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

Yang Fenglan reluctantly returned to her room and rummaged through her belongings.

There was nothing there except a few rags in the cupboard.

They searched under the bed thoroughly, but couldn't find a single copper coin.

There was no food left in the kitchen either.

Yang Fenglan squatted under the eaves, sighing.

If she had known that was all she had to offer, she would have eaten less these past three days.

It shouldn't be that we don't even have dinner to eat now.

I got up late today, which means I only have half a day left when I open my eyes.

The sun is now much further west; it's time for dinner.

Yang Fenglan remembers that the book begins after the Qingming Festival.

Before this, it hadn't rained for three months.

The original owner sowed vegetable seeds in the backyard and watered them every day, but only a few sparse seedlings grew, which were not edible.

We can only forage for wild vegetables now.

A hard life.

Even if you're not a romantic, you still have to dig for wild vegetables.

Yang Fenglan resignedly took the sickle, slung her basket over her shoulder, and went out.

She only realized after leaving the house that she wasn't the only one with a bad life.

Around the village, many women and children were searching for wild vegetables in the fields and along the roadsides.

Yang Fenglan, who had just been complaining about wild vegetables, immediately took off running, afraid that if she was a step too late, she wouldn't be able to find any.

After several months without rain, everyone's vegetable gardens are probably in about the same state of infertility, so they have no choice but to forage for food elsewhere.

Yang Fenglan found some shepherd's purse by the grove. Shepherd's purse is drought-resistant, but it did not grow well under the long drought, with only a few green leaves on each plant.

Yang Fenglan dug it up by the roots; even the roots of shepherd's purse are edible and highly nutritious.

As I got up, I saw a clump of purslane, close to the ground, not very tall.

Fortunately, the original owner had lived alone with her son for more than ten years and had dug up a lot of wild vegetables. Otherwise, based on Yang Fenglan's knowledge of wild vegetables, she would have thought they were all pig feed.

Yang Fenglan dug until her back ached, but she only got half a basketful. With so little, she was afraid that even if she cooked it, it wouldn't fill a big bowl. How could she possibly have enough to eat?

So, Yang Fenglan set her sights on the wheat that was still green.

Coincidentally, this was the original owner's land.

The wheat seedlings were short and the ears of wheat were small; it was obvious at a glance that they were not as good as the superior varieties of later generations.

Before long, the basket was full, and he even had a handful in his hand before heading home satisfied.

The sun was about to set, and Yang Fenglan was hungry.

The most important thing is to fill our stomachs first.

Just as she finished boiling a pot of water, Yang Fenglan suddenly remembered that her eldest son had been lying down for most of the day, and wondered if she should ask him if he needed to pee or something.

Thinking about it, she went to the west room.

The Zhou family's house looks small and dilapidated, but it is a traditional courtyard house with a main house, an east house, and a west house.

The main house has three rooms, one each on the east and west sides, and is a long, open-plan building.

The west room was Zhou Jingyi's room, while the east room was the kitchen and woodshed. There was also a chicken coop outside, but no chickens were kept there.

We can live in such a house thanks to Zhou Jingyi's hunting skills; hunting is a faster way to make money than farming.

As soon as Yang Fenglan reached the door of the room, she heard Zhou Jingyi's voice coming from inside.

"Xiaoyu, you should leave. I'm not good enough for you in this state."

"I don't know when my leg will heal. Perhaps I'll be a cripple from now on. I don't want to hold you back."

"I will talk to Mother about it. Knowing her character, she will definitely agree."

Yes, the original owner would agree to this explanation.

The original owner was not the wicked mother-in-law everyone talked about; on the contrary, she was a complete saint.

Knowing how difficult it was to be a wife, the original owner never asked Shen Yu to do any chores after they married.

She gets all the best food and things at home first.

Knowing that Shen Yu was talking about her behind her back, she wasn't even angry. Instead, she wondered if she had done something wrong.

Yang Fenglan didn't care about any of that.

She felt like she couldn't go on living after just the first meal without food.

There's still a year of famine ahead, and she doesn't want to go hungry.

We absolutely have to keep an eye on the lucky koi heroine.