Today was one of the rare days when everyone in the family slept in a little longer. They didn’t get up until the work whistle sounded, then leisurely washed up, ate breakfast, and arrived at the work site just after the third whistle.
Little Pingping stayed with Hehua again today.
To improve her combat abilities, Hehua kept exercising, only stopping occasionally to rest.
At first, Pingping found it interesting. He even copied her by stretching his arms and kicking his little legs.
But after trying it a couple more times, he immediately plopped down on the ground and refused to move another muscle. Even when Hehua tempted him with sponge cake, the little fellow wouldn’t budge.
Pingping’s eyes darted around mischievously.
Come on, that’s way too tiring.
His little aunt loved him so much. As long as he hugged her leg, praised her a little, and asked nicely, she’d give him sponge cake.
Why would he choose the harder way?
He might be little, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly which option was easier.
Looking at the chubby little boy sitting on top of her shoe, hugging her calf with both arms while asking for sponge cake, what could Hehua do?
“Wait here. I’ll go get you some.”
Pingping instantly jumped to his feet.
“Okay! Thank you, Dudu!”
Hehua looked at the clever little rascal and sighed helplessly.
She went inside, brought out the sponge cake, and handed him a piece.
“Eat a little more. Your grandma and the others are eating the communal lunch at the construction site today. It’ll just be the two of us at home.”
She didn’t feel like cooking anyway.
If the little guy filled up on snacks, she wouldn’t have to make lunch.
She gave him one piece and took another for herself.
That morning during breakfast, she had suggested helping cook lunch at the construction site, but her mother had immediately rejected the idea.
The family had already invited people to cook, and both favors and food had already been arranged. Meng Chunxing was the hostess and had to oversee everything. There was no reason for her daughter to tire herself out doing extra work.
Shen Tiechui also refused to let Hehua help.
Although Shen Jianguo and the others wanted to eat her delicious cooking, they agreed with their parents. There would be plenty of chances later.
So, by unanimous family decision, Hehua’s only job today was taking care of Pingping.
As a result, only she and Pingping were left at home.
…
The aunt and nephew were happily eating sponge cake when the courtyard gate was pushed open.
Her eldest sister-in-law came in carrying a basket in one hand while closing the gate behind her with the other.
Seeing the two of them sitting on the doorway happily eating soft sponge cake, she could only shake her head with a helpless smile.
As she latched the gate, she said,
“Mom knew it’d just be you two at home and figured you’d be too lazy to cook. As soon as lunch was ready over there, she had me bring some back.”
Her mother-in-law had urged her to hurry.
She’d said that if she arrived even a little later, her daughter would simply fill Pingping up with snacks to avoid cooking.
A mother really did know her daughter best.
Hehua looked embarrassed.
Without drawing attention to herself, she snatched away the half-eaten sponge cake from Pingping’s hand and began lecturing him with complete seriousness.
“You spend every day eating snacks! If you fill up on snacks, how are you supposed to eat real food? And if you don’t eat meals, how are you going to grow taller? You’re asking for a spanking. Just wait until your dad gets home.”
Pingping: “…”
He froze, still holding the piece of cake in midair, completely bewildered.
Moving faster than lightning, Hehua quickly stuffed the sponge cake back into her room, scooped up the dazed little boy, and cheerfully announced,
“Time to eat!”
Smiling brightly, she hurried over to her sister-in-law.
“Sister-in-law, what delicious food did you bring?”
Lu Shufen could only sigh.
Forget it.
Her son was still little and wouldn’t remember any of this.
Saving face wasn’t important.
She might as well help her little sister-in-law preserve hers.
So she let the earlier conversation drop and accepted the excuse Hehua had created for herself.
“Potatoes stewed with rabbit meat, scrambled eggs with Chinese chives. I didn’t bring any of the vegetable dishes. Just take these inside and eat. I still have to go back and help over there.”
Hehua’s smile became even more genuine.
Her eldest sister-in-law was wonderful.
She understood.
Showing her little white teeth, Hehua smiled.
“Okay. I’ll take it. Hurry back.”
She accepted the basket with one hand, watched her sister-in-law leave and close the courtyard gate, then happily carried Pingping inside to eat at the kang table.
…
That afternoon, Hehua continued exercising while taking care of her little nephew.
Perhaps it was because of the pills she’d taken, but she never felt tired.
Since her family refused to let her worry about building the house, she looked for other ways to lighten everyone’s burden.
From then on, every morning while doing her training, she also prepared breakfast and fed the chickens so the family could sleep a little longer.
Sometimes she’d wash everyone’s clothes, sweep the yard, or take care of other small chores.
Because of her incredible strength, none of these tasks felt tiring.
That was why she could keep doing them every day.
The rest of her time was devoted to fully mastering everything she had learned.
…
There were generally two ways to build a house in the village.
One was to pay wages or work points and hire laborers for the entire project.
The other was to provide meals and rely on good relationships, with whoever had free time coming to help.
Most villagers who came to help worked in the fields during the morning, then spent the afternoon helping with construction in exchange for a meal.
If you were well-liked, many people came, and your house went up quickly.
If your reputation was poor, you could only build it little by little with your own family.
Hehua knew her family’s situation well.
They couldn’t afford to hire workers.
Instead, they depended on the goodwill and favors they’d built up over the years.
Except for the first day of construction, when everyone helping received a better meal, the rest of the time they were only served staple foods and vegetables.
As long as they could fill their stomachs, that was enough.
Only after the house was completed would the family prepare a large feast with meat.
To avoid standing out, Shen Tiechui always ate the same food as everyone else.
The meals filled people up, but they weren’t nutritious enough.
The family still needed meat.
In just a few days, Hehua could clearly see everyone losing weight.
After all, when it came to building their own house, the family themselves had to do the hardest work.
If they didn’t work wholeheartedly on their own house, how could they expect others to?
…
The rabbits and chicken Hehua had hunted were gradually being used.
After repeated persuasion from Hehua, Meng Chunxing finally gritted her teeth and cooked the chicken.
Two rabbits were served on the first day for everyone who came to help build the house.
One rabbit was set aside to mail to their second brother.
As for the last three rabbits, Meng Chunxing refused to touch them no matter what anyone said.
She insisted on saving them for the celebration banquet after the house was finished.
Although Hehua could hunt more game, if she hadn’t caught it yet, it didn’t exist.
To Meng Chunxing, rabbits that were only part of a future plan were nowhere near as valuable as the rabbits already in hand.
Left with no choice, Hehua began sneaking back into the mountains to hunt again.
At night, she secretly cooked late-night meals to improve everyone’s nutrition.
This time, Meng Chunxing didn’t object anymore.
Even so, every time she looked at the rabbit meat on the table, her expression was so pained it was as if she wished the rabbits would come back to life so she could smoke the meat and store it instead.
The sight frightened everyone into reaching for their chopsticks faster than ever.
Ever since Hehua started hunting and making late-night meals, the family’s weight stopped dropping.
With proper nutrition and all the physical labor, everyone actually became noticeably stronger.
…
More than half a month passed.
Aside from making one trip to the commune post office to mail the food she had prepared, along with supplies from the family, to her second brother, Hehua never left the production brigade again.
She barely even left the courtyard except at night when she secretly went hunting.
Because she stayed home so obediently, she even lost her title as Xiangyang Production Brigade’s number one street wanderer.
Because she had disappeared from public view, Wu Laidi never found an opportunity to carry out her schemes against Hehua.
Because she rarely stepped outside, those aunts and old women who wanted to scold her for meddling in other people’s business—especially after she’d forced them to apologize to one of the “stinking old intellectuals” and compensate them—never managed to catch her.
They didn’t dare go to the Shen family’s house to curse at her either.
Arguing with her on the road was one thing.
Marching into the Shen family’s home to cause trouble was something entirely different.
Besides, forget Meng Chunxing—even Hehua herself was more than capable of arguing them into defeat.
If they actually went to the Shen house, they’d probably be chased out with a broom.
How frustrating…
So incredibly frustrating…
But after stewing over it for half a month, their anger gradually faded.
When they finally saw Hehua leaving the house with a basket on her back, they greeted her cheerfully.
“Hehua, heading out? We haven’t seen you in ages! What have you been busy with lately?”
They had completely forgotten how, just half a month earlier, they’d wanted to drown her in insults.
…
The reason Hehua finally left home was simple.
Everything she had learned in the Learning Room had fully merged with her body.
She had also passed every trial in the Learning Room’s training grounds.
Now…
Everything was ready.
All that remained was to act.