Chu Yaoyao and Li A'mei were cooking in the kitchen. While they were busy expressing their loyalty to Lu Zhanlin, Chu Yue pushed Lu Zhanlin into the room.

The room was also a mess, with traces of the mother and daughter everywhere. After Lu Yuanbao came in, he noticed that Chu Yue was in a bad mood, so he immediately helped to tidy up.

"Yuanbao, just stay there and don't move—"

Chu Yue was about to give a warning when her wrist was grabbed by a warm force.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Zhanlin, who had previously been "weakly" sitting in a wheelchair and had been declared disabled, actually stood up from the wheelchair.

Lu Yuanbao watched from the side, his eyes widened in disbelief. Is this a living medical miracle?

With Lu Yuanbao's intelligence, he actually never believed that Lu Zhanlin would really become disabled. Besides, there was Chu Yue's miraculous medical skills, so even if he became disabled, he could be saved. Just like Ye Zhaodi's younger brother Ye Xiaoman, and Lu Yuanbao and Tan Rourou, they all recovered after a period of recuperation.

But Chu Yue hasn’t started treating him yet, and Lu Zhanlin hasn’t started recuperating, so how come he’s... fine?

Could it be... fake? !

Lu Yuanbao blinked quickly. Lu Zhanlin raised his hand and touched Lu Yuanbao's head, turned his head in another direction, and asked him to continue to organize things in the room.

Lu Zhanlin turned his gaze to Chu Yue and saw the slight redness in the corners of her eyes. He also noticed that she had clenched her palms at some point.

He gently wrapped Chu Yue's fist and asked in a low voice, "Ayue, when you were at home before, did they treat you like this?"

Sweeping the floor, washing clothes, cooking...all the tasks were pushed onto a skinny underage child.

In the original owner's memory, the most profound and unforgettable tragic thing happened in the winter seven years ago.

It was a cold, damp winter, and it snowed. As the Chinese New Year was approaching, every household wanted to buy some pork so that they could have a bite of meat on New Year's Eve. However, the supply and marketing cooperatives only had a limited amount of pork every day. Even though the quota was set at two kilograms per person, many people still couldn't buy any.

In order to buy pork early, many people lined up in front of the butcher shop of the supply and marketing cooperative early in the morning.

It was three o'clock in the morning, on the coldest day with gusty cold winds. Li A-mei woke up the original owner and drove her out.

"Lazy girl, why are you sleeping? Do you still want to eat meat? Go out and line up at the door of the supply and marketing cooperative. Your father and your brother are both clamoring to eat meat during the New Year. Why don't you care about them? How tired is your father at work every day? He has to work night shifts all the time. And your brother has not eaten meat for three months, and his health has deteriorated. As a sister, you don't know how to take care of your brother. Go out and line up. If you go too late, our family will not be able to eat meat this year!"

Under Li A-mei's coercion and admonitions, the original owner went out in the cold winter with a heavy heart. The cold wind blowing on his body was as painful as a knife.

In the early morning, there were indeed people queuing in front of the butcher shop of the supply and marketing cooperative, but they were all men wrapped in thick military coats. The only difference was that the original owner was a girl who was as young as could be.

The original owner had very little flesh on his body, and the cotton coat he was wearing was thin and torn. It was stuffed not with cotton but with some rags from old clothes, which had no effect at all in keeping out the cold.

The original owner was standing at the end of the line, the cold wind kept blowing into her body, making her limbs stiff and she could hardly feel the temperature.

That night, the original owner almost froze to death.

There was a kind-hearted man who couldn't bear to watch it anymore. Seeing the original owner's pale face and her pitiful appearance of about to faint, but refusing to leave, he finally softened his heart and grabbed the original owner and wrapped him in his military coat.

"I say, little girl, is there no adult at home? How can you, a little girl, be allowed to line up in the middle of the night?"

"Dad is on night shift...my younger brother is small...we need to nourish their bodies and feed them meat..." The original owner spoke with trembling lips and shaking voice.

"You are quite sensible, little girl, but you can't risk your life for a piece of meat."

The kind-hearted man was muttering, and someone who knew about it reminded him, "I know this is the girl from the Chu family. Her father married another wife, who is her stepmother."

After hearing this, everyone else understood why a little girl was so miserable. It was not easy for a child to make a living under the watchful eyes of others.

The original owner managed to hold on until the next morning, when his limbs were numb and cold and he bought some pork.

With pork, their family can have a good New Year and have a delicious meal in harmony!

After the original owner got the pork, he stomped his feet to let the blood flow to his stiff soles. He ignored the pain in his legs and quickly took the pork home.

"Dad, Mom, I'm back, and I bought the pork!"

The original owner shouted excitedly, because he had accomplished something amazing, just to get a compliment from his parents.

But what was waiting for her was...

"I bought it. It's just a piece of pork. Why are you yelling? Do you want me, your father, to get some sleep?" Chu Nanshan, the father, roared angrily after returning from the night shift.

"Mom... I still need to sleep... Let's have pork belly tonight..." Chu Yaoyao, her stepsister who was two months older than her, turned over in the warm bed and continued to sleep.

Chu Jianjun was sleeping soundly and was not woken up at all. He lay in the quilt with a flushed face, completely unaware of what had happened at home.

Sister Li walked out of Chu Yaoyao's room and took the pork from the original owner. "Tsk tsk, why is it the hind leg meat? Didn't I tell you to pick the pork belly? You little girl is so useless. I gave you two kilograms of meat tickets and bought the worst position. What a waste. ... What are you doing looking at it? Go and wash your clothes."

The original owner didn't receive a single word of praise, or even a bit of care and warmth from his family.

The little girl, who had been freezing all night, had to squat beside the basin, soak her red, swollen and numb hands in the cold water, and start washing clothes.

As for this year’s New Year’s Eve dinner.

"Son, eat more and gain weight!" Chu Nanshan put the largest piece of pork in Chu Jianjun's bowl.

"Yaoyao, eat meat, eat quickly. Look, there's fish here." Li A'mei kept picking up food for Chu Yaoyao and urging her to eat more. She glanced at the original owner out of the corner of her eye. Whenever the original owner dared to pick up the meat to eat, she would immediately steal the opportunity.

In fact, the original owner had already developed a high fever because he stayed up late and endured the cold while queuing to buy pork.

Her head was dizzy and she couldn't eat anything. She had to leave the dinner table, crawl into bed and lie down, enduring the discomfort all over.

She didn't even get to eat a single bite of the pork she had bought after queuing up so hard.

In a daze, Li A-mei's sharp and harsh voice never stopped.

"The little girl is stubborn. I asked her to queue up to buy pork yesterday for more than an hour, and she was angry with me. Don't worry about her. The little girl can't be spoiled. Let her be quiet for a while, she will understand in the future. When she gets married, she will have to endure more hardships..."