Chapter 2

Yin Xiaoman refused the kind offer from the two children and forced herself to swallow half of a black corn bun, but she really couldn’t eat anymore.

She reminded Dabao to look after his sister and then went to the kitchen.

The first thing she did when she entered was to lift the lid of the rice jar. She stared at the coarse cornmeal that barely covered the bottom of the jar and couldn’t help but rub her forehead.

When Shen Qingyun had secretly given the original owner money, it had been seen by her sister-in-law, Liu Chunxia, who happened to pass by.

After Shen Qingyun returned to the military unit, Liu Chunxia began to demand money from Yin Xiaoman using various excuses such as, “Our family doesn’t support idlers, and all three of us should be working to earn our rations…” 

Yin Xiaoman had been pampered since she was young. Her parents had never even scolded her once, so how could she argue with such a shrewish woman?

Once or twice, it didn’t take long for Liu Chunxia to take away not only the ten-odd dollars left over from the funeral expenses, but also most of the thirty dollars that had been paid as the betrothal gift.

As the saying goes, even a rabbit would bite when it was cornered.

When the last few dollars were taken from her, Yin Xiaoman finally lost her temper.

When Liu Chunxia once again started to hint at her to give money, she simply proposed a separation of households.

Father Shen, Shen Mancheng, was a well-known honest man in the village. Apart from working in the fields, he didn’t concern himself with other matters.

Mother Shen, Zhang Jinfeng, had suffered from illness during a difficult year, so she could not get angry or do any labor. Naturally, she had little authority in the household.

Thus, the Shen family was an oddity in the village—though the parents were still alive, the eldest daughter-in-law ran the household.

Since Shen Qingyun had not sent any money home after his marriage, Liu Chunxia had long suspected that her younger brother-in-law had quietly been supporting his own family.

The thought of not only losing that support, but also having to take on the responsibility of supporting her brother-in-law’s wife and children made her resent Yin Xiaoman.

Now that she had taken the initiative to propose a separation of households, Liu Chunxia immediately agreed.

After agreeing, she sat down and began to calculate. She figured out how much rice and food the three of them had consumed from the family’s stock in the past six months…

By the time she finished calculating, Yin Xiaoman not only ended up with little from the separation, but actually owed the family a substantial amount of grain.

As for the money Shen Qingyun had previously sent home, and the money she had been tricked into giving away over the past six months— 

Sorry, there was no evidence, and she would not admit to it.

Yin Xiaoman had never encountered such shameless people in her life.

It nearly drove her mad with anger.

She immediately began packing her things, even refusing to stay in the west room that had been given to her. She took the two children and returned to the old house left by her parents.

In the end, it was her father-in-law, Shen Mancheng, who couldn’t stand it any longer. He scolded his eldest son, Shen Qingsong, and forced him to carry half a bag of flour, a dozen ears of corn, and half a basket of sweet potatoes to her.

But now, looking at the empty kitchen, she didn’t need to think hard to know that those things had probably been eaten up already.

Yin Xiaoman shook her head in disgust.

She wasn’t much good at anything, and had a bad temper.

Even with her stomach still empty, what else was there to demand?

Without saying another word, she picked up the basket that was lying in the corner and walked toward the yard.

But after taking just a few steps, she heard the sound of tiny footsteps from inside the house.

Before she could turn around, the two children quickly ran up to her, their faces full of fear as they looked at her.

Erniu, in particular, tightly grasped the corner of her clothes.

Yin Xiaoman sighed.

She knew the children were terrified, afraid that she might abandon them and run off alone.

She crouched down and gently touched Erniu’s face.

The little girl was so nervous that her eyelashes were trembling, but she forced herself to stay still, allowing the touch.

Yin Xiaoman’s heart softened, and she spoke to her in a gentle voice: “I’m going to find some food and will be back soon. Erniu, don’t be afraid, you and your brother stay home and wait for me.”

Upon hearing this, Erniu’s body visibly relaxed, though she didn’t dare nod. Instead, she turned and looked at her brother.

Dabao reached out to grab Yin Xiaoman’s basket.

After she dodged, the little guy became so anxious that he started pounding his chest with his fists, desperately trying to show that he was already an adult and could do anything as long as she stayed at home.

But Yin Xiaoman was not moved by his expression.

“I don’t understand. Speak.” She said coldly.

Dabao’s face turned red with frustration. He pushed his younger sister’s shoulder hard.

Erniu quickly looked up to explain for him: “Brother says—”

“Let him speak for himself.”

Yin Xiaoman rudely interrupted the girl, casting a glare at Dabao. “If you can’t even speak clearly, why should I believe you?”

Dabao’s hand froze in mid-air.

His mouth opened and closed for a while, but he still couldn’t say a word.

His eyes, however, were red from holding back tears.

Yin Xiaoman didn’t look at him again. She turned and walked away.

From the original owner’s memories, she knew that the child wasn’t naturally mute.

If anything, it was more like a condition similar to the speech disorder that had afflicted Old Li’s son, who used to deliver food to the Imperial Kitchen.

According to the Little Palace Maids, that child had developed the condition after a sudden roof collapse at home one night, which buried him under the rubble.

When he was finally dug out, the once healthy child suddenly couldn’t speak.

The doctor had said it was due to shock.

Since the child had fallen ill, Old Li had taken him everywhere, talking to him constantly, whether there was anything to say or not.

Yin Xiaoman vaguely remembered that about a year before she left the palace, that child had already been able to slowly speak long sentences.

She didn’t know how Dabao had developed this condition.

How had Shen Qingyun and his previous wife raised their child?

But she could tell that Dabao’s condition was better than that child’s.

Earlier, during the meal, Yin Xiaoman had quietly observed. The little guy occasionally managed to utter a word or two when he was communicating with his sister.

Especially when he was relaxed or anxious, he would sometimes blurt out short phrases.

According to the original owner’s memories, by this time next year, Dabao would fall into a trap while hunting in the mountains, and would freeze to death.

He would lie in the trap for a day and a night, and during the time when the original owner and the villagers searched the mountain, they would pass near him several times. He had plenty of opportunities to call for help.

But he never made a sound.

This meant that by this time next year, the child would no longer be able to speak at all, becoming a true mute.

“I… I… I…”

Just as Yin Xiaoman was about to open the gate of the yard, she felt her arm being tightly grabbed from behind. Then, she heard Dabao’s stammering voice.

His voice wasn’t loud, but the pronunciation was unusually clear.

Yin Xiaoman immediately felt her heart relax.

A smile appeared on her face for the first time since coming into this world.

She turned around and firmly grasped Dabao’s cold little hand, her joy unmasked as she smiled at the two children and said, “Let’s go, Dabao, Erniu, we’ll all go together.”

Meanwhile, the six members of the Shen family were still eating breakfast.

Each of them held a large bowl, inside of which was a thin cornmeal porridge so clear that they could see the bottom of the bowl.

In the center of the table was a wicker basket filled with steamed sweet potatoes, with just enough for each person to have one.

Aside from that, there was only a dish of old, heavily salted pickles, glistening with salt crystals.

Yet, with such a meal, the Shen family only ate twice a day.

As the year-end approached and there was little work left in the fields, the people who had been busy all year no longer went out to work, nor did they need to exert much effort.

So, the Shen family delayed breakfast time and brought dinner earlier, reducing it to just two meals a day.

If anyone was extremely hungry during other times, they would drink a large jug of water to trick their stomachs, barely managing to fill themselves.

Despite all this, the Shen family was not considered poor in the village; in fact, they were among the wealthier households.

There was no question of not being able to afford food.

The family had little burden. Aside from Zhang Jinfeng, who stayed at home due to her poor health and took care of the household chores, everyone else worked.

Even the two boys in the eldest son’s family would help out in the village by gathering grass or collecting manure to earn work points.

Moreover, since Shen Qingyun had joined the army, except for the last few months, he had reliably sent money home every month before that.

So, if the Shen family wanted to eat better, it wouldn’t be difficult.

But Liu Chunxia, on the other hand, was notoriously stingy.

Once the money was in her hands, it was practically impossible to get it out again.

Despite her eldest child being only eight years old and her youngest just five, she had already prepared the dowries for both of her sons’ marriages.

Shen Mancheng finished the last bit of porridge in his bowl and picked up a sweet potato from the basket.

He glanced at his two grandsons, whose faces were full of longing, and silently broke the sweet potato in half, handing one piece to each of them.

“Father, don’t give it to them. You eat it yourself.”

Seeing this, Shen Qingsong immediately became anxious. He put down his bowl and was about to stop his father, but was silenced by a sharp glare from Shen Mancheng.

“Hurry up and eat. Afterward, take some sweet potato dried strips to Xiaoman and the others. The sky looks like it’s going to snow. I don’t know if they’ve got anything to eat.”

Shen Mancheng squinted out the window at the darkening sky and sighed.

“Ah, I’ll send some firewood over too. We can’t have no firewood in snowy weather.”

Shen Qingsong nodded and quickly gulped down the rest of his porridge. Wiping his mouth, he was about to stand up when Liu Chunxia slammed her chopsticks onto the table.

“There’s less than two bags of dried sweet potatoes left. If we give them to her, what are we supposed to eat? Are we supposed to tie our waistbands around our necks and starve to death?”

Upon hearing this, Shen Mancheng’s face darkened immediately.

“Go ahead and send it! Take it from your mother’s and my share of the food! I still haven’t finished the grain I received this year!”

He ignored Liu Chunxia and coldly reprimanded his son.

Upon hearing her father-in-law’s words, Liu Chunxia immediately became agitated.

She slapped her thigh and immediately shouted, “Father, what do you mean by this? What, is it only the second son and you two who are close? Did you pick Qing Song out of the wild?

If it’s taken from you and your wife’s share, what are you two going to eat? If it’s gone, are we supposed to make up for it with our food?

Are you trying to starve us to death? You’re not concerned about us, but at least have some concern for your grandsons! They are also your own blood, from the Shen family!

Even if you’re biased, you can’t be this biased. Go ask around the whole village—where do you find an old father-in-law always thinking about giving food to his daughter-in-law?”

“You…” Shen Mancheng trembled with anger as he stood up from the stool.

He pointed a shaking finger at Liu Chunxia, his lips trembling but unable to say another word.

Liu Chunxia had been in such situations too many times and wasn’t intimidated at all. She locked eyes with Shen Mancheng, her gaze openly defiant.

Meanwhile, her husband, Shen Qingsong, stood awkwardly between them, wringing his hands and looking as if he didn’t know what to do.

Just as Yin Xiaoman, holding one child in each hand, with two girls following behind her, entered the room, she happened to witness this scene.