Chapter 24: Little Sister, Little Brother
“Fifth girl, where….did the fish come from?” Grandmother Ciying took a closer look at the fish in Bailian’s face, a look of surprise on her weathered face.
“Sister caught it, Grandma, try some!” Yuhang excitedly grinned and rubbed his stomach.
His stomach felt warm and very full, he thought, I will never forget the taste of that fish we had today!
“Right, there’s one fish for each person, the three of us have already eaten one.” Bailian stuffed the grilled fish into Madam Zhao, Grandmother Ciying, and the Third Master’s hands.
Grandmother Ciying shook her head, tearing off a tender piece from the fish, and brought it towards to Bailian’s mouth, “Fifth you should eat some more ah!”
Madam’s Zhao gently smiled, and then raised a piece of fish towards Yuyang’s mouth.
Bailian and Yuyang both took a step back at the same time. Bailian rubbed her bulging stomach, and said embarrassedly, “I just ate one whole fish with my brothers. I ate too much! I’m full, you guys should eat it instead!”
Grandmother Ciying and Madam Zhao were stunned silly at the sight of the fish meat. Sharing dumbfounded glances, it felt as if they were dreaming.
They can also eat fish?
And, it was one per person!
But fish were only ever reserved for Patriarch Li, the Eldest Master and his son, Li Yuwen!
“At home…” The Third Master carefully looked at the fish in his calloused hands, his words trailing off.
“Father! You’re not thinking of taking the fish back to share with them, are you? Then we Third Branch will starve to death! In the Li Family, the Third Branch has never even touched a piece of meat, let alone getting to eat some!” Bailian started to get a little angry seeing how reluctant her Father was being.
I just promised I would treat the Third Branch well in the future, and even had a plan to make money myself. Now, I have to give the fish I grilled to the Li Family ahh?!
Although this was just one incident, it could be analyzed that just from this that even if the Third Branch started keeping their own purse in the future, as long as the Li Family were to utter a single word, the Third Master would obediently give it.
Bailian was not willing to give her hard-earned silver to the white-eyed, ungrateful wolves of the Li Family. After so many years, The Third Branch had shed so much blood, sweat, and tears for them, but they didn’t so much as have an ounce of pity for them.
The Fourth master even wanted to kill the unborn child in Madam Zhao’s belly and planned to sell off Bailian.
“Father…That’s not what I meant, you see, this many fish…” The Third Master noticed that his daughter had gotten upset, and suddenly felt at a loss upon hearing those words.
The previous Bailian had always been inherently soft and weak, never daring to talk back to anyone. Seeing Bailian acting out, the Third Master was stunned.
Regretting it a bit in his heart, now knowing that his daughter was truly upset with him, he didn’t say anything else.
“Third, this fish is so delicious. Mother has never eaten anything like it in the Li Residence. Since Fifth gave it to us, let’s eat it for ourselves!” Grandmother Ciying kindly patted Bailian’s head, and then took a bite from the grilled fish. She also motioned for Madam Zhao to eat.
Madam Zhao’s eyes were slightly red. She had been married over for so many years, but she had never eaten such a delicious meal, the grilled fish’s tender meat melted like a dream in her mouth.
“You must eat it all up, otherwise if someone discovers it, who knows, maybe my brothers and I will be killed.” Bailian deliberately glanced in the direction, stunning her Father with her unassuming words.
Bailian didn’t mean to intentionally scare them, but after being reminded of that old man’s face, she didn’t want them to buckle in the face of pressure. The fish procured from her dimensional face was truly too good to give up!
After all, it was bound to be very nourishing.
The members of the Third Branch were all too thin and frail, eating more would be for the best.
The Third Master observed Grandmother Ciying and Madam Zha happily munching away at the fis, feeling guilty in his heart.
As a man, not only did he fail to protect his mother, wife, and children, he wasn’t even competent enough to let them eat delicious food.
“Father, you should eat some too! Sister’s grilled fish is the most delicious food ever!” Yuhang dragged the youngest sibling with him, a look of grievance of his mischievous face, “Father must finish eating, or they will find out and beat us again.”
Bailian furtively peeked at Yuhang, her lips curling into a slight smirk.
It seemed that her silly brother was quite clever, quite easy to get brainwash.
“Fine…” The Third Master looking at his son’s pleading face, steeled his heart and then tore a piece from the grilled fish, bringing it to Yuhang’s mouth, “You take my share!”
Yuhang shook his head quickly, skirting away from his father’s outstretched hand, “Father, younger brother and sister and I have already eaten, you should hurry up and eat it!”
Although children were usually greedy and a bit materialistic, the ones from the Third Branch suffered from ill-fated fate. Yuhang knew that the opportunity to eat meat was rare, so he naturally was reluctant to take food from his father.
“Vegetables!” Yuyang tugged at Bailian’s sleeve softly and pointed to the straw-woven basket.
He clearly remembered that his Sister said that they could hide a portion of it, and eat whenever they felt hungry.
“Let’s go, you two come with me.” Bailian immediately understood Yuyang’s meaning, and waved at her two silly brothers.
Yuhang and Yuyang happily trailed after her, eager to follow after her so they could have the chance to eat some more meat.
Grandmother Ciying watched the three young, but thin children stagger off with the vegetable basket. Once they were out of her sight, she felt a wave of sweetness wash over her heart.
If there was no Li Family, just maybe….
“Sister, is it safe to put these here?” Yuhang watched as Bailian took out half of the newly plucked wild vegetables and spread them out to dry on a large, flat rock.
The rock was very big and tall, making Bailian expend quite a bit of effort to climb on top of it. This ginormous rock was not very far off from the residence. Not many people passed by here, and it was located very far from the village, so no children would come over here to play.
It was a perfect spot to dry and store wild vegetables. Bailian wasn’t afraid of being discovered. Most of the people in the village were still very simple and honest. Things being dried outside were generally never stolen or touched.
Bailian, a local tyrant with her space, was naturally not afraid of others stealing the vegetables. Her behavior was just to guide and model for her two stupid brothers not to store everything at home, especially not valuable things.
Soon, Bailian efficiently laid out all the wild vegetables, but one piece. This was officially the beginning of a new future for the Third Branch!
“Okay, finished!” Bailian came down and clapped her hands, “Come on, let’s find a place to store it when it’s done drying.”
Bailian didn’t plan to store it near the stream from earlier as it was very close to the village’s outskirts and inner wall. She feared if she wasn’t there, her two silly brothers might feel so hungry that they would head over there to eat.
It wouldn’t be good as there were still dangerous beasts lurking around there.
The three siblings hopped back towards the Li Family’s farm fields, At this time, the three adults saw them approaching from the distance, their satisfied faces shining like the sun.
For them, this was also the first time they had the luck to eat such delicious fish.
“Fifth, did you catch them from the river?” Grandmother Ciying inquired softly, “Don’t go anymore, just in case…”
Although the fish was truly too delicious, it would never be as good as a safe and healthy granddaughter ah!
“Yes, listen to your Grandmother!” The Third Master quickly agreed, his head bobbing up and down. He had also felt that the children’s excursion had been a bit dangerous this time.
“The river isn’t deep, I found a very shallow stream where there is a lot of fish. Not many people go there! In the future, I will go and catch some more when I have time, give us all a feast!” Bailian mysteriously said, waving off the two adult’s worries.
“But…” The Third Master was still a little worried.
“Even if we don’t eat it, Mother and my younger sister or brother will want to eat it right?” Bailian inclined with a naughty tilt of her head.
“Sister!” Yuhang’s eyes widened, his body brimming with excitement.
Yuyang also visibly brightened up, and looked at Madam Zhao’s belly with a blank expression.
If only it was a nice little sister ah!
The corners of her mouth twitched when she saw the reaction of her two silly brothers.
If Madam Zhao gives birth to a younger brother, wouldn’t it be abused by these two silly brothers ah!
Finally, after three pairs of shining eyes looked in his direction, the Third Master finally gave in.
However, he repeatedly warned Bailian not to go near any parts of the stream where the water was deep, and if she wanted to go, she had to find an adult to accompany her.
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