A Happy Family

They lit a fire and set the meat over it.

At the entrance to the Cao family's shelter, Liu Chunying beamed as she used a knife to divide the enormous crow wing into pieces.

Beside her, Liu Xiuxiu lit the fire and got the salt ready.

Dabao and Xiaobao stood there holding bowls, their eyes shining as they waited to be fed.

"Sizzle!"

The crow wing still had a layer of skin on it, and the oil sizzled as it cooked over the flames, filling the air with fragrance!

The last time I ate a Rotten Crow wing was three years ago, when my husband was still alive. But even that wing wasn't this big.

Liu Chunying thought as she roasted the meat.

She couldn't help swallowing. Though she was already a mother of two, she was only twenty-four.

Rotten Crow wings were delicious, but expensive. The family had never bought such extravagant meat.

"You... what are you doing? Roasting... roasting meat again so early in the morning?"

Just then, the neighboring Song couple were about to light a fire to cook their wild vegetables when the smell of meat reached them again, making them look over.

When they saw the meter-long crow wing, their mouths fell slightly open, and they asked in a jumble of words.

"Yes, our Fengqi hunted some Rotten Crows. He insisted on eating them this morning."

Liu Xiuxiu glanced at the Song couple, a faint smile appearing on her face as she replied with a touch of humblebragging, "There was nothing we could do but let him have his way."

Liu Xiuxiu had once been a very honest, down-to-earth woman of the early eighties, with little guile in her.

But after seeing the Song couple's true colors over the past few years, even she was deliberately showing off now, simple as she was.

"Hmph!"

Liu Chunying raised her brows and gave an even louder snort.

"Your second son hunted those Rotten Crows?"

Song Qianyuan's expression shifted slightly. He looked at the Rotten Crow meat and forced a smile, chuckling insincerely. "Heh, your second son has really made something of himself now."

"Just good luck, that's all."

At that moment, Cao Fengqi strolled out of the shelter, took a bite of the Earth Abundance Fruit in his right hand, and smiled as he glanced at them, his words dripping with sarcasm.

He held a small bag in his left hand, with four Earth Spirit Fruits inside, and handed it to Dabao and Xiaobao. "Here, Dabao, Xiaobao, have some fruit before the meal."

"Oh?"

Dabao stared at the Earth Abundance Fruit with wide, round eyes and reached out to take one. "Uncle, what's this?"

"Uncle, is this fruit?"

Xiaobao's little mouth fell slightly open, and her face was full of surprise as she called out.

"Just eat it."

Cao Fengqi smiled, then held the bag out to his mother and sister-in-law.

Liu Xiuxiu and Liu Chunying were stunned again when they saw the fruit he offered them.

"An Earth Abundance Fruit? It can even increase constitution?"

Looking at the fruit's attributes, Liu Chunying hurriedly shook her head. "You and Dad should eat them. You're the pillars of the family."

Cao Fengqi looked a little surprised when she refused.

In his memories, this sister-in-law had married into the Cao family a few years ago. Because his older brother hadn't split off from the family and lived with them, she had often given them dirty looks.

She had even had his older brother send some of the food he obtained to her own family.

In just a few years, his sister-in-law had changed so much.

Her once delicate, pretty, fair face bore signs of hardship, and her curvy figure had grown much thinner.

There were places that hadn't grown thinner, though, and remained amply full.

"Go on, Chunying."

Cao Jiancheng came out holding an Earth Abundance Fruit with a bite taken out of it, the shock still lingering on his face. "Fengqi got dozens of them."

Just now, he too had been utterly shocked when he saw his son take out the fruit.

Then he discovered the materials in the second bedroom and had to take several deep breaths before he recovered.

"D-dozens?"

Liu Chunying's mouth fell slightly open.

Without exaggeration, people would be willing to trade several pounds of level 3 metal materials for a single Earth Abundance Fruit.

Dozens would be enough to feed their whole family for a long time.

Add to that the fifty or sixty pounds of crow wings, and the Calamity Rat meat they had obtained yesterday...

Even when her husband was still alive, this many resources would have been comparable to what he obtained over several months.

She looked at the younger brother-in-law in front of her, who still looked a little young.

Had he really grown up?

Had he become capable?

"Go on, eat."

Liu Xiuxiu was even happier to hear that. She took a fruit and handed it to Liu Chunying, then looked at Cao Fengqi and praised him. "Son, you're amazing."

"Haha, not bad, not bad."

Cao Fengqi smiled, clearly enjoying himself.

"Ahem!"

Off to the side, Song Qianyuan caught his breath and coughed.

Eating meat first thing in the morning was one thing, but fruit before the meal?

Fruit before the meal?

This...

He felt stifled and walked straight back into his house, his face uncomfortable.

"Hey, Old Song, light the fire and cook."

"I'm not hungry. I'm not eating."

He was already full on resentment alone.

"Oh, Auntie Liu, you're eating meat so early in the morning? Did Uncle Cao get his hands on something good?"

"Hehe, no, our Fengqi killed a few Rotten Crows and got some crow wings."

"He actually killed Rotten Crows? Fengqi, that's impressive! You've become capable, haven't you?"

"Tsk, tsk, Uncle Cao, meat first thing in the morning? I'm jealous."

"Haha, we'll make some meat soup at noon and bring you some."

There were many neighbors around the Cao family's shelter, and not all of them were like the Song couple next door.

Many of their neighbors were kind.

Some of them saw the family's lavish breakfast and called out enviously.

Cao Jiancheng and the others responded to them just as warmly, their faces full of smiles.

This feels pretty good too.

Not only did eating meat feel good, being praised and envied felt good too.

Cao Fengqi was only an ordinary person, and he was no exception.

"You first, Uncle."

Dabao handed him a freshly roasted piece and looked up at him with a smile.

"Well, well! Good boy, you're making progress."

Cao Fengqi patted his head, feeling even better.

After the family happily ate breakfast together, they began taking down the shelter and set off on a new journey.

Black snow continued to drift from the sky. It still wasn't very heavy, but it never stopped, worrying many people.

The group of over three hundred thousand continued onward, traveling for more than five hours before stopping.

"Mom, trade some meat for vegetables, and get some seasonings if you can. Make a couple more dishes later."

As Cao Fengqi and Cao Jiancheng put up the shelter, he gave his mother instructions.

"A few more dishes? We should save what we can. There's no need to be so wasteful."

"No need to save. If we run short of food, I'll go look for more in the Lost Land. I need strength to have the energy to explore."

"But..."

Liu Xiuxiu hesitantly looked at her husband. She had grown used to being frugal over the past few years and found her son's free spending a little hard to accept.

"Go trade for some. We have plenty of food at home now, and our son needs to replenish his strength to explore."

Cao Jiancheng thought of the metal materials in the room and spoke to his wife.

Liu Xiuxiu said no more.

For lunch, she stir-fried a dish and traded for a few steamed buns.

Of the whole family, only Cao Fengqi had two steamed buns in his bowl, along with a large bowl filled with vegetables and a serving of soup made from the crow wing bones left over that morning.

He glanced at the food his parents and sister-in-law had. It would fill them halfway at most.

Cao Fengqi said nothing. The uncertain future made them instinctively want to conserve their food.

"I'm going to the Lost Land."

As soon as he finished eating, Cao Fengqi took an Earth Abundance Fruit and bit into it. He rubbed Xiaobao's head beside him. "I'll go find you something tasty."

"Go, Uncle!"

The bright and sensible Xiaobao raised her little fist to cheer him on.

Cao Fengqi smiled and went straight into the second bedroom.

He really does seem to have changed.

Liu Chunying watched the figure of her cheerful, confident brother-in-law and thought to herself.

In the past, her brother-in-law would go looking for Wu Qianqian after eating and fool around with some companions.

It seems what the books say is true: great disasters, hardships, joys, and sorrows can make people grow and change quickly...