Chapter 4: Era of Scarcity - Enchantress Translations

Enchantress4-5 minutes 17.01.2022

Zhao Xiulan noticed her younger sister.

Zhao Xiuzhu is 6 years old this year. The children of poor families have long been in charge of the household and are very sensible, so children as young as 6 years old can do all kinds of housework.

Just like the original owner, the long-term malnutrition caused the whole person to be thin, with dry and yellowish hair, dark skin and skinny, with bulging eyes, like a monkey.

She was wearing an ill-fitting dress with several patches and holes on it, and it was a little whitish after washing.

Poor, it’s really poor.

In this era, the supplies are scarce, and the Zhao family is also extremely poor.

Looking at Zhao Xiuzhu’s concerned eyes, Zhao Xiulan twitched the corners of her mouth and said with a smile, “I’m okay, Xiuzhu, I feel much better now.”

After hearing Zhao Xiulan’s words, Zhao Xiuzhu breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at all the doors and windows to confirm that no one was there. Then, she secretly took out a piece of wowotou1窝窝头 – wōwōtóu – a kind of bread from her pocket and stuffed it into Zhao Xiulan’s hand.

“Sister, you haven’t eaten for a long time. You can take this wowotou. It was given by the leader of the work team today, and I secretly hid it.” Zhao Xiuzhu whispered.

In the production team, if you go to work every day, you will get something to eat. Some just eat it directly, and some adults are reluctant to eat it, so they will just keep it and take it back for their children to eat.

The wowotou is made with some coarse grains, as well as wild vegetable leaves and stalks, and it tastes a little nauseous.

Even so, in this era of foodstuffs scarcity, what can fill the stomach is a good thing.

Some people do not have enough foodstuffs that even the tree bark on the mountain is good for them. In order to survive, they will go and eat grass, eat tree bark, and even cook and eat their leather belts.

Zhao Xiulan knew some of the history of the 1960s and knew the difficulties of this era. Only when she really came over did she feel the difficulties of this era at firsthand.

***Original translation is from enchantesstranslations.com. Please read it on the translator’s website.

Zhao Xiuzhu was able to keep a wowotou, with the thought of giving her something to eat, which made Zhao Xiulan’s heart feel warm.

“Xiuzhu, you can eat it. You are hungry too, so you don’t need to give it to me.” With just one wowotou, it can’t even fill Zhao Xiuzhu’s hunger.

Looking at her younger sister, who is so thin, Zhao Xiulan wondered how to make her gain weight.

There are supplies in her space, so she is not afraid of getting hungry. However, how to take them out and explain the source is a troublesome thing.

“Sister, you are hungrier than me and sick as well. You should eat this.” Zhao Xiuzhu pushed the bread to Zhao Xiulan again.

“Sister has something to eat!”

Zhao Xiuzhu stared at Zhao Xiulan with her black eyes, obviously a little curious.

Zhao Xiulan pretended to put her hand in her pocket. With a movement of her mind, she had two boiled eggs in her hand, which were still a little warm, and then took them out of her pocket.

“Your sister has two eggs. Come on, Xiuzhu will eat one, and I will eat one too.”

Zhao Xiuzhu was taken aback, then lowered her voice and asked Zhao Xiulan, “Sister, where did you get these eggs?”

In this era, there is no way for you to eat all kinds of food. Eggs are undoubtedly an excellent thing at this time. After Zhao Xiuzhu saw it, her eyes were shining.

Zhao Xiulan smiled slightly, and casually made an excuse, “I picked it up from the haystack. I didn’t tell Auntie Mei and I cooked it secretly. Xiuzhu, let’s eat one for each of us, don’t tell Auntie Mei!”

Although Zhao Xiuzhu is small, she is very shrewd, knowing that if Ma Yumei knows about this good thing, it will definitely not get into their hands.

So, she nodded heavily, “Sister, I got it, I definitely won’t tell Auntie Mei. Great, I haven’t eaten eggs before. The eggs at home are either exchanged for other foodstuffs, or eaten by Auntie Mei and Sister Lijuan, and I heard that eggs are delicious…”