There were rumors of a pair of troublemakers arriving at the cowshed, and some had heard the officials sentence Uncle Xu and his wife. Therefore, except when using manure, the villagers kept their distance from the cowshed, fearing the trouble-makers could cause conflict.
This way, Feng Qingxue and the others regained their peace. They could eat meat without the fear of its aroma attracting unwanted attention.
However, in order to save Uncle Xu and his wife, they had used up all the eggs and most of the cured meat from their home. Though some rice was left, they had two more mouths to feed. Feng Qingxue only used rice to make porridge, other times she cooked with coarse grains.
Sweet potato porridge, pumpkin porridge, dried sweet potato porridge, corn grit rice...
Mixed grain pancakes, corn bread...
Thankfully, at this time, they received a letter and some goods from Huo Beiting and Lu Jiang, as well as Cao Hui and Wang Xinru before they left.
They first thanked Feng Qingxue in the letter, and then asked her to take care of their son. Only at the end did they say that they had sent over the leftover grain tickets that they couldn’t use and would continue sending them monthly, as they were assigned a task with an uncertain duration.
Both of them were in the military, with no elderly or children at home. Even though they have aided their comrades and their families, due to food shortage, they tried to save as much as possible to send to the northwest. Therefore, they sent over nearly a hundred kilos of grain tickets, covering flour, coarse grain, along with a hundred dollars, and a package containing two cans of malt essence, three cans of luncheon meat, some cloths, and their old and new military uniforms.
"Gangzi, your parents have sent you money and stuff. Are you happy?" Feng Qingxue gently asks, patting Song Gang’s head.
She often mentioned Cao Hui and Wang Xinru in front of Song Gang. Although Song Gang had never met them, he remembered they were his parents who were constantly thinking of him and that he was temporarily staying in Lu’s house because they were busy.
"Happy!" Song Gang nodded his little head.
Being undernourished due to frequent hunger, he grew slowly. A four-year-old child was almost the same as a two-year-old, much less intelligent than Feng Qingyun. After speaking two words, he went to find Feng Qingyun to play with and did not even glance at the things on the table. He did not realize the significance of these items.
Feng Qingxue smiled and then put the items away. At noon, she opened a can of luncheon meat for everyone’s extra meal.
"Wow, we’re all benefiting from Gangzi!" The kids were ecstatic, eating their food quickly.
With the grain tickets sent by Cao Hui and Wang Xinru, it greatly eased the food pressure at home.
She asked Guan Cheng and Lu Tianjun to take the money and tickets to buy grain directly from the city. When she cooked, she mixed in some grain from her storage space. Half of every bowl of noodles was from the space. The family never noticed. This not only filled their stomachs but also slowed the consumption of food at home.
Unlike other families, even during the winter idle period, she made sure her family was well-fed. The old and the young could hardly maintain their health if they didn’t eat enough.
It wasn’t exactly an idle winter as Wang Zhengguo arranged some of the strong laborers to dig rivers and asked the team leaders to arrange other men and women to fertilize the crops. This involved transporting the dung accumulated in the cowshed to the fields and spreading it evenly.
Father Lu, Uncle Xu, and his wife all had to work in order to earn work points, so Lu Tianjun and Guan Cheng also joined in.
Even in winter, the vicinity of the cowshed stank.
In the midst of the stink, many pregnant women hammered frozen manure water into pieces, shoveling it onto the cart.