Soon, the meal was brought from the kitchen to the stone table in the courtyard, and the family gathered around to eat.
Yang Jing sat down next to his grandfather, his eyes falling on the food spread across the stone table.
In his bowl was glistening white rice.
Everyone else's bowl, however, contained coarse brown rice mixed with wild vegetables.
There were two other dishes on the table. One small plate held seven or eight pork ribs, another contained some kind of steamed wild green, and a small bowl was filled with pickled vegetables.
"Jing'Er, eat the meat."
Elder Yang picked up the small plate of pork ribs and placed it directly beside Yang Jing. Then, he picked up what looked to be a hard, dark-green bun, took a bite, and followed it with a piece of pickled vegetable.
Watching his grandfather, grandmother, and mother eat nothing but the obviously unappetizing wild greens and pickled vegetables, Yang Jing's heart ached slightly. From his time with them, however, he knew he couldn't win this argument, so he could only accept their decision.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
Just as the four of them were eating, there was a knock on the courtyard gate.
All of their expressions changed, worried that the villain Feng Lei had returned.
"I'll go see." Liu Cui Ling put down her chopsticks and started to rise.
"You stay put," Elder Yang said, then looked at his wife. "You go."
Grandmother Qin was not heavy, and in fact was on the taller side, but a stoop in her back made her seem shorter. She wore a faded blue shirt of coarse cloth, and her salt-and-pepper hair was held up loosely by an old wooden pin.
The grandmother nodded, rising nimbly. She tiptoed to the gate and peered through a crack. A moment later, she breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to Elder Yang. "It's the eldest's family."
With that, she unlatched the gate.
Two figures stepped in from outside.
One was a middle-aged woman with a sallow complexion. Her hair was haphazardly tied back with a hemp rope, and her brown robe was covered in patches. The cuffs were so worn that cotton padding poked through.
Beside her was a boy of an equally slight build. He was so gaunt that his cheekbones protruded slightly and his lips were colorless. Despite this, he held his back ramrod straight. His gaze fell upon the food on the stone table—or more precisely, on the small plate of pork ribs.
"Father, Mother."
"Grandfather, Grandmother."
The middle-aged woman and the slender boy bowed to Elder Yang.
As the two entered, Yang Jing and his mother, Liu Cui Ling, also rose to their feet.
Liu Cui Ling watched the ragged mother and son warily. Her expression darkened slightly when she noticed the boy's eyes fixed on the pork ribs.
"So, Sister-in-law is here," Liu Cui Ling said coolly.
Yang Jing's gaze also fell upon the two who had just entered the courtyard.
Having inherited the memories of his body's previous owner, he naturally knew who these two were.
Elder Yang and Grandmother Qin had raised two sons and a daughter: the eldest uncle, Yang Guang; his father, Yang Gang; and his youngest aunt, Yang Yan.
Of the three children, Elder Yang had always doted on his younger son, Yang Jing's father, Yang Gang. When the family assets were divided, the majority of the fields and property went to him.
After the division, he and Grandmother Qin had also gone to live with their second son.
A while back, the government had been recruiting local men to help escort a grain shipment to the front lines in Caozhou to the east. The pay they offered was quite high.
With Yang Jing being such a money pit, his father had discussed it with the family… or rather, failed to come to an agreement. He ignored their objections and signed up for the transport escort team anyway.
It was only a few days after the convoy had departed that Elder Yang learned his eldest son, Yang Guang, had also signed up.
The mother and son before him were the wife of his eldest uncle, Yang Guang—Madam Xue—and their son, Yang An.
"You haven't eaten, have you?" Elder Yang said to them. "Sit, eat with us. Wife, move over and make room for the eldest's wife and Xiaohan."
Elder Yang knew his eldest son's family's circumstances. If they weren't on the verge of starvation, they were close. Otherwise, his honest and steadfast eldest son would never have signed up to escort a grain shipment to the front lines in Caozhou.
Madam Xue and Yang An sat where Elder Yang directed them. Whether by coincidence or not, their seats were directly across from Yang Jing, and the farthest from the plate of pork ribs.
"Brother An, have some meat."
Just then, Yang Jing pushed the plate of ribs from his side of the table toward the center. A natural smile touched his lips as he looked at his cousin, Yang An.
Having the original's memories, Yang Jing knew his own family was partly to blame for his uncle's current miserable state. When the family property was divided years ago, Elder Yang had given the majority of the land, both prime and common, to his second son, Yang Gang. His eldest uncle's family had received very little.
If it weren't for the great expense of his own martial arts training, his family would be much better off.
Yang Jing's sudden gesture stunned everyone.
His mother, Liu Cui Ling, frowned, a flicker of anxiety in her eyes.
Even Elder Yang paused for a moment.
In times like these, meat was incredibly precious. Elder Yang had invited them to share a meal, but he had never intended for them to eat the meat. In this family, only Yang Jing was qualified to eat meat. He was a martial artist in training, and if he succeeded, his success would elevate the entire family, securing a new future for them all.
Madam Xue and Yang An were both astonished.
They never expected Yang Jing to offer them the meat.
In the past, whenever Yang Jing saw them, he carried an air of invisible arrogance, even if he didn't show it overtly. He would never have been the first to speak.
"I... I won't," Yang An said, shaking his head. He took a bite of the dry, hard bun in his hand. "You eat it. You're the one training in martial arts. You need the meat."