In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 24 Fragrant Fried Chicken

With the ingredients ready, Chen Dao heated the wok. He was going to make stir-fried chicken, which naturally required oil.

Fortunately, there was still some lard left in the kitchen, which Li Ping mainly kept to nourish Chen Dao and Chen Fei.

After heating the wok, Chen Dao added a very small amount of lard, then poured the chicken into the wok and began to stir-fry.

"Zizzizi!"

As soon as the chicken hit the pot, a rich aroma filled the air.

"It's delicious!"

Chen Fei immediately ran to the kitchen door, sniffing the aroma emanating from the kitchen.

Even Li Ping couldn't help but swallow hard; the aroma of the stir-fried meat was simply too tempting.

Chen Dao's cooking skills are certainly not very proficient, but he has no problem stir-frying chicken.

As Chen Dao stir-fried the rice, the aroma in the kitchen grew stronger and stronger. The three people in the room couldn't help but swallow their saliva. The aroma was too overpowering for three people who hadn't eaten meat for many years. It seemed to have awakened the cravings in their stomachs.

The strong aroma in the house only faded a little after the chicken was cooked.

Chen Dao placed the golden-brown stir-fried chicken onto a plate and put it on the kitchen table. Then, he said to Li Ping and Chen Fei, who had been standing by the kitchen door, "Dinner's ready!"

"Aww, time to eat!"

Chen Fei's small feet moved quickly, and she went straight to the table and sat down.

Li Ping also sat down at the table.

Chen Dao served three bowls of steamed rice, placing one in front of each of them, and then said to the two, "Try the chicken I made."

"Eat some meat!"

Chen Fei was undoubtedly the happiest one. She picked up a piece of chicken and stuffed it into her mouth, not caring that it was hot. She chewed while showing a look of ecstasy.

Chen Dao's stir-fried chicken was far from delicious due to the lack of seasoning, but the oily chicken was the most delicious food in the world for Chen Fei, who always ate porridge. She didn't even want to eat rice and kept picking up chicken and stuffing it into her mouth.

"It's so delicious!"

Chen Fei shook her head and uttered indistinct praise.

Chen Dao smiled, picked up a piece of chicken, and put it in his mouth to chew slowly. To be honest, the taste of this chicken, which was only stir-fried with a little oil and salt, was far inferior to the chicken with a lot of spices in his previous life. However, because he lacked oil in his stomach, Chen Dao still found it very delicious.

As he chewed, he said to Li Ping, "Mom, you should eat too! We can't finish a whole chicken between us."

"Mother knows."

Li Ping picked up a piece of chicken and put it in her mouth. A satisfied look flashed across her face, but she didn't eat much. She just chewed slowly, savoring the deliciousness of the chicken.

…………

…………

Just as Chen Dao and his family of three were having dinner.

At Chen Cheng's home, the whole family was having dinner.

Like Chen Dao, Chen Cheng also lost his father at a young age. Moreover, his father passed away even earlier than Chen Ping. Shortly after the birth of Chen Cheng's youngest brother, Chen Cheng's father passed away, leaving his mother, Liu Yan, to raise six children on her own.

Yes, Chen Cheng has as many as six children in his family, with Chen Cheng being the eldest and Chen Ya being the youngest, who is only 9 years old.

Over the years, it has been no easy task for Liu Yan to raise six children on her own. Although she is only in her early forties, Liu Yan's face is full of wrinkles, making her look like a sixty-year-old woman.

Fortunately, Chen Cheng, Chen Shi, and Chen Mu, the three eldest boys, are now adults and can help support the family. Otherwise, it would be difficult for Liu Yan to support six children on her own.

Even so, Chen Cheng's family is still in dire straits. With the cold weather and no harvest from their fields, they have long since run out of food and can only rely on their savings to buy rice husks to eat.

However, today, the rice husks on Chen Cheng's dining table were not the usual rice bran, but some kind of mushy food.

"Mom, why is our food better today?"

Sitting at the dining table, Chen Shi couldn't help but wonder. He naturally recognized the food in the bowl; it was sorghum flour.

This food, which Chen Dao disliked, was already top-notch for Chen Cheng's family; in the past, they had always eaten the cheapest rice husks.

"It's sorghum flour?"

Chen Mu was also very surprised. As an adult, he knew about his family's situation and knew that sorghum flour should never be on his family's table.

"It was given to me by Daoge'er."

Chen Cheng explained with a smile, "Didn't I help escort Daoge'er and Chen Da to the city today? This sorghum flour is their reward to me."

"You only get five catties of sorghum flour for each trip to the city?"

Chen Mu's surprise deepened. "Isn't Dao Ge'er's family too wealthy?"

"Yes!"

Chen Cheng scratched his head sheepishly and said, "We originally agreed with Chen Da that each of us would get two jin of sorghum flour, but Dao Ge'er waved his hand and said he would give each of us five jin."

"Does Chen Daneng agree to this?"

Chen Shi asked with a surprised look, "Chen Da is not a generous person. His generosity is usually only towards Chen Dao's family, and if you include Chen Si and Chen Jiang, Chen Da is quite stingy when it comes to other people in the village."

This is the norm in Chenjia Village nowadays. Everyone is struggling these days, so naturally no one is willing to give away large amounts of grain, even if they are all related by blood or share the same surname.

"I don't know what's going on!"

Chen Cheng said with some doubt, "Chen Da seems to listen to Dao Ge'er quite a bit."

"is it?"

Chen Mu was a little confused.

Chen Shi couldn't help but exclaim, "Brother Dao is such a generous man. He gave us so much sorghum flour after just one trip to the county town. You made the right decision to go to the county town, Brother."

As he spoke, Chen Shi couldn't help but pick up his rice bowl and take a sip of the gruel.

Liu Yan, who had been silent until now, said to Chen Cheng, "Brother Cheng, Dao Ge'er is so good to you, you should listen to Dao Ge'er more often in the village."

Liu Yan was just a rural woman who didn't understand many grand principles, but she knew who was good to her family. Chen Dao was the greatest benefactor to her family, as he gave them five jin of sorghum flour.

In addition...

After hearing Chen Cheng recount his trip to the county town, Liu Yan felt that Chen Dao was a capable person, and that it would definitely be a good idea for her son to spend more time with Chen Dao, or even follow in his footsteps.

After all, although his eldest son was quite tall and strong, he wasn't very bright.

"I understand, Mother."

Chen Cheng nodded solemnly and said, "From now on, I will listen to Dao Ge'er in the village. If he tells me to go east, I will never go west."

"You too."

Liu Yan looked at Chen Shi and Chen Mu: "Please help Daoge'er more in the village in the future."

"Got it, mother."

The grown sons agreed, while the other three underage children ate their gruel with great gusto, paying no attention to what the others were saying.

******

P.S.: After a four-day, five-night power outage due to the typhoon, and five days of primitive living, I'm finally alive!