There was no need to reintroduce the tallest one, Huo Dong. Yin Weiyue looked at the girl slightly shorter than Huo Dong—she was Lady He’s eldest daughter, Huo Zhen’er.
The boy beside Huo Zhen’er, who was slightly smaller than her, was named Huo Gan’er, Lady He’s second son. The remaining smallest boy was Lady Su’s son, Huo Qi’er.
Huo Dong said: “Seventh Sister-in-law, grandmother asked us to come and inquire whether you’d be willing to have a meal with us today.”
This time, Huo Dong uttered the words “Seventh Sister-in-law” without any hesitation, because Seventh Sister-in-law had helped them drive away Third Aunt—she was a hero.
In the book, ever since the Huo family was put under house arrest, the original host had never shared a meal with the First Branch. The Yin family used connections to bribe the guards, so Yin Weiyue’s three meals a day were delivered by the Yin family’s servants, ensuring she had never gone hungry over the past two years.
However, starting five days ago, the servants delivering food from the Yin family stopped coming. The original host thought that because she refused to leave the Huo family, this was a tactic used by her father, Yin Jianzhang, to force her to yield. Thus, for the past two days, she had relied on leftover pastries to fill her stomach, adamantly refusing to bow her head to her family.
Yet Yin Weiyue knew the original host was mistaken. The reason the Yin family servants hadn’t come was that the Fourth Prince had pushed Yin Jianzhang forward to take the fall. Although there were still three days before three generations of the Yin family were thrown into the grand prison, they were currently in complete disarray and no longer had time to deliver food.
Of course, it was also possible that the guards outside knew the Yin family was about to fall, so they rushed to draw a line and prohibited the Yin family’s servants from delivering food again.
“Seventh Sister-in-law, are you going? Fifth Sister-in-law just came over to deliver food—there’s meat.” Seeing that Yin Weiyue remained silent, Huo Dong thought she was disdaining the poor quality of the food, so he timidly added another sentence.
Yin Weiyue nodded. This boy was bright and clever, just far too timid.
“Then let’s go.” She led the group of children toward the Old Lady’s courtyard. Given the Old Lady’s advanced age, moving around was inconvenient, so meals were always eaten in her room.
Upon stepping into the main hall, Yin Weiyue saw the food laid out on the floor, surrounded by several hassocks.
Because most of the furniture had been confiscated during the house search, and whatever remained had been chopped up as firewood to boil water and cook, everyone had sat on hassocks on the floor to eat for two whole years.
Huo Jun was also among them. Having finished his bath, water droplets were still dripping from the tips of his hair as he resumed his former cold and detached posture. Seeing that he had washed his dirty clothes together and wrung out the water before putting them directly back on, she wondered whether he lacked a change of clothes or had refrained from going back to change because she was in the room.
Yin Weiyue conjectured that it was likely the latter case.
However, she immediately found it quite funny—was she a violent beast that ate people? He didn’t even dare to go back and change his clothes.
“Seventh’s Wife, come, sit here.” Today, everyone in the room was filled with goodwill toward her; her two sisters-in-law were exceptionally warm, and Huo Wanying also smiled as she chose the thickest, softest hassock for her.
Although Yin Weiyue had acted like an insufferable person ever since marrying into the family, today she had sought justice for the First Branch and, most importantly, demanded back their life-saving silver, making her a great benefactor.
After sitting down, Yin Weiyue raised her eyes; only the bowls belonging to the Old Lady and herself were filled with soybean rice, while everyone else had less than half a bowl of rice, with a large soup bowl of stewed pig’s head meat set in the center.
Looking at the food on the floor, the woman couldn’t bear it. Two years ago, these people were noble and precious, having tasted all kinds of delicacies, yet today, eating a bowl of pork was actually a luxury.
“As people grow old, their appetite gets smaller and smaller.” Saying this, the Old Lady picked up her bowl and distributed more than half of her rice to the younger generation. “Today’s meat was earned by Seventh’s Wife. Come, scoop half of that meat into her bowl first.”
“There’s no need, Grandmother.” Yin Weiyue quickly waved her hand. Looking at the emaciated group of people around her, how could she have the heart to eat half a bowl of meat by herself?
“I know you haven’t lacked oil and fat in your belly over the past two years, but this is grandmother’s intention. Besides, we haven’t touched meat for two years, so we don’t dare eat too much all at once lest our bodies can’t handle it. You should eat more. Seventh, hurry and pick up some meat for your wife.”
“Yes, Grandmother.” Although Huo Jun agreed verbally, his hands didn’t move.
It wasn’t that he was stingy and reluctant to part with a few slices of meat, but rather that Lady Yin had her meals delivered by the Yin family’s servants for two years, every meal consisting of six dishes and a soup with a balance of meat and vegetables. How could this greasy pig’s head meat suit her palate? Eating it would be a waste, so it was better left for the children to have a few extra bites.
For a moment, the atmosphere grew somewhat awkward.
“Seventh is feeling shy; let me pick it up for her.” At this moment, Lady He hurriedly came to the rescue. Lady Su was also quick-witted, hastily handing Yin Weiyue’s bowl to Lady He.
“Thank you, Grandmother; thank you, Eldest Sister-in-law and Second Sister-in-law. That’s enough, that’s enough. Although you don’t dare eat too much oil and fat at once, save it for the next meal and eat it step by step.” Yin Weiyue felt a surge of warmth in her heart. Living for all these years, apart from her eldest sister, this was the first time others had offered her the best things first.
“Let’s all eat together.” Seeing that the young and old of the family were only eating the bean rice, with no one willing to pick up meat from the bowl as everyone wanted to save the best for their family, Yin Weiyue had no choice but to stand up and distribute meat to everyone one by one.
She served the Old Lady first, then several children, followed by her mother-in-law, Mrs. Feng, then Huo Wanying, Lady He, and Lady Su, until it was finally Huo Jun’s turn.
When it came to Huo Jun, Yin Weiyue was extremely reluctant. Not only did she have to share his pain perception, but when the Old Lady asked him to serve her meat just now, he was actually stingy and reluctant to part with it.
Thinking of this, she scooped up two pieces of pure fat meat from the soup bowl and gave them to him.
Looking at the fat meat in his bowl, Huo Jun raised his eyebrows and glared at her in shock. Yin Weiyue immediately glared back, using her eyes to tell him that he only deserved to eat fat meat.
Who knew the Old Lady would speak up again: “Good. Now that you’ve settled your mind, you know how to care for Seventh.”
Yin Weiyue: “…”
After the Old Lady spoke these words, the expressions on the faces of everyone present except Mrs. Feng carried smiles. Yin Weiyue finally understood why Huo Jun had shown such an unbelievable look just now—because the era she transmigrated to was one where fat meat was considered better than lean meat.
A mistake! She could only lower her head to eat to ease the awkward atmosphere.
She lowered her head and took a mouthful of rice, followed by a bite of meat, and almost spat it out. The stewed meat was tough, salty, and gamey—utterly unpalatable. Moreover, although the bean rice looked broken, how was it still half-raw?
Sigh, she had forgotten: this whole family in the book had been pampered and living in luxury since childhood. When had they ever cooked? This was the level they achieved only after practicing for two years.
Although Yin Weiyue had lived in the mountains for fifteen years, before entering the deep mountains, she and her eldest sister had driven out a cargo truck loaded with seasonings from a food factory, so they truly did not lack seasonings like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.
Although their days in the mountains were bitter at first, later she and her eldest sister grew grain and vegetables, hunted, and raised livestock, making their food completely self-sufficient—not only avoiding hunger, but also maintaining full nutrition.
Therefore, she really couldn’t swallow this bowl of half-raw rice.
Yin Weiyue took a look and silently distributed the rice to the four children: “You are at the age of growing; eat a bit more.”
The four children were overwhelmed by the unexpected favor, especially little Huo Dong. Seventh Sister-in-law had never spoken to him so gently, even giving him rice to eat, and she had punished Third Aunt today. He particularly liked this Seventh Sister-in-law today.
“Thank you, Seventh Sister-in-law!”
“Thank you, Seventh Aunt!”
The four children expressed their gratitude in naive, sweet voices, looking quite cute.
“Good children.” Yin Weiyue couldn’t help but pat their heads one by one.
“Here’s mine for you.” Yin Weiyue was just feeling happy about giving away the half-raw rice in her bowl, when the very next second Huo Jun transferred half of his half-bowl of bean rice back to her, along with those two large pieces of fat meat.
Yin Weiyue: “…”
How did that famous saying go again? What is ultimately yours will be yours—there’s no escaping it!