The food was almost cooked, and feeling guilty, A-Mian slipped out of the kitchen and ran to warm herself by the fire next to Xiao-Jing.
She saw Meng Chijian, who wasn't the type to hang out with others; he was cleaning pig lungs by himself.
The fingers were clearly visible in the cold water, their knuckles turning bright red.
Ah Mian wasn't truly stupid; she wasn't oblivious to the strange atmosphere last night. What she said truly reflected her true feelings; she originally intended to encourage her second sister-in-law to cheer up, but since he overheard it, he would likely understand and wouldn't treat her as well anymore.
Ah Mian can't pay it back.
Whether it's betrothal gifts, clothes, or tuition fees, A-Mian's debts keep piling up, and she's already far, far away from her original plan to pay off the betrothal gifts and then leave to open a tofu shop.
What if she doesn't leave?
If a woman wants to have her own property after marriage, she either marries into a wealthy and powerful family and is deeply loved by them, and if she gives birth to children, her husband's family will give her money, land, shops, etc. as a reward; or she can rely on her own intelligence to start her own business from scratch.
However, when it comes to property, the husband is usually the only one listed as a spouse. This is for convenience, and since the property is jointly owned by the couple after marriage, it cannot be disposed of by the wife alone.
A-Mian believed that if she didn't leave, Meng Chijian definitely wouldn't interfere with what kind of shop she wanted to open.
But then what?
You should know that A-Mian's family used to be a very well-off family in the village.
They have shops, donkeys, land, and houses! All of that was earned through five or six years of hard work by their parents after they got married.
However, a sudden change occurred, and in the end, it was like a heavy snowfall overnight, leaving everything completely clean and empty.
So what Ah Mian always wanted to open was her own shop, an "industry" that belonged only to her.
In any case, it must not be something that others are allowed to sell or dispose of.
Therefore, she couldn't ask Meng Chijian to give so much more and spend so much money on her.
And she would work hard to repay him, giving him lots and lots of shiny silver when the shop opened and made money. A-Mian, holding a hot teacup, ran out and handed it to him, looking utterly capable: "Go inside and rest, I'll wash these!"
When Meng Chijian saw her coming out of the kitchen, her eyes kept darting around and shifting, which he found somewhat amusing: "What good stuff did your second sister-in-law feed you?"
"Huh?" A-Mian's heart tightened. "How did you know? She told me not to tell you."
“...Remember this: the more something others forbid you from telling me, the more you must tell me.”
“Oh,” Ah Mian betrayed her sister-in-law in a flash, “she was hiding in the kitchen eating roasted pig brains and shared half with me.”
"Don't get it wet, I'm almost done washing it. Could you help me roll up my sleeves a little more?"
"Uh-huh."
As the two were chatting, the second brother called out, "You're both exhausted, come and eat!"
The large wooden round table was already fully laid out, with dishes including pickled cabbage and pig's blood, stir-fried pig's liver, soybean and pig's trotter soup, steamed pork with rice flour, and stir-fried pumpkin. The staple foods were wheat rice and corn cakes.
Meng Chijian dried his hands and first served Ah Mian a bowl of pig's trotter soup, saying, "This is very nourishing, and pig liver is also good for replenishing blood. You should eat more of this today."
A-Mian's appetite was whetted by the sight of the dishes on the table, and she urged him to eat more steamed pork with rice flour. The two of them, holding their bowls, devoured the food like a whirlwind, leaving the second brother's family dumbfounded.
"That's incredible! If Mengzhong could cultivate the land, he could grow so many crops that he could fill his stomach!" said the second brother.
Amian had big eyes but a small stomach; she wanted to eat everything she saw. After eating a few bites of wheat rice, she couldn't eat anymore, so Meng Chijian naturally transferred her rice to his own bowl. Amian then happily went to get some cornbread to eat.
Her favorite dish is stir-fried pork liver. She ate until her belly was round and full, and she couldn't even drink a bowl of soup anymore.
"I'm stuffed."
Meng Chijian was even stronger, so his second brother had to order two more dishes: stir-fried pork kidneys and spicy scrambled eggs. A-Mian looked at Meng San with great admiration, reaching out to touch his belly, which was still flat.
I really don't know where all that food went.
They enjoyed the meal, but in the evening, mindful of the wolf threat, they still went back to Meng San's house together.
A few days passed, and some simple traps were set up around the village. There was no longer any trace of the wolf king coming down the mountain. The villagers gradually calmed down and returned to their normal lives.
Meng Chijian was going to clean the shop again before the New Year and put up new Spring Festival couplets. He called A Mian along and asked her to write the calligraphy.
When they reached the door, they were startled to find a person covered in snowflakes lying on the ground in front of the blacksmith's shop.
It was as if they had already frozen to death!
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Prince Zixuan. His fine silks and satins offered no warmth whatsoever, and Prince Zixuan was shivering uncontrollably. None of his attendants remained with him. When he saw the newcomer, he tried his best to stand up but could not. He could only manage to say with his last breath, "Give me back my phone... that brick..."
Just the day before yesterday, he spent the last bit of silver he had brought down from the mountain.
That night, his brothers were still chatting and laughing, and they made plans to treat him to a good meal at a restaurant the next day. However, he waited in front of the restaurant all day the next day, but no one showed up.
For some reason, it reminded him of the time before he transmigrated, when he was in the village holding a ball, waiting for the other children for a long time. When he finally got to see them, he heard them say, "Give me back the ball, I want to go home."
Actually, his background is very ordinary; if you randomly picked out six or seven out of ten students in the class, they would all be like that.
His parents both work in other provinces. He is the first child in the Wang family, and since his parents don't have the time or energy to take care of him, they left him in their hometown to be raised by his grandparents. Wang Zixuan sees them every year during the Spring Festival and receives some toys from them.
However, one problem that he couldn't understand at all was—
Why do parents who have so little time and energy have a younger brother, and then manage to bring him along when they have their second child?
After leaving the restaurant, he had nowhere to go, and that's when he remembered his cell phone, which he had left in the blacksmith's shop.
So he waited at the door for two days.
That night, the owner of a nearby shop couldn't bear to see him suffer and, fearing something might really happen, took him in for the night.
“This… how about we take him to Doctor Wen?” A-Mian nudged Wang Zixuan. “He’s definitely still alive.”
"Okay, these two sets of clothes should be enough to cover the medical expenses."
Wang Zixuan waved his hand weakly, "I... I'm fine, don't worry about it... Give me back my phone."
Ah Mian shrugged, went into the shop, took out the "hand-cooked chicken," and handed it to him.
Wang Zixuan rummaged through his backpack; the power bank inside showed it still had 10% battery left, enough to charge it a bit more. He quickly connected his phone, and after a few minutes, the screen lit up.
He had tried before, but had been unable to send messages.
But is it possible that this phone can still receive messages?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
