Before transmigrating into the novel, Zhou Yu had rarely cooked for herself. She had certainly never used the kind of rural stove found in the countryside during the 1980s.
So even though Zhou Yu had inherited the original host’s memories, and the original host knew how to start a fire, actually doing it herself was still somewhat difficult. After several repeated attempts, Zhou Yu finally managed to get the fire going.
The fire was lit, but along with the flames came thick clouds of black smoke. Zhou Yu was choked by it and began coughing repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Lu Cheng had actually woken up quite some time ago. He had simply noticed that his stepmother seemed to be in good spirits today and did not need anyone to take care of her. Besides, he remembered what she had said before: he was not allowed into the kitchen.
So despite being awake, Lu Cheng did not go to the kitchen. Instead, he sat by the window in his room, staring blankly into space.
From the position of the window in Lu Cheng’s room, he could clearly see both the kitchen and everything happening in the courtyard.
Although Lu Cheng tried to stop himself from paying attention to the kitchen, the truth was that he was feeling a little hungry by now. As a result, his gaze drifted outside every now and then.
When he saw Zhou Yu carrying water back and forth while cleaning the kitchen, he found it somewhat strange. He wanted to go over and help, but he was afraid of being beaten. After hesitating for a long time, Lu Cheng ultimately chose to wait and see.
Everything had seemed fairly normal at first, but now waves of black smoke were billowing out of the kitchen!
Lu Cheng could no longer sit still. He hurried to his feet and ran toward the kitchen, wanting to see what exactly was going on.
When Zhou Yu spotted the small figure suddenly appearing at the kitchen door, she was delighted. The child had cooked an entire pot of porridge yesterday, so he definitely knew how to start a fire.
Choking on the smoke, Zhou Yu could not stop coughing. She covered her mouth and nose and only managed to speak after a moment.
“Lu Cheng, you’re here. Cough, cough… Do you know how to start a fire? Come help me take a look at this stove.”
“…Mm.”
After seeing the state of the kitchen, Lu Cheng was instantly speechless.
At that moment, he really wanted to complain. Was his stepmother trying to cook, or was she trying to burn the kitchen down?
But thoughts were one thing. In reality, he did not dare say a word. As soon as Zhou Yu spoke, Lu Cheng obediently stepped forward.
Once Lu Cheng took over tending the fire, the black smoke in the kitchen quickly dispersed. Only then did Zhou Yu finally breathe a sigh of relief and stop coughing.
“Thank you, Lu Cheng,” Zhou Yu said with an embarrassed smile.
Zhou Yu had never imagined that one day, as a fully grown adult, she would end up needing help from a four or five-year-old child. The thought was genuinely embarrassing.
Fortunately, the little guy was focused entirely on tending the fire and did not pay much attention to her, which made her feel considerably more at ease.
Although Lu Cheng would eventually become the biggest villain in the period novel Zhou Yu had transmigrated into, the current Lu Cheng was nothing more than a four or five-year-old little boy.
Looking at the young boy sitting behind the stove tending the fire, Zhou Yu felt an odd sense of unreality.
She had never even been in a relationship before. A lifelong single woman, and now she had somehow become someone’s stepmother?
Behind the stove, after hearing Zhou Yu thank him, a look of surprise appeared on Lu Cheng’s little face. At the same time, his emotions churned like stormy waves.
Ever since last night, his stepmother’s behavior had been strange.
Not only had she given him rice porridge to drink, but she had not beaten him either. And this morning, Zhou Yu was acting even stranger. She had cleaned the kitchen, yet she could not even start a fire. Lu Cheng simply could not understand what she was up to.
His adorable little brows furrowed as he became increasingly wary.
But no matter how hard Lu Cheng racked his brain, he would never have guessed that the person inside Zhou Yu had completely changed.
At that moment, Zhou Yu had no idea what the little fellow was thinking. All she knew was that a faint, pleasant aroma was drifting from the pot.
With Lu Cheng helping tend the fire, the vegetable porridge was soon finished. Zhou Yu added a small amount of salt, and the porridge smelled surprisingly good.
She had not expected her first attempt at cooking to actually succeed.
Of course, she knew very well that the biggest reason the porridge had turned out well was because Lu Cheng had helped with the fire. If she had been the one handling it herself, who knew what kind of disaster the pot of porridge would have become.
“Lu Cheng, the porridge is almost ready. You don’t need to watch the fire anymore. Go wash your hands and come eat breakfast,” Zhou Yu said softly.
Lu Cheng did not say anything in response. He got up and went to the large water vat outside the kitchen, scooped out some water, and washed his slightly grimy little hands.
When he returned, he discovered that Zhou Yu had already filled two bowls with vegetable porridge.
“Now that you’ve washed up, come eat breakfast,” Zhou Yu said, handing one of the bowls to him. “Be careful, it’s hot.”
Lu Cheng cast a couple of puzzled glances at Zhou Yu, but in the end, he said nothing and simply accepted the bowl of porridge she handed him.
Zhou Yu knew that her behavior since last night was very different from the original host’s. However, she could not be bothered to deliberately imitate the original host’s personality. To be honest, she did not like the original host’s character at all.
Besides, the original host’s ending in the novel had been rather tragic. Although Zhou Yu had now transmigrated into the original host’s body, she certainly could not follow the plot of the novel step by step. Otherwise, she would likely end up with the same miserable fate.
As for Lu Cheng, if it was within her ability, Zhou Yu wanted to help guide him onto the right path.
The reason the Lu Cheng of her previous life had become a villain was largely due to his unfortunate childhood. If he could grow up like an ordinary child, attend school, and live a normal life, perhaps he would not end up on a road of no return in the future.
Zhou Yu’s thoughts drifted for a while. When she finally came back to herself, she noticed Lu Cheng sitting not far away, timidly holding his bowl and looking at her.
She knew that the current Lu Cheng was still very afraid of her, so she gave him a friendly smile.
“Go ahead and eat. After breakfast, I’m planning to make a trip into town. Do you want to come with me?”
Seeing his stepmother smile at him again, Lu Cheng did not find the smile warm in the slightest.
Instead, it made his scalp tingle even more.
‘Could she be planning to take me into town and sell me?’
He felt it would be safer not to go. Who knew what kind of bad idea his stepmother was cooking up now?
Yet as he looked at the hopeful expression in Zhou Yu’s eyes, the words somehow slipped out before he could stop them.
“Mm, I want to go too.”
The moment he said it, Lu Cheng regretted it.
But the words had already left his mouth. If he changed his mind now, he would probably get beaten.
‘Forget it. I’ll just stay close to Stepmother when we get there and make sure she doesn’t get the chance to sell me.’
Zhou Yu genuinely hoped Lu Cheng would come along, though it certainly was not because she wanted to sell him or anything like that.
The child was so young that she did not feel comfortable leaving him home alone. Besides, she was still unfamiliar with this world. If she went into town by herself to buy things and somehow forgot the way back, that would be incredibly awkward.
“Alright then. After we finish eating, think about whether there’s anything you’d like to buy. I’ll pick it up for you while we’re there,” Zhou Yu said with a gentle smile.
The two of them seemed to have reached an agreement, but the thoughts running through their minds could not have been more different.
Breakfast was soon finished.
Following the original host’s memories, Zhou Yu searched through a cabinet in the bedroom and found some cash. There was only thirty or forty yuan left in total.
A headache immediately came on.
With so little money, how long could they possibly survive?
Fortunately, this was the 1980s. Prices should be fairly cheap, right?
Taking Lu Cheng with her, Zhou Yu boarded a vehicle and headed into town.
It was 1984. Reform and Opening Up had already been underway for several years, so there were quite a few people setting up street stalls and selling goods throughout the town.
Zhou Yu’s main purpose for coming into town this time was to buy some rice and seasonings. The rice jar and condiment containers at home were nearly empty. If she did not restock them soon, they would be going hungry.
Rice cost fifteen fen per jin. Zhou Yu decided to buy about twenty jin for now. Anything heavier would be difficult to carry. Eggs were six fen each, so she bought twenty of them. White sugar cost eighty fen per jin, salt twenty fen per jin, and cooking oil ninety fen per jin. She bought one jin of each.
After purchasing the rice, seasonings, and twenty eggs, she had spent a total of six yuan and one mao. When she passed a pork stall, she thought about the vegetables sitting in the kitchen corner, things like greens and sweet potatoes. After a moment’s hesitation, she gritted her teeth and bought one jin of pork for one yuan and two mao.
Once she had finished buying almost everything she needed, Zhou Yu crouched down and asked Lu Cheng if there was anything he wanted.
Lu Cheng shook his head, but his eyes kept drifting toward the fabric shop nearby.
“Does little Lu Cheng want some new clothes?” Zhou Yu asked with a smile, gently ruffling his hair.
At her question, Lu Cheng hurriedly shook his head.
“No. My quilt is too thin. It’s a little cold when I sleep at night,” he said quietly.
Hearing that, Zhou Yu awkwardly touched her ear.
When she recalled the tattered quilt the original host had thrown at Lu Cheng, she could not help feeling that the original host in the novel had been far too harsh.
“Alright. Let’s go ask whether they have any ready-made ones,” Zhou Yu said, suppressing her emotions. Taking Lu Cheng’s small hand in hers, she led him into the fabric shop.
“Ma’am, do you sell quilts?” Zhou Yu asked a woman who looked to be in her forties or fifties.
“We sell both cotton and fabric. Cotton is two yuan per jin, and fabric ranges around one yuan per meter depending on the type. How much are you looking to buy?” the shop owner replied warmly. Seeing that Zhou Yu was genuinely interested in buying, she did not try to overcharge her.
Zhou Yu knew absolutely nothing about making quilts. After looking around and discovering that there were no ready-made quilts available, she had no choice but to buy cotton and fabric and make one herself.
“I want to make a smaller quilt for a child. How much would you recommend?” Zhou Yu asked with a smile.
The shop owner glanced at the child standing behind Zhou Yu and said with a smile, “For a five or six-year-old, three jin of cotton and four meters of fabric should be enough. That would make a small quilt about one and a half meters by one point eight meters.”
Following the shop owner’s recommendation, Zhou Yu purchased the cotton and fabric. She also bought some needles and thread. Altogether, it came to about ten yuan.
After receiving the cotton and fabric, Zhou Yu realized that the rice and other supplies she had bought earlier were becoming difficult to carry.
Fortunately, the owner of the fabric shop was quite kind. She found some leftover scrap fabric and helped Zhou Yu bundle up the rice and the rest of her purchases, making them much easier to carry.
After thanking the shop owner, Zhou Yu prepared to take Lu Cheng and catch a ride back to the village.
Just as she was about to leave, a mechanical voice suddenly rang out in her mind.
【Host, an emergency mission has been issued! The system has detected injured people nearby…】