Chapter 17: Go Home and Eat

Chapter 17: Go Home and Eat

After returning to her room, Shen Meng went directly into her spatial dimension. Her head was still throbbing painfully, so she found some medicine and some brain-nourishing supplements to take before she could finally feel at ease.

She had felt incredibly sticky and grimy from yesterday until now; fortunately, she had let Wang Guizhi wipe her down, otherwise, she would have surely smelled terrible.

She prepared hot water in the bathroom and took a thoroughly satisfying bath. Using a bath sponge she had specifically bought, she scrubbed away the grime with vigor. People in the countryside rarely paid attention to hygiene; the dirt she scrubbed off her original host's body came off in long strips. Disgusted, Shen Meng nearly vomited. She had to scrub twice and soak in the bath before she was satisfied. When she unwrapped her shower cap, her brow was furrowed; if her head hadn't been aching so badly, she would have insisted on giving her hair a proper scrubbing.

While she was at home helping to clean the dust, Lu Mingyang and the other children had run to the hillside to gather pig fodder. Although Lu Mingkai was young, he worked hard to help his older brothers and sisters. Because they had no tools, his small hands were marked with several red indentations from the strain.

He pulled a few more handfuls of grass, and when he looked up and saw his older siblings working with their backs bent, he curled his lip. The other children gathering fodder had already gone home to eat, but no one had called them here yet!

"Daqing, Erqing, hurry home to eat! The sun is getting harsh, stop working!"

"Coming, Mother!" Daqing put the grass in his basket and shouted to Lu Mingyang.

"Mingyang, why hasn't your grandma called you guys back to eat yet? She didn't call yesterday, and she's not calling today either. How can that old woman be so heartless? I saw Yongqiang and Yongli and the others all go back already."

Lu Mingyang didn't even look up; his hands were still busy working.

"Hurry up and take Erqing back. Your mother is waiting for you. We'll head home in a bit."

"Go home yourself! What is there for you to eat at your house? With your grandmother acting like that and your mother having that same attitude... Mingyang, why don't you take Mingliang and the others to my house to eat? My mother won't say anything; she pities you guys whenever she sees you have nothing to eat."

As Daqing spoke, he reached out to pull Lu Mingyang. His grandmother and Liu Sanjin were sisters-in-law, so they were technically cousins. Although the food at his house wasn't great, it was at least enough to get by.

"I'm not going. I've been to your house several times this month. Look at the face your aunt makes—it's practically hitting the floor. Your mother will just end up getting nagged again. We're going home. It's fine, just go, hurry up."

Daqing led Erqing toward the bottom of the hill, but after a few steps, he turned back. "Are you really not coming?"

"No, just go back. It's fine!"

Only after watching Daqing and Erqing leave did Lu Mingyang drop his expression. It wasn't exactly a smile; he simply relaxed the tension in his mouth. If it weren't for the fact that Daqing's mother frequently helped them out, he would have remained indifferent to everyone.

"Brother, I'm hungry. When is Grandma going to call us?"

Lu Mingliang dropped his shovel on the ground and plopped down.

"Call us? If they wanted us to eat, they would have called long ago. They wouldn't wait until now. Brother, how about we just go home after we finish the fodder? I hid three sponge cakes from that bad woman; we can share them."

Lu Mingkai's eyes lit up, and he looked at Lu Mingliang with a toothy grin, "Hehe." He wanted to eat sponge cake.

Lu Mingfang picked up her shovel, pursed her lips, and said, "Brother, I think Mother might actually get better. Grandpa and Grandma scolded her this morning. Besides, she's sick right now. Let's go back. What if she really dies? There's no one around, and when Dad comes back, he'll ask what happened. I'm scared."

They weren't truly children of the Lu family. If that bad woman really died, what would happen to them? Although life with the bad woman wasn't great, they at least slept in a decent room and occasionally got to eat something good.

But it was different at Grandma's house. Grandma would make them work, and the food was always thin; even the steamed buns were made of black bean flour and were very scratchy. Because of the black bean buns, even little Kai couldn't pass his stool.

She didn't want to go to Grandma's house to eat. Her stomach ached from hunger, and she didn't want to go at all.

Seeing his younger siblings' expressions, Lu Mingyang's eyes darkened slightly. After a moment, he said loudly, "Let's go home. We're going home."

"Hehe, okay! Auntie Tian and Grandma Chen brought eggs back yesterday. I saw them; Grandma put them in the kitchen cupboard. It's fine if the sponge cakes don't fill us up; we can boil some eggs later. Anyway, that bad woman is lying in bed; she probably has a lot of eggs and brown sugar. We can make brown sugar water for Mingfang when we get home; little girls love sweets."

As he spoke, he swallowed hard. He loved sweets too, but if he could steal a little, it was better to give it to his sister.

Lu Mingliang talked a lot, making Lu Mingkai drool the whole way.

Lu Mingyang said many things, but Lu Mingliang remained silent. He knew in his heart that Grandma's side wouldn't give them food. Even if they did, she would make the second aunt say plenty of sarcastic remarks before handing it over.

Grandma and the others had never treated him, Mingliang, or Mingfang as members of the Lu family. Although they called him a "precious treasure," they never offered them anything good, unlike how they treated Yongqiang and Yongli, who ate eggs and duck eggs. Even Mingkai, her own biological grandson, didn't get that kind of treatment.

He didn't believe the bad woman would change, but since Grandpa and Grandma had just left, even if she wanted to put on an act, she would likely do it for a couple of days. She shouldn't be too miserable during these two days.

***

In the main hall of the old Lu courtyard, the family was eating. Xie Jinghao picked up a piece of food to feed Xiaogang, then looked at the silent family. After a thought, she spoke up: "It's getting late. Should we go call Mingyang and the others for dinner? And maybe bring some food to Sister-in-law?"

"Don't you dare! I'll see who dares! Hmph, hasn't that woman already split the grain? She still wants to eat our rations? In her dreams! And those brats—we aren't giving them a single grain of food."

Lu Jiahe said spitefully, taking a large, aggressive bite of a steamed bun.

As he spoke, Liu Sanjin didn't even lift her eyelids, appearing to share the same sentiment. Xie Jinghao frowned deeply.

"Sister-in-law is still injured, and the children don't know how to cook. If something actually happens, it will be hard to explain to Big Brother when he returns."

"Hmph, how noble you sound. Third Sister-in-law, why don't you just save your own rations to give to them then?" Wu Xianglan said, rolling her eyes.

Why act like such a saint here, as if she were the only kind person?

"Mother, Third Sister-in-law is right. Sister-in-law has a wound on her head, and the children aren't close to her. If something happens, it really would be hard to explain. How about we just bring some food over? I... I won't eat. I'll just save my rations, alright?" Lu Jiaxuan said, putting down his bowl and standing up to grab a bun.

Seeing her youngest son stop eating, Liu Sanjin quickly said, "Don't go! You're the only ones being 'kind.' Could your mother be a bad person? If your sister-in-law and the kids wanted to eat, they would have sent Mingyang over long ago. They're just not hungry. Just wait; they'll come begging for food in a bit. I won't refuse them, but how I give it depends on your sister-in-law's attitude."

She had been waiting to hear news of Shen Meng's demise all morning. She had spent a long time listening through the crack in the door, only to hear Old Lady Wang saying her health had improved significantly, which had made her teeth ache with anger all morning.

Since she was fine, if they wanted to eat, they would have to give something back. Otherwise, don't even dream of eating a single grain of her rice.