Chapter 24

Old Lady Lu followed them into the kitchen and divided the food. This time, she gave them even less, just a handful of string beans.

“You eat less since you don’t work.”

Shen Wu could find ways to earn more money to support herself, but she couldn’t possibly eat less, especially since she hadn’t eaten lunch: “Mother, the doctor said that if I faint again, I’ll have to get an IV drip.”

“If I don’t eat enough, I can’t guarantee that I won’t faint again.”

Old Lady Lu was furious.

“Mother, I fainted and couldn’t work. Let’s all sit down and talk about this, see what we can do. But you can’t stop me from eating.”

Shen Wu then asked Xu Yin: “Enemy, don’t you think so?”

Xu Yin nodded decisively.

Old Lady Lu saw how well they cooperated, and she subconsciously asked: “Are you two really enemies?”

She felt like she was the enemy.

“What else could we be? But even though we’re enemies, we still have to eat.” Shen Wu said matter-of-factly: “Who would care about her if it wasn’t for food?”

Xu Yin nodded decisively again.

Old Lady Lu…

She felt something was wrong, but it seemed like there was some truth to what she said.

“Forget it, Mother, put it down. That’s all. I’ll just sneak some food when I’m cooking. If it’s not enough, I’ll randomly pick a lucky person to starve.”

Old Lady Lu was sure that Old Three had married this wife just to annoy her.

She could starve others, but she couldn’t starve the men in the family. Old Lady Lu angrily took out some more food.

Before leaving, she told Shen Wu again: “Don’t sneak any food.”

“Mother, you’re saying such a thing, do I look like that kind of person?”

Shen Wu’s voice was sweet, and her face was beautiful. But it was like nails on a chalkboard to Old Lady Lu’s ears. In the end, she had no strength left to speak. She went out of the kitchen and saw a dog coming to the house looking for food.

“You have a dog but don’t feed it, get out, get out, get out!”

Xu Yin added firewood and looked at Shen Wu: “I always feel like she’s talking about one thing but meaning another.”

Shen Wu didn’t care: “Let her scold, it won’t make me lose a piece of meat.”

Few families could afford to eat meat these days. Shen Wu had eaten meat three times in the past few days, once it was rabbit meat that Lu Xuan hunted, once it was wild chicken, and then it was fish. Usually, they ate whatever vegetables were in the vegetable patch.

The steamed buns were mostly mixed flour buns, a mix of corn flour and sorghum flour. Families with more money would add a little less white flour.

Tonight’s meal was string beans, mixed flour steamed buns, and corn porridge.

Shen Wu’s cooking was good, but it was only limited to making the same ingredients taste better than others. Even with her best efforts, you couldn’t taste meat in string beans.

The atmosphere at the dinner table was a bit gloomy.

Everyone was eating with their heads down.

Long Yujiao looked at Shen Wu across from her and whispered: “Third Sister-in-law, are you feeling better? I heard today when I was recording work points that you fainted from exhaustion?”

She looked concerned.

No one had mentioned it before, but she brought it up. Shen Wu didn’t feel concerned, she was just using her as a pawn.

Sure enough, everyone’s eyes were on Shen Wu.

As the person involved, Shen Wu was much calmer than the others. She swallowed her food before looking up: “Long Zhiqing, are you concerned about me?”

Shen Wu’s tone was gentle and sincere, but she didn’t answer her question. Instead, she threw a question back at her.

Long Yujiao didn’t notice the problem: “Of course.”

“Since you’re concerned, then show some real concern. How about this, I’ll take your job as a scorekeeper.” Shen Wu stared at her with big eyes.

Suddenly.

The dinner table fell silent.

Long Yujiao’s smile froze on her face. This job as a scorekeeper wasn’t easy to get, how could she give it to someone else? She couldn’t do the work in the fields, she had come from the city, how could she have ever done farm work.

After a moment of silence, Shen Wu said in surprise: “So Long Zhiqing just expressed her concern verbally, but you actually don’t plan to show any real concern for me?”

She looked like she had been disappointed.

“Then don’t say it next time, okay? Otherwise, I’ll think you’re laughing at me.”

…

The dinner table was incredibly quiet. Even Old Lady Lu was silent. She looked back and forth between Long Yujiao and Shen Wu. Seeing Long Yujiao’s fair, gentle face, she felt a pang of sympathy.

This was the daughter-in-law she had chosen at first glance. She coughed: “Don’t talk so much while eating.”

Shen Wu didn’t say anything else, she lowered her head and continued to eat.

“Pfft, hahahahaha.”

Lu Xiao Liu couldn’t hold it in anymore. He lowered his head and laughed, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

Old Lady Lu glared at him.

“Hahaha…”

He laughed like he was crazy, he was even starting to sound like a donkey braying.

Finally, Old Man Lu knocked his bowl with his chopsticks, and Lu Xiao Liu covered his mouth, physically stopping his laughter.

He winked at Shen Wu.

Shen Wu had a good impression of Lu Xiao Liu, and she winked back.

A low cough came from beside her.

After dinner, Li Ping and Wang Hua went to wash the dishes. Old Man Lu looked at his sons and tapped his tobacco pipe: “Don’t leave yet, let’s have a meeting.”

Li Ping was about to carry her bowl out, but she stopped when she heard that. Then she put the bowl down and said with a smile: “I’m part of the family too, let’s have the meeting first. I’ll wash the dishes later.”

She pulled Wang Hua along.

Wang Hua thought about it: “My husband is in the county, I’ll listen too.”

Old Man Lu nodded slightly.

He looked at Lu Xuan and Lu Ye: “Everyone’s rations are limited. Your wives aren’t working, what about the work points?”

Old Lady Lu frowned, her brow could have killed a fly: “Can they really not work? Go to the fields and get some exercise, if they can’t do it, they have to.”

“The doctor said my wife is weak and prone to fainting when working in the fields. It’s not only a waste of time, but it also costs money.” Lu Xuan said, then added: “I discussed it with her today. The school in our village has already been built, and it will open in less than a month. Before school starts, they will definitely hire teachers. My wife is going to try to take the teacher exam.”

When she heard this, Old Lady Lu forgot about attacking Shen Wu for not working. She pointed at her and asked incredulously: “Her? Be a teacher?”

Shen Wu blinked her big eyes and nodded.

Old Lady Lu was angry, seeing Shen Wu didn’t make her any less angry. She was even more angry: “You? You want to be a teacher like Yujiao? Yujiao went to university, you’re just asking for humiliation.”

“Mother, you know how to use idioms now.” Lu Xiao Liu couldn’t help but exclaim.

Old Lady Lu’s accumulated emotions were interrupted by her son. She glared at him: “Don’t talk.”

Shen Wu: “Whether it’s humiliating or not, we’ll know when I take the exam.”

Lao Ya Village was a large village, and there were over thirty educated youths assigned to their village alone. Since the school was built this year, the students at the educated youth point had been looking forward to it. When Shen Wu said she was going to take the teacher exam, no one thought she could pass. They all thought she was making up excuses to be lazy.

Lu Da frowned: “What about her during the exam preparation period? What if she doesn’t pass?”

Lu Xuan said: “During the exam preparation period, she’ll cook at home.”

“How can that be?” Li Ping said.

Lu Xuan’s expression was cold.

Seeing his expression, Li Ping shrank her neck. Thinking about some of Lu Xuan’s deeds, she felt a little scared. But then she thought that she was right: “If that’s what Third Brother says, then who would want to work in the fields?”