Quick Transmigration: The Mad Beauty Refuses to Be the Scapegoat!-Chapter 305 - 3: The Cannon Fodder Sister-in-Law in the Group Pampering Novel (3)
Having something is better than having nothing, Jiang Lai calmly accepted and washed her face again, contemplating the plot.
The original character was a complete cannon fodder, essentially a rural woman with little experience and a petty nature who never did anything bad, yet ended up being despised by her in-laws and abandoned by her family, finally drowning herself.
Jiang Lai felt little sympathy because she did not have the time to pity others, especially now that she had become the sister-in-law who would die in the winter two years later.
Now, this body is severely malnourished, and she had just fainted in the wheat field due to anemia. In the original plot, the character still ended up being carried to the township health center, only to wake up to Lv Cuiping’s family who immediately berated her, thinking she was pretending to be sick to avoid work.
The original character could only swallow her grievances and put up with it, and in the evening, she would continue to be resented by her mother-in-law at the dinner table.
This time, Jiang Lai got up and walked back. At home were only the eldest sister-in-law’s son and daughter, the seven-year-old playing with mud in the yard and the two-year-old crawling on the ground.
After returning, Jiang Lai headed straight to the kitchen next to the main room. Upon entering, she saw that aside from firewood and straw around the stove with two pots, there wasn’t a single trace of food. Everything was neatly tucked away and locked in a wooden cabinet by Lv Cuiping.
Looking at the lock in front of her, Jiang Lai reached out and gave it a hard tug, causing the lock to fall to the ground.
Looking at her own hand, Jiang Lai nodded with satisfaction.
Not bad, still got some strength, not just delicate and weak.
Inside the cupboard, there was rice, flour, oil, a strip of cured meat, a basin of pure white lard, and a basket of eggs next to the lard basin.
Jiang Lai took out eight eggs and shouted towards the door.
"Gou Dan, come help me light the stove!"
The little boy who was playing with mud came running and obediently started to help Jiang Lai light the stove, puffing air and asking while doing so.
"Auntie, what are you doing?"
"Frying eggs."
When the little boy heard about the eggs, he drooled immediately out of hunger.
"Are the fried eggs for little aunt?"
"They’re for Gou Dan."
"Grandma won’t allow it, Grandma will hit."
Even young Gou Dan knew who had the final say in this family and that the eggs in the cupboard were saved by Grandma for little aunt to eat.
Jiang Lai smiled, scooping a large spoonful of lard into the pan. Once it spread, she quickly cracked all eight eggs into it. The aroma of the genuine grass eggs, with their big, red yolks, mixed with the unique scent of pig lard, filled the cramped space and wafted out through the chimney.
Jiang Lai served herself four eggs while the two children each got two, sitting outside with chipped bowls to eat.
Gou Dan cherished every little bite of his egg while the two-year-old Ermao greedily stuffed egg into his mouth along with his snot and drool.
Jiang Lai even dipped a bit of sugar, and after downing four eggs, finally dissipated the intense hunger in her stomach.
As soon as they finished eating, the courtyard door was pushed open, Xie Yumian entered and smelled the fragrance of the eggs. She thought her mom had come back early to make them for her, but was surprised to see Jiang Lai and the two kids each holding a bowl and eating eggs.
"Sister-in-law, what are you doing?"
Jiang Lai gave her a glance, calmly swallowed the last bite, and then tossed the empty bowl to Gou Dan to wash.
"Was hungry, so I’m eating eggs."
Xie Yumian looked at Jiang Lai, shocked by the oil glistening on her face, and then rushed into the kitchen, seeing the leftover oil in the pan and the open cupboard with half of the eggs gone.
"Sister-in-law, how could you steal and eat the family’s eggs? Our whole family saved up so many eggs, and you ate more than half in one go!"
Jiang Lai wiped the oil off her mouth and sighed comfortably.
"People are starving. Besides, these eggs belong to the Xie family, and I am part of the Xie family. What’s wrong with eating a few eggs? Is it against the law?"
Xie Yumian couldn’t believe Jiang Lai dared to talk to her like this. After stealing the family’s most precious eggs, not only was she unperturbed, but she was also quite arrogant. Too angry to speak for a moment, she glanced at Jiang Lai, then turned and walked towards the fields.
Soon, a sharp, harsh scolding came from outside, growing closer and closer, scaring Gou Dan, who had just eaten the eggs, into hiding behind Jiang Lai.
"Auntie, Grandma’s going to hit us."
Before, when he was greedy and ate little aunt’s malted milk, Grandma had tugged his ear and scolded him. Having eaten little aunt’s eggs today, he’s surely going to be beaten again.
But even if he gets beaten, he’s not afraid. As long as he can eat eggs, a beating is nothing.
If he got beaten every day and could eat every day, he’d actually wish for Grandma to beat him daily.
Lv Cuiping returned angrily with the other two daughters-in-law, glaring at Jiang Lai first, then rushing eagerly into the kitchen. In the next moment, furious shouting erupted from inside.
"You gluttonous wretch! Ate so many of our eggs! Trying to die tonight, eating so many eggs — eight, eating eight! Why didn’t you, a starving ghost, burst? Our Xie family must have had eight generations of bad luck to land with you, this gluttonous dead woman!"
Lv Cuiping’s cursing skills were renowned in the entire village. Her fiery demeanor had everyone in her family, sons, and daughters-in-law alike, well-disciplined. Besides her daughter, she wasn’t kind to anyone else. Now, Jiang Lai eating eight eggs in one go almost made her faint with rage, cursing non-stop while grabbing a broom from the wall and swinging it at Jiang Lai.
Here, a mother-in-law beating her daughter-in-law was the norm, and already, a crowd was gathering at the door to watch the drama unfold.
The broom came down with force, but Jiang Lai reached out, grabbed it, and with a tug of her arm, pulled the broom right out of Lv Cuiping’s hands.
"What’s wrong with me and my niece and nephew eating a few eggs? I figured since I never see eggs at the table, and the youngest, Gou Dan and Ermao, have never had eggs, and the second daughter-in-law who’s pregnant hasn’t even smelled eggs, I thought you all didn’t like eating them."
By this time, the eldest daughter-in-law had asked Gou Dan, and with oil still shining on their lips, it was obvious they, too, had eaten the eggs.
The second daughter-in-law’s heart soured at Jiang Lai’s words.
Indeed, she hadn’t seen these eggs, and everyone knew exactly who they were meant for — for their precious little sister-in-law, of course.
