Siheyuan: The Era of Struggle

Chapter 3: Going out to find food
After finishing the meal his mother left for him, Yang Ning still felt hungry. After all, in order to catch up with his previous progress, he had just turned on the super brain mode for three hours.

"It seems I have to go out and find food myself."

He didn't dare touch the food at home as they were all counted. If something was missing for unknown reasons, the careful Yang Liu would definitely notice it at first glance.

If you don’t figure out where the missing food goes, the whole family will have no peace.

Only those who have experienced that era know how precious food is. So the situation of sharing food at the dinner table like in Teacher Yan's family in the original book is definitely the norm in ordinary families, and the person responsible for distributing food is the hostess of the house.

If a woman has the power to distribute food at the dinner table, her status in the family will definitely be second only to the male owner, which is the highest.

In other words, Teacher Yan's family went a little too far later on. Once family affection is all about money, it will be tainted by the smell of copper and no longer pure.

Because it was still late spring, the winter chill in the air had not yet completely dissipated. Yang Ning wore a gray coat with several patches on it and black cloth shoes that exposed his big toe. After locking the door, he walked outside.

"Ouch!"

I hadn't taken a few steps when I noticed that the soles of my feet were hurting.

Yang Ning leaned against the wall and lifted up his foot to take a look. He found that a thumb-sized hole had been worn out on the heel of his shoe, and only a thin layer was left on the forefoot.

"Xiao Ning, are you going out?"

When Yang Ning heard someone asking him questions, he put down his legs and saw that it was Teacher Yan who was wearing glasses. At this time, the legs of Teacher Yan's glasses were not bandaged yet, and he was not too old.

"He is a gentleman!" Yang Ning couldn't help but sigh at Teacher Yan's temperament. After all, the literary talent of the whole courtyard now depends on Teacher Yan alone.

"Well, school will resume soon. I'll go to my classmate's house to ask about the situation."

It might be a deliberate arrangement. Yang Ning found that in every courtyard nearby, there was at least one person who could read and write. The role of these people was to convey the policies and orders from above to the neighbors. Even at that time, they could not punish without teaching.

Teacher Yan's family can be classified as a small property owner in the future, and now they still have some assets.

At that time, material rationing had not yet been implemented, so he was not interested in tasting the saltiness of the manure truck passing by the door. However, he was still happy to take advantage of it, so he set his sights on Yang Ning, whose parents both had jobs.

Everyone knows that the original owner was a rough guy, and he was very face-conscious. As long as he opens his mouth, this rough guy will probably not refuse.

"Why are you asking others? Have you forgotten that I am the teacher?"

As he said this, he was about to pull Yang Ning back, intending to have a good chat with him.

I solved the problem for him, how could he not let me take something away?
But Yang Ning is no longer the Yang Ning of the past, and Yang Ning is not really asking about going back to school, he is just really hungry!
Just as Teacher Yan held Yang Ning's hand, his stomach made a "gurgling" sound, like the cry of a big toad, or as if someone was squeezing out a loud fart through a groove.

"Uh~" Teacher Yan looked at Yang Ning in surprise: "You didn't eat?"

Yang Ning was also embarrassed at this time, and said with a red face: "I ate, but I'm not full."

Then Yang Ning calmed down and looked at Teacher Yan with a smile: "Teacher Yan, you see, they are all neighbors, how about I go to your house to get some food?"

Upon hearing this, Teacher Yan's face fell, and he let go of Yang Ning's hand. He said unhappily, "How dare you come to our house? There are five people in our family, and one is still breastfeeding. How can we have extra food?"

Well, it seems there is no chance of taking advantage of him. He is indeed a cunning man.

In that case, who has the time to chat with you?

Yang Ning took off his shoes and knocked the gravel inside.

The smell was so choking that Mr. Yan, a cultured person, took several steps back and almost fell on his butt.

Yang Ning glanced at Teacher Yan’s blushing face, quickly put on his shoes, and ran out.

"Tsk, so picky!" It's true, although Yang Ning paid more attention to personal hygiene after traveling across time, the original owner might have been marinated. Even when Yang Ning was walking on the road, he could smell the faint salty smell emanating from his shoes.

"Old Liu!"

Following my memory, I came to a fried liver stall that was about to close and shouted.

A figure who was bending over to tidy up the stall stood up and when he saw Yang Ning, he dropped the work in his hands and walked over over a few small tables.

"Brother Ning, you are here?"

Old Liu is actually a boy who looks about the same age as Yang Ning, but a little thinner. His full name is Liu Laigui, and he is Yang Ning's childhood friend.

At this time, the dark-faced uncle who was preparing food for his family in front of the stove greeted Yang Ning warmly after seeing him: "Ningzi, please sit down first. I'll be ready soon."

As he spoke, he grabbed a handful of pork liver, large intestine and other ingredients and threw them into the pot, and also added a few spoonfuls of soup.

"Uncle Liu, what are you busying about? I just came over and sat down with you." Yang Ning said politely after seeing that Uncle Liu had already put the ingredients into the pot.

"Haha~" Uncle Liu laughed heartily after seeing Yang Ning's expression, and kept stirring the fried liver in the pot with his hands.

"The stalls are closed now. If we don't eat the remaining ones, we'll give them away. Why are you being so polite?"

"Then I won't be shy, okay? Uncle Liu, please put more in. My appetite has increased in the past two days."

Seeing that Uncle Liu had guessed his thoughts, Yang Ning did not pretend and shouted to Uncle Liu with a smile.

“Okay~” Uncle Liu simply poured all the remaining ingredients into the pot. It seemed that there were five or six portions left today.

Yang Ning's meal was not in vain. While waiting for the fried liver to come out of the pot, he helped Uncle Liu clean up the stall. By the time the two of them finished cleaning up the stall, Uncle Liu was already sitting at the table that had been specially reserved, holding a bowl of fried liver and eating it with steamed buns.

"It's in the pot, take a bowl and help yourself."

"Got it!"

Yang Ning didn't hesitate to pick up the bowl and filled it for himself. He finished it in a few mouthfuls. After his stomach felt a little better, Yang Ning filled another bowl for himself.

When Yang Ningsheng finished his third bowl, he found that the surroundings were very quiet.

Yang Ning held the spoon and looked at the Liu family father and son who were staring at him with wide eyes, with an embarrassed look on his face: "Um, did I eat a little too much?"

"Uncle didn't mean that." Seeing that Yang Ning seemed to have misunderstood, Uncle Liu put down his bowl and chopsticks, stared at Yang Ning for a while, and then said: "How long has it been since you last had a meal? I'm afraid you'll get sick from eating like this."

“Hehe…” Yang Ning filled his bowl, brought it over and sat down again, stirring the fried liver in the bowl while explaining: “I just have a big appetite recently, maybe I’m growing.”

"Are you really okay?" Uncle Liu still didn't quite believe it.

"It's really okay!" Yang Ning patted his chest to show that he was fine.

"It's best to go to the hospital for a check-up. If nothing goes wrong, that's the best. But if there is something wrong, don't delay."

Uncle Liu finally gave another warning out of concern.

After having a good meal at Uncle Liu's place, Yang Ning felt embarrassed to just leave, so he and Old Liu helped push the food cart towards Uncle Liu's house, at least to see things through to the end.

"Wait a minute, little comrade."

Yang Ning was following the food cart with his head down, helping to push the cart, when he suddenly felt a figure approaching.

(End of this chapter)