When An An and Yin Chuan lived together, Yin Chuan would often mention some of the foods he used to eat in the south.
He then discovered that An An knew about many of them, or could make dishes that were quite similar.
The only difference was that they weren't near the sea here, so there weren't many seafood options available. Otherwise, there really wasn't much difference between the food here and what Yin Chuan ate in the south.
The foods he described, An An not only knew how to make but also said she had eaten them as a child because her mother used to make them too.
They had quite a few recipes at home, and since life needed some excitement, Wen Qian often tried new dishes.
Within the limits of available ingredients, Wen Qian would try to create as much variety as possible.
In An An's memories, she had eaten many delicious things. That happiness was still imprinted in her mind, even though she could no longer remember the exact appearance or taste of the food.
When she was little, Wen Qian had fed her cake and chocolate. Those things would make children's eyes shine brighter and make them dance with joy.
However, Wen Qian rarely had those foods, so she only gave them to An An when she was very young, to avoid An An asking why they no longer had them when she was old enough to remember.
An An not only knew how to cook, but she also taught Yin Chuan. Eating was a joyful thing, and occasionally cooking could give a sense of accomplishment.
But day after day, year after year, three meals a day could become tedious.
Stir-frying might not take too much time, but the process of washing and cutting vegetables beforehand, and cleaning the kitchen afterward, these processes added up to become quite troublesome and tedious.
In the past modern society, many people's marriages broke down due to arguments over household chores. It was even worse now in this era where everything had to be done by hand.
So she would take turns cooking with Yin Chuan, or make convenient foods.
These convenient foods were backup meals for when both of them were too tired and didn't want to cook, with convenience and speed being the biggest advantages.
Now there were no self-heating meals or instant noodles, but they could make simple foods themselves.
Wen Qian would make vermicelli and noodles, and when they wanted to eat, they'd just boil a pot and add various side dishes. This was what she considered as "throwing something together quickly."
This habit was fully inherited by An An, who would also make jams or dried fruits with Yin Chuan as side dishes.
In winter, they had more options. The cold weather outside was like a big refrigerator.
They could wrap many dumplings and buns, store them in containers outside, and boil them whenever they wanted to eat. It was quick and easy.
The sesame paste, soybean flour, and lotus root starch that Wen Qian used to make also became a category of their convenient foods.
Yin Chuan felt that his diet hadn't changed much; the only difference was that before he used money to buy food, and now he had to make it himself.
Along with their daughter Qiu Qiu, who was also a child who took eating seriously, the family of three could be said to frequently research food.
Most of the time, they would try to make their food preparation process quicker and more convenient. On rare occasions, they would spend time making big meals, usually for holidays.
Many holidays had lost their original meaning, so they were now used as occasions to make corresponding foods. Life was already quite dull, so of course, they had to find reasons to celebrate for themselves.
Good food could make people happy, and when combined with various seasonal festivals and holidays, it allowed people to sense the passage of time.
They would also share some of their longer-lasting foods with their neighbors.
When hunting and gathering, Yin Chuan could clearly notice some patterns. The area around An An's family had more food compared to his own area.
There were more berry bushes than in his area, not to mention the trees they had specifically brought back to plant.
An An said her mother had lived here for a long time, so she consciously planted various edible plants in their area.
So Yin Chuan also started to cultivate small fruit seedlings and gradually planted them in his own area further away.
During this process, he also realized that Wen Qian must have had many seeds when she first came here.
Because the seeds stored at home were very comprehensive, with many bottles and jars to store them. It seemed that after the disaster, everything beneficial for survival could be found here.
The water wheel and millstone by the small river, the well in the yard, the stone mill in the house, various seeds and medicines, and books about survival.
Everything ultimately came down to survival.
What Yin Chuan could think of, An An could think of too. They guessed that perhaps there were signs of the impending disaster that allowed Wen Qian to make more preparations.
Beyond that, they couldn't imagine more.
Wen Qian was no longer there, so they could only guess.
Everything was left to them, including the grapevine in the yard.
The grapevine was older than them, and as it aged, it began to enter a period of decline. An An was reluctant to part with it and didn't want to replace it with a new one.
In the end, she cut branches from the old vine and continued to propagate them, planning to set up trellises outside the yard to grow grapes.
As for the gnarled old grapevine in the yard, An An was waiting for it to die naturally before deciding what to do.
An An was reluctant to throw away anything related to her mother, but those fruit trees would eventually die of old age, and she had to prepare for their replacement.
The fruit trees that Wen Qian initially planted were all very old now. Perhaps some of these trees could live longer, but as fruit trees, their yield would decline.
When her mother was still around, she had reminded An An to have as much food around her as possible.
Whether hunting, farming, or gathering, it was essential to have more than one survival skill.
She not only followed this principle herself but also made sure Yin Chuan learned well. The two of them would look out for each other when hunting or fishing together.
And their child, Qiu Qiu, was also learning from their example, weeding the vegetables in the yard.
Children always start by imitating. The way family members eat, the way they work, and the way they read books.
These would become the child's habits and style, without her even realizing it, she was already doing things like the adults.
Although Wen Qian was no longer there, An An felt she could find memories related to her mother everywhere.
It made her feel at peace.
