Fangfang quickly brought a bowl of rice.
To welcome the new sister-in-law, she specially scooped a large spoonful of lard, scalded it with boiling water, and mixed it into the rice, making it fragrant.
Walking with the bowl, she couldn't help but swallow.
When she handed the bowl to her brother in the room, seeing that she still knew to add lard to the rice, Peng Fei intuitively felt that his sister had grown up.
He not only smiled at her but also patted her head.
Fangfang could feel that her brother liked his sister-in-law very much, possibly because she was beautiful.
She hadn't seen her brother smile like this or pat her head like this in a long time.
Apart from his mother and sisters, Peng Fei had not had close contact with any other women.
It was the first time in his life he was feeding a woman.
He squatted by the bed, trying his best to keep his hands and voice from trembling, and called out to Zhan Jingchun.
“Get up and eat something. Are you hungry? Eat something before you sleep.”
Zhan Jingchun was indeed very hungry, so hungry that she didn't have the strength to say to Peng Fei: Let me go, okay? As long as you let me go, forget the mere twenty-five thousand, I can give you 250,000, 2.5 million, 25 million.
They were poor, relying on farming, and perhaps wouldn't earn so much money in two lifetimes. He would definitely be tempted.
She knew she had to eat, to cheer up and recover her strength, so she could find a way to leave here as soon as possible.
But her body was truly uncooperative; she couldn't move.
It was only after Peng Fei called out several times that she weakly opened her eyelids.
Seeing her lips so dry they were peeling, blue capillaries showing on her snow-white eyelids, and her fair, jade-like hands so thin that all the veins were visible, Peng Fei felt extremely heartbroken.
He scooped a spoonful of rice, blew on it to cool it, and offered it to her.
“Are you too tired? Then eat lying down.”
Zhan Jingchun weakly opened her mouth, but even being this hungry, she couldn't eat this oddly flavored rice.
The rice was indescribably coarse. She didn't know what to compare it to. It scraped her mouth, and inside, it was mixed with something greasy, emitting a strange smell.
As soon as the rice entered her mouth, she couldn't help but want to spit it out.
Seeing her about to spit out the rice, Peng Fei quickly offered his palm, and the rice was spit into his palm.
“What's wrong? Do you still want to vomit?”
Zhan Jingchun didn't want to cry. Since childhood, she had received positive reinforcement.
Her father, mother, brothers, and sisters, everyone was telling her with their actions, by example, not to panic when encountering problems, to calm down, and she would surely find a solution. Tears were the most useless things.
But at this moment, she couldn't help it.
She didn't know where she was, how long she had been separated from her companions, whether her daddy and mommy knew she had disappeared, or how anxious they were now.
Thinking about the life she had at home, the food she ate, the people she interacted with, and looking at her current situation… she really missed home.
Seeing that she wasn't speaking and wasn't eating anymore, Peng Fei closed his eyes and cried silently. Crystal tears dripped down. He was anxious and didn't know what to do, so he looked helplessly at his mother.
His mother snorted, “I told you so. She looks like someone who has never worked before, spoiled and pampered. She probably can’t get used to our food here. And you even added lard for her? I think she’s just not hungry enough.”
“The Zhang family in front, the Li family behind, which daughter-in-law wasn't starved for a few days when she first came, given a bit of a show of dominance, and then served food? Only you spoil people like this.”
Peng Fei ignored his mother, but he caught a key point in her words.
She couldn't get used to the food here.
Zhan Jingchun's body was too weak and urgently needed nutrition. He would go and cook something delicious for her.
The rice spit into his hand was also a waste, so Peng Fei directly put the rice that Zhan Jingchun had taken a bite of into his own mouth, and licked his palm.
“We spent a lot of money to buy her. You don’t want to see her starve to death, do you? I’ll go stew two eggs for her.”
“Stew eggs for her again? She’s not giving birth and in confinement!”
“Then what? Let her starve? If she dies, we’ll just marry someone else, and the twenty-five thousand will be wasted?”
Peng Mama was speechless for several seconds by her son’s retort. She glared fiercely at her unpromising son and stomped her foot.
“I’ll go stew! Just one!”
“Your sister is about to have her third child, and we still need to save 50 for her. We don’t have much at home to begin with. If you eat two at once, how are we going to live?”
Regardless, his mother agreed to cook something delicious. The brother and sister exchanged a look and secretly smiled.
After his mother left, Fangfang, with curiosity and shyness, walked to the bedside and stared at Zhan Jingchun’s face, whispering to her brother.
“She’s so beautiful, so fair. Is Snow White in the books like this? Brother, she’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen in my life. I like her.”
Of course, she was also the most beautiful person Peng Fei had ever seen. Peng Fei liked her too, but he didn’t dare to say it.
He gently reached out and stroked his sister’s head again.
“Go help Mom with the fire, or she’ll scold you later. She’s not well right now. Let her eat two more eggs. When she gets better, she won’t eat them anymore, and they’ll be saved for you to recuperate.”
Fangfang was very sensible and quickly waved her hands, “I don’t want them, I’m in good health. They’re all for sister-in-law. Don’t worry, brother, I’m not angry.”
After speaking, Fangfang obediently ran to the kitchen to help.
Zhan Jingchun listened to their simple and poor conversation and gradually stabilized her emotions.
She guessed that they were probably not bad people, but simply poor and unable to find a way out, which led them to act this way.
Eat well, recover her strength quickly, and when she can speak fluently, even if her daddy and mommy can’t find this place, she can rely on herself to get out!
An egg was mixed with half a bowl of water, and it didn't even look like a steamed egg custard. As it was brought over, Peng Mama was still complaining.
“Your brother Li Jian’s wife is very fiery. When she first came, she cried and made a scene. After being beaten and starved, she calmed down after a few days of struggling.”
“You can’t tell anyone, or people will know that our family stewed eggs for the new daughter-in-law as soon as she arrived, and they’ll laugh their heads off!”
“Alright. Feed her quickly, and then go out to work. There are so many weeds in the fields that haven’t been removed. We can’t neglect the crops just because we’ve married a new wife, can we?”
Peng Fei looked at the egg custard, smiled at his mother, who was tough on the outside but soft on the inside, and then squatted by the bed to feed Zhan Jingchun again.
Peng Mama took a hoe and went to the fields first. He felt more at ease speaking after she left.
“I stewed an egg for you, and I even added some cilantro. It tastes really good. Try it and see if you can get used to it.”
Zhan Jingchun tried hard to open her eyes again, looking at the young, dark-skinned man with a grateful expression, and slowly opened her mouth.
This time, it was indeed better than before. Although it had no flavor, at least it wasn't disgusting.
Peng Fei patiently fed her spoonful by spoonful. She ate more than half a bowl of the egg mixed with water and then wanted to drink water.
“I’ll go pour it.”
Peng Fei rushed to the kitchen and brought back half a bowl of warm water to feed her.
After drinking, she looked at him with a flushed face, reluctant to leave.
“Are you full?”