Quick Transmigration: Underdog Turns out to be Untouchable

Chapter 1089: Chapter 999: Back in Those Years 9

The weather has warmed up quite a bit these past two days, and the wild vegetables that were hard to find before are now much more abundant.

The taste of wild vegetables is not as good as home-grown vegetables, but these days, being able to fill one’s belly is already good enough. Nobody cares about taste anymore.

Shuangshuang went to the small grove by the river, where the wild vegetables grew lushly and the harvest was always better than elsewhere.

Shuangshuang’s luck was pretty good; in just two hours in the morning, she dug up a basket full of wild vegetables.

These wild vegetables are a bit bitter, and need to be soaked in water to remove the bitterness before they can be made into wild vegetable dumplings.

Previously, due to the scarcity of wild vegetables, the dumplings didn’t contain much. Too much is not tasty, but too little lacks flavor.

After digging up the wild vegetables, Shuangshuang went to the river to wash her hands, and happened to see a big fat fish swimming back and forth under the water. In Shuangshuang’s eyes, it was extremely tempting.

Before she realized it, Shuangshuang had already jumped into the river and caught the fish.

Shuangshuang furrowed her brows, caught in a struggle within herself. Should she take the fish with her or put it back?

In this era, everything is collectively owned by the state. Every blade of grass on the mountain, every fish and shrimp in the river, was not allowed to be taken privately.

Just like a line from Mr. Song’s skit, even taking a bit of wool belonged to socialism and should be reprimanded. Shuangshuang’s careless capture of this socialist fish might get her criticized or even punished.

But asking Shuangshuang to put back the fish she had caught was something she was unwilling to do. Shuangshuang had never craved meat that much before, especially since she was not particularly fond of fish.

However, her body had been without nutrition for so long that even looking at bread made her mouth water.

In the end, Shuangshuang came up with a clever idea. She found a secluded spot by the river, started a fire, cooked the fish, removed all the bones, mashed the cooked fish meat into mince, wrapped it in leaves, and placed it beneath the wild vegetables she had dug up.

After hiding the fish meat, Shuangshuang dug a hole and buried the fish bones, scales, and entrails deep in the ground.

Then she walked back home with a spring in her step. Aunt Qi was preparing to cook, and this time instead of wild vegetable dumplings, it was potstickers with wild vegetables. The wild vegetables were chopped, mixed with cornmeal, and placed on the side of the pot to slowly bake.

Shuangshuang returned just in time. The potstickers were not yet cooking, so she quickly retrieved the fish mince from the wild vegetable basket. The smell of grilled fish was still faintly there, and once she opened the leaves, the rich scent of grilled fish wafted out.

The originally detached Qi Juan, who was hugging Aunt Qi’s leg, couldn’t help but follow the scent with her eyes, and she couldn’t stop herself from drooling.

Shuangshuang took some fish mince and placed it in a small bowl for Qi Juan to hold and eat. The rest of the fish mince was mixed into the dough in Aunt Qi’s mixing bowl.

Aunt Qi’s hand paused for a moment, but she eventually lowered her eyes, pretending not to see, and quickly mixed the mound of fish mince into the dough.

In these days, who doesn’t want a bit of meat? Even if one doesn’t eat it, they want their kids to have a couple of extra bites. So Aunt Qi silently chose to say nothing.

The pancakes mixed with fish meat were delicious, and even Qi Juan, who had already eaten some fish meat, devoured an entire big pancake on her own.

This taste of luxury left Shuangshuang unable to stop herself. Within days, she caught another big fat fish, grilled it in the same way, and took it back home.

After eating fish for a period of time, both Shuangshuang and Aunt Qi looked much healthier. The biggest change was in Qi Juan. With a child in growth spurts, a few days of good meals made her noticeably plumper and more radiant.

Seeing such a big change in Qi Juan, Shuangshuang was startled and didn’t dare to catch more fish for a while.

Nowadays, all kids, whether favored or not, have sallow skin and gaunt faces because of the lack of substantial meals. It was impossible for children to gain any chubbiness.

Shuangshuang never expected Qi Juan’s transformation to be so significant, which might lead people to suspect that Qi Juan had eaten something nutritious.

The only way to explain it was to say that she had brought many good things with her and felt sorry for Qi Juan, so she gave them all to her, helping Qi Juan become healthier.

But catching fish was something Shuangshuang dared not do again. In fact, if nobody else ever fished in that small river, Shuangshuang’s occasional catch wouldn’t matter. By now, in the later stages of turmoil, people weren’t as strict about rules.

The main issue was that every year at the end of the year, the production teams cast nets into the river to catch a big batch of fish to distribute as New Year goods. Because of this, the river’s fish couldn’t be caught at will.

Although the river water is moving and the fish travel back and forth, catching one or two doesn’t matter, but the team’s rules were strict and inflexible.

The fish in this river couldn’t be caught, but there was a small canal at the foot of the hill where there were also fish, albeit smaller, but still quite delicious, and fish from there could be freely caught.

Previously, Shuangshuang was too busy working to find time to go catch fish there, but she finally had time now.

Going from frugality to luxury is easy, but the reverse is hard. Having tasted potstickers filled with grilled fish meat, suddenly returning to fishless ones was difficult to swallow not only for Shuangshuang but also for Aunt Qi.

Fishing could wait no longer. After greeting Aunt Qi, Shuangshuang grabbed her fish basket and headed straight for the small canal at the foot of the hill.

The fish in the small canal were roundish with only one bone in the middle—semi-transparent. Though tricky to catch individually, they were so abundant in the canal that Shuangshuang could scoop them up with her woven basket, grabbing a few each time, quickly collecting a substantial amount.

On her way back, Shuangshuang was fortunate enough to spot a wild rabbit, immediately dashing forward to grab it by the ears, her heart filled with excitement at the thought of having something other than fish. These past few days of eating fish had filled her mouth with its flavor, so the change was welcome.

Carrying fish and holding the rabbit, Shuangshuang nimbly walked back. With hunting restrictions on animals like wild chickens due to overhunting, rabbits—with their high reproduction rate—were still allowed, though catching one wasn’t easy, given their speed.

As long as these small animals weren’t hunted excessively, the occasional feast wouldn’t cause unnecessary involvement from others.

Returning triumphantly, Shuangshuang walked back excitedly, only to see a noisy crowd gathered by the river, accompanied by the sound of crying, wondering what had happened and what was going on.