Chapter 8 Humbling Oneself

The Qin family’s land wasn’t much, only about six and a half mu.

Because of a bad harvest, after paying the taxes to the court, they barely had enough grain to last through the winter.

Forget about eggs being a rare delicacy, even the bushel of rice was bought last time when they estimated that Qin Zian would be coming back.

Now it was in Qin Ruo’s stomach, Old Lady Qin wanted to kill Qin Ruo.

Qin Ruo didn’t care about Old Lady Qin’s reaction. She had finished eating, so she put down her chopsticks, got up, and left.

Qin Zimu had also eaten his fill. Since Qin Huaizheng had disappeared, he couldn’t remember how long it had been since he had eaten such a hearty breakfast, and the key was that he was full.

Qin Zimu patted his stomach in satisfaction, burped, and quickly covered his mouth, feeling guilty.

Seeing that no one noticed him, he quietly followed Qin Ruo out of the kitchen.

“You wicked child, stop right there! Regardless of the fact that you stole the rice and eggs. Tell me, why didn’t you make breakfast? Are you deliberately trying to starve Qin Zian?”

Old Lady Qin was used to giving orders in this house, and her word was law.

Qin Ruo’s behavior this morning was, in Old Lady Qin’s eyes, a blatant provocation.

“Steal? This month, I went into the mountains to hunt and do odd jobs, and I earned at least one tael of silver. Six hundred copper coins can buy a stone of rice. What? I’m not worthy of eating a bowl of white rice? Eating a few eggs?”

“As for making breakfast, you have hands and feet, are you still expecting me to feed you? If Qin Qiuxi died, would you all starve to death?”

Qin Ruo’s eyes were devoid of warmth, she stared straight at Old Lady Qin.

“Don’t be so unreasonable, what in this house doesn’t need money? Qin Zian’s tuition, ink, paper, clothes, gifts, which one doesn’t need money?”

Old Lady Qin retorted confidently, but then she felt something was wrong.

When Qin Ruo mentioned the tael of silver, Old Lady Qin felt a little guilty.

Because Qin Ruo was telling the truth, those wild animals and wages had earned her more than one tael of silver.

When she got the money, Old Lady Qin bought a bushel of white rice, two bushels of brown rice, some oil and salt, and then immediately started to buy new winter clothes and shoes for Qin Zian.

But she completely forgot to buy some winter clothes for Qin Qiuxi and Qin Zimu.

“Heh, what does that have to do with me? Did you spend the money on Qin Qiuxi? Or on Erlang?” Qin Ruo said sarcastically, her face expressionless.

Qin Zian watched coldly from the side. This kind of thing usually didn’t require him to speak, Old Lady Qin would always step in.

But the more he looked at Qin Ruo, the more he felt strange. It was a familiar face, but it looked so unfamiliar.

Old Lady Qin looked wronged, but she was speechless.

Once Qin Zian passed the imperial examination and entered officialdom, he would become the Qin family’s biggest support, so it was right to prioritize Qin Zian, what was wrong with that?

Even in families without scholars, whatever they had, they would prioritize the brothers, didn’t all the girls in Changhe Village do that?

It was just that her own daughter, after going into the mountains yesterday, was like she was possessed, constantly contradicting her and opposing Qin Zian.

Old Lady Qin had just assured Qin Zian that Qin Qiuxi had realized her mistake and had taken the initiative to make breakfast.

But she was slapped in the face so quickly, Old Lady Qin felt even more embarrassed.

Qin Ruo didn’t want to continue arguing with Old Lady Qin. After finishing her food, she went back to her room and continued to pretend to be dead.

Old Lady Qin couldn’t do anything about Qin Ruo, so she could only swallow her anger and start making breakfast for Qin Zian.

He had gotten up early but hadn’t eaten breakfast, so Qin Zian wasn’t in a good mood.

Seeing that Old Lady Qin had lost the argument, he curled his lips and went back to his room.

No matter how angry Old Lady Qin was, she couldn’t do anything about Qin Ruo, who was like a tough nut to crack.

Three days passed, and Old Lady Qin took over the cooking.

Mainly because she was afraid that Qin Ruo would waste food, and she also didn’t dare to give Qin Zian special treatment.

Because Qin Ruo had said that whatever Qin Zian ate, she would eat the same.

Otherwise, no one would eat.

Old Lady Qin originally planned to secretly kill the remaining two wild chickens and give them to Qin Zian to eat.

Qin Ruo, expressionless, twisted the necks of the two wild chickens in front of her.

Then, she stared at Qin Zian with a chilling gaze for a long time, and Old Lady Qin immediately gave up all her thoughts.

Thinking of Qin Ruo’s gaze, Old Lady Qin felt a chill down her spine.

She was even more afraid that Qin Ruo would refuse to go into the mountains and the family would have no income, which would be even more troublesome.

Qin Ruo didn’t care what Old Lady Qin was thinking. She simply ate and slept, slept and ate, completely giving up.

Three days later, Qin Ruo’s wound had healed.

She decided to go out for a walk. The weather was getting colder and colder, and this thin old quilt really couldn’t withstand the cold.

She had to make some money.

When Qin Ruo was about to go out, Old Lady Qin hesitantly took out a pair of new cloth shoes and handed them to her.

“Girl, I bought these for you in the town yesterday, they cost more than ten copper coins…”

Qin Ruo didn’t take them. She glanced at Qin Zimu standing beside her, and in his eyes, besides envy, there was a hint of loneliness.

“Erlang, Erlang also has a pair, they’re in the house. I’ll go get them.”

Seeing that Qin Ruo didn’t move, Old Lady Qin quickly went into the house and took out another pair of new shoes and handed them to Qin Zimu.

Qin Zimu quietly said thank you, took the shoes, and ran back to the house.

Qin Ruo then took the shoes from Old Lady Qin’s hand. Would she not take new shoes and continue wearing these old, broken shoes with exposed toes?

She wasn’t a masochist.

Qin Ruo put on the shoes and went straight out the door.

Old Lady Qin, carrying a backpack and hunting tools, watched Qin Ruo’s receding figure, her eyes almost popping out.

So this stinky girl didn’t plan to go into the mountains at all?

Old Lady Qin began to think that Qin Ruo was just throwing a tantrum, she was tough but not hard, she just needed to be coaxed.

So when she went to the county to buy things yesterday, she specially bought her a pair of new shoes.

She thought that by humbling herself and buying the stinky girl new shoes, she would take the initiative to go into the mountains today.

But the stinky girl was unyielding, wasting more than ten copper coins.

She even took out the backpack and tools for her, but she pretended to be stupid and refused to budge.

In the past, as long as she gave her a little bit of sweetness, she would be obedient.

What was the stinky girl up to today?

Until she couldn’t see Qin Ruo’s figure anymore, Old Lady Qin finally shouted.

“All you do is wander around all day, don’t you know that our family is about to run out of food? You stinky girl, I think you need a good beating…”

After scolding, Old Lady Qin felt a little better.

She turned around and saw Qin Zimu standing quietly behind her, and she was startled.

“You little rascal, are you trying to scare me to death?”

“What kind of look is that? If you dare to tell on me for scolding your sister, I’ll skin you alive.” Old Lady Qin glared at Qin Zimu nervously and turned back to the house.

After a while, Old Lady Qin came out of the house again and impatiently stuffed two candies into Qin Zimu’s hand.

“Take them and eat them. Keep your mouth shut and don’t talk nonsense.”