Noticing how painfully the vegetable bun had choked her, Liu Shiting wore a blank expression on his face as he said calmly, “There’s been a poor harvest in the fields these past few years, so every household eats things like this. Just make do with it.”
It took a tremendous amount of effort for Ye Qisheng to barely swallow that mouthful of the vegetable bun, after which she hurriedly gulped down two mouthfuls of the watery porridge to wash away the choking, astringent taste.
Confirming she wasn’t going to choke to death, Liu Shiting gave her a deep look, turned around, and headed back to the front yard.
Holding her bowl, Ye Qisheng found a clean stone to sit on. Enduring the nausea that made her want to vomit, she forced it down bite by bite and finished everything off with extreme difficulty.
Once she finished eating, she began to worry.
Her stomach had been pampered by delicacies since childhood; she had no idea whether it could handle such rough food. She probably… wouldn’t get diarrhea, right?
Harboring this nervous and jittery feeling, Ye Qisheng sat in the backyard for quite a while. When she confirmed her stomach had no abnormal sensations and she didn’t feel any urge to visit the outhouse, she finally set her mind at ease. She carried her bowl to the well, washed it clean, put it back in the kitchen, and then strolled slowly back to her room.
Liu Yuexia had already finished eating and was sitting in front of a bronze mirror appraising her appearance. Seeing Ye Qisheng walk in, she curled her lips in disdain and went right back to examining the pimple that had broken out the day before.
Ye Qisheng had slept all afternoon and wasn’t tired yet. Catching sight of the wooden bathing tub nearby out of the corner of her eye, she remembered she hadn’t bathed last night and asked politely, “Excuse me, is hot water boiled in the kitchen?”
Hearing this, Liu Yuexia grew alert and turned her head to glare at her with hostility, “What do you want?”
Ye Qisheng tugged at her clothes and said, “I want to take a bath.”
Liu Yuexia wrinkled her nose in disgust, covered it with her hand, and taunted, “So you know you’re filthy, huh?”
That made it sound as though she deliberately chose not to bathe. Annoyance flared up in Ye Qisheng’s chest, but she still kept her tone pleasant as she asked for clarification, “Should I go to the kitchen to boil the water?”
“If not the kitchen, what, do you want to set up an open-air shed outside?”
Liu Yuexia gave her a scornful sweep of her eyes, turned back around, and continued fussing with her face in the mirror. *Honestly, with no oily food entering my stomach this whole time, I seem to have gotten even thinner, and my complexion looks terrible. Even putting on rouge can’t hide that sallow look.*
Without a good appearance, how was she supposed to find herself a handsome husband?
Seeing that Liu Yuexia had no intention of engaging further, Ye Qisheng stopped asking and headed straight for the kitchen.
Inside the room, Zhou Fenling was squatting on the ground, boiling bathwater for her family.
Catching a glimpse of Ye Qisheng entering out of the corner of her eye, she paused for a moment before ignoring her completely and continuing to feed wood to the fire.
Ye Qisheng could sense the aloofness radiating from the other woman, but in order to get a good night’s sleep tonight, she had to swallow her pride and ask, “Sister-in-law, once the water is boiled hot later, can you spare a little for me?”
Zhou Fenling flatly refused, “That won’t do! This pot is so small it’s barely enough for me and my husband to split. If we share it with you, what are we going to use to wash up?”
Ye Qisheng had no choice but to settle for second best. “Then when will your water be finished boiling? Could you please not put out the fire right away afterward? I can continue boiling my own water using the remaining embers, is that okay?”
Zhou Fenling glanced at her sideways. Remembering that if anyone in the family ever caught a cold or fell ill they would still need to consult Dr. Xu, she reluctantly agreed, “Alright then. I’m almost done boiling mine anyway; come back in about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.”
“Great, thank you.”
Ye Qisheng thanked her politely, turned around, and left the kitchen.
She hadn’t eaten enough from that meager meal earlier that night. Thinking of the fruit hidden in her storage slot, her stomach rumbled honestly. Seeing that there was no one around, she took advantage of the moonlight to slip into the backyard, found a clean patch of ground, materialized a peach out of thin air, and began to munch on it.
She had barely bitten off half when a harsh, screeching scream suddenly rang out from behind her, “Aha! So you were actually hiding back here stealing food!”
Frightened, Ye Qisheng gave a start and almost dropped the peach on the ground. Flustered, she tossed it back into her storage space, wiped the corner of her mouth, and turned to face a furious Liu Yuexia.
Liu Yuexia charged forward in two or three steps, placed her hands on her hips, and shouted loudly, “What are you hiding?! Hand over whatever you were just eating right now!”
Her expression unchanged, Ye Qisheng retorted with utmost composure, “I wasn’t eating anything. Must be seeing things, haven’t you?”
“No way! I saw it crystal clear just now—you were definitely sneaking food!”
Ye Qisheng raised an eyebrow, looking even more unhurried. “Dinner was completely finished down to the last scrap. What on earth do you think I could have stolen to eat? Besides, I didn’t even eat at the same table as you guys, so even if I wanted to steal, I couldn’t have reached it.”
“Who knows how you managed to pull off a sneaky trick!” Intent on humiliating her, Liu Yuexia rolled her eyes and stubbornly insisted, “When I went to collect the eggs just now, I found there was one fewer than usual. You definitely stole it!”
Talk about baseless accusations; Ye Qisheng let out a cold laugh. “I don’t even know where your family’s hens lay their eggs, so how would I steal them?”
“Only you and my mother were home today during the day. If you didn’t steal it, could it be my mother committed an inside job?”
“You should go ask your mother that. How would I know?” Ye Qisheng bounced the question right back, yawned, and said nonchalantly, “If there’s nothing else, I’m going to boil water for my bath.”
With that, she intended to step past her toward the kitchen. As they brushed shoulders, Liu Yuexia suddenly grabbed her wrist and said through gritted teeth, “You wretched girl! The matter of the eggs hasn’t been resolved yet, and you think you can just walk away? In your dreams!”
Country folk were used to doing heavy labor, so even at fifteen years old, Liu Yuexia possessed much greater strength than girls her age in modern times. Ye Qisheng felt a sharp pain in her wrist from the grip, and her gaze instantly turned icy. “Liu Yuexia, I’ve tolerated you for a long time. Don’t push your luck!”
Liu Yuexia glared at her with bitter hatred, sparks practically flying from her eyes. “I’m pushing my luck? Why don’t you talk about how you eat and live at our house—forget about showing gratitude, you actually turn around and steal from us!”
“Stop talking nonsense! Which of your eyes saw me steal anything?!”
“Our hen lays two eggs every single day, without fail, and I collect them all daily without a single one missing. The very day you arrive, one goes missing—if you didn’t steal it, then who did?!”
Ye Qisheng found this logic utterly absurd. She sneered and said, “If I really were a thief, stealing one is a crime, and stealing two is a crime. Why wouldn’t I just steal both and leave you with just one?”
Liu Yuexia choked, momentarily left speechless, but she pressed on stubbornly, refusing to let go. “How would I know your reasoning?! In short, you stole the egg, and you can’t pin this on anyone else!”
While they were bickering and tugging at each other, they reached the front yard. The commotion quickly stirred the people inside the main room. The main door suddenly swung open from within, and Mother Fan shouted with full, booming vitality, “What are you two arguing about? It’s the middle of the night and time for bed, what are you doing?!”
The moment she saw her mother, Liu Yuexia looked as though she had found her savior and quickly pointed at Ye Qisheng, crying out, “Mom! She stole from our house!”
Hearing this, Mother Fan’s expression shifted drastically. She rushed out from the room in a furious huff and bellowed in rage, “This is outrageous! She’s only stayed here a single day and she’s already resorted to such unsightly tactics! Yuexia, tell me right now, what did she steal?!”
Before Ye Qisheng could defend herself, Liu Yuexia rushed to blurt out, “She stole our family’s egg!”
Zhou Fenling had been boiling water in the kitchen; hearing the commotion here, she quickly wiped her hands and rushed out to join the fun. “Oh my, Miss Ye, really now! If you truly wanted to eat one, you could have just told Mother. Considering you’re Dr. Xu’s guest, we wouldn’t have been stingy about a single egg. Why on earth would you resort to such stealthy tactics?”