Crossing the Unknown Country

Su He was worried that they might not recognize some of these wild vegetables, but now he is relieved and does not have to bother explaining them. Later, he thought that people are poor nowadays and eat wild vegetables every day. It is the spirit of Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs. They have already eaten all the local edible wild vegetables. When I think about the 1960s that my grandparents told me when I was a child, people were so hungry that they ate tree bark and grass roots. There was even a kind of white soil that was eaten as food. What wild vegetables did they not know? The poor people can endure any hardship and will try every possible means to have food and clothing. It has not changed from ancient times to the present. Su He is also glad that he came here in spring, the season when all things come back to life. If he came here in winter, there would be nothing on the earth. It would probably be the most difficult time for this family. At that time, he could only leave it to fate.

The family finally returned home. There were two main rooms, a kitchen and a chicken coop, a small vegetable patch, and a fence around the yard. The yard was not small, but there were not many houses. This might be the layout of most farmhouses. Along the way, they passed several houses with few houses and large yards. Many of them were planted with vegetables and chickens. Some houses had three rooms, and the most were five rooms. However, they were all adobe houses with thatched roofs and yellow mud. So far, Su He had only seen adobe houses, and had not seen any brick and tile houses. She had confirmed that this dynasty and this village were not very wealthy.

She may have come to this country in history. It should be a society based on farming. The people's lives were very difficult. From their food, clothing, housing and transportation, we can see that they were poor and backward with inconvenient transportation. Along the way, there were only dirt roads and some stone roads, and no smooth pipelines were seen.

It seems that life here is a long way to go, and she needs to observe carefully and make the best response plan.

Su He moved a small stool to sit in front of the main hall to rest. His two brothers began to feed the chickens, his mother began to cook, and his father chopped firewood. The family began to get busy again. Su He was too young to do anything, so he picked the wild vegetables and washed them and ate some later. His mother would go to his uncle's house to bring some of the rest. The dinner was simple, porridge with wild vegetables and steamed bread. It was called porridge, but it was just wrapped with chopsticks in a cloth and dipped lightly in the oil can. Put some oil on the bottom of the pot and stir the vegetables in it, add water and rice, and add a little salt when the porridge is ready. It's good to have a little oil in it. When you don't have money, you can just have wild vegetable soup without adding anything.

The family sat at a low table, each holding a bowl to eat. The two brothers ate very happily. Rice and oil were added to the rice today. It was probably because their sister had recovered from her illness, so they made it specially for her. Su He ate such a simple and unpalatable meal. The wild vegetables were not blanched in hot water, so they were a little bitter. The steamed bread was made of mixed grains, which was a little bit irritating to the throat. Dad and Mom ate slowly. They watched the three children eat. When they saw that the two sons had finished eating, they directly poured some more rice from their bowls to them and asked them to eat more. The two children said loudly that they were full, but in the end they ate the food given by their parents.

Su He said to his parents, "Mom and Dad, please eat quickly! I can't even finish this bowl, please don't give it to me!"

Mom and Dad smiled and didn't wait for her anymore. They just picked up the bowls and started eating. The meal was simple and they finished it in a short time. Mom went to clean up the pots and bowls, took the wild vegetables and two steamed buns that were steamed at home yesterday, and went directly to Uncle Suhe's house.

It was dinner time. The eldest aunt was a thin woman. When she saw Su Heniang coming over, she said, "Sister-in-law, come here. You are so polite. You let me in even if I don't bring anything."

Su He Niang smiled and said, "I didn't bring anything valuable, just some food. I came to see our parents and tell you a good news. Niuniu has recovered from her illness."