“Mother, I won’t. I’ll definitely keep Zhaodi under control.”
Lu Zhengjun lowered his head as Old Madam Lu scolded him.
Liu Zhaodi also no longer dared say anything.
She absolutely did not want to be sent back to the Liu family. Her maiden home was nowhere near as good as the Lu family. Sometimes they couldn’t even eat enough coarse rice porridge there. On top of that, the Liu family had many mouths to feed and was far poorer than the Lu family.
Lu Qianqian glanced at Liu Zhaodi, then at Lu Zhengjun with his head lowered, before turning to Old Madam Lu.
“Mother, I’m hungry. When can we eat?”
“My Qianqian is hungry? Mother will go get it for you.”
Old Madam Lu had already kept Lu Qianqian’s breakfast warm in the pot early that morning.
One egg, one bowl of white rice porridge, and some pickled vegetables.
Naturally, the white rice porridge was only for Lu Qianqian. Everyone else ate coarse rice porridge.
Once Lu Qianqian and Old Madam Lu left, the people in the backyard gradually dispersed as well. Those who had work returned to work, while the others went back to their rooms.
Old Man Lu was the last to leave.
Slowly, he walked toward the main hall, his expression darkening slightly.
It seemed there were some matters he needed to arrange ahead of time.
…
Lu Qianqian sat alone in the main hall eating breakfast since everyone else had already eaten earlier.
[Master, your favorability points have reached one hundred! Shall we spin the wheel?]
Just as Lu Qianqian bit into the boiled egg, she froze upon hearing the system.
That fast?
She remembered only having sixty favorability points left after spinning the wheel yesterday.
“It’s full already? That quickly?” she asked inwardly.
[Master’s parents provided twenty points. Each person can provide ten favorability points per day. Lu Pan, Lu Xi, and Lu Chen each contributed three points. Lu Zhengguo and Lu Zhengjun each contributed five points. Lu Zhenghui gave three points, Chen Xin five points, Chen Feng two points, Lin Gui one point, Elder Ge five points, and Shen Yalan three points. Yesterday’s total gain was fifty-eight points. Current total favorability: one hundred and eighteen.]
Lu Qianqian hadn’t expected Third Sister-in-law’s favorability to be so high.
As for everyone else, she figured the increase was probably because the family now had delicious food, making them feel she was finally somewhat useful.
But who was Shen Yalan?
After thinking for a moment, Lu Qianqian suddenly remembered the elegant woman she had seen at Moon Tower.
That woman was probably Shen Yalan.
“Spin it. From now on, just report the total favorability points directly.”
In the future she would meet many more people, not just her family. If the system listed every single contribution each time, who knew how long it would take?
It was easier to simply tell her the total and let her spin the wheel directly.
[Understood, Master!]
[Congratulations, Master has obtained one Cold Beauty flower seed!]
Oh?
Another Cold Beauty flower?
It seemed even heaven wanted her to grow Cold Beauty flowers.
Lu Qianqian sighed.
Well then, she’d plant them.
Although Old Madam Lu refused to let her spend money supporting the household, life still needed to improve for everyone. Only then would the family truly unite.
As for Liu Zhaodi…
That woman needed further observation first to determine whether she was worth helping at all.
After finishing the last mouthful of porridge, Lu Qianqian carried the empty bowl outside. But the moment she stepped out of the main hall, her eldest sister-in-law stopped her.
“Little Sister, I’ll wash that for you.”
Lin Gui grabbed the bowl and chopsticks from Lu Qianqian’s hands and quickly ran into the kitchen before she could respond.
Lu Qianqian blinked.
Alright then.
Looks like Eldest Sister-in-law was staying home to watch the children today.
Lu Xi was still young. Although he remembered that their aunt used to constantly scold people, these past two days she hadn’t yelled at anyone and had even given them delicious food.
He was exactly the type to forget pain once fed.
Wobbling unsteadily, he walked over and carefully tugged at Lu Qianqian’s sleeve.
“Old Auntie!”
In the distance, Lu Chen and Lu Pan wanted to stop him, but it was already too late.
Lu Xi had already gone over.
Lu Qianqian looked down at the tiny child by her feet.
“What is it?”
Lu Xi swallowed his saliva.
“Old Auntie… can I eat mang-mang?”
Mang-mang?
For a moment, Lu Qianqian didn’t understand.
Then she realized.
He meant mangoes.
“Little Xi wants to eat mangoes?”
“Mm!”
Lu Xi nodded vigorously.
Mang-mang was delicious.
Lu Qianqian gently rubbed his tiny head.
“If you want to eat them, then go eat them. Ask your mother to prepare some. And Little Chen, if you want fruit in the future, just go take it yourselves. As long as the family has it, you can eat it.”
“Thank you, Old Auntie,” Lu Chen replied.
But inwardly, he didn’t completely believe her.
Who knew whether they’d get beaten after eating?
Seeing the expressions on the children’s faces, Lu Qianqian didn’t need to think to know they hadn’t truly taken her words seriously.
With no other choice, she personally brought out two mangoes and five guavas.
“Eldest Sister-in-law, prepare these so everyone can eat together.”
She placed the fruit on the kitchen table.
Lin Gui froze briefly, but still accepted them.
If there was good food to eat, then eat it. Otherwise, nothing would reach her mouth anyway.
After handing over the fruit, Lu Qianqian stopped worrying about the matter.
She went to the backyard.
The mango and guava trees were now covered in blossoms. According to the system, she would be able to harvest again tomorrow.
After observing the yard, Lu Qianqian decided to plant the Cold Beauty flowers beside the two fruit trees.
The spot offered both shade and sunlight — ideal conditions for healthy growth.
Just like when planting the mangoes and guavas, she prepared absolutely nothing.
Directly taking two Cold Beauty seeds from the system, she casually dug two small holes and planted them.
Again, she felt a warm current flow from her hands into the seeds before withdrawing them.
Just like before, the Cold Beauty flowers rapidly matured before her eyes.
Elegant purple blossoms bloomed across both plants — some fully opened, others still budding.
At first glance, the flowers were mesmerizingly beautiful.
Truly stunning.
After admiring them for a while, Lu Qianqian decided to turn the flowers into soap.
At Moon Tower, she had seen that a single bar of Moon Soap sold for three hundred wen.
Her Cold Beauty soap certainly wouldn’t lose to that.
The Cold Beauty flowers were a refined pale purple and carried a faint, elegant fragrance.
Moon Soap’s scent only lasted one shichen — roughly two hours.
But her soap could maintain its fragrance for an entire day.
Soap that remained fragrant all day?
She was certain women would love it.
Thinking this, she returned to the front yard to fetch a basket for collecting flower petals.
At that moment, she happened to see Eldest Sister-in-law feeding fruit to Lu Chen and the others.
“Eldest Sister-in-law, could you help call Big Brother back? I need his help with something.”
“Alright, I’ll go call him back from the fields.”
Lin Gui wiped her hands and agreed immediately.
Coincidentally, fruit had just been prepared at home, so it would be good to let her husband come back and eat some too.
Meanwhile, Lu Chen and Lu Pan carefully helped look after Lu Xi while happily eating the fruit in their bowls.
Their hearts were full of joy.
There was meat to eat now.
There was fruit too.
They hoped these days would continue forever.
And they hoped their aunt would stay like this and never turn back into the old terrifying aunt from before.
Of course, Lu Qianqian had no idea the children were thinking so much.
At that moment, she had already taken a basket from the storage room and gone back to the backyard to pick flower petals.