Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

Wen Ruyu left and Gu Qingyao brought the fish to the kitchen, covered it with a layer of salt, then left it there.

She looked at the oil, salt and other condiments in the kitchen and hurriedly added to them from her inters.p.a.ce. Then she looked in the household's rice jar. Many sacks of grain were in the large jar. At the top were the coa.r.s.e grains – some sorghum flour, sweet potato flour, dried sweet potatoes and corn husks.

6

Below was the rice, wheat flour, and some cornflour.

In these times, fine grains were very dear and very few could afford them. Even the Gu family, which was supported by the wages of several people, had a pitiful amount of fine grain.

3

There was less than fifteen kilograms of rice, and about ten kilograms of wheat flour. There was slightly more cornflour, about twenty kilograms of it.

Gu Qingyao knew that there was not much grain in the house. The autumn harvest had just pa.s.sed, and the grain would only be distributed at the end of the year. At this time, some families in the brigade who were in more difficult circ.u.mstances would be almost out of food. There was not much left in the Gu household either!

After some thought, Gu Qingyao added two kilograms of rice, a kilogram of wheat flour, and two kilograms of cornflour. She also added a few dried sweet potatoes.

She did not have much coa.r.s.e grain in her inters.p.a.ce, or at least, she only had a few types.

1

Food and other resources were abundant in her modern life, and her inters.p.a.ce was mainly used as a supermarket and to provision hotels and restaurants. In modern times, the only people who ate coa.r.s.e food and grains were those seeking its health benefits.

5

It was not like the present, when they could not afford to eat fine grains!

After she had finished doing all this, Gu Qingyao took her basket and cloth sack and went up the mountain. Winter was coming and in order to survive the winter, the people here were all frantically searching everywhere for food.

Everywhere on the mountainside were people digging for wild herbs and looking for tree bark.

Gu Qingyao found some shepherd's purse at the edge of the field. Then she carried her basket and went deeper into the mountain.

The Qing River Brigade occupied a large mountain which stretched over a huge area. In the deepest part of it was a primeval forest. The trees in the outlying region had mostly been cut down in the Great Leap Forward, but it had recovered after many years and the mountainside looked like itself once again.

1

The outlying regions were very safe and small animals like wild chickens, rabbits and hedgehogs could often be seen. However, these animals were not easy to catch unless one knew how to go about it.

“Elder Sister Gu! Elder Sister Gu!”

Gu Qingyao was about to head deeper into the mountain when she heard someone calling her name. She paused and looked. A few small boys rushed out of the nearby forest. They were about 11 or 12 years old, and they all carried baskets or firewood.

Children of these ages were all working. They could only have a comfortable winter if they had sufficient firewood.

The child leading the pack was called Goudan. His surname was Chen, but had no other name, so everyone called him Goudan.

4

Chen Goudan was 12 years old. His father had died of an illness a few years ago. His mother had abandoned them and run away to marry someone else. He had a 6-year-old sister. The year this happened, his sister was still a newborn, and their grandparents had pitied them and taken them in for a few years.

Last year, their grandparents had pa.s.sed away, one after another, so he was left to bring up his sister alone.

2

The rooms in their house were mostly occupied by their Eldest Uncle's family. The two children lived with their Eldest Uncle's family and were treated like slaves.

Gu Qingyao's smile was very gentle. “Goudan, what's the matter?”

Chen Goudan lifted his eyes to look at Gu Qingyao's face and wavered when he saw her smiling face. She was so pretty!

Elder Sister Gu must be the prettiest girl in the entire brigade.

“Elder Sister Gu, did Gu Ruoqing and the others bully you? I saw her speaking to Elder Sister yesterday, something about how you should wait and see, she would force you to leave the Gu Family in the future. Did they bully you?”