Chapter 9: Stay Behind
Su Yaoguang had just stepped out the door when the shyness and unease on Zhou Wangshu’s face disappeared.
That woman spoke nicely, but he didn’t know if she was truly kind or deliberately comforting him.
No matter what, one thing was certain: she was just an ordinary village girl. Once his injury healed, such a weak woman would be no threat at all.
With Zhang Zhaodi not at home, Su Yaoguang didn’t want to make a complicated dinner, so after tidying up the things, she prepared some pork ribs to make pork rib noodles.
She carried the fragrant pork ribs to the wood shed.
Zhou Wangshu, who had originally been resting with his eyes closed, smelled the aroma, and his stomach rumbled loudly. He slowly sat up and took the noodles she handed him.
“Thank you, Yaoguang.”
Su Yaoguang waved her hand: “You’re welcome, eat slowly, there’s more if it’s not enough.”
“Enough, I’ve never eaten such delicious meal before.”
Su Yaoguang felt comforted in her heart.
That’s right, this was the proper attitude toward one’s benefactor.
After delivering the noodles to Zhou Wangshu, Su Yaoguang went to the kitchen to start eating her own portion.
She had returned to when she was fifteen, and during this time, both she and her mother were frugal to the point of scraping by, and it had been half a year since they last touched meat. In her previous life at this time, she had used all their silver money to buy Xiao Yanci, leaving the family unable to afford grain and forcing them to go up the mountain to dig wild vegetables. It wasn’t until Zhang Zhaodi did midwifery for others and earned the next sum of money that they could buy grain. At that time, Xiao Yanci’s expression had been very unpleasant. Although he said nothing, her sensitive self had still detected his disdain.
In this life, she hadn’t used that money to buy Xiao Yanci, and after buying grain and various meats, there was still quite a bit of silver money left. As long as they used these silver money frugally, it would last two or three months without a problem. Moreover, starting tomorrow, she would begin making cosmetics, and once she took them to the city to sell, she and her mother would have even more financial breathing room.
The next morning, Zhang Zhaodi returned exhausted.
“I’m exhausted.” Zhang Zhaodi said, “I’ll sleep first, you make some breakfast.”
“Mom, eat first, breakfast is already ready.” Su Yaoguang said.
“Alright, bring it over.” Zhang Zhaodi was indeed starving, and she sat down in the hall. While waiting for Su Yaoguang to bring the breakfast, she lay feebly on the table.
She had not fully recovered from a major illness, and now after working through the night, her complexion looked even worse.
Su Yaoguang brought over the pork rib noodles.
“You bought white flour yesterday?” Zhang Zhaodi frowned, “Even if you did, you can’t waste it like this! It would be one thing if there were customers, but with just the two of us plus that half-dead one, how can we eat such good things? What else did you buy when you went to the city yesterday? How much silver did you spend?”
“Mom, you’re still not better from your illness, so why can’t you eat something good? Eat first, then sleep, we can talk about matters later.”
“You, you… I’ll deal with you when I wake up.” Zhang Zhaodi ate the noodles while feeling heartbroken, and after a few bites, she looked up, “Have you eaten?”
“I have.” Su Yaoguang said, “This is all yours.”
While muttering under her breath, Zhang Zhaodi ate the noodles: “Last night that woman had difficult labor and lost a lot of blood. Luckily it turned out fine in the end, otherwise we wouldn’t get the money and would just get a body full of filth. Although the main family still paid later, because that woman had difficult labor and gave birth to a girl, they only gave half of the agreed amount. These unlucky things—the child isn’t mine, so why should I be responsible for whether it’s a boy or a girl? They stuffed that woman so fat, no wonder she had difficult labor.”
In the past, Su Yaoguang always felt that Zhang Zhaodi was fierce and hard to get along with, and she scolded and hit her daughter in all sorts of ways, unlike Zhong Lanhua who was so loving. It wasn’t until later that she particularly missed her nagging, particularly missed her tough-on-the-outside but warm-hearted nature, and particularly missed her face that looked older than her peers due to the ravages of life.
“Is it tasty? Mom.”
“With so much meat, how could it not be tasty?”
“Mom worked hard all night, so she should eat something good to reward herself. Mom works so hard, if she skimps on eating and wearing, what’s the point of life?”
Zhang Zhaodi touched Su Yaoguang’s forehead: “Girl, are you okay today? Why are you suddenly so sweet-talking? What trouble have you caused again?”
“Mom, can’t you think better of me?” Su Yaoguang said helplessly.
Zhang Zhaodi was truly sleepy, so she wolfed down the noodles in a few big bites, left the pork ribs in the bowl, and said with a look of disdain: “Not tasty, you eat it!”
Su Yaoguang picked up a pork rib with the chopsticks and held it to Zhang Zhaodi’s mouth: “Here, daughter feeds you, pork ribs fed by daughter must be even more fragrant.”
“You this girl…” Zhang Zhaodi had no choice with her, snatched the chopsticks from her hand, and ate the pork ribs with big bites.
As she ate, tears flowed from her eyes and dripped into the bowl.
Su Yaoguang pretended not to see, stood up and walked outside: “I forgot to feed the chickens. Mom, eat first, leave the bowl when you’re done, I’ll wash it when I get back.”
Zhang Zhaodi watched Su Yaoguang’s figure, a gentle color flashing in her eyes.
His dad, did you see? Our daughter has grown so big. Didn’t you say you liked daughters the most? If you saw her, you would definitely like her.
Su Yaoguang came back after feeding the chickens and saw only an empty bowl left on the table; Zhang Zhaodi had gone back to her room to rest.
She tidied up the bowl and chopsticks, then went to fetch water and gather firewood. She now had great strength, so fetching water was very easy for her and not tiring at all.
While she was fetching water, Xiao Yanci was surprisingly at the front of the line.
Xiao Yanci laboriously turned the well crank, stopped after a while, and was panting from exhaustion.
Su Yaoguang grew impatient waiting and urged: “Can you do it or not? If you can’t, make way, I’ll go first.”
Xiao Yanci’s face darkened as he lifted the bucket that had been brought up, but he couldn’t lift it. He looked at Su Yaoguang, wanting to ask for help but feeling it would be embarrassing.
He had a hesitant look, frowning, appearing extremely troubled.
In this situation, normally someone would proactively ask if he needed help, he would reluctantly nod, and then someone would finish the work for him.
But Su Yaoguang was not a normal person.
Seeing his state, she strode forward, poured the water from his bucket back into the well, threw the bucket down again, and started turning the crank anew.
“You…” Xiao Yanci was annoyed. “Why did you pour out my water?”
“You’re too slow, dawdling around. If I wait for you, can I even get water today?” Su Yaoguang said impatiently, “Don’t worry, I’ll crank up a bucket for you later.”
Xiao Yanci’s expression improved a bit.
It seemed this village girl planned to draw her own water first, then help him. Though a bit selfish, at least it showed some kindness.
Su Yaoguang filled her two buckets, then threw the bucket down again, cranked up a full bucket of water, and said to Xiao Yanci beside her: “Come lift it! What are you standing there stunned for? Your water won’t lift itself, are you waiting for me to lift it for you? Are you, a big man, not as good as a woman?”
