Miao Miaomiao carried the pot of fragrant soup inside.
The moment Miao Qingqing saw her, her expression immediately darkened.
But Miao Miaomiao didn’t notice her reaction at all. Smiling cheerfully, she set the soup on the table and warmly urged everyone to drink.
Everyone at the table craned their necks, eyes curiously peering into the pot.
The soup was milky white in color, its aroma rich and overflowing. At a glance, it looked delicious.
“This is… chicken-shit mushrooms? How can it be… so fragrant?”
Miao Tianli stared at it and asked in confusion.
The mushrooms floating in the soup looked white and tender, carrying a light, fresh fragrance. He couldn’t see anything poisonous about them at all.
“That’s right. Don’t be shy, everyone—go ahead and eat.”
Miao Miaomiao looked at them excitedly and urged them on.
“……”
Not a single person at the table moved.
Miao Miaomiao glanced around and saw everyone frozen, all looking at her with different expressions.
“If none of you are eating, I’ll have the first taste.”
She smiled sweetly, ladled herself a bowl, and tipped her head back to drink it.
“Mmm, the freshness of the bamboo fungus paired with the saltiness of cured pork—the flavor comes out just right.”
She finished the bowl in one go and even licked her lips afterward.
When Zhang Cuiying heard that she had even used the cured pork hanging by the stove, she immediately exploded in anger.
“Miao Big Girl, you actually cut my cured pork?! You damn little thing—I don’t even dare eat a piece myself on ordinary days, and you went and used it to make mushroom soup!”
No wonder it smelled so good—it even had meat in it.
“Oh Mom, without adding a bit of meat, it wouldn’t be fresh enough.”
Miao Miaomiao looked at her with a grin. She’d originally wanted to add ham, but there wasn’t any at home, so she had no choice but to temporarily substitute the cured pork.
“You—!”
“Oh Mom, hurry and take a bite.”
Miao Miaomiao stuffed a piece of cured pork into her mouth, successfully shutting Zhang Cuiying up.
“Uh? Mm—!”
Zhang Cuiying chewed, suddenly discovering that cured pork could taste this good. Normally it was unbearably salty, with barely any sense of meat flavor, but now, not only was it less salty, she could actually taste the meat.
Seeing that Miao Miaomiao had been drinking the soup for so long without any problem, the other siblings also began to feel tempted.
Miao Fengshou was the boldest. He took a big gulp straight from the bowl and immediately exclaimed, “Wow, it’s really so fresh! How can there be something this delicious?”
He turned to Miao Miaomiao and clicked his tongue in praise. “Second Sister, your cooking is amazing. You even made chicken-shit mushrooms taste this good.”
“Heh heh, that’s right…”
Miao Tianli also praised her. “Didn’t I always say it? Big Girl is very capable. Don’t underestimate her, all of you. Heh heh…”
“Yeah, Second Sister, you should make this for us more often in the future.” The fourth sister, Miao Wangwang, ate until her mouth was shiny with oil.
Only Miao Qingqing turned her head away disdainfully and snorted.
“Wow, Yingzi, your family’s food smells really good…”
At this moment, Third Aunt from next door brought her grandson Huzi over to visit. Their two households were close, so they must have been drawn over by the aroma from Miao Miaomiao’s cooking.
Zhang Cuiying hated people who showed up right at mealtime the most, so she didn’t give Third Aunt a pleasant look. “What smells good? It’s just some wild vegetables and cornbread.”
Third Aunt smiled and didn’t bother with her, instead leaning forward on her own. “Wow, what’s that pot of white soup? It looks really tasty.”
Huzi saw it too and unconsciously licked his lips. A fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy was at the age when his appetite was biggest.
“Third Aunt, Huzi, it’s soup made from chicken-shit mushrooms. Come, have a taste?”
Miao Miaomiao warmly invited them.
But Third Aunt’s expression changed at the mention of mushrooms. “Oh heavens! You dare eat chicken-shit mushrooms? Those are poisonous! Haven’t you heard about how our whole family ended up at the clinic last year?”
After hearing that, Huzi couldn’t help but take a step back.
“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine…”
Miao Miaomiao didn’t give her a chance to refuse, grabbing a bowl and pushing it toward her mouth. “I just drank it—it’s really delicious.”
“No, no, I won’t drink it…” Third Aunt shook her head in fear. But once her lips touched that salty, fresh flavor, she couldn’t help but gulp down a mouthful.
“Wow! How can it be this good? This… is this really chicken-shit mushrooms?”
She remembered that the soup made from those mushrooms last time was awful, with a strange soapy taste. But this time, she didn’t sense any odd flavor at all.
“Grandma, I want some too.”
Seeing his grandma drink it, Huzi didn’t want to lag behind. He grabbed the bowl and took a sip as well—wow, just as his grandma said, it was incredibly good.
“Wow, so fragrant…”
Because of that pot of soup, the atmosphere at the table became lively and harmonious.
Only Miao Qingqing remained silent, getting up and heading straight back to her room.
“Hmph, that damn woman…”
She plopped down on the bed, angrily replaying everyone’s praise of that woman. Her chest rose and fell with rage.
Vaguely, she always had the feeling that her older sister was about to turn things around.
This Miao Miaomiao—she really was hauntingly persistent.
Back then, she had deliberately arranged for her to be swapped into marrying that short-lived man, fully convinced that she would suffer her whole life in the Shen family, endlessly tormented by that vicious mother-in-law.
Hmph! Who would have thought that in less than a month, she’d actually manage to escape and come back.
How was that possible?!
Thinking of her previous life, she had been tormented until life was worse than death, her body covered in wounds. Yet this time, when Miao Miaomiao married into that family, she came back without a scratch.
How could that be?
Miao Qingqing was someone who had been reborn.
In her previous life, she and Miao Miaomiao had switched marriages, and she herself married into the Shen family. She never expected that just a few days after the wedding, Shen Jianhui would die. Her mother-in-law swallowed the compensation and subsidies that should have belonged to her, and blamed everything on her, calling her a husband-killer. On top of that, she forced her to do all the dirty and exhausting work.
And it didn’t stop there. In the end, that vicious mother-in-law even framed her and arranged for her to marry the bachelor Lu Laosan. After marrying him, her suffering truly began. Whenever Lu Laosan was displeased, he would beat her with sticks, beating her until she was half-dead and bedridden. Her heartless natal family ignored her completely. In the end, she was beaten to death—and only then did Miao Miaomiao rush over…
Meanwhile, Miao Miaomiao married the educated youth Li Sanchuan. Although Li Sanchuan came from an ordinary worker’s family, he soon encountered a policy allowing him to return to the city. Miao Miaomiao went with him, later found a job, and the two of them worked together to raise children. Their life was unbelievably happy.
Going to the city—that was something she had coveted her entire life but never achieved.
She hated Miao Miaomiao so much. She hated her for switching marriages with her back then. That suffering shouldn’t have been hers! It should have been Miao Miaomiao’s!
Why, in the end, was it she who met such a miserable fate?
Why didn’t Miao Miaomiao come earlier? If she had come earlier to stop it, she wouldn’t have been beaten to death by Lu Laosan!
Reborn into a new life, Miao Qingqing was filled with resentment, her jealousy and hatred toward her second sister even stronger.
Heh. With her experience from the previous life, she had effortlessly tricked Miao Miaomiao into marrying into the Shen family this time, and everything that followed had gone just as she expected.
She had originally planned to wait happily and watch how her second sister would die miserably in this life.
But something had gone wrong somewhere.
In this life, Miao Miaomiao had not married Lu Laosan like she had in the previous one, and had even come out of that wolf’s den of a Shen family completely unharmed.
Not a single loss.
Why was this happening?!
She fiercely grabbed the quilt at the head of the bed, clutching it until it was wrinkled and misshapen.
That day, she had thought Miao Miaomiao was doomed, so when the whole family rushed over, she didn’t go. Instead, she went off to meet Li Sanchuan.
Who would have thought that a moment of negligence would let her escape just like that?
A vicious glint flashed in Miao Qingqing’s eyes as her grip on the quilt tightened even more.
Hmph, how could she let her live so easily!
Miao Big Girl had to live a life worse than death—destitute and miserable—to soothe the hatred in her heart.
In her mind, she began to quietly plot something evil…