Everyone enjoyed the dinner. Wang Hongyu's cooking skills weren't the best, but they were improving rapidly!
At the dinner table, the little ones started babbling and making noise; the family rarely gets to sit down and eat together.
"Mom, your cooking is better than Auntie's," Ling Rui muttered, chewing on some vegetables.
“This kid…” Ling Dahu said awkwardly, “Sister-in-law, this…”
"It's alright. It's true that my sister-in-law's cooking skills have improved, and what Rui'er said is also true." Zhou Xiaoyun didn't take it to heart. She only knew how to make simple food. As a country girl, who would add oil, vinegar, or soy sauce when cooking?
"Auntie... is gentle," Ling Xiaofeng said. "Auntie isn't fierce!"
"Little girl, are you saying your mother was mean?" Wang Hongyu feigned anger. "You've gotten so tough, haven't you? I haven't hit you enough!"
“Fierce, fierce…” Ling Xiaofeng immediately hid next to Zhou Xiaoyun.
"Hahaha, sister-in-law, Xiao Feng is so clever!" Ling Dapeng laughed.
Tao Wanniang ate quietly, feeling warm inside. Although everyone in the family had their own flaws and wasn't particularly bright, the atmosphere still made her happy.
"Grandma, you've worked so hard!" Ling Rui and Ling Xiaofeng said to Tao Wanniang after Zhou Xiaoyun gave them a few words of advice.
"Hmm, not bad!" Although Tao Wanniang didn't laugh, her expression softened considerably. The innocent words of a human child were quite touching.
After the family had a happy meal and took a walk in the yard to digest, Tao Wan's eldest daughter-in-law laid out fruits and mooncakes in the yard so she could admire the moon.
"Mom, do you think there are people on the moon?" Little Qiao'er asked quietly from the side. "Grandma used to say that there is a Moon Granny on the moon."
“I don’t know if there is a Moon Goddess, but according to legend, the Moon Palace is called Guanghan Palace, where a fairy named Chang’e lives and keeps a rabbit…” Tao Wanniang looked at the moon and slowly told the story of Chang’e flying to the moon.
"Mother, she's so pitiful!" After saying this, Xiao Qiao'er's eyes turned red. "She lives on the moon all the time, and there's no one to talk to."
"Yes, so someone wrote a poem: 'Chang'e should regret stealing the elixir, her heart yearning for the blue sea and sky every night!'"
"Mom, you're amazing! Mom, we've never heard of your past. You can write and recite poetry. Isn't there no one to teach in our Lingjia Village?" Before anyone knew it, the whole family had gathered around him, and Ling Dahu asked with a look of admiration.
Tao Wanniang glanced at the people sitting around her, revealing a distant expression.
"I'm not from Lingjia Village. After I married your father, I never had the chance to read or write again!" Tao Wanniang brought up some of the original owner's past.
“My father was a traveling doctor, and my mother was the daughter of a scholar. Unfortunately, they passed away early. When I was thirteen, both my parents were gone. I lived with a farm family. When I reached marriageable age, a matchmaker arranged for me to marry into your Lingjia Village.” Tao Wan’s mother said simply, “That’s all from the first half of my life. Why talk about it?”
"So that's what my eldest sister's family background is like! No wonder!" Bai Yumei exclaimed in sudden realization.
The Ling family was completely baffled; their mother had never mentioned this before.
"Mother, do you still have anyone on your side?" Ling Dahu asked tentatively, as he had never visited any relatives since he was a child!
“After you were born, my adoptive parents were gone. I’m not close to my brothers and sisters there. Besides, Lingjia Village is a remote mountain village. Who will come to visit us?” Tao Wan’s mother asked rhetorically.
Ling Dahu was silent for a moment, then looked up at Tao Wanniang and said, "Mother, we didn't know you were so pitiful before. From now on, we will be even more filial to you."
"Ha, Ling Dahu, have you lost your mind?" Tao Wanniang scolded without any politeness. "Isn't it you who can barely walk? I'm pregnant, but I don't have a man."
"Mom, I feel a little embarrassed when you say that," Ling Dapeng said. "Fortunately, the hard times are over now, haha!"
"Yes, the hard times are finally over. I raised you two to be tall and strong. Do you know how difficult it was for me? If you dare to be disrespectful to me, you'll be struck by lightning!" Tao Wan's mother said sternly.
"The moon is so round tonight! Look at the moon, look at the moon!" Wang Hongyu said, trying to smooth things over.
"The moon is fullest on the sixteenth of the lunar month, and tomorrow you'll find it even fuller than it is today!" Tao Wanniang said bluntly. "Let me tell you another legend about the moon. Later, a man named Wu Gang came to the Moon Palace..."
Accompanied by the quiet, melodious voice of the Taowan woman, the three children nestled against the adults and gradually fell asleep...
Tao Wan's mother gestured to her son and daughter-in-law to take the child back into the house, and then turned to Xiao Qiao'er, who was dozing off on her lap.
"Go back to sleep, Mother will look at the moon again."
"Come, Qiao'er, I'll go back to your room with you." Bai Yumei stood up and greeted her. Judging from Tao Wanniang's appearance, she guessed that she was probably thinking about the past and feeling emotional.
Everyone in the family had gone home. Crickets were chirping in the grass, and birds were cooing in the trees. Tao Wanniang looked at the cold moonlight and felt a little touched. She had once seen the stars and the sea, and had once had glory and honor. But now she looked like this... Sigh, I don't want to talk about it!
"Watching the moon alone?" Ling Yunzhou's sudden jump down from the wall startled Tao Wanniang so much that she stood up abruptly from her chair.
"Ling Yunzhou, you've trespassed on private property. What are you trying to do?" Tao Wanniang calmed herself and reprimanded in a low voice.
"Tao Wanniang, don't you have anything to say to me?" Ling Yunzhou's face was somber. He remembered all those simple and honest years in the mountain village, and that young and gentle woman.
"What are you saying? The general's words have a hidden meaning, but I don't understand them!" Tao Wanniang's heart sank. Could this person have regained his memory?
"Tao Wanniang, I heard you've been telling everyone I'm dead?" Ling Yunzhou stepped forward, looking down at Tao Wanniang. "No trace of me, neither alive nor dead, and you're already saying I'm dead?"
Holy crap, what's going on? This guy has really regained his memories!
"General, I don't understand what you mean. Aren't you perfectly fine here?" Tao Wanniang said, feigning ignorance.
Whom are you worshipping in your mourning hall?
"My dead man!" Tao Wanniang immediately replied, "Wait, General, you...it can't be, my man didn't look like you." Tao Wanniang jumped back in shock, "Impossible, impossible!"
Ling Yunzhou was surprised by Tao Wanniang's appearance, so she simply felt that he was not him?
"Tao Wanniang, are you a pig-brain? Are there many people in this world with the same name? I, Ling Yunzhou, am from the Shanhai Prefecture. Don't you ever think that I am your so-called deceased husband?" Ling Yunzhou said through gritted teeth. This woman, isn't she supposed to be very smart?
Tao Wanniang looked frightened and took a few steps back.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible, my man is long gone."
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