She Only Cares About Cultivation

The rain gradually stopped at midnight, but in this era, dirt roads are everywhere, and the ground doesn’t dry overnight. The next day, she still had to wear rubber shoes to school. The sky was overcast, and everything went smoothly on the road. Unexpectedly, Zhang Li arrived even earlier than she did, but her face didn’t look good, seemingly dejected and lying on the couch, while the child was crawling up and down beside her.

An Yi greeted her warmly and immediately took the child out of the carrier. Freed, An Ran saw the little brother and crawled over, cooing continuously. However, the little brother didn’t want to play with her at all. Instead, he kept lifting his mother’s clothes and nudging towards Zhang Li’s bosom, humming and whining, seemingly... hungry?

This morning, they had eaten at home before coming, and the child was lively and vigorous, contrasting sharply with the pale-faced, even skinny Fuwa, not knowing how many times happier.

The child couldn’t find food and started crying. Meanwhile, An Ran joined the commotion and inadvertently got slapped by Fuwa. The girl pursed her lips, looked towards her, and immediately cried out loud, making her somewhat amused: "You, you~~~"

Zhang Li propped herself up to sit, apologetic, and pulled Fuwa over to hit him, but An Yi stopped her.

"Don’t hit the child; he didn’t do anything wrong. An’an doesn’t understand; the child is hungry. Didn’t you have any meals? Here, I have a cornmeal bun, scrape some for the child, and eat some yourself."

The bun she offered wasn’t refined grain; it was coarse grain but without any mixed vegetables or chaff. Just corn ground with skin, steamed and served hot; it’s fine when warm, but once cooled, it can be somewhat choking and scratchy for the throat. Compared to the black vegetable buns made with chaff, this was many times better; at least, it’s still grain.

She didn’t ask Zhang Li why she hadn’t eaten or what had happened at her home. She just silently handed over two still warm buns, moving Zhang Li to tears while holding her child. The child saw the buns, recognized them as food, and grabbed them immediately. An Yi hastily said.

"Stop crying. Feed him quickly. Look at how anxious the child is; how many meals has he missed?"

Seeing Zhang Li’s situation, could it be that her milk has run dry?

Thinking carefully, indeed, if one can’t eat enough, how would there be any milk? She sighed, took her thermos from under the table, poured a cup of warm water for the mother and child, and then sat on her own kang with An Ran. An Ran saw others eating and mumbled that she wanted food too.

She rummaged through her bag (space) and found two vegetable buns. The vegetable buns were made from a mixture of cornmeal and wheat flour with the freshest batch of wild vegetables, smelling fragrant and still warm. They were easy for children to digest. She also handed one to Zhang Li, scraping the rest for An’an, lest she take a big bite; she now had four teeth.

Zhang Li saw it was made with refined grain and firmly refused. An Yi said: "Take it. Nowadays, if there’s food, don’t hold back. Don’t save it away from the child. You need to be well-fed to produce milk; others may just blame you for not having milk, thinking it’s a lack of effort. For the child’s sake, eat more."

Though said so, Zhang Li ate only a little and stopped, intending to save it for noon or take it home for her two daughters.

Looking at her like this, An Yi felt some heartache: "Mr. Zhang, some words are inappropriate to say, but if I don’t, it’s distressing to watch. You’re earning a salary now; you should be strong where needed. Only when you rise up, your children will not suffer. I can only aid you temporarily, but not every day. My family’s refined grain is saved by her two aunts. We are three people supporting one child, and they are now working as temporary workers in the county with 21 kilograms of grain and 17.5 yuan monthly. To save refined grain for the child, they eat vegetable buns daily, but we are united in effort."

"You should be aware of the rumors about us three; we don’t care. This child is our future hope, so we’re willing to give. Of course, this benefits us, having fewer burdens. Your family’s network is complex; I know it’s complicated, but I still hope that when you need to be tough, definitely be tough. Otherwise, people will think you’re easy to bully, picking on soft persimmons. There are bullies everywhere; only by being tough yourself can you gain benefits for your child. To say nothing else, at least you and your husband should keep what you earn after filial duty."