Transmigrated into the role of the matriarch, I ensured my family had enough to eat and wear during

Song Zhifeng held out ten taels of silver with both hands and respectfully presented it to Tang Susu: "Miss Tang, this is my payment for food and lodging. Please accept it."

Tang Susu gently waved her hand, politely declining: "Young master, there's no need for that. Living expenses are low in the countryside. We eat nothing more than white rice, corn and wild vegetable pancakes, millet porridge, and wild vegetable dumplings, with some wild vegetables. Occasionally, we eat meat. A meal costs only a dozen coins, not that much."

She then pointed to the house: "Our house is small. Young Master Lu and Mr. Chengyu sleep on the floor in the main room every night, with dry straw and rice stalks underneath, and then a sheet on top. The conditions are very basic. You've given too much money; I can't accept it."

Song Zhifeng's hand holding the silver froze, and his face turned pale.

He could tolerate a less-than-ideal meal; he could simply have the driver go to a restaurant in town to buy some.

He simply couldn't accept the idea of ​​a county magistrate's son sleeping on the ground with dry straw and rice stalks.

Tang Susu observed coldly, already having made her judgment:

Song Zhifeng is spoiled and enjoys life, which is completely different from Lu Hao, who can endure hardship.

In addition, considering that he and Jin Huihuang had previously conspired to frame Tang Chengyu, causing Tang Chengyu to be expelled from Chongwentang, she had long since blacklisted the two of them and had no intention of keeping them around.

She deliberately said, "If you stay here, young master, you'll have to sleep on rice straw at night. That stuff easily harbors mosquitoes and insects, and you might get bitten by them, or even develop a rash all over your body."

Song Zhifeng's face instantly froze.

Lu Hao immediately chimed in, "The main room is so small, you can barely stretch your legs. You should stay on the street and come back during the day."

Jin Huihuang couldn't stand the conditions either, and immediately nodded: "We'll stay in town. He'll come over during the day, I'll study the stone roller, and he'll accompany me."

Tang Susu readily agreed: "That's fine, you have a carriage, it'll be convenient for you to come and go."

Song Zhifeng was conflicted—his father had clearly instructed him to follow Tang Chengyu and Lu Hao day and night to pave the way for his future career in officialdom;

But when he saw the locust corpses in the rice stalks and the animal droppings on the ground, his stomach churned and he couldn't bear it any longer.

In the end, he could only maintain his composure, bowing slightly and saying, "I'm sorry to have bothered you, young lady. Farewell."

After saying that, he and Jin Huihuang quickly left.

Once the others left, Tang Susu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, finally getting rid of these two troublesome people.

Lu Hao leaned closer, grinning and teasing, "Auntie, you were so disgusted with them just now, did you also look down on me back then?"

Tang Susu felt a little guilty, but denied it aloud: "Nonsense, when did I ever dislike you?"

In fact, she knew in her heart that Lu Hao moved in too quickly and she didn't have time to refuse.

Lu Hao, however, was delighted and felt extremely satisfied:

His father always said he was not as good as Song Zhifeng, but now Tang Susu clearly favored him more, praising him, rewarding him, and even saving him delicious food.

The food here wasn't fancy, but he thought it tasted even better than what was served in the county government kitchen.

On the other side, Song Zhifeng and Jin Huihuang inquired while riding in a carriage and learned that the most impressive house in the village was the village head's house, so they went straight there.

The village head was busy in the fields when Zhi Mao hurriedly called him back.

Upon entering, the two were utterly disappointed—

The mud-brick and thatched house had only a few uneven stone slabs at the entrance, far worse than the living conditions of the servants in their mansion.

Jin Huihuang impatiently pulled out a silver ingot weighing more than ten taels and placed it on the table: "Prepare two rooms for us, and make sure the food is of good quality."

The village head's family was large, which was already a difficult situation, but for the sake of the money, he had no choice but to agree:

Immediately clear out the two largest and brightest rooms in the house, and let the daughter-in-law clean them thoroughly, lay out new bedding, and hang up floral decorations.

Even so, Song Zhifeng and Jin Huihuang still looked disgusted and were not satisfied no matter how they looked at it.

In the Tang family courtyard, the construction workers, who had been busy all morning building the house, were preparing to go home for lunch.

They were paid thirty coins a day, without meals, and according to custom, they each went home.

Tang Susu smiled and called out to everyone, "Wait a minute, everyone. Today is the first day of work, and according to tradition, I'll treat you all to a meal to start the workday."

Miao Yulan brought out a large bowl of dumplings, filled with wild vegetables and pork, which smelled delicious.

Tang Susu explained, "During famine years, we are frugal, so each person only gets two or three pieces as a small token of our appreciation."

Yang Feicheng took the lead in declining, saying, "We won't eat it; we'll save it for the children."

Tang Susu asked Yang Xiaobao to bring a bowl to the workers digging the foundation.

Seeing this, everyone stopped refusing and accepted the dumplings.

Three dumplings may not seem like much, but they tasted amazing. One bite gave me a burst of energy, making me work even harder.

Some people couldn't bear to eat it, so they carefully wrapped it up and wanted to take it home for their children to try.

The workers finished work at noon and went home one after another.

Yang Gousheng returned home full of pride, carrying his braised food business.

Lunch was already laid out in the main room.

There was a large bowl of dumplings on the table, and each person had a bowl in front of them, more than a dozen in total. They could also add more dumplings to the pot as much as they wanted.

The family sat together, the food steaming hot, waiting to start eating.