Ma Xiulian exclaimed with a proud and self-satisfied look, "Indeed, our Guibao is the prettiest girl!"
Li Chunhua thought her mother-in-law was exaggerating.
As she was considering whether or not she should agree, Chen Xiaobao stumbled in, announcing, "Mom, I need to poop."
Ma Xiulian immediately moved away with her baby granddaughter and yelled towards the outside, "Sanni, come quickly and take Xiaobao to the toilet."
She looked down to see her granddaughter frowning, seemingly frightened.
She hastened to comfort her in a quiet voice, "Don't cry Guibao, grandma wasn't scolding you. Grandma was just afraid your brother couldn't hold it and you'd get a whiff of it."
Helian Qiao wanted to say, how could I, a prestigious princess of the Dragon Clan, be scared to tears by a mere mortal!
But what came out was nothing more than baby language, "aah aah aah."
She angrily closed her little mouth, she was not happy!
However, Ma Xiulian was ecstatic, "Guibao is talking to grandma. Are you hungry? Let's have some milk~"
So, transforming her resentment into determination, Helian Qiao began to gulp down her milk.
It was all that nasty dragon's fault!
Seeing her drinking so joyfully, Ma Xiulian's smile never subsided.
At lunch, she especially bragged to Old Chen, who listened with a mix of jealousy and admiration.
Then, to the astonishment of the family, she carried a big bowl of noodles with eggs to the third son's room.
"Daughter-in-law of my third son, time to eat!"
The Chen brothers were stunned: they hadn't had eggs for almost three months.
To be exact, other than the three grandsons and two pregnant daughters-in-law, the members of the Chen family couldn't afford to have eggs for months.
Eggs were a real luxury in those days!
Four eggs could be traded for a pound of salt, five for a pound of kerosene, so every household was saving them, reluctant to eat them.
Is mom okay?
Zhou Zhaodi, with great envy, subtly pinched her husband's arm, hoping he would protest.
"Dad——"
Just as the second Chen son was about to say a word, Old Chen gave him a sidelong glance and said sternly, "Eat."
The second son Chen stopped short and didn't dare to say a word.
Zhou Zhaodi was feeling bitter and upset. She hadn't eaten such exquisite food when she was pregnant with Dabao and Erbao!
But she didn't consider that when she was pregnant, every family was starving. Just the fact that a pregnant woman was full was already special treatment from her parents-in-law.
Even at this moment, the Chen family, with its strong labor force, could only manage to eat enough to feel eighty percent full on average days.
And it didn't end there.
In the following days, like she was possessed, her mother-in-law was cooking refined food for her third daughter-in-law meal after meal.
After the noodles were finished, she started using the scarce white flour at home to roll out oil residue dumplings for her, or cook flour lumps soup.
It was as if they were serving her like an ancestor!
Seeing her totally transformed mother-in-law, Zhou Zhaodi's initial envy and anger turned into fear: could it be, was her mother-in-law really possessed?
As soon as she broached the subject, she was berated by her husband.
She felt wronged and depressed.
Ma Xiulian ignored her questioning gaze, busily attending to her third daughter-in-law's postnatal care and looking after the child.
If not for the fact that her little granddaughter was too young to withstand being tossed around, she would have wanted to keep her in her own room at night.
"Guibao, how about you stay with grandma after your full moon ceremony?"
Helian Qiao responded with a soft coo.
That's a deal!
She could feel that compared to Li Chunhua, her real mother, her grandmother, Ma Xiulian, cared for her more.
Seeing this, Ma Xiulian couldn't help but be overjoyed and kept on praising her.
"So good, grandma loves you the most."
"Our Guibao is so clever."