Yang Jiujin couldn’t stop her at all, and Yang Tiehua had already slipped past him and walked inside.
Only after entering did she realize the place was completely empty. Not a single grain of rice remained in the storage jar, let alone any vegetables.
“Dad, how can there not even be a grain of rice at home?” Yang Tiehua immediately asked.
“We just finished it. Haven’t had time to buy more,” Yang Jiujin said with a forced smile.
“Big brother, you tell me.” Yang Tiehua turned directly to Yang Tiechui.
Yang Tiechui was a complete sister-obsessed man and had never lied to her. Ignoring his father’s frantic hints, he honestly replied, “We usually eat at the factory, so we never cook. That’s why we never bought rice.”
“You never cook? What about breakfast? The factory doesn’t provide breakfast.”
Faced with her questioning, Yang Jiujin hurriedly said, “Daughter, we just bought breakfast outside. Too lazy to cook. Let’s not talk about this. What do you want to eat? I’ll go buy it right away.”
He tried to change the subject, but Yang Tiehua didn’t let it go.
“Big brother, you haven’t been eating breakfast, have you?” As she said this, her nose began to sting.
Yang Tiechui chuckled. “Little sister, we just skipped breakfast. At noon we can eat more in the cafeteria, so we’re not hungry at all.
This way, we save the money on rice and can buy you some snacks each month.”
“That’s right, daughter. We’re not hungry, so why bother with breakfast?” Yang Jiujin added when he saw he couldn’t hide it anymore.
Yang Tiehua felt as though something was blocking her chest, making it hard to breathe.
Her tears fell uncontrollably.
“Smack!”
She slapped herself across the face.
Yang Tiechui and Yang Jiujin were terrified. Each grabbed one of her hands, anxiously saying, “Daughter, little sister, why are you hitting yourself? And why are you crying?”
Looking at these two rough-looking men, now so nervous and gentle toward her, Yang Tiehua felt even worse.
The original host had taken from her family endlessly, never once caring whether her father and brother had eaten or stayed warm.
Now Yang Tiechui is nearly thirty. In this era, being unmarried at thirty was considered very late.
“Dad, big brother, I hit myself to wake myself up. I was too selfish before, always thinking only of myself. Now I understand. Dad, big brother, I’m going to make sure you, Mom, and all our uncles and aunts live better lives.”
With the kind of favor the original host enjoyed, she could easily use these resources to build a family business.
Hearing this, Yang Jiujin covered his face and cried. “Tiechui, look at your sister. She’s grown up. She’s talking about giving her father a good life. I knew my daughter was the most filial. No, I have to call your mother and tell her how filial our daughter is.”
He turned to leave, but Yang Tiechui pulled him back. “Dad, phone calls are expensive. Mom will be back in a couple of days anyway.”
Yang Jiujin nodded. “Right, right. I got too excited. The money for a phone call could buy my daughter more meat. Daughter, wait here, I’ll go buy groceries.”
With that, he ran out.
“Little sister, go back to your room and rest. Fu Ziheng told me you can’t touch cold water or stand for too long. You need to lie down so your stomach won’t hurt. I’ll boil some hot water for you.”
Yang Tiechui also busied himself.
Unable to resist, Yang Tiehua returned to her room.
Seeing her spotless room, decorated with all kinds of pretty ornaments, her heart warmed again.
As an orphan in her previous life, she had never expected to experience such love after transmigrating.
Being cherished by family felt indescribably wonderful.
Soon, however, a very real problem came to mind.
The sugar factory was performing poorly and would soon face bankruptcy.
Right now, it urgently needs to transform.
In her previous life, her eldest uncle, the factory director, had already considered transitioning early on, but higher authorities had refused.
Although the transition eventually happened, it was too late to secure a strong position in the new market.
Combined with rising raw material costs later on, the transformation failed, and the factory ultimately went bankrupt.
That year, many workers were laid off. Those who had taken pride in working at the sugar factory couldn’t accept the blow, and three of them jumped from the factory building.
Originally, her eldest uncle would only have been held responsible for poor management, but with three deaths, accountability became unavoidable.
As the factory director, he was the first to be held responsible.
Yang Tiehua knew she could no longer remain idle. After dinner, she would go find her eldest uncle.
If the factory could transform successfully earlier, the tragedy could be avoided.
Yang Jiujin bought a lot of meat and prepared a table full of dishes. Yang Tiehua ate until her mouth was slick with oil.
She couldn’t help it, her father’s cooking was simply too good.
After eating her fill, she picked up the pig’s trotters and braised pork she had set aside earlier. “Dad, where is your eldest uncle? I want to go see him and bring him some food.”
If she guessed correctly, he was probably still at the factory, too busy to eat.
Her words left Yang Jiujin and Yang Tiechui stunned. “Daughter, little sister, this food wasn’t for Fu Ziheng?”
Yang Tiehua smiled and shook her head. “Of course not. Brother Ziheng should have eaten by now. He doesn’t need me to bring food.”
More importantly, she had something more urgent to handle.
“Alright, then Dad will take you to find your eldest uncle.”
Yang Jiujin naturally took the food container from her hands.
He didn’t ask why she wanted to see him. In his mind, there was only one thought: whatever his daughter wanted to do, he would support her unconditionally.
When they arrived at the sugar factory, the director’s office was indeed still lit.
When Yang Tiehua walked in, she saw a pile of documents covering the desk.
She knocked on the door.
From behind the stack of papers came her uncle’s voice. “You all can go home. Don’t worry about me.”
After saying that, the sound of pages flipping quickly followed.
Yang Tiehua didn’t respond immediately. Instead, she walked in and placed the food container on his desk.
Wearing glasses, her eldest uncle looked older than his years, though he was not yet fifty, his hair already more than half gray.
Seeing the food, he didn’t even look up, continuing to read as he said, “Thanks, you can go now. I’m not hungry yet.”
“Eldest uncle, people need food as much as steel needs iron. How can you not eat?”
The moment Yang Tiehua spoke, Factory Director Ao suddenly looked up so quickly that his glasses slid down his nose.