Chapter 6: Everything Has an Order

Coo-coo-coo—

The first rooster crow of Zhao Family Village pierced the early dawn, and the villagers began waking up one after another.

In this era where smartphones and computers had yet to become widespread, the villagers of Zhao Family Village still lived by the old ways—rising at sunrise and resting at sunset.

Last night, as soon as Zhang Xiulian’s head hit the pillow, she fell into a deep sleep.

In her previous life, her final days had been spent in constant suffering and pain—she hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in ages.

But this night, she slept especially well.

In the early morning, as the first beam of sunlight filtered through the curtain and landed on the bed, Zhang Xiulian opened her eyes.

Hearing the soft, pained groans from Zhao Debao, who was lying on the floor, she felt as happy as if she’d won the lottery.

“If you knew it would come to this, why did you act that way in the first place?”

She rolled over and squinted her eyes, drifting back to sleep again.

Knock knock knock!

A sudden series of frantic knocks sounded at the door.

“Xiulian, why aren’t you up making breakfast yet? Are you trying to starve me to death?!”
shouted Liu Dani at the top of her lungs.

Hearing his mother’s voice, Zhao Debao ignored the pain and squirmed across the floor, trying to slam his head against the door to make a noise for help.

Zhang Xiulian immediately got out of bed and clamped her hand over his mouth.

“Got it, stop yelling. I’m getting up now!”

Only after hearing the old woman’s footsteps walking away did she release her grip.

“Ugh!”

“Why do my socks smell so bad too?!”

Zhang Xiulian glared at Zhao Debao, gesturing that she’d only untie him if he kept his mouth shut.

Otherwise, he’d stay tied up.

Under someone else’s roof, you had to bow your head.

Zhao Debao nodded furiously—he just wanted to be untied quickly.

Since childhood, he had never endured such humiliation. Every puncture wound from the screwdriver burned with a dull ache.

His face throbbed as if it were on fire.

Zhang Xiulian blinked in satisfaction.

“Good boy. If you’d behaved earlier, you wouldn’t have had to go through all this.”

She swiftly untied him, dragged him onto the bed, and pulled a quilt over him.

Then she opened the door and walked out.

As soon as Zhao Debao heard the door close, he immediately pulled the blanket over his head.

“I need to get some real sleep. No one can see my face—it’d be too humiliating!”

After washing up, Zhang Xiulian walked toward the kitchen and saw her eldest daughter, Zhao Lili, cooking porridge, while her younger daughter, Zhao Pingping, was obediently tending the fire.

She gently pulled Pingping aside and nudged her toward the room.

Pingping, mornings are the best time. Go inside and study your books.

Mom will take care of the fire.

Zhao Pingping curved her lips into a small smile, her eyes full of gratitude, and quickly walked toward her room.

She usually had to squeeze in time for studying and homework. In addition to cooking and laundry, she was also responsible for pulling grass to feed the family’s rabbits and sheep.

Even so, her grades were always among the top in her class.

Meanwhile, her brother Zhao Guang, who did absolutely nothing, always scored dead last.

If she just had a little more time each day to memorize her lessons, Zhao Pingping was certain her academic performance would improve even more.

Zhao Lili skillfully added some cornmeal and sweet potatoes into the pot — this was the most common breakfast in the area.

“Lili, don’t forget to boil four eggs,” Liu Dani shouted as she washed her face.

Zhao Lili nodded obediently and turned into the kitchen, pulling four eggs from the cupboard and placing them in a small pot.

Zhang Xiulian was just about to speak: there were seven people in the household, yet only four eggs were being boiled.

It was clearly calculated so that she and her two daughters wouldn’t get any!

That’s how things had always been in her previous life — but this time, she absolutely would not put up with it.

She paused for a moment and then decided to stay quiet — for now.

When the food was ready and brought to the table, Liu Dani and the others still hadn’t come in.

Zhang Xiulian quickly used a slotted spoon to fish out the eggs and placed them into cold water.

After they cooled, she peeled them clean and placed two into her youngest daughter’s bowl. The remaining two, she gave one each to herself and her eldest daughter.

When Zhao Lili came back after washing her hands and saw what her mother had done, her mouth formed an “O” shape.

She glanced outside — no one was around — and quickly covered her mouth.

Then she whispered to Zhang Xiulian, “Mom, what are you doing? If Grandma finds out, she’ll definitely explode!”

As she spoke, she tried to take the egg from her bowl and place it into her brother Zhao Guang’s bowl.

Zhang Xiulian shot her a sharp look, and Zhao Lili immediately put the egg back in her own bowl.

“Lili, just look at how pitifully thin your little sister is. Mom used to be foolish, thinking girls don’t need to eat much and saving all the food for your brothers.

But last time, I saw a doctor on TV in town saying girls need to eat more meat and eggs — it’s good for your health.

From now on, whatever they eat, you girls will eat too.”

Zhao Lili glanced down at her flat chest and immediately understood what her mother meant by “good for your health.”

Girls her age usually looked like ripe peaches — full and curvy.

Only she was flat as a board.

She didn’t know if she still had a chance to catch up.

Zhang Xiulian was the first to pick up her egg.

With the egg in her mouth, she realized she hadn’t eaten one in a long time. The feeling of being able to eat properly again was wonderful.

A person really has to take care of their health—without it, nothing else matters.

Encouraged by their mother, Zhao Lili and her younger sister both finished the eggs in their bowls.

Liu Dani and her grandson Zhao Guang arrived late.

She rummaged through the bowl for a while, but couldn’t even find an eggshell.

Her brows furrowed deeply as she looked at her grandson in confusion.

Zhao Guang immediately copied her, poking around the bottom of the bowl. There were only two sticky pieces of sweet potato—not a trace of egg in sight.

“Grandma, I didn’t get an egg. I want to eat an egg,” Zhao Guang pouted, crossed his arms, and whined to his grandmother, Liu Dani.

With a smack, Liu Dani threw her chopsticks onto the table. Her sharp gaze swept across everyone at the table before she zeroed in on her eldest granddaughter.

“Lili, where are the eggs I told you to boil? Did you steal your younger brothers’ eggs?”

Zhao Lili’s face flushed bright red. She had never been good at lying, and now she deeply regretted listening to her mother. Grandma was definitely not going to let her off.

Under the table, Zhang Xiulian reached over and gently patted her daughter’s leg. “It’s okay—Mom’s here.”

She turned her head, looked at her mother-in-law Liu Dani, and said loudly with a smile,
“Mom, didn’t you tell us to boil four eggs?

Obviously, whoever came first ate first. If you came late, then naturally there wouldn’t be any left.

Or are you saying that in the Zhao family, only you and your grandsons are allowed to eat eggs, and my daughters and I are only allowed to watch?”

Liu Dani’s face turned a purplish green from anger, like an eggplant struck by frost.

“You… very well!”

She originally wanted to argue with Zhang Xiulian, but on second thought, she couldn’t make a scene over a few eggs.

Her eldest grandson Zhao Wen was about to get married.

If word got out that she mistreated her daughter-in-law and granddaughters, that would ruin everything.

Who would still be willing to marry their daughter into this family?

For the sake of her grandson’s future, she took a deep breath and swallowed her anger.

Having witnessed his mother’s fierceness the night before, Zhao Guang also didn’t dare to keep pushing the issue.

After finishing his bowl of porridge, he slung on his schoolbag and headed off to school with his sister.

Zhao Wen, his face cold, turned and walked back to his room.

The family had just finished eating and hadn’t had time to clean up the tableware when a sharp and bitter female voice rang in from outside:

“Zhao Debao, are you even a man? How can you go back on your word?

If you don’t give me an explanation today, none of us will have peace!”