A night passed.
The heavy snow that had fallen for several days finally stopped, and the sky began to clear.
The snow on the roof was too thick, and there was fear it might collapse the roof. Additionally, the accumulated snow in the yard hadn’t melted, making movement difficult. Early in the morning, Su Youtian organized the family to shovel the snow.
The Old Su Family didn’t have much of anything else, but they certainly had plenty of people.
With four sons alone, ten grandchildren, plus the two of them and three daughters-in-law, it was a large family of nineteen people.
The second son, Su Xiangnan, lived in town with his family of five.
The third son, Su Xiangxi, had been conscripted for labor to repair the reservoir.
The fourth son, Su Xiangbei, was serving in the military and remained unmarried.
The rest were all at home.
The yard was bustling with noise.
Lying in bed, Su Jiu slept exceptionally soundly.
Last night’s Qi Induction had been exhausting, and after all, she was just a three-month-old baby with limited energy. In the end, she couldn’t hold on any longer and fell asleep.
Grandma Su came in several times to check on her and even changed Su Jiu’s diaper in the middle of the night.
If it weren’t for Su Jiu’s normal breathing, she would have suspected something was wrong with her precious Guai Nan.
After watching her beloved granddaughter for a while, Grandma Su went back outside.
With such a large family, mealtimes were always a headache.
Winter was the slack farming season, so there was no work to be done. Coupled with the already tight food supply, they only ate two meals a day.
Breakfast and lunch didn’t start until ten in the morning.
Grandma Su was in charge of distributing the family’s food rations, deciding how much or how little everyone ate.
As usual, the meal consisted of a large basin of black flour paste and wild vegetable dumplings.
The paste was so thin you could see your reflection in it, and the wild vegetable dumplings were dry, hard, and stuck in your teeth.
Feng Qiulian, holding her youngest son Su Jinyu in her arms, couldn’t help but frown at the food portioned out to her: “Mother, if we keep eating like this, the adults might endure it, but what about the children? Jinyu didn’t eat enough last night and kept crying at the top of his lungs.”
Grandma Su, who was distributing the food, paused her movements.
The eyes of the entire family fell on Feng Qiulian.
Seeing the plump and fair Su Jinyu in Feng Qiulian’s arms and thinking of the skinny Xiao Jiu'er in her own room, Grandma Su was instantly furious.
“Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating. You’d even have the heart to let my granddaughter freeze to death and still eat without a care…”
“If you want better food, there are plenty of wild boars in the mountains. Do you dare to go?”
Grandma Su’s loud voice could be heard even outside the yard.
Su Jiu, lying in bed, finally woke up.
She pricked up her ears to listen.
“Mother, I still have to breastfeed the child. It’s not for my own sake. Besides, that worthless girl is just a money-loser. It’s better to let her die than waste food raising her…”
Feng Qiulian said without a care.
As if the death of a daughter was as simple as stepping on an ant.
Hearing this, Grandma Su trembled with rage.
Before she could speak, seven-year-old Su Jinyan eagerly chimed in: “Mother, my sister is not a money-loser!”
Five-year-old Su Jinrui nodded: “Yes, don’t starve her to death. I’ll share my food with my sister from now on!”
Feng Qiulian looked at her two sons as if they were idiots: “That worthless girl, what does she need to eat for? She deserves to starve!”
Slap!
The next moment, unable to bear it any longer, Grandma Su yanked the cotton shoe off her foot and mercilessly smacked it across Feng Qiulian’s face.
“I’ll teach you to talk trash!”
“I’ll teach you to curse my Jiu'er!”
“I’ll teach you to be so malicious!”
Slap! Slap! Slap!
Fresh shoe prints, mixed with the smell of sweaty feet, were shamelessly flung onto someone's face.
"Ugh…"
Feng Qiulian hugged her little son tightly, feeling nauseous…
Only considering her little grandson did Grandma Su finally put her shoes back on.
"If you don't love Jiu'er, I do, but if you dare cause any more trouble, don't blame the Old Su Family for turning their backs on you!" Grandma Su stood with her hands on her hips, speaking fiercely.
If not for the fact that her little grandson still needed someone to feed him, she would have long since kicked this malicious woman out.
Feng Qiulian covered her face, stunned.
She couldn't believe the old woman had dared to hit her.
Why?
She had given birth to three sons for the Old Su Family, she was a great contributor to this family, why should she hit her?
Eldest sister-in-law Zhang Wanning watched silently from the side, thinking the third brother's wife was sick.
What's wrong with having a daughter?
The whole family adored girls, yet she deliberately wanted to freeze her daughter to death!
Even if it was to save a mouthful of milk for her little son, it still shouldn't be done.
Thinking of picking up Xiao Jiu'er from the snow, the little girl frozen blue and purple all over, barely breathing, she still felt a lingering fear.
Not to mention Grandma Su hitting her, even she wanted to rush up and slap her twice.
Zhang Wanning's eldest son, Su Zili: "Third Aunt, freezing someone to death is against the law. If reported to the commune, you'd go to jail."
The sister they had finally hoped for, he wouldn't allow anyone to bully her.
"Third sister-in-law, Jiu'er is the only daughter of our Old Su Family, everyone's precious treasure. From now on, you're not allowed to scold her again!" Uncle Su Xiangdong said sternly, warning her.
He really liked daughters.
Third brother liked daughters just like him.
Every year during the winter slack season, each household in the village would send one able-bodied man to work on the reservoir. This year, it happened to be third brother's turn.
If third brother hadn't been away from home, how could Feng Qiulian have done such a thing?
Su Jiu listened for a while, roughly understanding this body's situation.
Apart from having an awful mother, the rest of these relatives seemed pretty good.
However, the biggest problem right now was still the food issue.
If not for the lack of food, she wouldn't have been thought of by the heartless Feng Qiulian to freeze to death. Of course, freezing a daughter to death just because of food shortage only meant this Feng woman was hopeless.
Thinking of food, she thought of her Immortal Abode Space.
But with this small body of hers, she probably couldn't do much.
Just as Su Jiu was deep in thought, Grandma Su peeked her head through the door curtain.
Seeing her little darling lying on the bed with wide-open eyes, not knowing what she was looking at, she couldn't help but smile.
"Grandma's little darling is awake, hungry, right? Wait, Grandma will get you something to eat."
After a bowl of goat's milk, Su Jiu fell into thought again.
Grandma Su beside her adored her endlessly. The awakened Xiao Jiu'er didn't cry or fuss, much more well-behaved than that brat Su Jinyu.
She didn't know if it was her imagination, but Xiao Jiu'er's complexion looked much better than yesterday.
Seemed like feeding her goat's milk was the right choice.
Thank goodness she was smart enough to borrow the whole goat.
For this, not only did she give up a lot of food, but she also paid an extra yuan.
But as long as her Xiao Jiu'er had milk to drink, it was all worth it.
Because Su Jiu was weak, Grandma Su didn't allow anyone to disturb her.
For several days in a row, she hadn't left the room.
Being served for eating, drinking, and using the toilet, aside from the initial awkwardness and discomfort, Su Jiu eventually became completely at ease.
That evening, Grandma Su and Su Youtian lay in bed sighing heavily.
The Old Su Family's grain supply was running critically low, lasting at most another seven days.
What were they to do after those seven days? With such a large family, were they supposed to survive on nothing but the northwest wind?
"If it really comes to it, we could borrow from the second son's family. At least we can get through the New Year first!" Old Man Su instinctively reached for his tobacco pipe.
Unfortunately, ever since Xiao Jiu'er started sleeping in this room, Grandma Su had forbidden him from smoking here, fearing the smoke would irritate her granddaughter.
"The second son's family is struggling too. Don’t be fooled just because they live in town and have public grain rations. With three ration books feeding seven mouths, they barely manage to fill their stomachs…" Grandma Su shook her head.
In these times, it wasn’t just about eating one’s fill—simply staying alive was already a struggle.