Chapter 216: The Power of Faith
Two chickens were put into the pot, and Changshan returned with his men.
The first to enter were the eldest son and his wife, who were about thirty years old and carrying firewood. When they saw Su Zhenzhen, the couple smiled somewhat awkwardly.
Following behind was the second son's family. The couple were much younger, with three children by their side: an eleven or twelve-year-old girl and two boys, one seven or eight years old and the other six or seven years old.
The young woman (the cook's second daughter-in-law) gently nudged her daughter, "Why don't you go to the stove and lend your grandmother a hand?"
Just then, the cook came out of the kitchen wiping her hands and saw her eldest granddaughter being pushed and stumbled. Her face immediately darkened.
"What help can a little girl who's not even as tall as the stove be? Eldest daughter, I've started stewing the chicken. Go and prepare a few more dishes. Also, cook a separate bowl of white rice. We have important guests today, so don't be stingy."
In Yangcheng, rice and wheat are grown together, but farmers mainly eat coarse grains in their daily lives.
The cook had been preparing meals for Su Zhenzhen in the other courtyard for some time, so she naturally knew that Su Zhenzhen preferred rice.
"Okay, Grandma!" the eldest daughter-in-law replied readily, put down the firewood, scooped water to wash her hands, and walked briskly into the kitchen.
The eldest son also put down the bundle of firewood, silently walked to the eaves, picked up the axe leaning against the wall, and began chopping firewood in a muffled voice.
This couple looks like honest people, and their child reflects that honesty.
In contrast, the second son and his wife had a shrewd look in their eyes. Except for the little girl who kept her head down and didn't say a word, both boys craned their necks to look into the fragrant kitchen.
Su Zhenzhen had just noticed that when the family entered the courtyard, apart from the adults giving a perfunctory greeting to the old man at the door, the three children completely ignored their grandfather, and the adults did not remind them.
Clearly, the old lady was the one who truly held the reins of the household. The old man was just an idle man, and the children saw no benefit in it, so they naturally didn't bother with any formalities.
The food was quickly set on the table. The old man at the door waited until everyone was seated before slowly walking over and sitting down next to the cook, his back hunched over.
Unsurprisingly, Su Zhenzhen was given the seat of honor.
The cook originally intended to set up a separate table for Su Zhenzhen, but she was afraid that having her second son go home to move the table would be too noisy and attract gossip in the village.
In addition, Su Zhenzhen always seemed amiable and not one to hold grudges, so the cook let it go and simply placed the two meat dishes in front of her.
"Miss Su, please try this. These are all homegrown vegetables." The cook said this, but picked up a pair of clean chopsticks and put a chicken leg directly into Su Zhenzhen's bowl.
Su Zhenzhen smiled and thanked her. When the cook wanted to pick up more food, she gently stopped her with her chopsticks.
"One is enough for me. The remaining three chicken drumsticks are for the kids."
The cook looked embarrassed, "We don't have anything good at home, this..."
Su Zhenzhen had already taken the initiative to put the other three chicken legs into the bowls of her second daughter-in-law's three children.
"You're too kind. I'm just here empty-handed, asking for a meal. How could I possibly argue with the kids?"
She joked with a smile, but her hands didn't stop. She picked up the chicken feet of the two chickens and gave them to Changshan and Changlin respectively.
"The younger siblings are small, so let them have the chicken legs. You two older brothers can have the chicken feet."
The two brothers were at a loss for what to do, especially Changlin, the simple-minded boy, who couldn't help but swallow hard.
Changshan glanced at the cook's expression and hesitated, not daring to touch his chopsticks. The chickens at home were precious, their eggs traded for oil and salt. They only killed one to satisfy their cravings during festivals, and even then, half was given to his second uncle's family. The meat was always given to his grandmother and father first—his mother had said that his grandmother worked hard in the city to earn money, and his father did the heaviest physical labor at home; he and his brothers had to wait until his grandmother and father had touched their food before they could eat the leftovers.
Seeing this, the eldest daughter-in-law pointed at Changshan with her chopsticks and said with a smile, "Why are you looking at your grandmother? This is a gift from a noble person, so eat it. When has your grandmother ever skimped on meat for you?"
Su Zhenzhen looked over with great interest, thinking to herself that this eldest daughter-in-law was also a clever person. Her words were watertight, praising herself and her mother-in-law Jie, thus pleasing both sides.
Changlin couldn't resist any longer and picked up a chicken foot to gnaw on.
Changshan looked at his mother again, and finally picked up his chopsticks and started eating in small bites.
The eldest son and his wife only ate the vegetables closest to them with their rice.
The old man stared longingly at the cook. The cook, feeling uncomfortable under his gaze, slammed a large piece of chicken into his bowl. The old man immediately beamed, revealing his gap-toothed, snarling mouth.
The second daughter-in-law's gaze kept drifting towards the two bowls of chicken. However, the dishes were far away, and she was too embarrassed to get up, so she could only nudge her husband beside her with her elbow.
The second son first glanced at his mother, and seeing that she looked normal, then looked at his elder brother and sister-in-law—they didn't seem unhappy—before he felt relieved enough to put a piece of chicken on his wife's plate, and finally put one on his own plate as well.
Su Zhenzhen saw all of this. She silently picked at the rice in her bowl, thinking to herself: No one is perfect. The fact that the cook and her family can maintain their simple and honest nature is already better than many pretentious hypocrites.
At that moment, she was unaware that in the near future, she had almost entertained the thought of destroying the world, but hesitated for a moment because of the warm scenes of human life in this farmhouse.
Farmers don't have those rules about not talking while eating.
The cook ate her rice while chatting, "After we finish eating, I'll take Miss into the mountains. The mountain road is very long, and it will be dark by the time we make the round trip. Miss will stay at my house tonight and we'll go back to the city tomorrow."
The second daughter-in-law looked up from the rim of her bowl. "What are we doing going into the mountains?"
"We pay homage to the mountain god." The cook didn't even lift her eyelids.
The second daughter-in-law slammed down her chopsticks. "Mother, what kind of mountain god are you bringing this important person to worship? That mountain god is completely ineffective!"
The cook then lifted her eyelids and looked at her seriously, "If it doesn't work, where did we get this house from?"
The second daughter-in-law's face turned bright red. "No matter what we say, it won't work! My husband goes to kowtow and pray every day, kneeling for an hour at a time, but the mountain god still hasn't blessed him to become the shop manager!"
Su Zhenzhen was secretly astonished. An hour is a full two hours. Who could spend two hours every day just worshipping gods without doing any work, hoping for a windfall? Does that windfall just fall from the sky?
The cook rolled her eyes. "You won't put in the effort yourself, yet you expect God to feed you! I sincerely prayed to the mountain god that my life would get better and better, and the very next day I went with your grandfather to do hard labor. Good days are earned through hard work! Gods can help you for a while, but they can't help you forever! You have to do the work yourself first before the gods can bless you. If you're just lying there doing nothing, do you expect the mountain god to come down to the fields and weed for you?"
Su Zhenzhen was slightly shocked. She hadn't expected the cook to have such insightful understanding. This was clearly a case of turning faith into action. It was precisely because she firmly believed that what she sought could be achieved that she was working so hard to achieve it.
Suddenly, Su Zhenzhen felt a flash in her mind, as if she had grasped the key to returning the living soul to its rightful place.
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