The next day, Feng Qingxue steamed two pots of black dough and wild spinach WoWo Tou, and packed some dumplings filled with wild Shepherd’s Purse.
Mixed with some minced lard residue, the dumpling filling was particularly aromatic.
She kept a portion for her own family, while the rest was delivered to the Lu family, along with some other food that she had taken out from the storage space in advance. This time, she had brought Feng Qingyun along, so it wasn’t convenient to take anything out halfway.
The weather had warmed up, and before the spring tillage began, each household was busy digging for wild vegetables to fill their bellies, including her uncle’s family.
To their surprise, when the sisters arrived at the cowshed, they found that Chen Ming and Xu Aiguo were helping Lu’s father weed, working up quite a sweat.
Behind the two men were large stacks of wild grass and leftover corn stalks and sweet potato vines from the winter.
As Chen Ming was pressing down on the handle of the chopper with one hand, he spotted Feng Qingxue, and immediately stopped his work, shouting, "Sister-in-law is here! Uncle Lu, Uncle Lu, come out quickly. Sister-in-law is here!"
Although Lu Jiang and Feng Qingxue were not married, he still affectionately called her sister-in-law.
He had once told his wife Xiaohong that, apart from Feng Qingxue, no one could match up to Lu Jiang, and if Lu Jiang ever dared to wrong her, he would never be able to hold his head high again. How good a girl Feng Qingxue was! She took care of the elderly and children at home, fulfilled the duties of friends and relatives, and even cared for him on the battlefield.
Xu Aiguo too, knew this, and was frequently envious of Lu Jiang.
Lu’s father, holding a white porcelain jar embossed with the red characters "Serving the People", hurriedly came out. Upon seeing Feng Qingxue and her sister, he was overjoyed, "Little Snow is here. Come have some water and rest your feet."
He promptly handed over the porcelain jar, initially prepared for Chen Ming and Xu Aiguo, to Feng Qingxue.
At the same time, he took the baskets of goods from Feng Qingxue, "You child, always sending so much stuff over! I’ve told you many times, we have enough food at home. As long as we keep our bellies full, it’s fine. Don’t overwork yourself." Especially since he had now learned from Chen Ming about his son’s wartime experiences and Feng Qingxue’s subsequent actions.
To be honest, when he sent his son off to enlist, he felt compelled. Fighting in a war is fraught with unknowables, and he only had one son. Of course he was heartbroken. But the sons of others were also on the battlefield, so he couldn’t show his grief.
"Brother Chen and Brother Aiguo came to help Uncle Lu with work? I’ll cook two dishes, so that we can have a good meal at noon!"
"You’re too kind." Lu’s father dropped the goods off in the kitchen.
"It’s no trouble at all. You’re being too polite."
It was getting late, so Feng Qingxue went into the kitchen, tied an apron, and began cooking.
Earlier, she hadn’t known that Chen Ming and Xu Aiguo would be there, so she had only prepared enough flatbreads, WoWos, pickles, and salted duck eggs for Lu’s father and his grandsons. As the weather was getting warmer, many foods weren’t lasting as long.
Pretending to get something from the basket, she actually retrieved a piece of bacon and a bag of spiced peanuts from her storage space.
After an entire winter of use, the Lu family had almost no vegetables left.
It took Feng Qingxue quite a while to find and chop up a handful of garlic sprouts from the corner of the broken pot. At noon, she used these to stir-fry a dish with eggs, cooked the bacon with red chili and ginger, boiled and sliced the salted duck eggs, and put together a plate of spiced peanuts. The spread was rich and aromatic, making Chen Ming and Xu Aiguo’s stomachs rumble after they had finished working.
"Finish up and wash your hands for dinner!" After the water in the pot started boiling, Feng Qingxue poured in the dumplings she brought.
After the dumplings were cooked, she left a plate for Lu Tianjun, who wouldn’t be back until noon, and served the rest on the table.