Mrs. Sun returned to the room like a victorious general, and Yu Xiaolian immediately gave her a thumbs up, flattering, "Mom, you are amazing."
Mrs. Sun couldn't help but feel a bit proud, "Before we separated from the family, I let them have their way. Now we live by ourselves, who lets whom?"
It must be said that Mrs. Sun's personality and style really suited Yu Xiaolian.
"Isn't Dad amazing?" Yu Changhe was a bit jealous; it was clearly him who was about to go out just now.
"You're not as good as my mom; you're far worse."
"Hey, you little girl, how am I worse than your mom? As if I don't protect you enough on regular days?"
Yu Changhe naturally protected Yu Xiaolian more often, but Yu Changhe was mild-tempered and seldom scolded people, unlike Mrs. Sun, who was fiery and straightforward.
"Two of you can't match one mom. You need to learn from my mom next time. With people like them, no need to reason too much; just be straightforward."
Reasoning with them just makes them play dumb. It's better to treat them the way they treat us and let them taste what it's like to be bullied.
"Changhe, go cook the porridge. I'll work out the Copper Coins. After we finish eating, I can repay a few families."
Mrs. Sun took out the Copper Coins again and started counting them, ten by ten.
Yu Xiaolian quickly jumped off the bed, "I'll cook the porridge."
They ate leftover porridge from last night this morning, so Mrs. Sun hadn't touched the rice bag today and didn't notice anything unusual about the white rice.
Fortunately, Mrs. Sun only milled half a bag of rice last time. After eating for a few more days, there won't be much left. Before finishing this rice, Yu Xiaolian decided to cook every day before Mrs. Sun.
Once these large bags of rice are done, Yu Xiaolian could secretly add some polished rice into the cooking, and once cooked, it wouldn't be noticeable.
Yu Changhe looked at the weather, "Isn't it a bit early to cook?"
Mrs. Sun said, "Just do it when you are told. The kids went to town to sell herbs just after a little porridge this morning; their stomachs are probably empty by now."
Right after speaking, Mrs. Sun forgot how many Copper Coins she counted, blaming Yu Changhe, "How many have I counted, now I've forgotten again. Don't talk to me, just go cook!"
"I'll do it, I'll do it!" Yu Xiaolian picked up the wooden bowl that Mrs. Sun used to wash rice daily and said to Yu Changhe, "Dad, go find some cool shade by the wall and weave the baskets."
Yu Changhe nodded, "Alright then!"
Yu Xiaolian scooped a bowl of rice and went to the backyard, then carried a bucket of water over, used half a bucket to wash the rice, and half a bucket to cook the porridge.
Seeing no one around, she used a lighter to ignite the straw under the stove, then added some twigs to it, and once the twigs burned, some thicker logs were added, and the pot didn't need much attention.
Taking out the three raw duck eggs left uneaten yesterday, Yu Xiaolian found a bowl and cracked the eggs in it, intending to make scrambled duck eggs.
Thinking about how no one could tell there were several duck eggs once scrambled into a dish, she cracked two more duck eggs into the bowl.
She added a little meat oil from Mrs. Sun's crockpot and some bean oil from her space, and fried up a big plate with five duck eggs.
The golden scrambled duck eggs smelled so good they made Yu Xiaolian's stomach rumble. She hadn't eaten anything on the trip back and forth to town, and now she was indeed a bit hungry.
Yu Xiaolian hadn't expected that she'd finish cooking, and Mrs. Sun was still counting those few Copper Coins, looking adorable as she counted with her fingers.
"Mom, it's time to eat. After eating, I'll help you count."
Mrs. Sun did not look up, feeling annoyed, "I don't eat; you two eat."
Yu Xiaolian went forward and pulled Mrs. Sun, "You have to eat; eating only one meal a day isn't good for your health. I even made scrambled duck eggs; you must eat."
Yu Changhe washed his hands outside and wet his towel, handing it to Mrs. Sun, "Don't go outside to wash your hands, just wipe them"
Mrs. Sun had no choice but to take the towel and wiped her hands, then looked at the wooden table, "Why is the scrambled duck egg such a large plate, how many duck eggs is this?"
Yu Xiaolian helplessly thought that both of these two talked incessantly and just wanted them to eat.
"It's the three duck eggs left from yesterday, Mom, I know where the wild duck nests are. Tomorrow, I will check to see if I can pick more duck eggs."
Mrs. Sun sat on the low stool, "Alright, if you could catch a wild duck back, that would be even better. The male ones can be eaten as meat, and the female ones can be kept for laying eggs."
Yu Xiaolian chuckled, thinking that if she caught a wild duck back, they probably wouldn't be eating duck eggs anymore.
Yu Changhe picked scrambled duck eggs for Yu Xiaolian and Mrs. Sun, laughing, "Those wild ducks can fly. Xiaolian wouldn't be able to catch them; just picking some duck eggs to eat is good enough. If they get scared and move their nests, we won't even get duck eggs anymore!"
Yu Xiaolian secretly laughed, not being able to get duck eggs, she could still claim wild chicken eggs, after all, once coated with some mud, they appeared like wild chicken eggs.
However, domestic chicken eggs seem larger than wild chicken eggs.
No worries, who said wild chickens couldn't have a well-fed one?
If she said they were wild, then they were wild!!!
"To say, today is truly a good day; Xiaolian sold the herbs for quite a sum, isn't that delightful.
And there's another piece of good news; I almost forgot to tell you, your good buddy Zhao Kuo got a promotion, became a Chief Government Official!"
Mrs. Sun looked very happy.
Yu Changhe was all smiles as he listened, "That's great, Zhao Kuo finally made it."
"Indeed, the Chief Government Official earns three Silver monthly; Zhao Kuo even said he'd invite you for a drink once he gets his month's pay!"
Yu Changhe suddenly asked, "How much do we owe the Zhao Family?"
"We owe the Zhao Family four Silver, all from the leg treatment."
When Yu Changhe initially injured his leg, Old Mrs. Yu did provide some funds for the treatment.
But afterwards, the expenses were too high; each medication was worth one Silver, so Old Mrs. Yu began to worry about the cost, asking the doctor to halve the expensive medicine, and then she simply refused to spend any more money.
Mrs. Sun angrily demanded the gold ingot from Old Mrs. Yu, but Old Mrs. Yu refused, saying it was saved for Yu Changyu's marriage.
Mrs. Sun had no choice but to borrow money from the Zhao Family and got some extra medicine for Yu Changhe. Later, as the expenses turned out too high, Yu Changhe refused to continue the treatment.
"Sigh, I wonder when we'll be able to repay the Zhao Family."
Yu Changhe sighed, then turned excitedly, "Speaking of which, these past few days my injured leg feels warm; walking seems more efficient than before."
Mrs. Sun was pleasantly surprised, "Really? That's wonderful. The doctor said your tendon was hurt, but not the bone. If I had known, I would have gotten you some more soup medicine back then; it seems the medicine was indeed helpful."
Yu Changhe thought about how borrowing money for his leg treatment wasn't just from Zhao Kuo; Mrs. Sun also borrowed some from her maternal family. He wondered when they could repay the debts as the previous slight joy turned heavy again.