Chapter 11: Devotion to This Family

"Snap!"

The skin on the back of Leng Hui’s hand turned red instantly.

In a split second, the cramped, unremarkable room in the tenement building was filled with a cold, biting atmosphere, starkly different from just a moment before.

Leng Hui’s eyes were like poisoned blades, fixed intently on the hand Sun Xiaojuan was using to hold her chopsticks.

To be precise, it was a pig’s trotter that deserved to be hacked into a thousand pieces.

Sun Xiaojuan’s hand tightened involuntarily around the chopsticks, her knuckles turning white from the force. She kept her eyes locked on the low-pressure, brooding Leng Hui, seemingly afraid she might suddenly lash out, and remained ready to counterattack at any moment.

Yet, she stubbornly argued, "I only steamed ten sweet potatoes for lunch in total. You took four or five for yourself; what are your sister Leng Mei and I supposed to eat?"

Leng Mei, being named, seemed to sense a malicious gaze. She subconsciously lifted her eyes from her reddened hand and looked toward Leng Hui.

She found Leng Hui picking up a sweet potato, a wicked, mocking smirk curling the corner of her lips. "What you eat is none of my business. All I know is that ten sweet potatoes are to be split between the two households. You take five for the second household, and we take five for the first. Half each is fair and just. Do you think it’s unfair, or are you saying that our first household’s two jobs don't qualify us to eat half?"

Mentioning the two jobs again made Leng Mei want to grind her teeth to dust. So what if they have more jobs? They bring it up all day long—have they no shame?

They couldn't just bully people like this.

Sun Xiaojuan was also seething inside. If there was one pain for Leng Yongkang, it was undoubtedly not having a son; no son meant no heir, an unspeakable agony for him.

And Sun Xiaojuan’s pain was not having a job. Because she was unemployed, she was always looked down upon by her sister-in-law, Tang Lin, in her husband’s family.

When Tang Lin went to work looking polished and wearing clothes without patches, she had to stay home doing chores, disheveled and unkempt.

When Tang Lin came home and sat comfortably in the partitioned room teaching Leng Hui her homework, she had to scramble to prepare meals for the whole family while wearing patched clothes.

After dinner, when Tang Lin finished cleaning up and went for a walk with her husband and daughter, she was left exhausted, locked in a battle of wits with several mischievous, troublemaking children.

Even though she was furious, Sun Xiaojuan didn't dare to truly burn bridges with the first household, because they couldn't possibly support their family of five on Leng Yongxing’s meager salary alone.

Sun Xiaojuan swallowed all her resentment and hatred, her stiff face twitching as she forced out what she considered her most amiable smile. "It’s just a few sweet potatoes; why are you turning this into a conflict between the two households?"

"Your grandmother went to your aunt’s house today, and I didn't know you were coming back, so I only steamed ten small sweet potatoes—just enough for me and Leng Mei. If I had known you were coming, I would have steamed more, or made them into porridge, which would have tasted better."

Leng Hui clicked her tongue. She had seen clearly enough that morning the look on Sun Xiaojuan’s face—the look of someone waiting for them to die out so she could seize their property. Now that she knew she couldn't snatch the job for the time being, was she backing down temporarily?

"I don't care about any of that. I only know that every meal in this house has a share for our first household. Since you only steamed ten, I’m taking five."

Sun Xiaojuan: "..."

She could vomit blood!

Utterly stubborn and unreasonable!

Leng Hui didn't care if Sun Xiaojuan was going to vomit blood or not. Knowing there was a sick person in the house, she didn't think to make porridge but steamed them dry instead—wasn't that just to prevent Tang Lin from getting the porridge she wanted?

These people didn't even stop to think about what Tang Lin had sacrificed for this family over the years.

In the entire Leng family, Tang Lin had the highest salary. If the three jobs were what supported the family, Tang Lin’s contribution accounted for at least half.

Of the ten people in the Leng family, by contribution, four or five were supported by her salary alone.

Now that Tang Lin was lying in the hospital, only Old Lady Leng and Leng Yongkang had gone to see her at the very beginning; the people from the second household hadn't even shown their faces.

Why should she give such ungrateful, heartless family members a pleasant look?

In the apocalypse, when a team went out on a mission, supplies were distributed according to labor; those who contributed more naturally received more. If you wanted to slack off or freeload, getting the bare minimum was already a mercy from your teammates.

Five sweet potatoes the size of two fingers could only pad the stomach; it was impossible to get full.

After eating the sweet potatoes, Leng Hui took the dirty laundry from the basin to the washroom, and after washing and hanging them up, she went straight back to the hospital.

In the hospital cafeteria, the mealtime had already passed, and the kitchen staff were already cleaning the utensils.

Leng Hui asked at the nutritional porridge window, only to find out that the porridge had sold out for the day.

Leaving the cafeteria, Leng Hui went into the restroom and, taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, pulled a tin of powdered milk from her space.

Walking into the ward, the family member of the patient near the door was feeding them water and only glanced up when she entered.

Tang Lin was lying flat on the hospital bed, staring blankly at the IV bottle. Hearing footsteps approach, her eyes slowly turned toward the newcomer.

Leng Hui noticed her gaze landing on her hands. "I went home, changed my clothes, and then went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy you a tin of powdered milk."

Leng Hui placed the milk on the cabinet beside the bed. While pouring water into an enamel mug, she explained, "I wanted to save where I could, but when I got home, Sun Xiaojuan had only steamed a few sweet potatoes. I thought about getting you some nutritional porridge from the hospital cafeteria, but it was already sold out. I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for powdered milk this noon."

The patient’s family member in the next bed, a middle-aged woman, smelled the milky fragrance in the air and said sourly, "If drinking powdered milk is 'settling,' then let us settle like that more often. I love powdered milk. It’s so nutritious—much more so than that hospital porridge."

Leng Hui was slightly taken aback; she hadn't expected anyone else to chime in.

Tang Lin rolled her eyes at Leng Hui. *Look at you showing off. You have good things but don't keep them hidden to drink in private; you have to flaunt them here, making it look like you’re so capable.*

Leng Hui helped Tang Lin drink half a cup of the milk, then poured another half cup of water, shook it, and drank the slightly milky water left in the enamel mug herself.

The family member and the patient in the next bed kept their eyes fixed on them.

"Comrade, is the milk good? If you don't want the milk, we can trade you our nutritional porridge for it tonight."

The nutritional porridge in the hospital cafeteria was only supplied to patients and didn't require grain coupons; as long as you were a hospitalized patient, you just had to pay two cents a serving.

Leng Hui was speechless. "I was just saying that to cheer my mom up; don't take it seriously."

In this era of scarcity, you’d have to be out of your mind to turn your nose up at powdered milk.

The middle-aged woman awkwardly forced a smile. "You girl, why can't you speak properly? I almost took you seriously."

Leng Hui smiled, bent down to pick up the enamel basin from under the bed, and went to fetch half a basin of hot water to help Tang Lin wipe her body. Although the temperature wasn't high, lying still all day meant that wiping down daily made sleeping much more comfortable.

Leng Hui didn't go back to eat that night. She bought a serving of nutritional porridge at the hospital cafeteria. Tang Lin drank some of the rice soup, and the remaining dregs all went into her own stomach.

Half-full, Leng Hui couldn't be bothered to go home and simply stayed to accompany her mother in the hospital.