Xu Lin's innocent little look left the whole family speechless. This was the first time they'd ever heard that hens grew up eating sand.
They just felt that Xu Lin, this little wretch, was trying to fool them like a bunch of idiots.
"It must be you who mixed in the sand, you little wretch. Are you unhappy about having to cook every day, so you're deliberately causing trouble?"
Old Mrs. Xu gritted her teeth, steeled herself, and swallowed the egg, then pointed at Xu Lin and cursed. She cursed so much that Xu Lin nearly flipped the table.
"I really didn't do it. You're wronging me. If you don't believe me, then, then I'll eat the rest of the eggs."
To prove her innocence, Xu Lin reached out to pick up the few remaining eggs.
The Xu family saw that and thought, no way. This little wretch wants to eat eggs? Dream on.
Before Xu Lin's chopsticks could even touch the eggs, the few remaining eggs in the dish vanished, all dumped into Xu Kun's bowl.
He gloated and cursed:
"Pah! Shameless little money-loser. Eggs are such a precious thing—do you even deserve to eat them?"
After cursing, he smugly raised his bowl and shoveled all the eggs into his mouth, then looked at Xu Lin with a provocative, cocky expression.
Agh! Ptooey, ptooey!
Before Xu Kun could even gloat for three seconds, the sand in the eggs grated against his teeth again. He immediately spat out the eggs.
He spat several times but still felt like his mouth wasn't clean, so he had to drink some water to rinse it out, too busy to even curse.
Xu Lin's brow twitched slightly. Want to eat eggs? Hah. I'll let you eat nothing but air.
I'll make you watch this precious thing go to waste without ever getting into your stomach. It'll drive you crazy.
Anyway, if I can't eat, none of you are eating either.
Old Mrs. Xu watched the eggs spat out on the ground, her old face twitching with heartache. She slapped the table hatefully and shouted:
"You little wretch, you definitely did this on purpose. Just you wait. Just you wait."
The old woman wanted to pick up her bowl and hurl it at Xu Lin, but she couldn't bear to waste the porridge in it, so she just cursed:
"Kun's mother, take the little wretch's porridge away. Later, give her a good beating and starve her for a few days. See if she dares to cause trouble again."
"Yes." Mother Xu immediately agreed and moved Xu Lin's bowl of porridge in front of Xu Kun, feeling quite pleased inside.
Another bowl of porridge saved. Even if it was watery enough to see the bottom, with not a single grain of rice in it, she still couldn't bear to give it to the little wretch.
Having her porridge taken away, Xu Lin didn't get angry either. She still sat wooden-faced in the corner.
This was a feast she had carefully prepared—she had to watch this family finish it.
Old Mrs. Xu glared hatefully at Xu Lin. What an eyesore, that little wretch. A spineless coward. Just looking at her made her furious.
As if to show off, Old Mrs. Xu raised her thick porridge and took a big gulp, deliberately exaggerating her chewing movements.
Crack!
Ouch!
Old Mrs. Xu covered her mouth again, staring in shock with her triangular eyes. She felt a salty, fishy taste in her mouth, and there was more!
She pressed her tongue against her front teeth. Empty. They were actually empty!
She, she, she—her big front tooth had actually been knocked out!
The look on Old Mrs. Xu's face, as if struck by lightning, delighted Xu Lin. The corner of her mouth curled up slightly, but she quickly suppressed it.
Her efforts hadn't been in vain—that little pebble she'd deliberately tossed into Old Mrs. Xu's mouth!
Old Mrs. Xu opened her mouth and spat out the porridge. Well, mixed in with it was a big yellow tooth. Quite disgusting to look at.
Xu Lin silently turned her head away and didn't watch that scene.
"My tooth! My front tooth!" Old Mrs. Xu pointed at the big yellow tooth and wailed in agony.
"You little wretch, you deliberately put stones in the porridge, didn't you? You definitely did it on purpose.
You black-hearted, rotten-lunged money-loser, you…"
Old Mrs. Xu was furious, her trembling finger pointing at Xu Lin as she launched into a tirade.
"I didn't. I didn't do it. You're wronging me." Xu Lin blinked her innocent peach-blossom eyes and explained.
"I was going to eat this porridge too. How could I deliberately put stones in it?"
Xu Lin shook her head in denial, not admitting to a single word. Finally, she added one more line:
"Could it be that you got cheated when you bought the rice?"
Old Mrs. Xu was stumped. That's right. Food was scarce these days, and prices were sky-high. Maybe the seller really had mixed in sand and stones.
And when she remembered that she had personally bought this rice at the black market, Old Mrs. Xu got even angrier.
But she certainly wasn't going to take the blame for that. She immediately pointed at Xu Lin and continued cursing. After all, no matter whose fault it was, cursing at Xu Lin was always the right move.
Xu Lin was the Xu family's punching bag, their little maid, their old workhorse!
Watching Old Mrs. Xu curse, the Xu family was used to it. Not a single person tried to persuade her to stop. They even continued eating without changing their expressions.
It was just that this meal was destined to be a disaster, because every bite of rice they ate had sand and stones mixed in, and the vegetables were the same.
There wasn't a single thing they could eat properly. Even the mixed-flour steamed buns had bits of gravel in them.
The meal was complete chaos, accompanied by the curses of Old Mrs. Xu and the others, so noisy that the neighbors came over to watch the commotion.
Xu Lin stood by the door with her head hanging low, occasionally offering a weak defense. She looked as innocent as could be.
The neighbors shook their heads watching her. Everyone knew that the eldest daughter of the Xu family was just a doormat—
she did the most work, ate the least food, got beaten the hardest, and endured the worst insults.
It was just a pity that she couldn't stand up for herself. She was like an Ah Dou that couldn't be propped up. Even if you helped her, you wouldn't get any thanks.
Gradually, people gave up the idea of standing up for her and just watched the show instead.
When they heard that the Xu family's food was full of sand, some people, not believing it, went up to take a look.
They rummaged through the dishes on the table but couldn't find a single grain of sand.
This drew another round of murmurs from the crowd. Old Mrs. Huang, unable to bear it any longer, stepped in to advise:
"Old Mrs. Xu, I know you don't like this child, but you can't treat her like this."
"Who's treating her badly? Are you blind? Can't you see the sand in the food?"
Old Mrs. Xu, still nursing her chipped front tooth, lashed out at Old Mrs. Huang's attempt to mediate.
She didn't even give Old Mrs. Huang a chance to continue, leaving the old woman so frustrated she rolled her eyes.
"You're the blind one. Look, where's the sand?"
Old Mrs. Huang stirred the congee as she questioned. The rice porridge was boiled white and fragrant, not a single impurity in sight.
She then looked at the greens—each stalk stir-fried neatly, where on earth was the sand?
"Is there? Is there? I can't see it either. Let me have a taste."
Sister-in-law Hu, always eager for a freebie, sidled up to the table and, as she spoke, picked up a chopstickful of greens and stuffed it into her mouth.
The Xu family watched, hearts aching for both their food and their teeth, their expressions twisted in the oddest ways.
Huh? Sister-in-law Hu smacked her lips. This dish was delicious—she'd never tasted anything this good before.
"See? There's sand in it, isn't there? It grinds against your teeth," Mother Xu said, her eyes fixed on Sister-in-law Hu's mouth, grieving over that bite of vegetables.
"Is that so? I didn't notice. Let me have another taste."
With that, Sister-in-law Hu shoved another chopstickful of greens into her mouth, and in two bites, she'd reduced the plate to just two lonely stalks.
Everyone's eyes twitched at the sight, silently cursing Sister-in-law Hu for her shameless freeloading.
Who eats someone else's dish down to a measly scrap like that?
It was embarrassing just to witness.
But did the Xu family's food really have sand in it?
If it did, how could Sister-in-law Hu be eating it so happily?
"You said there's sand in the congee too, right?" Sister-in-law Hu asked, her eyes sparkling.
Old Mrs. Xu nodded, looking puzzled. Yes, there was indeed sand and gravel in the congee—her front tooth was proof of that.
Seeing Old Mrs. Xu's nod, Sister-in-law Hu's eyes lit up. "Really? Then let me taste it for you."