The room was filled with a fragrant aroma.
The four children ate with great relish. Wu Huiniang finished a large bowl of wild vegetable porridge. Wang Daimai was utterly astonished.
Her mother often said that the family next door lived a very hard life, and that Brother Dashan’s wife never ate her fill every day. Was this the look of someone who didn’t eat her fill?
Why did she feel that their family lived an even harder life than that?
“Daimai, eat quickly,” Cheng Loanloan said. “There’s still work for you to do later.”
Eating so much so early in the morning, thinking about it, this wouldn’t be an easy task.
After a fierce internal struggle, Wang Daimai finally succumbed to the delicious food. She lowered her head and slurped down the bowl of porridge.
“For you, older sister!” Zhao Sidan shoved two candied chestnuts into her hand. “Before, Older Sister Daimai secretly gave me corn cakes to eat. Now I can finally give you something to eat!” In truth, Wang Daimai herself didn’t have much to eat. Whatever food there was in the house had to be left for her younger brother, but sometimes Sidan was too pitiful, standing under the big tree between their two houses, staring at her and drooling until his clothes were wet. She could only break off a little corn cake to give him.
She hadn’t expected her thoughtless action to be so deeply etched in Sidan’s heart.
After breakfast, another busy day began. Cheng Loanloan kept Daimai to help Wu Huiniang dig wild vegetables and roots on the field embankment. Once they finished digging at noon, they could go home.
Wang Daimai was puzzled.
That bag of grain was enough for her family to eat for two or three days, yet she was told to go dig wild vegetables and roots? Wouldn’t Sidan also dig wild vegetables and roots? So why ask her?
Why did she feel that this was because Auntie Zhao wanted to help her?
Zhao Loanloan took her four sons up the mountain. Yesterday they earned half a tael of silver; today they needed to continue working hard.
They hadn’t even reached the mountain when they met an acquaintance at the foot of it.
It was the original owner’s younger brother’s wife, Zhao San’s wife from the Zhao family. She carried a food basket and brought her daughter, Chunhua, up the mountain to dig wild vegetables and roots.
Zhao San’s wife, Sun Shi, greeted her with a smile: “Long time no see, Older Sister-in-law. I feel like you’re a little fairer than before.”
The corner of Cheng Loanloan’s mouth twitched. Although she didn’t have a mirror, she could see her own hands. Rough palms, dark backs of her hands, the standard skin color of a peasant woman. Once she earned enough money, she definitely had to buy skin-whitening cosmetics… In modern times, she was already thirty-three, but everyone around her said she looked like she was only twenty.
But in ancient times, at thirty-three, she was becoming an old woman about to have grandchildren.
The average lifespan of ancient people was too short. In the village, several people over thirty were already called grandmothers… Fortunately, she still had her father-in-law and mother-in-law above her, so for now, she wouldn’t be called Old Woman Zhao…
Cheng Loanloan cried silently in her heart, then spoke: “While the sun isn’t too high yet, let’s hurry up the mountain.”
Her four sons had already walked ahead quickly, and she also started to follow. Sun Shi quickly caught up to her, saying, “Older Sister-in-law has also gotten a little fatter. Eating meat really is good.”
Hearing these words, Cheng Loanloan almost exploded.
Even if she was old, and dark, how could she also get fat! Both dark and old and fat, she really couldn’t tolerate it anymore!
She immediately stopped: “Am I really fat?”
Actually, even if they ate meat every day, one or two days wouldn't be enough to tell if someone was getting fatter or thinner. Madam Sun deliberately brought up this matter: "In recent years, Eldest Sister-in-law has helped the Cheng family with quite a bit of silver. Now that Eldest Sister-in-law has turned against the Cheng family, I wonder if the Cheng family will return that money?"
Hearing this, Cheng Loanloan instantly understood that Madam Sun was trying to subtly inquire about how much silver she still had.
She recalled the time when the original owner lived with her younger brothers' wives. Initially, before the family split, the people from the three branches lived together. Because the original owner was the eldest sister-in-law, and her husband held a position in the military, plus she had given birth to four sons, it could be said that her status in the Zhao family was unparalleled. The two younger brothers' wives did not dare to provoke the original owner, and the original owner always maintained an arrogant attitude in front of them.
After her husband died in battle, in order to completely swallow the silver obtained from her husband's life, the original owner completely turned against the Zhao family. After that, she no longer had any contact with her sisters-in-law.