Chapter 35: Communal Pot Meal
Their four eyes met, and Shang Wan’s eyes held a faint smile.
Lu Chengjing’s long lashes trembled lightly, his pale lips pursed gently, and he raised his left hand a bit higher to gently wipe the black ash from Shang Wan’s face.
He wiped very carefully, his expression focused. Shang Wan cooperatively bent her body lower a bit, and after her left cheek was wiped, she turned her right cheek over on her own.
Little Friend Yuan Yuan tilted her little head up, her round black eyes darting back and forth, looking at Daddy for a moment, then at Mother, and she also stretched out her chubby little hand to help wipe Shang Wan.
“Muah~” Shang Wan directly lowered her head and planted a kiss on her forehead, making Yuan Yuan laugh until her eyes curved.
Everyone waited anxiously, the children cried and fussed in fear, the women hugged the children to their chests and comforted them softly, while the men gathered together, discussing how to cope if another earthquake happened.
The injured people were all gathered in one place, Yuan Musheng was so busy his feet barely touched the ground, and in his haste he pulled Shang Wan over to help treat the external wounds.
Under Yuan Musheng’s introduction, the fact that Shang Wan’s husband was a Xiucai Scholar gradually spread.
After the elders of the village discussed it, they came together to find Lu Chengjing.
“Lu Xiucai Scholar, you’ve read books and know more than us mud-legged folks. Look at the situation now—can everyone go into the houses to get things?”
It was almost getting dark, many people had only eaten breakfast and were now starving, if not for the elders holding them back, someone would have already run home impatiently.
This was also Lu Chengjing’s first time experiencing an earthquake. He glanced at the little turtle, which was crawling slowly on the ground as usual, thought for a moment, and said: “Don’t go into dangerous houses, get the things and come out as soon as possible. We don’t know if another earthquake will happen, better to be cautious.”
The elders agreed, notified the villagers, and had each family send two people back to get things, while the rest stayed put and didn’t run around, and the women kept their own children in check.
Each family quickly selected people, a total of half an hour round trip. The things they brought back were all sorts, Zhang Er even carried his family’s pot on his back. From the looks of it, if given more time, he could empty his house.
The elders took charge: each family contribute some things, tonight everyone eat a communal pot meal together, and don’t go into houses to sleep at night either, set up a shed to make do for the night, and go back tomorrow if there’s no more shaking.
Yuan Musheng brought back a lot of medicinal herbs from home. He was busy tending to the injured, so Rong Niangzi led the young wives from each family to help watch the fire and decoct the medicine.
Zhang Da and Old Man Zhang were in charge of building the stove, and Zhang Er’s pot came in handy.
The aunts were all good at cooking, they went to the nearby fields to pick vegetables, some washed veggies, some chopped them.
The men weren’t idle either, picking up stones, carrying firewood, fetching water, setting up tables, bustling about energetically.
The young ladies and boys helped wash bowls and chopsticks, doing what they could.
With work to do, the panic on everyone’s faces gradually faded, and the elders nodded approvingly in secret.
Xiao Huan went to help the aunts cook, Shang Wan called over Li Xiaoshan to have him watch Lu Chengjing for a bit, and while the villagers weren’t paying attention, she hugged Yuan Yuan and entered the mountains.
There were many fallen trees in the mountains, rocks had rolled everywhere, killing quite a few small animals.
Shang Wan picked them up along the way, and under Yuan Yuan’s guidance, easily found the hidden wolf pack.
The lead gray wolf, upon seeing Shang Wan, dropped its guard and gently wagged its tail.
“Don’t hide in the mountain cave, run to open areas.” Shang Wan squatted down and patted Xiao Hui’s head. “Settle the wolf pack and then come back.”
Several little wolves ran over and tilted their heads up to look at Yuan Yuan.
Yuan Yuan grinned and waved her little arms, greeting the little wolves.
Shang Wan simply put her down to play with the little wolves, took some small animals out from her space, and gave them to the wolf pack as food.
She pulled some vines outside the mountain cave and roughly strung up the remaining animals.
“Let’s go.” Shang Wan bid farewell to the wolf pack, picked up her own cub who was grabbing a little wolf’s tail and wouldn’t let go, and with a few leaps disappeared into the mountain forest.
Shang Wan circled the mountain forest around Elm Tree Village completely, resolved several hazards, and returned full of her cub and loot.
Seeing the pile of game Shang Wan brought back, the villagers were stunned, envious tears flowing from the corners of their mouths.
Shang Wan smiled and said: “Lots died in the mountains, I picked them up on the way to add a dish for everyone.”
Everyone: Good person!
The aunts rolled up their sleeves and showed their skills, contributing the seasonings each family was reluctant to use, and basin after basin of meat and veggies were brought to the table, wafting rich aromas.
The children stopped running around, staring eagerly at the big chunks of meat on the table, swallowing nonstop.
Even at New Year they hadn’t seen this much meat.
The men circled the table intentionally or not, their stomachs rumbling like thunder.
The last dish was served, no need to call anyone, everyone found seats on their own.
At first there was still talking, later only the clatter of bowls and chopsticks could be heard.
Saying one more word means eating one less piece of meat, whatever couldn’t wait until after the meal? Chances to eat openly like this weren’t many.
There were only three children in the village as big as Yuan Yuan, and Xiao Huan specially cooked soft meat porridge for the three milk babies.
Lu Chengjing had trouble picking food with his left hand, but Shang Wan always noticed just as he finished the food in his bowl, and used another pair of chopsticks to add a chopstickful for him, balanced with meat and veggies.
Lu Chengjing turned his head slightly to look at Shang Wan’s beautiful profile, emotions churning in his dark eyes, complex and hard to discern.
“Don’t like it?” Shang Wan noticed he wasn’t moving his chopsticks and turned her head in confusion. “Weren’t you just eating?”
She didn’t add food for Lu Chengjing randomly.
Although they hadn’t eaten many meals together, combining the original host’s memory, Shang Wan noticed Lu Chengjing preferred heavy flavors. Though he was a patient, he liked food with taste.
When he ate something he disliked, he had a little lip-pursing motion, perhaps even he himself wasn’t aware.
“I’m full.” Lu Chengjing set down his chopsticks.
Hearing this, Shang Wan got up and ladled a bowl of fish soup for him.
The fish were picked up by villagers at the riverside, probably ones that jumped ashore and died of thirst during the earthquake.
They were all small fish less than palm-sized, totaling fewer than thirty, not enough to go around with so many people, and full of bones, so the aunts simply fried them fragrant and stewed into fish soup.
The fish soup had a faint fishy smell, Lu Chengjing frowned just from the scent, his face full of resistance to the fish soup.
Shang Wan took a sip, savored the taste, and said: “It’s okay, drinkable.”
“Fish soup nourishes the body.” She handed the bowl over. Lu Chengjing really didn’t want to take it, but stared at by Shang Wan, he unconsciously took the bowl.
During breaks in eating, Shang Wan would glance at him now and then. Lu Chengjing was forced to sip the fish soup bit by bit, and unknowingly finished the bowl, which didn’t seem so hard to accept after all.
The villagers watched the little husband and wife interact openly and secretly, thinking that just by looks, the young couple matched perfectly.
Lady Shang’s personality seemed a bit strong, but seeing Lu Xiucai Scholar’s frail state, marrying a strong wife who knew how to care was just right.
Halfway through the meal, the dogs gnawing bones nearby suddenly barked madly toward the road into the village.
Someone entered the village.
