She hadn’t eaten breakfast before heading out, so she bought a baked sesame cake to eat. After she finished it, she lifted the pole again to continue.

  Ning Shu was very not confident of the tofu she made today. There were still some tofu left unsold. After thinking about it for a bit, she decided to bring them back and squeeze the water content out of them to make dougan for Zhu Siyuan to eat. It was pretty good for polishing the teeth.

  Ning Shu first went to the post office to check if there were any letters or telegrams from Zhu Yanqiu. The people at the post office all knew Zhu Suniang so when they saw Ning Shu, they directly said, “Suniang, there’s a telegram for you today.”


  Ning Shu: →_→


  It was probably another request for money. Zhu Yanqiu was like creditor urging her to give him his money. F*ck him.

  Ning Shu took the telegram, paid the telegram fee, then read its contents. Zhu Yanqiu said that the weather was getting cold and that Shanghai’s climate was moist and cold, so he needed to buy an overcoat.

  Aka, he needed money.

  After leaving the post office, Ning Shu directly ripped the telegram that Zhu Yanqiu had sent to shreds. You freakin’ deserved to freeze to death, to be using this ma’am’s blood money to curry favor with another woman and act like a rich young master in front of other people. Scram!

  Ning Shu took the money she earned today from selling the tofu to a restaurant to buy a roast duck. After that, she headed to a butcher’s to buy two pounds of meat and a pound of large bones.

  The family generally ate meat only once every half a month, but Zhu Yanqiu went in and out of high class Western-style restaurants and enjoyed candlelight dinners.

  Ning Shu lifted the pole to head back home and found that the two-year-old Zhu Siyuan was currently playing in the courtyard. Mother Zhu was sitting on the porch watching the child while reinforcing the sole of a shoe.

  When Zhu Siyuan saw Ning Shu, he ran over. Ning Shu set down the pole and hugged Zhu Siyuan. This was Zhu Suniang’s precious baby.

  Zhu Siyuan was a bit skinny and his hair was slightly yellow. He seemed slightly malnourished, and this was even after Zhu Suniang would occasionally cook him an egg or make him some soy milk while she was making tofu.

  It could be said that the entire family was working together to raise Zhu Yanqiu and that he was sucking the very marrow sucked out of their bones.

  Mother Zhu sat down the shoe and came over. When she saw that there were still some tofu left and that Zhu Suniang had purchased meat and a roasted duck, she frowned. “How come you didn’t sell the tofu?”


  Ning Shu said, “I want to make some dougan for Siyuan to eat.”


  “Why are you wasting money buying so many things?” said Mother Zhu. “Yanqiu’s tuition fee is so expensive after all.”


  “Mother, I know what I’m doing.” Ning Shu lifted the pole again to carry the items into the kitchen.

  Mother Zhu didn’t say anything else. She personally went into the kitchen to cook and stir-fried the two pounds of meat with preserved dry plums. The glistening hot oil on the dish was very alluring. Ning Shu swallowed countless mouthfuls of saliva. She really wanted to eat it.

  Mother Zhu even cut the roast duck into thin slices and wrapped them with thin flat cakes. As expected of a rich madame, she knew how to eat.

  Ning Shu fed Zhu Siyuan bone soup and got him some red braised pork.

  Ning Shu ate until her mouth was covered with oil. Even Mother Zhu was barely paying attention to her manners as she ate.

  This feast was extremely delicious. The two adults and one child polished off all the food on the table. It had been too long since they’ve had meat, so they had really been starving.

  After dinner, Mother Zhu simply sat on the chair without moving. Ning Shu started collecting the bowls and the chopsticks.

  Mother Zhu asked, “Were there any letters from Yanqiu?”


  As Ning Shu washed the dishes, she said mildly, “No, but there probably will be soon.”


  Mother Zhu then said, “It’s getting cold. I made shoes for Yanqiu. When the time comes, take them to the post office to mail them to Yanqiu.”


  Ning Shu glanced at the cotton shoes that Mother Zhu had made. They were quite fine and all the threadwork was very neat. However, even if she mailed them over, Zhu Yanqiu wouldn’t wear them.

  Ning Shu nodded, then glanced at the clothing that Little Siyuan was wearing. They were extremely old and worn out. She should buy some cotton and cloth to make clothes for the kid, otherwise he’d freeze to death in the winter.

  There was no way Ning Shu would be like Zhu Suniang, insisting on starving herself to save money in order to give it to Zhu Yanqiu. All she cared about was raising the child well.

  Speaking of which, Zhu Suniang’s life was quite pitiful. She gave birth to the child and raised the child. Furthermore, she also raised the man and the entire family relied on her to feed them. Fuck. What use was Zhu Yanqiu?

  Later, Zhu Yanqiu got rich, but Zhu Suniang didn’t get a single bit of the benefit and was actually abandoned. It was the other person that was the kindred spirit and the comrade.

  Mother Zhu kept muttering about when Zhu Yanqiu would write a letter. In reality, Mother Zhu could find out just by going to the post office to ask, but she rarely left the courtyard. Mother Zhu was just like Zhu Yanqiu, there were both a bit scared of facing the outside world. And Zhu Yanqiu’s way of dealing with it was simply to use Western toys to support his faith.

  Mother Zhu had Zhu Suniang deal with everything that had to be done outside.

  Remember, correct links are in the comments section of the chapter announcement posts!