Her Cultivation Diary

Chapter 34: 34. Qiaoqiao’s Pig Mom_1

Aunt-in-law clearly didn’t take this seriously.

After all, who hasn’t eaten dumplings before? But she didn’t argue either, just looked at the dumplings that were ready and started to worry:

“There are too many of them; I’m afraid they won’t all fit in the fridge.”

Song Sancheng took a look: “It should be fine. There are so many of us tonight, we’ll probably eat three hundred of them!”

Aunt-in-law nearly rolled her eyes—three hundred dumplings?

Usually, eating dumplings, at most, you’d eat twenty or thirty.

Now with just eight people in total, he dared to boast like that?

It seemed Song Tan’s vegetable selling wasn’t all that reliable after all.

But as for Uncle, an experienced dumpling enthusiast, he was quite in agreement: “Let’s cook a pot to fill our stomachs first.”

So the men went to the car to load up the straw, Wu Lan sat in front of the stove slowly making fire, and also began to give pointless directions:

“Boil a few more… add a few more—don’t rush to put them in the fridge, eat first!”

The insistence was so strong; not boiling a few extra would make it seem like you weren’t inviting people to eat their fill. Aunt-in-law muttered to herself, yet eventually she cooked a full pot of dumplings.

In the rural stove, a pot like that could hold a hundred or so dumplings!

Straw isn’t heavy at all, just needing to be moved from the stack to the car. Soon, the back of the car was piled full.

And by that time, the dumplings were ready.

Uncle took a deep breath and washed his hands in astonishment: “This shepherd’s purse really is top-notch, so fragrant! Mom, eat more.”

Then he took his first bite.

For a moment, the entire dining room fell silent.

Just… how to describe it?

Uncle thought for a long time, unwilling to swallow the dumpling filling in his mouth, and then suddenly he was taken back to his childhood, to the times when meat was eaten only once a year…

He couldn’t praise these dumplings enough; in short, they were too delicious!

After Aunt-in-law had a dumpling, she regretted it even more—had she known the dumplings were this tasty, why did she insist on saving them all for her parents just now?

The shepherd’s purse around here definitely doesn’t taste like this!

No wonder it was twenty yuan a pound; truly worth it!

And the elderly grandparents praised them unceasingly, with Grandpa who was in the wheelchair even breaking his routine. After finishing a bowl, he passed it forward: “Serve me a little more.”

This time it was Wu Lan who cooked the second pot, but since the old folks were advanced in age, she only served a few more than usual:

“Dad, Mom, don’t rush, eat slowly. There’s more for tomorrow. Don’t overeat today.”

Grandpa, with his hearty appetite and good mood, even said to Song Tan: “Our Tantan, she’s born to farm!”

The comment was met with unanimous agreement.

Wu Lan, refreshed and proud, said: “See, the vegetables Tantan grows taste good, right? I told you, with her being so good at her studies, she wouldn’t be any less at farming!”

Song Tan: A qualified tool shouldn’t speak when it’s not necessary to.

…

Full and content.

The family of four took advantage of the night to head home, the car lone on the winding mountain road. The window slightly open, the cool night breeze caressed their faces, doing nothing to dampen the heat in Wu Lan’s heart.

She remembered Aunt-in-law’s expression of regret and reluctance, and then thought of the long-unseen satisfaction and comfort on the faces of Song Tan’s grandparents. At that moment, she suddenly understood why her daughter, every time she got fresh vegetables, insisted on eating them herself!

Because some happiness really can’t be measured by money.

…

After that night, Wu Lan became especially motivated.

The very next morning, just as dawn broke, she urged Song Sancheng to quickly spread the straw in the courtyard to dry it again. She hurried to mix two more buckets of disinfectant and sprayed the pigsty once more, even specifically checking the manure pit.

With everything ready, she then called and hurriedly arranged for the piglets to be delivered.

By the time Qiaoqiao came to his senses, he saw that his eagerly anticipated Peppa was nowhere to be found. Instead, in the pigsty, warmed by the sun, lay five piglets, three white and two black.@@novelbin@@

The five piglets were undoubtedly adorable, with their large, moist, round noses that were also clean. Their small, plump bodies emitted “hmm hmm” sounds from their tender voices.

But…

Aside from taking a closer look at the skin of the two white pigs, which could show some pinkness, there was no resemblance to Qiaoqiao’s Peppa.

Qiaoqiao stood dumbfounded for half a moment, then suddenly burst out crying with an “aow”: “My Peppa, my Qiao Zhi, my pig mommy… they’re all gone… all gone…”

The pigs in the pigsty were momentarily stunned, grunting a couple of times, curiously looking at him with their pinkish round noses; their black, beady eyes filled with animation.

With his dreams shattered over many days and now wailing, Song Tan had no choice but to resort to her trump card:

“Sweetie, don’t cry, no more tears—if there’s no Peppa or Qiao Zhi, can we watch something else? Next time I go to the city, I’ll buy you a plush toy, okay?”

“For now, let’s not watch it, let’s change it up—have you seen Ultraman, Diago? Let’s start watching this from today.”

Ultraman toys are much easier to come by.

She sighed with relief.

Qiaoqiao cried intermittently, gasping for breath, while on the other side, Wu Lan couldn’t help but smile with a sense of triumph, adding fuel to the fire:

“Come, Qiaoqiao, didn’t you want to sleep with your pig mommy? Pick one and see which one is your pig mommy?”

Qiaoqiao: …

He cried even louder.

…

The piglets were too young and were transferred to a strange environment, although they seemed perfectly content and even overly fond of it (after all, they were nourished by Spiritual Energy, more or less).

Still, just to be cautious, Wu Lan hurried to prepare a steaming meal for them to eat:

Pumpkins, sweet potatoes, corn kernels, wheat bran, rice bran, leftover rice, and foraged wild vegetable roots—a pot full of aromatic food.

Just smelling it was quite appetizing.

Song Tan thought for a moment, “Mom, I’ll go see how the Milk Vetch tastes in the field? And I’ll pick some more to feed the pigs.”

While shepherd’s purse could be tasted once or twice a year, it had been over a decade since she consumed Milk Vetch.

Wu Lan nodded, “Go ahead, gather more and we can sort it out this afternoon. Aren’t you planning to sell it tomorrow?”

Song Tan shook her head, “I told the customers in the group that I would sell it the next morning, not rush early.”

Milk Vetch was easier to sort than wild vegetables, but it was too delicate. To ensure freshness, it would be best to pick it in the morning and take it straight to the city.

Now that the weather was warmer and there were more wild vegetables, the Milk Vetch previously used for fertilizing the fields and feeding livestock and could sell for twenty yuan a kilo, Wu Lan had her doubts.

But she didn’t object—her praise of her daughter’s farming skills the day before had gone to such an extent that she had somewhat brainwashed herself by the morning, always feeling—

Maybe there really is something different?

Song Tan, with a face covered in tear marks, took Qiaoqiao with her to the field, holding a basket. The fresh tender green leaves and delicate stems—she could hardly bear to step on them. With a pinch of the stem, a light twist and a clump of green and oily plant was in her hand.

Qiaoqiao found a new fun activity, thinking that pulling up the plants was very interesting. Thus, he immediately forgot about his pig mommy and started working with giggles and chuckles.