Spring comes to the desperate place

When Song Dazhuang came back with the sweet potatoes, he saw that everyone in the family was holding a piece of peeled bamboo and chewing on it. Even the youngest, Song Xiaobao, who had only a few teeth, was holding a small piece in his hand and sucking on it.

What happened? When he went out, everyone in the family was shocked. Why did they all start chewing bamboo?

Grandpa Song waved to Song Dazhuang to come over, and then Song Chunsheng quickly handed Song Dazhuang a peeled sugarcane. Under the guidance of his old father, Song Dazhuang also started to chew the sugarcane.

After just one bite, he was shocked by the sweetness and juiciness of the sugarcane. He chewed it up with a crunch and spit the residue on the ground like everyone else.

The villagers nearby saw that the whole family was gnawing on this thing. At first they thought they were fools, but when they saw how happy they were gnawing on it, they couldn't help but feel puzzled.

So several nannies who were familiar with Song Nannie came over and asked her what she was chewing.

Auntie Song glanced at Grandpa Song, and seeing that he didn't react, she smiled and handed him a peeled sugarcane.

"Try it, and you'll know."

The other party took the sugar cane doubtfully. It’s so hard, can it really be eaten?

But seeing that the Song family members kept spitting out the residue while eating, he also tried to take a bite. Just like the others, his eyes lit up after just one bite. Seeing his reaction, his friends next to him also shared the short piece of bamboo sugarcane, one bite at a time.

"Delicious!" one of them exclaimed.

"How sweet! Where did you cut this bamboo? I'll ask my family to cut some and bring it with me."

"Yeah, yeah, they're sweet and thirst-quenching, I want to take a few too!"

"I want it too! I want it too!"

Everyone was talking at once, making it difficult for Song A-mo to get a headache. He shouted, "Okay, stop arguing."

The few of them suddenly quieted down, and Song A-mo then began to explain: "That small piece of bamboo has been chopped down by my son, and it's gone now. If you want some, each of you can take two back."

When they first heard that they were sold out, they were a little disappointed, but then Aunt Song said that each person could take two, and they immediately became happy.

"Okay, we won't take yours for nothing. We'll exchange it for a lump of earth."

The clod of earth is the sweet potato that was just dug up. Like the sugar cane, they don’t know the names of these two things, so the one dug out from the soil is called a clod of earth, and the one that looks like a bamboo pole is called a bamboo. Anyway, no one knows what these are, so just call them whatever you want.

In the end, everyone left with their sugarcanes satisfied, and the Song family harvested more than ten pounds of sweet potatoes and a small basket of sweet potato leaves.

Seeing that the matter was settled, Grandpa Song waved to his son who was still chewing sugarcane.

"Give a few to the village chief and the other elders, and we'll tie the rest to the car and eat them slowly."

Song Dazhuang happily left carrying the sugarcane. The village chief had already seen what was happening at their house, but at first he didn't know what they were doing. Now that Song Dazhuang was carrying the sugarcane, he knew that this long and thin bamboo-like thing was edible.

So under the guidance of Song Dazhuang, the village chief and several elders started spitting out the sugarcane residue.

Perhaps it was the double surprise of sweet potatoes and sugar cane that filled the camp that night. Although they didn't know where the south was, the simple villagers were very satisfied to encounter such a large area of life-saving food on the road.

However, even in this happy atmosphere, there are always some discordant voices.

There were only two people in Widow Huang's family, so the sweet potatoes and sweet potato leaves they received were not as much as those of others. However, these were distributed per person, so she couldn't say much. However, she was very jealous of the sugarcane that the Song family received.

She had hinted at it just now that the bamboo-like thing was not only juicy but also extremely sweet, and such a good thing actually all went to the Song family.

The more Widow Huang thought about it, the more unwilling she became. Li Ergou now did not dare to take too much care of the mother and son, because his wife was very tight with the food. Whenever Li Ergou reached out to take something, Chen Yuer would beat him with a carrying pole and a stick. As a grown man, he was always beaten by his mother and wife. For him, it was good enough for him to have something to eat, let alone help them.

It's all Chen Yu'er's fault! In a place where no one could see, Widow Huang glared at Chen Yu'er fiercely. She hadn't settled the matter of her stealing her water bag last time, and now she stopped Li Ergou from giving her food. She was simply meddling in other people's business.

But Widow Huang forgot that Chen Yuer was Li Ergou's legal wife, and what was snatched away was Li's family's water bag, which had nothing to do with her, Widow Huang.

"Mom, I want to eat that sweet bamboo stick too!" Widow Huang's son Liu Fang had just learned from others that the bamboo stick-like thing was extremely sweet, even sweeter than the maltose bought during the Chinese New Year. Liu Fang had been spoiled by Widow Huang since he was a child, and she never gave him anything he wanted. Now that he knew there was something sweeter than sugar, he naturally clamored to eat it.

But Widow Huang was not familiar with the Song family, and Song Dazhuang was a stubborn person, so it was unclear whether she would buy into her tricks or not.

Seeing that his mother didn't move, Liu Fang started crying.

"It's no big deal if you just ask for one. At most you'll just be taking advantage of Uncle Song. You've always done this before..."

With a "slap", a slap mark appeared on Liu Fang's face. He held his mouth and wanted to cry, but when he saw the gloomy eyes of Widow Huang, he stopped crying.

Widow Huang questioned him in a low voice with an unfriendly look on her face: "Which bastard told you this? Tell me! Which bastard has such a dirty mouth that he taught you to be bad!"

Perhaps Liu Fang was frightened by Widow Huang. His lips moved and he was unable to speak for a long time.

Liu Fang is already eleven years old, but he is not a fool. When he was young, he was very happy that whenever his uncles and aunts came, he would have delicious food and fun things, and sometimes even new clothes to wear. Children love to compare with others, and he would always show off his new toys and snacks to other friends, but those children always laughed at him, saying that his mother was unfaithful and called him the son of a prostitute.

When he was younger, he would argue a bit, but after seeing too many men coming to his mother in the middle of the night, Liu Fang gradually accepted the status quo.

Anyway, he has food and clothes, and his mother has someone to help with housework, so why not do it?

Of course, Widow Huang understood that her son actually knew everything, but the moment those words came out of her son's mouth, Widow Huang felt her face burning with pain. Looking at this son whom she had spoiled and brought up, she felt more and more unfamiliar with him.

How could the son whom I raised with all my effort be such a person?

However, no matter how upset and sad Widow Huang was, she felt sorry for her son and had no choice but to bite the bullet and go to the Song family.