Chapter 25: Chapter 25 The Greed for Two Eggs
Her mom immediately gave her a beautiful eye roll: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, you little glutton, as if your dad and I would really covet your two eggs.”
“You would!” Jiang Mianmian stated with resounding conviction that seemed to echo as it landed.
It wasn’t as if such things had never happened.
Her mom covered her face, sobbing pretentiously: “I just ate one of your rice cakes back then, why do you still hold a grudge until now?”
Jiang Mianmian said quietly: “Only one rice cake? Were those peanuts and jerkies eaten by rats, perhaps?”
When she was two or three years old, she hadn’t quite figured out her mom’s proclivity for pilfering treats, and without being on guard, her mom would sneakily stash and snack on them.
After discovering this, her mom even had the nerve to say it was for her own good, that she was small with tender teeth, and eating too much could lead to indigestion and diarrhea.
Ah, the little girl was getting sharper and sharper.
Su Wanyu promptly changed her expression and switched the subject: “The nervous look on Second Sister-in-law’s face just now, it’s as if she was afraid we were going to take something from her room.”
Jiang Changhai immediately showed disdain: “I don’t even care for the stuff in her room, it’s not worth much.”
Then, looking at his own daughter: “Mianmian, let’s go to the mountain in a couple of days to catch some wild rabbits, sell them in town, and buy popsicles.”
His daughter was lucky, and every time she accompanied him they caught plenty of game.
Jiang Mianmian nodded: “Good, I also want to eat big meat buns.”
As she spoke, she licked the corner of her mouth, considering how the state-run restaurant’s big meat buns were not only large in size but also had plenty of filling.
Su Wanyu also swallowed and said: “Get some honey too, we’re almost out of the last batch.”
The family of three discussed cheerily, while at the other end the old lady was looking at the eggs in the jar with heartache, twitching repeatedly: “The eggs saved up were to be exchanged for kerosene!”
She had saved up over thirty eggs over the course of several months, and Eldest had claimed twenty in one go, it was like taking half her life!
Seeing the mother-in-law frowning and in clear distress, Zhao Xiaojuan quietly picked vegetables, not daring to even let out a breath.
Sun Lixia, however, was giving bad advice: “Mom, Eldest only said to let San Ya eat eggs for twenty days, not that she has to eat one each day, you could give her half an egg a day.”
A full twenty eggs, after all, couldn’t just be given away cheaply to that wretched girl.
Upon hearing this, the old lady first brightened up, then shook her head: “That won’t do, Eldest’s temper would surely cause a scene!”
No one knew better what kind of son she had than she did, as his mother.
It was only upon hearing this that Zhao Xiaojuan cautiously spoke: “Then what about the kerosene at home?”
The family worked from dawn till dusk, and without a kerosene lamp, it wouldn’t do, as at night she still needed to mend and sew clothes for her daughters.
The old lady’s brow furrowed even deeper; it hadn’t been easy to save up so many eggs, since the three old hens didn’t lay them every day.
If they couldn’t save up, they’d have to make do with less.
Sun Lixia also realized this and promptly said: “Mom, Zhiwen and Zhiwu are growing boys, they can’t go without their egg soup.”
The old lady hesitated for a while but eventually conceded due to her fondness for her grandsons: “We’ll just exchange fewer for now, and wait to get more later.”
Sun Lixia finally breathed a sigh of relief, but when it came time to eat, seeing Jiang Mianmian enjoying her boiled eggs while her own sons could only look on longingly, she still felt uncomfortable.
These eggs should have been partly Zhiwen’s and Zhiwu’s!
To think that a mere nuisance who had only choked on water and was neither truly foolish nor dead was entitled to so many eggs!?