?•??? THE ROAD TO BECOMING A TOP-NOTCHED OLD LADY ???•?

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Chapter 7  Keeping the Life-Saving Food

In the kitchen, the pot on the stove is filled with glistening chestnut shells that are exceptionally dazzling to look at, and the pot of unboiled water has oil floating in it.

Yu Sheng’s face darkened there and then.

The eldest daughter-in-law stood next to her awkwardly and said, “Mother, there isn’t much rice left to cook. These chestnut shells can still be eaten. It would be wasteful to throw them away.”

Yu Sheng fished out a handful of chestnut shells casually and squeezed it hard but couldn’t break it. ‘How could their stomachs tolerate it?’ Her face turned pale just thinking about it.

She looked at the eldest daughter-in-law seriously, and with the calmness of her mind, she stated, “You don’t have to worry about the food at home, you just have to ensure that the family has enough food on the premise of not wasting it.”

“But…” The eldest daughter-in-law felt distressed. ‘How much food can each one of us eat?’

‘Is there really any rice left after consuming it all?’

Yu Sheng glanced at the eldest daughter-in-law’s gloomy face, but no matter what she could think about, she can only say, 

“Let’s cook chestnut porridge for breakfast.”

Just as she was about to leave the kitchen after that, a sharp yell suddenly came from outside the yard.

She knew who owned this voice. It was the mean mother of the original owner. She was probably here to beat Yu Sheng.

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The dilapidated entryway was slammed open. Beside Mrs. Yu is her bastard brother, Yu Tiancheng, who does nothing all day long.

The two looked around the yard thievingly after entering, but got disappointed, so they tried to rush directly to the kitchen.

Li Dayou, who was chopping firewood, stopped them worriedly. He wanted to pretend that he couldn’t see them, but now they can’t be ignored. He really shouldn’t allow them to enter the kitchen. He was afraid that they might take away all the rice and chestnuts from yesterday.

“Grandmother, uncle, now that you’re here, go sit down first, I’ll pour you some tea.”

The noise from outside woke up the children who were still asleep.

One after the other got up and put on their clothes.

The villagers who woke up early to work on the field, carrying hoes on their shoulders, gradually gathered as they noticed the commotion happening in the yard.

Mrs. Yu was getting bored being surrounded by the villagers in the yard, so she pushed Li Dayou away, and said viciously, “Your mother dare not stop us, you don’t have the right to make decisions in this family, so get out of the way.”

Yu Tiancheng next to her also sneered, “That’s right, where’s your mother? Call your mother out quickly. Even if I ask your mother to sell your siblings now, your mother will not say no.”

“You..”, Li Dayou’s face flushed with frustration, but he knew he couldn’t refute that statement.

‘Ever since my mother came back from the Yu family’s house, she wanted to sell little fifth. If the Yu family really proposed it, I’m afraid that all my siblings wouldn’t be safe.’

At the same time, the fourth child ran out.

He stood in front of Mrs. Yu and stared at Yu Tiancheng with gritted teeth, “Our family has already run out of food. If you continue your plan of selling my siblings and my mother loses all her children, can your family support her?”

“What nonsense is this kid talking about?” Mrs. Yu pushed him away and rushed towards the kitchen with her son.

The second and third children also ran out and stopped them.

Yu Tiancheng lifted them up impatiently and threw them to the ground, “You little bastards are really capable, you didn’t think that we wouldn’t know? You mother and children went up the mountain to harvest baskets full of chestnuts.”

“Whoever dares to stop this uncle today, don’t blame us for beating your mother up and breaking your legs for interrupting us.”

The faces of the children turned pale in an instant.

Their mother has indeed improved since she had that dream, but after all, the heart is at home. ‘How long can the food at home be protected?’

Yu Sheng, who had just came from the kitchen, took a look at everyone’s expressions in the yard, and immediately made a decision in her heart.

She didn’t stop Mrs. Yu and Yu Tiancheng from searching.

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All the food from the pots and pans in the kitchen was cleaned up by them, and they even fished out the chestnut shells that had just been picked and boiled by them. Yu Sheng’s face turned completely cold.

Before leaving, Mrs. Yu patted her shoulder awkwardly, “My daughter has not been raised for nothing, we haven’t taken care of you for more than ten years. When the drought goes away, your brother will look for and marry a wife. Naturally, by then he wouldn’t treat his sister badly.”

“Do you think that this family can still survive this drought?” Yu Sheng narrowed her eyes.

Mrs. Yu was about to scold her for talking nonsense, but she felt a little weird when she met her dim eyes.

After a few moments, she only said, “Well, everything is fine now. Okay, we will leave.”

“Wait a minute.” Yu Sheng grabbed her hand.

“What is it?” Mrs. Yu suddenly had a premonition, she had felt that today isn’t the same as before.

Yu Sheng ignored her and turned her head to look at her sons, and said righteously, “Did you forget what I told you last night? In the past, I did a lot of things that I thought were right, but today, I will change them. Today, your mother will listen to you all.”

The reason why the children decided to act like this is to make up for the evil done by the original owner.

Thanks to the fact that she is their mother, the children might be against the Yu family, yet they are still afraid of them to their bones.

She wanted to let them know that starting today, they can do whatever they want to do in the future without worrying about her. Only in this way, will they know how to solve the situation the next time they encounter it.

The brothers looked at each other in blank dismay.

In the end, the fourth son stood up and asked Yu Sheng, “Is this true?”

“Of course.”

“That’s what you said.” The fourth son pulled back his brothers, blocked them behind him, then looked up at Mrs. Yu.

“There is no need to discuss it. My siblings and I have the same opinions. This is our family’s food. They are definitely not meant for you.”

“Little bastard.” Yu Tiancheng rolled up his sleeves, he had to give them a good lesson today.

Yu Sheng couldn’t bear it anymore after seeing his behaviour, she simply yelled, “Why are you still standing here for? If you can’t beat them then get out. If the food in the house runs out, we as a family can only wait to die together.”

Li Dayou is the eldest son of the family, he can’t just keep watching them bully his younger brother for no reason. He picked up the ax that he used to chopped wood and stared at them menacingly. 

The second and third son also didn’t show signs of weakness and picked up hoes and bamboo poles one after the other. ‘If they leave with the food here today, we might as well die together.’

Mrs. Yu was stunned, her face gave off an extremely ugly expression. She would always take anything whenever she wanted to.

Didn’t she just beat up Yu Sheng last time, and she still held a grudge for giving her such a big embarrassment. 

Yu Tiancheng saw that these little bastards were all serious, and they all looked like they were going to kill them. So he didn’t dare to act rash this time.

The villagers outside the yard were chattering even more, saying all sorts of nasty things, but none of them stood up for Yu Sheng’s family.

In the end, it was Mrs. Wang, who stood up and said angrily, “Mrs. Yu, you ruin things all the time. Look at how you treat your children, and you still want to grab their life-saving food? You really are heartless.”

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