Placing the basin in the middle of the broken table with only three legs, Hua Yun said slowly, "You all eat."
This body spoke too little; it still needed practice.
Hua Yu was overjoyed, not even bothering to put down the steamed bun. "Sister, you spoke!"
Hua Lei, holding the bones, also moved closer. "Say it again."
Hua Yun rolled her eyes.
Hua Bing clapped her hands. "Sister really spoke, I heard it."
Hua Changnian and Mrs. Wan were also delighted, leaning in with bright eyes. "Yun'er, say it again."
Hua Yun sighed inwardly. "Eat, all of you."
Mrs. Wan exclaimed repeatedly, remembering her eldest daughter's bloody head, and quickly rummaged through the sewing basket to pick out clean strips of cloth.
Hua Lei cheerfully plucked elm leaves.
Hua Changnian was so happy he kept patting his head. "Yun'er can speak, she can speak… Wife, maybe I should go fetch a doctor. A few doses of medicine will surely cure her completely."
Mrs. Wan carefully wiped her with a damp cloth soaked in warm water, saying, "Yes, let's have a doctor take a look."
Hua Lei opened his mouth but hesitated. Where would the money come from?
Hua Yun reached out and grabbed Hua Changnian, who was about to turn away, shaking her head. "No need." Then she patted her stomach. "Just let me eat my fill."
As long as she ate her fill, she would naturally speak. Otherwise, she couldn't be bothered to waste the energy.
Everyone was stunned.
Hua Yu began to sob. "No wonder. When has my sister ever eaten her fill? If she had eaten enough earlier, wouldn't she have recovered long ago?"
Hua Bing rubbed her own little belly, her big eyes full of accusation: Not just our eldest sister, none of us have ever eaten our fill!
Half the joy faded from Hua Changnian's face, and he said sheepishly, "It's all because your father is useless, all because your father is useless. You've suffered because of me…"
Mrs. Wan sighed and began to cry again.
Hua Yun felt a headache coming on. Could a few words of self-blame and some tears solve the problem?
Hua Lei felt an inexplicable anger burning inside him. "It's not that Father is useless. Doesn't Father do the most work in the fields? Doesn't Mother handle all the household chores? Why is it that we do everything, yet we're the ones who never eat our fill? Now they won't even give us a bite to eat!" He spat angrily. "We're worse off than the two pigs in the pen!"
Hua Changnian hung his head. "Your grandparents have it hard too. The family is big, and there are many children. You should be more understanding. In the future, I'll work harder…"
Mrs. Wan also chimed in, talking about how they would work harder and be more diligent in the future.
Hua Yun couldn't listen any longer and slowly said, word by word, "Will they give you food?"
The two paused, exchanging a glance. Hua Changnian said, "When your grandmother's anger passes, I'll go beg her." But even he felt uncertain inside.
The four children stared at each other, none willing to speak further.
"Sit down and eat quickly, before it gets cold."
Mrs. Wan hesitated, looking at the large basin of meat, and said anxiously, "Husband, all the wild boar meat is in here. The main house hasn't had a single bite, and your parents…"
Crunch. Hua Yu angrily picked up a piece of soft cartilage and chewed it fiercely.
Hua Changnian couldn't help but glance cautiously at Hua Yun. For some reason, he now felt a deep-seated fear when looking at his eldest daughter.
"Tsk, Father, don't tell me you're going to take it back. Do you believe that if you take it back, all four of us will be forced to kneel in the courtyard all night?"
This had happened before—always for bullying a younger brother or disrespecting an older brother, either with beatings on the palms or kneeling as punishment. Their eldest sister had suffered the most injuries because she never knew how to dodge or cry out.
Hua Lei's eyes filled with hatred as he thought about it. That family of scoundrels!
Hua Changnian wavered between filial piety toward his parents and love for his children. By the time he decided to split the meat in half, half of it was already gone.
Seeing his father open his mouth, Hua Lei knew exactly what he was about to say and sneered, "Dad, Mom, if you don't eat this, I'll just throw it away."
"Ah, you child, how can you waste food like this?"
Seeing the four children sitting motionless with dark expressions, the couple felt inexplicably guilty and didn't dare say more. Gritting their teeth, they thought—so what if they got scolded tomorrow and had to do more chores? At worst, they'd just endure it themselves. How long had it been since the children last ate meat? It was worth it.
"If your dad and I don't eat it, we'll save it for you to eat tomorrow."
Hua Yun frowned. She disliked this kind of self-sacrificing, back-and-forth politeness. It reminded her of the most difficult days, when they were truly besieged and everyone wanted their companions to survive. But—was this a desperate situation now? This couple had practically forced themselves into a corner!
"Eat it, or I'll throw it away."
Somehow, Hua Changnian and Mrs. Wan couldn't muster the will to argue with Hua Yun as she was now.
Were they still shaken by the sight of their daughter covered in blood?
Under the children's watchful eyes, each of them ate two large steamed buns and shared the last piece of meat. How many years had it been since they last felt their stomachs full?
"Let's save this broth to cook vegetables tomorrow, Yun'er. Is that okay?"
Mrs. Wan pleaded, as she truly couldn't eat any more.
Hua Yun nodded wordlessly. After all, only their own family had used the chopsticks.
Mrs. Wan visibly relaxed. Feeling lighter, she remembered to ask something else: "That wild boar—did you really hunt it? By yourself?"
Hua Yun nodded.
"You child, how dangerous! Lei'er, why didn't you keep an eye on your sister? Yu'er, how could you let your older sister get lost?"
The two lowered their heads in apology, and little Hua Bing also bowed his head.
Hua Yun coughed uncomfortably. Making these children suffer because of her—her old face couldn't take it.
"What's wrong? What's wrong? Yun'er, are you feeling unwell? Dad will go fetch a doctor right now."
Sigh, though the man was somewhat timid, his heart as a father was sincere. Touched as she was, Hua Yun asked him expressionlessly, "Do you have money?"
Hua Changnian: "…" He felt he would never be able to hold his head up in front of this daughter.
Hua Lei laughed. "Looks like you're full—Big Sis is talking a lot more now."
Hua Yun twitched the corner of her mouth. This child truly loved his sister, not caring about his father's dignity at all.
At this moment, Hua Bing shook his head like a little adult. "Just wait and see. Tomorrow, those people in the front courtyard will definitely give us trouble."
Hua Yun twitched the corner of her mouth again.
Everyone in the main branch had expected the people in the front courtyard to make things difficult for them, but no one had imagined that just one night later, the main branch would see bloodshed again—and the one who struck was actually Hua Changfang!
As the saying goes, during this lean season between harvests, there wasn't much work in the fields. Hua Changnian went to the market to help a family build a house, mixing mud and laying bricks, earning a few coins each day. He left early in the morning. Mrs. Wan told the children not to go to the front courtyard and went to make breakfast for the entire household.
Mrs. Zhang was convinced that the main branch wouldn't dare keep the entire pot of meat for themselves. Unusually, she got up early and went to the kitchen, thinking she could satisfy her cravings first. To her surprise, she only saw two clean pots and a small basket that Mrs. Wan had returned. Mrs. Zhang sneered and immediately went to report to Mrs. Li.
Mrs. Li, thinking about the pot of meat she hadn't even tasted and the loss of twenty to thirty large steamed buns, stormed into the kitchen and pointed at Mrs. Wan's nose, scolding her fiercely.
Mrs. Wan was already accustomed to it. No matter how harshly Mrs. Li scolded, she would only cover her mouth and shed tears, never letting her hands stop working. Moreover, the fact that Hua Yun had eaten her fill and spoken more made her feel that enduring any amount of scolding was worth it.
Mrs. Li had always been one to use words rather than hands. After berating for a long while and seeing Mrs. Wan only cowering in silence, her anger remained unvented, but she had no energy left to continue scolding.
Eating was more important.
"You lazy wretch, the sun is already high in the sky, and you still haven't finished preparing the meal. Are you trying to starve your parents-in-law to death? The whole lot of you is rotten. Hurry up and set the table."
While she was cursing, Mrs. Zhang, with her sharp tongue, was fanning the flames over at Hua Changfang's side.
Hua Changfang had been terrified half to death by Hua Yun's ghost-like appearance the previous night. Once she calmed down, waves of shame and anger washed over her. She already harbored hatred for the eldest branch of the family, and with Mrs. Zhang stirring the pot, her fury became uncontrollable.
Watching Mrs. Wan set the table and bowls, her submissive and obedient demeanor seemed like nothing but a provocation to Hua Changfang. In a fit of rage, she grabbed the nearest bowl of porridge and hurled it at her again.
It hit its mark once more!
Mrs. Wan staggered and fell to the ground, her head covered in blood.
But her bloodied head wasn't as terrifying as Hua Yun's had been. Her pale, helpless face only stirred a greater desire to bully her.
Mrs. Li spoke coldly, "Eldest daughter-in-law, go back and clean yourself up immediately."
Mrs. Wan's face turned even paler as she struggled to get up.
Just then, the four children rushed in, throwing themselves onto her, crying and shouting so loudly they nearly pierced the eardrums of everyone in the room.
Hua Lei and the others had been restless all morning, fearing what might happen to Mrs. Wan in the main house. Hua Yun, meanwhile, kept egging them on: "Let's go take a look."
Heaven knows, she was just curious about the dynamics of large families in this era, especially the relationships between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, sisters-in-law, and the like—things that had long crumbled to dust in the Post-apocalyptic Era, where strength reigned supreme. Whoever was strongest was the boss! It didn't matter if you were an elder, a relative, or connected by blood or marriage.
Hua Lei shook his head. "If we go to the front courtyard, it'll only make Grandmother angrier and make Mother suffer even more."
Hua Yun rolled her eyes, pointed forward, and said, "Let's go eavesdrop."
So, the four of them crouched beneath the window at the back of the main house. As soon as they heard things take a turn for the worse for Mrs. Wan, they rushed inside.
Hua Yu, seeing Mrs. Wan's trembling body and the blood still flowing, cried out, "Brother, brother, Mother is bleeding so much," even more than her sister had bled the previous night. "We need to call a doctor right away."
Hua Lei said anxiously, "I'll go right now. Hurry and help Mother back to her room."
Mrs. Li frowned but said nothing.
Hua Changfang shrieked sharply, "Get her out of here quickly. Don't dirty the place. Stop pretending—people might think our Hua family has done something to you. Get out now."
Hua Yun suddenly looked up. Hua Changfang was startled and wanted to curse, but when she met those dark eyes, she shuddered and quickly turned away.
Hua Yun said quietly, "Let's go."