Seeing that the militiamen began to use the slings skillfully, Leo did not intend to stay in this dangerous place, but called the little mouse to go upstream together. He is going to collect fish from the small fish pond he built this morning! Arriving at the small fish pond, the little mouse circled the pond twice, searched the clear shallow water several times, and then stared at Leo: "Where are the fish?" "Yes! Where are my fish?" Leo couldn't believe it. There was not a single fish in the small fish pond of a few square meters. Looking at the little mouse's eyes full of disappointment and loneliness, Leo suddenly felt his face flushed. This isn't right, this is how it's played out on TV. As he thought about it, he set his eyes on the little mouse. The little mouse subconsciously took a step back, but it was too late. Leo grabbed her under his arm and took out a small piece of bread from her pocket. That was the food she had secretly hidden away, preparing to have as breakfast the next day. The little mouse whose food was taken away by Leo stood there helplessly wringing his hands, but he had no intention of resisting at all and was even prepared to be beaten.
"Don't worry, I'll return you double!" Leo comforted him while crushing the bread in his hand into crumbs and sprinkling them into the small fish pond. "Let's go! Go back and eat. Olivia said there's soup tonight. I'll grab you a big bowl!" As the sun set, smoke rose from the camp. Amidst bursts of shouting, the villagers scattered across the wasteland slowly hurried back, and the camp suddenly became lively. Three large pots were set up outside the kitchen tent in the center of the camp, with thick soup cooking inside and the aroma filling the air. Leo stole two large ceramic bowls from Olivia's truck and stood in front of the big pot. Not only did the surrounding villagers step back, but even the village woman who was in charge of serving the food consciously handed the big spoon in her hand to Leo. However, unlike the previous expressions of disgust, dissatisfaction, or closeness by the villagers, this time there was more suspicion, scrutiny, and admiration in the villagers' eyes. There were bursts of whispers in the crowd, "It's the soul traveling through time! It's the soul traveling through time!" Leo ignored them and stared at the thick soup in the big pot. He stirred it with a big spoon in his hand, trying to scoop out the most delicious part. In Leo's eyes, the thick soup in the pot is called soup, but in fact it is porridge. It is mainly composed of shelled wheat grains, mixed with pickles, radishes, acorns, peas, dried mushrooms, and a snow rabbit caught by a militia scout. It is a "delicious meal" that takes an afternoon to cook. Just looking at its appearance, it is exactly the same as the pig feed cooked by family pig farmers in the 1990s. But for the hungry villagers, this is indeed a rare delicacy, much better than the hard bread that is devoid of nutrition, rough and difficult to swallow. Just this one meal can make me feel like it’s Chinese New Year. In Leo's memory fragments, his village has always had the tradition of eating from a big pot, which is an ancient custom passed down from the Northern Clan period. During every cold and harsh winter, the village chief would every now and then move a large pot to the center of the village, light a bonfire, fill it with snow water, and then throw in a handful of food. All the heads of households in the village would come out and throw in handfuls of food, no matter what it was, no matter how much. When the cauldron is filled and the food is cooked, the headman will distribute the food in the cauldron to all the villagers. This is not only a way for villagers to help each other and work together, but also makes it convenient for the headman to count how many households have frozen to death every week. In good years, you can fish out some meat and bones from it, but in bad years, there is only some clear soup. But no matter what, at least it's better than starving.
When Leo was a child, what he looked forward to most was the appearance of the winter pot, which meant that he would not have to beg or catch mice in the snow to eat that day. When I grew up, I didn't have such high expectations anymore. When I grew up, Leo had become an outlier in the village and had enough survival ability. Most of the time, he was the one who gave back to the villagers. It is true that most villagers disliked and feared him, but there were also some villagers who survived the winter by relying on him to throw a rabbit or deer leg to them every now and then. The little mouse is not the only one in the village who wants to call him dad! During the first half of the migration, everyone ate their own food. In the second half, due to the scarcity of supplies and in order to improve efficiency, Uliyan brought out the village's big pot tradition and changed it to once a day. By the time they arrived at the river bend new development, the remaining villagers had almost run out of food, and the main food in the big pot was provided by Uliyan. Those who still had savings silently handed over all their savings to Olivia for management. Now that we have come this far, we can only choose to believe unconditionally. The pioneer camp of 300 people temporarily returned to the clan society of public ownership. While drinking the Eight Treasures Porridge from another world, Leo boasted to the little mouse in boredom. “Have you ever seen a pie as big as a millstone? It’s sprinkled with almonds, walnuts, and raisins, and topped with cream. When you take a bite, the juice splashes everywhere!” "And the delicious roast suckling pig, with crispy skin and tender bones. Just grab the pig leg and suck it gently, and the meat will go into your mouth!" "Cut the fresh fat mutton into thin slices and blanch it in a thick soup pot..." “…” The little mouse held a large ceramic bowl that was not much smaller than her head, and listened to Leo's description in a daze, drooling all over. After eating the most sumptuous dinner of the month, Leo took the little mouse again and went to see the small fish pond in the twilight, and also brought a big wooden barrel. As soon as he reached the small fish pond, Leo saw the water splashing in the pond. He took two steps forward and blocked the gap leading to the river from the small fish pond. Still a big fish jumped over his arm, leaped into the river and disappeared. "Catch the fish! Catch the fish!" Leo jumped into the small pond excitedly, scaring the wild fish in the pond to jump everywhere. He grabbed a big fish that was struggling hard and almost burst into tears. Finally I can eat a decent piece of meat! Uliyan is right, there are indeed fat fish here that are within easy reach! "We caught a fish! We caught a fish!" The little mouse also jumped into the water excitedly, "Ugh!" She was so excited that she sat down on the shore and vomited a mouthful of thick porridge! The thick soup in the evening was so delicious that she couldn't bear to give up even a single bite and even licked the bowl with her throat raised. Looking at the thick porridge slowly flowing into the water, the little mouse fell into thought, as if considering whether to eat it back. Leo slapped her on the back of the head, "Catch the fish! They've all run away!" The small dam built previously was not high, and the frightened wild fish were surprisingly strong, and several of them had already jumped back into the river.
Leo was not a gentleman at all. Every time he caught a fish, he would throw it hard onto the rock. The little mouse, who had been struggling in the water for a long time without catching any fish, went ashore obediently and put the dead fish into the wooden barrel. A bucket full of fish! As Leo returned with the bucket, he warned the little mouse beside him: "Tomorrow I will give you grilled fish and fresh fish soup. Don't steal raw fish!" At night, Leo heard the little mouse mumbling in his sleep: "Dad, are we having grilled fish tomorrow?" "Yeah, let's eat grilled fish." "Dad, do you want fish soup tomorrow?" "Yeah, fish soup." "Dad, is the roast suckling pig delicious?" Just as Leo was about to explode, he felt a light bite on his calf. It turned out that the little mouse had fallen asleep and had been talking in his sleep.