Chapter 955
Inviting You to Dinner
Pan Yun was just looking, but as she looked, she sensed something was wrong and stopped in her tracks.
Miaozhen almost bumped into her and stopped in her tracks.
Miaohe clung to their backs, asking in confusion, "What's wrong?"
Pan Yun looked up at the sky, rubbed his stomach, and said, "I'm a little hungry. Let's walk to the village ahead, find a family to stop and cook, and ask for a bowl of water."
They walked for another fifteen minutes before they saw smoke rising from the chimneys.
Turn off the main road and take a small path; you'll see a village shortly after.
Children ran out of the village, carrying wooden sticks and swords. When they saw them, they brandished their sticks and swords and blocked their way, shouting, "Who goes there? State your name!"
Miaohe found them amusing, and with a cupped fist and a smile, said, "This humble Taoist, Miaohe, has come here on a journey with my senior brothers and sisters, and we would like to ask for a bowl of water."
The children burst into laughter, their serious demeanor instantly crumbling. They immediately made way for the car and said, "If you want water, come to my house."
"Come to my house, come to my house, the water in my house was just drawn from the well."
Everyone crowded around Pan Yun and her companions as they entered the village.
As we entered the village, we didn't see any adults or elderly people, or even any older children. Instead, we only saw eight- or nine-year-old children with even younger ones.
One of the boys, around eight years old, pushed open his family's wooden door, ran into the yard, scooped up a spoonful of water for them, and handed it to Miaohe.
Miaohe took out a bamboo tube to fill with water and asked, "Where are your parents?"
The children were alert; upon hearing this, they immediately stood together, glaring at her and asking, "Why are you asking adults?"
Miaohe said, "We'd like to borrow your kitchen to cook lunch."
The children frowned: "Lunch? It's still a long way off."
"The sun only gets its food when it reaches there," a child said, pointing to the top of a tree in the west, which he used as a marker to tell time.
Pan Yun looked up at the tree he was pointing to and knew that they only ate two meals a day here.
Pan Yun took out a small bag of rice and said, "We want to steam some rice and cook a dish. We might not be able to stop until dark while we're on this journey, so we need to have a hearty lunch."
The children glanced at the small cloth bag she was carrying and ran off. A little while later, the eight-year-old boy came out of his kitchen with a stove and a pot: "You can't come into my kitchen, but you can have this."
Pan Yun smiled and said, "Perfect, I also have a pot and a stove, that's enough, I just need firewood."
A child dragged a bundle of firewood in from outside the yard.
Pan Yun nodded to Miao He and Tao Yanbai.
The two of them untied the firewood, borrowed water from the water tank from the children, took the large pot from the boy's house, washed a small bag of rice, added water, and put it on the stove to cook.
Miaozhen then took out their own pot and placed it on another stove.
Their stoves and pots are smaller.
Pan Yun went out, leading a group of curious children to search through the carriage. After a while, they found a piece of cured meat.
She said, "Food tastes better when it has meat in it."
Everyone swallowed hard when they saw the meat in her hand.
Pan Yun then magically produced twelve eggs from a cloth bag: "But boiled meat is tasteless, so let's add some eggs. It's just a pity there are no vegetables."
A girl immediately stepped forward and said, "My family has cabbage!"
Pan Yun's eyes lit up: "That's wonderful!"
The girl took off running towards her family's vegetable garden: "I'll pick some for you!"
She picked a large cabbage, which was really big, bigger than Pan Yun's head.
Tear off the two outermost leaves, then break the rest apart and wash them. Without cutting them, tear them into pieces by hand. Miaozhen, standing nearby, had already sliced the cured meat into thin slices with a knife.
Pan Yun glanced at it and said, "It's a pity there's no ginger or garlic sprouts."
The children were gathered around Miaozhen watching her cut meat, but their ears were perked up. Upon hearing this, one of them said, "My family has ginger! Eryong, didn't your family grow a lot of garlic?"
"Yes, but my grandma won't let me pull it out. She'll scold anyone who tries to do it."
"You picked it, your grandma won't scold you. Go back and pick one, otherwise the meat won't taste good."
Er Yong swallowed hard, and seeing his friend run away, he ran after him.
Soon after, ginger and garlic sprouts were also available.
The water in the pot boiled, and Pan Yun tossed in the ginger slices and the chopped meat. After cooking for a while, the aroma and oil filled the air, and she slowly cracked eggs into the pot. After she finished, she said, "Oh dear, we forgot to bring salt."
The eight-year-old boy immediately went into the kitchen, took out a small pinch of salt, put it in his palm, and poured it into the pot.
Pan Yun shook her head and said, "Not enough."
The boy hesitated, saying, "If there are any more, my mother will know when she gets back."
Other friends who hadn't had a chance to help raised their hands and said, "My family has one too."
They each ran home and, imitating the boy, poured a little into their palms, just a small pinch each. Back in the yard, they poured it all into the pot together.
Pan Jun smiled and nodded, saying, "That's enough."
As she gently stirred the eggs in the pan, she asked, "Won't the adults find out you're taking salt?"
The children all patted their chests and said they wouldn't, "We'll only take a small pinch. Even if my mom finds out, she'll just think we're going to eat it with fruit, she won't know we brought it for you."
Pan Yun nodded in satisfaction and asked, "Is salt hard to buy?"
"It's so difficult. The adults only buy us a small jar at a time."
Pan Yun: "Who is the master?"
“Adults are adults, they are our masters,” a boy said. “When we grow up, we will be the adults’ soldiers, and we will work the land for them.”
Pan Yun: "Did your parents farm for the adults?"
"Yes, my grandfather and great-grandfather also farmed for adults."
The aroma grew stronger, and the rice in the large pot next to it also emitted a fragrance. Miaohe lifted the lid and stirred it back and forth. After the rice water gradually thickened, he removed the firewood and used only the remaining charcoal to simmer the rice.
Pan Yun kept an eye on the rice pot, and only after seeing this did she put down the garlic sprouts. A while later, she threw the torn cabbage from the side into the pot.
But because the pot was a bit small, I didn't throw it all away.
Pan Jun didn't insist. She flipped the vegetables over, waited for the cabbage to cook and release its water, then flipped them over again to bring up the meat and eggs underneath. Then she sighed, "Oh dear, we don't have any bowls or chopsticks."
The children jumped up excitedly, chattering, "We have one! We have one!"
Pan Yun smiled and asked them to help her get four sets of bowls and chopsticks, saying gently, "You've contributed both food and effort, so this meal is thanks to you. Would you like to eat with us?"
The children happily agreed and ran home to get their bowls and chopsticks.
Pan Jun moved the fire aside and lifted the lid of the rice pot. Miao He served each of them a full bowl of white rice. After everyone had served their rice and gathered around the pot of vegetables, no one touched their chopsticks first. Instead, they all looked at Pan Jun.
Pan Yun smiled, picked up a piece of food with her chopsticks, and nodded, saying, "Mmm, it's delicious. Everyone, let's eat!"
The children cheered and immediately got to work.
The older children took care of the younger ones; even the two-year-old had meat and eggs placed in his bowl by his older siblings, which he ate with relish using his hands. (End of Chapter)