Chapter 43: Fainting from Hunger

Compared to the Zhao family, who ate well and dressed warmly, Zheng Chunmei envied them even more for having such a considerate and caring father-in-law.

If her own mother-in-law were like that, she would gladly serve and respect her with all her heart, even if they had to endure hunger, cold, and hardship.

Zhao Zheng had no desire to put on a show of benevolence in front of outsiders. "It's cold outside, you two go take a nap on the heated brick bed."

"No need, Father-in-law, we're not tired." Yang Zhaodi shook her head, wiped away her tears, and took Zhang Xiao'e to the back of the house to mold mud bricks.

She also wanted an outhouse of her own, and preferably a small chicken coop as well, so she wouldn't have to worry about people stealing their chickens ever again.

"Get back to work." Zhao Zheng glanced sideways at Zheng Chunmei and busied himself with his own tasks.

"Ah, coming right now!" Zheng Chunmei was quite capable when it came to physical labor, or rather, she was eager to show off in front of Zhao Zheng.

They worked until dusk, by which time the yard was fully covered with drying mud bricks. Zhao Zheng decided to move the bricks indoors; otherwise, the overnight frost and freezing temperatures would ruin them.

Covered in sweat and utterly exhausted, Zheng Chunmei pleaded, "Uncle Zhao, I have no strength left. Could you spare me a bite to eat? That way, I'll have the energy to come back tonight and massage your feet!"

"We only eat two meals a day. Do you really take my house for a landlord's estate?" Zhao Zheng waved a hand dismissively. "That's enough for today, you can go home now."

Zheng Chunmei looked at Zhao Zheng with a trace of resentment. She refused to believe that Zhao Zheng only ate once a day; she had come here many times, and on several occasions, she had seen them eating dinner at night.

While she couldn't say for sure that Old Third Zhao's household ate two full meals every single day, the frequency was undoubtedly high, and they were definitely living better than anyone else in the village.

Though deeply reluctant, she had no choice but to head back.

Just as she reached the courtyard gate, she saw Yang Zhaodi handing Zhao Zheng a steaming hot pancake.

*Gurgle!*

"An egg pancake!"

Zheng Chunmei swallowed hard, glaring inwardly. They claimed they had no grain, but the truth was simply that he refused to give her any food.

*No, I must find a way to make Old Third Zhao accept me. Otherwise, I'll never be properly fed, and whatever meager meals I get will only be tossed to me like charity.*

Steeling her resolve and looking down at her dirt-stained clothes, Zheng Chunmei thought, *I must take a bath in the next two days and come back wearing a clean set of clothes. Besides, his two daughters-in-law are right there at home, so Old Miser Zhao won't dare to pull anything too outrageous!*

*I'm going to eat the crispy scorched rice from Old Miser Zhao's kitchen pot, and I'm going to eat his meat, too!*

***

After nightfall, just as Zhao Zheng was about to close the courtyard gate, Xu Youde arrived.

"Uncle Youde, what brings you here so late?"

Zhao Zheng hurriedly invited him inside.

"I won't go in and sit down; I just came to talk to you about a matter." Xu Youde sighed. "Regarding your brother's affair, my family certainly bears a measure of responsibility, and I won't shirk it. But your mother and sister-in-law demanded fifty taels of silver right off the bat. If I had that kind of money lying around, I would have packed up and settled in the township or the city long ago."

"Uncle Youde, what you say makes sense."

"Among your entire family, you're the only one who possesses any reason. I came to your house today for no other reason than to ask you to persuade them. Fifty taels is impossible, but I don't even have five taels."

"For the sake of our ties as fellow villagers, two hundred copper coins is the absolute limit of what I can scrape together. But once they take this money, they must never come to my house to make a scene again. I'm getting old, I can't take this kind of stress!"

A cold smile played in Zhao Zheng's heart. As one of the village elders of the small mountain settlement, the Xu family could easily cough up ten taels of silver.

Don't let appearances fool you; the Xu family always put on a poor front, claiming to survive on millet porridge twice a day.

Yet everyone else in the village was so starved their faces were sallow and their skin was drawn, while the members of the Xu family were all ruddy-faced and plump. Who would believe they got that way from eating plain millet porridge?

Nobody.

However, their status and influence were right there for all to see. Even if the villagers knew the truth, no one dared to voice any complaints, especially with the Zhong family backing them up from behind the scenes.

The only reason Xu Youde was willing to cough up two hundred copper coins was sheer dread of the villagers gossiping behind his back.

"Uncle, you know the situation in my household as well. If I had the power to persuade them, I would have told them to go straight to the Ma family instead; I certainly wouldn't let them bother you with this."

"If you help me settle this, consider that I owe you a favor," Xu Youde whispered.

*Old fox, quite the cunning scheme you've got there.*

This was something Zhao Zheng would never agree to. At the very least, in the eyes of outsiders, he had to maintain a united front with the rest of the Zhao family.

"Uncle, please don't put me on the spot. I wasn't even involved in the incident. If this money passed through my hands, my eldest brother and fourth brother would immediately assume I took some massive bribe from you."

Upon reflection, Xu Youde realized Zhao Zheng was right. Since Zhao Zheng had already completely severed ties with that side of the family, asking him to act as a middleman was by no means a wise choice.

"It's all that dog Ma Dalu's fault for slipping away so fast, running off to Pig's Mouth Mountain to hunt tigers."

Cursing inwardly, Xu Youde exchanged a few more polite pleasantries with Zhao Zheng before taking his leave.

Closing the courtyard gate behind him, Zhao Zheng sneered softly. He would simply sit back and watch the good show unfold.

The following day, Zhao Zheng began digging the outhouse. Molding mud bricks was a task best left to the three women.

After working for the entire morning, Zhao Zheng finished digging a pit. It wasn't excessively large, but it was more than enough for their needs.

He covered the top with wooden planks to prevent anyone from accidentally falling into the cesspit. Three-quarters of it was enclosed within the interior, while the remaining quarter was left outside to make it convenient for scooping out the nightsoil.

To prevent the waste liquid from seeping into the surrounding soil, Zhao Zheng took advantage of a moment when the three women weren't looking to secretly lay down a layer of waterproof membrane, sealing it tightly with packed earth underneath. That way, there was no fear of contamination leaking into the ground.

He crouched down to inspect it himself for a moment, and only after confirming there were no safety hazards did he finally let out a sigh of relief.

At noon, Zheng Chunmei went home to nurse her baby, and this time, to his surprise, she didn't ask Zhao Zheng for any food.

When she returned to work in the afternoon, she brought along the latest piece of gossip.

"The old lady from your family went all the way to the Xu house and managed to squeeze three hundred copper coins out of them! Auntie Xu thought it was too much, but in the end, she agreed."

"Old Ancestor Xu also promised your mother that as soon as Ma Dalu comes back, he will summon the entire Ma family to negotiate compensation. If they have money, they'll pay in silver; if they don't have money, they'll pay in grain. And if they don't even have grain, they'll be forced to come and do hard labor for your eldest uncle's family from now on."

Zhao Zheng didn't say a word, listening quietly before offering a cold, faint smile.

The Ma family was already at their wits' end. Someone had died, and the people of Lesser Mao Village were breathing down their necks demanding accountability.

Zheng Chunmei let out a long sigh as well. Well, that was that—it was now painfully obvious that Ma Dalu was completely unreliable.

As she spoke, a wave of dizziness washed over Zheng Chunmei, and she collapsed heavily onto the ground.

Startled, Yang Zhaodi hurried over. "Sister-in-law Chunmei, what's wrong?"

"I'm so dizzy from hunger," Zheng Chunmei murmured, collapsing into Yang Zhaodi's arms as golden stars danced before her eyes. "It's nothing... I'll be fine once I rest for a moment."

Zhao Zheng frowned deeply. "Didn't your mother-in-law give you anything to eat?"

"At my house, we only get half a bowl of rice husk gruel a day now. I honestly can't get enough to fill my stomach," Zheng Chunmei said weakly.

"Xiao'e, go make a bowl of sugar water for her."

Zhao Zheng was fully capable of distinguishing between someone faking dizziness and someone genuinely on the verge of fainting from starvation.

Terrified that something might happen to Zheng Chunmei on their property, Zhang Xiao'e hurriedly rushed off to brew a bowl of sugar water.

The sugar used was refined white sugar, which their father-in-law had brought home. Aside from that, there was also a mysterious substance called milk powder—it smelled rich and sweet, and tasted absolutely wonderful.

However, their father-in-law had designated that specifically for the two of them to nourish their bodies, mentioning that a single small jar cost two to three hundred copper coins.

Both women had felt too guilty and reluctant to drink it, but their father-in-law forced them to consume it every single day, shouting at them whenever they tried to refuse.

Zhang Xiao'e brought the freshly prepared warm sugar water to Zheng Chunmei's lips.

Catching the sweet taste of the sugar, Zheng Chunmei drank it down greedily, like a parched traveler finally encountering sweet rain after a severe drought.