Thus, the family separation was settled. Bai Jiu didn’t waste any time haggling with the Gao family; she moved out that very day, relocating to the dilapidated house that once belonged to a landlord.
Xiuxiu and Zhengyang followed their mother the entire time, terrified that their current mother would vanish.
"You two wait for me at home while I go fetch the rest of our things. If you get bored, how about you help me tidy up this place?" Bai Jiu said. After making two trips with them trailing behind, her heart ached for the children. She didn’t want them running back and forth with her anymore. Although they didn’t have much, now that they had moved here, even a single chopstick was precious.
"Mother, will you come back?" Zhengyang nervously tugged at her clothes, his voice trembling slightly.
Bai Jiu was taken aback, unsure why he would ask such a thing. "Zhengyang, why wouldn’t I come back?" She crouched down to look him in the eye, unable to understand what he was so afraid of.
Zhengyang was extremely anxious, but he still spoke his mind. "Mother, from now on, will you still make us give in to Sister Daniu and Brother Erzhu?" He was terrified that this mother of his would revert to her old ways.
Hearing this, Bai Jiu immediately sifted through the original owner’s memories. After reviewing them, she really wanted to curse out loud. She wondered if she was really their biological mother. To see her own children being bullied and have her first instinct be to make them endure it in silence! She hadn’t the slightest intention of standing up for them. It was precisely because she had taught the two children this way that Old Mrs. Song was able to start enslaving them at such a young age.
Bai Jiu gently patted his head. "I won’t. From now on, you never have to yield to anyone. As long as you aren’t in the wrong, I will always stand by your side." Although she wanted to impart some life lessons to them, she thought better of it. The principles she lived by weren’t exactly conventional.
In her mind, if someone dared to bully you, you should bully them right back, and anything that could be solved with money wasn’t a real problem. But looking into Zhengyang’s clear, innocent eyes, she couldn’t bring herself to say those words.
"Of course, we won’t shy away from trouble either," Bai Jiu finally added. "We won’t go out of our way to bully others, but we absolutely won’t allow ourselves to be wronged."
After comforting the children, Bai Jiu headed back to the Gao family. Once she grabbed the last of their meager belongings, she left amidst Old Mrs. Song’s continuous spitting and cursing. Since she was in a good mood, she decided not to stoop to the old hag’s level.
Now that the third branch was independent, they had virtually nothing. Let alone a cooking pot, even their bowls and chopsticks were battered and chipped. They would just have to make do for today. Tomorrow, she would need to make a trip to the county town to at least buy a pot; otherwise, she wouldn’t even have a way to cook.
The new place was very quiet. Their arrival didn’t attract the slightest attention from the neighbors sharing the courtyard. Bai Jiu didn’t mind. If they didn’t come to bother her, she wouldn’t initiate any interaction either.
Fortunately, though the house was run-down, the heated brick bed inside was still in good condition. She wasn’t going to work in the fields this afternoon, so she planned to take the children to the back mountain to gather some firewood. Otherwise, it would be difficult to survive the freezing winter nights.
Living conditions in the countryside were poor, relying entirely on earthen beds and stoves. There was a stove here, but she lacked a pot. Most people fueled their fires with dry wood from the mountain or cornstalks. However, cornstalks were distributed per capita, and the Gao family hadn’t given her their share this time. She had to gather some dry firewood herself; otherwise, they wouldn’t have any fire for the night. It was quite a hassle.
Summer would have been fine, but the dead of winter was incredibly challenging. Dry wood wasn’t easy to find. If she had the chance tomorrow, she wanted to buy a coal stove so she wouldn’t have to chop wood for cooking and heating. However, coal stoves were not cheap, and even if she had one, coal wasn’t always available. In this era, basically only city dwellers used them; the countryside simply lacked the resources.
Once the house was tidied up, all three of their stomachs began to rumble at the same time.
"Mother, what are we having for lunch?" Zhengyang and Xiuxiu rubbed their bellies, looking at her with sensible expressions.
Bai Jiu found herself in a slight predicament. If she were alone, it would be fine—she could eat whatever she wanted. But with the two children here, she didn’t want to pull food out of her spatial dimension. She truly had no intention of telling anyone about her space.
Glancing at their meager provisions, Bai Jiu smiled. "We’re going to eat something delicious." No matter how hard life was, she couldn’t let the children suffer. Both of them were skin and bones. She had to make sure they were properly nourished.
Since they didn’t have a pot but happened to have some sweet potatoes, they could roast them for lunch and bake a few eggs. However, eggs couldn’t be roasted directly; they had to be encased in mud first, otherwise they would explode. She hadn’t been given any eggs during the family separation, but that hadn’t stopped her from using some sleight of hand.
Bai Jiu moved quickly. She gathered some stray dry branches from outside, started a fire, and once it burned down to hot coals, she tossed the sweet potatoes in. Then, she went back outside to fetch some mud. From the grain sack, she pulled out more than a dozen eggs.
"Mother, where did you get so many eggs?" Zhengyang and Xiuxiu were startled to see her produce such a bounty.
Bai Jiu’s mouth twitched. These were technically her own things, yet she had to act like a thief. "Shh, I took these from your grandmother. We must keep our voices down so no one hears."
The two children were incredibly obedient. Hearing their mother’s words, they immediately clamped their hands over their mouths and shook their heads in unison.
"Good children." Seeing their adorable reactions, Bai Jiu let out a PFFT and burst into laughter. "Alright, just don’t mention it outside. It’s fine to talk about it at home."
Bai Jiu worked swiftly, mostly because the meal was so simple. It was the first time the two children had ever eaten eggs, and they were so reluctant to swallow that they savored every bite. Watching them, Bai Jiu’s heart ached. She made a firm resolution to raise them until they were fair and chubby.
"You two rest at home this noon. The wind is picking up outside, and your clothes are thin. I’ll go to the back mountain to chop some firewood so we won’t freeze tonight," Bai Jiu instructed after they had finished eating.
Zhengyang shook his head. "Mother, I’ll go with you."
Not wanting to be left behind, Xiuxiu chimed in, "I’ll go too!"
Having such sensible children naturally warmed her heart. However, the wind outside was truly fierce. Although it hadn’t snowed yet, it wouldn’t be long before it did. She couldn’t bear the thought of dragging her children out into the freezing cold.