As soon as Zhang Jinlin ran into the house, he looked around everywhere. He felt relieved when he saw his eldest brother still reading and his younger sister playing with pebbles.
His second brother and his father had gone out to look for odd jobs; during the Chinese New Year, work points were doubled.
Following the appetizing aroma, he made his way over to the kitchen stove. In the pan, golden-brown scrambled eggs were sizzling and glistening with oil!
Zhang Jinlin was about to drool. He sniffed and said, "Mom, did the hens lay eggs? Can I have a taste? After all, I fed the chickens quite a few times."
Li Baoying shook her head. "No way, you're not getting a single bite!"
Zhang Jinlin felt wronged again. His mother had definitely cooked these for his eldest brother, but wasn't it a bit too much not to give him even a single bite?
"Mom, am I even your biological child?"
Yesterday his mother had almost twisted his ear off, and today she was deliberately refusing to let him eat eggs. Maybe he really was picked up off the street, and his mother only loved her biological children.
Li Baoying was taken aback. She looked at him and said earnestly, "You figured it out? Was it really that obvious? Don't hold it against me, though—who doesn't only love their own flesh and blood?"
"Huh?!" Zhang Jinlin felt a wave of utter despair. Was his mother telling the truth?
"If you already have your own biological children, why did you pick me up and bring me back? Don't people only adopt sons if they don't have one of their own?"
"Well, it wasn't that I wanted to pick you up. Your real mother dumped you in our yard and ran off. In the dead of winter, we couldn't just watch you freeze to death, so we took you in and raised you."
"Now that you know your own origins, be a bit smarter from now on and stop always fighting my biological children for food. It's only natural that I favor them. When you grow up, you can go find your real mother."
Li Baoying spoke as she waited for the eggs in the pan to cool down, making it up as she went and improvising on the spot.
"Oh." The look of despair on Zhang Jinlin's face deepened; he seemed to actually believe his mother's story.
"I'm going outside to see if the chickens are done eating."
Sniffling, he walked away.
Once he reached the yard, tears fell unbidden.
No wonder his mother didn't love him anymore—it turned out he really was picked up from somewhere.
He looked up at the sky and managed to choke back his tears. He would work hard to please his stepmother, and he would study hard too, so that one day in the future he could find his real mother and ask her why she didn't want him!
Having figured this out, he stopped feeling sad and sat in the yard watching the chickens peck at their feed.
At noon, Zhang Jiandan brought their second son home. He was rather surprised to see his youngest son sitting by the chicken coop—he had never seen this youngest boy behave so obediently before.
Li Baoying mixed the eggs into the dumpling filling and deftly wrapped two hundred dumplings.
Seeing her husband and son return, she boiled a pot of water for the dumplings.
When the dumplings were cooked, she scooped a bowl out first for her husband and second son, and then another bowl for her eldest son.
That happened to use up all the dumplings in the pot.
So she started another batch.
Zhang Hua stood holding a small bowl waiting for the second batch. Even though her eldest and second brothers offered to share theirs with her, she refused.
Hearing the lively sounds from inside the house, Zhang Jinlin felt his tears fall again. He really wasn't a biological child—otherwise, why wouldn't they even call him to eat?
"Jinlin, come over here. Big Brother will share some with you first."
Hearing Zhang Jintian's voice, he brightened up for a moment and was about to answer when he suddenly remembered his stepmother's words. He quickly shook his head and said, "No need, Big Brother, I'm not hungry."
If he wanted to win over his stepmother, he had to win over his eldest brother. From now on, he couldn't always try to compete with Big Brother, or he wouldn't even get to go to school!
Seeing his younger brother refuse, Zhang Jintian thought about getting him a bowl and sharing some anyway.
Li Baoying immediately chimed in, "Eat your own! It's not like he doesn't have any; the second batch will be ready in a moment! Eating a little later won't kill him from starvation!"
With that, Zhang Jintian said nothing more and sat down to eat his own.
Zhang Hua skipped over and asked, "Big Brother, is it good?"
He hurriedly picked up a dumpling and popped it into his little sister's mouth.
"So good! What's this yellow stuff inside? It smells so delicious!"
"These are eggs. Our chickens laid them, and you're the one who catches bugs to feed them every day!"
Zhang Jinlin had been feeling very sad, but upon hearing his eldest brother's words, he bolted upright. His mother hadn't given all the eggs to Big Brother after all—she had put them all into the dumplings?
Was he really not her biological child?
The second batch of dumplings was ready. Zhang Jinlin stood off to the side holding his bowl.
Li Baoying scooped a bowlful for him, gave Zhang Hua ten, and then served herself a bowl, dividing the remainder between her eldest and second sons.
As she ate, she put on the third batch.
With so many children in the family and growing boys having big appetites, a single bowl was simply not enough, and her old man liked to eat two bowls himself.
She handed the stove over to Zhang Jiandan, who had finished his first bowl, and sat down with her bowl beside her son.
"Jintian, are today's dumplings good?"
"Good, Mom. I've never eaten dumplings this delicious before."
In his past life, Jintian had passed away without ever getting to eat such delicious dumplings, but in this life, he finally got to taste them.
"If they're good, eat more. Your health is weak; from now on, whenever the chickens lay eggs, you'll eat one every day to build up your strength. When you go to high school later on and have to take your college entrance exams, you need to keep your health up."
Li Baoying deliberately made the ownership of the eggs clear in front of the whole family. That way, anyone who had any objections could voice them now; if no one objected, all the better.
"And you kids—the eggs are to be prioritized for your eldest brother. You don't have any objections, do you?"
The second son shook his head to indicate he had no objections. The fourth son looked at his mother and asked, "Mom, if I go to junior high school too, can I eat eggs as well?"
Li Baoying nodded. "That's right, once you enter junior high, you'll get to eat them."
In her previous life, Zhang Hua hadn't even gone to school, let alone junior high, but in this lifetime, she intended to send her to school. Promising her eggs once she reached junior high wasn't an empty promise.
Neither of the two children had any objections, so Li Baoying turned her gaze to her third son.
Feeling his mother's eyes on him, Zhang Jinlin hurriedly shook his head. "I don't have any objections either."
What a joke—making trouble before he had even figured out his own origins would be completely irrational!
"Mom, I couldn't possibly eat this many eggs all by myself anyway. There are several chickens, after all; let the younger siblings have some too," Zhang Jintian said touched.
"No way. You know our family's situation. The eggs have to be saved to eat slowly over time. Whatever we can't finish can be exchanged for money or ration coupons. You're going to need quite a bit of money when you go live at school for high school later on."
Li Baoying firmly refused.
If her son really fell ill again, these eggs would come in very handy.
And if he didn't get sick, she still had to save money for his high school education.
A single egg cost five or six fen—they certainly weren't cheap.
With tears in his eyes, Zhang Jintian lowered his head and ate his dumplings, knowing in his heart that his mother loved him best.
Zhang Jinlin stuffed his mouth with dumplings, putting all other thoughts out of his mind. He decided he would ask his dad when his mother wasn't around whether he was really picked up or not. If he was, he would tuck his tail between his legs and be a good boy; if not, he was going to lodge a complaint.
These dumplings really were fragrant; alongside the meaty flavor, you could bite into little pieces of egg.
Li Baoying had scrambled the eggs finely for the very purpose of making sure every single dumpling had a piece of egg inside.
As Liu Cui walked past their house carrying her child, she caught the exact same aroma wafting from Zhang Shun's place. She lingered at the gate for a moment, then strode off in a huff.
Her mother-in-law had money to pay compensation to that little brat, so why on earth didn't she have money to buy eggs?
Buying meat was one thing, but couldn't she at least buy a couple of eggs?