Tang Youyou felt rather awkward, her hands hovering helplessly as she struggled to find a way to comfort the elderly woman.
This was the mother of the woman whose body she now inhabited. They hadn't been in contact for over a decade, and she couldn't help but curse the original owner of the body internally. What a fool, to let a petty grudge keep her from her maternal home for so many years. If the old woman found out her daughter had already died—that she had outlived her own child—how heartbroken she would be.
Without realizing it, Tang Youyou’s eyes grew red. Truly, the heart of a parent is always pitiable.
After a long moment, Old Man Tang spoke up. "That's enough, stop crying. You’re scaring the children."
The old woman finally released her, wiped away her tears, and took her hand, leading her toward the main room.
"You stubborn girl, your temper is still just as mule-headed as ever. You’ve been bullied to this extent and didn't even send word? If your eldest brother hadn't run into the wife of Wang Shuanzi at the market, we wouldn't have even known such a disaster had happened!" The old woman looked at her with heartache.
She touched Tang Youyou’s swollen forehead. "Does it still hurt?"
Tang Youyou wiped her own tears. "Mother, it doesn't hurt anymore. I was actually thinking of coming to visit you all in a while."
Old Man Tang sighed. "We didn't want you to marry into this family back then, but you wouldn't listen. Now you've tasted the bitterness, haven't you? How are you supposed to raise these children?"
There were no fields, and the house was dilapidated; if a heavy rainstorm hit, it would likely collapse.
Tang Youyou said weakly and softly, "Father, I was wrong..."
Old Man Tang heard her, naturally, and turned away to wipe his own tears. "That Bai family is truly too overbearing. Huzi already told me everything earlier. Just you wait; later today, we will sever ties with the Bai family!"
Tang Youyou hadn't expected her father to be so supportive, and she felt a touch of emotion. "Everything shall be as you say, Father! But the children must stay with me!"
To Old Man Tang, this seemed like the foolish girl’s lingering devotion to the late eldest son of the Bai family, wanting to remain chaste for his memory. He sighed. "As you wish!"
At this moment, her eldest brother, Tang Wen, emptied everything from his basket onto the table. "Little sister, this is some grain for you."
"Brother, your own household isn't exactly well-off. I can't take this."
Mother Tang gave her a reproachful look. "Just take it. Your second brother is working as a waiter at Tianxiang Restaurant in Guangming County now, earning five or six hundred wen a month."
"Gr... Grandmother?" Bai Ruoer called out timidly.
Mother Tang looked toward the sound and saw a dark-skinned boy carrying two baskets.
"Oh! Good child, you went out to forage for wild vegetables?"
Bai Ruoer nodded. Only then did Mother Tang and the others notice the baskets filled with soft rush, lungwort, water celery, and watercress.
Her heart felt a mix of complicated emotions, and her voice choked up. "Is this all you have to eat?"
"Little sister," Tang Wen said, "even pigs won't eat this lungwort; it's foul-smelling and fishy. And this other weed is poisonous—it kills people! Why on earth did you cut so much soft rush?"
Tang Youyou didn't answer. She looked at Bai Ruoyi standing by the door. "Go and cook! Make rice porridge!"
The latter was stunned and at a loss: where would the rice come from? They didn't even have any millet!
Tang Youyou looked at the group. "Father, Mother, you will eat lunch here today. I’ll show you my skills. All of these greens are edible!"
Bai Ruoer added, "Big sister-in-law says we can weave this soft rush into straw sandals to sell!"
The group exchanged glances, their hearts filled with bitterness. A pair of straw sandals only sold for two wen; poor families could all weave them, and wealthy people wouldn't buy them anyway. Sigh!
Tang Youyou ignored them and retreated into her room.
Looking at the rice on the System interface, she was overjoyed. At three wen per jin, it was a steal. She vaguely remembered that rice here usually sold for ten wen per jin.
Because the yields of the rice paddies were extremely low—a mu of land produced only about two hundred jin, even in a good year, and thirty percent had to be paid in tax—people were reluctant to eat the remaining seventy percent. They would trade it for millet, buckwheat, coarse flour, beans, chaff, and wild vegetables just to barely fill their stomachs.
Furthermore, they only ate two meals a day. The porridge they had this morning was only because she had specifically ordered it. In her memories, the family usually only had one meal at noon; if they were hungry, they just drank cold water.
"Do you have a cloth bag? Can you throw one in? I have nothing to carry the rice in," Tang Youyou muttered internally.
[Five wen each!]
Ugh, she was speechless. So stingy, so cheap...
She didn't even want to complain anymore. She looked at the twenty-six copper coins in her small purse, bought three jin of rice, and with the remaining six wen, she looked at the lard.
To her surprise, the System was actually quite accommodating. The lard, which cost thirty wen per jin, could be bought in smaller portions. She was delighted.
She carried the bag outside and tossed it to Bai Ruoyi. "Why are you standing there like a fool? Go and boil the porridge!"
Bai Ruoyi opened the bag suspiciously, his eyes widening in shock. Then, his lips curled into a smile, and he ran toward the kitchen.
"Second brother, wash all the vegetables in those baskets!"
She sat on the threshold to chat with the three of them.
A moment later, Lin Huahua returned with Bai Ruoshan, carrying two cloth sacks. Their faces, however, were clouded.
The children didn't recognize them. Tang Youyou waved them over. "Huahua, Xiaoshan, come here..."
She introduced them to each other.
Mother Tang noticed their awkwardness. "What's the matter? Did someone bully you?"
She quite liked Lin Huahua. The girl had married into the family despite their poverty and even knew how to weave sandals to supplement their income; she was a capable woman.
Bai Ruoshan grumbled, "Tie Niu’s mother told us to come pick up some soybeans, but they were all rotten. When big sister-in-law tried to reason with her, she cursed her... And that’s not all, the chaff Shunzi’s mother gave us was moldy; it’s completely inedible."
Tang Youyou shook her head and tapped Bai Ruoshan on the forehead. "This is the first lesson I’m teaching you: remember, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world."
She turned to Lin Huahua. "It doesn't matter. Isn't it a good thing to see through someone’s character over a small matter? From now on, we simply won't associate with those two families."
Lin Huahua remained indignant. "They’re going around everywhere saying they offered us charity and that I refused it. They mocked us and said... they said..."
Bai Ruoshan couldn't hold back. "They said Mother must have some man keeping her, and that's why we look down on their charity."
Old Man Tang couldn't take this. "Preposterous! This is utterly bullying. They think because you are orphans and a widow, you have no one to back you up. Good children, don't be angry. Come, take your grandfather to see them..."
Tang Youyou raised an eyebrow. She hadn't expected her father to have such a fiery temper.
"Father, people will talk. Please don't get angry. Besides, do you really think your daughter is so easy to bully?"
The Tang family trio: *Hm!* This girl really has changed. Could it be, as Huzi said, that after she died once, she finally realized things?
From the kitchen came Bai Ruoyi’s voice: "Mother, the porridge is almost ready."
"Good, good, good. Scoop it out, I’ll be right there to stir-fry the vegetables."
Lin Huahua was confused: Stir-fry? Just dry-fry them? She had only discovered the salt in the kitchen this morning and didn't know where it came from.
Thinking of something, she counted the number of people and stepped out of the room. She needed to borrow more bowls. The six they had were not enough.