Ming Zhu also had her trump card.
She sat down on the ground and began to throw a fit, "Mom, I just don't want to be fat. Being fat means getting winded just by walking, and so many people laugh at me behind my back, saying I look like a pig and calling me a fat woman, claiming I won't be able to get married. I don't want to be fat, I want to become thin and beautiful."
Old Granny Zhang, who doted on her daughter excessively, was at a loss.
"All right, have it your way, whatever you want," she said. "The ground is cold this early in the morning, get up quickly."
Ming Zhu got up nimbly and flashed a sweet smile, "Mom, when I'm thin, I'll be strong, and I'll be able to help you with chores and make a lot of money. Then you can live a good life, eating delicious and spicy food."
Ah, Old Granny Zhang's heart felt as gratified as if she had drunk cold water on a scorching summer day.
"Yes, yes, yes, I'm just waiting for that day," she said as she went about her business.
Ming Zhu turned back and smiled at her little nephews and nieces, "Wait until your auntie earns some money, I'll buy you delicious treats as well, just wait."
It was rare for the little nephews and nieces to see Ming Zhu in a good mood.
Today the sun must have risen from the west.
They all looked at each other in disbelief.
But Xiao Jinpan was the cleverest, he laughed out loud, "Okay, thank you, Auntie!"
The other little ones also started laughing.
"Thank you, Auntie, for the delicious treats..."
Jinshao, being the youngest, promptly began to drool at the thought of eating something tasty.
Soon, Lady Jiang finished preparing breakfast for the family and called everyone to eat.
Ming Zhu, drenched in sweat from running, washed up briefly before joining for breakfast.
The family had already started eating, leaving her with two buns and a bowl of coarse rice porridge.
In the Old Wang Family, breakfast and lunch had the same portion sizes. Eating a full breakfast meant having enough energy for work.
And, they only ate twice a day.
Breakfast was considered the main meal.
At the dining table, Lady Lin was subdued, eating quietly. No one from the eldest brother's family dared to speak, occasionally stealing glances at Ming Zhu and Old Granny Zhang, wondering if Ming Zhu had revealed what she eavesdropped on to Old Granny Zhang.
Or had she told, and Old Granny Zhang was just waiting for the chance to explode?
The atmosphere was tense for the eldest brother's family during the meal.
Ming Zhu, the person in question, pretended as if she knew nothing and could hardly swallow her bun.
Yesterday, with her illness, she had been given egg drop soup, but today, now that she was better, she had to drink coarse rice porridge like everyone else.
Wang Laozhu looked at Ming Zhu's difficulty in eating and frowned, not saying anything, but clearly displeased.
Ming Zhu forced herself to eat one bun and secretly pocketed the other one.
Despite being natural and healthy, eating the same thing every day was monotonous in flavor, not to mention the coarse rice porridge, which she couldn't stand at all.
The food situation had to improve!
Not for anyone else, but she just wasn't used to it!
After eating breakfast with the family, Wang Laozhu assigned everyone's tasks for the day, and then they all got busy with their work.
Children under ten weren't required to do fieldwork.
They were assigned by Old Granny Zhang to go to the mountain to dig pigweed.
The Old Wang Family kept a pig, one of the few families in Qilidun Village to do so.
More precious than people, someone had to go dig fresh pigweed daily, cook it with rice bran, and then feed it to the pig.
Everyone in the family, from the oldest to the youngest, had their tasks, everyone except Ming Zhu.
Ming Zhu's duties were simply to eat, sleep, play, or supervise the work.
When everyone was off preparing to work, Old Granny Zhang secretly pulled Ming Zhu aside.
She slipped two boiled eggs into her pocket.
"Eat them when no one is around to avoid being seen by those shallow, envious people who would gossip about it. Tonight, I'll cook the leg of the wild rabbit your elder brother caught last time and make it into a shredded meat dish for you; don't tell your father..."
Ming Zhu suddenly understood how she had grown so plump.
It was all the result of discriminating favoritism.
She wondered how she could have gotten so fat just eating triple-blend buns and coarse rice porridge.
She reluctantly declined at first, but unable to resist, she happily accepted.
"Mom, you're so good to me. I'll make you some delicious food too!"
She was just about to use it to curry favor.
Yesterday, she thought about it for a long time and roughly guessed that those two people who had been friendly must be from the third branch of the family.
It was all thanks to that one bun she made.
Earning goodwill with food was the quickest way imaginable.
Once out of Old Granny Zhang's sight, Ming Zhu quickly caught up with the group of Little Beans in front of her heading to gather pigweed.
The Old Wang Family had four Little Beans under ten, with Wang Jinguan from the first branch being 9 years old.
From the third branch, there were three: Wang Jinhua was 8 years old, Wang Jinpan was 6, and Wang Jinshao was just over 2.
Jinshao was too little, naturally, he didn't come.
He stayed at home, watched over by Old Granny Zhang.
The ones going to gather pigweed were Jinguan, Jinhua, and Jinpan – the three Little Beans.
Seeing Ming Zhu catching up from behind, the three Little Beans got so scared they ran for it, "Darn it, the old cousin is catching up, she's come to supervise us, let's get moving fast."
Ming Zhu chased after them, gasping for air, feeling the tragedy of her chubby body.
"Panpan, Jinhua, Jinguan, wait for your old cousin. I'll go gather pigweed with you…"
The mountains were rich, and Ming Zhu planned to dig her first bucket of gold there.
Isn't that how it's always written in novels?
The moment you enter the mountains, you could find a hundred-year-old ginseng or thousand-year-old fleece-flower root. Just turn around, sell it to a pharmacy, and you could make a whole thirty or forty taels of silver.
That's enough to feed a family for half a year.
Ming Zhu had already made up a script in her mind to start digging for hundred-year-old ginseng and, by the way, build up goodwill.
However, those little rascals in front were running really fast.
With a "plop,"
Ming Zhu, chasing in haste, tumbled down a small hillside.
She rolled several times, cursing her rolling rounded body shape.
It really was hard to control.
Ming Zhu let out a scream, somehow managing to make the little rascals ahead come to a halt.
The little rascals looked back and jumped in shock, "Oh no, old cousin has fallen! The place where the old cousin rolled down is a manure pit used for irrigating fields!"
"If the old cousin fell into the manure pit because she was chasing us, our mom wouldn't stop until she beat us to death today."
"Hurry up and get the old cousin out..."
Ming Zhu felt like she was about to suffocate.
Damn it!!
A manure pit!!
Did it really have to be this unlucky?
Speaking of the manure pit, Ming Zhu could almost smell it.
She didn't want to fall into a manure pit!!
As her body continued to tumble down, she grabbed at anything she could. Because she was too heavy, several small bushes she clutched at were useless.
Instead, she uprooted the bushes.
Suddenly, it seemed a mountain man oblivious to the situation here came around the corner.
Ming Zhu immediately decided and clung to the man's leg.
At least she didn't roll any further.
The man whose leg had been grabbed stiffened for a few seconds, then said with disgust, "Wang Yongzhu, what kind of trick are you playing now? Broad daylight, what are you trying to do? Let me go immediately."
His voice was filled with indescribable aversion.
Ming Zhu hurriedly got up from the ground, saying apologetically, "Big brother, I'm sorry, I grabbed your leg because I was afraid of falling into the manure pit. Don't get me wrong!"
Looking up, she saw the man was tall and broad, wearing a bamboo strip conical hat on his head, dressed in coarse clothing, and carrying prey – a gray rabbit.