Others are fleeing famine, but I am a salted fish

Because Aunt Dashan and Aunt Niu lived close to the Lin family when they were in the village, they knew how terrifying Lin Xiaoyue was. She almost burned down the shabby kitchen of Lin Laosan's house just by heating a steamed bun. Everyone agreed that she was a person who could "do great things" and should not be confined to the company of a spatula, so they persuaded her with kind words and continued to eat melon seeds while sitting aside.

Lin Xiaoyue: ...I feel like I’m being disliked.

It was a hot day, and even though they had set up a shed, it couldn't stand the heat. Although Lin Xiaoyue was persuaded to just watch and not do anything, she didn't care, and didn't think there was anything wrong with just being able to eat but not cook.

But she was really curious. In that era, there were no refrigerators or storage facilities, and they were on the road. What secret recipe did Aunt Dashan have that could keep pork from going bad for a year and make it more fragrant as time went by?

So, she ate melon seeds with one hand and fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan with the other, and strolled around Aunt Dashan to watch the fun.

It must be said that people of every generation should not be underestimated. Listening to Aunt Dashan talking and doing things in an orderly manner with a group of female relatives, she also pricked up her ears and listened carefully.

I saw Aunt Dashan mixing the proportions of pork and salt, frying the salt and peppercorns in a pan, then applying them evenly on the pork, and then massaging the pork continuously. It was said that it was supposed to be placed in a container and left to stand for three days, but there was not enough time at the moment, so in order to let the aroma absorb into the pork, she had to use the manual mode.

After massaging the pork for most of the hour, put the pork into the pot and steam it over high heat for 15 minutes. When you can easily poke chopsticks into the meat, you can take it out.

Next, use the fat to refine the oil. Wait until the oil in the pot is 70% cooked, then put in the steamed meat and fry the meat until golden brown. When the pig skin looks crispy, you can take it out and let it cool.

Finally, after the meat has cooled completely, put it into a clean jar, pour in cold oil, seal it, and take it out when you want to eat it. Whether you eat it dry, stir-fry, or stew it, it will make your mouth full of delicious flavor.

Although Aunt Dashan's explanation was simple, for most women in this dynasty who only knew how to make smoked meat and bacon, learning Aunt Dashan's secret recipe could be considered a huge intangible asset. No wonder after Aunt Dashan taught them everything she knew, all the women in the family were full of admiration and gratitude towards her.

Since everyone was busy that day, they didn't sit down to eat together. Aunt Niu's group cooked the food and served it out, and whoever had free hands could eat first.

The women were fine. When they were not stirring the wok, they just stood by the stove and watched the fire, and could even take a few bites of rice from their bowls. But the men's hands started to shake after killing three pigs.

Even though Lin Xiaoyue was the one who caught the pigs, saving them a lot of effort, but killing the pigs and doing the first round of cleaning was still very tiring.

Seeing that everyone's arms were too heavy to lift, the hunter simply waved his hand and invited everyone to have a meal and drink together.

Food is the most important thing for people. If you want to work, you have to fill your stomach first.

The mouth is filled with red braised pork that is fat but not greasy, lean but not dry. A spoonful of soup is mixed on the fragrant rice, and a sip of spicy wine that burns the throat, everyone squinted their eyes in satisfaction.

Living like this, who would believe that they were fleeing famine?

Which refugees had as much food and drink as they did, and also had livestock, money, weapons, and various food supplies that they picked up for free?

Such a nourishing day is what anyone would wish for.

If we give them one or two acres of land and there are no natural disasters or man-made disasters, their life would be like that of a god.

They were sweating profusely on the open space, working enthusiastically and eating heartily, while the fragrance in the air spread unnoticed.

When the air spread to the cellar and the children's side, it made these people so hungry that their stomachs almost burst.

As the children had rice and noodles at home, they could cook some simple food. Older children could also cook something by standing on a stool to satisfy their internal organs.

But the situation over at Xiaoqiao was not good. She could only passively wait for people outside to bring her food.

However, everyone was so busy now that no one thought of her, so she naturally had to starve.

As for the thin porridge that Niu Tietou brought to her last night, she originally wanted to not eat it and just starve. Qing was waiting for the Niu couple to come and see her out of pity after hearing the news of her hunger strike. Only then could she use this opportunity to act pitiful so that they would let her go.

But after a night, she hadn't eaten for three meals, including lunch, and her stomach was aching so much from hunger that she no longer had the energy to stay awake and act pitiful to gain sympathy.

Even the thin porridge that Niu Tietou brought yesterday, which was so thin that it could reflect light on people, had long been drunk by her. Even the few grains of rice at the bottom of the bowl had been licked clean by her.

Suddenly, Xiaoqiao's ears moved, and she seemed to hear rustling sounds, which were footsteps. She thought someone was coming to bring her food, and her face full of resentment was immediately replaced by hope and humility, and she looked eagerly in the direction of the sound.

Unfortunately, the two people she had imagined did not appear as expected. Instead, a group of people she had never seen before, who moved furtively and did not look like wild kids from a decent family, sneaked into the cellar, searching here and there, and no one knew what they were looking for.

Before finding out the purpose of these children's visit, Xiaoqiao crawled on the ground calmly. From her perspective, it was not difficult to find that the eyes under the eyebrows of these children were rolling around. After a round of inspection, she found that only she was imprisoned in the cellar, and that except for the "lamb" meat cave which remained as it was, the rest of the treasure caves, soldier caves, and grain storage caves were all emptied. The children then imitated the adults, put their hands on their hips, spit, and swore in anger.

This is... a bandit's child...

Almost in a flash, an evil plan slowly crept into Xiaoqiao's mind, and his sinister eyes flashed with terrifying hatred and resentment.

Since those people want to abandon her, don't blame her for tearing a piece of flesh from them.

……

Here, the women led by Aunt Dashan took turns to rest and eat. When it was Lin Dahua's turn to rest at the stove, she suddenly realized that Xiaosi and Xiaowu, who had just helped her look after Xiaomaizi, were both missing.

At first, Lin Dahua didn't take it seriously, but when she searched the entire area and still couldn't find any trace of the three children, she started to get anxious.

It is said that if a child is quiet, he is mischievous. This is generally applicable no matter which dynasty or dimension.

Everyone thought that the fourth and fifth children were playing hide-and-seek with the stumbling little Xiaomai in the village and were so engrossed in playing that they forgot to come over for dinner. However, they never imagined that the three children were actually experiencing unimaginable danger at this moment.

Until everyone realized something was wrong, stopped what they were doing, and shouted in the village to find the three children. They searched the house where they lived last night, the place where they set up a shed and slaughtered pigs and cooked meat this morning, and the whole village, but they couldn't find them even if they dug three feet into the ground.