After returning to her room, Shen Meng went straight into her spatial dimension. Her head still ached terribly, so she ate some medicine and brain-boosting foods before feeling relieved.
She felt sticky all over from yesterday until now, thankfully Wang Guizhi had wiped her down, otherwise she would have definitely smelled terrible.
In the bathroom, she filled a tub with hot water and took a long, thorough bath, scrubbing vigorously with a specially bought bath towel. People in the countryside rarely pay attention to hygiene, and the original owner's body was covered in streaks of dirt, making Shen Meng almost vomit. She scrubbed twice and then took another bath before stopping. When she took off her shower cap, her brows furrowed. If it weren't for her severe headache, she would have definitely scrubbed her hair. While
she was helping herself scrub at home, Lu Mingyang and the other children went to the hillside to gather pig feed. Although Lu Mingkai was young, he diligently helped his older siblings, and because they didn't have any tools, his little hands were marked red from being pulled.
He tugged at a few more handfuls of grass, and when he looked up, he saw his older siblings working hard ahead of him, their bottoms sticking out. He pursed his lips; the other children who were gathering pig feed had already gone home for lunch, and no one had called them yet!
"Daqing, Erqing, hurry home for lunch, the sun is too strong, don't work so hard."
"Coming, Mom." Daqing put the grass in his hand into the basket and called out to Lu Mingyang.
"Mingyang, why hasn't your grandma called you home for lunch yet? She didn't call you yesterday, and she still hasn't called you today. How can that old woman be so heartless? I saw Yongqiang and Yongli go home."
Lu Mingyang didn't even look up, his hands still busy with his work.
"You should take Erqing back quickly, your mother is waiting for you. We'll go home in a bit."
"Go home? What are you going to eat at home? Your grandma looks terrible, and your mother is so mean. Mingyang, why don't you take Mingliang and the others to my house for a meal? My mother won't say anything. She's worried about you having nothing to eat."
Daqing said, pulling Lu Mingyang along. His grandmother and Liu Sanjin were sisters-in-law, so they were cousins. Although the food at their house wasn't good, it was at least something to eat.
"No, I've been to your house several times this month. Look at your aunt's long face, it's almost falling to the ground. If your mother gets bullied again, we'll just go home. It's okay, you go, go."
Daqing led Erqing down the mountain, but after a few steps, he turned back. "You really aren't going?"
"No, go back quickly, it's okay!"
After watching Daqing and Erqing leave, Lu Mingyang's smile faded. Well, it wasn't exactly a smile; she just twitched her lips. If it weren't for Daqing's mother's frequent help, she would be indifferent to everyone.
"Brother, I'm hungry. When is Grandma coming to call us?"
Lu Mingliang put down the shovel and plopped down on the ground.
"Call us? If she wanted to call us for dinner, she would have done it already. Why wait until now? Brother, why don't we go home after we deliver the pig feed? I still have three chicken cakes hidden by that bad woman. Let's share them."
Lu Mingkai's eyes lit up, and he grinned at Lu Mingliang. He wanted to eat the chicken cakes.
Lu Mingfang picked up the shovel, pursed her lips, and said, "Brother, I think Mom might really get better. Grandpa and Grandma talked to her this morning, and she's still sick. Let's go back. What if she really dies? There'll be no one around. What will we do when Dad comes back and asks?"
They weren't Lu family children. What would they do if the bad woman really died? Life with the bad woman wasn't good, but at least they slept in a nice room and occasionally got to eat something good.
But it was different at Grandma's house. Grandma would make people do chores, and the food was all thin porridge. The steamed buns were made of black bean flour, which was very hard on the throat. Xiao Kai couldn't even poop because he ate black bean steamed buns.
She didn't want to go to Grandma's house for dinner; her stomach ached from hunger.
Lu Mingyang's eyes darkened slightly as he looked at his younger siblings. After a while, he said loudly, "Let's go home, let's go home."
"Hehe, okay, Aunt Tian and Grandma Chen brought back eggs yesterday. I saw them; Grandma put them in the kitchen cupboard. It's okay if we don't get enough from the steamed egg custard; we'll cook eggs later. Anyway, that bad woman is in bed; who knows how many eggs she took? And brown sugar too. We'll make brown sugar water for Mingfang when we get home; the little girl likes sweets."
He swallowed hard as he spoke. He also liked sweets, but if he could steal some, he'd rather give it to his sister.
Lu Mingliang talked a lot, making Lu Mingkai drool the whole way.
He said a lot, but Lu Mingliang didn't say anything. He knew in his heart that Grandma wouldn't give them any food; even if she did, she'd make Auntie say a lot of sarcastic things before giving them any.
Grandma and the others never treated him, Mingliang, and Mingfang as members of the Lu family. Although they called him their precious darling, they never offered them anything good. It was nothing like how they treated Yongqiang and Yongli, feeding them eggs and ducks. Even Mingkai, their own grandson, didn't receive that treatment.
He didn't think the bad woman would change, but since his grandparents had just passed away, even if she wanted to put on an act, she would probably only do it for a couple of days. She shouldn't be too upset these two days.
In the main hall of the Lu family's old courtyard, the whole family was eating. Xie Jinghao picked up a piece of food and fed it to Xiaogang. Looking at the silent family, she thought for a moment and said, "It's so late. Should we go and call Mingyang and the others to come eat? And bring some food to my sister-in-law too!"
"No way! I'd like to see who dares! Humph, that woman already got her share of the grain, didn't she? She still wants to eat the rations here? Dream on! And those burdens, they don't even get a single grain."
Lu Jiahe said resentfully, taking a few big bites of cornbread.
As he spoke, Liu Sanjin didn't even lift his eyelids, seemingly sharing the same thought. Xie Jinghao frowned deeply.
"Sister-in-law is still injured, and the children don't know how to cook. If something really happens, it will be difficult to explain when brother comes back."
"Hmph, that sounds nice. Why don't you save your own rations for sister-in-law and the others?" Wu Xianglan rolled her eyes.
Why is she acting like a saint here, as if she's the only philanthropist?
"Mother, sister-in-law is right. Sister-in-law still has a head injury, and the children aren't close to her. If something really happens, it will be difficult to explain. Why don't we go and send some food over? I... I won't eat. Is it alright to save my rations?"
"What nonsense are you talking about? You didn't eat much yesterday. If you don't eat today, how can your body take it? Don't say things like that. I'll save my rations." Lu Jiaxuan put down his bowl and got up to get some cornbread.
Seeing her youngest son refuse to eat, Liu Sanjin quickly said, "Don't go! You're all so kind. What kind of bad person could your mother be? If your sister-in-law wanted to eat, she would have sent Mingyang over already. You're not hungry yet. Just wait. They'll be coming over begging for food soon. I won't refuse them, but how much depends on your sister-in-law's attitude."
She had been waiting all morning for bad news about Shen Meng, peeking through the crack in the door for a while, only to hear Old Lady Wang say that Shen Meng was much better. This made her teeth ache all morning.
Since she was alright, if she wanted to eat, she'd have to give something back; otherwise, she wouldn't get a single grain of rice.