The sky was getting dark. Elder brother and Father had not yet returned home.
Elder Sister was holding Jiang Mianmian under the big tree at the yard gate, pacing back and forth several times.
It was amazing. Though she was so little, she was already looking forward to those returning home.
Especially when standing under the big tree waiting, looking into the distance. Whenever a small black dot appeared at the village entrance, her heart would beat a little faster, a little more excited. But if no one came for a long time, she would become anxious and worried. For Jiang Mianmian, the outside world was like a huge beast about which she knew nothing, so she felt it was extremely dangerous.
After standing under the tree for a while without anyone appearing, Elder Sister Jiang Yu carried her back into the yard.
In the yard, Mom was preparing the wild boar meat.
When Mom had just opened the basket and taken out the smooth pieces of meat, Jiang Mianmian felt her little heart stop for three seconds.
Elder Sister Jiang Yu, however, had an excited face: “Mom, Mom, you bought meat, there is meat to eat!”
“I didn’t buy it. Today when I went to the woods, I met a wild boar that stupidly charged into my spear. I accidentally stabbed it to death,” said Qin Luoxia calmly.
Jiang Mianmian thought: ...Mom is lying, wild boars have very long, long fur, how could this one be completely hairless and white-skinned? It’s impossible that Mom killed a wild boar in the mountains, skinned it, cut it into pieces, and washed it clean. Does Mom have OCD? Hannibal?
Then she saw Mom put out the meat, arranged very neatly like building blocks...
Finally, pig’s trotters and a pig head were added. A whole wild pig was laid out flat and complete.
The pig fur was also there. Mom had bundled them very neatly with grass ropes according to their lengths, there were six bundles of pig fur.
If Jiang Mianmian hadn't seen the pig itself, she might have thought those were bundles of pine needles...
She had never seen such a completely butchered pig before. Was this an ancient version of Lego?
Seeing the meat, Elder Sister was even more excited than her. She simply didn’t think too much about it. Carrying Jiang Mianmian on her back, she spun around excitedly, occasionally going to the door to see if Father and Elder Brother had come back so they could eat meat early.
As Jiang Yu kept wiping the corners of her mouth...she really was drooling.
Then Elder Sister would also occasionally wipe the drool for her, smiling as she asked: “Are you greedy for the meat? Does Mianmian also want to eat meat?”
Jiang Mianmian thought: ...No, I'm drooling because as a baby my nerves are underdeveloped, I have poor bodily control, my mouth keeps opening, I can't control my facial muscles, that’s why I’m drooling, not because I’m greedy...oh forget it, it’s hard to explain clearly. Seeing Elder Sister so happily silly, she also yelled “yiya yiya” happily.
It was quite good actually. Just because of a meal of meat, Elder Sister was smiling brightly, looking more and more like Father, carefree, making people happy just seeing her.
Finally, when the sky was pitch black, Father and Elder Brother came back.
Without even coming out to the yard gate, Jiang Mianmian could recognize their footsteps.
Nowadays she relied on spring water every day to supplement her fluid intake.
Other than those few days of diarrhea where her stool weighed more than her body, the most obvious feeling should be greatly enhanced senses.
She felt her hearing, smell and vision had all improved tremendously.
And her taste - unpleasant things were a wonderland of strange flavours in her mouth...
Her sense of touch had not improved noticeably since she stayed with her family all the time. She liked Elder Sister kissing her, liked Mom hugging her. She just felt the family really loved her.
Indeed, although she was just a little baby, she really felt like the center of the universe. They all liked her very much, full of affection.
Just like even though Elder Sister touched her little butt then pinched her cheek, that smell was a little odd, but the touch was still gentle and loving -_-||
Jiang Mianmian heard Elder Brother's footsteps were steady but occasionally a little jumpy, he seemed to be in a good mood.
Father's footsteps were almost silent, very evenly light, if her hearing had not become stronger, she wouldn't have noticed him at all.
“Yiya yiya” (Open the door), Jiang Mian Mian called out excitedly too.
Missing them after not seeing them for a day.
Sure enough, Jiang Yu opened the door, and it was Elder Brother and Father who came in.
And both carried quite a lot of things on their backs.
Probably because they carried so much stuff, they only came home at nightfall, afraid of being seen by others.
Being poor scared them. Having a little money, they were still worried about showing it off.
Jiang Yu was curious what they bought.
Seeing the neatly packaged items, she was very excited.
Much more excited than seeing the pig meat Mom brought back.
After all, these were bought with money, things bought with money were precious.
Jiang Yu picked up a bag, shook it, wondering what it was, even sniffed it up to her nose.
Without smelling, Jiang Mianmian knew it was Chinese medicine. The smell was very strong.
Jiang Yu also smelled it out, and obediently put it down.
Next her face lit up excitedly: “Father actually bought fine grains, great, my sister was crying so hard today because she had nothing to eat.”
Jiang Mianmian thought: ...I was crying because you force-fed me, not because I wanted to eat -_-||
Then Jiang Mianmian heard Elder Sister shriek.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
Jiang Mianmian was startled, what happened? Was there meat sorted neatly in Father's basket too? Skinned?
But she only saw Elder Sister holding a pair of embroidered shoes.
There were no butterfly or sequin decorations, but they were brand new, with exquisite embroidered vamps, and they were red.
"Father, Father, are these for me?" Jiang Yu ran into the room holding the shoes.
Elder Brother and Father went to wash up first when they got home.
Jiang Mianmian noticed her family seemed pretty good at this, quite attentive.
After cleaning up, Elder Brother came over to hug her, holding her sitting in a bamboo chair。
She just heard Father say from inside the room: “Embroidered shoes? I don't know, I didn't buy them, ask Feng.”
Then Elder Sister rushed out like a gust of wind again.
"Brother, brother, are these for me? Brand new?"
Jiang Feng hugged his sister and nodded arrogantly.
"Just a pair of embroidered shoes."
Jiang Yu was overjoyed.
Sitting on a little stool, she took off her shoes, but did not try on the new embroidered shoes. Instead, she hurriedly took them into the room.
Jiang Mianmian was puzzled, then remembered this was ancient times, there were gender taboos that Elder Brother should not see her bare feet either probably.
But soon Elder Sister came out holding the shoes again.
She sat down in front of Jiang Mianmian, took off her shoes, and carefully put on a pair of socks that looked loose and wide.
Indeed Jiang Mianmian overthought it. Everyone was underfed and had to work the fields, there were no such taboos.
Elder Sister was probably just worried about dirtying the new embroidered shoes.
Then she saw Elder Sister carefully putting on the embroidered shoes, extremely delighted.
The smile never left her face.
She walked very steadily in her new shoes, one step at a time, not staggering. She even lightly hopped up, but didn't dare jump too high for fear of damaging the shoes. Still she couldn't help but skip and jump a little.
“I didn't know new embroidered shoes wouldn’t hurt my feet!" Jiang Yu walked back and forth.
She even walked up to Elder Brother and asked: “Do they look good?”
The Jiang Mianmian in Elder Brother's arms nodded: “Yiya yiya.” (They look good.)
Jiang Feng snorted, not answering, but laughed cheerfully too.
Jiang Yu spun around walking left and right, excitedly saying: “I’m going to wear these embroidered shoes tomorrow to show Cui.”
