Chapter Six: The Whole Family Learns

“Sister, should we buy anything else?”

After leaving the Herbal Hall, Chunning kept following her sister. Seeing that her sister had no intention of returning, she continued walking along the street.

“Chunning, do you remember if we saw a dock when we first came to town?”

“Yes, I saw one, but it’s still quite far from here,” Chunning thought for a moment. “Probably two or three miles away.”

“Alright, I understand.” It was getting late, and rice was waiting to be cooked at home, plus the medicine needed to be prepared for our elder sister-in-law. They would visit the dock tomorrow.

Chunnuan took Chunning home, where the whole family was eagerly waiting.

“Sister, we gathered a lot of firewood.”

The kitchen hut had been burned down, but the stone stove remained. Covered in black soot, it had been cleaned thoroughly.

“Sister, Yan and I carried water.”

“Good, well done.” Chunnuan patted their heads. “Chunning, go collect some stones to build a stove for elder sister-in-law’s medicine. I’ll start cooking.”

“The firewood for lighting the fire must be dry leaves and grass, preferably. Don’t put branches or sticks in at first; wait until the fire catches before adding larger wood. Don’t overfill the stove hole with firewood; leave some space for air. Never leave the fire unattended—if the fire escapes, immediately use—”

Chunnuan was about to say “stamp it out with your foot,” but turning around to look at the family watching her, all dressed in skirts and robes, she swallowed the words. If they stomped on the fire, it might just cause a bigger blaze.

“When tending the fire, don’t leave it alone. When the flames reach the edge, push the firewood inward quickly. If fire spills out, don’t panic. For a small fire, use tongs to smother it. If it’s large, scoop water with a wooden ladle to extinguish it—”

“Be careful when washing the pot; don’t hurt your hands.”

“Calculate the number of people before adding water and rice to the pot...” The whole family was so hungry they were anxious. Chunnuan explained as she worked, making a little extra for the evening meal.

Everyone except the old lady gathered nearby to learn.

Even four-year-old Chunxin listened attentively.

“Sister, you’re amazing, you know so much.”

Chunyan admired her greatly. She used to avoid playing with her sister when she saw her face covered in soot from preparing medicine with their grandfather, thinking it was dirty.

Only after surviving the calamity did they realize that everything their sister had done before was knowledge that had kept the family alive.

They had often heard their grandmother and mother say that if it weren’t for their sister’s resilience, the entire family might not have safely reached Shu.

“Remember, when cooking rice, stir the bottom of the pot often with a spatula, or it will stick and burn.”

“Before putting rice into the pot, it looks like this.” While tending the fire and cooking, Chunnuan demonstrated. After the water boiled and cooked for a while, she scooped out a few grains. “See, the grains start to swell. Cook a bit longer, and they’ll burst open, like a flower blooming.”

When the grains had blossomed and the water turned into a thick rice soup, releasing a fragrant aroma, everyone instinctively swallowed. It had been so long since they had tasted such a meal.

“See? Cooked rice grains look like this.”

“I see, I see. It really does look like a flower blooming.”

“Have you learned it?”

“Sister, we’ve learned,” Chunyan, Chunshu, and Chunxin said in unison.

Watching her three younger sisters claim they had learned so quickly, Chunnuan just smiled.

She knew well that her sisters would likely fail on their first try, as this was no easy skill to master.

Just as with making sugar syrup or brewing wine, cooking rice required experience. Cooking porridge was the simplest, but they didn’t have the conditions to teach them how to cook dry rice.

“Chunan, is elder sister-in-law’s medicine ready?”

“Yes.”

Chunnuan brought the medicine to Mrs. Zhu.

“Chunnuan, I’m so useless. The family is already struggling... and I still have to take medicine.”

“Elder sister-in-law, you mustn’t think like that. Take your medicine first, take good care of yourself, and have the baby safely. Rest assured, hardships are only temporary. We will get better.”

“Mm.”

Mrs. Zhu nodded, swallowing the medicine along with a couple of tears.

“All right, let’s eat.” Chunnuan called to Chunyan and Chunshu to set the table.

In the room stood a dilapidated eight-immortal table with two wobbly legs, which Chunning and Chunan had propped up with tiles and stones.

The four benches were full of dents and holes—sitting on them could easily tear the fabric of their skirts.

In short, the conditions were unimaginably poor, but the family showed no sign of complaint, knowing deeply that the Xiao family no longer had any right to be picky.

“Sister, the rice you cooked smells so good, even better than Aunt Zhu’s.”

Aunt Zhu had been the cook at the Xiao mansion.

When the mansion was seized and the family banished, only the women were allowed to return to Shu thanks to the Empress Dowager’s grace. Grandmother had returned the servants’ contracts.

Aunt Zhu and a few loyal servants wanted to follow, but since the household could only afford two carriages, each extra person meant more mouths to feed. Grandmother gently declined.

“Food tastes better when you make it yourself.”

Chunnuan smiled, patting Chunxin’s head.

Silly child, when you’re hungry, anything tastes delicious.

What surprised Chunnuan was that after finishing her bowl of porridge, Chunxin even stuck out her tongue to lick the bowl.

“Xin’er, who taught you that?” Mrs. Huang was shocked, hurriedly pressing down on Chunxin’s bowl.

That was utterly disgraceful and showed a lack of manners.

“I saw Luo Liu Mei next door do it. She even scraped the bowl with her fingers. I thought fingers were dirty, so I used my tongue,” Chunxin said, feeling wronged. Why could Luo Liu Mei do it but she couldn’t?

Hadn’t grandmother said the Xiao family was no longer the old Xiao family? None of them were ladies or young misses anymore; they had to live like common folk.

“You...” Mrs. Huang was about to scold her.

“Eat without speaking, sleep without talking,” the old Madame Xiao said softly. “No scolding before meals.”

“Yes, mother.” Mrs. Huang bowed her head, her nose stinging and eyes reddening.

The Xiao family all felt heavy at heart: the harder life became, the more they longed for the past.

The old lady had once said returning to their ancestral home was a good path—life might not be as lavish as in the capital, but it wouldn’t be so harsh.

Yet she had underestimated the cruelty of their kin and the severity of their suffering.

What had started as a pleasant meal turned somber because of Chunxin licking the bowl, and everyone ate quietly, putting down their bowls and chopsticks without a word.

Mrs. Zhu went to gather and wash the dishes.

“Elder sister-in-law, I’ll help you. Please sit down.”

Chunnuan quickly stood to clear the table.

“Sister, let me do it.” Chunning took the dishes from her. “You’re a girl; doing too much hard work will ruin your hands.”

“You’re not a delicate young lady who has never touched water,” Chunnuan replied.

Her hands had never been pretty—years of preparing herbs in the capital meant washing, scrubbing, cutting, and chopping. Her hands were calloused, and her mother often worried that a son-in-law might dislike her because of it.

“Sister, you rest. We’ll wash the bowls,” Chunyan and Chunshu hurried to take over. “Ningge is a boy, so he shouldn’t do housework either.”

“Do it all, and learn to do it,” the old lady commanded. “No one is exempt. You should take turns cooking, washing, and gathering firewood. Chunning can’t do everything alone. If she’s exhausted, what will happen to our family?”