Su Xiaoqi twisted her waist and struggled, but the hand was very strong.
She couldn't break free for a while, sweat beaded on her forehead, and a shiver jolted her awake.
Looking down, her waist had indeed been bandaged and medicated, but no one was in the room.
A thought flashed through Su Xiaoqi's mind, but recalling the look of disgust he had given her, she shook her head.
It definitely wasn't him; it must have been Shen Xiaomei!
As she was pondering, a sharp cry sounded from outside the door.
"Hey, steaming white rice again, and braised pork...
Are you guys pigs fattened for slaughter—dead meat.
Knowing good things and not filial to elders, but hiding in the house to eat alone."
Upon hearing the voice, Su Xiaoqi knew that Madam Qian had arrived.
Indeed, she treated the Shen family like her own backyard, coming and going as she pleased.
After snatching so much white rice, she had also sent twenty jin of pork to their home.
It hadn't been long before she was eyeing their provisions again.
To protect the pork remaining in the kitchen.
Her mind raced, and she instantly concealed the meat in her space telekinetically.
Su Xiaoqi opened her consciousness and felt the meat enter her space, her heart soaring with joy.
She had always believed that her space could only store items produced within it, not external objects, but it turned out she was wrong.
Furthermore, it had unlocked her skill of telekinetic storage.
She just didn't know the range limit for this telekinetic ability.
"Hey, where's the meat? I just saw a basket of meat here, why is it gone now, where did the meat go..."
Madam Qian's eyes widened as she jumped around the kitchen, rummaging through cabinets and drawers.
But besides the two jin of streaky pork in the pot, there was no other meat to be found.
Madam Qian, unwilling to give up, pointed at Shen Xiaomei and Shen Yun and cursed them.
She declared that the siblings must be undutiful and disobedient, deliberately hiding the meat.
Shen Xiaomei was also bewildered. She had seen her elder sister-in-law place the meat by the water缸, but how could it have vanished in the blink of an eye?
Shen Yun, however, remained relatively calm. For some reason, even though Su Xiaoqi wasn't present, he felt this matter was related to her.
"Auntie, that's enough. Everyone in the village knows how the wild boar meat was distributed.
You can't wrongly accuse us, otherwise, I will have to ask the village elder to mediate for us."
Hearing the name of the village elder, Madam Qian immediately recalled how half of the white rice she had snatched from the Shen family had been confiscated by him, making her grit her teeth in hatred.
But unfortunately, he was someone she couldn't afford to offend.
She could only stomp her feet, and as she left, she reached into the pot of simmering streaky pork and pinched a piece.
She scalded herself badly, but at least she managed to pick off two liang of meat before leaving.
Su Xiaoqi stood at the doorway watching her, a cold sneer playing on her lips.
Madam Qian paid no mind, spitting a glob of phlegm in her direction, which instantly disgusted Su Xiaoqi.
In her heart, she silently muttered: May a stray cat snatch that meat away.
She was merely muttering out of annoyance, not expecting to hear a "meow" from outside shortly after.
A black stray cat darted out and lunged at the fragrant streaky pork in Madam Qian's hand.
What followed was an intense confrontation between the woman and the cat, which ended in Madam Qian's defeat.
Having watched the drama unfold through the crack in the door, Su Xiaoqi retrieved the meat from her space.
She specifically called Shen Xiaomei to her room and told her that she had hidden it.
Shen Xiaomei patted her forehead, looking somewhat confused. Was the meat in the kitchen or in her elder sister-in-law's room?
Fearing that Shen Xiaomei would overthink, Su Xiaoqi quickly pointed to the gauze on her waist and asked if she had applied any medicine.
Su Xiaoqi shook her head and said no, she had been too busy cooking and hadn't had the chance.
Su Xiaoqi's heart sank, and she narrowed her eyes, looking towards the kitchen.
Her gaze met Shen Yun's, who was standing at the doorway.
Su Xiaoqi's eyes flickered, and her face inexplicably flushed as she lowered her gaze.
Madam Qian's commotion and the temporary disappearance and reappearance of the pork were soon overshadowed by the lavish dinner.
Fragrant and white rice, large chunks of aromatic streaky pork.
And stir-fried wild vegetables that others had exchanged for meat, a meal with both meat and vegetables, which the five members of the Shen family ate with great relish.
"Elder sister-in-law, you're amazing. Fortunately, you taught me.
Otherwise, I wouldn't know how to make braised pork." Shen Xiaomei gave Su Xiaoqi a series of thumbs-ups.
Su Xiaoqi also praised her generously:
"It's your cleverness. I only told you once, and you learned it. Making it so delicious with insufficient seasonings shows great talent."
As they praised each other, the other three quietly ate their meals.
Unknowingly, an ineffable understanding spread across the small wooden table.
Shen Erdan was still young and would only remember the good and forget the bad.
He only felt that his current elder sister-in-law was particularly kind to him, always giving him the best food, and even serving him dishes. He had almost forgotten about the poisoning incident.
Zhao Shi was extremely kind-hearted, perhaps to a fault.
She had been wary of Su Xiaoqi at first, but after these events, and hearing Shen Yun say that Su Xiaoqi had risked her own injury to protect Xiaomei today.
She wondered if what had happened then was her hallucination.
As for Shen Yun, his attitude was the most resolute. Anyone showing excessive kindness without cause was either deceitful or a thief.
Once she had cured Erdan's muteness, a divorce was still in order.
She harbored too many secrets and was not suited to remain in this household.