Chapter 25

Although the return trip required carrying just as much as the journey there, the three of them did not feel tired in the slightest.

This was because their household supplies and food were growing a little more each day, and because they would soon be eating meat.

They arrived home around mid-morning. After Sang Luo boiled water to scald and clean the newly purchased earthenware jar intended for lard, she prepared a bowl of clean water and began the water-based rendering process to produce lard.

The two children, who had been finding tasks for themselves at every opportunity over the past few days, did not go to till the soil today. Instead, they stood by the stove, watching with eager eyes. Shen Ning, who had declared the "fairy tofu" better than meat the first time she tasted it, had long since forgotten what actual meat tasted like.

By the time the water in the jar evaporated and the pork fat began to sizzle, a rich, mouth-watering aroma filled the small hut. The two children inhaled the thick scent of meat, their feet seemingly rooted to the spot.

"Aren't you afraid of the oil splashing?" Sang Luo asked with a chuckle, nudging the children back slightly while carefully controlling the heat in the stove.

Shen An and Shen Ning crept back again, inching closer. They hovered there, swallowing repeatedly for about half an hour, until they finally saw the crispy pork cracklings ready to be taken off the heat.

The two children gathered around impatiently, struggling to tear their eyes away from the cracklings as they looked at Sang Luo with anticipation. "Big Sister, can we eat them now?"

Sang Luo wanted to say that they were too "heaty," but looking at the two children, so hungry and full of longing, the words wouldn't come out.

"Go ahead, but only two pieces each for now. Fresh cracklings are very heaty, and more importantly, we haven't had any fats for too long. If you eat too much of this all of a sudden, you'll get a stomachache."

The two children nodded repeatedly. Too impatient to reach for chopsticks, they each pinched a piece with their fingers.

Sang Luo glared, intending to swat their little hands away, but Shen Ning had already smilingly brought the crackling in her hand to Sang Luo's lips. "Big Sister, you eat first."

Shen An, a step behind, paused in his movements. He didn't put his own piece in his mouth either, looking at Sang Luo instead.

Sang Luo: "..."

She quietly lowered her raised hand, took a bite of the crackling, and was met with a mouthful of crispness.

Well, while it is heaty to eat while hot, one has to admit that it is at its most fragrant straight out of the pot.

She laughed. "It's delicious. Thank you, A-Ning. Go ahead and eat, just be careful not to burn your mouths."

The siblings then chirped in unison, crunching away happily, their eyes curved into crescents, looking absolutely delighted.

They ate the first piece with joy, but became more frugal with the second.

Seeing this, Sang Luo took a pinch of salt from the salt jar, sprinkled it evenly into the bowl, and stirred it with her chopsticks. "There. With the salt, if you keep it properly in this weather, it will last a few days. Don't use it for cooking; keep it as a snack for yourselves to eat slowly."

The siblings froze, staring at the small, shallow bowl of pork cracklings in disbelief.

To Shen An and Shen Ning, pork cracklings were a luxury they were lucky to taste a few pieces of once a year.

In the past, when the family rendered lard, the smell was so overwhelming that it was hard to avoid. Their third aunt would give each of the children in the house a piece to taste.

Of course, the "one piece each" really only applied to the siblings; the other cousins, Shen Jin and Shen Yin, could simply turn around and ask their mother for more, but Shen An and Shen Ning were not allowed to do so.

For several days, the other cousins would occasionally get to eat a few more pieces. Shen Yin and the others had likely been instructed by their mother to avoid eating in front of the siblings, but Shen Jin would not. He would deliberately eat them in front of Shen An and Shen Ning, waiting until he had teased them to the point of desperation before popping them into his own mouth, chewing them up with relish.

When Shen An and Shen Ning were three or four years old, they would cry from the temptation. Later, after their eldest brother left home, no one cared if they cried. When their third aunt rendered lard again, she didn't even bother telling Shen Jin and Shen Yin to avoid the siblings.

Shen An and Shen Ning gradually grew more sensible. They learned that crying was useless, that some things were not theirs to eat just because they wanted to, and that they were different from Shen Jin, Shen Yin, Shen Tie, and Shen Tian. When there was something their third aunt prized and refused to give them, Shen An would take Shen Ning away to avoid lingering.

Until today—until the moment those two pieces of crackling touched their tongues—the siblings had actually forgotten exactly what the stuff tasted like. Only the scarcity of the treat and their longing for it remained deeply etched in their minds.

"All of this is for us to eat as a snack?"

He stared at Sang Luo, stunned.

Sang Luo nodded with a smile and added as a matter of course, "Of course, and for me too."

Sang Luo had never been a particularly self-sacrificing person. She didn't believe that adults should go without while giving everything to the children. Even if these two children were her own biological kin, she believed she would be the same.

Shen Ning and Shen An broke into wide smiles. Shen Ning picked up another piece of crackling and held it to Sang Luo's lips. "Big Sister, have another one."

She was so sweet and winning.

Sang Luo did not stand on ceremony; she took a bite, then taught the little girl, "Don't use your hands to take them next time."

Shen Ning looked at Sang Luo, then at her own hands, and puffed out her cheeks. "Big Sister, I washed my hands clean before I came home."

"Yes, but if you don't form good habits, you'll accidentally eat with your hands without washing them next time. Illness enters through the mouth."

Shen Ning thought about it. It made sense, so she nodded. "Okay, I'll remember."

Everything Big Sister said was right.

Sang Luo smiled as she stirred the salt into the hot oil so it would store longer, while Shen An and Shen Ning began to fret over where to hide their cracklings.

The smell was so enticing that it would attract not only people but also vermin and rodents.

Sang Luo let them fuss while she used a large wooden spoon to ladle the hot lard into the prepared earthenware jar. Once the pot she used for cooking wasn't quite so hot, she picked it up to drain out as much of the remaining grease as possible.

Naturally, it wouldn't be perfectly clean—some oil would inevitably remain in the pot—but that didn't matter. When she cooked lunch later, she would make a mallow and pork liver soup, and all that fat would end up in their bellies.

Originally, these drippings would be best for cooking eggplant, but since they only had one jar, the oil couldn't be removed, and she would have to cook the eggplant before making rice. To cook rice, she would inevitably have to add cold water to the ceramic pot and bring it to a boil, which would make the process impossible.

An earthenware jar wasn't like an iron pot; the thermal shock would cause it to crack before long.

If she really waited for the jar to cool down, the rice would be ready, but the dish would be cold. Cold dishes made with lard... Sang Luo thought better of it and decided to leave it for the next meal.

She stood up. "Let's go. Let's find some perilla, mint, and wild onions."

Shen Ning hurriedly got up to follow, but Shen An stopped. "Big Sister, I'll stay home and watch over these things."

They were now small-time property owners, especially with their food stores. Today, they had a significant amount, and they didn't even have a lockable cabinet. The two children agreed that leaving these things unattended was unsafe.

Of course, their "watching" wasn't to guard against people, but against mountain rats and small beasts. After all, they lived in the mountains, and the strong aroma was bound to attract some critters.

Sang Luo nodded, picking up a stone hoe and a carrying basket.

She still needed to set the fish traps. Their current food storage was far from sufficient. However, if they were to head to the county town tomorrow morning, the traps would need to be checked this evening. As for the other basket, it would be reserved for picking "fairy leaves" in the afternoon.

Shen Ning was puzzled when she saw her take these tools. "Big Sister, do we need the stone hoe too?"

Sang Luo replied, "If I find them, I'll dig them up by the roots and plant them behind the house. Next time we need them, we can just pluck some from right behind the house."

Upon hearing that they were digging things up to plant, Shen Ning became energized and grabbed a stone hoe herself. "That's a good idea! I'll dig some up too."

Shen An was also eager, but seeing the oil, cracklings, and remaining raw meat on the stone table, he suppressed the urge and stayed behind to guard them.

For the past few days, Sang Luo had been taking the two children to set traps in the mountain stream nearby. Today, she took Shen Ning a bit further out. She set the fish traps and managed to find four stalks of perilla and mint. She dug them up with the soil around the roots, wrapping them in large leaves to keep them moist, and brought them back.

Shen An, who had been waiting at home, heard them coming and rushed out to greet them. The siblings happily went together to plant the mint and perilla.

After planting and watering them, Shen Ning's excitement subsided, and she asked uncertainly, "Big Sister, this mint and perilla grew in the wild. Do you think we can keep them alive?"

The total failure of their previous attempt at gardening had been a huge blow to the two children.

Sang Luo thought about the plot of land behind their house. The soil quality was truly not great.

In particular, the area had been leveled when the thatched hut was built, so there wasn't even a tree in front of or behind the house. Naturally, there was no leaf litter to nourish the soil, making it even worse than the undeveloped, forested areas.

"If you want them to grow well, go find some leaf mold under the trees nearby to use. They should grow better that way."

In fact, Sang Luo had been planning to bring back some leaf mold from the mountains to use as planting soil for the plot behind the house. They would have to rely on themselves to grow their food, and since composting took time, moving the top layer of leaf mold from under the forest trees was the most convenient method. Of course, she would have to wait until she earned enough money to buy two bamboo baskets for carrying the soil.

Shen An and Shen Ning couldn't wait. The siblings gathered several large leaves and started collecting and moving soil from nearby.

When the sun reached its zenith, Sang Luo finished preparing lunch.

It was half a jar of mallow and pork liver soup.

Aside from the fish, this was the first time the siblings had tasted "meat" in over half a year.

There was no rice, only half a jar of soup filled with plenty of pork liver. The siblings were as happy as if they were celebrating the New Year. One bowl was filled with pork cracklings; since they only had two bowls in the house, Sang Luo used a bamboo tube as a bowl for herself.

To Sang Luo, the pork liver wasn't exactly a delicacy. Without starch, and unwilling to spare an egg to use the egg white for coating, it wasn't as tender and smooth as the dishes she made in her previous life. But Shen An and Shen Ning kept saying it was delicious. Sang Luo didn't eat much of the half-jar of soup; once they were sure their Big Sister had enough, the siblings finished every bit of the meat and soup.

After a short nap of an hour in the afternoon, Sang Luo headed toward the Chen family's home.

Hearing that they were going to the Chen family, Shen An and Shen Ning were both quite excited. Shen Ning's first reaction was to look at the bowl containing the pork cracklings.

"Big Sister, can I take a few pieces of cracklings for Xiao Ya? She once treated my brother and me to something."