Chapter 14: Mother is Not at Home

As dusk fell, Gu Ping'an returned from his stroll through the village feeling quite smug, followed by Gu Mei and Gu Lai'an.

Gu Ping'an had originally followed his second sister's instructions to "pass on a message" by the village river, but he hadn't expected that someone would actually know where the Gu Mei siblings had gone.

After delivering the message, Gu Ping'an continued wandering through the village, approaching people to chat, and only went to find the siblings when it was nearly dark.

Upon returning home, he saw that the lights in the east wing of the main hall were all glowing with a dim, yellowish light.

Over in the west wing, light was only visible in the kitchen; all the other rooms were pitch black.

Gu Ping'an's heart skipped a beat. What was wrong with his second sister today? Usually, she was the first one to light the lamps in the house.

Why were the other rooms lit today, while her room remained dark?

Unsettled, Gu Ping'an went over to knock on her door and call out, "Second Sister?"

Gu Tang was still sleeping. Hearing someone calling her, she found it a bit noisy, rolled over, and continued to sleep.

Hearing the commotion, Gu Lianshan came out of the kitchen to take a look. Seeing it was his daughter and son, he beckoned them over, "Don't wake your second sister; she's sound asleep. Come to the kitchen."

Gu Ping'an obediently walked over.

Gu Mei took a step to follow, but Gu Lai'an grabbed the hem of her clothes from behind, trembling, "Sister..."

"Don't be afraid," Gu Mei whispered to soothe him, knowing exactly what he was afraid of. "Judging by Dad's tone, that brat Gu Tang definitely didn't snitch!"

That brat was incredibly cunning! Having finally caught them in a mistake, there was no way she would just tell Dad.

If it were her, she would have definitely squeezed every bit of leverage out of it first!

Gu Lai'an swallowed hard and braced himself as Gu Mei led him into the kitchen.

The kitchen was filled with swirling smoke as Gu Lianshan busied himself with cooking.

After the commotion earlier today, Feng Shi had set up a mud stove directly in the main hall to cook.

Even though the doors were tightly shut, the aroma still drifted out.

The first household was the same; they also had a mud stove in their room, closing the doors to cook and eat directly inside.

Everyone had their own hidden food supplies, cooking their own meals openly and proudly, deliberately leaving the second household out.

Seeing that it was already dark and the kitchen stove was still cold, Gu Lianshan went straight to the main hall, pounded on the door, and demanded rations from Feng Shi!

The Gu family's grain was all locked in the main hall, and Feng Shi held the key. Aside from half a vat of well water, there was nothing else in the kitchen.

Gu Lianshan was not one to be pushed around; if he was hungry and they didn't give him food, he would make a scene.

Feng Shi was furious, but she didn't dare scold him. She was afraid that if she woke Gu Tang, it would bring more trouble.

In the end, she could only endure her rage and bring him some grain.

Because the Gu family raised two scholars, the large household lived on millet porridge year-round.

Holding onto her resentment today, Feng Shi only gave him two small handfuls of millet.

When made into porridge, millet is sticky and can be stretched with more water; two handfuls were barely enough to keep the second household's bellies from growling.

Gu Lianshan was not picky; he ate whatever he was given. After all, this was the standard of food in the house—there was nothing to pick through!

Taking out five bowls, Gu Lianshan prepared to portion out the porridge.

Gu Ping'an called out to him, "Dad, didn't you say Second Sister was sleeping? If you serve five bowls now, it will get cold."

"I know. It's not for your sister; it's for your mother."

Gu Ping'an froze. Oh no, he had forgotten to tell his father that Mother wasn't home...

Gu Mei glanced at him and beat him to the punch by bringing up Zhang Shi, "Mother isn't here today. She said that old woman from the Lin family is failing again and that Mother had to go back to check on her."

The words weren't wrong, but her tone was incredibly sarcastic.

Gu Ping'an turned to look at her, only to see Gu Mei curl her lip in front of him with a look of disdain, clearly looking down on Zhang Shi, their stepmother.

Gu Ping'an clenched his fists and stopped looking at Gu Mei, his small face tightening with coldness.

Gu Lianshan was not blind; he could clearly see the silent friction between his children.

They weren't born of the same mother; the fact that they weren't fighting every single day was already good enough. Could he expect them to be affectionate?

"She should go check," Gu Lianshan said, his expression unchanging.

After saying this, he glanced at Gu Mei and scolded her, "You're a young lady now. Watch your tone in the future. You clearly don't have bad intentions, but you just don't know how to speak! Anyone would want to stay far away from you if they heard you talk like that!"

Gu Mei's eyes instantly reddened, looking as if she were about to cry.

Gu Lianshan ignored her, took one of the prepared bowls, and put it back in its place.

Two small handfuls of millet was truly not much. Gu Lianshan didn't dare add too much water for fear it wouldn't be filling.

By the time he was halfway through, there was only a bowl and a half left in the pot.

Once everything was served, there were four bowls: two were slightly more than a bowl, while the other two were only half-bowls.

Before Gu Lianshan could redistribute some of the larger portions, Gu Mei secretly pinched Gu Lai'an. The siblings moved forward together and snatched the two larger bowls, leaving behind the two half-bowls.

Gu Lianshan's face darkened instantly, and he nearly lost his temper and struck them with his wooden spoon!

They were his own flesh and blood, and he had raised them all equally—how could the difference be so vast?

Carrying their porridge, the siblings walked straight out of the kitchen, intending to eat in their room.

"Dad, I can't eat that much. I'll give you half of mine," Gu Ping'an said, seeing his father's grim expression, attempting to share some of his porridge.

"No need! I had a good meal in Be'an City today, so I'm not very hungry. Eat it yourself."

Gu Lianshan stopped his son's movement and picked up his own bowl, slurping it down.

Gu Ping'an followed his father's lead, setting aside the chopsticks and drinking directly from the bowl.

Gu Lianshan ate quickly and finished everything in no time. He rubbed his stomach; he wasn't even a third full.

Turning to look at his son, he waited until he finished before whispering a reminder, "Your second sister bought a lot of food today. If you can't stand the hunger in the middle of the night, go ask her for some."

Gu Ping'an nodded repeatedly.

After the father and son finished eating, they didn't even wash the pots and bowls, leaving them on the stove. They closed the kitchen door and went back to their rooms to sleep.

...

Gu Tang slept so deeply that her very bones felt soft!

She only woke up naturally when the rooster crowed.

Now that the nights were long and the days were short, it was still pitch black outside despite the rooster having crowed for a while.

Checking the time on the system panel, it was 5:00 AM, and the temperature was only five degrees.

Gu Tang clicked her tongue. Had the temperature dropped? It was seven or eight degrees yesterday, and now it was only five.

She felt a bit worried. Her first winter since transmigrating to ancient times was approaching; how was she going to survive?

In this era, cotton had not yet been introduced, so there were no cotton-padded quilts or clothes for the winter.

Wealthy families could use various animal furs or silk to make quilts and fur coats.

Commoners, however, used collected reed flowers, willow catkins, and accumulated scraps like needles, thread, hemp rope, and cloth scraps to keep warm.

They would sew something similar to a duvet cover, mash the reed flowers or catkins until soft, stuff them in, flatten them out, and then sew the opening shut to serve as a makeshift quilt.

If it was still too cold, they would layer straw on top.

"Cotton clothes" were similar; winter garments were double-layered to allow for stuffing to provide warmth.

Since these things were hardly warm, people in this era basically stayed huddled indoors during the winter.

Those with well-to-do households would set up a fire pit in their rooms to keep warm, burning firewood day and night, which was far more effective than any "cotton clothes" or "cotton quilts."