My best friend is living a famine-stricken life; you're going crazy, I'm farming.

After steaming the rice, Yang Fenglan started cooking the dishes.

A pig-killing feast wouldn't be complete without bone broth.

When stewing bones, I cut two pieces of pork belly and threw them in to cook together. After they were cooked, I took them out, sliced ​​them thinly, and ate them directly with dipping sauce.

Pig liver, which doesn't keep well, definitely needs to be dealt with quickly.

Yang Fenglan sliced ​​the pig liver into thin slices and rinsed it several times with clean water until the water became clear. This way, the stir-fried pig liver would not have a fishy smell.

Marinate the pork liver with soy sauce and salt, and start preparing the side dishes.

I picked a few garlic sprouts, sliced ​​some ginger, and found a few peppercorns.

First, sauté the Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant, then add ginger slices, pork liver, and garlic sprouts to the pot. Stir-fry quickly until the pork liver changes color, then add salt and serve.

The fragrant and tender pork liver is now ready.

"Dinner's ready! Cui Niang, Jing Yi, let's eat first, then we'll get the food." Yang Fenglan brought the dishes to the table.

Everyone washed their hands with soapberry water and headed towards the dining room.

Two large bowls of stir-fried pork liver, two large bowls of sliced ​​meat, and a small bowl of bone broth stewed with dried bamboo shoots.

We only made three dishes, but the portions were generous, and everyone ate their fill.

"This pig liver doesn't smell fishy at all, Fenglan, how did you do it?" Lin Cuiniang asked again.

Yang Fenglan then explained the production process in detail.

Xiao Yuanshan listened intently for a while, then nodded silently: I understand.

These past few days, with meat, salt, and a lot of dried vegetables and beans that we've stocked up on, no one's going out.

Xiao Yuanshan also managed to escape to a few days of leisure.

The snow has completely melted.

Lin Cuiniang said, "Once the snow melts, it turns into water, which is equivalent to rain. We should be able to plant crops now."

Yang Fenglan shook her head, "It's just a drop in the ocean."

After the snow melts, the desolate scenery is revealed.

Aside from the dryness and cold, there isn't much difference from before.

That day, Yang Fenglan and Lin Cuiniang were making insoles in the house when they heard Xiao Yuanshan say outside, "I'm going down the mountain for a bit. Don't wait for me for dinner tonight."

“Okay, be careful,” Yang Fenglan replied.

In other words, no one worries about Xiao Yuanshan when he goes out, but if it were someone else, she would definitely nag him a bit more.

Xiao Yuanshan returned the following evening.

As soon as I got home, I went to the kitchen to find something to eat. I almost starved to death on the way home after a day and a night.

If going hungry for even a day is this unbearable, it's hard to imagine how people down the mountain, lacking food and clothing, manage to survive.

The steamed bun was cold. Lin Cuiniang offered to make him a pancake, but he refused and just picked up the cold steamed bun and started eating it.

As he ate his steamed bun, adults and children alike gathered around him, their eyes fixed on him quietly.

After eating a steamed bun and drinking some ice water, Xiao Yuanshan finally spoke, "At least twenty or thirty people died in Qingshui Village."

"Huh? So much? Didn't we remind everyone to stock up on food earlier?" Lin Cuiniang frowned.

No matter what, so many people shouldn't have starved to death.

"Besides going hungry, there's also the infighting. People with the surnames Zhang, Zhou, and even you Xu are all in chaos. Only the dozen or so families with the surname Gu haven't been affected much."

Including Zhou Jingyi's relatives and Xu Dazhu's relatives, Xiao Yuanshan spoke rather tactfully, not telling them about the fight between Old Madam Xu and Zhou's eldest daughter, Wang, over a wild vegetable.

“The Gu family is quite united,” Xiao Yuanshan said. “I overheard that since the famine began, Gu Ming had organized the people of Qingshui Village to stick together for warmth, but their hearts were not united and they could not get together.”

"As for the Gu family members, after the incident at the third Gu family, they gathered together and went into the mountains to find food and water. They managed to get by."

Yang Fenglan knew that, in addition to Gu Ming's organization, Shen Yu's good luck was also a factor.

Without Shen Yu's good fortune, even with a large family like the Gus, they might not have been able to find food.

"How is Gu Ming's family doing?" Yang Fenglan asked.

"That's good, they're all alive." Xiao Yuanshan glanced at Zhou Jingyi as if possessed, and noticed that his expression relaxed slightly.