Grandma Su's harsh face was full of impatience: "Is it your place to speak? A little girl buying a man outside, and you still have the nerve to say it, aren't you ashamed?"
"What's wrong with me buying a husband?" Su Yaoguang stepped out and said loudly, "I bought a husband, no matter what he's like, I want to, I like it. And you? You're my own grandma, thinking of marrying me off to a fool to be your daughter's daughter-in-law, to take care of that fool's mess. What kind of heartless grandma are you?"
Grandma Su was furious, pushed Zhang Zhaodi aside, grabbed a broom nearby, and swung it at Su Yaoguang: "You stinky girl, haven't been beaten for three days, is your skin itching? I'll beat you to death, you little wretch. Your dad is not here, I'm the grandma who will discipline you. You disrespectful thing, today I'll make you understand what obedience is, what filial piety is."
"Hit me then, kill me! My dad's not here, and you all bully me because I'm fatherless. My mom kept her loyalty to my dad for over ten years, it's so hard, and you still bully her, thinking of taking her fields and house, do you want to drive us mother and daughter to death? Go ahead, kill me, let the villagers see today just how vicious the Su Family is, unable to tolerate a widow and orphan."
Su Yaoguang shouted loudly, wishing everyone in the village could hear. If it were in her past life, she'd swallow her grievances, and pretend nothing happened, suffering for the sake of pride. But living another life, what is there to not let go of, whoever dares to bully them, she would make a big scene and see who wants to bear the reputation of bullying a widow and her orphan.
Zhang Zhaodi burst into tears: "My poor child, your father left too early, leaving us widows and orphans, now others want to force you to serve that fool!"
"You... you mother and daughter are something else." Grandma Su saw several neighboring families watching the commotion, couldn't maintain her dignity, threw down the broom, and left.
Su Yaoguang closed the door, shouting loudly: "Mom, don't do anything stupid, don't seek death, mom..."
Zhang Zhaodi, who was about to get up: "..."
She glanced at the tightly closed door, felt it wasn't necessary to lie back down, just stood there with her neck held up, wailing: "Let me die, let me go see your dead father, tell him what kind of life we've been living all these years. When they conscripted soldiers back then, we were newlyweds, he clearly wasn't on the list, but insisted on replacing his brother, leaving us mother and daughter..."
Zhou Wangshu lay on the wooden bed in the woodshed, listening to the sound of the mother and daughter's cries outside, his tense body slowly relaxed.
He didn't believe there was such a thing as undeserved kindness in this world, nor did he believe in inexplicable benevolence. That mother and daughter wanted something from him, which in turn made him feel at ease.
Zhou Wangshu looked at the sparse porridge beside him, struggled to stretch out his hand, held it, and slowly moved it over. His whole body was injured, moving a finger was agonizing. But no matter how painful, he had to survive.
He had to live to go back and kill those who humiliated him.
The noise outside came to a stop.
Su Yaoguang helped Zhang Zhaodi inside, asked with concern, "Mom, didn't it hurt when she pushed you just now?"
"Why did you have such courage today?" Zhang Zhaodi glared at her. "Aren't you afraid she'll cause you trouble?"
"I used to respect her, but she never treated me as her granddaughter! Now she wants to send me to be a fool's wife, why would I please her?" Su Yaoguang pouted. "From now on, I'll only care if my mom is happy, let others drop dead."
The events of her past life are somewhat distant now, many things are blurry. At that time, she bought Xiao Yanci back, her grandma was also relentless. To make her grandma give up, she pleaded with Xiao Yanci to write a marriage contract, became a nominal couple. Seeing that it was a done deal, her grandma stopped forcing her. But this time, she didn't want to write a marriage contract with Zhou Wangshu.
Zhang Zhaodi was already sick, after being tormented by Grandma Su, she was more exhausted, her head hurt even more.
Su Yaoguang helped her back to rest.
"Mom, rest a while, I'll bring you food once I make it."
She went to the kitchen to rummage through boxes and cupboards, found half a jar of tightly hidden salt, almost finished cornmeal, the little remaining lard, a few dried mushrooms, and some fairly fresh wild garlic.
She went out to check the chicken coop, indeed found an egg.
Now the family only had two chickens left, occasionally managing to get an egg. Her mom used to save the eggs for her, but today she was determined to give her some nourishment.
Zhang Zhaodi was awakened by the fragrance.
"What did that stinky girl cook, why does it smell so good?" Zhang Zhaodi got up and shouted towards the kitchen, "Wasteful girl, use the oil sparingly."
Su Yaoguang came in with corn buns: "Mom, try my cooking."
"What did you make, to smell so good?" Zhang Zhaodi looked at the bowl she handed over. "You wasteful girl, there's only a little cornmeal left, and you dare turn it into buns. And look at this color, obviously used too much oil. Are you trying to anger me to death?"
"Mom, I saved two taels of silver for you today!" Su Yaoguang said, "I'll go to town for supplies tomorrow, we won't go hungry."
"Dare to mention that again." Zhang Zhaodi snorted.
"This is mushroom soup, try how fresh it is." Su Yaoguang fed Zhang Zhaodi a spoonful of soup.
Zhang Zhaodi grabbed it: "I haven't lost my arms or legs, you don't need to feed me. Go eat yourself, don't stand guard over me."
Zhang Zhaodi took a sip of soup, surprise flashed in her eyes: "Not bad."
But soon, her expression turned stern again: "Did you waste salt again? I've told you, don't use salt casually, once every three days is enough. And with the bit of oil, just coat it lightly."
"Mom, I've already thought of a way to make money, I'll surely make sure you live a good life." Su Yaoguang said.
Zhang Zhaodi: "..."
What's with the girl today, her words are like they're coated in honey, making it hard for her to scold her.
"Don't just stand there, go eat."
"I'll send some to Wang Shu first, then come back to accompany you to eat."
"The one you picked up?" Zhang Zhaodi snorted coldly, "Sounds nice, but beaten like that and sold off, who knows what kind of person he is?"
"Wang Shu looks younger than me, how could such a child do anything bad? Mom, for the ten cents he was bought for, just treat it as doing a good deed!"
Zhang Zhaodi took a bite of the bun, the more she chewed, the tastier it got, she mumbled, "This girl's culinary skills have improved, huh? Wait, did you use an egg? You, you, you..."
Seeing the situation was not good, Su Yaoguang quickly slipped away.
"There's only one egg, may as well use it to nourish everyone."
Zhang Zhaodi watched as Su Yaoguang slipped away like an eel, feeling both angry and amused. Then thinking about their hardships over the years, the grievances she had to endure along with her, her heart ached.