Shipin Dalizheng

When the Third Master heard this, he immediately put down his chopsticks and washed his hands. When he sat down again, he saw Chuncao also brought a small stool and sat down, as if she wanted to eat with them. He hesitated again.

He couldn't figure out Chuncao's identity. Wasn't she a maid?

Chuncao hesitated when she saw the Third Master's expression. She and Rong Tang have always been close and have eaten at the same table for several years. She made no difference in front of Rong San and the others along the way. Now that they have come to the north, should she pay attention to the difference between master and servant?

At this time, the Third Grandma called out to Chuncao, "Miss Chuncao, come and eat with me."

Chuncao stood up embarrassedly and walked towards the kitchen with her head down. She secretly reminded herself to be careful in the future and not to be too intimate with the master in front of others or behind their backs, otherwise people would find fault with her.

She entered the kitchen and saw the dishes prepared by Third Grandma laid out in a row. Three little girls and a little boy stood beside them. The oldest one picked up a large bowl, the second one held the pancake, and the two sisters together handed the meal to Rong San, probably for them to eat.

There were still two bowls left. Third Grandma took one bowl and placed it on the chopping board in the kitchen, handed a pancake to Chuncao, and asked her to eat it.

Chuncao sat down and just picked up the chopsticks when she saw the youngest girl add a ladle of water to the pot, scrape the edge of the pot with a spatula, shovel the vegetable scraps and oil in the pot into the water, stir it, and then add another fire to start the fire.

The little boy sat next to the grandmother, staring at the meat in the bowl.

"Hey, little sister, eat first and then wash the pot. I'll help you later."

The little girl shook her head, tiptoed to cover the pot, and started the fire again.

The two older ones returned to the kitchen and, under Chuncao's gaze, washed a large handful of wild vegetables and threw them into the pot and continued cooking.

Chuncao was confused. "Little sisters, do you want to make wild vegetable soup? No, let's eat first!"

The little boy's voice rang out, "Sister maid, that's their own meal."

Chuncao turned around and saw that the third grandmother had taken another small bowl and was picking out pieces of meat from the big bowl and piling them into the little boy's bowl.

The little boy ate with relish, not even looking at his two older sisters and one younger sister who were making porridge made from wild vegetables.

Chuncao stared and said, "But there's still a bowl of vegetables!"

The third grandmother looked straight ahead and said, "That's for their father."

What this means is that even their mothers may not be able to eat it.

Looking at the bowl of vegetables that had been turned over and over by the Third Grandma, and the three little girls who were silently cooking wild vegetables with the water used to wash the pot, Chuncao suddenly felt a blockage in her throat and couldn't eat anymore.

"Third Grandma, I'm not hungry. Can you share my portion with my three sisters?"

The Third Grandma seemed to have just realized what Chuncao had said and said angrily, "What's wrong with you? I invited you to dinner, and you made a mistake? This is the condition of our home, eat if you want or not!"

The little boy also opened his arms to protect the bowl of food. "No, no, if you don't want to eat it, I still want to eat it. There is too much oil in the food. Only those who lose money don't deserve to eat it."

The Third Grandma probably also felt that her grandson's words were rude. She glared at him, but didn't scold him. Instead, she scolded her granddaughters, "You are all so blind and starving. You take advantage of the guests to do such useless things, just to make people poke my wife in the back, right?"

The three granddaughters were terrified. They stood up and lined up against the wall, shaking like sieves. Their already malnourished, dark and sallow faces looked even uglier now.

Chuncao's face was frozen with shock, and she felt that she was causing trouble for the girls.

Little did she know that her expression made Third Grandma even angrier. She grabbed a stick and started beating her granddaughters. "I made you look so sad. You're embarrassing me in front of others, aren't you? Are you short of food or water? Go and sing opera."

When the stick hit the granddaughters, all they could hear was a muffled groan. No one dodged, and no one cried out in pain.

Chuncao's mind was confused, and the unbearable memories that had been buried in her heart for many years resurfaced. Not long ago, she was beaten by her own mother until her head was bleeding, just because she picked up a small piece of steamed bread thrown on the ground by her younger brother and stuffed it into her mouth.

She was so hungry at that time and looked much worse than the three sisters.

She rushed out of the kitchen, her face pale and bloodless. After a few steps, she turned back to the tree, took three eggs from the winnowing basket in front of the Third Master, put them in her sleeve pocket, and walked out of the yard.

Rong Tang saw that she looked unhappy, so he put down his chopsticks and walked out.

The third master frowned, looked at Rong Tang's back, listened to the shouting and cursing from the kitchen, threw down his chopsticks with a cold face, carried the dish that he had only eaten a few bites of into the kitchen, and placed it heavily on the chopping board.

"Eat, eat, eat. All for your precious grandson. Aren't Daya, Erya, and Sanya of the Rong family? What's wrong with you just giving half a bowl to the maids? Is the family short of food or drink or something, so why do you have to withhold the rations of the granddaughters? You old woman, you still beat her? Daya has already told her in-laws, who will you take responsibility for if she gets hurt? You've driven away all the distinguished guests in the house!"

The Third Grandma's face was ashen, shaken by these words. After a moment, she broke down and burst into tears, "Who am I doing this for? It's all for the Rong family's incense. The eldest son has been married for fifteen years, and so far he has only had three daughters. What if he dies without a family line?"

The Third Master angrily asked, "Is your harsh treatment of your three granddaughters necessarily related to the eldest son's desire to end his family line? If you starve them to death, will the eldest son's wife give birth to a boy?"

"me……"

The Third Grandma felt wronged and frustrated. Of course, she couldn't give birth to a grandson after starving her three granddaughters to death, but she was furious! Why did the eldest daughter-in-law give birth to three girls in a row and no boys? Wasn't it okay for her to get angry? Besides, how could she be so harsh on these girls? Compared to other families in the village, these girls were considered good. At least they could eat enough wild vegetable porridge, right?

She started wailing, from cursing to crying out loud, crying and screaming, feeling like she was dying.

During this time, grandson Rong Xiaobao kept eating meat, while Daya, Erya and Sanya stood against the wall in a daze, not moving at all.

Rong Tang followed Chuncao's footsteps and walked out. He saw her leaning against a tree, motionless, crying silently.

"Chuncao, what's wrong?"

Chuncao wiped her face and said sullenly, "Master, I'm fine. I just remembered my childhood."

She told Rong Tang what happened in the kitchen, and continued to cry as she spoke. Finally, she said, "I may have brought trouble to them. Actually, if you think about it carefully, most people in the village are like this. These girls are not the worst off."

Although Rong Tang was born in a privileged environment, she had actually met people like this. Her grandmother in her previous life also favored boys over girls and openly and secretly disliked her because she was a girl.

It’s just that her food, clothing, and other necessities were all from her grandmother’s house, so her grandmother couldn’t control her and she never suffered.

"I understand, Chuncao. When you go in, tell the maids to go to the main yard to do the work."

Chuncao looked at him with shining eyes, "Master, can you take care of these girls?"

Rong Tang looked at her dotingly, "I, Chuncao, will take care of you however you want."