“He hit A-Jin first, and he even threw stones at me and made me fall!”Mei Niang protested angrily.
Hugging the bowl of meat, she hid it behind her back.“The meat is for A-Ye! Mianmian gave it to him! You’re not allowed to take it!”
Mu Mianmian glanced at the child.“You threw stones at Mei Niang?”
Her voice was soft, yet it carried an inexplicable pressure.
Ye Sicheng was still just a child. Instinctively, he shrank into his mother’s arms and cried.
“I didn’t!”
Madam Zhou snapped angrily, “My Sicheng is the most well-behaved child. How could he possibly throw stones at anyone? It was clearly your family’s idiot who fell down on her own! And you even hit my son and injured him—hurry up and compensate us!”
Compensation was impossible.
They knew the main branch was dirt poor and had no money at all.
So naturally, they wanted the meat instead.
The entire family stared at the pot of meat, drooling, eyes glowing as if they wanted to rush over and carry it away immediately.
“Hurry up and hand over the meat!”Ye Sifei strode over aggressively to snatch it.“You injured my brother—you have to compensate!”
Mei Niang instinctively hid behind Mu Mianmian.
Ye Sifei wasn’t afraid of her at all. Mu Mianmian was small and delicate—there was no way she could be a match for a grown man.
But then—
“Ah!”
When he raised his hand to shove her, Mu Mianmian grabbed his wrist and twisted his arm in one swift motion, locking him in place.
“Mu Mianmian! Let go of me!”
“You also injured my mother-in-law,” Mu Mianmian said coldly, her gaze sweeping over Madam Zhou and the others.“If you want to fight, I’ll accompany you. If you want to steal meat—dream on.”
Being exposed so bluntly, Madam Zhou and the others flushed red with embarrassment.
“You jinx! What nonsense are you spouting? Who’s stealing your meat? If you hadn’t beaten my son, who would even bother with you? Your whole family is a bunch of jinxes—bad luck!”
Feeling guilty, Madam Zhou planted her hands on her hips and shouted even louder.
Shen Jia supported Old Madam Ye and said,“Eldest Sister-in-law, you can’t say that. It’s not like we don’t have food—who cares about your few pieces of meat?”
“But since you have meat, why don’t you know how to show filial piety to Grandmother? Eating alone like this is unfilial.”
Madam Zhou’s eyes lit up.“Yes, yes! Jiajia’s right! You’re eating alone—having meat and not offering it to Old Madam—that’s unfilial behavior!”
Old Madam Ye lifted her chin, looking completely justified, as if saying: Hurry up and bring the meat over.
Mu Mianmian released Ye Sifei and said calmly,“We’ve already split the family. Old Madam Ye is not my father-in-law’s biological mother. Whoever’s mother she is—that person can be filial.”
“You—!”Old Madam Ye nearly choked with rage.“Fine, Mu Mianmian. Your Mu family truly raised nothing but trash! Since you’re unfilial, we can divorce you!”
“My affairs are not for you to decide.”
At that moment, Ye Siming’s voice rang out, heavy with authority.
“Second Uncle, Third Uncle—since we’ve already split families, you’re all healthy and able-bodied. Can’t you take care of Old Madam yourselves?”
“If you want meat, go find it yourselves! Snatching meat from a woman—do you have any shame? Hm?”
The Ye family’s dignity had been completely thrown away.
It was utterly disgraceful.
Ye Siming didn’t want to look at them any longer.
Second Master Ye and Third Master Ye were rendered speechless.
Just as the women were about to argue again, the guards shouted angrily from nearby:
“What are you yelling about?! We depart in one hour! Wake me up again and I’ll whip you to death!”
The guards were fierce.
Everyone immediately fell silent and retreated, sitting together in a miserable heap.
Ye Sicheng whined, “Mother, I want to eat meat…”
The meat cooked by the main branch smelled so good—he was dying of craving.
They had eaten nothing but dry rations and fruit on the journey.
There wasn’t a drop of oil in their stomachs.
Not even adults could endure it, let alone a child.
“Be good, Cheng’er,” Madam Zhou whispered.“Tomorrow your father will catch some game. We’ll have meat too.”
……
“The meat’s dirty now—throw it away.”
Seeing that the meat in her mother-in-law’s bowl could no longer be eaten, Mu Mianmian took it, intending to discard it.
“No… don’t throw it away!”Mei Niang’s eyes filled with tears as she clutched the bowl tightly.“We have nothing to eat. We finally have meat—Mianmian worked so hard to catch it…”
“It’s okay,” Mu Mianmian said gently, coaxing her.“I can catch more game tomorrow. There’s still some in the pot—enough for us to eat now.”
Only then did Mei Niang reluctantly let go.
Mu Mianmian threw the dirty meat away, then returned and ate with them.
Finally able to eat fragrant, savory meat, everyone felt deeply satisfied.
Smiles bloomed on their faces— even Ye Siming felt that just one bite of meat was pure happiness.
Mu Mianmian prepared some porridge to feed her comatose father-in-law.
In his current state, he was unconscious but still alive—and still needed food, or he would starve.
“Sister-in-law, let me feed Father!”Ye Siyun offered eagerly. After washing the dishes, she took the bowl from Mu Mianmian’s hands.“Can you help wipe Brother down instead?”
Her brother loved cleanliness.
Ever since leaving the capital, he was still wearing the same groom’s robes.
Ye Siyun felt sorry for him.
“All right,” Mu Mianmian said, glancing at the man and not refusing.
But upon hearing this, Ye Siming’s ears turned red at once.
“No need.”
In the past, he had always been attended by shadow guards.
Now, suddenly, there was a soft-spoken wife—one he hadn’t even consummated the marriage with—and they were on the road to exile.
Such intimacy made him deeply uncomfortable.
Especially now that his legs were crippled.