Blessed Girl From a Farm Family: Surviving the Famine With Space - Chapter 16

Seeing the smile on Fu Manman’s face and her teasing tone, Fu Qiang was a bit bewildered. Fu Manman would never smile at him like that or crack jokes.

When she was happy, she was fierce; when she was unhappy, she became even fiercer, shouting and screaming.

She had never been willing to hold Little Maodan, finding it tiring and troublesome. Every time, it was either him or Fu An taking turns to carry and care for Little Maodan.

“I know how to hold him. Little brother is hungry—I’ll cook some rice porridge for him.” He hadn’t eaten all night—would Little Maodan starve to death?

“Alright, hold your brother carefully. I’ll go cook the porridge,” Fu Manman said, gently handing the baby to Fu Qiang.

Fu Qiang took the baby and quickly lifted the cloth to check his breathing.

He was still alive! Thank goodness. And Little Maodan was sleeping soundly.

Then he noticed something: the baby was wearing clothes? But… hadn’t Little Maodan been naked before? He didn’t have any clothes on.

Fu Manman watched his subtle movements and cleared her throat lightly. “Hold your brother properly. Don’t fuss around, or he’ll catch a cold. It’d be bad if he got sick.”

Fu Qiang froze and quickly tightened Little Maodan’s swaddling clothes.

Seeing that he stopped investigating, Fu Manman felt slightly relieved.

This younger brother didn’t talk much and was deep-minded, especially with those eyes—so profound! He had a maturity that didn’t match his age.

Who knew if he’d be easy to fool?

Well, whatever! They were family. Even if he discovered something, would he go around telling people his sister was a monster?

That would be asking for trouble!

Fu Manman decided it didn’t matter. Behind closed doors, anything could be explained away within the family!

Right now, she needed to cook the porridge. She had been drenched in the rain and was freezing. Having some warm rice porridge would be comforting!

Plus, she needed to dry the wet quilt by the fire.

Fu Manman watched as Fu An efficiently set up a small iron pot. The water in the pot was rainwater collected from outside.

This younger brother was quite good—hardworking and calling her “sister” so sweetly. She liked him.

“An’an, help me with something,” Fu Manman said to Fu An.

“Uh… Sis, what do you need me to do?” Fu An felt like his sister seemed even more different today.

She never used to call him “An’an”—she always called him Fu An directly.

But no matter what, if his older sister asked him to do something, he had to do it.

If his older sister was unhappy, she would go crazy and hit people.

“Help me use those long wooden sticks to build a frame,” Fu Manman said, pointing to the pile of firewood in the cave.

Fu An nodded. Although he didn’t know what it was for, he knew he just had to obey.

Fu Manman and Fu An worked together and soon built a wooden frame—a bridge-like structure that didn’t require any ropes but was very sturdy.

She had studied architecture in college and thought she would become an architectural designer. In the end, she was tricked by a scumbag and her stepsister into dropping out of school, becoming a useless person who handed over the family’s vast fortune to others.

Fortunately, she hadn’t forgotten the knowledge she’d learned back then.

Fu Manman placed the quilt on the wooden frame near the fire. The residual heat would dry the moisture from the quilt.

Fu An was first curious about the wooden frame, then gasped in amazement at the unfolded quilt.

“Wow! What is this? It’s so big!” Fu An had never imagined it was a quilt.

Before they fled the famine, back in their hometown, the family only had one quilt—a homespun cloth stuffed with reed flowers. It wasn’t warm, shed reed flowers, and became stiff over time.

“This is a quilt. We’ll use it to cover ourselves when we sleep tonight,” Fu Manman explained, then asked, “Where’s the rice?”

“In that bundle,” Fu An pointed to a black cloth-wrapped package.

Fu An crouched beside the quilt, gently stroking it.

So soft… If they could sleep under this tonight, wouldn’t it be incredibly warm?

Big sister was really lucky—she’d found a treasure.

“Brother, come quick, look at this blanket! It’s so big and soft! We can use it to sleep tonight—we won’t have to freeze anymore.”

Fu Qiang’s face remained calm, but inside, he was stunned. A cotton blanket this large was a treasure in these chaotic times.

But what shocked him even more were the things he saw Fu Manman pulling out from the blanket—all neatly arranged in a dark corner.

He vaguely caught sight of some strange bottles and containers.

Had she found those too? What were they?

“Why is there so little rice left?” Fu Manman exclaimed in surprise, looking at the nearly empty rice bag.

There had been quite a bit yesterday—how had it dwindled to so little? After this meal, there would be nothing left.

Fu An, who had been crouching by the blanket, immediately grew fearful and nervous, waving his hands frantically, “Sis, we didn’t steal any! The rice bag got torn on a branch along the way. By the time I noticed, only a little was left.”

As he spoke, Fu An began to cry, too afraid to look at Fu Manman.

“Don’t hit Fu An. If you want to hit someone, hit me,” Fu Qiang stepped in front of Fu An, glaring coldly at Fu Manman.

Why did they keep saying she hit people? Was she that kind of person? She was gentle and kind ok!

“It’s fine. We won’t have rice porridge tonight—I’ll cook something delicious for you instead,” Fu Manman said casually, scooping out a small handful of rice to cook some porridge for Little Maodan later.

She could mix the rice porridge with a little powdered milk. By stretching both, they could last a few more days. Once she figured out how to get back into the space, she would bring out more supplies.

Then, food and drink wouldn’t be a worry for the rest of their journey.

Fu An, who had been crying just moments before, stopped his tears instantly at the mention of something delicious. “Eat… eat what?” he asked excitedly.

The moment food was mentioned, his stomach growled loudly, and he couldn’t help but salivate.

“Noodles. Delicious noodles,” Fu Manman said, putting the rice into the water to boil. Then she went to the corner where she had hidden the instant noodles.

The packaging was too modern—she needed to keep it hidden from her brothers for now, so they wouldn’t be too scared to eat it.

As Fu Manman went to get the noodles, Fu An craned his neck to look and said, “Sis, we don’t have any noodles at home.”

Noodles were something they only ate during the New Year. He could barely remember the taste—it had been years since he’d had any.

For the past two years, with floods and droughts, there had been no grain, let alone noodles.

“Have you gone mad from hunger? Dreaming about noodles!” Fu Qiang snorted coldly, his voice low but still audible to Fu Manman.

This younger brother clearly had issues with her.

She wondered why.

Fu Manman had many questions, but now wasn’t the time to ask. Her priority was to fill everyone’s stomachs.

While the two weren’t paying attention, she tore off the plastic packaging from the instant noodles, wrapped the noodle block in cloth, and brought it over. “Look, I found this too—along with the blanket.”

Fu An and Fu Qiang stared blankly at the noodle block in front of them. Though it looked strange, it smelled delicious, and it was clearly made of flour.

“N-noodles…” Fu An couldn’t help but swallow hard.

His eyes widened, his stomach growled, and he desperately wanted to take a bite.

(End of Chapter)