Su Mian and the two children cleaned every corner of the house, inside and out.
This little thirty-square-meter shack took Su Mian nearly three hours to clean.
Once she was done, Su Mian plopped right down onto a stool and grabbed a palm-leaf fan to cool herself.
It was too hot. Maybe it was because she was fat, but Su Mian was panting heavily.
This body of flab. She had no idea how the person who had occupied her body had managed it, to grow so much fat.
Black-hearted wretch. Su Mian wouldn’t even mention everything else, but why had she made her fat?
Just then, a handkerchief was held out in front of Su Mian.
Su Mian looked up and saw Erbao, her face a bit dirty but still clearly pretty, watching her nervously. The hand holding out the handkerchief was even trembling slightly, betraying the child’s fear of her mother.
A little girl who couldn’t speak, who felt inferior inside, and who knew her mother didn’t like her.
Su Mian didn’t dare imagine how much Erbao had suffered all these years.
She reached out, intending to take the handkerchief.
Unexpectedly, Erbao instinctively hugged her head and crouched down, as if bracing for her mother’s beating.
Su Mian sighed softly, then reached out and gently stroked her daughter’s head.
Feeling Su Mian’s touch, Erbao finally slowly lowered her hands from her head and looked at Su Mian curiously.
“Good girl. Weren’t you going to give Mom the handkerchief? How about you help Mom wipe her sweat? Mom’s hands are dirty.” Su Mian smiled at Erbao, keeping her tone as gentle as possible, afraid of scaring this sensitive, insecure daughter.
This was the first time Erbao had ever heard her mother speak to her so gently. Just four years old, she desperately craved motherly love. Even though her mother often hit and yelled at them, Erbao still so wished her mother could love her.
So she clutched the handkerchief tightly and raised her hand to wipe the sweat from Su Mian’s forehead.
Su Mian narrowed her eyes and smiled at Erbao. “Erbao is amazing. You wiped all of Mom’s sweat away.”
Encouraged, Erbao was instantly full of confidence and moved on to wipe the sweat on the other side.
Then, an ill-timed rumble sounded.
Su Mian hadn’t known just how much effort that person had put into making her fat, making her appetite this big.
How long had it been since she ate that steamed roll? She was already so hungry her stomach was growling.
Dabao, standing to the side, heard Su Mian’s stomach growling.
He immediately walked to the table and handed Su Mian the one last remaining bun.
There was only one bun left, and it was getting late. Going out to find food would be difficult.
But she couldn’t let the two children go hungry. They were still so small, and looking at how thin and weak they were now, it was clearly from malnutrition.
“Mom, eat.” Seeing Su Mian hadn’t taken the bun, Dabao couldn’t help reminding her.
Both children were good children. Even though they were afraid of Su Mian, being so young, they held no hatred toward their mother.
They only knew that Su Mian was their mother, their only family.
No matter how Su Mian treated them, they would love their mother.
So with only one bun left, both children offered the last bit of food to Su Mian.
Su Mian’s nose stung. She took the bun and broke off a small piece for herself.
Then she split the bun in half and gave one piece each to Dabao and Erbao.
“Mom will eat. I’m not hungry,” Dabao refused to take it. Seeing her brother refuse, Erbao didn’t dare take it either.
“Eat up. Mom has a way to get food. You two eat a little first to fill your stomachs.” After saying this, Su Mian shoved the bun into the children’s hands.
The children naturally believed the adult’s words, so they took the buns and started eating.
They had been hungry for a day and a night, eating almost nothing but water.
So today’s buns and steamed rolls were devoured by the three of them in one go.
Su Mian searched her memories, trying to recall if there was anything valuable at home she could sell for money.
Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, she went straight to the corner by the bed and knocked on a brick in the wall. It was indeed hollow.
She ran to the other side and grabbed a cleaver, then banged on the wall a few times. The brick immediately loosened.
After pulling the brick out, Su Mian reached in and indeed pulled something out.
It was a pocket watch, the “love token” the male lead, Lu Zheng, had given Su Mian back then.
Even in her hardest times, Su Mian hadn’t been willing to pawn the pocket watch for money.
This thing had been sealed away for too long. Su Mian had almost forgotten about it. Fortunately, she suddenly remembered the original novel had this plot point.
“Babies, we have food to eat. Tomorrow, Mom is going to sell this pocket watch,” Su Mian said excitedly, clutching the watch.
This kind of pocket watch was very rare. They were basically foreign goods, seldom seen in the country.
Su Mian was already thinking about how much she could sell it for.
Self-employed businesses were beginning to sprout now, though everyone looked down on them, so few people did it.
But at the very least, selling things privately was no longer illegal.
So Su Mian planned to make a trip to the trading market tomorrow and see if she could sell it.
If she could get some money to solve their immediate food and clothing problem, then she could make some small trinkets to sell and should be able to support the two children.
Speaking of which, it had to be said that Su Mian had been gifted with skillful hands since childhood.
Whether it was cooking, weaving bamboo baskets, sewing clothes, making hair flowers, or other delicate work, anything that came into Su Mian’s hands, she could do beautifully.
So back then, Su Mian didn’t even need to work in the fields to earn work points. Just relying on her skillful hands, she could bring great profits to the production brigade.
The person who had controlled her body only cared about pushing the novel’s plot forward. She couldn’t replicate even a fraction of Su Mian’s craftsmanship.
But now there was no production brigade. Every household lived on its own, no one earned work points anymore, and even ration tickets were gradually being phased out of the market.
Seeing the two children looking at her with sparkling eyes, Su Mian felt that even if she couldn’t rely on selling the watch tomorrow to save up some capital, she still had to find something to do.
But looking at her fat body, Su Mian felt it would be a bit difficult to find a satisfactory job.
After all, the two children were still so small. She had to keep them by her side to feel at ease.
Forget it, forget it. Even if she had to sell the watch cheap, she had to sell it to solve her current predicament.
But a person couldn’t have strength without eating. Tonight she still had to get something to eat.
That damned transmigrator hadn’t left a single bit of food before leaving.
When she was cleaning earlier, Su Mian had already checked the house inside and out. There wasn’t even a single grain of rice.
The neighbors around avoided Su Mian’s family like the plague. Borrowing some rice or flour was probably impossible.
After all, everyone living here was extremely poor. They were all struggling. Where would they have extra grain to lend Su Mian?