TATLC Chapter 10 – The More We Eat, the More We Have

TLN: “越吃越多” (yuè chī yuè duō) is a Chinese expression that means “the more you eat, the more you want to eat” or “the more you eat, the more there seems to be.” It captures the idea of a food being so delicious or abundant that your desire for it increases as you consume it.

Ever since Lu Lin took over the cooking, Chen Xiaomi stepped back completely.

Chen Xiaomi’s talents were all in hunting; cooking really wasn’t his strong suit. Before tasting Lu Lin’s cooking, it hadn’t bothered him, but after experiencing Lu Lin’s food, Chen Xiaomi couldn’t help but feel a little disdain for his own skills.

After Lu Lin made yam porridge just once, all three Chen brothers couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Chen Xiaomi took the initiative to ask Lu Lin to go with him into the mountains to dig up more yams for porridge, and Lu Lin happily agreed.

When they reached where the yams grew, Chen Xiaomi left Lu Lin there and ventured deeper into the mountains.

With Chen Xiaomi gone, Lu Lin took out a knife about twenty centimeters long from his convenience store to dig up the yams. With such a fine tool, Lu Lin worked quickly.

Before long, he dug up two large yams.

Since they couldn’t eat too many yams at once, Lu Lin also gathered some wild vegetables and mushrooms, tossing everything into his basket.

When Lu Lin had collected enough, he didn’t wait for Chen Xiaomi and headed back early.

Chen Xiaocai squatted beside the basket, examining Lu Lin’s haul with surprise. “Why are there eight eggs?”

“Those are wild pheasant eggs. I found them in the mountains,” Lu Lin explained calmly.

Chen Xiaocai looked at Lu Lin with confusion. How could these be wild pheasant eggs? They looked just like domestic chicken eggs. This guy Lu Lin was always trying to trick him. These eggs couldn’t be… stolen, could they? But then again, he didn’t hear of anyone missing eggs, and Lu Lin was such a coward, he probably wouldn’t dare steal eggs.

Noticing Chen Xiaocai’s expression, Lu Lin explained with a straight face, “There are many varieties of wild pheasants. Different pheasants lay different types of eggs.”

Chen Xiaocai puffed his cheeks as he stared at Lu Lin, convinced the guy was hiding something.

Lu Lin pinched Chen Xiaocai’s face. “You’re so young to always have such a serious face. Be careful, or you won’t find a wife when you grow up.”

Chen Xiaocai replied excitedly, “I don’t want to get married anyway!”

Lu Lin was speechless. This little brat didn’t want to get married? It must be because he was too young. People in this place were quite obsessed with continuing their family line. “If you don’t get married, do you plan to mooch off your big brother forever?”

“I will not!” Chen Xiaocai’s face turned bright red, not knowing how to argue back.

“I’ll start cooking. Go gather some firewood,” Lu Lin said, sending Chen Xiaocai away.

Although Chen Xiaocai didn’t want to listen to Lu Lin, he noticed they were running low on firewood, so he went out.

As usual, Lu Lin cut the yams into pieces and cooked them into porridge, and also made stir-fried mushrooms with eggs.

Chen Xiaomi could eat three large bowls of yam porridge in one sitting, and the mushroom and egg dish was completely devoured.

A few days earlier, Lu Lin made stewed chicken, which amazed the three Chen brothers. They cleared away all the meat and even chewed up the bones to eat them.

…

“Da-ge.” Chen Xiaocai tugged at Chen Xiaomi’s sleeve, pulling him outside.

“What is it?” Chen Xiaomi asked.

“Da-ge, that Lu Lin is very strange.”

“Strange how?”

Chen Xiaocai kept a straight face and said, “The rice in our house seems to be getting more and more.”

The rice bag was nearly half empty a few days ago! But after drinking porridge for so many days, the rice in the bag didn’t seem to have decreased at all. The rice they ate daily also seemed to taste better than usual.

When Lu Lin first cooked yam porridge, he only added a little rice, but later he added more and more.

This increase was noticeable even to the most unobservant person.

“And there are always eggs.” Big brother also went into the mountains often! But the chances of finding wild pheasant eggs were limited. Yet Lu Lin seemed to find eggs every time he went to the mountains, and they really didn’t look like domestic chicken eggs. “Also, the salt seems to be increasing too, and the oil is the same.”

Chen Xiaomi calmly replied, “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

Chen Xiaocai was speechless. Was it really good? It was clearly strange! But then again, it was indeed a good thing. Recently he had been eating well and feeling full, all thanks to Lu Lin.

Chen Xiaocai suddenly felt guilty for suspecting Lu Lin after receiving his kindness, feeling somewhat ungrateful.

“He probably brought these things from the Lu family earlier and hid them somewhere. Don’t talk about this carelessly,” Chen Xiaomi instructed.

After Chen Xiaomi’s father passed away, he had planned to leave the Chen family.

Chen Xiaomi would ask an old hunter to sell the game he had secretly hunted. He had also hidden some food in a cave for emergencies.

As it turned out, Chen Xiaomi’s planning showed great foresight. It was precisely these rough preparations that allowed Chen Xiaomi to feed his two younger brothers when they first left the Chen family.

Thinking he knew the truth, Chen Xiaomi thought to himself: The elders in the Lu family weren’t good people. If they found out that Lu Lin had stolen things from home, they would surely be furious. Chen Xiaomi was quite pleased that Lu Lin was willing to share his secretly stashed goods with them.

Lu Lin sharing things with the brothers was certainly better than if he had remained loyal to the Lu family’s old house!

Originally, because Lu Lin had jumped into the river to commit suicide to avoid marrying him, Chen Xiaomi had a very poor impression of Lu Lin and low expectations for him. But after eating Lu Lin’s cooking for several days, Chen Xiaomi felt that if life continued like this, it wouldn’t be so bad.

Chen Xiaomi himself was just a half-grown youth, and the pressure of raising two younger brothers alone was immense, but he never mentioned it.

Chen Xiaocai rolled his eyes thoughtfully, suddenly understanding. “I get it, Da-ge.”

Children from poor families grew up fast. Chen Xiaocai always listened to Chen Xiaomi. Although he trusted his big brother completely, he still felt something wasn’t quite right.

In fact, Chen Xiaomi also found Lu Lin somewhat strange, but life was so difficult that he could only try to see things in a positive light.