Transmigrated as an Unwanted Ugly Girl

Chapter 430: Chapter 226: One Family (Part 2)

The hardships of rural life in her past life felt so distant now. A long period of city living separated her from those memories, and she had long forgotten what it was truly like. It had all become just hollow words on a page. But no matter how fitting the words, without personal experience, one could never truly understand the effort and toil behind the saying that "every single grain comes from hardship."

She handed cotton cloths to Qingmu and Zhang Huai so they could wash their faces.

Zhang Huai grinned widely at her, showing a set of white teeth. "Heh heh," he chuckled. "Food tastes best when you’re this hungry. I haven’t even eaten, but just smelling it makes me happy. There’s nothing better than coming home to a delicious hot meal after a hard day’s work."

After saying that, he perhaps felt he sounded a bit pathetic, like a starving man who couldn’t wait to eat. He gave Juhua an embarrassed, goofy smile and pulled the cotton cloth from around his neck—already soaked through with sweat. "I’ll just use this one," he told her. "I’ll wring it out first. It’s better than getting your clean one all dirty."

As he spoke, he secretly glanced over at Juhua to see if she was tired. He relaxed when he saw that her spirits were still high and she didn’t look exhausted.

Qingmu, who had been listening nearby, quickly chimed in, "Hey! No need for that. We all have our own cloths for wiping sweat, we can just use those to wash our faces."

Zhang Dashuan and Zheng Changhe walked over. Laughing heartily, Zhang Dashuan said to Juhua, "Juhua, you got each of us a cotton cloth to wipe our sweat. Uncle Zhang feels a whole lot better now. Ah! I’m telling you, Changhe, I’m so envious that you have a daughter. Daughters are just the best—they’re their parents’ little source of warmth! Sons are so much more thoughtless by comparison. After we had Yangzi, I dreamt of having a daughter too. But as you can see, it never happened."

Zheng Changhe laughed smugly. "Well, whose fault is it you didn’t try harder? Let me tell you, of course daughters are great. My Juhua is even more meticulous than her own mother! From my clothes to my shoes and socks, she prepares everything for me just perfectly..."

Hearing them talk like that, He quickly cut them off. "Listen to you two! Isn’t Juhua just like a daughter to me, too? Now, hurry up and wash so we can eat."

Juhua also found her father’s and Uncle Zhang’s banter amusing. She smiled and went inside, heading to the kitchen to help Madam Yang bring out the dishes.

Zhang Yang, who had already washed up and looked refreshed, said to his father, "Dad, sons aren’t so bad. A son can bring you a daughter-in-law, can’t he?" ’No matter how wonderful Juhua is,’ he thought, ’she’s going to marry my brother someday. Won’t that make her Dad’s daughter anyway?’ He didn’t dare say that out loud, though, or Uncle Zheng would be upset.

Just as he’d expected, Zhang Dashuan was delighted to hear that, but Zheng Changhe was not. Still, there was nothing to be done about it; he couldn’t keep his daughter from ever getting married. ’Well, if she marries Huai Zi, she’ll be right next door,’ he mused. ’I could see her whenever I wanted.’ The thought made him feel a little better.

Zhang Dashuan wiped his face and sighed in relief. "A splash of this well water is so refreshing. And look at this wheat—the grains are huge. It’s clear that last year’s heavy snow did it a world of good."

Zheng Changhe glanced at the grains of wheat beneath the stalks and broke into a contented smile. "I’m definitely setting some of this aside. My Juhua makes the most delicious flatbreads, and she loves them, so we’ll keep plenty. We can’t have the kids eating corn cakes all the time."

Qingmu chuckled. ’Who wouldn’t be happy about having white flour to eat?’ He felt the well water was indeed sweet and refreshing. After washing up, the sweltering heat and fatigue were washed away. All he needed was to fill his stomach, and he’d be raring to go again.

He drew up another bucket of water. "Ah, this water feels so good, I really want to take a bath."

He interjected from the side, "Don’t talk nonsense. It may feel hot, but you can’t just take a cold bath."

Zhang Dashuan laughed. "Not right now, you can’t. But in a few days, when we’re done with the fieldwork, we can jump right into the Little Qing River and get a good wash from head to toe."

As they were talking, a call for dinner came from inside the house.

The two families were close, so they didn’t bother separating the men and women. Everyone, young and old, crowded around a single table. Seeing such a lively scene filled Zhang Dashuan and Zheng Changhe with joy. ’This is almost like we’re one big family!’

He and Madam Yang were also smiling from ear to ear, overjoyed as they watched the youngsters. They were careful not to show it too much, though, for fear of saying something inappropriate that might make Juhua feel awkward.

Since Zhang Yang was the youngest at the table, everyone started teasing him, saying that their future scholar must be exhausted today.

Zhang Yang knew everyone was making fun of him. He shoveled down a bowl of rice to take the edge off his hunger, then announced with a perfectly straight face, "You should all feel lucky. You’re eating with me today, but who knows what I’ll become in the future? A Scholar? A scholar? Maybe even the Champion Scholar—it’s not impossible! If I become the Prime Minister of our Jing Country, then you’ll all be able to brag to people: ’That one year, I had dinner at the same table as the Prime Minister!’"

Without waiting for a response, he got another bowl of rice, grabbed some more food, and lowered his head to dig in.

Everyone at the table stared in stunned silence for a moment before erupting into boisterous laughter.

Zhang Dashuan scolded laughingly, "You little brat! I don’t care if you’re the Champion Scholar or the Prime Minister, I’ll still be your dad."

Zhang Huai shot his brother a look, trying to hold back a smile. "By that logic, don’t I have the biggest bragging rights? I’ve been eating at the same table with you for years."

He also tapped her youngest son on the head with her chopsticks. "And I’m the one who gave birth to you."

Qingmu also laughed, taking a jab at the boy. "I think you should focus on actually becoming a Scholar first. That’s what really matters. If you can’t even manage that, then all this other talk is just hot air."

Zheng Changhe was the most supportive of all. "Yangzi," he said to Zhang Yang, "you hurry up and become a Champion Scholar, and then Uncle Zheng can share in some of the glory. But, uh... what in the world is a Prime Minister?"

The laughter that had just died down started up again, though this time it was only the youngsters laughing.

Qingmu briefly explained to his father that a Prime Minister was an official rank, the highest of them all. This left Zheng Changhe completely stunned. He immediately turned to Zhang Yang and urged him repeatedly to study hard and strive to become Prime Minister one day.

Juhua found Zhang Yang’s awkward expression hilarious. ’You’ve really gone and done it now,’ she thought. ’Guess you’ll have to spend the rest of your life working to become Prime Minister.’

"To the people, food is heaven." A timeless truth!

No matter how bitter or exhausting things got, life always seemed brighter after a full meal. All their hopes and dreams found a reason and the momentum to carry on.

After a short rest, the group threw themselves back into the intense yet joyful work, only letting their spirits relax once every last stalk of golden wheat was stored in the granary.