Famine Bride: Marry into the best in-laws and win

Chapter 207 Oil and Water

The braised pork with attractive color and fragrant aroma was served on the table.

There were also ten large steamed buns, a plate of fried sweet potato leaves with garlic, and egg soup that Mrs. Shen had just made by beating three eggs in the kitchen.

Tonight's meal is definitely the best meal the Shen family has had in all these years of famine, even better than what they had during last year's Chinese New Year.

When all the food was served on the table, Shen Jianping couldn't help swallowing and reached out to grab the largest and fattest piece of braised pork.

"You are a reincarnated ghost from starvation. I, your mother, haven't even started to do anything yet, and you're already starting to attack me?" The old lady was quick-witted and slapped his hand away.

Shen Jianping touched his bruised hand and smiled awkwardly, "Mom, you misunderstood. I picked it up especially for you. You've been working hard these days, and I feel sorry for you. I wanted you to eat the biggest and fattest piece of red meat to nourish your body."

Nowadays, most people like to eat fatty meat. The fatter it is, the more oil and water it contains, and the more energy they have to do physical work.

Especially when buying meat, everyone scrambles for the fat.

"It's good enough that you're not angry with me. How dare I expect you to be filial to me?"

"If you really want to be filial, then change your temper."

The old lady glared at him, picked up the largest and fattest piece of braised pork with chopsticks, turned around and put it into Xu Manyue's bowl, and said with a smile.

"Come here, Third Brother's wife, you paid for this meat today, so the biggest and fattest one should be left to you."

"Look at you these days. You've lost a lot of weight because you're so tired from working at school. You need to take good care of yourself."

Xu Manyue looked at the delicious braised pork in the bowl and smiled, "Thank you, mother."

How could she have lost weight? She had clearly gained some weight.

Every day when she was free, she would go into her own small kitchen privately and cook for herself. This braised pork was made by her herself last night after she bought the meat from the system mall.

However, she couldn't refuse the old lady's kindness.

Mrs. Shen, who was standing by, curled her lips and felt a little sour.

The third son’s wife is still the best. Her husband is very capable, she has a job, and even her mother-in-law likes her.

Unlike her, she is not loved by her husband, and is not cared for by her mother-in-law. She has nothing she wants. It would be great if she could have a job like the third son's wife.

But this job was not something she, a rural woman with no education and no skills, could find.

Better stop daydreaming.

Everyone in the Shen family was very satisfied with the meal tonight.

One by one, they licked the oily chopsticks again and again, and smacked their lips from time to time, savoring the taste of the braised pork they had just eaten.

There weren't actually that many pieces of meat on a plate, and since there were so many people in the Shen family, each person only got one piece at most. This treatment was only enjoyed by a few strong laborers in the Shen family, the old lady, and Xu Manyue.

Everyone else could only get half a piece of braised pork.

The last plate containing the braised pork still had a lot of oil in it, and it was shiny, with a thin layer of oil covering the surface of the plate, which was very tempting.

After the meat was divided, everyone's eyes were immediately fixed on the plates, and they couldn't help but get their hands on it.

This is really oily. If you use it to dip steamed buns, it will be absolutely delicious.

Mrs. Shen was so greedy that she looked at the old lady and reached out to take it, saying, "Mom, give me this plate. I won't waste the oil on it. I will lick it clean."

Unexpectedly, before the old lady could say anything, Shen Jianping quickly snatched the plate away.

"Sister-in-law, I saw you slacking off at work today. I can't give the remaining oil and water on this plate to anyone else."

Mrs. Shen's face froze slightly, and her outstretched hand remained stiff in mid-air.

This damn old fourth brother always goes against her.

What's wrong with her slacking off? It's so hot and she's sweating all over at work, and her clothes are soaked with sweat.

If you work really hard, you will die of exhaustion in the fields.

I don’t know what’s wrong with the old lady this year. She insisted on dragging the whole family to work hard together. It’s obvious that in previous years, the Shen family was the one that was the best at slacking off.

The old lady slammed her chopsticks on the table and glanced coldly at the two of them.

"What are you trying to earn? No one is allowed to touch the oil in this plate. Save it for the next cooking meal tomorrow."

Day after day, he just causes trouble for her.

Look at the third son’s wife, she still knows how to care about her. When she received her first month’s salary, she bought meat and steamed buns for the family so that the whole family could have a good meal.

As soon as these words were spoken, the room fell silent, and no one dared to breathe.

Oil is hard to come by these days. You need oil coupons and money to buy oil in the city. Every household has a ration every month, and you can't buy extra oil at all.

It is even more difficult to get oil in rural areas. They can only grow some oil-producing crops in the private plots in front of and behind their houses and barely be self-sufficient.

However, the private plot is limited and not much can be grown, so not much oil can be extracted in a year.

Therefore, when cooking, every household would dip cotton cloth in oil and wipe the edge of the pot, which would be considered to have oil.

After that, no one made trouble. Everyone finished their meal obediently. Those who needed to go back to their rooms to rest did so, and those who needed to clean up the dishes did so.

In short, no one dared to speak.

The old lady sighed, put down her bowl and chopsticks and went back to the house.

Xu Manyue went to the kitchen to boil some hot water and brought it to the old lady's room.

"Mom, soak your feet in hot water before going to bed. It's good for your health."

"Let me massage your shoulders again."

The old lady smiled and let her massage her.

The cracked and drought-stricken land is difficult to dig. Even a grown man who works there all year round cannot bear it, let alone an elderly person.

During the massage, Xu Manyue discovered that the old lady's palms were covered with blisters.

Perhaps because of working continuously these days, the blisters were broken and pus oozed out, and this happened over and over again, forming thick and rough calluses.

On a summer night, even with the windows open, the night wind is still hot.

Xu Manyue gave the old lady a massage, and the old lady took a palm-leaf fan and fanned her to cool her down.

The two of them exchanged a few words from time to time, and their restless and tired hearts calmed down.

Gradually, it was getting late, and in the blink of an eye it was the next day, another day to go to work.

Because I promised Meng Xiao that I would bring her an iron pot and a kitchen knife.

Xu Manyue had prepared the things from the system mall early on, and it cost her a total of sixty transformation points, which was not expensive and did not require industrial tickets.

When she arrived at school, she first sent Shen Baozhu to her classroom, and then went to the school dormitory to find Meng Xiao.

Looking at the brand new iron pot and kitchen knife, Meng Xiao couldn't help but get excited, "Thank you Sister Manyue."

"If it weren't for you, I'd probably be sending letters home again."

She quickly took out five industrial tickets and twenty-five yuan from her pocket and handed them to Xu Manyue.

These things are not easy to get, unless you have connections in the supply and marketing cooperative or department store.