Luo Chen walked around her, opened the cupboard, took out a piece of tinder from a basket underneath, took the flint from her hand, and struck the tinder with it, and a flame appeared.
Xiao Yunying consciously moved aside to make room.
Luo Chen pulled out a few pieces of firewood from the stove, placed the tinder on the dry grass, and waited for the firewood below to burn before adding a few more pieces of slightly thicker firewood.
Xiao Yunying couldn't help but exclaim, "So that's how you start a fire."
Luo Chen gave her a mocking look: "You learned how to start a fire when you first came here, but you've forgotten how after just a few months of not cooking."
Xiao Yunying chose to remain silent.
There was nothing she could do; she had no way to defend herself.
She assumed she could successfully start a fire with the flint, so she didn't search her memories to see how the original owner had done it.
I clearly saw a flash of light, but I couldn't light it. I got a little impatient as I kept hitting the stone, and I completely forgot about the original owner's memories.
Xiao Yunying chose not to discuss this topic: "Alright, you can go out now. I'll take care of the rest."
After saying that, he stood up, but everything went black before his eyes. He staggered and had to hold onto the stove to steady himself.
Luo Xin, who had been standing at the door, rushed in: "Mom, what's wrong?"
It took Xiao Yunying a while to recover: "Mother is fine, she just squatted for too long."
Her health isn't good; being too fat isn't healthy either. She needs to find a way to exercise and lose weight.
Luo Chen picked up a wooden stake from the side and sat down: "You go and rest, I'll keep the fire going. Don't worry, I won't open the pot lid."
Xiao Yunying understood the sarcasm in his words.
Since the original owner incurred a lot of debt to treat the children's illnesses, in order to preserve her hands so that she could take on more delicate embroidery work, she stopped doing any housework. The children did everything, from fetching water and washing clothes to chopping wood and cooking.
Each time, she would wash the rice, cover the pot, and then have Luo Chen start the fire, while she sat by the door, doing her embroidery while watching him tend the fire.
He was told not to open the pot lid to prevent him from stealing food.
The real reason is that there isn't enough food. Let alone refined rice, people can't even afford brown rice or broken rice.
It was mixed with wild vegetables and a lot of water, and after cooking, it was a thin, watery soup.
Once the meal was ready, I sent the children back to their rooms and ate by myself. Only the leftovers were given to the children.
The children were unaware that what they thought was the original owner eating alone was actually just rice porridge and wild vegetables on top, enough to fill their stomachs, while the rice that filled them up was left for them.
The original owner had a large appetite and often woke up hungry in the middle of the night, forcing herself to fall back asleep. Over time, she actually shrunk her stomach from hunger, and she has lost a lot of weight compared to last year.
The original owner was a strong-willed person and not one to show weakness or play the victim.
She wouldn't let anyone know about this, including the children, and she wouldn't explain even if she knew they would misunderstand her.
She worried that if the children told others, and the villagers found out, they would laugh at her.
Xiao Yunying thought the original owner was so foolish. What was she trying to achieve? She suffered and toiled but didn't get any reward.
At the very least, the children should know that the family is out of food and in debt, and that their hunger is not because she is eating alone.
As for those irrelevant people, let them say whatever they want.
Now, stung by Luo Chen's words, she felt inexplicably uncomfortable.
"Then burn it."
Xiao Yunying turned around, went back to her room, closed the door, and lay down on the bed.
"Strange, why am I angry? It has nothing to do with me."
She sat up, dragged a bundle from the bedside, and untied it to see the embroidery inside.
Six silk pouches, embroidered with various flowers.
I must say, the embroidery is really beautiful.
"Has the agreed time for delivering the embroidery already passed? I don't know how long she was unconscious before I arrived. What if I'm late? Will I have to pay compensation?"
Luckily, it's all finished. She can't even align the buttonholes when sewing a button; she'd go crazy if she had to embroider.
I need to finish the embroidery quickly and then quit this job.
There was also the money owed to the landlady. The original owner had paid back a large portion of it in the past six months, but still owed eight hundred coins.
I need to go to the city today to buy some grains and seasonings. We have nothing at home except salt, and the oil jar is empty.
There were also toiletries. The original owner remembered scented soap, which should be a bar soap. For brushing teeth, she used willow twigs and salt.
Xiao Yunying covered her face: "Ah! I miss my toothbrush, toothpaste, and shampoo."
After a moment of depression, I calmed myself down, re-tied my bundle, and prepared to put it back on the bedside. When I looked up, I saw a toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, and a bottle of shampoo on the bed in front of me.
I touched the toothpaste tube in disbelief, opened the box, unscrewed the cap, tore off the sealing film, and took a sniff.
Familiar packaging, familiar taste.
"Where did it come from? Is it for making a wish? Is this some kind of cheat code for me?"
He put down the toothpaste and tentatively said, "I want shower gel."
Sure enough, a bottle of shower gel appeared out of nowhere on the bed.
Xiao Yunying was so excited her scalp tingled. She quickly bolted the door, faced the bed, clasped her hands together, and devoutly said:
"I want rice, wheat flour, peanut oil, soy sauce, vinegar, potato chips, cola, popcorn, a rice cooker, an electric fan, an electric car, an air conditioner, a big villa, a big car, a big airplane..."
As soon as she mentioned something, it would appear on the bed. As Xiao Yunying became more and more excited and ordered increasingly outrageous things, the things appeared more and more slowly.
Finally, it got stuck on the electric scooter and stopped moving.
A few breaths later, everything blurred before my eyes, and I found myself in an extremely familiar place.
Xiao Yunying looked around and finally confirmed, "Isn't this the big supermarket in my neighborhood?!"
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