him try them. “Mom is not completely sure these mushrooms are not poisonous, so we will try them today, lest anyone suspect they are poisonous when mom sells them tomorrow.”

“You… are you going to sell all these?” Di Xuan pointed to the mushrooms, which almost filled over half the room.

“Mom will leave some for tomorrow. However, we must wait until mom has eaten some tonight. If there are no problems, we can continue to cook them for everyone else.”

Di Xuan looked at her in surprise, but said nothing more. He thought Liu Sisi was trying to hoard food, but she was actually just dividing each mushroom in half and tasting them to test for poison.

By the time Di Yelei returned, it was already dark outside.

Hearing Di Yelei’s conversation with Di Xuan, Liu Sisi was overjoyed – he had returned!

“Sisi, I’m back!” Di Yelei’s call was echoed by his distinctive large figure appearing in the kitchen doorway.

“You’re back, go wash your hands quickly. The vegetables are almost ready on the pot, and we can eat soon. Let’s handle the game you brought after we eat!”

Liu Sisi looked up and saw the game that Di Yelei had brought back. The game piled on top of game was bound together, bending his whole shoulder under its weight.

Looking at the busy figure in front of the stove, Di Yelei felt moved. How long had he been missing this warm scene? What he really yearned for was actually very simple: a warm family life with wife and children which was his lifelong goal.

“Alright, I’ll go right away.”

Di Yelei casually tossed the fresh game he was carrying onto the floor, so hard that Liu Sisi could feel the floor vibrate thrice. Before she could say anything, Di Yelei had already turned and left the kitchen.

Dinner was simple, almost half a chicken soup with some wild vegetables. In addition, Liu Sisi had put some shaggy ink cap mushrooms into the soup, making it even more delicious!

After dinner, while Di Yelei went out to deal with the game, Liu Sisi led YingEr to take a bath in the bedroom.

The incident last time had left her considerably shaken. After she and YingEr had finished their baths and she had coaxed YingEr to sleep, she returned to her room to see Di Yelei vigorously drying his long hair with a towel.

“The hunt today was rather fruitful. Hopefully there’ll be more merchants interested in buying game tomorrow. That way, we can sell it for a higher price,” said Di Yelei, looking relaxed but also a touch worried.

“Have you ever had trouble selling the game before?”

“Plenty of times! Villagers rarely eat game. They think it’s less juicy, more expensive, and definitely not as cost-effective as a big fat pig. So… in such hot weather, the game cannot be stored for too long unless there are special merchant buyers, otherwise, it’s hard to get a good price.”

Liu Sisi nodded, understanding his predicament. In this heat, even with the meat preserved with salt, it would still be susceptible to maggots and spoiling. Unless we’re talking about a wealthy family with a cellar full of ice cubes!

“Let’s go to the market together tomorrow. I picked a lot of mushrooms on the mountain today, and we can’t eat them all. So, why don’t we sell them and buy some rice and flour?”

Liu Sisi had thought ahead. If the game didn’t sell, they could still sell the mushrooms and have some income. Tonight, she had cooked the last of the rice, only leaving a bit for the next morning. If there were no income, everyone would starve!

“It’s getting late, come sleep. Stop dawdling!”

Seeing Liu Sisi still not moving after quite a while, Di Yelei couldn’t help but call out to her.

“Ah? Alright… Okay.”

God, she had been intentionally dawdling, but he was still not asleep!

Liu Sisi was somewhat speechless.

Di Yelei’s eyes were fixed on her tonight, his hot gaze not wavering for even a moment but following her every movement.

It took her an excruciating passage of two quarters to walk the short ten-step distance from the doorway to bedside.

Even if she was moving at a snail’s pace, eventually she reached her destination.

Just as she was considering whether or not to bolt out the door, Di Yelei beat her to it. He reached out and with uncanny accuracy grabbed her wrist, and pulled her towards him.

“Ouch! What are you doing, let go!”

Liu Sisi instinctively struggled, trying to pull away from his grasp.

“Stop moving or you’ll fall onto the ground!”

Di Yelei showed no sign of letting go. How could he miss the defensive look on Liu Sisi’s face? But even if he loved her dearly, he wouldn’t compromise even to himself on some things that needed to be maintained.