Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

He Daliang stood by and watched helplessly as pot after pot of snake soup was divided up, without his family getting a single bite.

His ribs were throbbing with pain, and his stomach was growling with hunger. He gritted his teeth and glared venomously in the direction of Jiang Xing's house.

Yang Cuihua didn't wail with her mother-in-law. She stood outside the crowd, watching those carrying snake soup, and then looked at her own empty stove. The thorn in her heart sank even deeper.

She turned and walked to the other side of the cave; she was going to find Jiang Xing.

Jiang Xing's family did not eat snake soup with the villagers. Instead, she lit a small fire in her own resting place, skinned and cleaned the two wild rabbits, cut them into pieces, and put them into a clay pot to stew.

The soup contains herbs to dispel wind and cold, such as wild ginger, saposhnikovia root, and perilla, making it a medicinal dish.

The rabbit meat tumbled in the pot, the aroma of herbs mingling with the fragrance of meat. She also added a few white flour pancakes, which she stuck to the side of the casserole and roasted until golden brown on both sides.

Third Uncle, Zhang Shi, and Xiao Niu are all sick. They have no strength to drink plain porridge and must eat meat.

When Yang Cuihua walked over, Jiang Xing was poking the rabbit meat in the pot with her chopsticks to see if it was cooked through. She heard footsteps, but she didn't look up. She knew who it was; she had heard all the noise from the cave earlier.

She didn't want to look up or see Yang Cuihua; she wasn't worth wasting a single glance on her.

Yang Cuihua stood a few steps away, watching the pot of rabbit stew bubbling and boiling, while the white flour pancakes sizzled and glistened with oil beside the pot.

She looked at her empty hands again. Her family couldn't even get a sip of snake soup, yet Jiang Xing was stewing rabbit meat here and even serving white flour pancakes.

Her eyes were red-rimmed, and she was furious.

Why? Why does this brat eat so well? He Daliang was beaten so badly that he couldn't even get a sip of hot soup, but this brat is doing so well, eating meat, drinking soup, and eating white flour pancakes. She's living a better life than before she fled the famine.

"Jiang Daya, you're certainly enjoying your meal here," Yang Cuihua said, her voice low but dripping with sarcasm. "Your mother can't even get a sip of snake soup, and you're eating rabbit meat all by yourself? Bah! You heartless wretch!"

Jiang Xing didn't look up. She used her chopsticks to flip the rabbit meat in the pot over and poked the white bread to see if it was cooked through.

Seeing that she remained silent, Yang Cuihua became bolder.

She took a step forward, one hand on her hip, the other pointing at Zhang and Xiao Niu, her tone becoming increasingly sharp: "Look at them, the old and the young, each one a burden, lying there so sick, just a bunch of burdens."

"How long can they live? You're feeding them meat and soup so readily, aren't you just wasting food? They're just a burden anyway, so let them fend for themselves and save the food to help your Uncle He recover!"

Jiang Xing stopped, chopsticks between her fingers, and slowly raised her head, looking directly at Yang Cuihua for the first time.

Yang Cuihua didn't notice that his eyes were sinking.

Seeing Jiang Xing look up, she became even more energized, took another step forward, and smiled, the kind of smug smile that made her think she had persuaded him: "He Daliang is your stepfather, it's only natural for you to be filial to him."

"In the end, you're just a girl who'll get married sooner or later. Why cling to this family, this burden? Why not come back to the He family with me? You're strong and capable of working. If you work hard and take care of your Uncle He's two brothers, you can help me out. If you're well-behaved, your Uncle He might be able to find you a good marriage..."

Jiang Xing gently placed the chopsticks in his hand on the edge of the pot.

She stood up, facing Yang Cuihua, her expression icy, so cold that the air within several feet seemed to have lost its warmth.

She didn't say a word; just by standing up, Yang Cuihua subconsciously took half a step back.

But Yang Cuihua didn't stop talking; she kept talking to herself, as if using incessant talking to embolden herself: "I knew you were all bark and no bite. Here's what you'll do: take this pot of meat soup to your Uncle He and apologize. Just say you know you were wrong and that you'll come back to the He family. Your Uncle He is a magnanimous man; he'll definitely forgive you..."

As she spoke, she bent down and reached for the clay pot. Her fingers barely touched the edge of the pot before she recoiled from the heat and reached out again.

She hadn't even had a chance to pick it up yet.

Jiang Xing suddenly found himself holding a sharpened wooden stick.

Without even glancing at Yang Cuihua, she flicked her wrist, and the wooden stick flew out of her hand, tracing a short arc in the firelight, passing over Yang Cuihua's shoulder, over several rows of fires, and precisely piercing He Daliang's shoulder.

When He Daliang saw Yang Cuihua go to find Jiang Xing, especially when he saw Yang Cuihua preparing to bring back that pot of meat soup, he couldn't help but feel smug. At least Yang Cuihua had some brains.

He was leisurely waiting for Yang Cuihua to bring him the meat soup, completely unaware of what was happening. He only felt a sharp pain in his right shoulder, and when he looked down, he saw a wooden stick stuck in his shoulder socket, the sharpened end already three inches into his flesh, the end still trembling slightly, blood flowing down the stick, soaking half of his sleeve.

His screams echoed throughout the entire cave in that instant.