Chapter 20: A Satisfying Meal
The night breeze carried a hint of the aroma of meat.
It drifted and wafted, traveling quite a distance before dissipating.
The families on the other hill seemed to catch a whiff of it too.
It was faint, almost imperceptible.
A child in one family insisted on having meat, crying and screaming until their parents gave them a beating, and only then did they quiet down.
The crying was so loud it reached Jiang Mianmian’s home.
But it didn’t dampen their happiness in the slightest.
A pot of wild boar meat was stewing on the kitchen stove, bubbling away.
In a corner of the courtyard, a makeshift stove had been set up, holding an old, well-worn clay pot where the Chinese medicine for Jiang Feng was brewing.
Yet, the medicinal scent could not mask the aroma of the meat.
In fact, it only made the wild boar meat seem even more fragrant.
Like medicinal herb-stewed pork.
Jiang Yu carried her younger sister, Jiang Mianmian, wandering from the kitchen to the spot in the courtyard where the medicine was stewing.
Strangely enough, it was one thing for her sister to drool over the pot of meat, but she was also drooling over the pot of medicine, as if she wanted a taste of that too…
Father and Mother had gone back into their room to have a private conversation.
Occasionally, Jiang Mianmian could hear a sentence: “Husband, believe me, I really wasn’t making it up. That wild boar might have had an eye disease; I dug it out and checked, one eye had more white in it…”
Jiang Mianmian:…
Her eldest brother, Jiang Feng, seemed exhausted; he had fallen asleep on the bamboo chair with her diaper wrapped around his head, his eyes tightly shut, and his hand twitching from time to time.
The diaper looked a bit dirty because the wound was seeping blood.
Jiang Mianmian felt a bit worried; would this cause an infection?
The medicine was brewed.
Jiang Yu carried Jiang Mianmian on her back while pouring the medicine.
She poured out most of the medicinal soup first, then dumped the dregs into a piece of cloth. She bundled the dregs up like a steamed bun, twisting it tightly to squeeze out the remaining soup until not a drop was left.
During this process, Jiang Mianmian quietly dripped a drop of spiritual spring water into the medicinal soup.
After dripping it in, she watched the steam rising and worried if it would be useless; vitamins couldn’t be soaked in hot water, so she worried it would lose its effect.
Just as she was thinking about adding another drop, her eldest brother let out a shout that startled her, causing her hand to slip, and she peed…
“Jiang Xiaoyu, that’s my medicine. Are you trying to steal a sip?”
Jiang Yu was also startled, and then felt a wave of wet warmth on her back!
She just wanted to have a taste, and seeing her eldest brother wake up, she felt a bit guilty.
“Ah, ah, Mianmian peed! Mother, Mother, Mianmian peed again!” Jiang Yu shouted toward the room.
Jiang Mianmian:…
After having her diaper changed and her little bottom dry and comfortable again, little Mianmian sat in Father’s arms.
In the whole family, Mother was the most comfortable to be held by; Mother had a fragrant milky scent on her.
The second was Father; Father always had a faint scent of Chinese medicine, which also smelled very good.
At dinner, the family sat around together.
Very seriously.
Mother ladled a big bowl of meat soup for everyone, pure meat soup, pure meat.
She only added a little herb for stewing; there was little herb and lots of meat.
Regarding the bear from last time, the family had actually only eaten a little bit; Father had taken the rest to sell.
Jiang Mianmian had eavesdropped at night and learned that Father, having just started his new position, had used the money to buy a piece of high-quality fabric to give to his direct superior.
Father understood social interactions well.
The meat tonight was very substantial.
The family didn’t try to offer it to each other repeatedly.
Everyone was seriously and intently eating what was in their own bowls.
They managed to follow the rule of not talking while eating; they ate very seriously and had no time to talk.
Only Jiang Mianmian, bored, turned her head, looking left and right.
Perhaps because her diarrhea last time was so severe, the family no longer fed her random things.
There was no meat soup for her; she was waiting for milk.
After Mother finished eating, it was Jiang Mianmian’s turn to eat.
Jiang Mianmian, in Mother’s arms, comfortably adjusted her position and swallowed from her rice bowl.
Once she finished eating, she was back on her older sister Jiang Yu’s back.
She watched her elder brother drink his Chinese medicine.
Her sister Jiang Yu went to clear the bowls.
As a result, Jiang Mianmian saw her sister actually rinse the bowl that had held the medicine with water and drink the rinsing water…
She just had to have a taste, her stubborn sister.
After drinking it, Jiang Yu frowned and said: “It’s really bitter, ptooey, ptooey, ptooey.”
Jiang Mianmian:…
Her elder brother lay back on the bamboo chair after drinking the medicine. Jiang Yu, feeling a bit guilty, paced up to her brother and asked in a low voice: “Brother, did you sell those clothes and shoes? How much did you sell them for?”
Jiang Feng glanced at Jiang Yu and said irritably: “You’re still thinking about that? Those shoes were so small, they definitely weren’t your size, and the shoulders of the clothes wouldn’t fit either; they were too skinny.”
Jiang Yu puffed out her cheeks and said: “I’m not thinking about it, I just wanted to know how much they could fetch. Brother, how come you know so much about women’s clothes and shoes? If I were to tell Mother and Father…”
“Cough, cough, cough, cough,” Jiang Feng started coughing.
This made Jiang Mianmian’s heart jump; she was worried that the coughing would cause his wounds to seep blood.
“You ungrateful girl, I exchanged them for one tael of silver, and I even spent a hundred wen to buy you embroidered shoes.” Jiang Feng said angrily.
Jiang Yu looked amazed and counted on her fingers: “Wow, those clothes and shoes were worth that much? One tael of silver? That Sixth Auntie said that if I were sold, it would only be for one tael. Hiss… if I had known, I would have worn them a little longer!!”
Jiang Feng rolled his eyes; those embroidered shoes were stained with so much blood, and she wanted to wear them longer? His little sister must have been stupid to death.
“Give Mianmian to me. If I let you keep carrying her, she’ll catch your stupidity and be hopeless in the future.”
The sounds of bickering in the courtyard reached her ears.
The stars twinkled in the sky, like aliens with wide eyes watching the drama unfold.
