Chapter 7 – She Didn’t Come Back to Beg Them

“I can cure the bald patches on your body. You’re missing Omega-3 fatty acids and other nutrients good for the skin.
If you stick with me, I promise you’ll become the most beautiful cat in the village.”

[Meow? You can actually understand cat-speak?
Just now, I heard Big Yellow say that yesterday, according to the mouse from Third Uncle’s house, someone plans to poison your big brother’s fish pond.
They’ve already bought pesticide—just not sure when they’ll actually do it.]

Jiang Niannian: “Of course I can understand.
Keep watch over my brother’s fish pond for the next couple of days. I’ll get you some fish to eat, and I promise I’ll fix those bald spots.”

[Meow will trust you this once. But if you don’t deliver, or don’t give me fish, Meow’s not doing any more work.]

Watching the tabby cat leap elegantly out the window, Jiang Niannian smiled and began tidying up the room.
When Jiang Xiaolin left, she had taken all her clothes with her.

Which meant she still only had this one outfit to wear for now.

She pulled the money out from her bra and hid it carefully, then did a quick cleanup of the room.

“Niannian, time to eat!”

Hearing her mom call, Jiang Niannian stepped out for dinner.
On the table was her favorite dish: iron pot braised chicken.

In her bowl were four drumsticks and four chicken wings.

Wang Yingxiu clearly wanted to fatten her daughter up in one meal—dumping all the chicken wings and drumsticks in front of her.

The four men in the house—from the oldest to the youngest—looked at the chicken carcasses with limbs gone, only a bit of rib meat, some breast meat, a neck, and a chicken head left.

All four were in a bit of a daze.

Jiang Niannian placed a drumstick in her mom’s bowl and one in her dad’s.

“Mom, you eat too. Dad, you as well.”

Then she glanced at the two remaining drumsticks and four chicken wings in her bowl.

Feeling generous, she handed out one wing each to her three brothers.

Her oldest brother declined and placed the wing back into her bowl.

“You eat. Big bro loves chicken necks.
Look at how thin you are—eat more, nourish yourself.”

Second brother just curled his lips, but when Jiang Niannian gave it to him, he ate it without complaint.

As for Jiang Xiaolu, the youngest, he grabbed the chicken wing in his bowl and scowled at her:

“I want a drumstick!”

So many drumsticks, and not a single one for him? He immediately threw a tantrum.

Jiang Niannian looked at the two drumsticks and one wing left in her bowl—just enough for herself.
She had no plans to share. She picked up a drumstick and started eating.

At the same time, she wondered how this brat Jiang Xiaolu ended up so spoiled.

When Wang Yingxiu saw her daughter giving her the drumstick, she gladly accepted it.
But when she saw her husband trying to pass his drumstick to their youngest son, she blocked it with her chopsticks.

“You eat it. Don’t give it to him—stop spoiling him.”

“You always run to your grandma’s house, don’t you?
Go ask your grandma to cook you chicken—see if she will.”

Jiang Xiaolu threw down his chopsticks, grabbed the wing, and stood up.

“Fine, I’ll go! I’ll ask grandma to stew chicken for me!”

Wang Yingxiu snorted coldly and turned to Jiang Niannian:

“That grandma of yours is your grandpa’s second wife.
She brought her own son into the family when she remarried.
She’s got her own grandkids—like hell she’d stew chicken for you. Not even if the sun rose in the west.”

“Since it’s summer vacation, he’s supposed to be working part-time collecting cow dung.
I’ve noticed that brat’s been led astray by the old house’s kids. I haven’t figured out how to straighten him out yet—
so let him hit a wall or two.”

Then she turned to the two older brothers:

“Second son, you keep an eye on him later.”

Jiang Dagui glanced at the two drumsticks in Niannian’s bowl. “Oh.”

After dinner, Wang Yingxiu and Jiang Weiguo took Jiang Niannian with them to go update the household registry, replacing Jiang Xiaolin’s name with Jiang Niannian’s.