Chapter 15: Chicken Soup Was Thick and Fresh
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After a day of odd jobs in the city, the three brothers from the Guan family returned to the village. The first thing they smelled was the strong aroma of chicken soup.
When they reached their house, they saw a group of people surrounding it.
Hearing the villagers discussing the chicken soup enviously and jealously, Eldest Brother Guan and the rest were stunned. They ignored them and walked past the crowd into the house.
“Chicken soup?”
“Smells good!”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWhen the three men entered, Eldest Brother Guan looked at Father Guan in surprise. Guan Chixi, who was the youngest among them, could not hold it in any longer. He rushed in and took deep breaths, exclaiming excitedly, “Smells good! Smells good!”
“Mother, we made chicken soup?! Why is there chicken soup at home?!”
Father Guan held his hands and squatted by the wall of the courtyard outside the kitchen. He inhaled the fragrance in the air and answered the questions of the men.
“Yes, she made chicken soup. Chibei hunted pheasants from the mountain! Your mother went to the village to exchange a pheasant for a rooster and made chicken soup. There are also three wild hares in the chicken pen in the backyard!”
Father Guan told them excitedly that Guan Chibei had learned how to hunt.
The brothers from the Guan family were shocked. Hunting required skills to be able to capture living prey that could run around in the forest!
It was not something a farmer could easily learn!
Chibei could actually hunt!
The brothers from the Guan family were surprised and envious at the same time. But of course, they were happy and congratulated Guan Chibei for his capability.
“Father, we made a total of thirty copper coins today and bought three catties of white rice.”
Eldest Brother Guan told Father Guan about this. Then, he took out three copper coins. It was nine copper coins for one catty of rice. After buying the rice grains, he only had three copper coins left.
In fact, everyone in the village ate coarse grains, including sorghum, chaff, and soybeans. Even if it was rare for them to eat rice, they would eat mixed grains and add large amounts of sweet potato and corn. How could they afford pure white rice?
However, when Eldest Brother Guan and the rest thought about how Ye Lulu had just given birth and how there were three babies who had just been born a day ago, they felt that she still needed to eat something good. White rice was soft and nourishing. With white rice, they could make some rice soup for the babies.
Therefore, after counting the copper coins they had just earned, they bought white rice that the Guan family usually could not afford.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSecond Brother Guan placed the bag of rice on his shoulder down and Father Guan put away the three copper coins. He nodded and asked Mother Rong to bring the white rice into the kitchen.
Mother Rong scooped a bowl of white rice first. After thinking for a while, she gritted her teeth and split the white rice into two.
Half a bowl of white rice was put into the pot to be cooked into sticky porridge.
The other half a bowl of white rice was mixed with a lot of coarse grains. She also put in two sweet potatoes that Auntie Huang gave her during the day when she was exchanging the pheasant for the rooster, mixing them into a pot of mixed grain rice.
The chicken soup was boiling non-stop. It was bright yellow in color and had a layer of oil on top of it. It was simply alluring.
It was enough.
Mother Rong put in some salt and opened the lid.
First, she scooped up a large bowl full of chicken, the most tender of which were piled to the tips. There were also mushrooms and red dates. A large bowl was sent into Ye Lulu’s house for her to drink.
Eldest sister-in-Law Guan brought it in without any jealousy on her face. She placed the chicken soup on the bedside table and helped Ye Lulu up. “Drink the chicken soup.”
“Is anyone in the family drinking together with me?” When Ye Lulu saw the bowl full of chicken soup and meat, she leaned against her eldest sister-in-law and asked weakly.
“Yes.” Eldest sister-in-law Guan said, “Hurry up and drink it. Don’t worry. The whole family has chicken soup to drink. If Chibei hadn’t gone hunting in the mountains today to nourish your body, our family wouldn’t even have gotten to eat meat this year. Stop talking and drink it quickly.”