Chapter 2: Seeking out Aunt Li

That evening, Wang Shuning’s sister-in-law, Zhang Xiuzhen, returned home from the factory. Entering the kitchen, she found only her mother-in-law working. She quickly helped, carrying the prepared dishes to the dining table.

Curiously, Zhang Xiuzhen asked, “Mom, where’s Xiaoning?” Usually, her sister-in-law helped her mother-in-law cook when she got home.

Song Guiying ladled the cooked radish into a large soup bowl, using so much force that the soup almost splashed. “What do you want with her? She only knows how to cause trouble. It’s only been a few days since she graduated, and the cost of her medicine alone has already exceeded dozens of yuan.”

Zhang Xiuzhen immediately fell silent. Her mother-in-law could scold her sister-in-law without restraint, but if she dared to say a single bad word about her sister-in-law, her mother-in-law’s glare would immediately fall upon her.

Back when her eldest daughter had secretly married to avoid going to the countryside, Song Guiying had loudly threatened to sever ties and publish it in the newspaper.

But what happened later? They still maintained contact, and the scolding only lasted a month, just for show.

Wang Jianguo and Wang Jianjun returned and sat at the dining table, ready to eat.

Everyone was seated, but Wang Shuning hadn’t come yet.

Wang Jianguo, eyeing the steaming ribs, turned to his son, Wang Jianjun, and said, “Go get your younger sister to eat.”

Seeing that her mother-in-law remained silent, Zhang Xiuzhen understood. No matter how harshly she scolded her daughter, she truly cared for her in her heart.

Oh well, her sister-in-law would be going to the countryside in a few days anyway. With her small frame, who knew what hardships she would face.

Wang Jianjun stood at Wang Shuning’s room door and knocked. “Little sister, it’s time to eat.”

Inside the space, Wang Shuning, who was eating a red apple and studying the various devices in the small wooden house, heard the sound. She quickly finished the apple, swallowed it down, and hurriedly left the space to open the door.

Wang Jianjun looked inside, puzzled. “Little sister, why did you lock your door in the middle of the day?”

Wang Shuning casually made an excuse. “I was trying on clothes.”

Having eaten too much fruit in the space, Wang Shuning ate slowly, like a chick pecking at rice, one grain at a time.

Wang Jianguo and Song Guiying were the first to notice something was wrong with their youngest daughter.

Only after Wang Shuning took her bowl and chopsticks to the kitchen and returned to her room did Wang Jianguo ask his wife, “What’s wrong with Xiaoning?”

Song Guiying snorted. “After buying soy sauce this afternoon, she suddenly said she didn’t want to go to City B and asked me to find the street office to change her countryside assignment location. She made a fuss all afternoon, and I didn’t agree.”

Wang Jianguo frowned. “Didn’t she want to go to City B? You even spent two catties of rock sugar for this.”

“Exactly! This child has a different idea every day. Now she’s even going on a hunger strike. I must have done something wrong in my past life to have these two daughters.”

The incident with her eldest daughter had scared her so badly that she hadn’t slept well for a couple of months.

Wang Jianjun, holding his rice bowl, stammered, “Does little sister not want to go to the countryside?”

The other three around the table fell silent. Zhang Xiuzhen, the daughter-in-law, didn’t even dare to chew her food.

Song Guiying sighed. “There’s nothing we can do. They’re our flesh and blood, and I feel sorry for her. She’s so thin and small, how can she endure the hard work in the countryside?”

As she spoke, Song Guiying lost her appetite.

Zhang Xiuzhen wanted to slap her husband. Couldn’t he read the room? If her sister-in-law didn’t go to the countryside, the whole family would be destitute.

That night, Wang Shuning tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.

Opening the window and looking at the moon in the sky, she couldn’t give up. She had to stay away from the male and female leads. She didn’t want to be cannon fodder and die inexplicably.

As long as she stayed away from them, and with her space, she wouldn’t starve in the countryside. At least she wouldn’t have to worry about food and drink.

The next day, everyone except Wang Shuning went to work at the factory.

After getting up, Song Guiying saw that her youngest daughter’s room door was still closed. She went to the door and listened. She could hear some movement.

Clearly, she was already awake and still sulking.

Unwilling to indulge her, she knocked directly on the door with her palm. “Get up and make breakfast quickly. The whole family is waiting to eat before going to work. You’re just sitting at home eating for free, and you dare to sleep in? Don’t you even want to lift a finger?”

Wang Shuning, who was meditating under the covers, was startled by Song Guiying’s loud voice. Hearing the continuous knocking, she quickly crawled out of the covers and shouted, “I know, I’ll get up right away!”

When she got to the kitchen, the water in the pot was already boiling.

“Mom, why are we eating rice porridge again? We’ve been eating this for a month.” It hadn’t changed since the day she arrived, and a lot of water was added, making her hungry before lunch.

Song Guiying poked her head out from behind the stove, holding a pair of tongs. “It’s good enough that we have something to eat. Quickly knead the dough and fry the fried bread sticks.”

Wang Shuning washed her hands to knead the dough. For the first three days after transmigrating, she couldn’t fry fried bread sticks and was splashed with hot oil several times. The blisters on her hands hadn’t completely healed.

“Mom, I had a nightmare last night. I dreamed that not long after going to City B, I was pushed into the river and drowned. Look at my dark circles. I was so scared that I didn’t sleep much last night.” Wang Shuning held the dough and showed her dark circles to her mother.

Song Guiying glared. “Don’t talk about death, it’s so unlucky. I think you’re just hungry and woke up.”

The fried bread sticks were quickly puffed up in the hot oil.

Oil was expensive, and fried bread sticks were a common breakfast in Beijing, so the oil used for frying was usually reused.

After everyone left, leaving only Wang Shuning, she immediately returned to her room and went into the space. Carrying a basket of red apples, she went out, but unexpectedly ran into her eldest sister, Wang Shuyi, who was returning to her parents’ home. Her sister stopped her. “Little sister, where are you going so early? Are Mom and Dad home?”

Wang Shuning had nothing to say to her clever but reckless older sister, who had gotten married to avoid going to the countryside before graduating from high school.

However, her brother-in-law’s family was poor, even worse off than the Wang family.

And Wang Shuyi had twins, making their life even more difficult. So she came back to her parents’ home frequently to borrow things.

Wang Shuning hid the basket of fruit behind her back, anxious to get rid of her. “Mom and Dad my brother and sister-in-law went to the factory half an hour ago. I have something urgent to do. Come back later, Big Sister.”

Wang Shuyi watched Wang Shuning rush away. The basket seemed to contain apples.

Did they have money to buy fruit? Where was she going with that basket?

Wang Shuyi hesitated for a moment, then quickly followed.

When she caught up, she saw her younger sister holding the hand of Aunt Li  from the street office, the two standing in a corner, talking.

Wang Shuning was desperately stuffing the apples from the basket into Aunt Li’s pockets.

What was she doing?