The Abandoned Daughter's Second Chance

Chapter 102: Chapter 93: This Sister’s Might

"Mo Xiaoman, are you in a hurry to die or something? Why are you running so fast? Did you do something wrong?" Mo Xiaosu glared at Xiao Man.

Xiao Man had no time to argue with Mo Xiaosu right now. She said coolly, "This path is narrow. If you’re going to cross, then hurry up. If not, get out of my way!"

Huang Baoshan stood beside Mo Xiaosu with his arms crossed, slouching with one leg shaking restlessly. He looked every bit the part of a local punk. He leered at Xiao Man, his gaze frivolous and wicked. "It’s only been a few days, and look how the ugly duckling has changed. Little Su, you really need to move in with your Grandpa and Grandma. Look at this girl! She used to be like a scrawny chicken, all thin and bony, mousy and timid. After just two or three months with your Grandpa and Grandma, she’s become so radiant and delicate... Huh, I never would’ve guessed, Mo Xiaoman. You’re actually a little beauty! So, how about it, little beauty? It’s Saturday. The mine on the other side of the mountain is showing a movie. Me and my buddies have bikes. Wanna go? I’ll take you!"

Xiao Man shot him a cold glance. Mo Xiaosu whined angrily, "Cousin, what are you talking about! What’s so beautiful about her? Don’t forget, she’s my nemesis!"

"Alright, alright, I’ll stop! I was just joking. This Mo Xiaoman, how could she possibly compare to my cousin!" Huang Baoshan grinned at Mo Xiaosu.

Xiao Man said impatiently, "Are you two crossing or not? If not, move. A good dog doesn’t block the path!"

"Hey, Mo Xiaoman, what did you just say?" Huang Baoshan’s eyes widened in anger.

"See, cousin? Now you know! Mo Xiaoman is just a vile, detestable brat!"

As Mo Xiaosu spoke, she reached for Xiao Man, her target precise—right for the buttons on her collar. "How dare you wear these clothes? My grandpa’s money paid for them, so they should be mine! Take them off! And the pants, take them off too!"

Xiao Man raised her left hand and grabbed Mo Xiaosu’s wrist, giving it a slight twist. But she had never hurt anyone before and couldn’t bring herself to be ruthless enough to break the slender wrist. She just pushed Mo Xiaosu away.

Mo Xiaosu shrieked as she fell backward. Huang Baoshan quickly opened his arms to catch her, then roared at Xiao Man, "Are you looking to die? You dare hit my cousin? Just you wait! I’ll show you what I’m made of!"

Xiao Man raised the bamboo switch in her right hand and whipped it twice against the back of Huang Baoshan’s knees. He immediately buckled and fell, tumbling into a heap with Mo Xiaosu. Mo Xiaosu got off easy; with her cousin as a human cushion, her fall didn’t hurt much.

Huang Baoshan quickly propped himself up, sucking in a sharp breath as he rubbed the back of his knees. He stared at Xiao Man in disbelief. "That hurts! Mo Xiaoman, you...!"

Xiao Man hopped over their bodies and, with a flick of her bamboo switch, said, "That’s what *I’m* made of. How’d you like the taste? If you’re not convinced, I’ll let you have another taste next time! I’m in a hurry now. Bye!"

She ran a few steps, then stopped to add, "Mo Xiaosu, I’m warning you again: if you dare be disrespectful to me, watch out for your front teeth. I’m sure you don’t want to replace them with two big gold ones!"

With that, she took off running. She’d been gone so long; Grandma must be worried sick.

Behind her, she heard Mo Xiaosu’s terrified cry, "Cousin, my teeth... AHHH, they’re bleeding!"

Huang Baoshan’s voice followed, "Let me see, let me see! Stop crying! The doctor said you can’t get angry or argue, and you can’t cry or laugh too hard..."

Xiao Man hurried back to her own courtyard gate and saw Grandpa standing there, calling for someone to open it. She felt a wave of relief. ’Good, Grandpa didn’t go inside. Grandma will think I found him and we went to the Mo Family Courtyard together. She’ll worry a little less.’

Before Grandma came to open the gate, Xiao Man and Grandpa had already gotten their story straight. Grandpa, partly because he doted on Xiao Man and partly to keep Grandma from worrying, still scolded her a little. He told her not to trick adults like that again and that the Mo Family Courtyard was a dangerous place for her; she should avoid it if she could.

Xiao Man nodded obediently in agreement.

With Grandpa no longer going to the reservoir, a sense of security had settled over the house. They even felt safe letting Grandma use the fire by herself now. Measuring the rice and cooking it had basically become Grandma’s job.

Today, Grandma had already cooked lunch and pounded the chili salt. She had even picked over and washed the green vegetables—though she couldn’t see, she felt her way through them leaf by leaf, discarding any imperfect ones and keeping only the whole leaves. The vegetables, irrigated with spiritual spring water, rarely had any wilted leaves, so Grandma had washed them very clean.

Xiao Man washed her hands and stir-fried the vegetables. Since it was just the one dish, it was done quickly. She brought the dish to the table, ladled out three bowls of congee, and called for Grandpa and Grandma to come eat.

Because Xiao Man had to go to school, Grandma worried she would get hungry during class. So for lunch, besides a pot of congee, she would also steam a bowl of dry rice just for Xiao Man. But Xiao Man refused to eat the dry rice by herself and always shared some with Grandpa and Grandma. In the end, Grandma just started cooking enough for all three of them, so the whole family could have dry rice for lunch.

As they ate, Xiao Man asked Grandma, "That flour Grandpa brought back from Wancheng, if we don’t eat it, will it go bad just sitting there?"

That reminded Grandma, and she nodded repeatedly. "Flour will get bugs and go bad if it sits for too long. We should use it, or it’ll be a waste!"

Grandpa said, "But you’re the only one who knows how to work with flour. Xiao Man and I have no idea."

Xiao Man opened her mouth, almost blurting out, ’But I know how!’ Luckily, she remembered her rule of counting to three and didn’t act impulsively. Instead, she said humbly, "I can learn! Grandma can teach me from the side, and I’ll do the work!"

"Heh, you think just mixing the flour into a dough to make buns and dumplings is that easy?" Grandpa said.

Southerners were used to eating rice and rarely knew the many ways to prepare flour. This was especially true in such a poor and isolated era. Even though the production team had started planting wheat on the dry fields in late autumn for the past couple of years, the yield wasn’t high, so it wasn’t distributed to the commune members. All the harvested wheat grains were handed over to the grain station.

Commune members who grew wheat on their private plots had to hand over half and could keep the other half. The amount was so small that people couldn’t be bothered with the effort of grinding it into flour. They would just roast the grains and eat them, or boil them into a mushy porridge.

Speaking of which, the day before yesterday at school, Mo Shuixia had given Xiao Man a handful of roasted wheat. It was fragrant, crispy, and crunchy—absolutely delicious.

Grandma handed her bowl to Xiao Man for a refill and said, looking in Grandpa’s direction, "What do you mean, ’mixing it into a dough’? That’s called kneading. Making buns and dumplings isn’t hard at all. Once you learn, it’s very easy. Xiao Man, tomorrow Grandma will teach you!"

"It’s a shame we don’t have any meat. Buns and dumplings would be great with meat filling! The buns Grandpa bought in Wancheng last time were all filled with vegetables. They weren’t very good!"

As Xiao Man spoke, she filled Grandma’s bowl to the brim with dry rice. She had been conditioning Grandpa and Grandma’s bodies, and their appetites had increased significantly, which made her very satisfied.

Grandpa laughed. "Craving meat again, are you? The next market day isn’t for another two days."

Grandma said, "Vegetable fillings have their own deliciousness. I think they’re quite nice! But if you want something more savory, that’s possible too. Go borrow a bowl of pickled mustard greens from your Second Granny Qiu. We can mix in a lot of lard, stir-fry it with some scallions, garlic, ginger, and spices, and make you pickled-mustard-green buns. They’ll be just as tasty!"

That reminded Xiao Man of fragrant and spicy pickled-mustard-green buns. She said happily, "Okay! And let’s add lots of chili to the pickled-mustard-green filling! Grandma, we have shiitake mushrooms and wood ear fungus at home. Can we use those in the filling too?"

"Of course! Adding shiitake mushrooms and wood ear fungus would make them even more fragrant and delicious!"

Grandma smiled, pursing her lips. ’My granddaughter is so clever,’ she thought. ’With just a little hint, she can come up with so many ideas on her own!’