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

Two stoves and two large pots filled with boiling bone broth. Steam rose from the pots, and the steam filled the air, covering the entire shop with a hazy veil.

The male shopkeeper stood in front of the stove, wearing a blue coarse cloth shirt that was washed to a pale color, with his sleeves rolled up high, revealing his dark and strong arms.

His movements were skillful and quick. He first applied a layer of oil on the edge of the pot. The aroma of vegetable oil spread in the heat, intertwining with the fresh aroma of the bone soup.

Next, he scooped up half a bowl of rice slurry from the bucket into a ceramic bowl. The slurry swayed slightly in the bowl, appearing a light off-white color. He poured a thin layer of rice slurry around the edge of the pot. The rice slurry quickly solidified under the high temperature, making a sizzling sound.

Then he closed the lid skillfully.

After finishing one part, the shopkeeper opened the lid of the other pot, and the hot steam instantly hit him. He picked up a thin spatula and quickly scraped the edge of the pot. In just five or six strokes, he shoveled the cooked rice paste slices from the edge of the pot into the soup.

The rice milk slices rolled in the soup, quickly absorbed the essence of the soup, and became white, tender and attractive.

He grabbed the bowl with one hand and used the other hand to quickly scoop a few times into the soup, pouring the cooked Dingbianhu into the bowl.

Seeing this, the woman next to him immediately took the bowl he handed over with the same quick movements.

She scooped up a spoonful of the shrimp and seaweed soup, the shrimp distinct and the seaweed floating gently in the broth, exuding an alluring aroma. She added a few drops of soy sauce and, finally, a drizzle of scallion oil, which permeated the air, before pouring the entire bowl into the woman's food box.

The male shopkeeper handed over the Dingbianhu he had scooped out of another pot, and the couple busily repeated the same movements. Their coordination was perfect, and each movement was smooth and natural.

It didn't take too long to cook a bowl of Dingbianhu, but the woman filled her food box with five bowls before she covered it.

The proprietress then raised her head, a smile finally breaking out on her face, and said, "Okay, two hundred and fifty cents!"

She swiftly took the piece of silver the woman handed her, carefully weighed it on the scale, and then found a few dozen copper coins from her cash box to make change for the other party. The whole process was clean and neat, without a trace of drag.

The man sitting across from him slurped his bowl of dingbianhu, the sound remarkably clear in the quiet shop. Frosting, sitting nearby, swallowed her saliva as she looked over, quickly looking away, fearing others would notice her greed.

Finally, all the diners carrying their lunch boxes left. Xiao Man quickly closed the door tightly after each one left.

When the last figure disappeared at the door, the whole shop finally quieted down. Finally, the first bowl of Dingbianhu arrived.

Placed in front of Jing Chunxi was a slightly yellowed ceramic bowl. The bowl bore traces of time, yet also exuded a simple beauty.

The dingbianhu (a type of hot pot) in the bowl was crispy, white, and smooth, its texture oozing with rice milk under the light. The seafood broth was clear but not mushy, with a few slivers of tender green scallions floating on the surface. A subtle hint of pepper wafted from the bowl, stimulating Jing Chunxi's taste buds. Even before taking a sip, he knew this was a delicate, smooth, fragrant, and delicious delicacy.

"Boss, your food is delicious." Jing Chunxi couldn't wait to take a bite. The Dingbianhu spun around in her mouth and slid down into her stomach. It felt really good. She was surprised by the delicious food and couldn't help but let out an exclamation of praise.

She recalled the first time she ate wonton noodles in Lingnan, and the surprise and satisfaction of the delicious food came flooding back. She couldn't help but praise it again: "It turns out that there are delicious foods everywhere in Daqing."

The proprietress smiled proudly upon hearing this. She was preparing the seasoning for a bowl of Ding Bian Hu (a hot pot with a hot pot) and said with a confident expression, "I'm not boasting, but this night snack alley used to have over a dozen stalls, and mine was the best. You'd have to wait in line for at least half an hour to get a bite."

Her tone was filled with pride, as if she was recounting past glories. However, as she spoke, her smile gradually faded, replaced by a long sigh and helplessness. She whispered, "Hey! If it weren't for the Japanese being rampant and no one was afraid to go out, we wouldn't be so worried about doing business. There's no land here, no fields, and if we don't sell a few bowls every day, we can't even make enough to eat. What else can we do?"

Upon hearing this, Jing Chunxi couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt. She couldn't help but ask, "Aren't there tens of thousands of naval forces stationed along the coast of Jian'an County? How could the Japanese be so rampant?" Since entering Jian'an County, she had found the situation far more complicated than in Xunyang City, and many strange things had left her perplexed.

"Navy? Naval officers are useless!" The man opposite also ate two bowls and finally stopped. He pulled over a stool and sat next to the stove, facing them.

His face was filled with resentment, and his tone was full of dissatisfaction: "The Navy Commander only knows how to negotiate peace with the Japanese. After all the talks, we are always at their mercy, and the only ones who suffer are us civilians."

After saying this, he looked at Jing Chunxi with a hint of pity in his eyes, and said, "I knew you were from outsiders, why don't you go back to your hometown quickly. It would be troublesome for pretty girls like you to meet the Japanese!" He looked at the girls with meaningful eyes, but there was no bad intention, just a hint of worry about their fate.

When the proprietress heard this, she glared at him unhappily, as if blaming him for scaring the girls. She scolded him, "Don't scare the girls! Boys are different. They grab anyone they see, and who knows what they're going to do with them?"

She looked at Frosting again, with a hint of warning in her tone: "Don't run out just for a bite of delicious food. It's best to stay at home."

Tang Shuang was stunned for a moment, not daring to say anything, and could only concentrate on eating the second bowl of Dingbianhu.

Jing Chunxi still had many questions in her mind. Thinking of the tea pickers she saw along the way, she couldn't help but sip another sip of Dingbianhu and asked, "Are many people running to the mountains because they are worried about being caught? We came along the way and saw many people picking tea in the tea garden." She tried to get more answers from the proprietress.

The proprietress smiled helplessly and said, "If we don't pick tea and don't pay tribute, we'll have no chance of survival. The result of the navy commander's peace talks is that the Japanese won't withdraw unless we send 500,000 kilograms of tea.

So now, throughout Jian'an County, the government is forcing people to pay tea as a tax. If they can't pay tea, they can only pay silver to offset the tax, but where do ordinary people get the silver? These past two years, it's been really hard on people!"

Her words were filled with endless bitterness and helplessness, as if she was telling the suffering of the people.