05 She hasn't been so favored for a long time

Lin Qingshui wanted the old mother to also feel happy.

She tiptoed with the clothes wrapped around the eggs and stealthily ran behind Li Xiuli.

She poked her head out, speaking in a mysterious whisper, "Mom, guess what this is?"

Li's mother jumped in fright.

Clutching her chest, she smacked his arm and exclaimed crossly, "You little brat, are you trying to scare me to death!"

The tone and volume of her voice were completely different from when she spoke in front of Lin Tang.

Outsiders would think that only Lin Tang was her biological child.

Lin Qingshui, knowing he had startled the old mother, guiltily touched his nose.

"What is there to be afraid of when your son is here?"

Without waiting for Li's mother to respond, he proudly presented the clothes to her eyes as if presenting a treasure.

"Look, Mom, wild chicken eggs."

Upon seeing them, Li's mother cried out in surprise, indeed, they were chicken eggs.

Looking at their size and roundness, they didn't seem like something a domestic chicken could lay.

"Where did they come from?"

Li's mother watched Lin Qingshui handle them roughly,

and felt oddly fortunate that the eggs had made it to her hands.

So, she carefully took the eggs to hold herself.

Lin Qingshui boasted proudly with a triumphant face, "Sister found them."

Hearing that Lin Tang had found them, Li's mother was instantly not surprised.

True to her daughter, the luck was always good!

Li Xiuli, after having three mischievous, troublesome sons who could eat like bears, finally gave birth to a soft, well-behaved, and adorable daughter.

And as expected, she was completely doted upon.

Tangtang, the youngest girl in the Lin Family, was the treasure in everyone's eyes.

Protected by her parents at home and doted on by her brothers.

Just the fact that she was one of the rare high school students of her time showed the comfortable life she led in the Lin Family.

As they chatted, Lin's sister-in-law had finished making dinner.

A dish of indistinguishable salty pickles.

A bowl of clear soup for each person, clear enough to see your reflection.

In the bamboo basket lay hard, black steamed buns.

"Sister-in-law, steam two eggs for Tangtang,"

Li Xiuli handed the clothing wrapped eggs to the eldest sister-in-law, Ning Xinrou.

Lin's sister-in-law, upon seeing so many eggs, looked surprised.

"Mom, where did these eggs come from? They don't look like they were laid by a domestic chicken,"

Ning Xinrou, well-read and cultured, had been separated from her family during the turmoil of war. Having fainted at the Lin Family's doorstep, she temporarily stayed with the Lin Family and eventually fell in love with the eldest Lin brother.

Later, the two married and had two boys, aged seven and four.

The boys, named Lin Zhicheng and Lin Zhixuan, were nicknamed Goudan and Choudan.

Before Li Xiuli could reply, Lin's second sister-in-law, Zhou Mei, came up to take a look.

Upon seeing so many eggs, her eyes bulged out, and she exclaimed in surprise,

"Oh my, Mom, where did all these eggs come from? Tomorrow, I'm going to boil two for Hutou and Niuniu. Look how thin my son and daughter are; it breaks my heart."

The Hutou and Niuniu she referred to were her six-year-old son and five-year-old daughter.

At that moment, they were still at Zhou Mei's maternal home!

Upon these words, the other people also widened their eyes in expectation, staring at Li's mother.

The two youngest drooled a little.

Li's mother's originally cheerful mood was ruined by Lin's second sister-in-law's hungry-ghost-in-rebirth, greedy appearance, wanting to take advantage, and she almost fell over in anger.

With a stern face, she dropped the towel and looked coldly at her.

"Zhou Mei, has the Lin Family starved you, or what? You even covet the things picked up by your sister-in-law—why don't you just ascend to heaven?"

"Your father and I are not dead yet; the Lin Family is not yet yours to command," she said.

The second daughter-in-law's scavenged finds, even if just sour and astringent fruit, were never intended for her own daughter.

Now coveting Tangtang's eggs, wishful thinking!

Lin Tang watched the sudden scene unfold, her face a mix of confusion and bewilderment.

Sigh—It's not worth it, really not worth it.

It's just an egg after all, there will be plenty of good things in the future.

Still, she knew her mother was protecting her and thus kept silent.

Zhou Mei felt extremely aggrieved, as if she wanted to dig a hole and bury herself after being scolded by her mother-in-law.

She hadn't said anything out of line, just wanted to ask for an egg for her son and daughter and ended up getting scolded again.

With that in mind, she lifted her tearful eyes to look towards Lin Lu.

But Lin Lu didn't even glance at her, accustomed as he was to his wife's foolishness.

Her petty and opportunistic nature left him at a loss for words.

Seeing the children petrified and afraid to even breathe heavily, Lin Qingshui's father, Lin Lu, patted his wife's shoulder and spoke.

"Alright, let's eat," he said.

As soon as the head of the household spoke, Li's mother immediately remembered that it was time for the meal and let the matter drop.

"Let's eat!"

Just then, Lin Zhicheng's wife came over with a bowl of relatively thick rice porridge.

"Little sister, here's your dinner." She placed the bowl of porridge in front of Lin Tang.

It was called rice porridge, but it was just rice boiled with something indistinct.

Yet, compared to what the others at the table were eating, it was like heaven and earth.

"Thank you, sister-in-law!" said Lin Tang.

This was a special meal made for her by Ning Xinrou, out of concern for the blood she had lost.

In the family, anyone who was unwell received the same treatment; there was no special favoritism.

Lin Tang, looking at the watery soup the others had, in contrast with the thick porridge in her bowl, felt a mix of sourness and tenderness in her heart.

She hadn't felt such favoritism for a long time!

"Tangtang, why aren't you eating? Have you lost your appetite?"

"The health clinic looked at your injury and said you might have symptoms like nausea and dizziness."

"Didn't you hit your head when you went out earlier? Or should mother take you back to have it checked again?"

Li Xiuli glanced at the white bandage tied around her daughter's head, worried.

Tangtang had lost so much blood; she had wanted to buy her some brown sugar.

But brown sugar was hard to come by, and without connections, it was impossible to even buy it.

Lin Zhixuan's wife eyed Lin Tang's bowl of rice porridge with envy, swallowing hard.

Having no appetite even for rice porridge, the young mistress really didn't seem like a rural girl.

The two younger ones also gazed longingly at Lin Tang's bowl...

If their little aunt didn't want it, could they perhaps get a few bites?

Lin Tang came to her senses and quickly shook her head, "I'm fine, no need to check, I was just lost in thought."

Hearing this, the two little ones lost their spirits and started to eat the soup in their bowls.

Such thin soup was hardly enough to fill their stomachs.

But in these exceptional times, not dying of hunger was good enough.

With hardly anything to eat, the Lin Family finished their midday meal in a few minutes.

"The second son's family will wash the dishes; the rest of you should take a quick nap if you're not busy, there's more work to do in the afternoon," Li's mother said after the meal.

Just at that moment, Lin Zhicheng's wife came out with a bowl of fragrant, orange-yellow steamed eggs.

"Little sister, eat it while it's hot," she said, then turned and went back to her room.

It had been so long since they'd had something nice to eat; a bowl of steamed eggs could even tempt the craving from within.

Once Lin Zhicheng's wife left, the two little ones had no concerns about looking embarrassed.

To them, even if they couldn't eat it, just smelling the aroma was something.

Two pairs of clear, eager eyes fixated on the porcelain bowl in front of Lin Tang, their drool flowing uncontrollably.