Su Qiao swallowed.
She had been so hungry that her stomach had been growling for ages.
If going out now would not attract so much attention, she would have gone hunting in the mountains.
After setting the large bowl of food on the table, Zhou Lihua took a firestarter from her clothes, lit the kerosene lamp on the wall, then pulled two cornmeal buns from her jacket pocket and handed them to Su Qiao. "You can't forget your mother whenever there's something tasty in the future, understand?"
Su Qiao took them and swallowed more than half of one in a single bite. She nodded indistinctly. "Okay."
Zhou Lihua stared at the oily food in the large bowl and swallowed. "Then... that chicken leg..."
"For you."
Su Qiao picked up a chicken leg and stuffed it straight into her wide mouth.
"My daughter keeps her word. She said she'd give her mother a chicken leg, and she gave me one."
The rich, meaty flavor filled Zhou Lihua's mouth, and she immediately broke into a broad smile. Grabbing the chicken bone, she began gnawing on it.
"Sis, I want a chicken leg too."
Little Haozi shoved the door open and rushed in, staring at the large bowl in Su Qiao's hands while swallowing repeatedly.
Zhou Lihua did not even care that her hands were greasy. She reached out and pushed her son back outside. "Go, go, go. Get out of here. This is for your sister to regain her strength. Don't you know that?"
"Your sister is the family's great hero this time. She went to a huge amount of trouble to bring your grandfather back. When she got home, both her legs were trembling, and she could barely stand."
Little Haozi knew there was no point begging his mother, so he