The Lin family's old house.
The young wife was carrying meals out of the kitchen, one trip at a time, preparing for the meal.
"Hey, who's this? Why are you coming over at mealtime?"
On the porch steps, Lin Sanya, carrying a bamboo cage, struggled to push open the heavy wooden door of the old house with one hand. As soon as she stepped across the threshold, she heard her aunt's displeased voice, and her body trembled involuntarily.
Mrs. Wang watched her grandson in the yard, quite disgusted by the uninvited guest who arrived just in time for dinner.
Lin Sanya was always somewhat intimidated by her sharp-tongued aunt. After stepping in behind her, she stammered, "Aunt, Second Sister, Second Sister told me to... send two dishes to Doctor Ma."
While playing with his little nephew, Shi Tou looked up and saw the bamboo basket in his cousin's hand. He immediately asked, "Are you delivering vegetables? What delicious food is it?"
Shi Tou was at the age where he was just a teenager and would eat his father out of house and home. With his mother protecting him, his older brother and sister-in-law didn't dare to order him around. So the boy spent his days eating and playing, and he was especially interested in food.
Before Lin Sanya could say anything, Wang Shi smiled insincerely and said, "Oh, so you actually brought something this time. Your father has been bedridden and squandered all his savings. And no one in the family knows how to manage money. You're probably so poor you can't even afford to eat right now. What good food could you possibly have? It's probably just the radishes and cabbages you grow in your yard, isn't it?"
She really looked down on the vegetables sent by the second wife. What good vegetables could a family that couldn't even afford white flour and rice have? Why would they bother to send them over? Were they afraid that she didn't grow vegetables in her yard?
Upon hearing this, Shi Tou immediately lost interest. Without even looking at what was in the bamboo cage, he squatted down again and continued to pinch his nephew's chubby face.
He also felt that his mother's words made a lot of sense. His second uncle's family was already poorer than his own, and this time the medical treatment and medicine cost a lot of money. His mother said that if it weren't for his grandfather's financial support, his second uncle would probably have died long ago.
Lin Sanya felt even more uneasy when she thought of that plate of stir-fried radish greens.
But she felt that even stir-fried radish greens tasted better than her aunt's.
She was tending the fire under the stove, but she saw with her own eyes her second sister pour so much oil into the pot and add a few drops of soy sauce. The tender radish greens were stir-fried until they were glistening with oil and had a wonderful aroma. It looked so tempting!
Besides, there's a steamed fish in the bamboo steamer.
This dish isn't something even my aunt's family eats often, and the smell of this fish makes her mouth water. It's a dish that would be very presentable even when entertaining guests.
At this moment, Grandpa Lin came out of the house and greeted his granddaughter, "Sanya is here. Have you eaten yet? Come and eat with Grandpa."
Next to Old Master Lin was Doctor Ma, who came out with him. Behind them were Uncle Lin and his eldest cousin Lin Zhiyong. All of them looked at Lin Sanya.
"Grandpa, I'll go home to eat later. My second sister made two dishes and asked me to bring them over for you and Doctor Ma to try." Lin Sanya breathed a small sigh of relief and quickly slipped over to Grandpa Lin.
"Good girl." Old Master Lin was even more satisfied with his second wife's granddaughter. Regardless of the quality of the dishes, her thoughtfulness was truly commendable.
After observing these past few days, it seems that this granddaughter is the only one in the second branch of the family who is upright and capable. Whether the second branch can recover in the future depends on her.
If Lin Momo knew that Master Lin had such a high opinion of her and had placed such a heavy burden on her shoulders, she would probably cry her eyes out. She really couldn't handle this family of oddballs. She just wanted to live a peaceful life and die a natural death, and she didn't want to be driven to her death young by anger.
"Yue'er, aren't you coming out for dinner?" Wang called out to the side room when she didn't see her daughter in the courtyard.
Impatiently, Lin Yue'er's voice came from inside the house: "Coming, coming!"
A moment later, Lin Yue'er, dressed in a grass-green outfit, gracefully walked out of the house. She glanced at Lin Sanya, who was already at the table, before quickly walking a few steps to sit down at the table and looking at the bamboo cage.
She had just heard the voices in the courtyard and knew that the girl had come to deliver vegetables. She wanted to see what kind of vegetables Lin Er Ya could deliver with a family like the second wife's. It would be ridiculous if it was something like pickled vegetables.
After his granddaughter placed the dishes on the table, Mr. Lin was somewhat taken aback, thinking to himself that his second daughter was really making progress.
Dr. Ma, who was standing nearby, also felt aroused when he saw the two dishes that had been delivered.
One meat dish and one vegetable dish looked appealing and smelled delicious, outshining the three other farm-style dishes on the table.
Ever since that old woman came to cause trouble, he had been feeling rather annoyed. But seeing the two dishes that the girl brought today made him feel a little better.
The little girl was better than all the adults in the room; she was knowledgeable and didn't look down on him just because his father hadn't woken up. She even specially prepared a fish, steamed it, and brought it over. Regardless of how the fish and vegetables tasted, the thought alone was enough to warm one's heart.
Wang was displeased again, thinking to herself with disdain, "She's really putting on a show of wealth. She uses so much oil to stir-fry radish greens; that's enough for several meals. This brat doesn't care about the next meal. Xu Shi, that lazy bum, just lets that second daughter squander food like this. No wonder their lives are getting poorer and poorer..."
She couldn't say anything unpleasant in front of others, so she could only mutter to herself. Unfortunately, she couldn't control her facial expressions, and her expression betrayed her true feelings.
"Grandma, I want to eat fish!" Wang's grandson sniffled, his bright black eyes staring at the steamed fish on the table, his mouth watering, and his shout was particularly loud.
Startled by her grandson's words, Madam Wang immediately scolded him in an annoyed tone, "What are you eating? Didn't you hear that fish is for your great-grandfather and Doctor Ma?"
Grandpa Lin glared at his eldest daughter-in-law, then said to his great-grandson who was crying incessantly, "Anwa, come to your great-grandfather."
Upon hearing this, the little guy immediately stopped crying and wriggled his worm-like body into Grandpa Lin's arms.
"Sanya, come sit next to me." The old man hugged his great-grandson, turned to call Lin Sanya, who was standing next to him, to sit at the table and eat. Then he instructed his grandson, "Shitou, give your stool to Sanya, and you can find another one yourself."
Before Stone could even lift his buttocks, he heard Sanya decline, saying, "Master, you all eat, I'm going back!"
So this guy simply didn't get up, thinking to himself that it was time to eat now. That steamed fish looked so delicious, much better than the ones his mother made for Chinese New Year. Hmm, that plate of radish greens was so green and shiny, I really wanted to try it. Why did his mother and sister-in-law's stir-fries turn out so yellow and unappetizing?
I'm a little foodie, confirmed.
"This child!"
Watching his granddaughter run off with the bamboo basket, Grandpa Lin sighed helplessly and quickly called over Dr. Ma, "Dr. Ma, come on, let's try the fish my granddaughter made."
Not wanting Dr. Ma to be too polite, he even put a piece of fish belly meat into the rice bowl for him, saying, "Let's eat it while it's hot, it'll taste fishy when it cools down."
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