Chapter Thirty: The Peculiar Lady Zhang
Lady Zhou asked sternly who had cooked the al.
"Mother, are you asking about this soup? It was made by Old Fourth’s wife. It isn’t that delicious, and it wasted quite a bit of oil and salt," Lady He imdiately said.
"Second Uncle’s wife, wasn’t it you who just said to give all the fish to Yaya? What’s that in your bowl?" Lian Manman asked.
"You girl..." Although Lady He hadn’t swallowed the piece of fish in her mouth, she was still able to face Lian Manman’s questioning without changing her expression.
"I’m asking about this stead bread, who stead it?" Lady Zhou asked again.
Lady Zhou obviously knew that today Lady He had cooked, but she was accustod to this manner of questioning. Normally, Lian Manman wouldn’t say anything, but since Lady He had just provoked her, she could only return the slight favor.
"Today’s al was made by Second Uncle’s wife," Lian Manman said crisply.
"This stead bread you made, these dough lumps, could kill a dog if thrown out. Counting from the head of the village to its tail, no one else can steam bread like this, you good-for-nothing lazy woman. And you still have the face to sit here and eat," Lady Zhou yelled while pointing at a lump of raw dough in the broken-open stead bread at Lady He.
Lian Manman looked down at the stead bread in her hands. The Lian Family had fixed portions for each al, including the millet flour—the quantity of stead bread to be cooked was also fixed. Lady Zhang’s stead bread was not only fluffy but also uniform in size and weight, as though they had been asured. However, the bread that Lady He had stead varied—a lot of them hadn’t puffed up. The one in Lian Manman’s hand was a hard lump of dough that was barely edible thanks to being soaked in the fish soup.
At the start of the al, Lady Zhou didn’t say anything about the size of the stead bread, but it seed that she beca frustrated after encountering the raw dough.
"Mother, the fire wasn’t good today, Yaya couldn’t work, and I was the only one rushing around," Lady He defended herself, then seeing Lady Zhao hanging her head, she quickly added, "... the stead bread was stead by Old Three’s wife."
Lady Zhou turned to scold Lady Zhao.
"You’re just another freeloader. Making stead bread like this, do you want to eat to death..."
Lady Zhao curled up, crying silently, and Lian Yeye frowned, moving closer into Lady Zhao’s embrace.
"Mother, it wasn’t Third Sister-in-law’s shift today. She helped Second Sister-in-law with the fire. The stead bread was actually stead by Second Sister-in-law herself," Lady Zhang couldn’t bear to watch and quickly interjected.
Lady Zhao glanced at Lady Zhang gratefully but still didn’t dare to speak.
Lian Manman secretly tugged at Lady Zhang’s sleeve. Lady Zhang never defended herself when she was being scolded by Lady Zhou, but she was so eager to speak up for Lady Zhao. Doing so was definitely going to draw fire onto herself.
As expected, Lady Zhou left off scolding Lady He and Lady Zhao and turned instead to berate Lady Zhang.
"You can see clearly, you’re capable, so you just watched her steam the bread into this ss? What’s in your heart?" Lady He glared at Lady Zhang, sneering, "You youngsters can stomach anything, you just want to eat the elder one to death."
"Mother, I’ll go and knead the dough right away and steam so more bread for you," Lady Zhang, unable to raise her head after the scolding, quickly got off the kang and went into the next room to make more stead bread for Lady Zhou.
Lady Zhou then quieted down.
After Lian Manman finished the soup in her bowl, she put down the bowl and slipped off the kang without a word, going to find Lady Zhang. Lian Zhizhi and Xiao Qi followed her, and then ca Lady Zhao and Lian Yeye. At the table, only Lady He, seeing no one else was eating, simply brought the basin of soup to herself and began to eat voraciously.
"You lazy thing, you go work too!" Lady Zhou couldn’t take it anymore and yelled.
"Mother, I’m going," Lady He said with a grin, hugging the basin of soup and walking out.
Lady Zhou responded with a backward tilt of frustration.
In the outer room, Lady Zhang was kneading the dough while Lady Zhao stood by, assisting her.
"Old Fourth’s wife, because of , you’ve taken the bla again," Lady Zhao said quietly.
"It’s nothing, Third Sister-in-law. It doesn’t matter, we’re family, how could I just watch you be wronged?" Lady Zhang said with a smile.
"Mother, you even defended Third Uncle’s wife, why don’t you defend yourself when grandma scolds you?" Lian Manman asked.
"I, I can take a little grievance, it’s nothing. Don’t ask anymore, Manman. What would a child like you understand?" Lady Zhang stopped Lian Manman from asking further.
Lady Zhao wiped her eyes and said softly, "Manman, your mother is a kind person..."
"The stead bread that Second Uncle’s wife made last ti was almost like this too, grandma only said a few words then, why did she get so angry today?" Xiao Qi asked, and then added with eager eyes, "Second Uncle’s wife took the fish soup to her room, I haven’t had enough."
A thought struck Lian Manman.
"Maybe, it really was because of this fish soup."
"Mom looked upset watching us drink the fish soup," Lian Zhizhi whispered to Lian Manman with a laugh.
Lian Manman nodded. It was indeed the case.
"Go back to your room and rest, and don’t talk nonsense!" Lady Zhang scolded her two daughters with a glance.
Once back in the West Wing Room, Lian Manman still couldn’t help but laugh.
"Sis, I’m still hungry," Xiao Qi, still very young, was thinking about the fish soup.
"Look at this—what’s this?" Lian Manman pulled out four large potatoes from her bosom. "I just sneaked these from the outside of the Upper Room. Let’s roast them over so firewood and eat, sar them with chili and salt, and they’ll be delicious, too... If we want fish, we can go catch so next ti."
"Manman?" Lian Zhizhi was taken aback. Lady Zhou kept a tight grip on all the food, and the Lian Family’s children had grown accustod to her system of rationing. Even when starving alone, they would only think of finding food outside. Lian Manman’s actions seed very novel to them.
"Don’t worry, I looked; there were so many potatoes, Granny couldn’t count them all," said Lian Manman.
Lian Zhizhi went outside to bring in so firewood while Lian Manman washed the potatoes clean and buried them in the fire. As the fire blazed, Wu Lang ca back, his hands carrying a bowl.
"Co and eat; it’s still warm," Wu Lang called out.
"Fish soup!" Xiao Qi cheered.
Lian Manman looked at Wu Lang.
Wu Lang scratched his head and chuckled twice.
"I heard Granny scolding soone, and you all left the table early; I figured you hadn’t had enough to eat. So, I scooped a bowl of fish soup to bring back for you," Wu Lang explained.
"With so many at your table, how could you get an extra bowl? That’s your portion, isn’t it, you haven’t eaten, just saved it for us," said Lian Zhizhi.
Wu Lang fell silent.
"Shouldn’t we have just endured it earlier? We should have eaten our fill first. After all, we caught the fish and Mom made it," Lian Manman sighed on purpose. "But I just couldn’t hold back."
"Look at Auntie He. No matter how Granny scolded her, she just ignored it. She even took the whole pot of fish soup back to her room," Lian Zhizhi also shook her head and sighed.
"That’s what they say: ’The thicker your skin, the more you’ll eat; the thinner your skin, the less you’ll get,’" Wu Lang said.
"Who said that? It’s a bit crude, but it’s really true."
"That’s an old saying from our countryside," Wu Lang added.
As the children were talking, Lian Shouxin walked in from outside carrying a bowl of crucian carp and tofu soup.
"It’s gotten a bit cool. Your mom just ward it up for you, eat up," said Lian Shouxin.
"Dad, did you also save your portion to bring back for us?"
"Dad doesn’t like eating fish; you eat it," he replied.
Shortly, Lady Zhang returned from the Upper Room, having served Lady Zhou so freshly stead bun-like dumplings.
"She finally has a sunny expression on her face," Lady Zhang breathed a sigh of relief.
Lian Zhizhi peeled the roasted potatoes, placed them on a plate, and Lian Shouxin, Lady Zhang, and the children gathered around, eating a bite of fish soup followed by a bite of potato. The soup had little oil, and because they didn’t dare to use too much firewood, so of the potatoes were not fully roasted. Yet they savored their al as if it were the most precious delicacy in the world.
As Lian Manman ate, another thought crossed her mind.
"Mom, earlier I asked you why you helped Auntie He instead of yourself. You couldn’t speak because she was there, but can you tell us now?"
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