Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 46 - 45: Don’t Push Your Luck, Kid

Chapter 46: Chapter 45: Don’t Push Your Luck, Kid
After Liu Ji savored this earthly delicacy, he opened his eyes to see four kids holding bowls of white porridge, staring at him with longing, swallowing their saliva.
Oh, he nearly forgot that their stepmother had punished them by forbidding them to eat meat tonight. Any chopsticks reaching out for meat were smacked back by Qin Yao, allowing them only to eat vegetables.
Liu Ji clicked his tongue in sympathy twice, and happily began his dinner.
Just a small bowl of sparrow meat, he thought at first that with so many people eating together, there wouldn’t be much to savor. But who would have thought, it was just him and Qin Yao, the wicked woman, sharing it.
A small half-bowl each was enough, he wasn’t greedy. Liu Ji thought happily.
Qin Yao also found today’s dish particularly fragrant, taking bite after bite, the delicious taste reminded her of the days before the apocalypse, when she had just returned home from University for the winter vacation.
Her parents had cooked a table full of the dishes she loved, full of color, aroma, and taste.
But since then, wanting to eat such stir-fried dishes had become a luxury.
The four Da Lang siblings, drinking thick white porridge and gnawing on crunchy vegetables, found the originally decent meal tasteless.
Second Lang thought to himself that it was the stepmother’s fault for feeding them too well, making them feel that porridge with vegetables was tasteless, as if they were the young masters of a landlord’s house, not satisfied even with dragon meat.
Facing four pairs of bulb-like eyes filled with longing, Liu Ji’s conscience did not stir, thinking of giving them a small piece each to taste.
Otherwise, it would be a pity that no one knew about his rare cooking skills.
Unexpectedly, just as he picked out a piece of meat, Qin Yao’s cold eyes swept over.
"Don’t want to eat anymore, huh?"
She reached out with her bowl towards him, "If not, give it to me."
Saying so, she swiftly transferred the remaining five pieces of sparrow meat from Liu Ji’s bowl to her own, savoring each piece with delight.
Liu Ji cast an annoyed glance at the four kids, see, even dad didn’t get to eat.
The four siblings biting their chopsticks, the hope in their eyes was utterly extinguished.
Sanlang and Si Niang were so greedy they cried, wiping tears, they choked on the porridge and vegetables, knowing they were punished for their mistakes, they dared not make a sound.
Even Liu Ji, with his heart of stone, found it hard to bear.
He looked up to see Qin Yao eating with relish as a small pile of bones quickly formed in front of her, finishing three big bowls of porridge, satisfied as she put down her bowl and chopsticks.
Second Lang couldn’t resist and timidly asked, "Auntie, can I suck on the leftover bones?"
Qin Yao was taken aback, Liu Erlang, don’t be too outrageous!
"No!" Qin Yao swept all the bones into a bowl, handed it to Liu Ji, and asked him to burn them in the stove.
Second Lang watched as the bones disappeared into the stove’s opening, only then did he give up with an "oh."
But the good thing was, with all the meat gone, it was less torturous not to see it.
The four siblings eventually finished their meal and were rejuvenated, chirpily playing their little games in the hall.
Qin Yao waited for Liu Ji to finish washing the dishes and tidying up the stove, then spoke:
"On my way back today, I heard that on the fifteenth the county office is selling oxen. I want to buy some ox tendon and get the New Year’s goods and some coal sorted out. Let’s go into town together that day, you get up early."
"Going into town?" Liu Ji was pleasantly surprised, nodding quickly, "Okay, okay."
He loved going to town the most!
The four kids nearby quieted down.
Da Lang curiously asked, "Dad, is the county far away?"
Second Lang also asked, "Dad, is the county fun?"
Liu Ji answered, "Of course it’s far, it takes more than two hours to walk from our village to the county, we have to set off before dawn."
"But there are lots of fun things in the county, there are restaurants, gambling houses, rouge houses..."
Second Lang excitedly asked, "Dad, what’s a rouge house? Do they sell rouge? Have you been there?"
Liu Ji couldn’t help but laugh at his son’s words, "Silly boy, rouge houses definitely don’t sell rouge, they sell meat..."
The words stopped abruptly, Liu Ji suddenly realized he was about to say something inappropriate for children, so he hurriedly cleared his throat, stopping mid-sentence:
"Nothing, nothing, there’s not much fun in the county."
But it sounded so fun. Da Lang wondered.
Second Lang, not getting an answer, asked again, "Dad, have you been to the rouge house to buy meat?"
Liu Ji hastily glanced at Qin Yao, gesturing to his son to keep quiet and stop asking, then turned around saying he was going to boil water in the kitchen.
Unexpectedly, Qin Yao also interestedly asked, "Have you been there or not?"
"Of course... not." Liu Ji lowered his head, shaking his empty sleeves, knowing he would be kicked out even from the doorway with that look.
The four Da Lang siblings still held fond imaginations of this rouge house, thinking that when they grew up and went to the city, they must go and see it.
Although they yearned to go to the county together, knowing their short legs would hold them back, they sensibly said nothing, just trailing behind Liu Ji asking what the city was like.
Qin Yao seriously considered, why not take the whole family to the city once?
Kaiyang County was actually not big, with a permanent population of only about two to three thousand, but by the current Sheng Country’s total population of sixty million, it was already a large place.
Before Sheng Country, the chaos lasted for decades, continuous wars led to a sharp decline in population, only now beginning to recuperate, rarely encountering people on the road.
The day Qin Yao arrived in Kaiyang County, the people she saw in the city were the most she’d seen since crossing over.
There were many in the village who never left it their whole lives, the farthest place was the Prefecture.
This was during wartime migrations for survival that they traveled so far.
Thinking like this, for the four children who’d never left the small mountain village, going to the city might have different significance.
If they can’t walk, they can sit in an ox cart.
Letting the kids see the world is good too.
With this thought, after the father and sons returned from the shower room, Qin Yao said:
"Liu Ji, borrow the ox cart from the village chief, on the fifteenth we’ll all go into town together, take Da Lang and the others to have a look."
The four siblings were overwhelmed with joy at these words, dumbfounded on the spot.
Liu Ji also paused for two seconds before reacting, a bit surprised that Qin Yao would make such a decision.
The usual careless man rarely behaved, he looked deeply at her before agreeing.
The kids were so happy they couldn’t bear to sleep, squeezed onto one bed, whispering various fantasies about the county.
Finally, the four siblings decided that when they reached the county, they’d use the copper coin scraped from their father to buy a string of sugar-coated haws to share.
To see if the sugar-coated haws were as delicious as Liu Jinbao said.
Si Niang especially instructed, "Save one for Mother, she’s the one taking us to the city."
The implication being, not to forget to thank the ’benefactor.’
Da Lang and the other three agreed completely, the four siblings reached a consensus, and it wasn’t until the excitement passed in the early hours that they fell asleep.