After gulping down a bellyful of water, Li Lingyun put down the spoon and looked around, but found nothing to eat, so he turned and left the kitchen.
His Aunt Liu Shi saw him come out and frowned, saying, "Since you're awake, go to the fields with your Uncle and them to weed. Don't be lazy at home."
If it were his former self, he would have nodded and agreed by now, not daring to show any discomfort even if he felt it.
But Li Lingyun was not his former self. He didn't answer Liu Shi's words. Instead, he asked, "Is there anything to eat at home? I'm a bit hungry. Let me fill my stomach first before talking about anything else."
Yesterday, for the wedding, the Li family did not invite anyone from the village to the ceremony. Li Lingyun himself took the ox cart to Daqian Village to pick up Anning.
On the way back, he used the only twenty coppers he had left to buy a pound of wine, thinking of rewarding himself and giving himself some courage.
Afraid that his eldest brother would ask him for wine if he found out, Li Lingyun drank the entire pound of wine on the way.
When he returned home, the family had already eaten, leaving him only one steamed bun.
What good was a steamed bun smaller than his fist for staving off hunger?
So, from last night until now, his stomach had been empty.
And Anning's hunger would only be more severe than his.
Yesterday, when the original owner went to pick her up, the An family was quiet, with no atmosphere of a daughter getting married.
The original owner still had a shirt with not many patches, but Anning left the house wearing a short shirt with patch upon patch, not even carrying a bundle in her hand.
When he took her away, not a single person from the An family came out to see her off.
Under these circumstances, Anning couldn't possibly have eaten a single bite.
And the original owner, when eating the steamed bun, didn't even think of Anning in the small dilapidated house.
In other words, Anning had not had a drop of water or food from yesterday until now.
Both of them were hungry. How could anyone work in the fields in such a state?
Upon hearing that he wanted food, Liu Shi immediately said displeased, "It's already past breakfast time. There's no food left. You'll only eat when your Uncle and them return. Just bear with it."
Li Lingyun nodded, "Alright, then you two be busy. I'll figure something out myself." Since the other party wouldn't give him food, he felt awkward about pestering her.
Seeing this, Liu Shi revealed a satisfied smile, "Don't be idle now. Go to the fields and work with your Uncle and them. You'll have food by noon."
"Oh, and bring your wife. An extra person means an extra pair of hands. Try to finish weeding the fields today."
Li Lingyun said nothing and turned back into the kitchen.
He started a half-pot of water in the large pot, then went out towards the chicken coop.
The Li family was considered to have relatively good living conditions in the small mountain village of Qingquan Village. Not only did they have a plow ox, but they also raised more than a dozen chickens.
Now, in early June, the dozen or so old hens in the chicken coop had already started laying eggs.
Li Lingyun planned to pick up a few eggs to boil and eat.
Liu Shi didn't notice Li Lingyun, but Xiao Qian Shi, who was opposite her, did.
She tugged on Liu Shi's sleeve and whispered, "Mother, look at Lingyun. Why is he going towards the chicken coop?"
Liu Shi quickly turned her head and looked back, seeing Li Lingyun already inside the chicken coop, feeling for eggs in the nests.
Her face changed, and she raised her voice to ask Li Lingyun, "I told you to take your wife to work in the fields. What are you doing in the chicken coop?"
Li Lingyun gripped the three eggs from the chicken coop in his hand, and as he walked out, he replied, "Aunt Liu Shi is busy preparing lunch, so I don't want to trouble you. I'll just pick a few eggs to fill my stomach. Aunt Liu Shi, you go about your business, don't mind me."
Li Lingyun was doing it on purpose.
He learned from the original owner's memories that while Liu Shi appeared like a kind aunt in front of outsiders, she was not like that in private.
When the original owner was young, she would either beat or scold him. When he grew up, Liu Shi stopped hitting him, but she would often give him dirty looks and belittle and disdain him in her words.
This also led to the original owner being very self-conscious, not daring to show any dissatisfaction no matter how much his uncle's family bullied him.
Living in such an environment for a long time caused the original owner's psychology to become somewhat distorted, making him feel that everyone looked down on him.
Liu Shi was quite satisfied with the original owner's self-consciousness; such a person was as docile as a cat, making him effortless for her to control.
But Li Lingyun was not the original owner, and he wasn't afraid of Liu Shi at all.
The family wasn't without rice and flour, but Liu Shi was determined not to give him anything to eat.
Since that was the case, he could only find food for himself.
Liu Shi saw that Li Lingyun, who had always dared not defy her, actually dared to speak to her like this, and immediately darkened her face and said, "Eggs are such valuable things. Your Uncle and I haven't even been willing to eat them. How can you eat them? Give them here!"
As she spoke, she went to snatch the eggs from Li Lingyun's hand.
Li Lingyun dodged sideways and smiled, "Auntie, why don't I go ask the neighbors if I can eat these eggs?"
These chickens in the house were bought with his compensation money. Why couldn't he eat them?
In mid-June last year, after finishing work in the fields, Liu Shi told the original owner to go to Town to find work.
He happened to encounter a wealthy family in Town building a house, and the steward, seeing Li Lingyun was young and strong, hired him to carry bricks for the wealthy family.
After working for less than two days, he was hit on the head by the wealthy family's young master with a stone, bleeding a lot.
The wealthy family's master, seeing this, compensated Li Lingyun with an ounce of silver, telling him to get medicine himself and then go home to recuperate.
After Li Lingyun returned, Liu Shi said that his injury needed nutrition, and that one ounce of silver couldn't buy good tonics, so it would be better to buy a few chicks to raise, and when the chickens laid eggs, she would boil eggs for him to supplement him.
At that time, he returned with a bloody head, scaring the villagers, and many people followed him to the Li family.
Everyone heard what Liu Shi said.
Wasn't Liu Shi fond of pretending to be a good person? Li Lingyun wanted to see how she would choose after bringing up the neighbors.
Liu Shi looked at him as if she was seeing Li Lingyun for the first time, in disbelief.
Was this still that submissive good-for-nothing who dared not utter a sound no matter how much she mocked and ridiculed him?
How did he change so much?
Seeing Liu Shi not speaking, Li Lingyun walked past her and went straight to the kitchen.
Xiao Qian Shi, seeing this, anxiously said, "Mother, are we just going to let him eat three eggs like this? Xiao Jun's writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone haven't been bought yet. We need to save the eggs to buy him school supplies."
Liu Shi glared at her, "Didn't you see he's going to find the neighbors to reason with? If you can, you go stop him."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Qian Shi lowered her head and said nothing.
Her mother-in-law didn't want to bear the reputation of abusing her nephew, so why would she want to bear the crime of abusing her husband's cousin?
Her Xiao Jun was going to be an official in the future, and she couldn't hold her son back.
It was just three eggs; if he ate them, he ate them.
When Li Lingyun returned to the kitchen, the water had already boiled.
He originally wanted to make poached eggs, but he didn't see any salt, so he could only wash the eggs and put them in the water to boil.
After seven or eight minutes, estimating that the eggs were cooked, he put them in a bowl and soaked them in cold water. Once they weren't too hot, he took them out and carried them back to the small dilapidated house.