CHAPTER 797: FAMINE ERA 2 (2 UPDATES)_2

Grandma was sewing shoe soles and scratched her head with a needle, frowning in disapproval as she looked at her.

Grandpa was smoking his dry tobacco pipe, lost in thought, while Uncle, Father, and Uncle also furrowed their brows, only Mother, Aunt, and Auntie smiled carelessly.

"This winter, the snow is so heavy, this year must surely be a sign of a good harvest, girl, you mustn’t talk nonsense."

"Grandpa, I can save the wild vegetables I eat, I can dry them and then store them in the cellar, they won’t spoil anyway. If nothing happens in the next year or so, that’s best, but if something happens, then the food I’ve saved over these two years, isn’t it enough for our family to get by?"

"Oh dear, Huanhuan, isn’t that endless nonsense? You say you save your food, what will you eat this year?"

"Mother, I said I’d save a bit of my food, I didn’t say I wouldn’t eat, eating less now just means feeling a bit panicky from hunger, but if we don’t save now, in the future we may have to eat tree bark or even Goddess Earth, the scenes in my dreams are too terrifying, dead people are thrown by the roadside, survivors too weak to bury them pull off the tenderest flesh to eat, wild dogs grow plump while the gaunt, swollen-bellied humans present a stark contrast."

The graphic scene Huanhuan described turned the smiling faces of the Ye Family sober, as they realized that this way of speaking, even the choice of words, wasn’t something an illiterate little girl could express.

"Are you our Huanhuan?"

Mother’s hands trembled as she touched her forehead, and Ye Huan immediately understood why their expressions had suddenly changed, continuing right away,

"Mother, of course I am Huanhuan, those words are just what people often say in my dreams. After hearing them so many times, I remembered them."

"What do you mean by ’so many times’? You still have such dreams?"

Ye Huan thought for a moment, then seriously nodded, "Since I recovered from my illness this winter, I’ve been having this dream every few days, it’s so real I can’t even forget it, so Grandpa, could this be hinting at something?"

"Tell me more about what exactly happens in these dreams."

So Ye Huan explained how their family fled from famine, how Grandpa and Grandma, Uncles, and Aunts died, how they were separated from their Uncle and Auntie, and finally how she and her sister were sold. She stopped there, partly because the ending was too brutal, but also because, if they knew there was a son in the family who would be sacrificed, it would be too much for them to bear.

So she only talked about her and her sister being sold, and about the horrifying journey fleeing famine.

After hearing this, the family was relieved that Ye Yu and his two younger brothers were outside playing and hadn’t come in, because children could easily spread the word outside.

"Huanhuan, have you told anyone else about this?"

Ye Huan shook her head, "Grandpa, if possible, we really should tell others. Whether they believe it or act upon it is another matter."

Ye Huan, just a ten-year-old girl who had never been schooled, was unnaturally articulate in describing her dreams, which forced her family to believe in the reality of these dreams. But even if the dreams were real, could such events truly occur? If they spoke out about it now, it’s secondary whether others believed it or not, but would they start to treat Huanhuan as some sort of freak?

Old Master Ye hesitated, but Ye Huan saw through their thoughts, "Grandpa, just say you heard it from someone else, no need to mention our family’s name."

Old Master Ye’s eyes flickered, that indeed was an idea. Even if it didn’t happen, the stored food wouldn’t be a waste as it would still be eaten.

"Grandpa, we should not only store edible wild vegetables like elm leaves, willow leaves, Yun Qian, catkins, and toona sinensis but every harmless grass and leaf we can dry and keep. Eating these would surely be better than eating tree bark and dirt when the time comes, right?"

Old Master Ye’s jaw nearly dropped, "What is dirt face?"

"It’s a kind of powder ground from rocks and another from soil, because at that time there was truly nothing else to eat, they used it to fill their stomachs, and many people died on the roads of famine with swollen bellies because of it."

They all swallowed hard, then looked to the old shopkeeper of the Ye Family, Grandpa Ye finally gritted his teeth and told the children.

"Since Huanhuan has really had such dreams and has warned us more than once, Bao Guo, I think our family should listen to Huanhuan and start preparing early. And all of you, brothers, wives, when you go out, drop hints about this situation to everyone, just like Huanhuan said, if they believe it, they act on it; if not, they treat it as a joke. Starting today, our family is saving food, we begin by saving the food portion of one person per meal, any wild vegetables, grass, or leaves that are not poisonous, bring them all home!" It’s better than eating stone or dirt face later, right?

In the past internet era, there were people who predicted the future, some said it was Photoshopped, or just rumors.

Tangyuan felt that there was no smoke without fire, you can’t fully believe it, but you absolutely can’t disbelieve it either.

Just like this dream she described, with vivid and detailed words, some of which wouldn’t normally be spoken by someone her age who is illiterate, this made Grandpa and the others half-believe and half-doubt, and they would then take action, the whole family saving food together, which is definitely better than her saving alone, right?

"We do what we need to do at home, let the word out quietly, making sure others don’t remember it was us who spread it, this needs skill, let’s discuss it later. Moreover, our food-saving must be kept secret, or if a famine does happen, our family will be the first to be robbed!"

Grandpa’s final admonition was also what Ye Huan herself wanted to convey, it seems, the old man being more experienced and thinking more comprehensively after all.