With her stomach finally filled with food, she felt a bit of comfort at last. The cornbread and boiled egg were dry, but since Deng Yuyuan couldn't find any water in the room, she forced them down. Hearing his words, she felt somewhat speechless.
What kind of family and conditions were these? Was a woman in her postpartum confinement really getting gossiped about just for drinking hot water?
She raised her eyes to look at her husband. Beneath her thick eyelashes lay a coldness Zhang Jiahua had never seen before, causing him to suddenly panic.
"Since you can't even support our mother-daughter duo, how about we get a divorce? I will take the child, and it won't delay you from finding someone else. I'll move back to the Knowledge Youth Institute. At the very least, I'll have a sip of water to drink. It won't be any worse than it is now."
Zhang Jiahua's lips trembled as he looked at her in astonishment, his eyes full of disbelief and helplessness. "Wife, don't say such angry words. I... I'll go ask Mom for some rice soup to feed the baby, okay? Tonight, I'll bring my food back to my room to eat, and I'll leave it all for you."
Deng Yuyuan sighed. As the eldest son and husband of the family, did he really not sense the twisted state of this household?
"Why am I the only one without meat? Mom has meat, your younger brother has meat, and your brother's wife has it too."
Was it really just because she didn't get to eat meat? Zhang Jiahua secretly breathed a sigh of relief and explained woodenly, "My brother's wife is pregnant now and needs nutrition. You don't have meat to eat because Mom is a bit angry lately. Once she cools down, it'll be fine."
He added comfortingly, "I'll be going into the mountains a lot lately. If I find some foraged goods, I'll discuss it with Mom and ask her to save some for me. I'll bring it all to you to eat."
Deng Yuyuan couldn't help but laugh. Her smile was full of mockery and disappointment, along with an inexplicable sense of frustration inherited from the original owner of this body, resenting him for constantly failing to meet expectations.
"Zhang Jiahua, are you playing dumb with me? First of all, whether I want a divorce or not, you have to support the child. You've been to school and read some books, so you can read, right? Even if a couple divorces, they still have an obligation to support their child.
"Secondly, I don't like living a life where I have to read people's moods just to eat a piece of meat, nor do I want to eat leftovers forever."
Zhang Jiahua's heart pounded in fear. He didn't even dare look his wife in the eyes. Leaving behind a quick "I'll go get the rice soup," he fled in a miserable state.
Despite all the commotion, the baby just kept her eyes closed and slept. Deng Yuyuan placed a finger under the baby's nose. Thank goodness, she was still alive.
The baby was very light, her eyes nothing more than narrow slits. Her skin was flushed red, making her look like a little monkey. Deng Yuyuan thought of Zhang Jiahua's handsome face and wondered if the child had inherited her own ugliness! She hurriedly went to find a mirror. The only mirror had been placed in the wardrobe by the original owner. The original owner's facial features actually shared a few similarities with her own—elegant and beautiful. It was just that her sallow, emaciated face made her look exactly like a refugee, erasing any sense of beauty. Thank goodness. The baby probably just hadn't grown into her features yet.
She opened the wardrobe, ready to pack her luggage. The original owner and the child didn't have many belongings; it was nothing more than a few pieces of clothing. She didn't know why she had transmigrated, nor did she have the mind to try and change Zhang Jiahua.
Zhang Jiahua was the most capable man in the entire village. He was filial to his parents, cared for his younger brother, and had a top-tier reputation in the village. It was just that he was too filial. He never dared to disobey his mother's wishes and constantly gave way. He only saw himself as a son and failed to fulfill his duties as a husband and father. He had allowed the original owner to drown in this mud pit of a family, and that included his daughter, who grew up misguided later on.
Deng Yuyuan hadn't yet figured out her future plans, but after returning to the Knowledge Youth Institute, she could at least swallow her pride and ask the educated youths for something to eat to tide her over this difficult period. She certainly didn't expect to scrape any food from this household. Besides, she had no intention of engaging in petty domestic squabbles over trivial gains. Distancing herself from this family and preparing for the reinstatement of the college entrance examination in a few years was the right path to take.
If Zhang Jiahua wasn't such a hopeless weakling, she wouldn't have been reduced to a frail postpartum woman struggling alone with a nursing baby. With Zhang Jiahua's help, life would certainly be easier, but the horde of bloodsuckers standing behind him was more than enough to drag their mother-daughter pair to their deaths. Furthermore, if the little girl grew up in this kind of environment, even if she didn't turn out completely misguided, she would still develop psychological issues. She had no way to make the child a universally doted-on protagonist, but at the very least, she should be her Mingzhu.
It was better to just discard this family of rotten people altogether.
The door was soon opened again. Seeing the packed luggage, Zhang Jiahua quickly averted his gaze as if he had been burned. Playing the ostrich in an act of self-evasion, he held out the rice soup and said, "Wife, I'm here to feed Xiao Hong the rice soup."
Deng Yuyuan glanced at the rice soup. Calling it "soup" was praising it too much; it was nothing more than a bowl of clear water with a few grains of rice thrown in. She didn't stop him from feeding the baby. Even though she possessed the original owner's memories, suddenly becoming a new mother still felt somewhat awkward.
Zhang Jiahua gently cupped the baby's head, picked up the spoon, and blew on it softly before feeding it into the baby's mouth. He was gentle and patient. If it weren't for all the miserable mess in his family, he might have truly become a good father.
"Her name is not Xiao Hong," Deng Yuyuan finally spoke up after Zhang Jiahua finished feeding the rice soup.
"When I first came to Zhang Family Village, I had no support from my parents. I gritted my teeth and worked for a year. Just when I could barely hold on anymore, you came to court me, saying you were willing to be my pillar of support.
"I thought I would finally be spared from doing those heavy chores that were so taxing on female comrades, that I could finally catch my breath. Thinking back on it now, I made the wrong choice.
"I had more meat to eat back when I was a female educated youth than I do now. After marrying you, I've had to do even more work than when I lived at the Knowledge Youth Institute, yet I eat less and get scolded every single day.
"Back then, I hoped that once you became a father, you would be able to prop up this little family of ours. But when our daughter fainted from hunger, you had no solution. When our daughter was given a random name fit for a stray cat or dog, you eagerly accepted it.
"Once again, I was disastrously wrong. Zhang Jiahua, just let our mother-daughter pair go. Pick a day for us to get a divorce."
Faced with his wife bluntly bringing up divorce to his face yet again, Zhang Jiahua lowered his head and blinked, fighting back his sour tears. How had it come to this? Everything was perfectly fine just yesterday. He probed tentatively, "I'll listen to you on whatever we name the child. Is that okay, Wife?"
He clearly still hadn't realized what the core issue was. He was merely trying to find a way to smooth things over and keep the peace, just as he always did with the original owner.
"And when your mom starts throwing a fit, who will you listen to then?"
Zhang Jiahua mumbled, "My mom... my mom is actually quite reasonable. She just acts like a childish elder sometimes."
Deng Yuyuan simply gave another laugh and said, "Alright. Hurry up and go to work. Make sure you work hard this afternoon."
Zhang Jiahua cheered up again, assuming he had successfully coaxed his wife. "Then lie down and rest well. When I get off work and come back, I'll put the luggage back in the wardrobe. Think carefully about the baby's name; I promise to listen to you."
He thought that his wife was still able to empathize with his hardships and difficulties. Tonight, he absolutely had to ask his mom to put more rice in the soup. Once the baby was full, his wife wouldn't constantly blame him anymore.
After sending off Zhang Jiahua, Deng Yuyuan immediately finished packing her bundle. She planned to take the child and head back to the Knowledge Youth Institute once all the family members had gone to work.