Chapter 9: What to Use for Storing Food?

All the clothes, shoes, socks, bed sheets, quilts, and other items that could be pawned had been pawned. Even the bowls and plates in the kitchen were barely enough for daily necessities. At noon, she had wanted to cook two more vegetable dishes but had to give up because she couldn’t find enough plates to serve them.

She did have glass airtight containers in her refrigerator for storing cooked dishes, but if she took them out, she was afraid it would frighten the three children. More importantly, she worried that glass was fragile. If a container broke and the dish had no place to be stored, would it disappear from her refrigerator forever?

In this home where supplies were scarce and food was limited, she couldn’t take such risks.

To be safe, she decided that from now on, she would take out all the food from the kitchen in the morning, arrange it neatly by category, clean the containers, and then store them all in the refrigerator, doing her best to avoid any accidents.

So now, the most urgent problem was the need for a large number of containers to store food.

Other daily necessities could be purchased when they went into the city.

“No need to buy them. Those were all woven by Second Brother. Not just bamboo items, but even the tables, chairs, wooden basins, and wooden bowls in the house were made by him,” Leng Tian explained to his sister-in-law.

At the time, all the items that could be pawned had been taken to the pawnshop in exchange for silver. The items the pawnshop didn’t want were traded with the villagers for food. If it weren’t for Second Brother’s natural talent for this craft, they wouldn’t have had any extra money to buy things like tables, chairs, or bamboo baskets.

No longer afraid, he stepped forward and carefully examined the various foods neatly arranged on the cotton cloth on the ground.

Corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, red beans, mung beans, millet, flour, rice, cured meat, cured sausages, pork, pig’s trotters, steamed buns, dumplings, wontons, Steamed Buns, shaomai, and various other foods he couldn’t name and had never seen before.

His sister-in-law was truly a little fairy who had descended to the mortal world, bringing so many rare foods that only existed in heaven and didn’t belong to the mortal realm.

“That’s great! Second Brother has this skill. Then this afternoon, you can store firewood for the winter, Second Brother can weave bamboo baskets at home, and Little Brother can tidy up the vegetables in the yard and the firewood shed,” Wen Nuan Nuan reassigned the tasks for the afternoon.

“Alright,” Leng Tian nodded without objection.

“By the way, we mustn’t tell anyone about my treasure. The two of them are young and might accidentally let it slip. If the villagers find out, I’m afraid it might attract the greed of those with ill intentions,” Wen Nuan Nuan reminded him uneasily.

In truth, even without her reminder, Leng Tian wouldn’t have told his two younger brothers. Although they had been clever since childhood and unusually precocious, they were only nine years old.

He was even more worried about the treasure being exposed than his sister-in-law.

Because he understood all too well how coveted his sister-in-law’s treasure would be in this village where people often went hungry—so much so that others would risk their lives to seize it.

Human nature couldn’t withstand testing, and not everyone in the village was simple and kind-hearted.

Having lived here for seven or eight years, he had long understood this truth, thanks to his Eldest Brother’s guidance.

“Go out and tell Second Brother and Little Brother about the tasks for this afternoon. I’ll put the food into the treasure first and then take it to the kitchen to store it properly. Otherwise, it’ll be hard to explain if Second Brother and Little Brother see it,” Wen Nuan Nuan said, then began picking up the food from the cotton cloth on the ground and placing it into the refrigerator.

In Leng Tian’s eyes, the food disappeared into thin air, one item after another!

This completely overturned all his understanding of the world.

Taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, Leng Tian opened the door and walked out, carefully closing it tightly behind him!

“Second Brother, what did Sister-in-law say?” Leng Chen and Leng Yun had already tidied the table, washed the dishes, and cleaned up. Seeing him come out, they jogged over and asked nervously.

Leng Tian patted his two younger brothers’ shoulders reassuringly and said earnestly and respectfully, “From now on, we must listen to Sister-in-law properly, just like we listen to Eldest Brother.”

“Then we won’t go gather wild vegetables and fruits anymore?” Little Brother Leng Yun mumbled.

“Yes, Sister-in-law said we can eat like we did at noon every day from now on.” Leng Tian grinned cheerfully.

Upon hearing this, Leng Chen and Leng Yun were first stunned into silence. Thinking of the meal at noon, they asked in disbelief, “Every day will be as good as noon?”

Every day—how wonderful life would be then.

So wonderful they wouldn’t even dare to imagine or believe it in their dreams.

Leng Tian fully understood his brothers’ disbelief. In fact, he couldn’t believe it either. If he hadn’t seen Sister-in-law magically produce so many delicious foods he had seen and never seen before, he wouldn’t have believed it either.

“Yes,” he nodded firmly.

In his heart, he thought, maybe it would be even better than at noon.

But he didn’t dare hope for better than the noon meal. In truth, as long as they could eat their fill with cornmeal porridge and vegetables, he was already satisfied. Moreover, even if Sister-in-law had a treasure, he didn’t dare use it recklessly.

After all, it belonged to Sister-in-law. What if it drained her magical power?

Sister-in-law hadn’t mentioned how to use it, perhaps to avoid worrying them. But since Sister-in-law was good to them, they should also consider her well-being.

“Second Brother, go to the bamboo grove on the back mountain and fetch some bamboo to weave bamboo baskets. Sister-in-law needs them for storing things. Weave them according to Sister-in-law’s requirements. I’ll bring back some wood later, and you can make some wooden bowls and wooden basins.

Little Brother, you stay home and tidy up the vegetable garden and the firewood shed. Make sure Sister-in-law doesn’t have to do any of these tasks, understand?”

The two younger brothers nodded repeatedly like pounding garlic, loudly promising, “Understood!”

Sister-in-law used her own money to pay off their debts and spent silver to buy food for them. They absolutely must not let Sister-in-law do any laborious tasks—they couldn’t tire her out!

“Eldest Brother, Second Brother, wait a moment.” Wen Nuan Nuan called out from inside the house.

Leng Tian and Leng Chen, who were about to leave, paused and waited patiently for Wen Nuan Nuan’s instructions.

A moment later, Wen Nuan Nuan came out holding two cloth bundles and handed them over. “These are Peach Crisps. They’re really delicious. Take them with you to eat when you’re hungry on the mountain.”

Turning to Little Brother, she said, “I’ve also left some on the table. If you get tired from working, just go and eat them.”

The three of them wanted to refuse, but Wen Nuan Nuan’s attitude brooked no argument. They reached out and took the bundles, their voices slightly choked with emotion. “Thank you, Sister-in-law!”

“Be careful. Eldest Brother, come back early. I’ll make something delicious for you all tonight,” Wen Nuan Nuan gently reminded.

Second Brother would return home to weave baskets after cutting the bamboo, so she only needed to remind Eldest Brother to come back early. Still, both of them needed to be careful.

The two nodded, their eyes glistening with tears as they walked out of the courtyard gate and hurried toward the back mountain.

Wen Nuan Nuan shook her head. What a group of easily satisfied and grateful little cuties.

She then gathered the bamboo baskets in the courtyard.

Little Brother Leng Yun, seeing Sister-in-law tidying up the bamboo baskets, cleverly dashed into the firewood shed and brought out a large pile of bamboo products of various sizes, lengths, and widths!

This time, it was Wen Nuan Nuan’s turn to be surprised.

She had thought there were already plenty of bamboo products at home, but compared to those in the firewood shed, they were just a drop in the bucket!

“Sister-in-law, these are what Third Brother has woven over the past few days to sell. Would you like to pick out any that suit you?”

Perforated winnowing baskets, round bamboo baskets, drying trays, household bamboo plates… all kinds of styles and sizes were available.

These were essentially storage boxes and containers!

And they were completely natural and pollution-free—unexpectedly excellent!

“There are more than enough here. Little Brother, go tell Third Brother he doesn’t need to weave any more!”