Contradiction Caused by 13 Eggs

Ye Jiu turned her head to look at Zhang, enduring the headache as she walked over and hugged her. "I'm better now, big sister-in-law, my health has troubled you these past years, and you've worked hard."

"Not at all, not at all, as long as you are healthy, your big sister-in-law is happy," Zhang immediately replied.

He's wife was older when she gave birth, and also because they were fleeing hardships and lacked nutrition, she was so weakened after childbirth that it was like she lost half her life. Returning in a hurry, she didn't have a drop of breast milk.

At that time, both Ye Jiu's big sister-in-law Zhang and second sister-in-law Zhao had given birth not more than two years prior, and since village children were often undernourished, they weaned late. Hence, He's wife took advantage of that with her two daughters-in-law.

Originally, in order for Ye Jiu to eat more, He's wife had arranged for the two women to take turns breastfeeding.

However, with the hardship of those days, Zhao was unwilling in her heart, and only fed Ye Jiu insincerely, barely at all.

Ye Jiu couldn't get enough to eat; as time went on, He's wife noticed something was amiss and increasingly disliked Zhao. Eventually, she simply had the more decent-hearted big daughter-in-law Zhang breastfeed alone.

It was also Ye Jiu's luck that in the year of her birth, while half the country was suffering from a severe drought, a heavy rain poured the day she was born. Coupled with the words Ye's old man said at that time, He's wife always believed that her daughter, like the Princely Heir, was a Lucky Star bestowed by the heavens.

Otherwise, for a child born amidst a great disaster and with poor health, it truly wouldn't have been easy for her to survive peacefully.

At breakfast time, everyone from the fourth branch of the Ye Family had arrived, except for Ye Gaoshan, the eldest who was busy working in town during the slack farming season, the second brother Ye Gaoshi, and the third brother Ye Gaoyun, who had married into another family.

Also, the news of Ye Jiu's recovery was already known to the whole family.

Originally, Ye Jiu, whose head injury hadn't completely healed, was supposed to eat inside her room. But after living in a daze the past few years, once she recovered, she couldn't wait to see her family and insisted on joining the table for meals.

Yet, the news of Ye Jiu's recovery brought joy to some and worries to others.

But none of these mattered. With He's wife holding firm, anyone with an opinion had no choice but to suppress it in their heart.

Just as she sat down at the dinner table, He's wife reached out and gave Ye Jiu the two boiled eggs from the table, saying, "My dear child, you've just recovered and have suffered so much these past few days. Hurry and eat two eggs to nourish yourself. At noon, mom will make you something delicious."

"Gulp..."

The sound of someone swallowing saliva came, causing Ye Jiu's hand to freeze as she held the eggs.

Looking up, she saw the big brother's three children were all grown up: Ye Wenqing was thirteen, the daughter Ye Qinghua was twelve, and the youngest son Ye Wenhao was almost nine; they were old enough to understand and wouldn't covet the egg in Ye Jiu's hand.

As for the second brother's son Ye Wenyu, who was also twelve, and Ye Wenxuan, who was eight, only their younger sister, Ye Qingzhi, was six and the youngest in the family. It was Ye Wenxuan and Ye Qingzhi who looked at the egg in Ye Jiu's hand, their eyes filled with longing.

As for the third of the Ye brothers, he had married into another family and only returned for holidays.

And the fourth Ye, at sixteen, hadn't even brought a wife home yet.

Li's mother and daughter held the least status in the household. During meals, they could only pour themselves a half-bowl of watery porridge and hide away to the side, never having the privilege to join the table.

Looking at the two little nephews and niece from her second brother's family, who were even younger than her, Ye Jiu truly couldn't bring herself to eat while letting the two of them just watch.