The dilapidated wooden door creaked open. The person on the bed visibly trembled.
Seeing Li Lingyun enter, Anning's eyes flashed with a hint of fear, and she shrank back behind the bed.
Li Lingyun was relieved to see her react now.
Knowing that she was hiding from him indicated that she had developed a desire to survive again, which was a good sign.
Li Lingyun walked to the bed and handed her the eggs he was holding.
Anning did not take them, nor did she even look at the things in his hand.
Because as Li Lingyun walked over, she had already tucked her head between her legs, transforming herself into a silkworm cocoon.
This was an experience she had summarized after countless beatings: as long as she buried her head and hugged her body tightly, the sticks could only hit her back and arms, which would greatly reduce the pain.
Li Lingyun felt very uncomfortable seeing her practiced movements.
When his predecessor hit her last night, she didn't hide at first, probably because she hadn't realized she would still be beaten after getting married.
Or perhaps, she had once fantasized that she might not be beaten after getting married.
Now, seeing him approach, she quickly adopted a defensive posture, which showed that in her heart, she had already decided he was someone who would commit domestic violence at any time.
That trace of fantasy in her heart was shattered.
Li Lingyun lowered his voice and said, "Don't be afraid, I won't hit you. I boiled some eggs; here's one for you to fill your stomach."
The person on the bed still didn't move.
Li Lingyun, helpless, had no choice but to place the egg on the bed and then leave.
Anning was currently in a state of stress, and his presence would only make her more nervous. Only when he left could she relax.
After finishing the remaining two eggs, Li Lingyun walked out the main door.
Seeing this, Liu Shi pulled a long face and asked, "Where are you going?"
"To the fields."
Before the original owner's parents passed away, he had separated from his eldest brother.
The Li family had a total of ten mu of land; his family received four mu, and his uncle's family, needing to support two elders, received six mu.
However, after the original owner's parents both died, his uncle, under the pretext of taking care of the original owner, took over the unified management of both families' land.
He wanted to go and see how the crops in his family's fields were growing.
The Li family's land was five hundred meters south of Qingquan Village, and Li Lingyun, having the original owner's memories, quickly found his family's land.
Ying Province is far from the Central Plains and has a cold climate. Most places grow wheat, with only a very small number of areas able to grow rice.
Liu County, being the northernmost county town in Ying Province, has an even colder climate, with almost no suitable places for growing rice.
Qingquan Village is even further north, in a mountain gully in Liu County. Although water resources are abundant, there isn't a single piece of land suitable for growing rice in the entire village; the whole village grows wheat.
In the Li family's ten mu of land, the wheat on the left had already grown to over twenty centimeters tall, but the wheat on the right was only about ten centimeters tall, and the seedlings were not as robust as those next to them.
Li Chengcai piled all the farm manure in his family's six mu of land, and Li Lingyun's family's land next door had not seen any nutrients for years, so it was normal for the crops to not grow well.
Seeing Li Lingyun approach, Li Chengcai smiled and said, "Lingyun, you're here? Why don't you rest a bit longer?"
Li Lingyun tucked his trouser legs and went into the field: "I came to see how my family's crops are growing."
Li Chengcai's expression stiffened, then he quickly smiled and said, "You child, what's 'your family' and 'my family'? Why be so distant? With your uncle looking after it for you, there won't be any problems with the land."
"Thank you, Uncle, for tending to this land for so many years. Now that I have my own family, it's not appropriate to trouble Uncle any longer. From now on, I'll tend to it myself."
Li Chengcai said he was helping Li Lingyun look after the land, but in reality, for so many years, Li Lingyun's family's land had always been tended by him, yet all the harvest from the land was in Li Chengcai's hands.
Li Chengcai always said that Li Lingyun hadn't started a family yet, and it wasn't safe to keep money and grain in his hands. He, as his uncle, would help Li Lingyun manage it, and would hand over all the land's profits to him after he got married.
But let alone Li Lingyun, even the original owner knew that once he started a family, Li Chengcai wouldn't give him a single coin.
His uncle, he looked honest, but in reality, he was even more calculating than Liu Shi.
Things that fell into his hands were harder to get back than climbing to the heavens.
Li Chengcai didn't speak, glancing at his eldest son.
Li Dashan immediately said, "Li Lingyun, what do you mean? Dad is helping you with good intentions, why are you so ungrateful?"
"Exactly! Go ask around outside, who would help their nephew as wholeheartedly as my father? Don't be ungrateful."
Li Lingyun looked at the two brothers, Li Dashan and Li Xiaoshan, smiled, and nodded, "I am indeed very grateful to Uncle. He has saved eight years of harvest for me. Such an uncle is indeed very rare."
"By the way, Uncle, you said earlier that you would keep the harvest from my family's land for me and give it to me after I got married."
"Now that I have my own family, it's not appropriate to trouble Uncle to keep it for me anymore. After we go back at noon, let's settle the accounts, and I'll manage it myself from now on, so Uncle doesn't have to worry about others coveting the property in your hands."
When Li Chengcai first offered to help Li Lingyun manage the money from selling grain, he said that if it weren't for Li Lingyun being his own nephew, he wouldn't help him with such a task that thieves would covet.
At that time, Li Lingyun was only ten years old and knew nothing about such matters, thinking his uncle was truly doing it for his own good.
When he grew to thirteen or fourteen and understood the truth, he wanted to ask for the harvest back from the land, but he no longer dared to speak to the Li family members.
Li Dashan saw Li Lingyun wanted money, raised the weeds in his hand, and threw them at him: "Li Lingyun, you're getting bold, daring to covet my family's money!"
Li Lingyun dodged sideways and said coldly, "If you continue to be so overbearing, I don't mind going to the county yamen."
Li Chengcai quickly persuaded, "Oh, come on, we're family, why talk about the county yamen? Alright, alright, hurry up and get to work. We can talk about anything else when we get home."
"Lingyun, your uncle has kept all the harvest from your family's land. When we go back at noon, I'll give it all to you."
Li Lingyun nodded, said nothing more, bent down, and began clearing the weeds in his family's fields.
Li Chengcai had previously been clearing weeds in his family's fields with his two sons and Li Lingyun. Li Lingyun's four mu of land had not yet been started.
The group worked until noon, then got up and went home for lunch.
In recent years, the imperial court had been unstable, causing people's lives to be difficult. They dared not eat two meals a day as before, nor did they dare to eat staple food at every meal. Most only ate one meal, and each meal basically consisted of wild vegetables as the main component, with staple food as a supplement.
Fortunately, the Li family's financial situation was still decent. Although they couldn't afford white rice, the coarse rice content in each meal was acceptable.
These days, during the busy farming season, Liu Shi even added a lunch meal.
When Li Lingyun and the others returned to the Li family home, Liu Shi and her daughter-in-law, Xiao Qian Shi, had already prepared the meal.
Several people sat around the dining table, and Xiao Qian Shi brought up the bowls of rice she had served.
Li Lingyun looked at the bowl of rice in front of him, so thin that he could see his reflection in it, and frowned, "Why is it so watery?"