“I never would have guessed that you could cook, and that your cooking would actually be this good!” Shang Hong said between huge mouthfuls of rice.
After returning from the courtyard where Shen Mancang lived, Shen Meng shut the gate of the small courtyard around the kitchen and woodshed, then closed the woodshed door as well. She reminded Bai Jinxi not to open the door unless absolutely necessary. If anyone came by, she was to say that Shen Meng was asleep.
Then she followed Shang Hong back to the home Shang Hong had in another parallel world.
“Children from poor families learn to take care of themselves early. Of course I know how to cook,” Shen Meng said. “I could cook when I was nine.”
“Poor? Your parents run the biggest furniture factory in Pinghu County. And you call yourself a child from a poor family?” Shang Hong kept eating without slowing down.
“That’s how things are now. Our family wasn’t well-off in the beginning either. After my parents were laid off, they started a small home workshop. The two of them worked alongside two employees, day and night. They handled everything themselves. After working that hard for several years, they finally expanded it into a small factory with more than twenty workers. Only then did the orders and income become stable.”
“During those years when they were struggling to build the business, they had no time to cook for me at all. That was when I learned to cook. I even made their meals for them.”
“From now on, whenever I have time, just tell me what you want to eat. I can make most ordinary dishes. If there’s something I don’t know how to make, I can learn. I’m actually pretty talented at cooking~”
Shang Hong looked at Shen Meng and nodded.
“Okay.”
“Eldest Sister-in-Law, Father asked me to come check on you. Please open the door.”
The fifteen-year-old boy politely knocked on the courtyard gate.
He was the youngest son of the Shen family, Shen Fukang.
This youngest son had been born when Shen Mancang was sixty-one and Madam Shen Zhou was fifty, both considered quite old to be having a child.
He had been born in their later years and was exceptionally intelligent, clearly suited for studying. As a result, Shen Fukang was greatly doted on by the Shen family.
Hearing someone calling from outside, Bai Jinxi jumped in fright.
Shen Meng had just said a few words to her before disappearing into thin air, and she still hadn’t returned. Bai Jinxi absolutely could not let anyone discover her.
She quickly pulled open Shen Meng’s quilt, then stuffed her own pillow and quilt underneath it to make it look as though someone was sleeping.
Once everything was arranged, Bai Jinxi walked out of the woodshed and carefully closed the door behind her. Only then did she go to open the courtyard gate.
“It’s Fukang. Why have you come so late?”
Bai Jinxi opened the gate but didn’t step aside, blocking the entrance.
“I’m sorry, Auntie, for disturbing you so late.”
Shen Fukang smiled and held out three packets of medicine with both hands.
“These are the cold and fever medicines Third Uncle brought back earlier. Father asked me to bring three doses for Little Meng. He said to boil them and take them first. If they’re not enough, go to him for more.”
Bai Jinxi stared at the three packets of medicine, and her heart twisted with pain.
Last night, Shen Meng had been burning with a high fever. Bai Jinxi had knelt outside Shen Mancang’s gate and begged him for medicine, but Shen Mancang hadn’t even let her into the courtyard.
She had knelt there through the entire cold, damp early-spring night, and her knees were still aching.
But what hurt more than her knees was her heart.
The moment she thought of her Meng’er, who had already been separated from her forever because she hadn’t been able to get medicine in time, the heart that had been worn numb by suffering once again erupted with blazing anger.
“Please thank Father-in-Law for his kindness.”
Bai Jinxi raised her hand to accept the medicine, but Shen Meng, who had just walked up behind her, interrupted her.
Shen Meng pulled Bai Jinxi’s arm aside and stepped forward.
“Late concern is worth less than weeds. The Sea Goddess has already healed me. I don’t need these ordinary medicines anymore. Take them back.”
Shen Meng reached out to close the courtyard gate.
Shen Fukang raised a hand to block it.
“Why say it like that, Little Meng? We’re all family.”
Shen Meng let out a cold laugh.
“All family?! Listen to yourself. Isn’t that ridiculous? A family that bullies the weak and fawns on the powerful! When we had no value, you treated us like an old rag and threw us into the woodshed. Now that we have some value, you’re rushing over to bring us medicine. Hmph. Don’t you find yourselves shameless?!”
Shen Fukang neither hurried nor became angry.
“Xiaomeng, why put it so harshly?”
“Looking down on those beneath you and flattering those above you is human nature. There’s no denying that my father is status-conscious. Whoever can benefit the family, he treats well. Even I wasn’t allowed to stop working until I passed the county and prefectural examinations and became a Tongsheng.”
“But there is one good thing about my father. He keeps his word.”
Shen Fukang pushed the three bundled medicine packets into Shen Meng’s hands.
“As long as you can handle the job of gathering firewood, he will keep his promise. He’ll give Big Brother’s courtyard back to you, let you eat with everyone else, and have everyone share the household work.”
“That much is true.”
Bai Jinxi had heard Shen Meng’s words becoming increasingly harsh and quickly grabbed her arm, afraid that Shen Meng might lose her temper and hit Shen Fukang too. After all, she had already beaten three people that day.
“Your father may care about benefits, but he absolutely keeps his word.”
“That’s good, then.”
Shen Meng quietly moved Bai Jinxi’s hand away.
“Thank you for making the trip, Little Uncle. Please thank Grandfather on behalf of the two of us. I still have to get up early tomorrow to go up the mountain and gather firewood, so I won’t keep you here any longer.”
Shen Fukang didn’t say anything more. He merely tugged the corner of his mouth into a faint smile before turning around and leaving.
After watching Shen Fukang disappear into the distance, Shen Meng and Bai Jinxi closed the courtyard gate and walked back toward the woodshed.
“I didn’t expect Shen Fukang to be so young, yet so mature and perceptive,” Shen Meng said.
“Fukang has been intelligent since he was little. He passed the Tongsheng examination before he was even fifteen. He’s famous throughout the surrounding villages as a child prodigy.”
As she spoke, Bai Jinxi eagerly pulled a paper-wrapped bundle from inside her clothes, opened it, and held it out to Shen Meng.
“This is a vegetable wowo-mantou I hid earlier. It’s made from cornmeal mixed with blanched baby greens. It’s a little cold, but it’s still better than going to bed hungry.”
Shen Meng froze for a moment before taking it.
“You already ate?”
“I did. I ate one too,” Bai Jinxi said.
By the time they finished speaking, they had already entered the room. Bai Jinxi secured the door and turned around, only to find a delicate wooden food box beside the bed.
The food box looked expensive at a glance. It was nothing like something that would normally appear in a small fishing village.
“I brought you some food. I didn’t expect you to have already eaten, but a little wowo-mantou like that probably isn’t enough to fill you up. There’s food inside, and it’s still warm. Why don’t you eat a little more?”
As she spoke, Shen Meng opened the food box.
Shang Hong had said that one day in her home was equivalent to only one second in this world. Shen Meng hadn’t expected Bai Jinxi to have already eaten during the short time it took her to cook and eat a meal.
“You brought food for me too? Did you make it yourself? Then I definitely have to try it.”
Bai Jinxi helped clear the things off the wooden chest beside the bed to make room for the dishes.
The food box was designed in an ancient style and had three layers. Each of the first two layers held a dish, while the bottom layer contained a bowl of rice and a bowl of soup.
Shen Meng opened each layer one by one and placed the dishes, rice, and soup on the table.
One plate of stir-fried pork with chilies, one plate of broccoli with minced garlic, a heaping bowl of steaming white rice, and a bowl of tomato and egg soup.
Forget meat and eggs. Bai Jinxi hadn’t eaten even plain, fragrant white rice since marrying Shen Fugui. After Shen Fugui died, it was even rarer.
Whenever she managed to find anything tasty, she always saved it for Shen Meng.
For a moment, Bai Jinxi simply stared.
Shen Meng took out the chopsticks and spoon. She placed the spoon in the bowl of soup, then put the chopsticks into Bai Jinxi’s hand.
As she closed the food box, she said, “Eat while it’s hot.”
“Did… did you eat already?” Bai Jinxi asked.
“I did. You eat.”
Shen Meng placed the neatly packed food box beside the wooden chest, then picked up the wowo-mantou Bai Jinxi had given her earlier and started eating it.
Bai Jinxi hurriedly grabbed Shen Meng’s hand.
“That wowo-mantou is cold and hard. Don’t eat it. Let’s eat the food you made together. There’s so much here that I couldn’t finish it all by myself.”
Shen Meng immediately understood what Bai Jinxi was worried about.
“I really did eat already. I had exactly the same kind of meal as this. I’ve just never had a vegetable wowo-mantou before, so I wanted to try one.”
She had meant to put Bai Jinxi at ease, but the moment the words left her mouth, Shen Meng realized they sounded wrong.
She wanted to explain, but couldn’t think of a better explanation for the moment. Afraid that anything she said would only make things worse, she pressed her lips together and fell awkwardly silent.
Bai Jinxi was perceptive and quick-witted. She understood immediately and hurriedly smiled.
“Then eat it with some of this soup. That way you won’t upset your stomach.”
“You drink the soup. I just finished drinking, so my stomach is still warm. Besides, you already warmed this wowo-mantou with your hands. It won’t upset my stomach.”
Shen Meng took a bite of the wowo-mantou and was surprised to find that it was actually quite tasty.
“This wowo-mantou is seasoned. It’s pretty good,” Shen Meng said.
“It’s made with cornmeal and baby greens freshly picked from the fields. I blanched the greens, then mixed them with oil, salt, and five-spice powder before kneading them into the cornmeal.”
Seeing that Shen Meng genuinely liked it, Bai Jinxi was happy. But the smile on her face soon faded, and her expression turned gloomy.
“If we really start eating with them, we’ll be eating wowo-mantou like this every day. You might find it novel after eating it once or twice, but if you have it every day, you’ll definitely have trouble getting used to it.”
Hearing that, Shen Meng suddenly felt that secretly cooking separate meals for the two of them might actually be better. That way, they wouldn’t have to share meager food with that status-conscious family.
But the beginner mission still had to be completed.
Sigh…
They could only find a way to eat separately after she completed the mission.
With that thought, Shen Meng patted Bai Jinxi’s arm.
“It’s fine. We’ll find a way to cook separately when the time comes. But eating at the same table affects our standing in the family. We can’t give up that.”
“That makes sense.”
Hearing Shen Meng say that, Bai Jinxi smiled again.
Once they had nothing more to talk about, the two people who were still not very familiar with each other quietly ate their food without saying anything else.
Bai Jinxi ate with great restraint. Anyone could tell that she had been raised with good manners.
Yet judging from the fact that she cleaned every dish completely, it was obvious that she hadn’t had anything rich to eat in a very long time. She might not even have had a full meal in ages.
Shen Meng couldn’t tell whether Bai Jinxi had really eaten one wowo-mantou earlier, but she was certain of one thing: Bai Jinxi definitely hadn’t eaten her fill before.
She had saved one wowo-mantou from her own portion just to leave it for Shen Meng.
Shen Meng chewed on the wowo-mantou, her eyes stinging slightly, and felt a sourness well up in her heart.
“Why are you so good to me? Why did you even save food for me?” Shen Meng couldn’t help asking.
Bai Jinxi took out a freshly laundered handkerchief and wiped her mouth.
“Even though the person inside has changed, this body and blood of yours are still mine. I carried you for ten months and gave birth to you. I raised you bite by bite, sip by sip. How could I bear to let you go hungry?”
Shen Meng could tell that Bai Jinxi was speaking from the heart.
But that only made the ache in Shen Meng’s heart worse.
Bai Jinxi could cherish the daughter whose body she had given birth to this deeply, while Shen Meng’s own biological mother had never made her feel even the slightest bit of love or warmth.
“Besides, in your current identity, you’re my only daughter. You’re tough, and you have divine strength. I’ll have to rely on you to stand up for me in the Shen family from now on, so of course I need to treat you well.”
That was even more honest.