Lin Xiyun froze for a moment, searching her memories to match the familiar face before her.
She called out uncertainly,
“…Mom?”
Standing outside was a middle-aged woman. Though time and hardship had weathered her face, Lin Xiyun could clearly see where she’d inherited her features—large double-lidded eyes and delicate facial structure. In her youth, she must have been strikingly beautiful.
Liu Xia wore a faded yellow headscarf, a gray side-buttoned padded jacket, blue straight-leg trousers, and sturdy cloth shoes caked with dust. A large woven basket was strapped to her back, covered with a worn cloth so its contents couldn’t be seen.
Seeing the woman standing there, slightly stooped, drenched in sweat after what was clearly a long journey…
Something inside Lin Xiyun stirred.
It felt as though an invisible barrier in her heart had suddenly broken.
“Xiaoyun!”
Liu Xia hadn’t expected her daughter to open the door herself. Delight flashed across her face before she hurriedly examined the back of Lin Xiyun’s head.
“When your father and I heard you’d been hurt, we were worried sick! Is your head all right now?”
Looking at the sweat on her mother’s forehead and her travel-worn appearance, Lin Xiyun didn’t need to ask.
To save money, her mother had almost certainly walked all the way instead of paying for an ox cart.
“I’m fine. Come inside and rest.”
She reached for the basket on Liu Xia’s back, but her mother quickly stepped aside.
“My daughter isn’t built for carrying heavy things. I can’t let you tire yourself out.”
She laughed warmly.
“It’s not heavy, not heavy at all.”
Knowing she couldn’t win, Lin Xiyun simply led her inside.
She immediately poured her a cup of brown sugar water and brought out fruit and snacks.
Seeing this, Liu Xia winced in distress.
“My goodness…”
“I’ll just drink plain water.”
“Why are you using brown sugar? It’s so expensive.”
“It’s already poured,” Lin Xiyun replied with a smile. “If you don’t drink it, it’ll just go to waste.”
She knew her mother’s habit of saying one thing while meaning another.
Sure enough, although Liu Xia complained, the smile on her face betrayed how happy she really was.
My daughter is living well.
Dahé Village was quite far from the city.
Liu Xia had left before dawn and had been walking ever since.
She was thirsty, exhausted, and her legs felt like jelly.
She drank two large enamel mugs of water before finally recovering.
Taking a bite of a bright red apple, she couldn’t help slipping into her usual motherly lecture.
“Your husband sheds blood and sweat out there to earn that military allowance.”
“He thinks of you first and sends most of it home.”
“You can’t spend money without thinking about your own little family.”
“There’ll be plenty of expenses in the future.”
Her daughter had always been reckless with money.
Back home, at least there had been limits because the family’s finances were limited.
Liu Xia had assumed marriage would mature her.
Surely once she became the lady of her own household, she’d understand how precious every grain of rice and every coin was.
Instead…
Her life had become even more extravagant.
And her son-in-law faithfully sent money home every month without fail.
Looking around the spacious brick house, Liu Xia sighed inwardly.
Maybe my daughter was simply born to enjoy a good life.
She even argued with her mother-in-law and somehow ended up with the biggest room in the house.
After finishing her lecture, she lowered her voice.
“You haven’t been fighting with your mother-in-law lately… have you?”
She had just removed her dusty headscarf and laid it on the table when Lin Xiyun casually bit into her apple.
“We split the family.”
“…What?”
Liu Xia blinked in disbelief.
For a moment she wondered if she’d misheard.
“The family… split?”
“When did that happen?”
“How come I didn’t hear anything?”
Still hungry because she hadn’t eaten lunch yet, Lin Xiyun quickly finished the apple, wiped her hands, and answered casually,
“Just now.”
After thinking for a second, she added,
“Section Chief Han from the factory security department just finished writing up the paperwork and left.”
“You probably passed him on your way here.”
“Everyone wanted to split up, so we did.”
Liu Xia was speechless.
She had indeed seen two factory officials leaving when she arrived.
She’d simply assumed they were coworkers visiting her in-laws.
Well…
Maybe splitting the family wasn’t such a bad thing.
At least now her daughter could make her own decisions.
Though, to be fair…
She’d always done exactly what she wanted anyway.
After recovering from the shock, Liu Xia suddenly remembered the reason she’d come.
Smiling brightly, she turned toward the basket.
“If spring planting hadn’t kept us so busy, your father and I would’ve come much sooner.”
She spoke while unpacking the basket like it was a treasure chest.
“There’s some cured pork left from winter. I remembered how much you like it, so I brought it all.”
“I also packed my homemade pickled vegetables and fermented soybeans.”
“And these vegetables were picked fresh from our garden this morning before I left.”
In those days, food was precious and everyone was poor.
Almost every rural household grew vegetables in their own courtyard.
Before long, the table was covered with food.
Fresh vegetables.
Pickles.
Cured pork.
Eggs.
Everything.
The eggs had been carefully wrapped in several layers of straw to keep them from breaking.
Just when Lin Xiyun thought that was everything…
Her mother reached into the very bottom of the basket and pulled out nearly a kilogram of fresh meat.
“Mom…”
“You should keep that for yourself.”
“I really don’t need it.”
Pickles were different—they were a mother’s love.
But bringing this much meat felt excessive.
If her mother gave her all that meat…
There was no way her eldest sister-in-law wouldn’t have something to say about it.
Liu Xia looked at her daughter in surprise.
Normally, wouldn’t her daughter happily accept everything and even ask for more?
Why had she suddenly become so sensible?
That straightforward look made Lin Xiyun blush.
The original owner had truly been selfish beyond belief.
Pouting deliberately, she complained in a spoiled tone,
“It’s because I was stuck in bed after my injury.”
“I couldn’t eat anything.”
“Even looking at greasy fatty pork made me feel sick.”
Her words instantly broke Liu Xia’s heart.
Look how much my poor daughter has suffered…
That only strengthened her resolve.
“Then all the more reason you should keep this.”
She glanced at Lin Xiyun’s slender face.
“You’re so skinny.”
“No wonder every little illness hits you so hard.”
“You’re so picky with food.”
“I don’t know who you inherited that from.”
Ever since she had fallen and hit her head at the age of nine…
She’d become strange.
She refused to eat this or that.
She demanded white flour instead of coarse grain.
She wanted vegetables and meat.
She behaved like a little ancestor everyone had to serve.
Back then, most families were simply grateful to have enough to fill their stomachs.
Only their family had produced such a demanding child.
Yet…
As her parents, they couldn’t bear to refuse their youngest daughter.
Fortunately, her father had some education and worked as the village accountant.
Otherwise, the whole family might have starved.
Skinny?
Lin Xiyun quietly looked down at herself.
She pouted.
I’m plenty curvy where it counts…
“Mom…”
She stared at the wrapped piece of meat.
“There’s something different about this…”
Compared to ordinary pork, its color was darker, with a thick layer of fat.
At the mention of it, Liu Xia beamed.
She cleared her throat proudly.
“This meat is—”
Lin Xiyun suddenly noticed a shadow moving behind the frosted glass of the doorway.
She immediately pressed a hand over her mother’s mouth.
“What’s wrong?”
Liu Xia asked in confusion.
“Nothing.”
“Just stay seated.”
Lin Xiyun stood up, strode to the door, and yanked it open.
Outside, Li Zhaodi had been leaning against the doorframe, munching an apple while shamelessly eavesdropping.
Caught completely off guard, she twisted her back.
“Owww—my back!”
Lin Xiyun blocked the doorway, preventing Li Zhaodi from peeking inside.
She swiftly shut the door behind her and looked coldly at the woman clutching her waist.
With a smile that never reached her eyes, she asked,
“Second Sister-in-law…”
“What are you doing outside my room?”
“I… I was just…”
Li Zhaodi’s eyes darted around, desperately trying to invent an excuse.
Before she could finish, Lin Xiyun cut her off.
“Our rooms are on opposite sides of the courtyard.”
“Surely you didn’t accidentally walk to the wrong door in broad daylight?”
Li Zhaodi: “…”
“Well…”
“I heard your mother came to visit.”
“I just wanted to ask whether she’d be staying for lunch.”
In truth…
She had overheard that Liu Xia had brought Lin Xiyun a whole basket of good food.
And when there was an opportunity to get a share of someone else’s goodies…
Li Zhaodi was never one to miss it.