That evening, after getting off work, Lin Lan returned as usual to tidy up, check on the little ducklings, and help Han Qingsong plant some vegetables that could still be sown this season.
"Talk to laotaitai and see if we can make a small bowl of noodles for Xiaowang. His stomach is weak and he just had diarrhea; coarse grains are hard to digest." The day before yesterday, Xiaowang had gone out with his older brothers and sister and indiscriminately eaten wild fruits and grass roots, resulting in diarrhea. Although it had stopped, he was still lethargic and had no appetite.
Lin Lan's heart ached for him, and she wanted to make him some refined grains, but all the grain in the house was tightly controlled in the hands of laotaitai.
Han Qingsong was also very concerned about Xiaowang. "I'll talk to niang."
He sent Erwang to tell mama to make some wheat food for Xiaowang. If she didn't want to make noodles, dough drops would be fine too.
When it was time for dinner, Lin Lan discovered that let alone noodles or dough drops for Xiaowang, even the previous cornmeal flatbreads were entirely gone. They had all been shockingly replaced by pitch-black, rough and scratchy steamed buns.
She pinched one of the buns to test it, and scenes of bitter hardship from the depths of her memories surfaced—things like squash and vegetable substitutes, starch substitutes, and eating things that caused severe bloating, constipation, and full-body swelling.
These were clearly wild vegetable buns; they might even be mixed with the milled powder of sweet potato leaves and stems meant for feeding pigs!
It had barely been two days since they divided the family, and the food quality had plummeted. Were they deliberately trying to stop them from coming back to eat, or what?
Moreover, these peasant meals hardly required any culinary skill. For breakfast, they simply reheated leftover flatbreads, steamed buns, or boiled sweet potatoes; if someone was in the mood, they might boil some thin porridge. Lunch was reheated staples served with vegetables boiled in salt water with a drop of floating oil. For dinner, if there were no vegetables, they would just have thick porridge.
Even though Lin Lan didn't like cooking in her past life, she knew these meals had absolutely zero technical content.
But... why was the food dasao cooked so unpalatable?
It wasn't just unpalatable. Over the past few days since the family division, she had noticed the household's meals getting progressively worse.
They were now on par with those destitute families Sanwang talked about who couldn't even uncover their pots: "Sweet potato rice, sweet potato soup, starving for all three meals a day."
Just look at this rock-hard steamed bun in her hand—it was hard enough to beat a dog to death!
This kind of bun was mixed with milled sweet potato leaves and stems. During the Three Years of Hardship, this so-called "starch" was used as a meal replacement. Eating it caused constipation, and in severe cases, whole-body edema or even a ruptured stomach.
The old Han family had truly gone back to pre-liberation times overnight.
Lin Lan felt a surge of anger. Even adults couldn't handle eating this, let alone children with their delicate stomachs who would suffer from malnutrition. Not to mention Xiaowang was still sick!
She shot a glance at laotaitai, who was looking half-dead and claiming she had a bad appetite.
The grown men didn't say anything, and Han-dasao ate silently. Han-ersao, however, only drank the thick porridge and didn't touch the steamed buns.
As for the children, most were drinking the thick porridge. Only Dawang was gnawing on that hard-to-swallow bun.
Erwang and Maisui took a couple of bites, straining their necks to swallow, and lost all desire to eat any more.
Just as Maisui put it down, Han-laotaitai saw it and instantly scolded, "Why are you wasting food? Are you complaining that it doesn't taste good? It's because you haven't truly starved. Think back to the Three Years of Hardship! Let alone vegetable buns like this, even dried wild greens were considered a luxury. How many people had to eat milled powder made from cornstalks, beanstalks, and crop roots? And you dare complain about eating poorly now?"
Sanwang curled his lips. "Mama, what... what are we even eating? Even the poorest and laziest families in our village don't eat this anymore."
This was pig slop!
He took two bites of the steamed bun in his hand and then stuffed the rest into his pocket, planning to take it back to feed the ducklings.
Han-laotaitai yelled angrily, "Since you don't run the household, you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil, and salt are! What else do you know besides eating? Don't you know the family is almost out of food?"
Scolded like this, everyone fell silent.
Lin Lan looked around. Waiting until she heard Han Qingsong's footsteps entering the courtyard, she asked Han-laotaitai, "Niang, Xiaowang has had diarrhea these past two days. Could we make a little fine noodle soup for him to eat?"
Han-laotaitai slammed her chopsticks onto the table with a loud smack. "Why are there so many complaints? What kind of people live what kind of life! We are all poor and lower-middle peasants; why are you trying to eat the meals of wealthy landlords?"
Lin Lan feigned grievance, "I'm not asking for it every day, just a bite while he's sick. Xiaowang can't digest steamed buns like this."
Han Qingsong walked in, went to the side to wash his hands, and came over to eat. Hearing this, he immediately understood what was going on.
He asked Erwang, "Did you talk to mama?"
Erwang curled his lip. "Of course I did."
Han-laotaitai snapped in a foul mood, "Do you think just saying it works? The house doesn't have fine flour. Even if the heavens themselves came and asked, it'd be useless! If you want to eat it, wait until later."
The wheat had just been distributed in the summer; to say there was no fine flour was absolutely impossible.
Han Qingsong then said, "Then how about we make an egg for Xiaowang. You guys eat, I'll go make it."
"What are you doing? What are you doing?!" Han-laotaitai flared up. "We only have that handful of chickens in total, and more than half of them aren't even laying eggs! You aren't earning money right now, and the house has no cash. Don't we have to rely on those few chicken butts as our bank? If you eat it, what will I use to trade for kerosene and salt?"
Erwang pouted and muttered under his breath, "Saving them for xiaogu to eat."
In the past, Han Qingsong would have just said forget it, or gone to daye's house to borrow an egg.
But today, looking at Xiaowang's listless state, and Maisui fretting over the hard, pitch-black steamed bun in her hand, and Lin Lan wearing clothes covered in patch upon patch—looking countless times more shabby than ersao sitting opposite her—he suddenly felt an indescribable emotion. His heart ached, and his chest felt stiflingly tight.
"Niang, it's just one egg. Three or four cents," Han Qingsong insisted.
"What's wrong, you want to settle accounts with your niang? So what if you earned money! You were away from home all day, not serving your die and niang, not doing labor to support the family. Shouldn't you contribute some money as a subsidy? You haven't brought back a single cent of this quarter's money, yet you still want to eat my eggs! Have you ever seen anyone so unconsci—"
"Enough, it's just one egg!" Old Man Han hadn't made a sound the whole time, but he couldn't stand it anymore. "Make one for the child. He's sick, look at how pitifully thin he is."
Han Qingsong then headed inside, and seeing this, Lin Lan hurriedly chased after him.
Han-dasao also rushed over. "Let me, let me!"
Han Qingsong had been away from home and didn't know the household's situation, but Lin Lan knew.
She moved fast, nimbly locating the small earthen jar where the eggs were kept. It was nearly full. Additionally, there was the vat holding the flour—there was still a whole vat left.
Every now and then, the old lady would roll out dough and bake flatbreads to be taken to the county town for her youngest son and youngest daughter. The household frequently milled flour.
The whole family, from the eldest to the youngest, ate coarse grains all day long, just to save the refined grains for those two.
Han-dasao was still a step too slow. She smiled awkwardly and took out a single egg.
Han Qingsong said, "Dasao, go eat. I'll do it."
Cooking an egg was very fast. He boiled a bowl of water at the bottom of the pot, cracked the egg in, and once it came to a rolling boil again, it was essentially cooked. He just needed to scoop it out with the soup and sprinkle in a pinch of salt.
In order not to provoke public outrage, Lin Lan didn't go over either, but instead called Xiaowang into the room to eat.
Xiaowang was very sensible. He whispered, "Niang, you eat half, and I'll eat half."
Lin Lan took a sip of the soup symbolically, and then fed the rest to Xiaowang.
Outside, the old lady was dripping with sourness. "He sure knows to give it to his niang to eat, but he doesn't know to give it to his mama."
After finishing feeding Xiaowang, Lin Lan finally came over to eat her own food.
She soaked her steamed bun in the thick porridge. Seeing that Erwang and Maisui really couldn't force it down, but didn't dare leave it behind due to the old lady's despotic power, she signaled for them to give it to their die.
Erwang then took Maisui's portion as well and secretly stuffed them into Han Qingsong's hands.
Han Qingsong glanced at Lin Lan, silently accepted them, and ate them himself.
After the meal, the men went out to gather around, shoot the breeze, and boast, while the women stayed home to look after the children and do chores. Lin Lan took the kids home. On the way, she instructed Erwang and Maisui to find an opportunity to watch how their daniang cooked.
Erwang understood instantly. "Niang, are you saying my daniang is deliberately making bad food for us to eat?"
Lin Lan gestured for him to lower his voice. "It's not your daniang, it's definitely your mama. She's angry that we divided the family and just doesn't want to feed us."
"Really? Why is she so evil?" Hearing this, Sanwang squeezed his way over. "I'll go check!"
He turned his head and dashed back, but Dawang yanked him back. "The door's already closed. The hell are you running for?"
The moment they had stepped out, erdaniang had shut the door.
Dawang hauled Sanwang away.
Once they arrived home, Lin Lan sent the children to wash their faces and feet, then brought the mugwort used for smoking out mosquitoes to the doorway, preparing for bed.
She shooed the kids back into the room and found a chance to speak to Han Qingsong privately.
"Have you seen the food these past two days?"
Han Qingsong rinsed his feet with water. "What about it?"
"What about it? Couldn't you tell? Ever since you came back and we split the family, the food has gotten worse day by day. Today, they even broke out the squash and vegetable substitutes."
Han Qingsong thought for a moment. "Tonight's steamed buns were a bit coarse."
"Just a bit coarse?" Lin Lan looked at him, feeling somewhat angry. "Even during those lean years, laotaitai and the rest never ate steamed buns like that!"
Hearing the resentment in her tone, Han Qingsong asked in surprise, "You think niang deliberately made food like this?"
Lin Lan mocked, "What, you couldn't imagine it?"
Han Qingsong frowned, finding it somewhat hard to accept. "That can't be. Niang is just managing the household. Elderly people are reluctant to eat well or dress well, but she wouldn't purposely mistreat the children..."
After all, she had still allowed Xiaowang to eat an egg tonight.
"Tch." Lin Lan rolled her eyes. Besides this foolish son who viewed his own niang through an eight-hundred-meter-thick rose-tinted filter, anyone could see that Han-laotaitai was no saint!
"You're away from home year-round, so you don't know the situation. I won't waste my breath talking to you; you just watch carefully yourself." Never home all day, yet he thought his niang was so exceedingly reasonable. Hadn't he seen clearly this time he came back?
The old lady hadn't uttered a single word of concern for Han Qingsong. All she did was demand money, and the moment she heard he was changing professions, she immediately agreed to split the family.
After splitting, she gave them nothing at all. Whatever Han Qingsong managed to bring back, she immediately demanded for herself.
In the eyes of any discerning person, it was blatantly obvious the old lady was doing it on purpose.
But Han Qingsong wore his biological-son filter, automatically beautifying the old lady's actions a thousand times over. There was nothing more to say about that.
It wasn't that she wanted to instigate conflict between Han Qingsong and the old lady—after all, they were mother and son. She merely wanted Han Qingsong to clearly see the unjust treatment she and the children suffered in this household.
Moreover, to make him realize that the old lady did not, in fact, treat them all decently like he believed.
Anyway, she would just give Han Qingsong a preventative shot first, lest he think she was the one stirring up trouble.
The next day, she quietly murmured to Erwang, Maisui, and Xiaowang, telling them to find a way to peek at their daniang cooking.
This matter couldn't be let known to Sanwang. He was too straightforward and couldn't hide a secret. Moreover, he listened to Dawang, and Dawang held a huge prejudice against Lin Lan, so he absolutely couldn't know.
As a result, Erwang and Maisui went over several times but never caught Han-dasao cooking two separate batches of food; it was always the squash and vegetable substitute steamed buns. They asked the other children but couldn't get any answers out of them. Furthermore, as long as it wasn't mealtime, the old lady would curse them the moment she saw them, ordering them to hurry up and cut grass to earn work points.
The children all felt that Lin Lan might be overthinking it; after all, everyone was eating the same thing.
Lin Lan, however, didn't think so. Based on her understanding of the old lady, there was definitely something fishy going on.
The two large vats in the east room were filled with grain, and there was also a half-sized side room that stored grain. Xiaogu wasn't home, and the old lady kept it padlocked, refusing to let anyone in.
Dasao could absolutely hide from the third branch's family and steam a separate batch of flatbreads and buns. As for the children, with the old lady's threats hanging over them, who would dare speak out?
She reckoned that anyone who spoke out would have to eat the same slop as them.
Secretly observing them for two meals was enough for her to spot a flaw. After a brief ponder, Lin Lan hatched a plan.
She was going to catch them red-handed and see what they had to say then!
The following day, she woke up exceptionally early. Before the sky even lightened, she tiptoed off the kang and headed out to the old Han family's house.
The courtyard gates were closed.
She first strolled around to the back of the house, and sure enough, she heard the sound of Han-dasao stoking the fire and pulling the bellows, along with some muttered whispering.
Then, she heard Han-ersao calling out with a suppressed voice, "Gaoliang, Xiaofu, hurry and get off the kang! Get up quickly to eat the mixed-flour flatbreads. In a while, when your san-niangniang and her family arrive, we can only eat sweet potato leaf buns!"
Just as expected, they were playing these tricks behind their backs!
Lin Lan thought for a moment, then hastily rushed back to call Erwang and Maisui to head to the old Han family's house together.
Han Qingsong had gotten up to fetch water and sprinkle it on the ground to plant vegetables. Seeing them, he asked, "What are you doing in such a rush?"
Lin Lan raised an eyebrow. "Finding evidence for you!" If she didn't catch them in the act, he still wouldn't know how ruthless they were! Upon arriving at the old Han family's house, they didn't even bother knocking. Lin Lan vaulted directly over the low courtyard wall on the south side. As she straddled the top of the wall, she happened to spot Han-ersao leading several children as they scrambled for flatbreads. As they grabbed, she urged, "Someone go keep watch at the door! Give a shout the moment you see them coming. Hurry up! Eat quickly, eat quickly!"
Lin Lan unceremoniously hollered out, "You're stealing food!"
Her sudden, piercing shout frightened the already guilty, food-sneaking women and children in the courtyard so badly they shuddered. Xiaofu even dropped his flatbread onto the ground.
Han-ersao nearly tossed the food basket away entirely. She turned her head and met Lin Lan's eyes, looking at her as if she had seen a ghost. For a moment, she couldn't quite believe it. "Laosan's wife, h-how did you get here?!"
Lin Lan realized that in this household, you couldn't survive without being fierce. You had to be aloof when necessary, and get physical when necessary!
She leaped down and dashed forward in a single stride, snatching the food basket straight out of Han-ersao's hands. "I have to say, you guys are really something!"
Erwang and Maisui had also climbed in. "Hmph, shameless!"
Han-ersao's first reaction was wanting to snatch the food basket back; she hadn't even eaten yet!
Han-dasao, however, was flushed beet red with embarrassment. For a moment, she didn't know what to say, her lips trembling as she stammered, "Laosan's wife, y-you're here! We were improving the meals today, and we were even saying we should send the children to call for you."
Only the old lady could be capable of doing something so utterly humiliating. From the very beginning, she had disagreed with it. If laosan's wife found out about this, wouldn't they be laughed to death?
The key point was that they weren't even entirely using fresh sweet potato leaves; many were dried leaves from last year. That texture was truly something only the person eating it could comprehend—even during the three years of disaster, Han-laotaitai had refused to eat them.
In the end, the old lady viciously declared that whoever dared to leak a word of this would not get a single bite to eat, children included.
Therefore, she had no choice but to keep her mouth shut.
She just never expected that it would be seen through by the third branch's family after a mere two days.
It was truly a disgrace.
Han-laotaitai shouted from the kang, "What about it?! Do you think I'm the one who spent all the allowance? In the past, wasn't it all used to subsidize the household's meals and buy rations? This time, since you didn't collect the money, of course there's no food to eat!"
Every single member of the old Han family had to go to work to earn work points. But let's not forget, they were also feeding xiaoshu and xiaogu, two living adults! They didn't do farm work and didn't earn work points, so their food rations were entirely supplemented by others' work points or paid for with money.
However, the old lady loved to use 'raising 11 children' as her go-to excuse.
Lin Lan didn't bother arguing with them. "Since it's like this, then just divide our rations out, and from now on, we'll cook and eat on our own."
There was no need to even bring up the matter of dividing the grain; Han-laotaitai wouldn't agree to it even if beaten to death. However, this time she was in the wrong, and she didn't want her third son to have grievances. "If we're going to divide it, we have to wait until the autumn grain is harvested first. We are already running out of food right now, what grain is there to divide? Stop tossing about!"
Han-dasao silently took out the flatbreads and let everyone eat together. She kept her head down, too embarrassed to even look at Lin Lan, terrified that Lin Lan would go crazy and threaten to kill herself again. If Han Qingsong saw that, he would definitely think his wife's suicide attempts were forced by the family.
At this time, Old Man Han and the other men had also gotten up. They were all incredibly awkward, but pretended not to know anything.
Old Man Han said, "I'm going to hoe the private plot." Saying that, he grabbed a hoe and slipped away, not even bothering to eat.
Han-dage followed closely behind. He couldn't afford to lose that much face!
Lin Lan glanced outside. Erwang gave her a hand signal, letting her know that Han Qingsong had arrived with Xiaowang.
Holding the food basket, she divided the flatbreads between Erwang and Maisui, declaring loudly, "I'll put the ugly words out front. Either you divide out our rations and let us cook for ourselves—if it's not enough and we starve, we'll have nothing to say about it. But if you refuse to divide the rations and exclusively make pig slop for our third branch's family, the next time I catch sight of it—"
She paused, sweeping her gaze over Han-dasao and Han-ersao. Hearing that Han Qingsong's footsteps had already reached the courtyard gate, she shouted loudly, "I will smash the wok and chop the table in half! Nobody gets to eat!"
Both Han-dasao and Han-ersao were so frightened they shivered. The children also looked at their san-niangniang in terror.
Your aunt was still your aunt!
The shrew was still that shrew, only even more fierce!
Just look at that gaze—it was even more terrifying than a tigress!
Just as she finished her sentence, Han Qingsong walked over. His footsteps halted, carrying a profoundly astounded expression.
Erwang immediately spoke up. "Die, and you still wouldn't believe it! Look at them secretly making mixed-flour flatbreads to eat behind our backs, only to feed us sweet potato leaf buns when we come over!"
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