Chapter 7

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Zhao Jiaxiu rolled her eyes sharply. Now that they have chicken to eat, they say the children are unfilial to the elders. But when Mrs. Jiang hadn’t returned, why didn’t you all say it was just children being children?

Xue Chengwen watched the three busy figures in front of the thatched hut and breathed a sigh of relief. Jiang Li’s ability to stand firm with her two nephews was reassuring.

Old Third Xue stood behind Old Madam Li, murmuring softly, “This Mrs. Jiang, she actually managed to hunt a wild chicken? Tomorrow we should head into the mountain and see.”

Wife of Old Third, Mrs. Zhou, gave him a sharp pinch.

“The men in the village have all tried hunting before, often returning empty-handed. No one dares to venture deep inside; if you want to go, aren’t you risking your life?”

Old Madam Li snorted coldly, “If that lowly woman Jiang can catch a wild chicken, my son, a true man, surely can’t fail.”

“Go back and hunt in the mountain tomorrow.”

Jiang Li was busy cleaning the chicken. When she looked up, she saw that the Xue family had already left.

After washing the chicken, Jiang Li was about to call Xue Man for a chopping board but suddenly remembered—this household didn’t have one, not even a wooden block.

She froze.

“Mother, what’s wrong?”

“Are you feeling unwell?”

Jiang Li shook her head and waved the chicken in her hand at the two siblings.

“I’m going to cut the chicken into pieces, but there’s no chopping board.”

Xue Man: ...

Xue Ning: ...

Seeing the two children dazed, Jiang Li could only go inside, lay down a small patch of straw on the floor, then moved the grain sack and meat onto it, took out a square wooden board, and cleaned it for use.

Boiling the whole chicken was an option, but the taste would be very bland, and Jiang Li didn’t like food that was too plain.

Cutting the whole chicken into pieces—although small in size—would yield about two pounds per bird. Two chickens chopped up could fill a large pot.

Jiang Li had already planned how to cook the wild chicken.

She sliced off some pork fat, cut it into small pieces, and dropped them into the pot, frying until oil was released. Then she scooped out the golden oil residue, poured in the chopped chicken pieces, and the hot oil sizzled loudly.

Jiang Li stirred with a wooden spatula.

Although it wasn’t an iron pot, this cauldron was decent, and the firewood made it easy to control the heat. Soon, the entire clearing was filled with the fragrant aroma of chicken.

Xue Man and Xue Ning stared intently at the pot of chicken, and Jiang Li swallowed hard.

The original owner of this body probably hadn’t tasted meat in a long time.

Now, smelling this aroma seemed to awaken every hungry craving in her belly.

She was very hungry too.

The millet porridge in the clay pot was ready, thick and hearty from the rice Jiang Li added.

She didn’t want to finish all the chicken in one sitting; she needed to clear the clay pot to make room for the chicken.

She asked Xue Man and Xue Ning to bring bowls to scoop out the porridge. Fortunately, there were three broken clay bowls left, enough to hold all the porridge in the pot.

After rinsing the clay pot with cold water and drying it over the fire, Jiang Li poured the golden-fried chicken into it.

She took some Sichuan peppercorns bought from the pharmacy, dropped a few into the pot to fry out their aromatic numbing flavor, then added cold water. Half of the chicken was poured back in.

The water covered the chicken; she added a small amount of salt and increased the heat to boil.

It was a pity there were no dried chili peppers to be found, and she didn’t know if this era even had chili. If they did, frying chili with the peppercorn oil and then cooking the chicken in it would be even more fragrant.

But under these conditions, being able to buy Sichuan peppercorns at the pharmacy was quite fortunate.

Wild chicken took a long time to cook.

She carried the clay pot back inside, tidied up around the house, and waited quietly for the chicken to finish cooking.

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Once the water in the pot boiled, the aroma of chicken grew even richer. Night had fallen.

Some villagers were still awake, sitting in their yards enjoying the cool evening air.

Suddenly, a faint scent of meat wafted through the air. They took deep breaths.

“Do you smell chicken?”

Someone nearby laughed, “You’re just craving food too much. It’s the middle of the night—where would chicken scent come from?”

The speaker also took a few deep breaths, puzzled, as if it really smelled like chicken.

“At this hour, who’s eating meat?”

“Maybe it’s coming from the village chief’s house. Besides him, who else in the village can afford meat? Some families are so poor they eat wild vegetables every meal—where would they get meat?”

“Speaking of wild vegetables, the foothills are already picked clean. To find more, you have to go deeper into the mountain.”

“But no one dares to go inside without someone skilled in hunting.”

“If only the Chao brothers were here.”

After this, the atmosphere suddenly grew somber; only the sound of an old man puffing his pipe broke the silence.

After a long pause, someone said, “The Chao brothers went off to war. No news is good news. Maybe one day they’ll come back as great generals.”

“We have to think positively.”

“As for wild vegetables, we’ll ask the village chief tomorrow if there’s any way.”

“We’re guarding this vast Great Pass Mountain; we can’t starve to death.”

“Yes, yes.”

The conversation resumed, filling the yard with lively chatter again.

In contrast, the Xue family’s yard remained silent. Zhao Jiaxiu was calling children to wash their feet and sleep but didn’t move herself, as if she wasn’t tired tonight.

She knew everyone was craving a taste of Jiang Li’s wild chicken.

Everyone wanted a bite.

But Jiang Li had already distributed the chicken.

Tonight, Xue Man and Xue Ning would eat chicken; of course, they wanted some too.

Xue Daniu rubbed his chin, pacing in the yard, then said to Xue Xiaohua, “Xiaohua, you’re good with Anning. Why don’t you ask her for a bowl? She’ll definitely give you some.”

Xue Xiaohua wanted some too, but meat was precious, and she felt too ashamed to ask Anning for some.

“If you want to go, go yourself. I’m not going.”

“I just fought with Xue Man yesterday. If I go, he definitely won’t give me any.”

“Anyway, I’m not going.”

Xue Daniu looked at his older brother Xue Yun, who also refused.

With no other options, Xue Daniu tugged on Liu Chunhua’s sleeve. “Mother, I really want to eat chicken… Mother~”

Liu Chunhua’s mind quickly turned, and she scolded, “Eat, eat, eat, all you think about is food. Your granny doesn’t even have a mouthful of soup, and you want meat?”

Old Madam Li swallowed her saliva, her mouth watering.

But if she were asked to beg Jiang Li for chicken, she’d rather starve. She could never lower herself that much.

After Liu Chunhua spoke, the old lady ignored it, and the third and fourth households in the yard fell silent.

She snorted coldly, feeling it was pointless. Everyone wanted chicken, but only her family’s Daniu really wanted it. She didn’t believe the others, who were just waiting to see if they could get some.

Xue Chengwen and Zhao Jiaxiu exchanged glances. Xue Chengwen picked up a bamboo chair and called the children, “It’s late. Let’s go inside and sleep.”

They took their wives and children indoors.

Mrs. Zhou, wife of Old Third, fearing the children would cause trouble, also hurried inside to hide.

Only the second household and old lady remained in the yard.

At this moment, in front of the dilapidated thatched hut, the chicken in the pot had finished cooking.

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Jiang Li was helping Xue Man and Xue Ning carry things inside.

The house had no courtyard wall or fence. Besides worrying about being seen with a fire burning, Jiang Li feared wild animals might come to the mountain foot at night.

There was no hearth inside the hut. She ordered Xue Man to bring in a few stones and arranged them in a triangle to place the pot on.

They lit a torch inside for light. Jiang Li locked the wooden latch on the door and said, “Let’s eat.”

Jiang Li sat down directly on the straw spread beside the pot, holding a bowl of thick millet porridge, and picked up her chopsticks to start eating.

But Xue Man and Xue Ning looked at their porridge, then the pot of chicken, conflicted and hesitant.

“What are you two hesitating about? Try a piece of chicken first and see if it’s salty enough.”

Xue Man looked at Jiang Li with pleading eyes, “Mother, you eat first.”

Jiang Li was too hungry and immediately took a piece of chicken.

The wild chicken cooked over firewood was much more fragrant than a three- or four-month-old tender chicken, and the seasoning was just right.

The two children stared closely.

“Hurry and eat, it’s delicious.”

Xue Man took a piece for his sister first, then for himself.

The soft, tender chicken easily separated from the bones in their mouths. Xue Man even sucked the bones clean after eating the meat.

With the shallow bowl of porridge and more than half the pot of chicken, the three finished everything, leaving only some chicken broth.

Jiang Li felt she had eaten quite a bit today but looked at the remaining broth and thought she could still drink two more bowls.

She stopped herself quickly, not daring to eat more.

Xue Man and Xue Ning also wanted to drink the broth, but Jiang Li stopped them.

“Save this broth for tomorrow’s noon meal to cook with chicken blood.”

Xue Man paused, and Jiang Li said, “We’ve been starving for too long and don’t know when we’re full. We can’t eat too much or we’ll get sick.”

“There’s still some left in the clay pot. We can cook more in the coming days, but not today.”

Xue Man nodded, “Okay.”

Under the dim torchlight, Xue Ning held her bowl, her mouth greasy, eyes shining as she looked at Jiang Li.

“Mother, teach me and my brother how to hunt. From now on, we’ll go hunting with you in the mountains.”

Jiang Li saw the little girl’s eager desire to be self-reliant and immediately agreed.

“Sure, after a few days when our bodies are strong again, I’ll teach you.”

Xue Man looked at Jiang Li with admiration. She was so thin, yet she could make arrows and hunt. He secretly vowed to become as skilled as Jiang Li.

Originally, Jiang Li planned to render pork fat after eating, but she was utterly exhausted. After trekking through the mountains for a day and night, she was filthy.

Using the newly bought basin, she boiled water and, in the neighboring thatched hut, washed herself in the dark.

She had only two hemp cloth outfits. The original owner had fine Shu brocade clothes, but when taken by the enemy, even her clothes were stripped away.

She changed into clean clothes and urgently washed the bloodstains off the current one, fearing they would become permanent.

Seeing Jiang Li’s exhausted state, Anning volunteered, “Mother, you go to sleep first. Leave your clothes for me to wash.”

“If the blood doesn’t come out, I’ll wash it myself.”

Washing the clothes and bathing took nearly an hour.

Her eyelids were barely staying open.

She quickly rinsed her mouth and climbed into bed, mumbling before sleep about needing a stove, a big iron pot for boiling water, a bath tub...

Murmuring herself to sleep.

Xue Man and Xue Ning helped collect and clean usable chicken feathers but were too excited to sleep.

Jiang Li was already snoring, while the siblings quietly sat on the straw.

“Brother, it feels like I’m dreaming.”

“Quiet, don’t wake Mother.”