The crows of the Rooster echoed through the Wang courtyard
Sun hwa stirred under the weight of the old faded blanket , her long lashes flustered open taking in the darkness of the room with the only light source being the reflection of light from the gap in the windows
She groaned feeling a wave of nausea hit her that made her throat burn
She grabbed the bowl by the side of the bed, and retched into it
Her meal from the night before had disgusted hence all there wasn't much to throw up
Except a mix of bile, acidic juice and saliva
Once done she staggered out weakly, the smell of her own bile made her dry heave as she made her way out
The crisp cold air outside calmed her significantly, the coldness made her shiver slightly
Her toes curled subconsciously
She quickly emptied the bowl in the outhouse washed it thoroughly and headed to the kitchen to heat bath water before the whole house stirred
"You're awake" Madam Zhou chunhua, the third household's matriarch smiled on seeing sun hwa walk in though somewhat shivering
"Mm" sun hwa nodded, her eyes taking in the visage of the third house matriarch
Petite figure with an oval face, her skin was tanned from years of labor
even in patched clothes she looked gentle and decent with a wooden hairpin that held her bun together
She had to admit Zhou chunhua was a beautiful woman
Her beauty leaning towards the gentle side
Giving one a sense of tranquility
"There's hot water, Jinyi said you intend goimg to the county market" madam Zhou pointed to the large pot and continued skillfully kneading dough
Her hands were small though with callouses from labor yet one could see how beautiful they looked
Sun hwa couldn't help wanting to feel madam Zhou's hands
"What are you waiting there day dreaming about, the water has been prepared go take a bath quickly
Once the other households wake up there's no saying whether there'd even be cold water left to bath" Guo Jinyi pointed out
She had just woken up and seeing sun hwa somewhat lost in thought she couldn't help reminding her
"Jinyi!" Madam Zhou sighed softly her hands kneading dough paused for a few seconds
"I'll pour the water mother, don't be mad" Guo Jinyi grinned as she hurriedly poured half a bucket of hot water for sun hwa who didn't dawdle but hurried away to bath
She grabbed the bath sponge, an unscented soap bar and a piece of wood to wash her teeth with and then she alas headed to bath
Mentally noting the fact that she needed to get this necessities
Her bath was quick
Washing and rinsing herself twice then changing into a simple dress with a dozen over patches
Though it was clean and neat with the faint fragrance of detergent once done she wore the only cotton padded jacket she owned then headed back to the bedroom where she gathered some grain and headed to the kitchen
"Mother-in-law made some scallion pancakes and corn flour cakes, you can make some gruel or porridge depending
There's also the leftover steamed vegetables from last night" Guo Jinyi patted sun hwa's shoulder and ran off to take her bath and also bath her children
The other households were slowly waking up hence sun hwa quickly put her pot of rinsed rice on the cooking top to cook
Then she threw in a few sticks so the fire could burn higher
"Won't do any work, all you know how to do is eat, eat, eat" Wu Xilian scoffed mockingly
Sniffing the lingering aroma in the air, she frowned even more
Thinking about what Madam Fang, the matriarch of the fourth household had instructed for her to make for breakfast
Her frown deepend
"This much rice should be given to the sons to eat! What's the use of a lose making wretched girl eating such good food!"Wu Xilian pointed angrily as she walked into the shared kitchen
Seeing the boiling pot of porridge, she couldn't help feeling a wave of anger wash over
Why could the wretched girl have thick porridge to eat while they the fourth household had to have gruel and mixed grain buns for breakfast
Only the males and Fang Yatou, the household matriarch could eat white flour soft buns
Yet the wretched girl!
Sun hwa continued to monitor the boiling pot
Whatever Wu Xilian had to say had no business with her
As far as her food was safe, she had no qualms with Wu Xilian making a little noise
The latter was only seventeen one year older than the original self
While she had lived up to twenty something
Arguing with an underage would be shameful on her part
"Instead of making a scene you should get cooking once the old lady wakes up
There's no telling how she'd flare you alive for starving her sons" Ruyun shrugged
She hadn't come in to do any work however the tantalizing aroma in the air
Drew her in and she couldn't help inhaling greedily
"Ruyun trying to shirk work" Wu Xilian pointed angrily with spittle flying towards Ruyun
"Close your filthy mouth you shameless thing! Climbing into a man's bed to sell yourself
Ugly as that dark skin daughter of yours with the face of a ghost!"
"I dare you to say that again Ruyun, your ugly snot covered Fuming, stinks even more than the communal lactrine"
"At least I have a son, all you have is your lose making daughter
Even after all your scheming into the third sons bed all you had in return was a little monster even uglier than a monkey" Ruyun snorted
This time Wu Xilian abandoned her work and faced Han Ruyun in a fight head on
sun hwa's eyes remained fix on her pot of food while also keeping a safe distance from the chaos
The first and second household soon arrived to prepare breakfast
The stove Wu Xilian was supposed to use was soon occupied yet no one cared to intervene or stop the fight
As filling up the stomach was more important as the men of the house still had to go to the fields to work
And a few of the household women still had to catch the ox cart or take a two hour walk to the county town
Once sun hwa's porridge was ready
She took the pot directly to her bedroom where she ladled a bowl
"Fifth wife open up" just as she was about to take the first sip Guo Jinyi knocked prompting her to open the door
"Here, there's not much to go around" Jinyi handed her two pieces of warm scallion pancakes
Before she could decline Guo Jinyi had ran off to join the family for breakfast
Sun hwa let out a soft sigh as she closed the door and returned to eat
Both scallion pancakes was soon eaten with a bowl of warm, fragrant and delicious rice porridge Without a single drop of porridge left in the bowl
She cleaned up the bowl in the kitchen after her breakfast and took the opportunity to heat up the stored pancakes and steam the buns
Once done she wrapped them all up then she fished out the bundle of bills she had seen earlier which was different from the few pieces of silver bank notes and coins in the cloth pouch
All small bills amounting to roughly over 108 yuan
This bundle was kept securely beneath the bag, she wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't checked throughly
Her hands moved swiftly counting the bills to a total of 500 yuan
Her high school days working a part time job at a convenience store
Had made her hands skilled at counting bulk bills
A small smile crept unto her lips
Her cheap husband
Was indeed a smart man
Considering all aspects thoroughly
She smacked her lips happily
Already imagining making braised pork or pig trotters
Super delicious
This body needed to fatten up and she had the right capital for that