The shed door slid open with a SWISH.
Lin Yingxue stood in the doorway, not the least bit angered by Chen Tianhao’s attitude.
She put on the same obedient, fawning smile as the body’s original host.
“Right away.
I’m going.”
Glad to finally have someone to order around, Chen Huaiyuan looked up.
His dark gaze swept over Lin Yingxue before returning to his book.
He turned a page and said coldly, “What kind of wife stirs up the household like you do?
If you had gotten up earlier to cook, you wouldn’t have put Qiaoqiao in such a difficult position.”
Lin Yingxue nodded obediently and headed straight for the kitchen.
At the doorway, she suddenly paused and waved at Chen Tianhao.
“Tianhao, come here.”
Usually, when she did this, it meant she had secretly hidden something delicious in the kitchen and was calling him over to enjoy it all by himself.
Chen Tianhao followed her without a second thought.
“Tianhao,” Lin Yingxue tugged at his sleeve, lowering her voice.
“You’ve lost weight over the two days since Mother fainted.
Qiaoqiao definitely couldn’t bear to make you any extra meals.
Do you want to eat some chicken?”
Even though he was the male lead who would eventually stir up storms in the political arena, the current Chen Tianhao was nothing more than a peasant boy who had just survived the ravages of war with barely enough food and clothing.
At the mere mention of chicken, his Adam’s apple bobbed involuntarily.
“Where would we get chicken?” he mumbled.
Lin Yingxue pointed toward the coop.
“Aren’t there two old hens right there?
As long as you want to eat it, I’ll slaughter one and stew it.”
Those two hens in the coop were currently the most valuable livestock the Chen Family owned.
Mrs.
Jiang guarded them more fiercely than her own eyeballs.
Chen Tianhao hesitated.
“Mother will definitely curse us out if she finds out.”
“She would only curse if someone else ate it,” Lin Yingxue said softly.
“You’re her favorite youngest son.
Let alone one chicken, even if we slaughtered both, she would only nag a little.
Besides, Father has also lost weight recently.
He needs some nourishment too.
You won’t be eating this chicken alone; you’ll be sharing it with Father.”
These words thoroughly convinced Chen Tianhao.
He figured that since he was his mother’s favorite youngest son, even if the rest of the family went hungry, he certainly wouldn’t.
So what if he ate a chicken?
Even if his mother woke up and wanted to scold someone, his father would be there to take the brunt of it.
By dragging his father into this, his mother would have to bite her tongue even if she wanted to throw a fit.
“Fine, then slaughter one,” Chen Tianhao decided, then added, “Save a bowl of chicken soup.
That way, when Mother wakes up, she’ll know I’m the most filial one.”
Lin Yingxue nodded.
“Then you go catch the chicken.
I’m afraid that if I make too much noise, Qiaoqiao will come out and stop me.”
At the mention of Wu Qiaoqiao, whatever lingering hesitation Chen Tianhao felt instantly vanished.
He had heard Qiaoqiao grumbling behind his back plenty of times, complaining about his mother’s favoritism toward him.
Watching Chen Tianhao’s back as he turned toward the chicken coop, Lin Yingxue’s lips curled into a smile.
She realized that his male lead halo was indeed useful.
Before entering the political world, this male lead was incredibly easy to fool.
There was only a brief FLAP and a single CLUCK from the coop before Chen Tianhao returned, carrying a struggling old hen by the wings.
Lin Yingxue raised her knife and brought it down, swiftly draining the chicken’s blood.
She ladled boiling water over it and lowered her head to pluck the feathers with practiced ease.
“What a sin!
Yingxue, you killed the egg-laying hen!
When Mother wakes up, she’ll skin you alive!” Seeing the chicken blood all over the ground, Wu Qiaoqiao shrieked at the top of her lungs.
She quickly turned to Chen Huaiyuan to clear her name.
“Father, Yingxue killed this chicken.
I had nothing to do with it.
If Mother asks, you have to be my witness.”
Lin Yingxue didn’t even look up, her hands moving continuously.
“Qiaoqiao, look how thin Tianhao and Father have gotten over the past few days while you’ve been managing the household.
Isn’t it only right to kill a chicken to nourish their bodies?
Mother always says Tianhao is going to study and bring glory to our family, and Father is the head of the household.
Are you saying they can’t even eat a chicken?”
Provoked by her words, Chen Tianhao straightened his back and glared at Wu Qiaoqiao.
“Exactly!
Can’t I even eat a chicken?”
Chen Huaiyuan, who had been about to voice his reprimand, silently lowered his head upon hearing this and picked up his book again.
His stomach was indeed severely lacking in grease and meat.
Since Yingxue had such filial piety, he was perfectly happy to play along.
When Mrs.
Jiang woke up and threw a tantrum, Yingxue would bear the brunt of it anyway.
He wouldn’t take any of the blame.
Seeing her father-in-law remain silent, Wu Qiaoqiao rolled her eyes and kept her mouth shut.
Since the chicken was already dead, getting a taste of meat wouldn’t be a loss.
After all, she wouldn’t be the one getting scolded in the end.
With that thought, she rolled up her sleeves and moved toward the kitchen.
“Yingxue, you tend the fire.
I’ll stew the chicken.”
Lin Yingxue cast a timid glance at Chen Tianhao.
Catching her drift, Chen Tianhao stepped forward and blocked the kitchen doorway.
“Don’t trouble yourself, Qiaoqiao.
Yingxue can handle it on her own.
If you have so much free time, why don’t you go inside and check on Mother?” As if he didn’t know what she was plotting.
If he let her in, there was no way both chicken drumsticks would end up in his stomach.
Wu Qiaoqiao choked on her words, utterly speechless.
Lin Yingxue took the opportunity to bolt the door from the inside.
As a left-behind child in her past life, she had long developed the skills to live independently.
Cooking was second nature to her.
Before long, waves of enticing aromas wafted from the kitchen.
Smelling the rich scent, Wu Qiaoqiao and her two sons couldn’t help but crane their necks.
Chen Tianhao swallowed hard, forcibly restraining himself from barging in.
“Is the chicken done yet?” Unable to withstand the mouthwatering aroma, Chen Tianhao shouted toward the kitchen, his voice laced with urgency.
“I’ll call you when it’s ready, Tianhao.” Lin Yingxue stirred the chicken soup in the wok, her mind calculating rapidly.
Wu Qiaoqiao and Chen Tianhao would definitely end up at each other’s throats over a bite of meat, and her father-in-law, as the head of the household, would step in to uphold justice.
She would use the chaos to slip into Jiang Baozhen’s room, dig out the original host’s longevity lock, snatch her mother-in-law’s private stash of money…
and make her escape!
But before going on the run, she needed to eat her fill.
The chicken was stewed until it was fall-off-the-bone tender.
The thick, milky-white broth BUBBLED in the wok, filling the entire kitchen with its savory fragrance.
Lin Yingxue deftly scooped up the two plumpest drumsticks, blew on them to cool them down, and took a huge bite.
Home-raised, free-range chicken was incredibly delicious.
Even with nothing but salt for seasoning, the rich, meaty flavor was enough to make her tongue quiver in delight.
“Old hens are tough to stew!
It needs to BUBBLE a while longer!” Hearing Chen Tianhao shouting impatiently from outside again, she swallowed a mouthful of meat and replied unhurriedly.
After devouring both drumsticks and downing a large bowl of scalding hot chicken soup, Lin Yingxue finally felt her empty stomach settle.
Still not satisfied, she grabbed a piece of golden-brown flatbread from the edge of the iron wok and continued eating, washing it down with the chicken soup.
While the chicken was stewing, she had actually dug out the hidden white flour and slapped a ring of flatbread dough along the edge of the wok.
The bread soaked up the rich umami of the chicken broth, turning crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
Every bite left a lingering, savory flavor in her mouth.
Having eaten and drunk her fill, she finally felt like her soul had returned to her body.