The moment Old Mrs. Su heard that Yu Lian intended to take this matter back to her family, her eyebrows twitched.
Yu Lian’s father had been a schoolteacher and held great prestige in Huainan Village. If he found out his daughter had been bullied by the Su family, he certainly wouldn’t let it go… and by then, the Su family’s reputation would be thoroughly ruined!
Her sharp, mean eyes narrowed, and she slapped Wang Guiqiu across the face. “Shut your mouth! When have I ever treated you unfairly? Spouting nonsense about the second son bringing meat home—it was clearly Xiao Xi who brought it back. Whatever a child brings home naturally belongs to her. Get back to your room!”
Wang Guiqiu, stunned by the slap, shouted at the top of her lungs, “Mother! Then what about Xingyu?”
“What about him! Whose fault is it you never gave birth to a good daughter!”
Old Mrs. Su stomped off, cursing and grumbling, with Wang Guiqiu and Su Miaomiao reluctantly following behind.
Su Xinghui wanted to leave too, but looking at Su Xingyu sprawled on the ground throwing a tantrum, she thought for a moment, then picked him up and left with him.
As she passed the second branch’s family, she didn’t even dare lift her head.
After this battle, Ling Xi was completely drained of energy, lying limply on the bed pitying herself. She was truly risking her life to complete these tasks!
Cai Yu: “…”
Dinner was eaten in the old lady’s room. To disgust the second branch, Wang Guiqiu made the food exceptionally bad—wild vegetable steamed buns with wild vegetable soup, each more throat-scratching and bitter than the last.
Ling Xi lost her appetite after two sips, sitting there looking sickly and listless.
The sight of her delicate frailty displeased Wang Guiqiu, who sneered, “What capitalist airs! She’s never earned a single work point, and already she’s complaining about the food!”
Ling Xi smiled with perfect sweetness, but her words were merciless: “Not nearly as impressive as Third Aunt’s family—cursing her sister to die young, then robbing Second Uncle’s household. So very accomplished!”
“You little wretch—” Wang Guiqiu was about to start cursing when Old Mrs. Su rapped her chopsticks against her bowl. “Enough! Can’t even eat a meal in peace with your mouths running!”
She had no interest in the conflicts between the third and second branches, but why should she have to suffer through eating terrible steamed buns because of it? At that moment, everything about Wang Guiqiu looked displeasing, so she didn’t side with the third branch.
Wang Guiqiu was an expert at reading people and adjusting her behavior accordingly. Seeing that she was genuinely angry, she obediently shut her mouth and said nothing more.
Feeling bitter inside, Su Xinghui stole glances at Ling Xi, noticing that she was still smiling sweetly, seemingly unaffected at all.
The suspicion she had suppressed earlier rose up again. She frowned, feeling that this adopted little sister of hers wasn’t quite the same as before.
The food was so hard to swallow that Su Changhe had little appetite either, but following his principle of never wasting food, he finished both his and Ling Xi’s leftovers.
The couple carried their daughter back to their room, took out the pork leg, removed the bones, and stewed a pork bone soup for Ling Xi in a small clay pot, along with boiling two eggs.
The eggs had been brought over by Su Aihua. Afraid that the Su family’s second branch might really report them to the authorities, she hadn’t dared delay and delivered the eggs before dinner.
Soon after she left, curses from Wang Daqiang and his wife next door rang out, along with Wang Tieniu’s wails. Ling Xi listened while drinking her soup and eating her eggs—it went down wonderfully.
Of the remaining pork, less than ten jin was left. Yu Lian set aside the fatty portion for rendering lard and salted and cured the rest, giving her daughter a little each day to build up her health.
The bone broth was fragrant, and the smell of meat drifted into the courtyard. Su Xinghui, who hadn’t eaten her fill at dinner, felt her stomach growling nonstop, with Wang Guiqiu’s curses and Su Xingyu’s wails ringing in her ears.
She pulled the blanket over her ears, feeling utterly vexed. She had clearly escaped the Second Branch, so why hadn’t her life improved at all?
What she didn’t know yet was that even more frustrating things were still to come.
Early the next morning, the village chief announced over the loudspeaker that, to encourage enthusiasm for labor, the maximum work points for women and children during the autumn harvest would be raised to 10 points.
More work points meant more grain rations. How could Wang Guiqiu pass up such a good deal? First thing in the morning, she dragged the reluctant Su Xinghui to sign up.
Xingchen and Miaomiao still had to go to school, so of course the worthless adopted daughter had to do the work!
When Ling Xi went to deliver water that morning, she happened upon the plastic mother and daughter bickering: “Mom, I still have to go to school!”
“School? What school? What’s school compared to grain! Taking a few days off won’t set you back any! You lazy girl, waiting for your old mother to feed you without lifting a finger?”
Wang Guiqiu’s voice was so loud that people two furrows away could hear the pair arguing.
Most families in Huaixing Village looked down on the Su family’s Third Branch—a whole household of lazy, gluttonous, slippery good-for-nothings who couldn’t do anything right but were first-rate at taking petty advantages.
Su Xinghui’s reputation had originally been quite good—good at her studies, blessed with fortune, and pretty to boot. But ever since the adoption affair blew up, everyone said she was heartless and loved to put on airs, and all the good reputation she had built up was gone.
Everyone was happy to watch the two argue, wishing they would quarrel even more fiercely.
—”See that? She fought tooth and nail to go to the Third Branch, and now look—nothing but quarrels day in and day out!”
—”Back when she was with the Second Branch, when did Changhe and his wife ever make her work in the fields? And she still had the nerve to smear them for mistreating her. Bah! Ungrateful wolf!”
—”Is Wang Guiqiu any good? She’s nothing but a shrew! Su Erya must be blind—throwing away a watermelon to pick up sesame seeds.”
—”Exactly. Changhe and Yu Lian are such decent people. If she’d stayed with the Second Branch, would they ever have let her suffer?”
These words wormed their way into Su Xinghui’s ears, gnawing at her self-esteem, constantly reminding her how foolish her original decision had been.
She looked at her hands, blistered from work, then at Ling Xi, whom Yu Lian had chased home to rest, afraid she might get tired or sunburned—and her tears fell despite herself…
Seeing her wipe her tears, a cold smirk played at the corner of Ling Xi’s mouth. Did she think this was the end? This was merely an appetizer.
Every bit of suffering the Su family’s Second Branch had endured, she would reclaim in full!
But when facing Yu Lian again, she quickly put on an expression of sweet, innocent charm. The speed of her face-changing left Cai Yu clicking her tongue in admiration.
After packing up her back basket, she didn’t obediently go home. Instead, she headed up North Mountain once again.
A full day had passed since she set the traps—there should be some results by now.
Following the path where she had set the traps, Ling Xi felt somewhat disappointed. She had still underestimated how barren this era was—only one of the nine traps had caught anything, and it was just a juvenile wild rabbit.
Fortunately, she came across two pheasant nests along the way and gathered a dozen or so eggs of various sizes, so it wasn’t a wasted trip.
Best of all, the female lead—that ticking time bomb—wasn’t around today, so she didn’t have to constantly guard against the danger the girl might drag her into. That was what pleased Ling Xi most.
In fact, when Su Shanren had said those words yesterday, she had already guessed this outcome. For the sake of the villagers’ safety, he would certainly not sit idly by regarding the potential dangers brought by Su Xinghui’s good luck.
He just hadn’t expected him to be so efficient, coming up with a solution in a single night.
The busy farming season was exhausting—even adults could barely endure it, let alone children. At least until the autumn harvest was over, Su Xinghui wouldn’t have the energy to go up the mountain.
It was still early, so Ling Xi continued deeper into the mountains. She didn’t encounter any animals, but she gathered quite a few edible wild fruits.
As she munched on the fruit and strolled along leisurely, she suddenly heard the call of a wild pheasant, not far away.
Sneaking over quietly, she looked up and saw a wild pheasant with its head stuck between tree branches, unable to free itself, flapping its wings and clucking.
What a stroke of luck?
Overjoyed, Ling Xi trotted over to catch it.
But just as she got close, a sharp whooshing sound came from beside her ear—a crossbow bolt flew past her face and thudded into the pheasant’s body with a swish…