Chapter 20 – Eyes glowing at meat
Yan Xiaosi burped after eating two bowls of rice. But, when she saw Ms. Zhong nibbling at the steamed bun, she was reluctant to eat more.
She reached out and grabbed the half of the steamed bun in Ms. Zhong’s hand, then pushed a bowl of rice in front of her.
“Mom, there is still a lot of rice left in the pot. Let’s eat.”
Ms. Zhong didn’t want to let the steamed bun go to waste. She asked for it back. “Xiaosi, give that back to mom. It’s a waste to throw it out. I’ll eat the bowl of rice after finishing the bun.”
Yan Xiaosi returned it to Ms. Zhong.
“Mom, one day, I’ll let you and all my sisters have a good life.”
Ms. Zhong took the steamed bun back and took a bite.
“Mom is already happy that you have such thoughts. It doesn’t matter whether we can really live a better life in the future.”
In these years of war and chaos, it was not so easy to get ahead and live a good life. She took Yan Xiaosi’s promise as a joke.
After lunch and an hour’s rest, Ms. Zhong and Yan Shuqin discussed heading to the mountain for some more firewood.
Yan Xiaosi saw them retrieving baskets and sickles as they prepared to leave.
“Mom, sisters, are you all going up the mountain again?”
Yan Shuqin replied with a smile, “The day after tomorrow is market day in Daxing. We want to cut some more firewood and take it to Daxing the day after tomorrow to sell. If we earn lots of money, mom will buy you all some meat.”
Hearing the word “meat”, Yan Xiaosi’s eyes glowed brightly.
“Mom, sisters, wait for me. I will go up the mountain with you all.”
Ms. Zhong replied, “What would you do up there? Young Master Long is still lying in your room. You should stay home to take care of him.”
Yan Xiaosi didn’t listen to Ms. Zhong’s words. She returned to the kitchen and found the basket and hoe that Ms. Zhong used to dig up wild vegetables.
“Brother Long Hao has hands and feet. I don’t need to take care of him. Mom, sisters, let’s head out.”
She carried a broken vegetable basket in her left hand and a hoe on her right shoulder.
Yan Shuxue looked at the hoe on her shoulder and asked curiously, “Xiaosi, we’re planning to cut firewood on the mountain. What are you doing with the hoe and the vegetable basket?”
Yan Xiaosi carried the tools to dig up the baizhu that she had seen earlier.
In the morning, she didn’t get a chance to collect the baizhu because of Long Hao and the masked men’s interruption.
She laughed and whispered, “Second sister, I saw some treasures on the mountain before. I’m about to go dig it up now.”
“Treasure? I didn’t know that Four Sisters Mountain had any treasures.”
Yan Xiaosi acted mysterious, piquing Yan Shuxue’s curiosity. Even Ms. Zhong, Yan Shuqin and Yan Shuyun were curious.
The five members of the family hiked up the mountain as they had done in the morning.
“Mom, sisters, you can go collect firewood. I’m going to try to dig up the treasure now.”
Yan Xiaosi didn’t want Ms. Zhong and her sisters to go with her since she wasn’t sure whether the bodies of the people in black who were killed by Long Hao were still there. If no one collected the bodies, then his family might be frightened.
Yan Shuqin remembered that Yan Xiaosi had acted alone in the morning too and ended up encountering a wolf. She felt uneasy.
“Elder sister, you always treat me like a child. I’m fine by myself. You don’t need to worry. The treasures are not too far from here. I’ll be back in a flash. You should collect the firewood quickly so we can head back earlier.”
