Space Food Storage: Daily Travel

Li clutched the small change from her inner pocket. She had borrowed two taels of silver from her brother, intending to save 200 wen a month for her daughter's medicine. Since the family didn't eat much, the rest would be used for family utilities. Now, after hearing the doctor say the medicine was so expensive, she selfishly wanted to secretly keep it, but subconsciously felt that was wrong.

She took a deep breath and walked to her mother-in-law. She gave her the money she borrowed from her parents' home and told her about the little food she had taken.

Old Mrs. Jiang sighed and patted her hands soothingly, and the wrinkles on her worried face deepened.

"Don't worry, Sanni's medicine can't be interrupted. Tomorrow I'll ask Shihu to go to town and prescribe her half a week's worth of medicine. Don't blame mother. There are so many mouths to feed at home, and we're almost starving. This money must be saved for food. We'll think of a solution later."

"I'll listen to you, mother." Li felt relieved. In fact, people were starving to death these days, and it was really not easy for her mother-in-law to still take care of her daughter.

Liu Yuhan was talking to Liu Yun, a small, eight-year-old boy who was still quite thin, comparable in size to Xiao Wu. He spoke in a very low voice, his hair was dry and thin, and his complexion was an unhealthy grayish-white.

She was very good-looking, having inherited Li's almond-shaped eyes and high nose bridge. Since she rarely went out as a child, she was very shy.

Mrs. Li came over and asked about Liu Yuhan's health. When she learned that she was well, she was very happy for her.

"Auntie, Sanni will be fine, don't worry too much." Mrs. Li touched Liu Yun's head. "Hey, don't worry, Sanni will be fine."

Old Mrs. Jiang asked Mrs. Li to organize the things they brought back and discuss how to use them and what to eat in the evening.

The old couple went to the town to find Liu Shiliu and Yang Nianhua. The couple invited them to dinner, gave them two taels of silver, and packed twenty kilograms of brown rice and thirty kilograms of white flour.

The weather is getting worse these days. Because of the drought in the past two years, the price of grain has risen rapidly.

There is no need to think about white rice and white flour. The price has increased from ten cents to twenty-five cents per catty. The cheapest brown rice has increased from five cents to ten cents per catty. Even coarse grains with 70% bran, which used to be sold at one cent per catty mainly to feed chickens, have now increased to five cents per catty. However, some people are still scrambling to buy them and mix them with brown rice and wild vegetables to cook, which is the so-called eating bran and vegetables.

Even with this, not everyone could afford to eat it. They took wild vegetable roots, grass roots, tree bark, and anything edible home.

If you can only eat one meal a day and stay alive, you are already very lucky.

The water shortage is even more serious this year. Even the wells with abundant water sources are showing signs of drying up.

You can go without food for three days, but you can’t go without water for a day. In such a famine year, it is really difficult for ordinary people! !

The imperial court was busy resisting the Huns in the north and guarding against riots by bandits. How could it care about the lives of ordinary people?

The town had become much more desolate. The wealthy families with carriages and connections had all fled south or to the capital...

Around 5 p.m., scattered sunlight filtered through the trees. Seeing that the group who had gone up the mountain had not yet returned, Old Lady Jiang, Mrs. Li, and the others grew anxious.

When Old Lady Jiang and others came back from the town, Liu Yuhan was still asleep, so Liu took Xiao Si and carried a few water bags into the mountains to fetch water, and met Liu Shinan and others by the way.

After waiting for about another quarter of an hour (fifteen minutes), accompanied by Xiaosi's clear childish voice, a group of people came back, some carrying baskets, some carrying firewood, and some holding things in their hands.

"Grandma, Auntie, and Sister, we are back. Come and see, I found some bird eggs. I am going to leave them for Sisters 1 and 3."

This little guy knew that there was a long-term patient at home, so all the delicious food was given to Liu Yun, and besides, she was sick.

Liu Yuhan looked at the excited Xiaosi and asked him to run slower.

When Xiao Si came in, it was Uncle Liu Shihu. Liu Yuhan called him "Uncle" and he smiled at her. He was a tall man wearing a shabby shorts, with a simple and shy look on his face.

Then came Liu Shinan. Before she could say anything, he quickly put down his things and the firewood behind him and walked towards her. "Xiaohan, may the Buddha bless you. I'm so glad you're okay."

Liu Yuhan smiled and said, "Dad, I'm fine. Thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard, it's not hard. Dad also hunted a pheasant and will make soup for you to nourish yourself in the evening." After saying that, he went to work.

As Liu entered the room, Liu Yang, Liu Guang, Liu Lu, Liu Yao, and Liu Wu behind her all affectionately called her "big sister."

Liu Yuhan looked at them and felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

Liu Yang takes after his father, growing tall at 15. He's been incredibly strong since childhood, a gift he could be said to possess. Often hiking in the mountains with his brother Liu Shihu, his skin is tanned and shiny, and his smile is as simple and shy as his father's.

Liu Guang and his eldest brother Liu Lu are both smart and intelligent. They look like their mother and are very delicate. They love reading. Before, they had time to learn a lot of words from Liu, and memorized the Three Character Classic, Hundred Family Surnames, and Thousand Character Classic.

Before selling herself, Liu must have come from a prominent family, as few women could read in those days. She was also quite strong and knew some martial arts.

Liu was reluctant to say more about the past.

Before she was sold, she had suffered a head injury, and she felt she was missing a crucial part of her memory, but she couldn't recall it. Her family tacitly agreed not to ask any further questions.

Despite their poverty and lack of paper and ink, Liu Guang and Liu Lu persisted in practicing calligraphy on the ground. The 11-year-old Liu Yao was the youngest sister, a rather heroic-looking, diligent and forthright girl, with a touch of Liu's personality.

Liu Yao often followed the original owner with her two younger brothers. If anyone in the village dared to bully them, she would definitely give them a lot of advice and make them think they were autistic.

The youngest in the family is Xiaowu, Liu Wu. Unlike Xiaosi who is thin, he has big hands and feet since he was a child. Although he is not fat, he is very strong and has a loud voice, and he is always noisy.

Of course he eats more. Among all the kids in the family, he is the only one who often complains of hunger. He complains of hunger right after he finishes eating.

As a result, Old Lady Jiang often chased him and beat him, and after beating him, she felt sorry for her grandson who had never had enough to eat.

Although Xiaowu and Xiaosi are twins, they are not very similar. Xiaosi is smart, and he is a tiger!

Liu Yuhan responded and got busy too. The wild vegetables he had gathered, the edible leaves and bark, and the firewood he had carried back were all sorted out, and everything that needed cleaning had already been washed in the mountains.

There is water in the mountains, but it is getting smaller and smaller.

Xiao Si picked up three bird eggs, and her father shot two pheasants. Her uncle was lucky enough to find a rabbit hole and catch three rabbits alive. He kept the rabbits to sell in town.

The pheasant was already half dead. Seeing that Liu Yuhan had recovered, Mrs. Jiang waved her hand and killed both chickens to make soup, which caused the children to cheer! The 14 people in the family had not had enough to eat for a long time.

Next to the stove, two old tables were pushed together, and everyone gathered around them. Tonight, they cooked a large pot of brown rice and wild vegetable porridge with the wild vegetables they had gathered. Adults and children alike filled a bowl. The pheasant was thin, so it was chopped into small pieces. Liu Yun and Liu Yuhan each had a large bowl with five or six pieces of meat. Everyone else had a small half bowl with two pieces of meat. Even so, they left another bowl on the stove for the two of them to eat tomorrow.

Liu Yun and Liu Yuhan really couldn't refuse, so they could only start eating. Everyone ate with relish, it was really a rare and satisfying meal!

Li and Liu gave half a bowl of brown rice porridge to their respective husbands. Indeed, how could such a tall man be full after a busy day with just one bowl of porridge?

Liu Yuhan said she was full at noon and couldn't eat too much. It was her first time drinking this kind of porridge, and it was hard to swallow because it was so thick in her throat.

She gave a piece of chicken to Grandpa, Grandma, Xiao Si, and Xiao Wu, poured some of the brown rice porridge in the bowl into the chicken soup, and shared the rest with Liu Yang, Liu Guang, and Liu Lu. "The little brats are eating their father out of money." They were all growing children, how could they possibly be full?

She slowly drank the brown rice porridge with chicken soup. Seeing that Liu Yun had separated the porridge and chicken, she was thin and couldn't eat much.

The family sat together, eating and chatting, the dim firelight illuminating their faces. They ate, chatted, and discussed tomorrow's work and arrangements. Although they were poor, they were all cheerful.

This atmosphere infected her, and in this strange time and space, she felt an indescribable sense of belonging in her heart.