Chapter 2: 2. Chapter 2: Shu Yue's Transmigration (2)

Chapter 2: Shuyue Transmigrates (2)

Shuyue stood on her tiptoes, craning her neck to peer into the pot. The large iron pot was completely empty. Looking at Er'ya’s dark, thin hands—which looked like chicken claws as she clutched the sweet potato—and her wrists, which were so slender they looked like they might snap at any moment, Shuyue pursed her lips. After a pause, she simply asked, "Where is there more?"

Er'ya’s eyes darted around uncomfortably.

"No, there isn't any more. Where else would there be? I don't know if Grandma was in a good mood these past few days, but she cooked one extra each time. This is it, look."

She shook the sweet potato root in her hand again, signaling for Shuyue to look.

Shuyue kept her small face taut, frowning.

Yesterday, having just arrived in an unfamiliar environment, she had been exhausted and weak, dragging her feet until mid-morning before leaving her room, so she had naturally missed breakfast.

When she finally made it to lunch, the table was set with wild vegetable gruel and wild vegetable steamed buns. The gruel was bitter and astringent, so thin you could see your reflection in it, and it tasted like dishwater. The steamed buns were hard as rocks and scratched her throat, and even then, they were rationed.

Shuyue had received her portion of gruel and bun, and seeing everyone else eating with such relish, she had to force herself to swallow it, praying that dinner would be more palatable.

But imagination is plump, while reality is skeletal. Dinner was more of that dishwater-tasting wild vegetable gruel that made her wish she were dead. The only good news was that breakfast at this house was sweet potatoes.

Now...

Looking at the sweet potato that had been gnawed out of shape, covered in moisture that was hard to distinguish between steam or saliva, Shuyue pressed her lips even tighter.

Seeing that Shuyue wouldn't take it, Er'ya got angry. Fine, don't eat it then. She shoved the rest of the sweet potato into her mouth and mumbled, "That's right, you used to eat fine grains and even meat; how could you look at a sweet potato like this?"

Shuyue: "..."

Shuyue felt a bit angry. She kept a straight face, her dark eyes fixed on her.

"Nonsense..."

She wasn't like that, and she hadn't done that.

Even if you are a child, you shouldn't take a younger child's sweet potato and then make up excuses to slander them.

The hunger burning in her abdomen was intense. The food Er'ya had eaten couldn't be brought back. Shuyue took a deep breath to calm herself, and just as she was about to ask where else there might be food, she lowered her eyes and suddenly saw her own chubby little arms and hands.

Shuyue: "..."

Wild vegetable gruel and bran buns couldn't possibly raise such a fair, tender, and healthy little baby, could they?

The expression on her face stiffened. Fine grains and meat?

Could it be that she really did eat those things before?

Did she misunderstand Er'ya?

Just then, fragmented images suddenly flashed through Shuyue’s brain. Her body swayed, her chubby little hand pressed against her brow, and her small face crumpled into a ball.

Er'ya was startled by this and said stubbornly, "Who's talking nonsense? If you want to eat it, just eat it; I'm not fighting you for it..."

But inside, she was panicking, guiltily wiping her sticky hands on her clothes.

She had eaten the sweet potato herself; could this little sister be fainting from hunger?

Her eyes flickered, and she scooped up a ladle of cold water and brought it to her lips. "Are you out of strength? You'll have strength if you drink some water."

Er'ya bluffed with a straight face.

This little sister was still young anyway, not even five years old yet, and didn't know anything. Whatever she said, that was what it was.

Shuyue’s mind was filled with the images that had just surfaced; she didn't pay any attention to what Er'ya was saying.

Perhaps because a child's memory is short-lived, the memories Shuyue inherited were few, almost non-existent. But just now, perhaps triggered by the mention of fine grains and meat, she suddenly remembered a few things.

Actually, yesterday, she had already realized that little Shuyue felt somewhat out of place in this family.

The feeling this family gave Shuyue could be summed up in one word: poor. Extremely, undeniably poor.