Reincarnation and Rebirth

"Zhao'er, Ming'er, what's wrong?"

When Su Zhao'er saw her sister, she whispered, "Ming'er seems to have woken up because she's hungry. Mother, Mother can't wake her up no matter what she does."

Su Wan'er stepped forward and touched Madam Wang's forehead. "Mother seems to have a fever."

"Oh, big sister, what, what should we do?"

Su Xiang'er felt a little guilty, "These past two days, Mother has been doing all the housework by herself, and she hasn't been eating much. Is she exhausted?"

Su Wan'er sighed. This Wang family was both hateful and frustrating.

"It's alright. Mother's illness is probably caused by hunger. There's still some medicine that Grandpa Lin gave us. I'll mash it up and feed it to her. It should bring down her fever. Xiang'er, take your sister-in-law to our room to eat."

The eldest sister's actions these past few days made the younger children suddenly feel like they had someone to rely on, so they nodded in agreement.

Su Wan'er took out the medicine and said angrily, "How can you be such a mother? You can't even protect your children, and you've gotten yourself into this state. They say a mother is strong, but you're the one who makes your children worry about you."

Despite her words, she still fed her the medicine. Once she was sure that Madam Wang had taken the medicine, Su Wan'er returned to the inner room. The children had divided the steamed buns into four portions and were eating them in small bites. When they saw Su Wan'er approach, they immediately asked, "Big sister, is Mother alright now?"

"Big sister, come and eat some steamed buns, they're so sweet and delicious."

"Eat, eat..."

Su Wan'er patted each of their heads, "Big sister isn't hungry, you guys eat."

Su Xiang'er put away the small piece of steamed bun. "Then I'll save it for my older sister so she can eat it when she's hungry."

Very well, they have seen through Wang's nature and made no mention of leaving anything for her.

Ms. Wang, you've failed as a mother to such an extent. Whose fault is it really?

Although the steamed buns were large, they were divided into four portions and there weren't many. They were finished in no time. Su Ming was small, and after eating his fill, he fell asleep again.

Su Xiang'er went to check on Wang Shi and came back saying that her mother's fever had subsided, so the siblings decided to squeeze into the inner room tonight.

After eating the fragrant steamed bun, Su Zhao'er happily said, "Big sister is so good. Would you like big sister to always be like this?"

Su Wan'er's heart skipped a beat, but she asked without changing her expression, "What, was my eldest sister not good before?"

Su Zhao'er hesitated for a long time before saying, "Eldest sister didn't like us before, and like Mother, she would always tell us to be patient and obedient, and that things would get better. But now eldest sister is different. I like the eldest sister now."

In the darkness, Su Zhao'er's eyes shone brightly, while Su Xiang'er looked conflicted. She was a little older than Su Zhao'er and already understood many things.

Su Wan'er felt that she had changed too much and could not continue to play the role of the original owner, so she gently persuaded, "Do you prefer the old eldest sister or the current eldest sister?"

"Of course, it's the current one."

“Then I won’t go back to the way I was. I’ve already died once and I’ve figured out a lot of things. We’ve lived too miserably before, and I’ve decided to rebel. From now on, I’ll make sure you all have enough to eat and wear and live a good life. Don’t be afraid, I will protect you.”

Upon hearing this, Su Xiang'er nodded vigorously, "Big sister, no matter how you change, you will always be our big sister."

"Okay, go to sleep now, don't wake up the neighbors."

The old house wasn't well soundproofed, and she didn't want the fourth family next door to hear her.

Silent all night.

The next morning, Wang's biological clock woke her up. After waking up, she felt a bitter taste in her mouth and a dry throat. She wanted to speak, but found that her throat felt like it was blocked by a wad of cotton, making it difficult to open her mouth.

She got up to get some water, but suddenly realized she was the only one on the kang (a heated brick bed). Looking at the sky, she saw it was already broad daylight. She panicked and almost rolled off the kang.

"Zhao'er, tomorrow..."

"Mother, you're awake." Su Xiang'er carried Su Ming in from outside. Although they only ate a quarter of a steamed bun last night, the feeling of having something in their stomachs made them sleep soundly. When they woke up and saw that Wang Shi was still sleeping, Su Wan'er couldn't bear it and took Zhao'er to do some work.

"Xiang'er, where is your sister?"

"My eldest sister said that Mom had a slight fever last night, so she rested this morning. She took Zhao'er to feed the chickens in the backyard."

"Mother is fine." A smile appeared on Madam Wang's face. Although her eldest daughter had been lukewarm towards her these past few days, she still cared about her after all.

"Mother, you last night..."

"It's alright, Mom won't go out. Otherwise, your grandma will have another excuse to have a fit."

Upon hearing this, Su Xiang'er shut her mouth and stopped talking.

Su Ming was still young and didn't understand. Looking at his mother, he clapped his hands and shouted, "Eat, eat..."

Su Xiang'er was taken aback. He knew that Ming'er meant to eat white steamed buns, but thinking of his mother's temperament, Su Xiang'er ultimately chose to remain silent.

Mrs. Wang smiled and kissed her son's cheek, "Good boy, it's still early for dinner. Wait a minute, if you're hungry, I'll ask your second sister to get you some water."

Su Xiang'er, holding Su Ming, frowned in surprise, then turned and left.

Eldest sister is right. Mother is too weak. She saw it all just now. Su Jie from the fourth branch drank a bowl of porridge first thing in the morning. All the food in the house is in Grandma's hands. If it weren't for Grandma, where would the fourth branch get porridge? But Mother won't even fight for this little bit for Ming'er.

After the mother and daughters had cleaned up the yard, fed the livestock in the backyard, and tidied up the vegetable garden, the sounds of the rest of the Su family getting up could be heard in the yard.

Su Wan'er has been reborn for some time now and has a general understanding of the situation here. Meizhou is located in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River and Huai River in modern times, in the northern region. However, unlike modern times, desertification is not as severe here. The land here is fertile and has four distinct seasons. However, the villagers here only grow one crop a year, truly planting in spring and harvesting in autumn. Moreover, most families choose to grow wheat. Su Wan'er felt regretful thinking about how such a large area of ​​land was wasted over the winter.

However, by the end of November, the Ziyan Kingdom would be attacking. Even if she said that two crops could be grown in a year, it would still benefit the Ziyan Kingdom in the end. Su Wan'er didn't want to do something that would harm herself and benefit others.

Even if he were to lead the people to grow two crops of grain, it would have to be after they left the Su family.

"Wan'er, go and rest. I'll take care of the rest."

Su Wan'er looked at the woman who was still pale, and finally gritted her teeth and said nothing. If Wang Shi herself didn't cherish her own body, what did she, as her adopted daughter, have to worry about?

It wasn't even mealtime yet, but Su Chen was already shouting in the yard, "Grandma, I'm starving! Hurry up and cook!"

"Eat, eat, all you know is eating! Grain doesn't grow on trees! Don't you know that yesterday's meal cost the entire Su family three days' worth of food? You shameless wretch! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have lost so much."

The last sentence was naturally spoken to Su Wan'er, who had just come from the backyard.

However, Su Wan'er didn't respond at all. Since Su Wan'er didn't point her finger at her and yell at her, Su Wan'er just ignored her.

"Grandma, I was starving last night. Grandma, let's eat early today."

Grandma Su still felt sorry for her grandson, saying, "Alright, let's eat early today."

As he spoke, he went into his room, opened the cupboard, and took out a bowl containing half a bowl of black flour.

"Ah, Grandma, why aren't you eating white flour? Our food supplies have come down, haven't they?" Su Chen said with disdain. It would be fine if we always ate like this, but we just ate two steamed buns yesterday, so seeing pure black flour made her a little unhappy.

"You ignorant bum who doesn't know anything about firewood and rice, do you even know how much silver flour costs? That grain is meant to be sold to pay your father's tuition. Alright, you should be grateful you have anything to eat."

"Then I'll have an egg."

Grandma Su then remembered that her husband had promised to give the second wife an egg as well.

But after what happened yesterday, she got angry whenever she saw Su Wan'er, so she still didn't bring the second wife's share.

Su Wan'er counted the eggs without saying a word. However, when they were put on the table, Old Madam Su discovered that one egg was still missing and was about to make a scene. Su Wan'er addressed Old Madam Su's table and asked, "Grandpa, what you said the other day that our second branch of the family would also get an egg, does that still stand?"

Old Man Su's face darkened, and he glared fiercely at Old Woman Su. This old woman, is she contradicting herself so quickly? Su Wan'er will get married sooner or later. I talked to her for so long that day, why couldn't she listen?

"Natural numbers are used."

Su Wan'er magically produced a bowl of steamed egg custard from behind her back. "Then I'll use the eggs from our second branch of the family to make a steamed egg custard for my younger brother and sister. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

Seeing the golden, tempting steamed egg custard, everyone present couldn't help but swallow hard. Su Chen was about to rush over and snatch it when Su Wan'er glared at him fiercely and said, "Try taking one."