CHAPTER 19: CHAPTER 16: THE SWALLOW RETURNS 16

Before heading out to work, Jiang Zhenmei pulled Jiang Mingyue aside and handed her a few bird eggs.

"Little sister, cook these for yourself later. I dug them out of the crevice between rocks yesterday. I meant to give them to you last night, but the meat from yesterday smelled so good I forgot.

Don’t refuse! Also, our family never eats breakfast. Everyone in the village gets up early to work in the fields, starving until their stomachs stick to their backs. Thank goodness you’re here, little sister. I feel like life has flavor now... Being able to eat before working is really nice!"

Jiang Mingyue: "... I hope you and mom don’t mind me being wasteful."

Jiang Zhenmei: "Wasteful? Mom said if there’s nothing left, we’ll let the eldest and second brothers figure out a way. You can never lack, even if anyone else does. Plus, mom and the brothers are so skinny. I’ve long worried they’ll have health issues if they keep starving. We just need to eat whenever we can."

Mentioning the meat, Jiang Mingyue remembered something. She had hidden two pigs and some wild chickens and rabbits, yet no one in the family was asking her about them.

Jiang Mingyue: "Third sister, did grandma come over yesterday just to ask for meat?"

Talking about the old woman, even the good-natured Jiang Zhenmei rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, the old shameless one. It’s definitely Wu Cuilan; that pockmarked-face woman, she’s our second aunt, but we never call her that. That family is so bad."

Jiang Zhenmei ground her teeth in anger when mentioning Wu Cuilan.

It was the first time Jiang Mingyue had seen her like this, remembering the shady figure that flashed past that night, "Is she often spying on our house?"

"Yes, yes, yes. I heard your conversation with the second brother that night. It couldn’t be anyone else but Wu Cuilan. Luckily, you hid all the meat; those two old women would’ve dug up the whole kitchen floor."

Jiang Mingyue thought to herself: It’s all in the space; of course they can’t find anything.

Jiang Mingyue: "By the way, with so much pork in our house, has mom ever mentioned selling some?"

Jiang Zhenmei shook her head, puzzled: "Why sell? Mom said whatever you eat in the city, we should at least match it here. If we don’t have it, we’ll find a way to buy it. Why sell it? Alright, I’m done talking. I have to catch up to mom."

Jiang Mingyue: "..." This family truly keeps overturning her understanding.

Aren’t they afraid it won’t keep?

All this meat just to fill stomachs, isn’t it wasteful?

All because they want her to eat well.

Before she could fully process this, she heard a dissatisfied voice.

"You brat, are you trying to starve me?" At the path’s entrance, Granny Shi glared at Jiang Mingyue with her broom.

Jiang Mingyue couldn’t help but laugh: The old lady’s antics just for food were really childlike.

"Alright, alright, thought you hadn’t woken. Let me bring it right away."

To avoid being seen, Jiang Mingyue didn’t brazenly carry a bowl out. She placed it in a basket, covered with cloth to block sight.

"Here, eat. It’s meat noodle soup, very nourishing, suitable for you. I’m preparing cabbage and pork dumplings for lunch. Do you need me to help with dipping sauce?"

"No, old lady, I’ll just have the plain soup."

"Ah! That’s a shame. I was planning to make spicy blood curd... looks like you won’t get any."

"I want it, who says I can’t have it?"

Jiang Mingyue chuckled: Teasing the old lady is quite fun!

"By the way, I need some spices, salt, and other seasonings. Is Wang Tiezhu coming over today?"

"No. If you need something, just stick a broom on your backyard wall."

Jiang Mingyue: "..." So there’s a secret signal. Why wasn’t she told last time?

When Jiang Mingyue returned, her basket was full. Besides the bowl from last night, there was now a large packet of various spices she’d scavenged from Granny Shi’s cabinet. Very complete, she was quite satisfied.

Back in her room, Jiang Mingyue delved into her mysterious space and found the air there was fresher. Greenery replaced the original desolation as far as her eye could see. Wheat shoots reached up to her calves, corn up to her waist, everything thriving, even birds chirping and butterflies fluttering around.

With life forming here, it means her space is alive, only to get better with time.

She went to where she left the chickens and rabbits yesterday and found that the previously skinny wild rabbits and chickens now seemed plump, their fur sleek and shiny, no longer wild-looking.

To her surprise, one of the wild chickens was a rooster. She wouldn’t have to worry about breeding in the space anymore, even with two male and two female wild rabbits.

Look at her luck, it’d make anyone jealous.

It seemed like this could soon become a chicken and rabbit farm. She needed to section it off.

After having this thought, her spiritual power targeted distant trees, quickly creating a fenced-off chicken coop and a natural rabbit habitat.

Jiang Mingyue also made small water ponds for each.

Checking the meat stored in her space, she noticed some still retained warmth, unchanged from when she’d put them in.

Her space could preserve the dead and grow the living, truly wonderful.

She took out a large basin of pig blood and additionally some pig head and intestines. First, she fried the spices to cook soy sauce, a secret recipe found by her brother in a past life, unique in the world and praised by everyone who tastes it. Jiang Mingyue was confident her brothers would be craving it after they tried it.

While the large pot boiled pig head and offal, she took a piece of meat mixed with fat and lean to chop finely, along with ginger, spices, and wild vegetables chopped up, and began making dumplings. Fortunately, she had kneaded enough dough while making soup noodles in the morning, so it was just right.

Actually, she didn’t particularly like noodles, considering her brothers were doing heavy work, noodles would stave hunger longer. Once her rice paddy was ready, the family would eat their fill of rice without having to compromise her stomach.

While Jiang Mingyue was busy, she heard rustling from the kitchen windowsill. Immediately alert, unable to see clearly, she went out to look. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Wu Cuilan, but a fluffy ball, probably a Xiao Mao.

"Hey!" The ’Xiao Mao’ tucked its head up, making it hard to see clearly. She subconsciously reached out to rub it, realizing the texture was wrong, as the ’Xiao Mao’ raised its head. Jiang Mingyue was stunned.

"You’re not a Xiao Mao!" It was a thin little boy, his face dirty like all rural boys but with strikingly handsome features that Jiang Mingyue was sure would stand out if cleaned. Such a pity he was too skinny, looking like a little skeleton with a mass of hair so long, tangled, and yellow it appeared like a chicken nest, no wonder she mistook him earlier.

Yet the little boy was unflinching, blankly staring at Jiang Mingyue, his gaze unwavering. This softened Jiang Mingyue’s heart inexplicably; she couldn’t bear to see the little guy looking pitiful like that.