Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Precious Darling-Chapter 30: The Masses Have Sharp Eyes

Raina wasn’t quite used to her grandson being so polite, either; it felt a little awkward. But hearing others praise him, she instantly puffed out her chest, immensely proud. "My Howard has been sensible since he was a boy. As if I needed you to tell me!"

"Yes, of course... Third Grandma, you’re so fortunate."

The others offered polite compliments, but inwardly they were utterly disdainful. ’Sensible since he was a boy?’

Humph. Weren’t they afraid of getting struck by lightning for lying? Just a few days ago, it was Howard Thorne who had started the fight, and the person he beat up was from his uncle’s generation! That little tyrant, Howard Thorne, had been causing that kind of trouble his whole life. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Raina, buoyed by the compliments, skipped back home gleefully to eat. And just like that, the commotion subsided.

Tang Xiaonan and her three older brothers headed back the way they came and once again ran into villagers eating in groups. Like a broken record, she told everyone she saw—

"My grandma gave us pork knuckles and soybeans. They were delicious!"

Although the villagers were skeptical about the newfound harmony between the Thorne family’s mother- and daughter-in-law, the bowls of food were real. They had no choice but to believe it.

By the time Tang Xiaonan and her brothers got home, word of their family’s affairs was already spreading through the village.

"Did you hear? This afternoon, Phoebe Huxley had her kids deliver a big bowl of steamed meat with egg and another big bowl of stir-fried pickled vegetables with large intestines to her in-laws! It’s true, I saw it with my own eyes. And Raina even sent back a bowl of pork knuckles and soybeans!"

"Just the other day I heard Raina bad-mouthing Phoebe Huxley. How are things so good all of a sudden?"

"They’re still family, no matter what. They can’t be enemies forever. Besides, I think Howard and his brothers have gotten much more sensible. They even know that ’of all virtues, filial piety is foremost.’ Tsk... They’re educated, after all. They even talk with a bit of class."

"Phoebe Huxley definitely didn’t say that. She can’t even recite Mao’s Little Red Book completely, how would she know about such things? I really didn’t see it coming, but it looks like the Thorne family’s three boys have really turned over a new leaf."

"Girls change as they grow up, and it’s the same for boys. They just get sensible when they reach a certain age. We’ll just have to see how they act from now on. If they stay like this, Felix and Aurelia will have it made!"

...

The eyes of the public are sharp; not even the slightest change could escape their keen observation. Tang Xiaonan’s hard work on day one had paid off. The whole village was now quietly watching Howard and his brothers, waiting to see if they had truly changed for the better or if this was just a passing whim.

The Thorne family’s dinner was still lavish, though with a little less meat. The family couldn’t afford to have extravagant feasts for every meal. While they still had a good amount of meat left, it needed to last for a year. Phoebe Huxley was a bit of a spendthrift, but she wasn’t one to squander the family’s savings.

The leftover meat and fatty intestines from lunch were stewed in a pot with some potatoes and radishes. Some bamboo shoots were added to the cured meat, and it was steamed again. Phoebe also stir-fried a separate dish of vegetable skin rolls. The vegetables were from their own yard, and she had made the skin rolls during the New Year.

Vegetable skin rolls were a signature dish of Vessaria. Every household would make some for the New Year. They were made by wrapping a meat filling in tofu skin, rolling it into long cylinders, deep-frying them, and then cutting them into segments to be stored. A batch could last all winter.

These skin rolls also had a prettier name, "Ringing Bells," but everyone in Vessaria just called them "skin rolls," which sounded more down-to-earth.

"Where are the pork knuckles and soybeans my mom stewed?" Felix Thorne glanced at the dishes on the table but didn’t see his old lady’s pork knuckles and soybeans.

Phoebe Huxley snapped irritably, "I searched all through it. There wasn’t a single pig bristle to be found, just a pile of soybeans. Not even a drop of oil. I threw it in with the pig feed."