Shu Shouyi sat bored by the fire, roasting himself for most of the day until the sky darkened and Shu Wanxiu finally stopped working.

“Aunt!”

Shu Wanxiu carried her hoe to the woodpile beside the shed, panting and not yet having time to sit down when Shu Shouyi already came running over and hugged her leg.

The child wasn’t usually this clingy. Shu Wanxiu knew he must have been terribly bored, so she bent down and scooped him up.

“Oh? How did you become a little smudge-face? Your face is covered in black marks.”

His face was streaked with black marks, likely from adding firewood. Shu Wanxiu couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

Even though his aunt was laughing at him, Shu Shouyi didn’t mind, just clumsily raising his hand to wipe his face.

“Don’t bother, let me help you.” Shu Wanxiu easily cleaned his smudged face with a few swipes of her index finger, then discussed with him: “Time to prepare the evening meal. It’s Winter Solstice today, so I plan to make a more lavish spread. Shouyi, would you like small dried fish and shrimp? Or would you prefer salted fish?”

Between the two options, Shu Shouyi didn’t hesitate: “Salted fish!”

When they first processed the fish, Shu Shouyi had disliked the fishy smell. But after consistently helping remove the innards from small fish, he grew accustomed to it. Not only did he no longer feel uncomfortable with the smell of raw fish, but he also craved the salted fish Shu Wanxiu had previously smoked with pine wood.

“Alright!”

Shu Wanxiu pinched Shu Shouyi’s now slightly chubby cheek, put him down, and went to the main room to fetch the salted fish hanging from the roof beam.

It had been nearly two months since they moved into this house. Though Shu Wanxiu hadn’t seen any mice, that didn’t stop her from taking preventive measures early on.

A straw rope thrown over the roof beam hung down, tied to a bamboo basket suspended in mid-air—a common rodent prevention method used by many households.

Since the basket was quite high off the ground, it could sometimes also be used to hide snacks, preventing children in the household from sneaking treats.

The Shu family had no snacks. This elevated hanging basket only stored a few packets of small dried fish and shrimp and two large salted fish.

She went straight for the salted fish. Without much deliberation between the two similarly sized fish, she took one that felt right in her hand. Without using a knife, she used both hands to tear it in half downward from the middle of the fish’s mouth.

To be honest, this method was somewhat strenuous.

But she was no longer the weak, helpless woman who first arrived fleeing famine. After doing physical labor for some time, both her arm strength and hand grip had improved.

After tearing off half, she simply scooped some water to rinse it before putting it in the pot. She added cold water to cover the fish, then set up firewood and lit the fire.

The dried fish softened considerably after one boil. She then used chopsticks to take it out, tore it into strips by hand, added a small amount of dried perilla softened in water, some freshly picked green onions from the garden, mixed everything well, placed it in a bowl, and set it to steam.

To save effort and firewood, Shu Wanxiu cooked porridge at the bottom of the pot while using three chopsticks to create a steaming rack above for the fish, steaming the fish and cooking the porchard simultaneously.

She confidently left the fire-tending to Shu Shouyi and went back to the vegetable garden.

Initially, she had only planned to cook the fish. But after putting the fish on to steam, she suddenly remembered: with the meat dish already prepared, why not add a green vegetable as well?

Standing in front of the Shu family house now, the view was dramatically different from two months ago.

Where wild grass once grew thick, six rectangular vegetable plots had been neatly cultivated. Man-planted green vegetables had completely replaced the messy weeds.

Look—this plot grew Winter Mallow and Chinese Leek, that area had green onions and Coriander. Even the Radish, which took much time to develop roots, and the Napa Cabbage, which formed heads, had quietly matured without anyone noticing.
Shu Wanxiu stood in front of her house every day with nothing to do but gaze at the vegetable plots she had cultivated with her own hands, feeling utterly content.

Walking to the patch of Napa cabbage, she carefully selected the largest head and twisted it off.

Unlike the northern regions, snow arrived later in the south. As Shu Wanxiu carried the cabbage back to the wooden shed, she discovered that a pest had taken the first bite of her pristine produce.

What could she do? She had to suppress her revulsion, using a small stick to flick the large green caterpillar munching on the outer leaves into the fire pit.

She had to pretend to be a Master capable of handling all matters, but four-year-old Shu Shouyi didn’t need to maintain such composure. He scrambled away with dramatic cries, only creeping back after the insect had been consumed by flames to angrily shout: “Bad bug! Stealing our vegetables! Hmph!”

The unsightly bite marks left by the pest were irritating to behold. Shu Wanxiu simply peeled off the damaged outer leaves and tossed them into the recently dug mud pile, saving them to compost later.

After the fish finished steaming and the porridge was cooked, she used the cleaned pot with minimal water and salt. Once boiling, she added the washed and sectioned Napa cabbage, letting it simmer for few minutes – thus completing her second boiled vegetable dish.

With just the two of them, they couldn’t be bothered to move to the main hall for their meal. Instead, they placed their bowls on a small stool and sat around the fire pit, each holding their rice bowl while enjoying this substantial evening meal.

The dancing flames drove away the cold. Outside, a light wind began to blow, carrying with it pattering snow pellets.

“It’s snowing…” Shu Wanxiu murmured around a bite of salted fish, looking up.

The sky grew increasingly dark, suggesting today’s snowfall wouldn’t remain limited to these small pellets.

Either a heavy snowstorm was approaching, or these tiny pellets were merely heralds for heavier snowfall.

The pit behind the house was nearly complete. After eating, Shu Wanxiu hurriedly carried mud and other materials in a winnowing basket to dump into the pit. Then she used wild grass cut and dried from the mountains to cover the less cold-resistant vegetables in her garden.

Her prediction proved correct – as she finished washing up after completing her tasks, feather-like snowflakes began drifting slowly from the sky.

This kind of snow excited children. Shouyi jumped around outside catching snowflakes in his palm, while down in the village, children could be heard shouting “It’s snowing!” as they ran to call their friends to come see the snow.

Shu Wanxiu waited until Shouyi’s excitement subsided, made sure he warmed himself thoroughly by the fire, then shooed him off to the bedroom. She followed shortly after, carefully banking the embers before leaving.

At night, both wore padded clothing to sleep, covered by a thin Reed Catkins quilt with an additional layer of straw piled on top.

Beneath them, instead of mattresses, they used spread straw for warmth.

When they first arrived, the windows had only straw curtains which worked fine against mosquitoes during summer and autumn, but provided poor protection against winter winds.

During her spare time, Shu Wanxiu had woven two additional layers of such curtains. The draft problem was immediately solved.

Later, when several nights brought strong northern winds that blew open the three layers of curtains, she tied two fist-sized stones with straw ropes behind the curtains to weigh them down.

Now, no matter how fiercely the north wind raged outside, it couldn’t disturb them indoors.

The aunt and nephew slept soundly through the night. The next morning, seeing the accumulated snow on the ground with no signs of stopping, Shu Wanxiu finally began to feel a dull sense of alarm.

I’ve bought a new cover and will be changing it in the coming days [Let me see]. Everyone please remember the book title~ Don’t lose track of it on your bookshelves [shrugs]