The next day, Yu Wanzhu still rose early. Mindful of Song Yubai's leg injury, she hesitated briefly before deciding to check on him first.
She knocked three times. "Song Yubai, it's me."
After a long moment, a reluctant voice came from inside. "Come in."
Entering the room, Yu Wanzhu walked straight to the table, sat down, and poured herself a bowl of water. The overnight water was too cold—she took only one sip before setting it down.
Song Yubai lay in bed, scrutinizing her with a flicker in his eyes. "What are you here for?"
Yu Wanzhu made a halting gesture. "Stop right there. I have no improper intentions toward you now, nor do I plan to take advantage of your illness to harm you. No need to be so guarded against me. I came—" She paused briefly, then said, "to see how you plan to suffocate yourself!"
Song Yubai's expression shifted, then he turned his head away in irritation. "Nonsense!"
Yu Wanzhu grew annoyed as well. "I'm talking nonsense? Then tell me—Mother is ill, Xiaolan has to tend to her and can't spare the time to look after you. Besides, I suspect that to avoid any impropriety, you wouldn't let Xiaolan care for you anyway. The two little ones are barely old enough to do anything. In this household, the only one you can rely on is me!"
"I'm grateful you spent money to bring a doctor for Mother and me, but I don't need your pity!"
Seeing him like this, Yu Wanzhu backed down and let out a sigh. "Fine, fine. I owe you anyway. Even if you won't ask, I'm willing to help."
With that, she brought in the wooden basin she had prepared, placed it on the bed, and carefully propped up his injured leg a bit higher before saying, "Your other leg and arm can still move. Try it yourself first—I'll come back for the basin in a quarter of an hour." She added at the end, "If you can't manage, just call me for help. There's nothing to be embarrassed about—you're a patient, and I won't hold it against you."
A quarter of an hour later, Yu Wanzhu came back in.
Song Yubai was leaning against the bed, his clothes neatly arranged. When he saw her enter, his expression turned somewhat awkward.
Yu Wanzhu kept her eyes straight ahead, her face composed, and carried out the wooden basin containing the waste. Just as she was about to leave through the door, she heard Song Yubai murmur softly, "Thank you."
Her steps faltered for a moment, and a faint smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
After disposing of the waste and rinsing out the basin, Yu Wanzhu washed her hands clean and entered the kitchen.
Song Xiaolan was cooking, and the two little ones were helping pick vegetables. Perhaps because they knew she had hired a doctor for their mother and eldest brother, they weren't as afraid of her as they had been yesterday.
Yu Wanzhu, however, was afraid of scaring them into tears again, so she didn't dare provoke them. She sat down by the stove to add firewood.
Suddenly, she noticed the things she had bought yesterday still sitting untouched. Puzzled, she asked, "Xiaolan, why haven't you cooked the meat and vegetables we bought?"
Song Xiaolan turned around, looking somewhat impatient. "You didn't say we could eat them. How would I dare touch those things? Wouldn't that just be asking for a scolding?"
Yu Wanzhu was momentarily speechless. She silently cursed the original owner of this body up and down in her heart, then shook her head and said gently, "Silly sister, I bought these for everyone. Mother and your eldest brother both need to build up their strength. Besides, even though the weather is cold now, if we just leave them sitting there, they'll spoil eventually, won't they? Come on, think about what nice things we can make for everyone!"
Hearing this, Song Xiaolan's eyes lit up, but then filled with disbelief. "Really? You're sure all this meat and these vegetables are for us to eat?"
"Of course it's true!" Yu Wanzhu nodded.
She knew how to cook, but she wasn't particularly skilled at it—pickled vegetables were the only thing she put real effort into.
Song Xiaolan was young, but she was an excellent cook. The simple fare of the Song household became something special in her hands, so Yu Wanzhu was happy to leave the cooking to her.
When it came time to eat, Yu Wanzhu was stunned to find a bowl piled high with wontons in front of her.
She looked at Song Xiaolan, who flushed slightly upon meeting her gaze and said with some awkwardness, "You spent the money to buy all this, so you should eat the most."
Yu Wanzhu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She took out a spoon and began dividing the wontons in her bowl among the three of them.
Song Xiaolan quickly tried to stop her. "Don't, don't divide them! We have enough to eat, and Mother and eldest brother have enough too…" Her tone was unusually softened—perhaps because she had eaten the wontons.
Yu Wanzhu insisted, scooping generous portions of wontons into each of their bowls. "You're all still growing. You need to eat well in the morning. I'm too fat—I need to lose weight, so I can't eat like I used to."
Hearing this, Song Xiaolan finally sat down to eat. The two little ones also devoured their wontons with looks of pure satisfaction.
Yu Wanzhu felt her heart soften inexplicably.
See—this was the Song family. Even after all the abuse and mistreatment the original owner had subjected them to, now that she showed them even a fraction of kindness, they repaid her with genuine sincerity.
The original owner had encountered such good people, yet she didn't appreciate her blessings. It served her right that she died young.
After the meal, Song Xiaolan needed to go up the mountain to gather firewood. With their mother ill, all the household chores had fallen on her shoulders alone.
Yu Wanzhu offered to go along. Song Xiaolan was astonished. "You don't know how to do any of this work. Why would you come?"
Yu Wanzhu shouldered a basket and smiled. "I can gather some firewood too, and I can keep you company."
The main reason was that she needed to dig up those wild yams.
Song Xiaolan said nothing more. This fat woman really was different from before, though she didn't know why.
She turned to the two little ones and instructed, "Ajun, Axiang, stay home with Mother and Big Brother. Don't run off anywhere!"
Song Jun and Song Xiang nodded obediently.
The two of them left, heading toward West Mountain, which sat diagonally behind the Song household.
With little work to do in winter, many of the village women would go up the mountain during the day to gather firewood for their families, so they encountered several people along the way.
These women wore friendly faces, but the moment they turned their backs, they began pointing and whispering. Yu Wanzhu was often the subject of gossip because of her bulky figure, and she had grown used to it, so she didn't intend to pay them any mind.
But the more she ignored them, the bolder their words became—they didn't even bother lowering their voices.
"Did you hear? That Song woman crawled into his bed again. Shameless!"
"Exactly. Her figure's worse than a pig's. How could Scholar Song ever fancy her?"
"Seems like he had no choice but to marry her. With Scholar Song's handsome looks, marrying her—what a waste!"
"I noticed she's got injuries on her head and hands. Old Master Song really laid into her…"
"Shameless ugly fat woman. Serves her right!"
…
The corner of Yu Wanzhu's mouth twitched. She didn't need to guess—this rumor had to have been spread by Wang Jiao. Clever of her, leaving out the part about the filth-drug.
Song Xiaolan's expression grew darker and darker. Suddenly, she raised her head and glared at Yu Wanzhu, demanding coldly, "Is what they said true?"
So this fat woman had only started behaving herself because she'd done something like that and gotten beaten by her eldest brother—putting on a show to win everyone over, only to bully them even worse later on?
In the past, after doing something like that, she'd also act guilty and treat them nicely for a few days. Was this the same this time?
So the kindness she'd shown them these past two days—was it all just a pretense?