"Everyone can have a little, including grandpa, grandma, and mom and dad." Xu Mumu said somewhat shyly. Li Caixia knew well the intentions behind it. She saw her mother proudly basking in the envious gazes from her second and fourth aunts.
"We don’t eat such good stuff, all of it is for you, no one will snatch it from you." Li Caixia was extremely moved, her daughter still remembered her, her kindness to her daughter hadn’t been in vain.
In the end, that wild duck egg and two bird eggs were all boiled in the rice pot by Xu Mumu.
Li Caixia felt a heartache, these were eggs after all, wild duck eggs are even bigger than chicken eggs, and although the two bird eggs weren’t big, they were still something special.
Looking at the lunch, Xu Mumu slightly pursed her lips. The food was drained sweet potato rice, the sweet potatoes hadn’t even been peeled, just cooked directly mixed together with quite a bit of wild vegetables, and there was very little actual rice.
Last night, as she was not well, she ate a bowl of egg custard and a bowl of millet porridge. Although it was a bit thin, compared to what she had today, the difference was too significant.
In her memory, the whole family ate like this, otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough food at home, with so many people, Madam Chen even calculated the food consumption, otherwise, they wouldn’t sustain until the end of the year.
This household could only manage to feed everyone all thanks to Madam Chen meticulously planning out the food for the Old Xu Family, ensuring no one starved.
Xu Mumu skillfully peeled the duck egg, along with the two bird eggs.
The two bird eggs were placed into the bowls of her older and younger brothers, while the duck egg was divided, giving two pieces to the elderly couple, and also to her parents, what she had left was just a small piece, about the same as the bird egg in her younger brother’s bowl.
"Mumu, you’re still not well, eat it yourself, I don’t like eggs." Li Caixia returned the egg from her bowl back into Xu Mumu’s bowl.
Madam Chen and Old Xu were very touched, they didn’t expect their granddaughter would still leave eggs for them to eat. Even though they were the heads of this household, they had suffered a lot. Any good things were stored up for the sons and grandsons, they hadn’t really enjoyed anything good themselves, not even a single egg except during New Year celebrations.
These things were in her memories too, and because of this, Xu Mumu had great respect for the old couple.
"Grandpa, grandma, and mom and dad have done so much work in the fields, you need some nutrition. I’m fully recovered now, you guys eat up, once I’ve given it to you, I won’t eat it again, it’ll get a fishy smell if it cools down." Xu Mumu said with a gentle smile on her face.
"Silly child." Madam Chen turned her face away, rubbing her face awkwardly, and said helplessly.
"Eat up, it’s Mumu’s heartfelt gesture." Old Xu earnestly said, although he looked at Xu Mumu with a gaze that was even more gentle.
"Minglei, eat up, it’ll help you grow taller." Li Caixia placed the duck egg into her youngest son’s bowl.
"Mom, you’re the best." Xu Minglei’s eyes immediately lit up, he hadn’t even tasted the bird egg before swallowing it whole.
Xu Mumu ate the sweet potato porridge in her bowl, the taste wasn’t great, but compared to the expired food she had to eat after the apocalypse, it tasted a lot better, so Xu Mumu ate with genuine happiness.
From the second branch, there was barely a peep, all quietly eating their meal. Xu Xue was contemplating the matter of separating from the main family. This time there wasn’t any fuss, so naturally, they couldn’t split. Her body was still in pain, from when she just got back, Madam Chen had struck her with a broom, leaving a large bruise on her arm.
Now her whole body ached, having been beaten yesterday, in the morning Xu Minglei knocked her out with a stone, then at noon that old lady hit her several times with a broom.
Right now, Xu Xue had only one thought— to split from the family quickly, living together with the entire family all the time would drive her crazy.
After lunch, Xu Mumu lay on her own bed. Hers was the only single room in the house. The room wasn’t big, just had a few things, and even someone as favored as she was didn’t have much— truly indicative of how poor the family was.
The sunlight coming in from outside was warm in the spring day. Just having eaten lunch, Xu Mumu didn’t feel cold. Her room’s position was quite nice in that it got sunlight.
Sunlight shone on the bed, and Xu Mumu fished out some books from a wicker basket.
Having the books in her hands again, Xu Mumu felt a sense of time displacement.
During the troubling half-a-year in the apocalypse, daily thoughts revolved around survival, killing zombies, and filling her stomach, those were the major concerns.
As she flipped through the textbooks, everything on them was still familiar, a smile appeared on Xu Mumu’s face. These decades-old textbooks had content that wasn’t hard, even simpler than what she had learned before, granting her extra confidence.
The whistle for going back to work blew again, and the family members began to stir. Among the third generation of Xu Family children, only Xu Minghui needed to go to work.
"Sister, do you want to go out and play with me? I invited Tiedan to go gather wood." Xu Minglei had come in just as he saw his sister reading, always feeling like his sister had changed a lot after falling into the water.
"Sure, let’s go have a look." Xu Mumu noticed Xu Minglei’s probing gaze but didn’t say much.
The original owner’s grades were pretty average, in the memories, her ranking was in the lower middle among her classmates, which caused a headache for Xu Mumu, who had been a good student.
If the original owner kept those grades, there’d be no hope for the gaokao when the exams resumed next year.
Xu Minglei was now ten years old, a semi-working individual in the family. Even though he was favored by the old couple, he couldn’t play every day and needed to work too.
At least the firewood shed at the Old Xu Family was full because of the efforts from the grandchildren, now stuffed to the brim.
"Second brother, let’s go too." Xu Tao and Xu Jiaojiao chimed in.
"Go ahead, I won’t be carrying wood for you guys." Xu Minglei looked dismissively at the skinny brother and sister duo, as skinny as bean sprouts, especially Xu Jiaojiao, who was quite stingy and cried often.
"Big sister, are you all better?" Xu Jiaojiao looked up at Xu Mumu with her little face.
"Already better, come on, I’ll take you out to get some sun." Xu Mumu reached out to hold Xu Jiaojiao’s hand. Compared to her slightly plump hand, the girl’s hand felt just skin and bones.
Many were this thin during the apocalypse, even thinner than Xu Jiaojiao, but for this little girl, it was simply malnutrition.
Looking at the little girl in front of her, her features were well-defined though her skin was slightly yellow, a sign of malnutrition. Yesterday and today, she also observed Xu Xue and Xu Wan, both were very thin, but still, looked decent. The people of the Old Xu Family had good appearances.