bestfiction Chapter 5 Wen Lin's tantrum
Chapter 5 Wen Lin's tantrum
On their way home, upon spotting Wen Linshi ahead of them, Wen Yunhong's face immediately fell. She pulled Wen Yuxia aside and whispered, "Grandma's back. The eggs are doomed."
The little one already knows that Grandma always moves the best things from home to Grandpa's house.
Wen Yuxia smiled slightly and said, "Hong'er, do you remember the rice balls we ate before? They were given to us by my master. We can leave the eggs with my master and get them when we want to eat them."
"Is it really okay?"
"Mmm," Wen Yuxia nodded in response.
Wen Yunhong smiled and said, "Sister, go put the eggs out quickly, I'll wait for you here."
Wen Yuxia's master died on the mountain, and his home should also be on the mountain. Considering that he was small and could not walk fast, Wen Yunhong took the initiative to stay where he was and wait.
Wen Yuxia smiled and said, "There are only two wild eggs in the basket. I'll steam some egg custard for you tonight. The rest are with Master."
Wen Yuxia felt no guilt whatsoever about making the deceased old man take the blame. Before his death, the old man had given all his inner strength to the original owner and left her with two martial arts manuals. The old man could indeed be considered her master.
Since steamed egg custard was to be made, Wen Yuxia volunteered to prepare dinner. After her three aunts brought the food back to their rooms, Wen Yuxia dragged the firewood into the kitchen.
She then went back to her room to ask Wen Linshi for food. Wen Linshi opened the cupboard, grumbling, and scooped out a bowlful of coarse rice, handing it to Wen Yuxia.
"Eat, eat, eat! All you ever do is eat! You finish a bowl of coarse rice and half a bowl of dark flour in three days. What will you eat when there's no more grain?"
Wen Yuxia's expression remained unchanged as she carried the small amount of brown rice to the kitchen. The black flour that Wen Linshi had placed on the cupboard earlier was indeed finished, but there was still half a bowl of brown rice left, which she had hidden beforehand.
After washing the rice and putting it in the pot, Wen Yuxia added water. Feeling that there wasn't enough rice in the pot, she grabbed two handfuls of the hidden brown rice and put it in as well.
"Hong'er, light the fire,"
"Okay!" Wen Yunhong was really going all out for the steamed egg custard. Even after a long day, she didn't go back to her room to rest, dragging her sore legs as she followed him into the kitchen.
Beat two eggs with water and put them in a pot. Wen Yuxia gestured to Wen Yunhong to light the second stove. Then she shredded the lettuce, pulled out two sprigs of cilantro from her spatial storage, and washed and prepared the shepherd's purse.
Brown rice and shepherd's purse porridge, steamed egg custard, and a plate of fragrant and delicious stir-fried lettuce. Wen Yuxia thought for a moment, then blanched some shepherd's purse, smashed a clove of garlic, added some salt, and stirred it all together. Now, a plate of cold shepherd's purse salad appeared on the stove.
Inside the room, Wen Dashan, waiting for his meal, kept glancing at Wen Linshi, wondering to himself why she was sitting there motionless today, usually the old woman was the one cooking. Had she been bossed around by her family?
"Old woman, you weren't too tired when you got back this time," Wen Dashan decided to ask to find out the truth.
"The work wasn't tiring. I only helped harvest wheat for two days. I headed back after breakfast today. I was tired from walking, but I'll rest for a while and I'll feel better," said Wenlin, rubbing her lower back as she spoke.
Wen Dashan was speechless. She was clearly tired from working at her parents' house, but she insisted it was from walking. Every time Wen Linshi went to her parents' house, she rode in an oxcart, and when she returned, her mother would search her thoroughly, leaving her not a single copper coin.
She came back on foot, and they wouldn't let her eat breakfast. To save face, she always said she had eaten breakfast before setting off, and Wen Dashan was too lazy to expose her.
"Have dinner and get some rest," Wen Dashan said before getting up and going to the kitchen.
"Grandpa, are you hungry? Dinner will be ready soon," Wen Yuxia said, assuming Wen Dashan was hungry, and handed him a small mooncake.
Wen Dashan took the small mooncake, cut it in half, and handed it to Wen Yuxia and her brother, saying softly, "Grandpa isn't hungry, you two eat."
"Let's eat together," Wen Yunhong said obediently, opening his palm and quietly placing a small, round mooncake in it.
Following suit, Wen Yuxia showed the mooncakes in her hand to Wen Dashan and said, "Grandpa, we still have some."
This wasn't the first time Wen Dashan had eaten mooncakes. He knew they were a gift from the old man on the mountain to Da Ya before he died. Seeing that his granddaughter and grandson also had some, he didn't stand on ceremony and simply stuffed a mooncake into his mouth.
He was filled with emotion. Of his ten grandsons, only Xiaoqi cared about him. He would always save a bite of the best food for him. His granddaughter Daya was also very thoughtful.
Looking at the steamed egg custard, cold shepherd's purse salad, stir-fried lettuce, and the noticeably thicker brown rice and shepherd's purse porridge on the table, Wen Lin asked with a sullen face, "Da Ya, where did the eggs come from? Did you not finish that bowl of brown rice from before?"
Wen Yuxia calmly said, "We found the wild eggs while gathering firewood at the foot of the mountain. There were still two handfuls of the coarse rice left from the bowl that Grandma scooped out before she left, so I cooked them together."
"How many wild eggs did you collect?" Wen Linshi asked in a sharp voice.
My little nephew from my maternal family had been clamoring for eggs since yesterday. With wild eggs in her hands, Wen Linshi's abacus beads clicked loudly. Thinking of her little nephew's adorable face as he ate the steamed egg custard, a smile involuntarily crept onto her lips.
"That's all, only two left, I made them both into steamed eggs," Wen Yuxia said without a hint of guilt.
“That’s all,” Madam Wen Lin stared at Wen Yuxia with some reluctance, wanting to know if she was lying. After a moment, she shifted her gaze, reached out and took the steamed egg custard, and continued, “There’s lettuce and shepherd’s purse to go with the porridge. I’ll put the steamed egg custard away for now.”
What she was really thinking about was going back to her parents' home the next morning to deliver the steamed egg custard to her youngest nephew. In Wen Linshi's heart, her youngest nephew from her parents' home came first, and her other nephews from her parents' home came second.
Wen Dashan, the wife, ranked third; the four children of the eldest son ranked fourth; the children of the second and third sons and Wen Yunhong ranked fifth; and Wen Yuxia, the only girl in the Wen family, ranked last.
Wen Dashan, somewhat displeased, snatched the bowl of steamed egg custard from his hand and said, "Steamed egg custard doesn't taste good when it's cold. Daya, Xiaoqi, you two share it while it's hot."
He couldn't hide Wen Linshi's thoughts from him. Usually, Wen Linshi would steal grain to take back to her parents' home. He could turn a blind eye to the grain that he had grown. The wild eggs were picked up by Daya and her brother. He wouldn't allow Wen Linshi to use her children's things to curry favor with her parents' family.
"Eat, eat, eat, all you ever think about is eating! The fourth son and his wife just kicked the bucket and left. I raised them from infancy, did I not give them food and drink? Now I've only asked for a bowl of steamed egg custard, and you, you're already yelling at me..."
Wen Linshi hadn't eaten breakfast today, and her mother and several sisters-in-law had searched her before she left her parents' home. She walked seven or eight li back home, already feeling somewhat aggrieved. Now that Wen Dashan had snatched the steamed egg custard from her hand, she finally found an outlet for her pent-up resentment.
She sat on the ground, kicking her legs and pounding the ground with her hands, chanting: "This old woman is so miserable. When I was young, I married into the Wen family, and I suffered from my mother-in-law's temper and my sister-in-law's temper..."