Divorced woman with child travels through time

With a path to wealth on its hands, Chen Wenfang happily dug up kudzu roots, filling two whole piles. She ran back and forth with a bucket four times before piling them in the corner of her bedroom. Why the bedroom? Because only the bedroom door was intact; the other doors were broken and you could see inside. Chen Wenfang valued her food supply highly.

After delivering the goods and returning home, it was almost noon. Chen Wenfang fetched water from the pond and decided to cook. She found a cabbage and noticed a small packet of salt inside. "Ah, Aunt Liu is such a kind person," Chen Wenfang sighed again. She washed the pot, poured out some cornmeal, and decided to eat the wild vegetables first, saving the cabbage for tomorrow. She washed the shepherd's purse and lamb's quarters, rinsed the purslane to remove the bitterness, chopped them, poured water into the cornmeal, added the wild vegetables, and sprinkled in a tiny bit of salt—salt was expensive here, so she used sparingly—and mixed well. She heated the pot over low heat, rolled the vegetables into thick cakes by hand, and placed six of them into the pot, lining the bottom. The vegetables, after being rinsed, weren't as heavy. Chen Wenfang carefully tended the fire, afraid of burning them since there was no oil. After cooking for a while, Chen Wenfang gently scraped the pancake and found it moved easily. She then used a knife to pry up one side of the pancake, quickly flipped it over, and repeated this process for all six pancakes. She continued to bake them slowly over low heat. Chen Wenfang is usually a very patient person, and she always does things this way. She fried them for a full half hour, until the pancakes emitted a fragrant aroma of corn.

I picked up a piece with a twig, took a bite, and my mouth was filled with fragrance. The unadulterated cornmeal was so delicious, with a wonderful corn flavor. I put it in a bowl to cool, waited a moment, and then handed it to the child who had been drooling and waiting for ages.

Chen Xuanyu said, "Mom, this is so delicious and smells so good! Mom makes it better than Grandma Liu's."

Chen Wenfang laughed, "Then eat more so you can grow tall. But sweetie, you can't call me 'Mommy' when there are people around. You have to call me 'Mama,' like how Dazhuang calls Aunt Liu, okay? This isn't where we used to live anymore. We can't let others know we're different from others."

Chen Xuanyu said, "Mom, I understand."

Chen Wenfang patted his head and said, "Okay, if you don't know what to say, don't say anything first. See how things go before you speak. My sweetie."

Chen Xuanyu nodded.

After their meal, the mother and son went to find dandelions. These were very common, growing everywhere in wastelands. They quickly filled a large bag and even a bucket. Chen Xuanyu followed his mother, running happily through the fields. In modern times, such a wide field of vision is unimaginable. The rented room was small, a partitioned room on the second floor, their lives revolving around a monotonous routine. Looking at her child, Chen Wenfang suddenly felt less burdened, smiled, and continued digging until she couldn't fill the bucket any more. She took them to the pond, washed them clean, and brought them home to prepare dandelion tea. Realizing they didn't have a spatula, they ran for over ten minutes to Aunt Liu's house to borrow one. Luckily, Aunt Liu had an old spatula she hadn't thrown away.

First, remove the old and yellow leaves from the dandelions, wash away the dirt and sand, and then cut the washed dandelions into small pieces. Place them in a dry, oil-free pan and stir-fry slowly over low heat. During the stir-frying process, the dandelions will curl up and make a sound as the moisture gradually evaporates. Once the leaves are completely dry, let them cool completely and then wrap them in a cloth. The dried dandelions will shrink rapidly. A large bag of dandelions will only weigh about three to four pounds after stir-frying. By the time she finished, it was already getting dark. Chen Wenfang quickly packed up her things, heated up some flatbread, and ate dinner.