Once the two finished their work, Mrs. Wei's lunch was also ready.
The rest of the Wei family members returned one after another. Except for Wei Qiming, who was at school in the county town, everyone else was back.
"Come, come, this is for Shumei." As Mrs. Wei served the dishes, she deliberately placed Chun Mian's lunch right in front of her.
Mrs. Wei worried that if she didn't recover properly from her recent miscarriage, her body might suffer lingering health issues. Therefore, ever since Chun Mian returned, she was given extra meals in addition to the regular food. She had millet porridge for breakfast and boiled eggs with brown sugar for lunch.
Nowadays, there were no longer restrictions on households raising chickens. The Wei family kept over ten. Even though the summer weather was hot, the chickens had plenty to forage for and laid many eggs. Chun Mian ate one every day, and there were still leftovers for the rest of the family.
Mrs. Wei knew that giving all the best food to Chun Mian might cause the others to grumble inwardly, even if they didn't voice it aloud. So, every couple of days, the hoarded eggs would appear on the dining table as a shared dish—either scrambled with garlic chives or spring onions.
Living standards had improved quite a bit recently. Aside from the farmland the Wei family cultivated, Old Man Wei also had a knack for carpentry. He could single-handedly craft the family's wardrobes and paint all the beautiful designs on them. The two beautiful wardrobes Wei Shumei had received for her dowry were made by him.
Thanks to this craft, the Wei family's financial situation was among the best in the village. This was also why they could afford to generously subsidize their daughter, afraid that she might suffer hardships.
It was currently the busy farming season, so lunch was prepared quite lavishly. It included an eggplant dressed in garlic sauce, a plate of stir-fried greens with cured meat, a dish of scrambled eggs with garlic chives, a small basin of smashed cucumbers, and a large bowl of tomatoes tossed in sugar.
It truly was a massive bowl. Because the summer heat sapped everyone's appetite, Mrs. Wei purposely prepared a larger portion. The sweet and sour taste was refreshing and appetizing. Of course, Mrs. Wei's heart ached when she sprinkled the sugar. After all, sugar was still expensive in this day and age. But it was the busiest time in the fields. If they wanted to tend to the crops well and earn more money, they had to be willing to invest in keeping up their physical strength. Therefore, she had to sprinkle the sugar, no matter how much it pained her.
"Shumei, eat more. Getting your health back on track is what's important. There's no rush to gather herbs; just take your time," Wei Qifeng said. He figured Chun Mian was likely under a lot of pressure after divorcing and returning to her maiden home. As her eldest brother, his heart naturally ached for her, so he made a point to say a few comforting words before the meal.
Hao Yue smiled gently from the side. "Exactly, Shumei, you have to take good care of your health."
Both Wei Qifeng and Hao Yue were teachers at the village elementary school. They had met through work, found a matchmaker to help tie the knot, and subsequently got married. It was currently the summer holiday for the school, so the two had returned home to help out.
"I know. Thank you, Qifeng. Thank you, Hao Yue," Chun Mian replied, pursing her lips in embarrassment.
In truth, she felt no emotional stirrings. She had never experienced familial love from her relatives in the past, so she found Wei Qifeng and Hao Yue's concern very unfamiliar, and even puzzling. In the past, her relatives would either compare themselves to her, hurl abuse at her, or try to squeeze every last drop of value out of her. Chun Mian had never received this kind of genuine care before. Because she had never experienced it, she was somewhat at a loss internally. However, she was always very composed and wouldn't let these feelings show on the surface.
The family sat together and enjoyed a pleasant lunch.
Mrs. Wei kept a watchful eye and didn't let Chun Mian eat anything cold. Although it was just a recovery period for her miscarriage—and the village might not be as particular about it—she was still her own daughter, and Mrs. Wei's heart ached for her. Even though Chun Mian was recovering well now, in Mrs. Wei's eyes, she hadn't finished her confinement month yet. If she consumed anything cold and developed a lingering ailment, it would be too late for regrets.
Chun Mian obediently refrained from eating those things.
After the meal, Wei Shuxiang nimbly went to help out. Chun Mian stared at her retreating back, slightly lost in thought. This young girl had always been very good to Wei Shumei. Even after Shumei got married, Shuxiang frequently visited her older sister and often brought things along. Shuxiang had married well. Her husband's family was well-off and doted on her, which gave her the means to subsidize her eldest sister more often. However, just how many of those good things actually ended up in Wei Shumei's stomach, and how many were truly worn on her body, was something only the Gao family knew best.
It was a bit of a pity for such a wonderful girl to be buried in obscurity like this. Although she would marry well in the future, it never hurt to read more books. But Chun Mian was still depending on her maiden home for a living and had no say in matters. Even if she had ideas, she still needed to wait.
Over the following period, Chun Mian would go up the mountain every few days to gather medicinal herbs, which she then transplanted into the backyard. To accommodate Chun Mian's feelings, Mrs. Wei had practically uprooted the entire vegetable garden in the backyard, eager to clear out all the space for Chun Mian to plant her herbs. Because of this, the family almost ran out of fresh vegetables over the past few days. Fortunately, the neighbors on both sides were Mrs. Wei's sisters-in-law. Even if they had occasional squabbles, going over to ask for some greens was not a problem.
Aside from gathering herbs, Chun Mian also began preparing to brew liquor at home. The most important step in brewing liquor was, in fact, making the starter culture. Simply put, it meant cultivating specific enzymes.
This wasn't difficult for Chun Mian. After all, if an abandoned child of a prominent family wanted to survive on the backward Seventy-nine Stars, she couldn't afford to lack survival skills. Chun Mian had reverse-engineered various interstellar foods, liquors, and potions, deciphering their formulas and production methods one by one. That way, there was no need to smuggle goods from the Main Star or Developed Stars; she could illicitly produce them herself to turn a profit.
Although during the interstellar era, many tasks had already been directly replaced by robots or modern equipment, one still needed to break down the processes to program the corresponding machines. Therefore, the chemical formulas and production steps all required study. Taking it up again now wasn't hard at all.
By early September, Chun Mian had successfully cultivated the starter culture and began brewing liquor using her family's sorghum. Brewing sorghum liquor required double distillation and took over half a month to complete. The large vats needed for brewing were their own, and she used two vats at once. Because she used a considerable amount of grain, Mrs. Wei's heart trembled with pain.
But what could she say?
Nothing!
She could only clutch her chest, endure the pain in silence, and vent to Old Man Wei in the dead of night.
"Do you think Shumei was traumatized so badly that she's ruining our grain at home like this?" Mrs. Wei didn't really believe Chun Mian could brew liquor. She just thought Chun Mian was triggered by the trauma, so she was destroying things at home to vent her inner depression.