Seeing Yang Chuxia staring wide-eyed, Yang Qingtong instinctively tensed up, "No, sister, I misspoke." Then he took a step closer, grabbing Yang Chuxiaâs arm and pleading, "Sis, I want to eat at your house tonight. You donât know how bad the food is at the academy. I havenât had meat in a month, really!"
"Back in our day, our family couldnât afford to eat meat even once a year." Yang Chuxia gave him a sideways glance, "Little brother, youâve only gone without meat for a month, and youâre already complaining?"
"Hehe, sis, times have changed." Yang Qingtong blinked his beautiful eyes, "When thereâs meat, eat meat; when thereâs grass, eat grass. We must adapt to the situation. We must endure hardship when itâs time for hardship, but not when itâs not. Only a fool would do that."
"Haha..." Yang Chuxia laughed, "You sure have a lot of twisted logic. Fine, you can eat at my house tonight. The mothers are still making osmanthus cakes."
Yang Qingrui, however, spoke seriously, "Sis, ask the mothers to make some extra cakes, they look good. Iâll take some back for our teachers and classmates later."
"Thatâs no problem, you sit down and Iâll go talk to them."
As Yang Chuxia was about to leave, Yang Qingtong started to read out a menu from behind her, "Braised pork, oil-braised shrimp, hairy crabs, Wangquan roast chicken, sauce elbow..."
"Bang..." Before he could finish, Yang Qingruiâs smack landed on his head, "All the things mom wonât let you eat, are you trying to harm our sister?"
Hearing the words, Yang Chuxiaâs steps came to a halt, "Whatâs going on? What happened to Qingtong?"
Yang Qingrui glanced sharply at Yang Qingtong before saying, "Sis, donât listen to his menu. He caught a chill at the academy, and his stomach hasnât been good for days. The doctor told him to eat light meals for a few days, and I just told mom. Since she wonât let him eat meat, heâs come to you."
"Bro..." Yang Qingtong blinked innocently, "Iâm all better now."
"Nope, the doctor said so." Yang Qingrui spoke without even looking at him.
Seeing that Yang Qingrui was ignoring him, Yang Qingtong ran to Yang Chuxia and shook her sleeve, "Sis, I really am better. Talk to my brother, heâs fussing over me every day."
"Fussing over you is for your own good." Yang Chuxia patted his head, "Alright, donât be too upset. I just happen to have a nanny who knows some medicinal cuisine. Iâll ask her to make you some light meat porridge tonight."
"Hehe, my sister is the best."
"You were just complaining about me being annoying." Yang Chuxia couldnât stand his ingratiating behavior, so she headed to the kitchen first. She told Liâs mother to make some light meat porridge for the evening and some dishes that Yang Qingrui liked.
That evening, the three siblings ate dinner together. Liâs motherâs medicinal meal was very good, and Yang Qingtong enjoyed it. It satisfied his craving for meat, and the meal wasnât bitter at all.
~~~~
Very few people in Wangquan Town celebrated Chongyang Festival. Some larger households would set up banquets for a token celebration, but ordinary farmers would definitely not do so.
Early in the morning, Yang Chuxia sent people to deliver chrysanthemum and osmanthus cakes to the relatives in the village, saying they were for Chongyang Festival. The villagers were quite amazed by the gesture.
After the Chongyang Festival, Yang Qingrui and his brother returned to the academy. Yang Chuxia, as promised, sent them several packs of chrysanthemum cakes and a few packs of osmanthus cakes. They also took some extra jars of the familyâs drunken crab and shrimp. According to them, anything less wouldnât be enough to share.