Chapter 5: Food Crisis and Mother-in-Law’s Arrival

It was almost noon before everyone gradually went home, leaving behind a full kang of gifts.

In rural areas at this time, families were still based on the extended family unit, emphasizing the importance of parents remaining together without dividing the family.

Typically, one gift was enough for the entire family, and the gift would usually be given to the mother-in-law. The mother-in-law would record it in her accounts and then decide whether to give it to her daughter-in-law or keep it herself, without anyone having any objections.

This was also the reason why Sun Hongmei was waiting at home for people to deliver soup and rice to her.

Of course, some people who were close to her went to the old house, and those gifts had nothing to do with Lin Yue.

Lin Yue had spent the entire morning receiving aunts and elder sisters, and her mood had calmed down. She no longer felt as overwhelmed by their sudden warmth as she had at first.

Thinking back, she realized that the original owner’s introverted personality stemmed from her childhood environment. She never interacted with others, and she was even afraid to look people in the eye, especially men.

Lin Yue couldn’t even recall the exact appearances of Xu Fu and Zhang Yuandong from her memories. She hadn’t paid much attention before, but after seeing Xu Fu yesterday, she was shocked to realize how incredible it was.

Xu Fu had been living in Donglinjia Village for several years, and the original owner didn’t even know what he looked like. Who would believe that? The original owner’s personality made it difficult for others to get close to her.

Moreover, the villagers were prejudiced against outsiders, and there had been incidents in the past where new brides had complained about the poverty of their in-laws and eloped. This is why she wasn’t immediately accepted by the villagers when she first arrived.

Now that Lin Yue had a son, she had established her place in the village, and people were willing to interact with her.

This reason made Lin Yue feel uncomfortable, but that was just how the world was, and she couldn’t do anything about it.

Furthermore, Zhang Yuandong had been in the army for many years, and anyone with a bit of common sense knew that he was now an official of some sort.

Many people today were using the child as an excuse to build a relationship with her.

Living in a rural village was like living in a miniature society, with intricate relationships that were more complex than her previous job at the company. Lin Yue understood this, and since people were reaching out to her, she naturally wouldn’t push them away.

Now that everyone had left, the midday sun was shining brightly. Lin Yue decided to take her two little ones out for some sun.

Before she transmigrated, Lin Yue had a younger brother who was born when she was in college. They had a large age gap, and she was always away, so they didn’t have many opportunities to spend time together.

At that time, she didn’t understand her parents. They were both in their forties, and their daughter was already grown up. Why did they still want to have a second child?

Thinking back now, she had died so young in her previous life, and it was fortunate that her brother was there to accompany her parents. It prevented them from being consumed by grief over their daughter in their later years.

When her brother was born, every time she called home, she would hear her mother talk about him. She knew that most newborns had jaundice and needed to be exposed to sunlight every day. They also needed to take several types of vitamins.

There were no conditions to give her two babies any vitamins, but they could still get some sunlight. It could not only help with jaundice but also provide calcium.

In northern China, November was already very cold. She didn’t dare to take the children outside, so she could only carry them to the window, open it, and expose their little hands and feet to the sun, allowing their skin to absorb as much sunlight as possible.

Whether it was from the sun or the cold weather, the children’s hands and feet were all red, as if they were transparent.

She absentmindedly poked their tiny little feet with her fingers, and her thoughts drifted back to her parents in her previous life.

Lin Yue didn’t know if her parents were doing well in the other world. When she first woke up yesterday, she missed them terribly.

Perhaps it was because this body had just given birth, but her tears seemed to fall at the slightest provocation.

However, after crying her heart out when she saw Xu Fu, she felt a little better and didn’t feel like crying all the time anymore.

She wondered where her mother was in this world and if she would ever have the chance to see her again. She would definitely ask Xu Fu about it next time she saw him.

After settling her two little ones, Lin Yue was also hungry.

It was the off-season for farming, so everyone only ate two meals a day. Su Dashen would come to deliver her meals in the evening.

Lin Yue wanted to eat lunch, so she had to make it herself.

She picked up a kerosene lamp and walked into the cellar.

In the northern winters, there were no other vegetables, so people relied on sweet potatoes, radishes, and cabbage to get through the winter.

For convenient storage, every household would dig a cellar.

In the original owner’s memory, her adoptive parents’ cellar was a deep pit dug under the kang. It was compacted and used as a cellar, and people needed to use a ladder or rope to climb down.

When the original owner was young, her adoptive parents would often tie her up with a rope and lower her into the cellar to get cabbage.

It was dark and gloomy inside, and there might be all sorts of things hiding there for the winter, which left her with a deep psychological shadow.

This cellar wasn’t as scary. It was probably because the brigade had previously stored vegetables here, so it was built very neatly, with steps for people to go up and down.

Although it was dark inside, it wasn’t that frightening.

The harvest had been over for a few months, and her in-laws had come to carry away a lot of grain, so there wasn’t much food or vegetables left in the cellar. They were all neatly arranged against the wall.

The supplies were stacked neatly.

Lin Yue was a little worried. The next grain distribution wouldn’t be until June of the following year. Until then, they could only rely on the vegetables and potatoes grown in their private plots. The little grain she had in her cellar wouldn’t last until then.

It was no use worrying about it now. She sighed for a while, picked up a cabbage from the cellar, and grabbed a handful of peanuts from the broken wooden box in the room.

With limited resources, she planned to make a simple cabbage stew.

Lin Yue had realized that in the less than three days she had been here, the phrase “limited resources” was the one she thought about most. She chuckled to herself, but when she lifted the lid of the oil jar, the smile on her face froze.

Well, cabbage stew was out of the question. Fortunately, Xu Fu had brought her noodles and a piece of cured meat yesterday, so she would make a cabbage soup instead.

She didn’t want to use too much oil, so she hesitantly poured a tiny amount into the pot. A few drops of oil swirled in the pot, unable to coalesce before they started sizzling.

Lin Yue was afraid that the lack of oil would affect the taste, so she threw in a handful of peanuts and stir-fried them first. This way, the cabbage would absorb the aroma of the peanuts, so even though she used less oil, the bowl of cabbage clear soup noodles was still quite fragrant.

However, she still thought it would be better with some coriander.

After finishing her meal, Lin Yue fed her two little ones some goat’s milk again, adding a drop of spiritual spring water to it.

The babies were still too young, and she didn’t dare to feed them too much at once. She only added a drop to the goat’s milk every day, which they shared.

Newborn babies spend most of their time sleeping and drinking milk. Soon, both of them fell asleep again.

Seeing that her two little ones were sleeping soundly, Lin Yue confidently entered the space.

In just a short morning, the space had undergone new changes. The plants on the ground had sprouted small green shoots, presenting a vibrant spring scene.

Lin Yue was overjoyed. She thought her idea of planting vegetables in the space might be achievable.

She went out and found two wilted radishes. Following the original owner’s memory, she peeled off the roots and placed the radish tops in shallow water to cultivate.

Then, she reluctantly grabbed a handful of peanuts and soaked them in water.

There was no other way. They only had a little bit of food left at home. She had only raised flowers before, and her farming experience came entirely from the original owner’s memories. She was afraid of wasting food, so she only dared to experiment little by little.

She was afraid that someone else might come over, so she didn’t dare to stay in the space for long. After finishing, she left the space, held her two soft little ones in her arms, lay down on the kang, and fell asleep soon after.

No one came over in the afternoon, and Lin Yue finally had some peace and quiet. She took a red cloth and played with her children.

She had heard Zhang Dalian say that it was good for the children’s eyes.

Her two little ones were very cooperative, their eyes following the red cloth.

Lin Yue found it amusing and kept waving the cloth. The two little ones couldn’t keep up with their eyes, so they simply ignored her. The younger one even rolled his eyes at Lin Yue, making her laugh out loud.

She had just thought that no one would come over in the afternoon when she heard a commotion outside. She opened the window slightly and looked out, only to see a woman in her forties striding into the courtyard, looking like she was about to enter the house.

Lin Yue was startled. This was her cheap mother-in-law. Looking at her demeanor, she didn’t seem like a nice person.

She was afraid that Sun Hongmei would come in and hurt her two children, so she quickly closed the window, got up, and went out to meet her.

Lin Yue stopped her at the door. Looking at the middle-aged woman in a brand-new floral jacket with her hair meticulously combed, she couldn’t bring herself to call her “mother-in-law.”

Sun Hongmei glanced at Lin Yue with disdain and scolded, “What are you standing there blocking the way for? Go upstairs. I have something to ask you.”

This morning, many people had brought her eggs. Lin Yue didn’t want her to enter the house, fearing that she would take more of her things, so she continued to block the door, saying in a harsh tone, “The two children just fell asleep. I’m afraid of waking them up. Just tell me what you need to say here.”

Seeing that she wasn’t complying, Sun Hongmei immediately became angry. “Such small children, how can they be disturbed! So many people were making noise in your house this morning, and I didn’t see you afraid of waking the children. Now that I, their grandmother, have come, you’re afraid of waking them up? Get out of the way!” As she spoke, she pushed Lin Yue.

If this had happened yesterday, Lin Yue would have been pushed to the ground. However, her body had recovered a lot today, and she managed to hold onto the door frame, preventing her from being pushed.

Seeing this, Sun Hongmei became even more furious. She cursed, “You unfilial wretch, you’ve really become quite bold. You dare to stop me from entering? Get out of my way!”

Lin Yue was angered by her insults and said through gritted teeth, “Just say what you need to say. If you don’t, I’m closing the door!”

Seeing that Lin Yue was determined not to let her in, Sun Hongmei became suspicious. She pushed Lin Yue aside, peered inside, and shouted loudly, “You won’t let me in, are you hiding someone inside? Tell me, who is it? What are you hiding for, afraid of someone seeing? Is it Xu Enyuan? Huh?”

Lin Yue was surprised that Sun Hongmei would mention Xu Fu and even knew his name. Everyone in the nearby villages called him Xu Laoshi or Xu Xiaochang. Not many people actually knew his real name.