Reincarnation and Rebirth

Su Youcai, the fourth son of the Su family, married a woman surnamed Xiang. They had two sons and a daughter. The eldest son was named Su Lin. When Su Chen was sent to school, Xiang insisted on sending her own son to school as well. Her reason was that all three members of the eldest son's family were studying, while none of them were. The family had not yet divided its assets, and all the money was handed over to the old lady. It shouldn't be spent only on the eldest son's family. If that were the case, Su Youcai would not go out to work anymore, and he would not hand over the money he earned.

At first, Old Lady Su scolded and refused, crying and shouting that the family didn't have the money to support so many scholars. Unexpectedly, Su Youcai and Xiang Shi were also stubborn. From then on, Su Youcai lay at home all day and stopped doing any work, and Xiang Shi stopped embroidering. They didn't do any housework except for what was done in their own room. As for food, Su Youcai was tall and strong, so he would go to the table to get it. Since he was her youngest son, the old lady naturally wouldn't stop him too much. In the end, the fourth branch of the family simply ate without doing any work.

Old Master Su couldn't stand it anymore, so he ordered his wife to take out some money and send Su Lin to school.

Later, Su Chen stopped studying, and the old lady didn't want Su Lin to continue either. She was then subdued by the fourth branch of the family with a few words of coaxing.

The fourth wife's daughter, Su Yue'er, was already skilled at embroidery at the age of six. She could embroider several simple handkerchiefs and purses every month, so she didn't have to do any heavy work and could stay in her room every day.

Xiang also gave birth to a son who was only one and a half years old. However, because Xiang ate well and had some savings, she would occasionally go out for a treat. As a result, Su Jie grew up to be fair-skinned and tender, and was very much loved by the two elders.

The Su family also has an older daughter, their youngest daughter, who is seventeen this year. She is also picky and hasn't been engaged yet. However, it is said that Chen introduced her younger brother to a friend who works in the county government. The old lady Su was very satisfied, but Su Hehua felt that the other party was just a lowly clerk and didn't think much of him. So the matter hasn't been settled yet.

This family was in chaos, each with their own hidden agendas. Only Wang Shi was being wasted like an old ox, causing her children to suffer as well. To be honest, Su Wan'er hated her for being so useless. And that cheap father of hers, who only knew how to work hard and thought that as long as his wife and daughter had food to eat and a place to live, that was good enough.

Before Su Wan'er could finish sighing, the food was already laid out. Although the Su family was a farming family, they had their own rules: men and women sat separately. At the men's table, only Old Man Su, Su Youfu, Su Ping, and Su Lin were sitting.

The women and children's side was quite lively. Old Mrs. Su was with her daughters-in-law, granddaughter, and Su Chen and Su Hehua, who were under ten years old and not yet in school. Su Jie was still young and was being held by Xiang Shi, while Su Ming was being held in the arms of little Su Zhao'er.

Su Wan'er couldn't bear to watch any longer and hugged Su Ming tightly, saying, "Zhao'er, you're still young, eat first."

However, the food at the Su family's house wasn't all that delicious. On the women's side, each person's meal was distributed by Old Madam Su.

Each person received a small bowl of porridge and a cornbread. Su Chen, being a grandson and still a young boy, received more than half a cornbread. Su Zhao'er, being only five years old, was given only half a cornbread, as the old lady said, because she did little work. Su Ming, being only two years old, was fine with just some porridge.

Su Wan'er glanced at Madam Wang and saw that she didn't seem to think it was extremely unfair at all. She just silently shared some of her porridge with Su Zhao'er. The old lady glared at her and said, "What? Can't finish it? Then share less in the future."

Su Chen immediately shouted, "Grandma, if she won't eat it, give it to me. Don't let this money-losing girl have it for free."

“Chen’er is right.” Madam Wang watched as her mother-in-law poured more than half of the porridge from Su Zhao’er’s bowl into Su Chen’s bowl.

Su Zhao'er looked at her mother timidly with tears in her eyes.

Unexpectedly, Wang said, "Eat quickly."

"Damn it!" Su Wan'er was so angry she wanted to curse. Just as she was about to speak, she heard another affected voice. Su Wan'er remembered that voice very well.

“Grandma, Mom is still in bed. Grandpa Lin said that Mom can’t get out of bed recently and needs to take good care of herself. Anyway, Wan’er’s illness has been cured. I remember that she doesn’t usually eat much. This bowl of porridge is a waste. Why don’t I take it to Mom?”

Holy crap, this scheming woman! I haven't even gone looking for her yet, and she's already showing up.

Grandma Su glanced at her eldest son and nodded, "Yes, one cornbread bun is enough for her."

Su Qing'er raised the corners of her mouth and reached out to grab the paste in front of Su Wan'er. Su Wan'er narrowed her eyes, picked up her chopsticks, and slapped the fair hand hard. Instantly, a red mark appeared on the hand.

Su Qing'er cried out in pain and screamed, "Su Wan'er, what are you doing?"

"When did it become your place to decide what's mine?"

"You, what do you mean 'your things'? Grandma said it's for my mother to eat."

"Hmph, what, the Su family rules become meaningless in your eldest son's household? Didn't you say that if you don't work, you don't have to eat? I remember when I was lying in bed, I didn't eat a single grain of rice. Wasn't that a rule set by Grandma?"

"You brat, have you gone too far?" Old Mrs. Su raised her triangular eyes, slammed her chopsticks down, and pointed at Su Wan'er's nose as she cursed.

Disapprovingly, Madam Wang tugged at Su Wan'er, "Wan'er, forget it, I'll give you this one, stop arguing."

"Second sister-in-law, can't you eat? If you can't eat, give it to me. I still need to breastfeed Xiao Jie. If I don't eat enough, I won't have any milk." Xiang Shi quickly poured the food from Wang Shi's bowl into her own, not caring whether she had eaten or whether it had saliva on it.

Su Xiang'er originally wanted to tell her older sister not to argue with her grandmother and to share some of her own with her, but seeing her aunt's actions, she quickly lowered her head and remained silent.

Su Zhao'er was frozen in fear, a small piece of cornbread still in her mouth, which she chewed carefully and mechanically.

Seeing that Old Master Su was on her side and Madam Wang had not expressed her opinion, Su Qing'er tried to take the bowl in front of Su Wan'er.

What a joke! Even if she didn't like this bowl of clear soup, she wouldn't let Su Qing'er have it. So she picked up the bowl and drank it down in a few gulps, not forgetting to signal her two younger sisters to eat quickly. As for the cornbread, she decided to forget about it, as it was too sour. But she couldn't let the rest of the Su family have it either, so she casually stuffed it into her sleeve.

“You, Su Wan’er, Grandma already told you to give your porridge to my mother. My mother is still sick, and she is still your aunt. Is this how you show filial piety to your elders?”

Su Wan'er rolled her eyes. "You said yourself that she's your mother, shouldn't you be more filial to her? Why don't you just give her yours?"

"That won't do, what will I eat then?"

"Ha, so you know you'll get hungry if you don't eat? Are you coming or not? If you don't, believe me, I'll eat what's in your bowl too."

Su Qing'er looked at Old Lady Su, who cursed, "You lazy good-for-nothing, all you do is eat, eat, eat, eat. I hope you don't choke to death."

It was unclear whether these words were directed at Su Wan'er or Su Qing'er, but Su Wan'er didn't take them seriously. Seeing that she couldn't get anywhere with them, Su Qing'er reluctantly took the food to the east wing, giving Su Wan'er a fierce glare before leaving.

As they were talking, seeing that Su Xiang'er had finished eating quickly, Su Wan'er put Su Ming in her arms, stretched out her arm, and took an egg from the table.

Everyone was stunned. Of the three eggs, one was given to Su Lin from the fourth branch of the family. The eggs on this table were always for Su Chen and Su Hehua, and no one dared to touch them. Even Su Qing'er hadn't dared to set her sights on the eggs. Now that Su Wan'er had taken one, the remaining one would be difficult to divide.

Usually, the two of them would wait until the very end before slowly eating their eggs, and they would also try to tempt Su Zhao'er and her brother along the way.

That's why the egg is still sitting safely on the table.

Seeing Su Wan'er take one directly, Su Hehua quickly grabbed the remaining one and held it in her hand. Su Chen was a beat slower and his hand went empty. His face fell, he put down his chopsticks and sat down on the ground, bursting into tears. "My eggs, my eggs, my eggs! You worthless thing, you took my eggs!"

Meanwhile, Su Wan'er had already peeled the eggs very quickly, splitting the egg whites in half and stuffing them into her two younger sisters' mouths, while she peeled off a little bit of the yolk and fed it to Su Ming.

Everyone was stunned by this sudden turn of events. In just a minute or two, Old Mrs. Su came to her senses and began spitting and cursing. All sorts of foul and obscene words spewed from her mouth, which was full of yellow teeth and reeked of stench.

Su Wan'er pretended not to hear and continued to feed Su Ming. Although Su Ming was young, he seemed to understand how precious this hard-won delicacy was and swallowed it quickly.

After tasting the eggs, Su Xiang'er and Su Zhao'er subconsciously began to chew. They had eaten eggs so many times in their lives that they could count the number of times on one hand, and they couldn't bear to spit them out.

Madam Wang panicked, "Wan'er, what are you doing? Xiang'er, Zhao'er, spit it out quickly!"

Su Wan'er didn't even look at her, and said to her two younger sisters, "Don't waste food. If you spit it out, you can only feed it to the dogs."

Upon hearing this, the two of them naturally dared not waste it, and swallowed it under Su Wan'er's gaze.

Su Chen cried even harder.

Grandma Su immediately stood up, took off her smelly shoes that hadn't been washed for decades, and was about to start a fight.