Qiao Xihe had just gotten home when she heard sharp cursing coming from inside the house, along with a child crying.
“Dead girl, greedy for food, are you? Greedy for food!”
A few villagers were still standing at their gate. One of the aunties couldn’t hold back and spat on the ground. “Pah! A heartless stepmother, willing to hurt little kids like that, she’ll get what’s coming to her someday!”
Qiao Xihe couldn’t help shivering, her heart tightening, and she hurried into the house.
“The little brat’s back too. Looks like those kids are in for it again tonight!” a few villagers murmured among themselves, their faces full of pity.
Qiao Xihe rushed inside and saw her mother, Tang Yifang, holding a tree branch and beating the third sister, Shen Wanjin. Poor little Jin’er was screaming with every blow, her face covered in tears, but she still clutched half a steamed bun tightly in her hand, refusing to let go.
The other three children were there too, Shen Wanyin was crying along with her, and Shen Wanzhou and Shen Wanmu tried to stop it, but they were still too young and too hungry to have any strength, and Tang Yifang kicked them away before they could even get close.
Seeing this scene, Qiao Xihe already understood roughly what had happened, Shen Wanjin must have been starving and stolen a bun to eat, and Tang Yifang had caught her.
“Mother!” Qiao Xihe called out quickly.
“Girl, you’re back. Good timing, Mother’s tired from hitting her, come take over for me!” Tang Yifang said, breathing hard.
Seeing the resentful looks on the children’s faces, Qiao Xihe felt her scalp prickle. She hurried over and snatched the tree branch out of Tang Yifang’s hand, frowning. “Hitting what? What are you doing this for? It’s just one bun. If she wants to eat, let her eat, was that really worth this kind of cruelty?”
The moment she said this, the room fell into an eerie silence.
Tang Yifang’s mouth fell open, Shen Wanzhou frowned deeply as he studied her, Shen Wanmu stared at her blankly, and Shen Wanjin and Shen Wanyin forgot to cry, tears sliding down their faces and dripping onto the floor.
Qiao Xihe: “…”
This character she was supposed to be playing was quite far off from before.
She’d just gotten too worked up, little Jin’er was only five years old!
“Girl, what’s gotten into you?” Tang Yifang glared at her, displeased. “This little wretch stole a bun to eat, doesn’t that deserve a beating?”
“I don’t want to listen to their wailing. Anyway, no more hitting.” Qiao Xihe turned around directly and threw the tree branch out of the house.
“Forget it! I’m going to go rest in my room. Hurry up and make dinner, no need to make any for them!”
With that, Tang Yifang left.
“Brother!” Shen Wanjin and Shen Wanyin immediately threw themselves into Shen Wanzhou’s arms, and Shen Wanmu ran over too. The four children huddled tightly together, watching her with fear and wariness.
Right now, in their eyes, Qiao Xihe was still the same as Tang Yifang.
Even though she hadn’t hit them just now, and had even thrown away the tree branch, who knew what kind of trick she was up to?
Qiao Xihe sighed and said, “Don’t listen to her. You’re hungry, aren’t you? Let me go find something for you to eat first.”
She looked around. There was a door on the right, in her memories, that seemed to be the kitchen.
Qiao Xihe walked in, and Shen Wanmu couldn’t help whispering to Shen Wanzhou, “Big brother, what’s wrong with the bad girl? She just said she’d find us something to eat?”
“Don’t listen to her,” Shen Wanzhou said coldly. “She’s just as bad as that awful woman! She definitely won’t really give us food.”
She might bring back a dead rat or a dirty rag for all they knew, Qiao Xihe had done things like that before!
Qiao Xihe went into the kitchen and rummaged around everywhere.
The rice jar and the flour jar in the house were both nearly empty, enough for maybe three or four more days at most.
There was no way there’d be any meat. Beside them sat two heads of cabbage and a few potatoes.
Her mouth twitched. She saw a basin sitting on the stove, covered with a cloth. She walked over and lifted the cloth, and saw five dry, hard sorghum buns inside the basin.
They looked terrible to eat.
But the kids outside were surely starving right now, so she had to fill their stomachs first.
According to the original owner’s memories, she and her mother had apparently gone a full day and night without feeding the four children at all.
Qiao Xihe took out all five buns. When the four children saw her, they all shrank back a little.
“There’s nothing else to eat right now, just these buns. Have something to fill your stomachs for now, I’ll cook some porridge in a bit.” Qiao Xihe said.
But none of the four children moved.
“What’s wrong? Not going to eat the buns?” Qiao Xihe smiled. “Do you still want to go hungry?”
The moment she said this, Shen Wanyin flinched and said in a small voice, “No, we don’t.”
“Then eat the buns first.”
Seeing that they still weren’t coming to take them, Qiao Xihe walked straight over and pushed the buns into Shen Wanzhou’s arms, then reached out and touched Shen Wanjin’s head.
Little Jin’er had just been beaten, after all, she wanted to comfort her a little.
Who would have thought that the touch would only make things worse, the moment she touched her, Shen Wanjin immediately burst into tears again with a “waah.”
“Sister, don’t hit me! I won’t do it again!”
Qiao Xihe: “…”
Well. Turned out the clown was herself.
“I’m not going to hit you, stop crying,” Qiao Xihe said gloomily, then turned and went back into the kitchen.
Shen Wanzhou looked down at the buns in his arms, a little dazed.
They were really food?
Even if it was just sorghum buns, to the four of them, this was already quite rare.
There was no way Qiao Xihe could really be this kind. What was she actually up to?
“Brother…” a small voice sounded by his ear. He turned and saw his three younger siblings looking at him eagerly.
He hurriedly stuffed a bun into each of their hands. Two buns were left, and instead of eating them, he tucked them into his shirt.
They had always eaten one meal without knowing when the next would come. Just because they ate now didn’t mean they’d know when they’d get to eat again.
Seeing this, Shen Wanjin handed her bun back to Shen Wanzhou. “Jin’er already ate. Brother should keep this one.”
She had stolen a bun earlier and gnawed half of it, she was still holding the other half in her hand.
Shen Wanzhou’s nose stung a little.
His third sister was only five, and yet she already had to grow up too fast.
All of this was the fault of the stepmother and stepsister…
So no matter how well Qiao Xihe pretended, he wouldn’t believe her!
Qiao Xihe cooked porridge in the kitchen, and then started to worry again.
She had wanted to stir-fry some cabbage too, but the only seasoning in this kitchen was salt.
There wasn’t even any oil…
“Ding! Side quest triggered: Feed your younger siblings a full meal, and receive as reward five liters of cooking oil, one koi fragment, and one lottery draw. Note: koi fragments can be combined into a rare grand prize.”
“What rare grand prize? What can you even win from the lottery? Can I get an advance on the oil?” Qiao Xihe asked quickly.
“System, are you there?”
“Little Gong? Old Gong?”
The system stayed silent for a good while, and Qiao Xihe secretly gritted her teeth.
There was nothing for it, she could only use plain water with salt to cook up the cabbage and potatoes.
She brought the porridge and the cabbage and potatoes to the table and called out, “Dinner’s ready!”
Naturally, the four children didn’t dare move. Instead, Tang Yifang came walking in, yawning.
Seeing a big pot of porridge and a big bowl of cabbage and potatoes on the table, she frowned. “Girl, why’d you make so much? Can the two of us even finish it?”
“There are six people in this house, of course we can finish it.” Qiao Xihe said, ladling out the porridge.
“What did you say?”