Hearing her daughter's voice from inside the house, Zhao Mingyue's mother, Hu Nianchun, rushed out: "Mingyue, what happened? Where did you fall?"

Zhao Mingyue put down her load, dumped the firewood on the woodshed floor, tossed her braid behind her, turned to look at her mother, and sniffed, "Mom, I'm fine. I just tripped and fell. It's nothing serious." Looking at her middle-aged mother, she couldn't help but feel tears welling up in her eyes. She hadn't seen her mother for many years. Her mother had passed away in 1985 from acute appendicitis. She couldn't be saved in time. At the time, she was doing business in another city. When she returned for the funeral, all she saw was a dark coffin. The thought of it still pained her for the rest of her life. Now, seeing her mother, she couldn't help but cry.

Hu Nianchun thought her daughter had hurt herself, so she reached out to wipe away her tears: "Tell Mom where it hurts, and Mom will take a look and put some medicine on it for you."

Zhao Mingyue tried her best to control her emotions, stopping the tears that kept falling, and wiped them from her face: "It's okay, Mom, I'm hungry." It had been so many years since she had eaten a meal cooked by her mother.

Hu Nianchun smiled and said, "Okay, Mom will go cook right away."

"Let me help you start the fire."

"good."

"Where are my father and third brother?" Zhao Mingyue glanced around the room but didn't see her father and third brother. She remembered that her eldest and second brothers had gotten married and separated from the family two years ago, leaving only her and her third brother at home.

Hu Nianchun said, "Your father went out to cast his net, and Minglang went with him."

Zhao Mingyue said "Oh". Her father, Zhao Shunsheng, was a man who knew how to manage life. After he stopped teaching, he worked in the fields with everyone else. After work, he would take a fishing net to the ditches or streams to cast the net and catch some small fish and shrimp. Her mother would clean these fish and shrimp, marinate them, and then smoke and roast them to make preserved fish. With the vegetables they grew themselves, the family basically had no shortage of vegetables.

In those days, raising more chickens or ordering more dishes would be considered a violation of capitalism, and fishing with a net was also risky. However, Zhao Shunsheng was always low-key and good at interpersonal relationships. In addition, he had three strong and healthy sons, so no one bothered him about this issue.

Hu Nianchun rinsed the rice, put it in the pot, added water, and then placed the washed sweet potatoes on top of the rice. She covered the pot with the lid, lining the sides with a cloth to prevent steam from escaping. Then she turned to prepare the vegetables, looking up at her daughter. The firelight reflected on her full forehead, her long eyelashes casting two shadows beneath her eyes. She quietly and attentively tended the fire, like a well-behaved kitten. Such a beautiful daughter must marry into a good family. She remembered the marriage proposal Luo Wu's wife had mentioned earlier. She heard the groom was going to join the army this winter, and his father was the village secretary. If Mingyue married him, she could finally have a government job. In those days, having a government job was something many people longed for but couldn't even dream of.

As Zhao Mingyue tended the fire, she pondered her own affairs. Today, Cheng Yonggang's family was supposed to send someone to propose marriage. She remembered that she hadn't agreed to it back then because she had someone in her heart. Of course, that person seemed completely unattainable to everyone else, and she had always felt that way. So she only secretly liked him, never daring to express it due to her inferiority complex. At the time, she felt that since she already had someone in her heart, she couldn't accept anyone else's marriage proposal, so she rejected Cheng Yonggang, citing her young age.

Later, seeing the man she liked return to the city, she finally gave up hope. Cheng Yonggang's family then asked Aunt Luo Wu to act as matchmaker. The family felt that she was too old, but thought the man's conditions were good, so they agreed.

At the beginning of their marriage, Cheng Yonggang treated her very well. Not long after their wedding, Cheng Yonggang's leave to visit his family ended, while she stayed in her hometown. Soon after, she discovered she was pregnant. The whole family was overjoyed, and she was also very happy, as she was becoming a mother for the first time. She carefully nurtured the child, but an unexpected event occurred.

Pregnant women weren't treated like royalty back then. Everyone who was pregnant had to work; otherwise, they wouldn't get work points. However, people would be a little more considerate of pregnant women, letting them do less work. It was autumn, and the rice in the fields had all been harvested. Bundles of straw were laid out in the fields to dry, to be carried back as firewood. At that time, she was already five months pregnant, and her body was a bit heavy, but she wasn't unable to work. She went with everyone to carry straw. The straw was strung together with long bamboo poles, making for a long load that blocked the view. Generally, people would give way to those carrying the loads.

As she walked to the ditch, her bamboo pole was bumped, causing her to lose her balance and fall into the ditch. The ditch was very deep, about a meter and a half deep, and since it was autumn and the ditch was dry, Zhao Mingyue fell in, and the tragedy occurred. She bled profusely, lost her baby, and almost lost her life. She was rushed to the county hospital and survived, taking several years to fully recover.

The person who hit her was Wang Qiulan, Cheng Yonggang's newlywed sister-in-law. Wang Qiulan was from the same village as Cheng Yonggang and was rumored to have a long-standing, obsessive love for him, dreaming of marrying him. However, Cheng Yonggang didn't like her and refused to marry her, so Wang Qiulan arranged to marry Cheng Yonggang's younger brother, Cheng Yongqiang. Wang Qiulan harbored deep envy and resentment towards Zhao Mingyue, and seeing that Zhao Mingyue was pregnant with Cheng Yonggang's child, she was consumed by jealousy and resorted to this tactic.

After the incident, Wang Qiulan kept denying it was intentional, but Zhao Mingyue knew it was deliberate and wanted to sue her. The Cheng family, however, felt it was best not to air their dirty laundry in public and feared the humiliation of a lawsuit, so they pleaded with Zhao Mingyue not to pursue the matter further. Besides, Wang Qiulan was pregnant at the time, and Cheng Yongqiang even knelt before Zhao Mingyue. Cheng Yonggang also wrote a letter expressing his deep sorrow over the accident, but pleaded that the family shouldn't be too discordant, as the child could be replaced later. Zhao Mingyue swallowed her anger and bitterness, never having anything to do with Wang Qiulan again, and harboring no goodwill towards her in-laws.

Zhao Mingyue also felt she was still young and would have children. A few years later, Cheng Yonggang transferred from the army and returned to the county town to work as a security chief in a factory. Zhao Mingyue followed him to the county town, and the couple officially began living together. However, the child did not arrive as expected. Two years later, Zhao Mingyue went to the hospital for a checkup and was told she could no longer conceive. Zhao Mingyue was so angry she almost wanted to kill Wang Qiulan. Cheng Yonggang was also very sad, but he didn't file for divorce. Zhao Mingyue knew he wasn't feeling good either, and the couple continued their lukewarm relationship.

Zhao Mingyue focused all her energy on making money. She was bold and meticulous, had a strong market sense, and a pioneering spirit. Her business grew bigger and bigger, and she eventually achieved a very enviable career. However, no matter how successful her career was, it could not make up for this lack.

Looking back now, she realizes that Cheng Yonggang was a traditional man who always wanted a child of his own, and that divorce was inevitable. He probably didn't divorce her in the first few years because of guilt, and later because he was wealthy and unwilling to divorce her. Although she didn't have much affection for Cheng Yonggang, her infertility was a thorn in her side. She had no desire to divorce him; marriage had become dispensable to her. Unexpectedly, this dispensable thing became a double-edged sword, ultimately killing her.

She never imagined that Cheng Yonggang would have an affair with Wang Qiulan and father a son. Yes, Cheng Yongqiang was a weak-willed man; he and Wang Qiulan had four daughters in a row, but no sons. The Cheng family wanted a grandson to carry on the family line, and they tried everything to have a son. Zhao Mingyue had never returned to her husband's family, but she had heard about it. A few years later, she heard that Wang Qiulan had finally given birth to a son, Cheng Qing, who turned out to be Cheng Yonggang's son—a perfect example of keeping the good stuff in the family. Zhao Mingyue stared at the red-hot flames in the stove, her teeth clenched, a cold laugh rising within her, wishing she could tear that despicable couple to pieces and eat them alive.

Hu Nianchun looked up at his daughter: "Mingyue, what are you laughing at?"

Zhao Mingyue snapped out of her daze, turned to look at her mother, and smiled, "It's okay, Mom." Why think so much? Now everything is going to be erased, and there haven't been any regrets yet. She can have a brand new life. Let those two scoundrels die.

The rice in the pot emitted a rich aroma, along with the smell of boiled sweet potatoes. Zhao Mingyue took a deep breath: "It smells so good."

Hu Nianchun said, "Mingyue, use your chopsticks to skewer the rice."

"Hey!" Zhao Mingyue stood up, carefully moved the cloth strips around the pot, and then lifted the heavy wooden pot lid. Thick white steam rose from the pot. Zhao Mingyue used chopsticks to poke some holes in the rice cooker so that the rice wouldn't be undercooked.

Hu Nianchun then said, "Mingyue, just burn two more sticks."

"Um."

After Zhao Mingyue lit the fire, she came over to help her mother pick vegetables. The vegetables were amaranth that they had grown themselves, and the seedlings were still very thin, so she had to remove the roots one by one. Zhao Mingyue squatted down next to her mother to pick the vegetables. Hu Nianchun said, "Bring a small stool over to sit on."

Zhao Mingyue shook her head: "No need, it's fine to squat."

Hu Nianchun said, "You always say you feel dizzy, don't squat, come on, sit on my stool, I'll go get it." As he spoke, he shoved the stool under his daughter's bottom, but Zhao Mingyue quickly jumped up, "Mom, no need, I'll go myself." When Zhao Mingyue got up, she realized that she was indeed a little dizzy, a symptom of anemia. She hadn't had this symptom in so many years that she had forgotten she had ever been anemic.

Hu Nianchun looked at his daughter, who was holding her forehead with her hand: "Are you feeling dizzy again?"

Zhao Mingyue smiled at her mother: "I got up too quickly. I'll be more careful next time. It's okay."

"Once these hens start laying eggs, I'll brew some glutinous rice wine for you. I'll make you drink it with eggs mixed with the fermented rice wine every day. I've heard it's especially good for replenishing blood."

Zhao Mingyue shook her head: "No need, Mom, I'm not that delicate." All the eggs in the house are saved to buy oil and salt, who would be willing to eat them themselves?