“What should we do then?” Zhao Yongqiang also felt it was a tricky situation.

The last time, he had readily agreed to compensate with silver because he knew the original Qian Chunhua all too well — she was dull and timid.

If the silver ended up in her hands, he’d eventually find a way to get it back.

But unexpectedly… Qian Chunhua suddenly seemed to have “woken up.”

Not only did she not return the silver, she’d been spending it like crazy over the past few days, to the point where the entire Zhao family felt heartache just watching her.

Zhao Yongqiang didn’t even know yet that Qian Chunhua had spent more silver to renovate the tea shop. If he found out, he’d probably be even more distressed.

Li Cuihong said, “I don’t care how, just come up with something fast. If she keeps spending like this, once the silver’s gone, I might not even want to live anymore.”

Zhao Yongqiang rested his head in his hands and stared at the ceiling. “Let me think. I’ll figure something out.”

Lying in bed, Zhao Yongqiang tossed and turned for a long time before suddenly shouting, “Got it!”

“What? Got what?” Li Cuihong sat up excitedly, eyes fixed on him.

Zhao Yongqiang leaned in close and whispered his scheme into her ear.

As she listened, Li Cuihong nodded repeatedly, and finally gave him a playful punch, smiling. “You actually came up with this?”

Zhao Yongqiang replied smugly, “Of course. You know who I am.”

“Alright, let’s do it then.”

After hatching their wicked plan, the couple snuggled back under the covers and prepared to sleep.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring room, Zhao Qingyun frowned at how Zhao Qingshui was taking up most of the bed.

After returning to the main house, Zhao Qingyun found life increasingly unbearable.

While Zhao Yongqiang and Li Cuihong treated him kindly — on the surface — their kindness remained nothing more than words.

They didn’t actually do anything for him.

For example, he didn’t even have his own room, let alone a study.

When he had homework from his teacher, he had to write it at the main hall’s table. If he wasn’t careful, the papers would get stained with oil.

Submitting greasy homework earned him scoldings from his teacher and ridicule from his classmates.

That wasn’t even the worst of it. After finishing homework and washing up, he had to return to a shared bedroom — no private room anymore. He had to sleep with Zhao Qingshui.

Not only did Zhao Qingshui hog most of the bed, the whole room reeked of his smelly feet, which made Zhao Qingyun miserable.

He’d complained to Zhao Yongqiang about it before, but Zhao Yongqiang believed in avoiding trouble wherever possible.

And after all, Zhao Qingshui was still his son — the eldest, no less.

Even if Zhao Qingyun held a higher status in his heart, Zhao Qingshui still ranked second.

So in the end, nothing changed.

As time passed, Zhao Qingyun began to regret everything.

That night, the smell of meat wafting from the other courtyard made him drool with envy.

Though Zhao Qingyun was relatively favored in the Zhao household, his privileges were limited to an extra egg in the morning and an additional cornbread bun at night.

As for meat — he hadn’t tasted any in over a month.

The last time was when Zhao Yongcai returned from a security escort trip and brought home two catties of meat.

Out of that, Zhao Qingyun only got five slices — which was considered a lot. People like Zhao Qingsong only got one slice each.

Standing in the bedroom, listening to the laughter coming from the east courtyard, Zhao Qingyun walked toward the newly built wall.

Shivering in the cold wind, he looked longingly toward the other side.

Unfortunately, the tall wall blocked everything. It was like a deep chasm between him and Qian Chunhua.

At that moment, Zhao Qingyun suddenly began to resent Zhao Qingsong.

Why did he get second aunt’s affection?

He was so dumb, so foolish — nothing but a rotten seed.

His resentment didn’t stop there. He also started to resent Qian Chunhua.

How could she just take back all that warm, selfless, motherly love?

So heartless.

His gaze, once filled with longing for the other side, gradually turned into yearning, and then into hatred.

Eventually, chilled to the bone, Zhao Qingyun returned to the room he shared with Zhao Qingshui and spent a sleepless, shivering night.

The next morning, Zhao Qingyun came down with a high fever.

Whether he’d lost his mind or just become delirious, no one knew — but he started muttering nonsense.

He kept calling out, “Mother, I was wrong, I was wrong…”

Zhao Yongqiang called for Doctor Qian from the village.

Unfortunately, this doctor was once an apprentice under Qian Chunhua’s father.

His medical skills aside, upon hearing what had happened in the Zhao family, Doctor Qian grew thoroughly disgusted with them.

He simply said the illness was too severe for him to treat and made an excuse to leave.

Left with no choice, Zhao Yongqiang borrowed a wheelbarrow and ten taels of silver from Zhao Daqing, then pushed his newly acknowledged son — his future “Star of Literature,” the Zhao family’s last hope — all the way to the county for treatment.

..

Unaware of all this, Qian Chunhua woke early and busied herself making breakfast for the kids.

Each child got one egg, two meat buns, and a bowl of milk.

Worried that the kids, especially Qingsong who was now older and learning to read, might recognize the words on the milk cartons, Qian Chunhua poured all the milk into a pot, heated it, and then ladled out a bowl for each of them — including herself.

After a hearty breakfast, everyone went about their day.

Zhao Qingsong took Zhao Xiaoling to school.

Qian Chunhua dropped off Qingfeng at the Qian household, then hiked up Lion Peak alone.

She needed to make the most of her time to fill the large water containers stored in her space.

While the water was filling, she also gathered firewood and quietly transferred it all into her space. She didn’t stop working until nearly noon.

She had to rush home to cook lunch.

That morning’s haul was good — she’d filled ten more barrels. At this rate, in three more days, the water storage in her space would be full.

She bundled up around twenty catties of firewood and stored it again, planning to take it out after descending the mountain.

When she got home, the watch inside her space showed noon. There was no time to cook a full meal.

So she quickly pulled out about one jin (500g) of preserved pork, sliced it thin, and stir-fried it with green peppers — a dish known as “shredded pork with green pepper.”

Green peppers already existed in the Ming Dynasty, though they were out of season by now.

Qian Chunhua didn’t care.

The kids wouldn’t know anyway.

Just as she finished cooking, Qingsong arrived home with his little sister.

“Mom!”

“Mom, we’re back!”

Qian Chunhua stepped out of the kitchen. “Go wash your hands. We’re having noodles for lunch.”

“Yay!” Qingsong and Xiaoling scooped water to wash up.

Little Qingfeng ran over to them and whispered mysteriously, “Guess what? We’re having shredded pork noodles for lunch!”

Just talking about it made Qingfeng drool uncontrollably.

His brother and sister giggled and got even more excited for lunch.

When three big bowls of noodles were placed in front of them — each topped with a generous spoonful of shredded pork — the kids finally understood what “shredded pork noodles” meant.

The meat’s savory juices coated every strand of noodle, blending the flavor of pork with the freshness of green peppers.

Every bite offered both meat and noodles — the kids couldn’t stop eating.

It was just… too, too, too delicious.