The sun set in the west.
The orange glow of dusk settled in the courtyard, casting dappled shadows from the trees.
Cheng Luanluan sat in the main seat and said calmly, “This is the food I prepared to offer your maternal grandparents.”
The moment she said this, the hearts of the five people present all sank.
They only knew that their mother would take the good things from their home to provide for the Cheng family, but they hadn't realized it was precious items like rice.
They had grown up so much, yet had never eaten a single mouthful of plain rice.
Thinking that the Cheng family not only ate their family's food but also beat their mother, expressions of resentment appeared on the faces of the four sons.
“However, today's incident has made me completely lose hope in your maternal grandparents,” Cheng Luanluan deliberately sighed. “For so many years, I have provided the Cheng family with so much silver and food, both openly and secretly. Now our family's life truly cannot go on, which is why I came back to demand repayment. Who would have thought that your eldest maternal uncle would smash my head open?”
She lowered her head, her long eyelashes concealing the emotions in her eyes. She looked genuinely heartbroken.
The four sons exchanged glances, with surprise and suspicion in their eyes.
Their mother had been beaten by their eldest maternal uncle before. Initially, they even wanted to seek justice for their mother, but in the end, their mother beat them instead.
So today, when they heard the villagers discussing how their mother had returned from the Cheng family with a broken, bleeding head, they had nothing to say. After all, no matter how shameless the Cheng family was, their mother would always side with them, as if her four sons had been picked up from a cesspit.
Cheng Luanluan sighed again: “From now on, we will keep the good things meant for the Cheng family and eat them ourselves. Huinu, take this rice and cook it.”
Wu Huinu's hands trembled: “Cook, cook what?”
Cheng Luanluan knew of her hesitation.
It was the custom in Dahe Village to eat two meals a day, but now, with no food in the house, it had been reduced to one meal.
Just now, the boys had only finished drinking wild vegetable porridge. Today's food was considered eaten; if they wanted to eat anything else, they would have to wait until tomorrow.
As the proverb goes, growing boys eat their fathers out of house and home.
Such a small amount of wild vegetable porridge, even a woman like her couldn't eat her fill, let alone four boys and a pregnant woman.
Since she had become Cheng Luanluan of Dahe Village, she had the obligation to take good care of these children on behalf of the original owner of the body.
But if a person changed too quickly, it would be easy for others to notice something amiss.
She deliberately put on a stern face and said, “Just cook it when I tell you to cook it. What's with all the questions?”
Wu Huinu dared not ask any more questions. She took out roughly a tenth of the rice, barely half a bowl, and prepared to take it to cook.
Cheng Luanluan had a headache. Half a bowl of rice, even the youngest child, Zhao Sidan, probably wouldn't be full from that alone.
She had no choice but to stand up, carrying a full sack of rice to the kitchen, and poured it all into the broken pot: “Cook it all.”
Wu Huinu was startled, her face turning pale.
There were at least three or four catties of rice here, which could be exchanged for ten catties of corn and could feed the whole family for at least five or six days. Cooking it all in one meal, wasn't that just wasting food? But seeing her mother-in-law's deliberate expression, Wu Huinu dared not ask anything else. She quickly washed the rice, lit the fire, and started cooking...
Zhao Dashan swallowed a mouthful of saliva: “Why do I feel like Mother has been shaken up?”
Zhao Ergou squinted: “Does Mother want us to eat our fill so we can go to the Cheng family and demand repayment?”
Zhao Sanniu picked up the hoe beside him: “I've long wanted to beat up those scoundrels from the Cheng family.”
Zhao Si Dan licked his lips. "The meal will surely be delicious."
The stove fire blazed fiercely, the aroma of rice wafted up, and the pot bubbled noisily.
Zheng Luanluan told Wu Huiniang to pour out the rice water, dividing it into six small bowls. Each person should drink a little rice water first, to prevent their stomachs from feeling uncomfortable if they ate too much later.