Ye Jiu turned his head to look at Zhang and, enduring a headache, stepped forward to embrace her, saying, "I've recovered, sister-in-law. I've troubled you all these years due to my poor health. You have worked hard."
"It's not hard, not hard at all. As long as you're healthy, your sister-in-law is happy," Zhang immediately replied.
When He gave birth, she was quite old and, moreover, lacking nutrition due to fleeing from calamity at that time. After giving birth, it was as though she had lost half her life. The journey back was hurried and left her with no breast milk at all.
At that time, Ye Jiu's sisters-in-law, Zhang and Zhao, each had babies not over two years old. Children in the countryside didn't grow well thus they weaned late. Therefore, He set her sights on her two daughters-in-law.
Originally, to allow Ye Jiu to eat more, He had arranged for the two to take turns feeding him.
However, times were tough, and Zhao was reluctant in her heart, and only fed Ye Jiu perfunctorily when it was her turn.
Ye Jiu couldn't get enough to eat, and over time, He noticed the signs, grew increasingly displeased with Zhao, and ultimately let only the reasonably kind sister-in-law, Zhang, feed him.
Ye Jiu was lucky. That year, a severe drought afflicted half the country, yet miraculously, a heavy downpour occurred on the day Ye Jiu was born. Coupled with what Ye's old father had said at that time, He always believed that her daughter, like the Princely Heir, was a Lucky Star granted by the heavens.
Otherwise, for a child who faced such a disaster right after birth and had poor health, surviving would not have been easy.
During breakfast, other than Ye Gaoshan and Ye Gaoshi, who were busy working in the town during the slack farming season, and Ye Gaoyun, who had married into another family, all the other members of the Ye family from the fourth household were present.
At the same time, the news of Ye Jiu's recovery was known to the whole family.
Originally, Ye Jiu was supposed to eat inside due to his unhealed injury, but after living in a daze in the past years, once he recovered, he couldn't wait to see his family members and insisted on joining them at the table despite not being strong enough.
The news of Ye Jiu's recovery, however, brought joy to some and worries to others.
These, however, were unimportant; with He present to keep things under control, everyone with objections had to keep it to themselves.
Just as they sat down at the table, He placed two boiled eggs into Ye Jiu's bowl with her hand, "My dear boy, your body has just recovered, and you've suffered a lot these past few days. Hurry up and eat two eggs to properly nourish yourself. At noon, mom will make you some delicious food."
"Gulp…"
The sound of swallowing made Ye Jiu's hand, holding the egg, stiffen.
Looking up, the three children from his eldest brother were all significantly older; Ye Wenqing was thirteen, his daughter Ye Qinghua was twelve, and his youngest son Ye Wenhao was nearly nine, all old enough to understand not to covet the egg in Ye Jiu's hand.
As for the children from his second brother, Ye Wenyu was also twelve, and Ye Wenxuan was eight, with only their youngest sister Ye Qingzhi being the smallest in the family at six years old. At the moment, it was Ye Wenxuan and Ye Qingzhi who were looking at the egg in Ye Jiu's hand with eyes full of longing.
As for Ye Gaoyun, he had already married into another family and only returned during festivals.
And then there was Ye Gaoshi, only sixteen and not yet married.
The Li mother and daughter had the lowest status in this family; during meals, they could only fill their bowls halfway with thin porridge and eat apart from the table, without the qualification to join the others.
Seeing his two younger nephews and niece from his second brother's family, Ye Jiu truly couldn't bear to eat while they just watched.