Chapter 3: Going Hungry

When Lu Wanzhou arrived at the schoolhouse, the old scholar was somewhat surprised, but he didn’t say anything. After all, the child had paid his tuition. He had originally thought Lu Wanzhou was going to cause trouble, but unexpectedly the boy sat through the day’s lessons honestly.

Not only did he listen attentively in class, but his mind was quick—when the old scholar gave one example, Lu Wanzhou could draw inferences on his own. Seeing this, the old scholar felt somewhat satisfied. After all, the boy was a tongsheng, and there was still a gap between him and the village children.

In the afternoon, after finishing his lessons, Lu Wanzhou returned home. Zhao shi smiled and said, “Zhou’er is back. Your father went into the mountains to carry firewood. Since you’re back just in time, go meet your father.”

Lu Wanzhou narrowed his eyes. If he hadn’t known the plot, hearing Zhao shi’s gentle words, he would have believed she was a loving mother.

“Mother, we have enough firewood at home, and I still need to write my schoolwork.”

“I’ll go after I finish writing.” The corners of Lu Wanzhou’s mouth curved up, but inwardly he was grumbling. These two spoke nicely, but behind the scenes they treated the original body like a beast of burden.

What they called carrying firewood now—in truth, Yu the Eldest wasn’t in the mountains at all. Every time, they waited for him to finish the work, and then the two of them would leisurely make their way up the mountain. The original body not only had to cut firewood but also cut grass and feed the chickens.

After finishing all that, when it got dark, Zhao shi or Yu the Eldest would finally carry a basket on their back to go pick him up, casually putting a few sticks of firewood in Lu Wanzhou’s basket while chatting with the villagers.

They would say the original body didn’t know how to do farm work and liked to play in the mountains, making it seem as though they doted on the child. In reality, the original body did no small amount of dirty and heavy work, yet these two still gained a good reputation.

Lu Wanzhou was diligent, but he wasn’t a fool. After Lu Wanzhou finished his schoolwork, it was already dark. Yu the Eldest also returned with a dark face—he had waited in the mountains for a long time, and seeing that it was getting dark and Lu Wanzhou still hadn’t come, he had no choice but to return.

At dinner, the dishes with oil were all placed in front of Yu the Eldest, and Zhao shi kept putting food into her daughter’s bowl.

When Lu Wanzhou reached for food, Zhao shi didn’t stop him, but smiled and said, “Wanzhou, times are hard now. Oil and salt are expensive.”

How could Lu Wanzhou not understand their meaning? Hearing this, he smiled and said, “If the family has no money, then just sell the fields my parents left behind. We can’t have no oil or salt for the pot.”

This land was something they had worked hard to trick into their hands. Hearing this, Zhao shi stopped talking.

Yu the Eldest was silent for a while, then smiled and said, “Wanzhou, now that you’re in our family, the Lu family’s courtyard is of no use. Why not give me the Lu family’s deed and let me transfer it? It’ll be more convenient in the future.”

“Convenient?” Lu Wanzhou asked, puzzled. “Convenient for what?”

Yu the Eldest had only said it as an excuse. He hadn’t expected Lu Wanzhou to keep pressing, and his expression immediately changed.

Zhao shi quickly tried to smooth things over. “Oh my, Wanzhou, we treat you like our own flesh and blood. You’re just a child holding a house deed—we’re worried you won’t manage it well. Better to transfer it to your father. In the future, it’ll still be for you and Mianmian.”

Yu Mian kept his head down, eating obediently, and showed no reaction when he heard his name.

Lu Wanzhou was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, “This was left to me by my parents. I’ll naturally manage it well. Uncle Yu and Auntie, rest assured.”

Hearing this, Zhao shi frowned. Now he wasn’t even calling them father and mother anymore. But seeing that her man said nothing, she didn’t feel it was appropriate to say more.

That night, when they went to sleep, Zhao shi and Yu the Eldest whispered to each other.

“What do you think is going on with that kid? Not only does he refuse to work now, but he also fights for food. He’s been studying for so long, and I haven’t seen him achieve anything.” Yu the Eldest spoke in a low voice.

Zhao shi thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s because a few days ago when he was sick, we didn’t take care of him… Although he’s just a child, he’s still a tongsheng. His mind is still sharp.”

Yu the Eldest frowned. “We still need to get that house deed. This kid looks useless—we can’t let him keep eating free meals at our house.”

“Then what do you say we do?”

Yu the Eldest thought for a moment and said in a low voice, “Children—just scare them a bit and they’ll be fine.”

“Scare?”

Yu the Eldest smiled. “Just watch me.”

On the other side, Lu Wanzhou felt something moving constantly under the blanket. He closed his eyes for a long time, but the little thing under the blanket wouldn’t settle down. Lu Wanzhou had no choice but to get up.

“What are you doing?”

Lu Wanzhou felt the little thing under the blanket tremble. Just as he was about to lift the blanket, a pair of small yellow hands emerged first, holding an egg in the palm—white egg white, peeled very clean.

Then a small head popped out, hair fluffy, little face yellow, but a pair of eyes very bright.

“Egg, egg for brother to eat.”

“An egg?”

“Where did you get it?”

Yu Mian thought for a moment and said in a small voice, “Auntie, Auntie gave it.”

“If she gave it to you, why didn’t you eat it?”

Yu Mian blinked and said softly, “Brother was sick, give it to brother… Brother eats his fill, studies, studies well.”

“Brother eat.” Yu Mian wore a smile on his face, looking very obedient.

Lu Wanzhou’s heart softened. He smiled and said, “Brother won’t eat it. You eat it yourself.”

“Brother, I’m not dirty. This egg is clean, clean.” Yu Mian hid his hands a little and said in a small voice.

Lu Wanzhou smiled and said, “I’m not afraid you’re dirty. Brother isn’t hungry right now.”

“Not hungry?” Yu Mian tilted his head and looked at Lu Wanzhou for a long while, then said softly, “Not hungry.”

“Yes.”

“Then brother eat when hungry.” Yu Mian handed the egg to Lu Wanzhou. Seeing that Lu Wanzhou didn’t take it, his little face began to look aggrieved again.

“You eat it yourself.”

“Brother eat.”

“You eat it yourself. Brother isn’t hungry.”

“Brother eat, nourish the body, become smart.”

Lu Wanzhou couldn’t out-argue the little fool. In the end, the two of them split it—half each.

After eating the egg, Yu Mian quickly fell asleep, but Lu Wanzhou couldn’t sleep at all.

He didn’t know if he could go back. He didn’t know if he could survive here. Apart from the original book’s plot, everything was unknown.

He felt panicked and terrified inside. No matter how calm he was during the day, alone at night, he would always overthink.

Lu Wanzhou looked at the bright, clear moon outside the window. He felt his eyes stinging a little. As he watched, he felt something cold and wet on his face. He raised his hand to touch it and realized he was crying.

Lu Wanzhou wiped his tears and quietly comforted himself inwardly: maybe he was just dreaming. When he woke up, he would still be himself.

He would carry his schoolbag to school, could eat the breakfast his mother made, get into the middle school he wanted, and be the good, obedient child in the eyes of adults and his mother.

Looking at the moon outside the window, Lu Wanzhou made a small wish: “I want to go home.”

He didn’t know when he fell asleep. When he opened his eyes the next day, Lu Wanzhou saw that the room was still the same as yesterday. It was like a small stone thrown into a calm lake—suddenly it broke through, rippling out in a large circle, and for a long time he couldn’t calm down.

Lu Wanzhou pinched his own hand and coaxed himself softly, “This dream is lasting quite a while, but it’s okay. I’ll wake up eventually.”

No one was home. The food in the kitchen was all locked up. Lu Wanzhou went to school hungry. When he came home at noon, still no one was there. Lu Wanzhou felt dizzy, a bit of low blood sugar.

There was no one in the house, and he couldn’t find anything to eat, so he could only continue to the schoolhouse. A rustling sound came to his ears. Lu Wanzhou turned around and saw Yu Mian hiding at the courtyard gate, his face somewhat pale.

“What’s wrong?”

Yu Mian looked at Lu Wanzhou, biting his lip, and said in a small voice, “Hungry.”

Lu Wanzhou knew these two were vicious, but he hadn’t expected they wouldn’t even care for their own flesh and blood.

“Do you know where your parents went?”

Yu Mian looked at Lu Wanzhou with clear eyes and said softly, “Don’t know. Daddy, Dad and sister… not here. Mian… didn’t see.”

“Hungry.” Yu Mian held Lu Wanzhou’s hand with one hand and rubbed his stomach with the other. His lips had no color left.

Lu Wanzhou felt somewhat powerless. He felt the hand gripping his own loosen a little. After a pause, he held the boy’s hand and said in a low voice, “Come with me.”

Lu Wanzhou saw that the boy wasn’t moving and frowned. After a long while, Yu Mian finally said in a small voice, “Numb…”

“Hm?”

Yu Mian looked at Lu Wanzhou’s furrowed brows, somewhat afraid. His voice trembled a little as he said softly, “Numb, my feet are numb.”

Lu Wanzhou hesitated for a moment, then helped the boy up and said to Yu Mian, “Get on.”

Lu Wanzhou carried Yu Mian directly to the village head’s house, playing dumb and pitiful, saying no one was home and the two of them had nothing to eat.

The village head’s wife was the most kindhearted. Seeing Yu Mian’s little face gone white, she quickly cooked noodles for the two little ones to eat.

Yu Mian was a bit shy with strangers. At first he froze for a long while, and only when he was truly starving did he eat the noodles in small bites.

After Lu Wanzhou finished the noodles, he left Yu Mian at the village head’s house and went to the schoolhouse himself.

The village head’s wife was the most warmhearted and also the most gossipy. Yu the Eldest’s family had gone off on their own, leaving two children with no food. If they were ordinary children, it would be one thing—raise them rough and that’s that. But these two—one with no parents, one simple-minded… this was worth talking about.

When Yu the Eldest and his wife returned home, they heard the villagers whispering about them. The two couldn’t make sense of it.

When the family of three entered the house, Zhao shi smelled food and said in a low voice, “You little wretch, did you open my cabinet? Are you a starving ghost reincarnated?”

Zhao shi’s face was full of anger, but the moment she opened the door, her fire went out.

“Mother, village head’s wife, why are you in our house?”

Lu Wanzhou saw Zhao shi and Yu the Eldest come in and smiled. “Father, Mother, you’re back.”

The village head’s wife had heard Zhao shi’s cursing just now and sneered. “We just came by to visit. These two children had nothing to eat, so I brought them some food.”

Yu the Eldest was also shocked, but he reacted quickly and quickly smiled. “We left food for the children, right there in the kitchen. They probably were just being lazy. Sorry to trouble you, village head’s wife.”

The village head’s wife sneered. She had just gone to look in the Yu family’s kitchen—there was nothing there. The oil and salt were all locked in the cabinet. What food had been left?

The village head’s wife looked at Yu the Eldest with a cold smile. “Yu the Eldest, you and Lu Hai were good brothers. After he died, all his family’s fields went to you, and he entrusted his only son to you as well. There’s still such a thing as conscience in this world.”

She left after saying that, leaving the few of them looking at each other.

Old Mrs. Yu frowned and said, “What’s going on with you two? If you have things to do, just send the children to my room. You starved those two children until they couldn’t take it. If it weren’t for Wanzhou being smart, they might have gone hungry all day.”

“Mother, just leave it alone. We just forgot.” Yu the Eldest frowned. Why did his mother have to come join the fuss too?

“Hmph.” Old Mrs. Yu sneered. “I won’t interfere. Go out and hear what the villagers are saying about you.”

After finishing his meal, Lu Wanzhou said with an innocent face, “Father, Mother, it’s my fault. I got hungry myself. If the villagers say things about you, I’ll go explain.”

Hearing this and seeing her mother-in-law’s reproachful gaze, Zhao shi felt some resentment, but with Old Mrs. Yu present, she could only smile and say, “Good child, it was Mother who forgot. Don’t think too much about it. It’s getting late—you two go to sleep now.”

Lu Wanzhou saw the situation—it looked like Old Mrs. Yu wanted to talk to them. He nodded, pulled Yu Mian into the room, and paid them no more mind.

==========Author’s Note:==========
One update per day, time not fixed. Generally updated at six, at the latest nine. Other times I’m fixing typos.
Wanzhou is testing for the accelerated class for the elementary-to-middle school exam.
My completed novel “The Little Husbandman Supports His Foolish Husband with Farming”
Sheng Yu transmigrated into a cannon-fodder shou in a farming novel, a universally disliked troublemaker.
He threw his young xiucai husband so hard the man became simple-minded, sold his sister-in-law as a concubine, and angered his mother-in-law to death with her eyes open. His ultimate fate was to be cut into a thousand pieces.
To avoid being cut into a thousand pieces, Sheng Yu decided to be a good person and not cause trouble. He’d cling to the male lead’s thigh and enjoy a wonderful life.
Step one to building goodwill: open a small shop first, lead the Shen family to prosperity, and make the male lead a big thigh!
The villagers were all snobs. When they heard a husbandman was going to open a shop, they laughed their teeth out.
Sheng Yu didn’t care at all. Running a small shop in ancient times, selling instant noodles, selling happy-fat-home soda, selling fried chicken, he earned his little apron full to bursting, buying fields and land and building houses in the village.
Buying new clothes for his little fool, buying gold bracelets for his mother-in-law, buying pretty hair flowers for his sister-in-law.
Making all the villagers envy them—this… how was this marrying a husbandman? This was marrying a God of Wealth!
Sheng Yu worked hard every day, building goodwill, being a beast of burden for the system, opening his small shop all the way to the foot of the capital.
Relying on his shrewdness and capability (and shamelessness), Sheng Yu not only became an imperial merchant but also successfully won over the capital’s powerful and noble.
The ordinary old man queuing for luosifen is—the cleanliness-obsessed Minister
The ordinary old lady who loves stockpiling crispy noodles is—the Empress Dowager with bad teeth
The strawberry-flavored lollipop always kept in—the cold and aloof Chancellor’s bag
Sheng Yu: I didn’t want to make money either, but they insisted on giving it to me, so I had no choice.
–
Little theater—
When they were young, to keep his little husband from being bullied, he bribed other children with lollipops.
The children held the lollipops, trembling—did you not see your little fool beating people up?
When he grew up, Sheng Yu thought his husband was dull and couldn’t talk, so he gave his colleagues hotpot base.
The colleagues were speechless—your husband made the enemy nation’s envoy vomit blood from anger, and you don’t know about it? And you call this “can’t talk”? But the hotpot base really is fragrant.
Shen Zishu smiled as he saw Sheng Yu off, then took back the hotpot bases one by one, and with a fake smile said: “Want to eat? Go queue up and buy it yourself.”