So what if you flee from famine? Start all over again and live a good life every day

"I...I...Don't worry about how you extorted me. Anyway, your family extorted one or two taels of silver from me. It is my duty to take these branches." Huang Cuihua hesitated and was unwilling to say why. Instead, she became confident.

The villagers who were watching the scene became even louder in their discussions when they saw Huang Cuihua's expression.

"If you won't say it, then I'll help you say it. It's a good opportunity for everyone to judge whether my family has blackmailed your family or not." Sui He didn't care about her. He always gave her face and didn't care. He thought her family was easy to bully.

"This is what happened...So, Village Chief Lin asked her to compensate my family for a car. Everyone, please judge for me. Is this blackmailing her? It's clearly her family compensating my family." Sui He slowly recounted what happened on the road.

Several women from Linjia Village who were watching also agreed that what Suihe said was true.

The other villagers looked at Huang Cuihua with disdain from the beginning, and her expression became more and more ugly.

"This, this, this, it's a good thing we found it early, if someone was burned it would be terrible!" Mrs. Li exclaimed

"This is so funny! This is the first time I've seen a thief cry thief." Several others echoed the sentiment.

"That's right, Aunt Cuihua, it's not the case that whoever speaks first is right."

"I think that one or two ounces of silver is still too little compensation. That is life-saving food. She should be arrested and taken to the government."

"Whoever provokes her will start a fire. Let's stay away from her. What if we accidentally offend her and she sets my house on fire?" Someone said worriedly, looking at Huang Cuihua defensively, and silently stepped back a few steps.

……

"You...you guys..." Huang Cuihua's face turned red with shame after hearing the accusations coming from all around. She looked at Sui He hatefully.

"Aren't they just a few broken branches? I don't care about them. Only you ignorant people care about these things." Huang Cuihua looked at the villagers who were watching, pulled out the branches behind her, threw them at Sui He's feet, and left in embarrassment.

Sui He watched her retreating figure. She could be kind to others, but she would not allow anyone to bully her.

After solving this problem, Sui He turned to the aunts who were gathered around him and said, "Thank you sisters-in-law for speaking up for me today."

"Why are you being so polite? It was Huang Cuihua who was wrong in the first place. I didn't expect her to be such a person." Aunt Li waved her hand and said, "Suihe, don't associate with people like her anymore."

Sui He nodded and pointed to a few bundles of branches on the roadside: "Okay, I understand, Sister Li, there are only three people in my family, so we don't need so much firewood. You can divide the rest."

Sister Li looked surprised and exchanged glances with the others: "Really? Sui He, are you really giving these to us?"

"Really?" Sui He nodded.

"That's great, I won't be polite to you." Aunt Li led others to start pulling the branches on the ground.

There were no gas stoves or coal gas in this era. People cooked and boiled water by picking up dry branches or bean stalks from the mountains. However, everyone picked up firewood from the mountains, so there was not so much. In addition, in previous wars, the foreign enemies set fire to the mountains in order to drive out the officers and soldiers hiding in the deep forests.

Many trees were burned to death, and now many parts of the mountain are bare, so these firewoods are used as little as possible.

When they heard Sui He say that he would give them the chopped branches, they were very happy. They thought it would be a good idea to give away the firewood for free.

"Sister-in-law, you guys go ahead and do your work. I'll be leaving now." Sui He said hello to them and turned back.

At dusk, the sun gradually sets, and patches of red clouds are accompanied by layers of clouds, which are so beautiful that they make people intoxicated.

Sui He was walking on the path. His grandfather and his men were gesturing at the homestead, using handfuls of white ash to outline the foundation. Sui He shouted,

"Grandpa, come home for dinner"

"Hey, here I come"

At dawn in the morning, a sound was heard from Suihe's house.

"Sui Sui, the millstone is ready," Second Grandma poured a basin of water on the millstone.

"Okay, I'll be right there." Sui He took out the soaked soybeans from under the eaves.

"Sui Sui, let me do it." Grandpa held the handle of the millstone and turned it vigorously. Following the movements of the second grandfather, the millstone began to turn.

"Okay, I'll put the beans in, Grandpa, you come, grind slowly, don't grind too much, I'll take over when you get tired." Seeing that the second grandfather was in high spirits, Sui He didn't refuse and let him do it.

"I, your grandpa, am still strong enough." The second grandpa slowly turned the millstone. Except for the initial effort, it was very labor-saving later because of inertia.

Sui He put a spoonful of soybeans and a spoonful of water into the millstone. After a while, milky white soybean milk mixed with bean dregs flowed out from around the millstone.

"Oh, it's out. Look, it's really white." The second grandmother looked at the soy milk around the millstone in surprise: "Sui Sui, let grandma try it too."

"Okay, grandma, be careful." Sui He handed the task of adding beans to grandma. Grandma added soybeans, and Sui He added water. Soy milk flowed into the wooden barrel continuously.

There were a lot of soaked soybeans, so Sui He and his grandfather took turns turning the grinding wheel. It took more than an hour to grind the two pots of soybeans.

I went back to the house and took a rope and put it on the frame. Two wooden sticks were tied to the rope, forming a cross. A large piece of tent cloth was tied to the four corners. I poured the ground soy milk and the dregs into the tent cloth, and the filtered soy milk flowed into the wooden barrel below. This is the most primitive filtering method. (I will try to write it in detail. This is used to filter the dregs in rural areas, and it will be used to filter sweet potatoes later.)

"Sui Sui, this place is full." When Sui He tied up the tools, Second Grandma and the others had already filled a bucket of soy milk.

"Okay" Grandpa and grandma are really fast

Sui He picked up a bucket of soy milk and scooped it into the tent cloth with a gourd ladle. He shook the wooden strip while scooping, and soon the white soy milk without a trace of residue flowed into the wooden barrel.

Pour the filtered soy milk into the big pot in the kitchen, light a high fire, and when the soy milk starts to bubble, Sui He quickly takes out the firewood from the stove.

Pour the brine evenly, stir carefully twice and then stop.

"Sui Sui, is it ready now?" Grandpa and grandma stood beside the big pot, looking at the contents of the pot curiously.

"Not yet, I still have to wait for it to solidify. This is my first time making tofu, I don't know if it will work." To be honest, this is Sui He's first time making tofu. I have only seen it on short video platforms before, but have never made it myself. I hope she can have a novice protection mechanism

Fortunately, after a while, the tofu in the pot began to solidify slowly. After half an hour, the tofu in the pot was still warm, but it had completely solidified. A big pot of tofu pudding was ready.

Suihe picked up the spoon and scooped a spoonful. It was white and tender, like jelly. He took a sip and it melted in his mouth. The smooth and tender tofu pudding slid down his throat.

"It worked!" Sui He's eyes flashed with joy. She didn't expect that she would succeed in making tofu pudding for the first time.