Madam Sun returned to her room like a victorious general. Yu Xiaolian immediately gave her a thumbs up and flattered, "Mother, you're too amazing."
Madam Sun could not help but feel a little smug. "In the past, when we didn't split up, I gave in to them. Now, I'm living my own life. I won't give in to them!"
It had to be said that Madam Sun's personality and style were very similar to Yu Xiaolian's temper.
"Isn't father amazing too?" Yu Changhe was a little jealous. He was the one who wanted to go out just now.
"You can't make it. You're a far cry from my mother."
"Hey, girl, why am I worse than your mother? It's as if I'm not protecting you normally."
Usually, it was Yu Changhe who protected Yu Xiaolian more. However, Yu Changhe had a gentle personality and did not know how to scold people. He was not as hot tempered and straightforward as Madam Sun.
"You're not even comparable to my mother. You have to learn from my mother in the future. You don't have to be reasonable with people like them. Just be straightforward."
They had to pretend to be muddle-headed when reasoning with them. It was better to give them a taste of their own medicine and let them have a taste of what it was like to be bullied.
"Changhe, go and cook the porridge. I'll count the copper coins. After dinner, I'll return the money to a few families."
Madam Sun took out the copper coins again and started counting them.
Yu Xiaolian hurriedly jumped down from the bed. "I'll cook porridge."
They had leftover porridge from last night this morning, so Madam Sun had not touched the rice bag today, nor did she notice the abnormally white rice.
Fortunately, Madam Sun had only ground half a bag of rice last time. After eating for a few more days, there was nothing left. Before the rice was finished, Yu Xiaolian decided to cook before Madam Sun every day.
After she finished eating the rice, Yu Xiaolian could secretly add some rice every time she wanted to cook. After the rice was cooked, she naturally wouldn't be able to tell if it was refined or not.
Yu Changhe looked at the sky. "Isn't it too early to cook?"
Madam Sun said, "Just do as I tell you. The child only ate a little porridge in the morning before going to town to sell herbs. After such a long afternoon, there's nothing left in her stomach."
After saying that, she forgot about the few copper coins in her hand again. She complained to Yu Changhe, "How many are there? I forgot again. Don't talk to me anymore. Go and cook!"
"I'll do it, I'll do it!" Yu Xiaolian picked up the wooden basin that Madam Sun usually used to wash rice and said to Yu Changhe, "Father, go to a cool place under the wall and weave a basket!"
Yu Changhe nodded. "Alright then!"
Yu Xiaolian scooped a bowl of rice and went to the backyard. She brought a bucket of water over. Half a bucket of water was used to wash the rice, and the other half was used to boil porridge.
Seeing that there was no one around, she used a lighter to ignite the weeds under the stove. Then, she added some thin branches to the stove. When the branches were ignited, she added some thick wood so she did not have to worry about the pot.
Taking out the three raw duck eggs that she hadn't eaten yesterday, Yu Xiaolian found a bowl and beat the three eggs into it, planning to make scrambled duck eggs.
After thinking for a moment, she decided to stir-fry the duck eggs. No one would be able to tell the number of duck eggs, so she took out two more duck eggs and beat them into a bowl.
She added some meat oil from the Madam Sun's jar and some soybean oil from the space. There were five duck eggs, and she fried a large plate of them.
The fragrance of the golden stir-fried duck eggs assailed her nostrils, making Yu Xiaolian's stomach ring. She hadn't eaten anything on the way back to the town, so she was really a little hungry.
Yu Xiaolian didn't expect that Madam Sun had yet to count the amount of copper coins. Seeing her counting with her fingers, Yu Xiaolian inexplicably felt that Madam Sun was quite cute.
"Mother, it's time to eat. I'll help you calculate after dinner."
Madam Sun did not even raise her head. She was annoyed. "I'm not eating. The two of you can eat!"
Yu Xiaolian went forward to pull Madam Sun. "You have to eat. You only eat one meal a day. How can your body endure it? I even stir-fried duck eggs. You have to eat them."
Yu Changhe washed his hands outside and wet the towel before handing it to Madam Sun. "Don't go out after washing your hands. Wipe them!"
Madam Sun had no choice but to take the towel and wipe her hands. She then looked at the wooden table. "Why is there such a big plate of duck eggs? How many duck eggs are there?"
Yu Xiaolian was helpless. The two of them were each more talkative than the other.
"It's the three duck eggs left from yesterday. Mother, I know where the wild duck nest is. I'll go take a look tomorrow and see if I can pick up any more duck eggs."
Madam Sun sat down on the short stool. "Sure, it would be even better if we can catch the wild ducks. The males can be eaten as meat, and the females can lay eggs."
Yu Xiaolian chuckled. If she really caught a duck, she probably wouldn't be able to eat duck eggs in the future.
Yu Changhe picked up some duck egg for Yu Xiaolian and Madam Sun. He smiled and said, "That wild duck can fly. How can Xiaolian catch it? It's already good enough to pick up a few duck eggs to eat. If it's so frightened that it ran away, we won't be able to eat the duck eggs!"
Yu Xiaolian snickered. If they couldn't eat the duck eggs, she could just take out another wild animal egg. In any case, it would be a wild chicken egg with some mud on it.
However, the eggs at home seemed to be bigger than wild eggs.
It was fine. Who said that there couldn't be a fat and strong pheasant?
If she said it was wild, it was wild!!!
"Speaking of which, today is really a good day. Xiaolian sold so many medicinal herbs for so much money. It's a happy occasion, right?
"There's also another piece of good news. I almost forgot to tell you that your good brother, Zhao Kuo, has been promoted to be the chief constable!"
Madam Sun looked happy.
Yu Changhe laughed when he heard that. "That's great. Zhao Kuo has finally made it."
"That's right. A chief bailiff can earn three taels of silver a month. Zhao Kuo even said that he would treat you to a drink when he pays for this month!"
Yu Changhe suddenly asked, "How much do we owe the Zhao family?"
"You owe the Zhao family four taels. You owe them all when you were treating your legs."
When Yu Changhe had just lost his leg, Old Madam Yu had indeed paid some money to treat his leg.
However, the subsequent expenses were really too high. One set of medicine costs one tael of silver. Old Madam Yu began to feel heartache due to the money and asked the doctor to halve the precious medicine in the prescription. Later on, she simply refused to pay another cent.
Madam Sun asked Old Madam Yu angrily for the gold ingot, but Old Madam Yu did not give it to her. She only said that she still had it for Yu Changyu to marry.
Madam Sun had no choice but to borrow money from the Zhao family and give Yu Changhe a few more sets of medicine. In the end, Yu Changhe refused to take more after seeing that he had spent too much money.
"Sigh, I wonder when I can return the Zhao family's money."
Yu Changhe sighed. Then, he said excitedly, "Speaking of which, my injured leg has been warm for the past few days. I feel like I can walk faster than before."
Madam Sun was pleasantly surprised. "Really? That's great. At that time, the doctor said that although your hamstring was injured, your bones were fine. If I had known, I would have given you more medicine for a period of time. It seems that the medicine is still effective."
Yu Changhe thought about how he managed to treat his leg. Not only did he borrow money from Zhao Kuo, but he also borrowed some from Madam Sun's family. He did not know when he would be able to repay the money. The joy he felt disappeared and he instantly became heavy again.