Chapter 18

Su Wanwan knew nobody had eaten well that evening, so she took meat and fish out of her space, cooked braised pork and braised fish, and made two more side dishes.
She also gave the gifts she had bought that afternoon to the two elders.

Father Su’s eyes immediately filled with tears. He felt guilty toward his wife and children for making them suffer with him. The cellar would have to start being dug today.

Su Wanwan then handed a shirt to her second brother.

Su Heng hadn’t expected she bought something for him too, and he was overjoyed, his heart aching for his sister: “Sis, return it tomorrow and exchange it for something for yourself. Second brother still has clothes.”

Su Wanwan: “You really don’t want it?”

Su Heng shook his head: “I have enough. Trade it for a dress for yourself.”

Su Wanwan said on purpose: “Since you don’t want it, fine, I’ll save it for my future partner. From now on, I’ll only buy clothes for him. Since second brother doesn’t like what I buy, I won’t buy for him anymore.”

Hearing that, Su Heng quickly snatched the shirt back from her hands: “Who said I didn’t like it? If you wait till you find a partner, the shirt will have gone to waste.”

He hurriedly changed into it, feeling the fabric—it was so comfortable and fit perfectly.

He praised her: “Sis, you really have a good eye.”

Su Wanwan smiled faintly.

Father Su, watching the siblings’ closeness, felt gratified. Then, recalling the rumors in the village, he said: “Daughter, tomorrow when you go to work, go weed in the western field. There’ll be more people there.”

He turned to his son: “Tomorrow you go into town and find out about Director Yang’s son. I need to see if your grandparents really plan to push your sister into the fire pit.”

Su Heng nodded repeatedly: “Alright.”

He didn’t tell his sister about the village rumors. He would definitely take care of it tomorrow.

“Okay.” Su Wanwan hadn’t expected the day to come so soon. She had never done farm work before—what would she do tomorrow?

Weeding shouldn’t be hard, she thought, not a big problem.

But when she returned to her room, imagining pulling weeds under the blazing summer sun with the ground temperature reaching over 40°C, her body immediately felt uncomfortable.

Before bed, she made herself a sunhat from straw and finally fell asleep.

The next morning.

Zhao Hefen went to the chicken coop to collect eggs and was shocked to find six of them. She couldn’t believe that three chickens had laid six eggs in a single day.

She told the family.

Su Jianjun even asked if she had forgotten to collect some the last few days.

Zhao Hefen swore she hadn’t. Collecting eggs was always the first thing she did in the morning.

Only Su Wanwan knew the truth—her three chickens had indeed laid six eggs. They had spent the night in her space, drinking from the spring by her little creek.

Su Wanwan arranged with her second brother to go eat breakfast at their grandparents’ house.

On the way, she gave him reminders.

When the two arrived at the Su family’s old house, they caught them just at breakfast time.

Su Heng said cheerfully: “Grandpa, Grandma, we’re here for breakfast.”

Su Wanwan also smiled and greeted them.

That was when Yang Guixiang remembered what her husband had said. These two brats had really come to eat.

Jin Hua set the freshly made breakfast on the table: “Why are you two here? I didn’t make food for you this morning.”

“Grandpa told us to come eat. The whole village heard it. For years, you’ve been taking the family’s grain for yourselves. Why can’t we eat here too?”

With that, Su Heng didn’t wait for permission. He scooped up six big pancakes into his sister’s bowl, slipped the two eggs on the table into his pocket, grabbed two bowls of noodle-dumpling soup, and hurried out with lightning speed.

He even tossed back: “I’ll bring these to Mom and Dad.”

His sister had said, if you want to eat, you have to be shameless. If you care about face, you won’t get food.

Yang Guixiang was stunned, eyes wide: “You little brat! Those eggs are for Bao’er! Are you bandits?”

Jin Hua rushed to snatch the pancakes from Su Wanwan’s bowl: “What are you doing? If you take everything, what do we eat?”

Su Wanwan dodged quickly and followed behind her brother: “Grandma, so you do know what bandits are. But when you took our food all those times, did you ever think about what we would eat? I only learned from you. You taught me well. Make more next time.”

Jin Hua’s grab failed, and hearing “next time” made her want to explode.

Su Mao’s face hardened: “Enough, both of you. Everyone in the village saw it last night. Jin Hua, hurry and make another batch.” He knew very well these two were doing it on purpose. With so many villagers watching yesterday, there was no way to refuse them food.

Jin Hua’s heart ached at the thought of wasting eggs and white flour on more pancakes.

Meanwhile, Su Heng happily carried the two bowls of soup home, steadier than ever, even bringing back three bowls.

Looking at them, he realized—these were their family’s own bowls.

Su Wanwan tore off a piece of the fine-flour pancake and tasted it. It was so much better than the coarse-flour cakes they usually had at home that choked the throat.

Chewing, she said: “See, Grandpa and Grandma’s life really is better than ours.” She even broke off a piece to stuff into her brother’s mouth.

Su Heng took a bite: “You’re right. Even the oil tastes richer than what Mom uses. It’s delicious. Let’s come again at noon.”

Back home, their mother had already set breakfast on the table.

Su Heng recounted how they had eaten at their grandparents’ place.

Su Jianjun thought, what’s the harm if the kids eat once? After all, it was still his rations being used. He grabbed a pancake and took a big bite.

It was white flour, unlike the coarse flour they ate at home. His heart soured instantly.

After breakfast, Su Wanwan picked up the water flask her eldest brother had given her and the sunhat she had made the night before, and set out.

Su Heng looked at his sister, dressed in long sleeves and trousers, her hat covering her whole face and neck so only her eyes showed: “Aren’t you hot like that?”

Su Wanwan adjusted her hat: “Of course I’m hot. But better that than getting tanned. It took me so much effort to get fairer.”

Su Heng had also noticed she really had become prettier recently, and couldn’t let her get sunburned again: “Just weed a little in the morning to show you’ve worked, then rest in the shade. I’ll take care of the rest. I’m fast at it.”

“Alright.” Su Wanwan agreed without hesitation. It wasn’t being delicate—she had truly never done farm work before, and she worried she wouldn’t manage well.

The two headed to the tool shed together.

Meanwhile, Father Su was inside, fretting about the villagers and the educated youth who had asked for leave.

Yesterday over ten people had asked off. Today it was even worse—forty-two.

And all of them were unmarried young women.

Judging by the rumors, they were all gossiping about his daughter. That was unacceptable. He raised his voice and shouted to the crowd:

“Everyone, gather at the drying yard in ten minutes for a meeting. Every single person must attend. Spread the word now. Anyone absent will have work points deducted.”

This matter had to be dealt with today.

The crowd looked at each other, whispering among themselves.