Lu Yao slept soundly, even having a dream.

In her dream, she saw her parents from both lifetimes. As expected, no matter what world they were in, they hadn’t changed a bit.

Seeing that she was still brooding over the past, they told her that everyone has their own life and path to follow, and these were all fated.

Now, they had gone to another world and begun a new journey.

Just when she was wondering what kind of mission or trial they were on, and how many worlds they would have to go through before they were finished, a voice from afar called out, “Dinner is ready!” She instantly woke up from her dream.

She opened her eyes and looked directly into the man’s deep eyes.

His eyes were beautiful, double-eyelids and almond-shaped, long and narrow but not small, with long eyelashes, the whites of his eyes were the right proportion, not the ordinary white, but a very faint blue, moist and lustrous.

Being looked at so intently and passionately by such a pair of eyes, Lu Yao almost got lost in them.

Thankfully, she quickly snapped out of it. She coughed lightly to cover her embarrassment: “Didn’t you sleep?”

Seeing that the man’s expression hadn’t changed, she must not have noticed her awkwardness.

Shen Yanrong curled his lips, “Just woke up.” He replied softly.

Yao Mei was shy, so he pretended not to know.

They both had their own thoughts, they smiled at each other, and carefully got out of bed to wait for the food distribution at the door.

Two burly men were in charge of distributing the food. The bigger one was holding a bucket in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other. The thinner one was carrying two buckets. They came to the entrance of a cell, put down the buckets, and the thinner one took a bowl from the bucket and handed it to the other man. The other man took the bowl, scooped a spoonful of something from the bucket, and handed it to the person in the cell. The thinner one also took a bun from the other bucket and handed it to the person in the cell.

A bowl of porridge and a bun, that was their lunch.

Lu Yao and her family were in the last cell at the end of the corridor. One side was against the wall, and the other side was connected to Wang Lao Tai Tai’s cell by a wooden fence. So, according to the distribution order, they were last.

They weren’t in a hurry.

But the people in the cell next door were very anxious.

Shen Juanjuan and her sister were already starving. When they heard that it was time for lunch, they rushed to the door.

“I wonder what they’re serving.”

They hadn’t had breakfast and were looking forward to this meal.

But…

When the burly men came to them with the buckets, they saw what was in the buckets and their faces turned instantly green.

“Disgusted? Then don’t eat!”

The fat burly man was about to take the bowl and scoop up some porridge when he saw the two girls looking disgusted. He immediately put the bowl back and sneered, “You think you’re high and mighty young ladies?”

“That’s right,” the thin burly man chimed in, pointing to a cell not far away, “See those people? They’re from the Earl’s Mansion.”

The Earl’s Mansion, that was a truly prominent family.

Following the direction of his finger, they saw some of the people there holding their bowls and slurping down the porridge, while others were biting into their buns, as if they hadn’t eaten in ages. Where was the Earl’s Mansion’s elegance and superiority?

The two girls swallowed their saliva. They wouldn’t become like that.

The burly man didn’t bother with them anymore. He used his wooden spoon to knock on the cell door twice and said fiercely, “Do you want to eat or not? If you don’t, we’re leaving!”

Of course, they wanted to eat.

But…

The Shen family members looked into the bucket.

There wasn’t a single grain of rice to be found, just watery porridge with yellowed leaves, and dark, hard buns?

Was this something humans could eat?

Seeing them hesitate, the two burly men simply picked up their buckets and were about to move on to the next cell.

Wang Ya Lan, as the head wife, quickly smiled and said, “Gentlemen, we’re new here, please give us some pointers.”

As she spoke, she took a golden hairpin from her head and handed it to them.

This golden hairpin was made by the Jingling Pavilion in the capital, and countless ladies and young ladies coveted it. Of course, the price was also beautiful.

Although the burly men didn’t understand these things, they knew that a noble lady’s hairpin wouldn’t be cheap. They didn’t hesitate to put it in their pocket and asked what she wanted to know. If it wasn’t against the rules, they could tell her a few things.

Lu Yao, who had been paying attention to the situation here, couldn’t help but admire her. She was truly a head wife who could defeat the daughters of officials and take her place. She was tactful, knew when to advance and retreat, and could bend and stretch. It could be said that the male lead’s success was also due in part to his mother.

After listening to the burly man’s introduction, Wang Ya Lan wanted to ask him to help prepare some good food, but then she thought about how they didn’t know when they would be able to leave, and what would happen in the future. She had almost nothing valuable on her except for this hairpin, so she gave up the idea.

She thanked the burly man and quickly called on everyone to get their food.

In her opinion, when you’re under someone’s roof, you have to bow your head when you should. You have to survive first before you can have other opportunities.

Don’t want it? Then starve yourself!

She first brought the old lady’s portion over, then went back to get her own. As for the others… they could eat or not eat.

Wang Lao Tai Tai wanted to complain, but she had already listened to Wang Ya Lan’s quiet analysis of the current situation. Now, she could only swallow her anger and hope that the Shen family’s disaster would pass quickly.

She looked at the watery porridge and the hard buns in front of her and sighed. How could their Shen family have fallen into such a situation?

She wondered how her son and grandsons were doing.

Thinking about this, she was so anxious that she had no appetite.

Wang Lao Tai Tai and Wang Ya Lan didn’t say anything, and the other Shen family women didn’t dare to cause trouble. They lined up obediently to get their food.

Soon it was Lu Yao’s family’s turn. The two of them cooperated well, and the burly man was very polite. He even scooped up some of the drier porridge at the bottom for them.

Fortunately, they were at the back. The Shen family women had just been mocked by the burly men, and they weren’t paying attention to them. If they saw such a clear difference in treatment, they would probably be so angry that their chests would hurt.

After the men left, Lu Yao, under Shen Yanrong’s cover, swapped the watery porridge in her bowl for a savory salted egg and mustard greens porridge that was light but delicious and nutritious. She also swapped the bun for a buckwheat bun that looked similar.

As for the bowl, she didn’t know if it had been washed or who had used it, so it definitely had to be changed.

Thankfully, she had accumulated a lot of things from her two lifetimes, and she could almost always find similar substitutes.

When everything was settled, they woke up the children and prepared to eat.

The porridge was delicious, with the refreshing fragrance of mustard greens and the salty, soft, and fragrant taste of salted egg. The buns were fluffy and soft, with a hint of sweetness. The two children ate so much that their eyes almost closed.

Fortunately, they knew where they were and didn’t exclaim in surprise.

The Shen family women next door looked at Lu Yao’s family of four eating so deliciously, and they couldn’t help but sneer. These country bumpkins were different. They would cherish such dog food, only those who had never seen the world would find it so delicious.

But…

Those dog food-like things ended up in their own stomachs.

It was…

Very humiliating.