An eight-year-old kid emptied his scumbag father's warehouse and followed his grandparents into

Jing Chunxi still thought her own mushroom soup was the most delicious, judging by the way people from other places salivated at the mere smell. But she felt she wasn't too hungry, and she couldn't bear to wander off with a half-eaten pancake in her hand.

Eat heartily while digesting the food.

Usually, everyone consciously doesn't pay attention to what is cooked in other people's pots, but today every family is like it's Chinese New Year, and there are plenty of mushrooms to put in the pot to cook, which is an exception. The half-grown children are excitedly running around between the pots of several families, enjoying the fun and waiting for their own family to eat.

Jing Chunxi also wanted to see what was different about what other families were eating tonight compared to what they were eating. Then she heard Heizi say that the group of prisoners his mother was with were very capable and were the only ones who caught a pheasant from the mountain today. Although it was only two or three pounds, it was probably more exciting than the Chinese New Year for the prisoners who were eating meat for the first time after exile. She wanted to go and share in the joy.

The families of Jing Yongjian and Jing Yongqiang, whose stove was closest to theirs, cooked a big pot of mushroom and vegetable soup. In addition to the black flour steamed buns, their staple food also included a few homemade three-grain flour steamed buns. The other family cooked mushroom soup and fried mushrooms with dried small fish. Their meal was still black flour steamed buns.

Jing Changming and Jing Changchang's family collected the most mushrooms, but they were still very frugal and only cooked half a pot. After it was almost cooked, they broke the black flour steamed buns into small pieces and put them into the mushroom soup, cooking it into mushroom paste. However, it still smelled very fragrant, so they should not be hungry.

Jing Chunxi did not go to Datou's house, mainly because he felt disgusted by the men in their family and he was not familiar with them. Anyway, he just didn't want to get close to them.

"It's time to eat, why are you still here?" Jing Chunxi stuffed the last bite of pancake into his mouth and finally walked to the side where Heizi's mother was cooking.

She looked in surprise at Heizi, who was squatting there watching his mother cook soup, and the little dandy who was sitting there doing nothing: "You guys don't come here to get some chicken, do you?"

Jing Chunxi wanted to hit them when he saw these two. Were they short of food or water? Why were they being so unruly? They were openly competing with a group of prisoners for food. It was really an unpleasant way to eat.

"We have cooked the food over there, come back and eat!" Jing Chunxi continued to urge them, but neither of them moved.

The little dandy didn't move or speak, but instead looked at Jing Chunxi with disdain. Heizi realized he was being misunderstood and quickly said, "We only watch, we don't eat."

Curiosity made Jing Chunxi squat down beside their pot. The water in the pot had not yet boiled, so he could not smell any fragrance and could not tell whether the chopped chicken had been added.

Heizi was afraid that Jing Chunxi would misunderstand, so he touched his head embarrassedly and continued, "The lady gave me two cakes when we came back just now. They were so delicious that I ate them all in one breath. Now my stomach feels bloated, but I'm not hungry yet." After saying that, he touched his slightly bulging belly, which meant that he wanted to go back and eat later.

Tao Jin looked at Jing Chunxi without saying a word or moving either, which probably meant the same thing.

The aunts were very doting on their children. Even if they were other people's children, they would not hide any food from them. Unless there was not enough, there was no limit that each person could have only one pancake, so Jing Chunxi was not in a hurry to go back.

At first she thought the mushroom soup was very fragrant, but when the whole courtyard of the post station was filled with this smell, she didn't seem to want to eat it so much anymore. This might be because she had eaten a delicious pancake.

There were originally twenty-three people including Heizi's mother, but after three of them died, there were only twenty left.

There are so many people but there is only one big pot. Usually, a big pot of vegetable soup is cooked for twenty people, and each person only gets half a bowl.

Seeing Jing Chunxi staring at the pot, which hadn't even started bubbling, puzzled, Heizi's mother explained, "We were worried everyone would be too hungry after picking mushrooms, so we had someone at home to make a pot of mushroom soup. Now we're cooking the chicken in this pot."

She said that the pot she had just cooked had been distributed, and this was the second pot. No wonder the big men who had just come back from picking mushrooms were not in a hurry to come out to watch the chicken soup being cooked. They were probably full after receiving a dozen extra black-flour steamed buns from the General's Mansion and started to lie down lazily.

Pheasants are generally quite tough, so it would take quite a while to cook this pot of soup until tender, so it could be considered a snack. Every family had the same mentality: if they didn't have a full meal of mushroom soup tonight, they would feel sorry for the gift the mountains had given them.

"Cousin Xi!"

No one spoke, and Jing Chunxi occasionally put two sticks of firewood into the stove. Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice was heard. It was a clear and pleasant voice, but it seemed to be deliberately lowered, and there was also a sense of caution.

Jing Chunxi quickly raised her head, but saw no one. She then looked behind her and saw the girl squatting behind her to avoid looking taller.

"Sister Rong?" It was not so easy to recognize her when she squatted down. Jing Chunxi confirmed twice that she was indeed the youngest sister in the big head family who was not much older than her.

Jing Mingrong's voice was different from today's during the day. When they were on the mountain, they had a joyful tone in their voices, especially when they were carrying a bunch of mushroom skewers. Because they were so happy, their voices were raised, and they sounded more pleasant than now.

Now, what should I say? Jing Mingrong's expression was a little cautious, her voice was low, and she gently pulled her, wanting to say something but not knowing what it meant.

Jing Chunxi's voice was not loud, and Heizi and his mother looked at her a little strangely. When the little dandy heard the voice, he just raised his head slightly, and when he saw it was a girl, he lowered his head again and used a stick to dig away the non-existent ants.

Jing Mingrong subconsciously looked towards their house, confirmed that no one was seeing them there, and then quickly turned her head back.

"Have you eaten? Do you want to have half a bowl with us?" Heizi's mother couldn't help asking her. Even Jing Chunxi, Xiao Wanku, and Heizi and the others felt that she was being abused at home again. She must have worked hard all day picking mushrooms and couldn't even have a bowl of mushroom soup!

"That bunch of mushrooms today—that particularly beautiful bunch of mushrooms—was given to me by my eldest brother..."

He didn't say anything for a long time. What was he trying to say? Was he trying to get the mushrooms back?

"Brother...Brother said...if you can't send my sister out, let her sleep with Mr. Fang tonight."

As soon as Rong Jie'er finished saying this, she looked towards their house again, shrank her neck as if she was very scared, then stood up and ran away.

She went back in a roundabout way and didn't dare to go directly to their house. She went around to Jing Yongjian's house and seemed to say something to her second aunt's wife. Then she ran into the crowd of people in their house carefully as if nothing had happened.

His eldest sister Jing Mingxin was still squatting in front of the big pot cooking something, and the older ones were also squatting under the eaves, just waiting for food, and did not notice Jing Mingrong's movements.