Seeing her father from her past life, who had sincerely treated her all his life, bow his head and apologize to himself, Shen Mianmian felt a wave of sourness in her heart.
It wasn’t entirely Shen Jianhua’s fault for the incidents of her past life, she also had her part to play, as it was her too weak personality that led to the tragedy.
Shen Jianhua patted her hair, "Go back to your room and study! Siyu has someone to tutor her, but you don’t, so read some more books, strive for good grades. When they come back, I’ll call you to eat."
Shen Mianmian nodded and turned back to her room, but she wasn’t in the mood to read. Looking at the newly repaired door and windows, she always felt something was off for no good reason, but she didn’t want to think too deeply about it.
Shen Jianhua was busy in the kitchen for almost an hour, his clothes drenched with sweat, until he finally finished preparing dinner. He served all the dishes in the dining room and poured four bowls of porridge. Seeing no sign of Shen Mianmian coming out of her room, he hesitated for a moment, then secretly took out a small packet of medicine from his pocket, poured some white powder into Shen Mianmian’s bowl, and stirred it until it was indiscernible. Only then did he place the used chopsticks on top of the bowl and was just about to step away when Shen Mianmian walked out of the room.
"Dad, you finished cooking so quickly?" Updates are released by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝖿𝗂𝗋𝖾·𝗇𝖾𝗍
"Oh! Yes, it’s ready," Shen Jianhua felt a bit panicky inside, unsure if Shen Mianmian had seen what he had just done, "If you’re hungry, you can eat first."
"It’s okay, I’m not yet hungry," Shen Mianmian shook her head slightly.
As it was almost dark and the two still hadn’t come back, Shen Jianhua became restless at home, "Mianmian, I’m going to meet your mother at the entrance of the village. If you feel hungry, just eat and go to sleep, no need to wait for them."
Shen Mianmian nodded in agreement, but had no intention of eating first. If she ate now, Zhou Lanfang would surely come back and scold her, and there’d be no chance of a good night’s sleep.
Shen Jianhua went back to the room to get a flashlight, "Lock the door, and open it when we come back."
With a heavy heart, she glanced at the porridge on the table before turning to leave.
Although it was just a fleeting glimpse, Shen Mianmian still keenly noticed that small detail.
Looking doubtfully at her bowl, she saw that among the four bowls on the table, only hers had a pair of chopsticks with a grain of rice stuck to it, clearly having been tampered with.
She pursed her lips, staring at the bowl for a while before ultimately deciding to be cautious; she swapped her bowl with Zhou Lanfang’s.
It wasn’t until after eight in the evening that the three of them returned from outside.
Before they even entered the house, Zhou Lanfang was loudly calling for Shen Mianmian to fetch wash water. After washing her face and cooling down, she felt less hot but her stomach had long been grumbling with hunger. Seeing meat pies and meat on the table, she sat down and began to devour it eagerly.
"Siyu, you eat more too. After studying so much, you must be hungry, right?"
Zhou Lanfang kept putting meat in Zhou Siyu’s bowl, as if afraid she hadn’t eaten enough.
"Auntie, I already had a bowl of porridge at my classmate’s house, so I’m not that hungry, you eat more," Zhou Siyu said, feeling greasy after eating most of a roast duck at Song Zhengguo’s home and not having much of an appetite upon seeing more meat.
"What’s the use of just drinking porridge? This braised pork was specially made by your uncle for you. Eat up quickly, don’t waste your uncle’s kindness. Eating well is the key to performing well in exams."
Hearing his wife saying this, Shen Jianhua grimly glanced at her and managed to add two pieces of meat into his daughter’s bowl before his wife could finish serving, "Mianmian, don’t just eat vegetables, have some meat too."