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

Yang Xiaobao stood at the gate of the courtyard and said in a clear voice, "Grandma, Mom asked me to come and exchange a big cabbage."

As soon as these words were spoken, Yang Laosan's wife, who was picking vegetables nearby—that is, Tang Susu's second sister-in-law—suddenly had a long face.

She put down the vegetables in her hand, her tone sarcastic: "How dare she? When the family divided the property, she received thirty taels of silver as compensation and more than ten acres of land, all settled in writing. Now she's sending her children to beg for food. She's utterly shameless!"

Old Mrs. Yang's face darkened, and she put down her cleaver, cursing, "That lazy, good-for-nothing woman! When everyone else in the village was planting cabbage, she idled away her time arguing with others. Now everyone else has stored up grain, but her family can only eat pig feed. She has hands and feet, yet she doesn't go dig for wild vegetables; all she does is come here and freeload!"

Despite her scolding, she still stood up and walked towards the vegetable garden behind the yard.

Not long after, she returned carrying three cabbages and handed them to Xiaobao.

These three cabbages are not growing well; the leaves are wilted and they haven't formed a head.

Yang Laosan's wife saw this and felt as if a sharp blade had pierced her heart; she felt both sour and jealous.

She knew her mother-in-law was biased because Tang Susu had given birth to two sons, while she only had two daughters. She couldn't hold her head up in the village, so no matter how wronged she felt, she didn't dare to talk back to her mother-in-law.

Yang Xiaobao took out five coins from his pocket and handed them over: "Grandma, Mom said to exchange copper coins for cabbage."

Old Mrs. Yang was stunned for a moment, and her hand, which had just taken the copper coin, paused.

In her memory, Tang Susu would only come to the ancestral home to cry and wails and rob food, and had never given money voluntarily.

Moreover, she had secretly delivered buckwheat rice last night, and now Tang Susu was sending the child with money to exchange for vegetables, which made her a little unsure.

She weighed the copper coin in her hand, frowned, and said, "A head of cabbage costs at most one copper coin, enough to buy two or three pounds. Giving you three is too much money."

As she spoke, she stuffed four coins back into Xiaobao's hand, then turned around and went to the vegetable garden to pick a handful of red beans. She then quickly walked to the chicken coop, took a warm egg from under the hen, and stuffed it into Xiaobao's arms: "Take this and leave quickly, don't delay my work here."

Yang Xiaobao held three cabbages and an egg in his hand, sniffed, and almost drooled.

In the past, when the hen at home laid eggs, his mother would eat them all herself, and he would only dare to secretly lick the remaining eggshells after his mother had finished eating.

Now that his mother has become gentler, he hopes to be able to taste a small bite of the egg this time.

Filled with anticipation, Yang Xiaobao hurried home.

"Mother! I'm back!" he shouted as he pushed open the courtyard gate.

Tang Susu was waiting in the yard when she saw him holding three cabbages and asked in surprise, "Did your grandma give you so many?"

"Hmm!" Xiao Bao nodded, then proudly pulled the warm egg from his sleeve pocket. "Grandma said she gave me too many coins, so she returned four coins to me and gave me some red beans and an egg!"

Tang Susu's face darkened instantly when she saw the eggs.

The original owner's memories flooded back—whenever there were eggs in the house, the original owner would hoard them all and eat them all himself, never letting his two sons or the pregnant Miao Yulan have a single bite, even when they were starving.

Looking at her expression, Yang Xiaobao felt a little scared, but he still mustered his courage and asked in a low voice, "Mom, this egg is cooked, can I have just a tiny bit? Just a tiny bit..."

Tang Susu's heart softened, and she patted his head: "Okay, Mom will cook it for you. I'll call you when it's done. Go play outside for a while."

Xiao Bao was overjoyed and skipped away.

In the kitchen, Miao Yulan was cutting chicken with her head down, full of doubt: the wild chicken she saw in the mountains this morning was so thin and small, how come it became so fat after being plucked? It weighed at least eight or nine pounds, and its belly was full of yellow chicken fat, it looked so delicious.

Seeing Tang Susu enter, she abruptly stopped cutting: "Big sister, how should I cook this chicken?"

Tang Susu can only make scrambled eggs with tomatoes, but she has plenty of theoretical knowledge.

She figured she should fry the chicken fat and store it for later use in stir-fries.

She quietly accessed the system, bought soy sauce and oyster sauce, put them in two clean small earthenware jars, and carried them to the kitchen: "This is a seasoning sauce I made from leaves from the mountains. Adding a little to stir-fries and soups will make them taste even better."

Pointing to the chicken, she instructed, "First, remove the chicken fat and fry it in a pot to make oil, then set it aside. Next, stir-fry the chicken in the pot until fragrant, add the seasoning sauce and salt, then add the tea tree mushrooms and cabbage, add water, and simmer until cooked. Don't ask any questions, just do as I say."

Miao Yulan didn't dare to ask any more questions, obediently nodded, picked up the knife, and continued working.

Before long, a rich aroma of meat wafted from the kitchen, mixed with the fresh scents of mushrooms and cabbage, filling the entire yard through the window cracks.

Tang Lifu, who was chopping wood, smelled the aroma and paused, his mouth watering. He quickly wiped it with his sleeve, but still couldn't help glancing towards the kitchen.

Yang Xiaobao ran straight to the kitchen door, peeked inside while leaning against the door frame, and stuck out his tongue, licking his lips incessantly.

I drank two bowls of buckwheat porridge this morning, but the aroma made my stomach rumble again.

He saw the iron pot full of ingredients, chicken, tea tree mushrooms, and Chinese cabbage stewed together, with thick broth overflowing from the cracks in the pot, which made his eyes widen in amazement.

Tang Susu looked at the leaky, broken pot and frowned in annoyance—this pot was too small and leaky, it was too inconvenient, she had to find an excuse to buy a new pot from the system.

She turned around, took the egg from the basket, cracked it into a bowl and stirred it, then chopped half a cabbage, intending to make a cabbage and egg soup.

The remaining green beans can be stir-fried with freshly fried chicken fat to make another dish.

Miao Yulan watched her busy herself and began to have some doubts.

Since last night, my older sister has been behaving very strangely. She eats everything that's good to eat in one go, without thinking about the future at all.

She was a little worried that her eldest sister might have been heartbroken by the Tang family and no longer wanted to live a good life.

But then I thought, even if it's all eaten, it doesn't matter. At least it's eaten by family members, which is better than my older sister taking it to give to her family.

With that thought in mind, she simply stepped forward and took the work from Tang Susu's hands: "Big sister, you can rest, I can do these things."

Tang Susu didn't refuse and walked out of the kitchen.

As soon as I got to the yard, I saw Xiao Bao still clinging to the door frame, drooling all over his collar.

She smiled helplessly, walked over, lifted the pot lid, picked up a piece of stewed chicken that was tender, blew on it to cool it down, and handed it to Xiaobao's mouth: "Here, have a piece first."

Yang Xiaobao opened his mouth and took a bite. The fresh aroma of the chicken exploded in his mouth instantly. It was tender and flavorful. He had never eaten anything so delicious before! His eyes widened, and he wished he could swallow his tongue as well.

"Is it good?" Tang Susu asked.

Xiao Bao nodded vigorously, his mouth stuffed full of meat, unable to speak. But the next second, he suddenly froze—wasn't this the pheasant "friend" he wanted to raise to lay eggs?

He instinctively wanted to spit out the meat, but it smelled so good that he swallowed it back down just as it reached his mouth. He was incredibly conflicted and could only silently say to the pheasant, "I'm sorry, you smelled just too good..."

Tang Susu didn't notice his strange behavior and put another piece of chicken into his mouth: "Go and call your second uncle and eldest brother back for dinner."

Xiao Bao chewed and swallowed the food hastily, nodded, and ran outside to call Tang Liqiang and Tang Lifu.

Miao Yulan quickly served all the dishes: a large pot of chicken stew with mushrooms and cabbage, a bowl of cabbage and egg soup, and a plate of stir-fried green beans. She then put the remaining buckwheat and white rice into the pot to simmer, and soon, the fragrant buckwheat rice was ready.

Three dishes were placed on the small round table, and six rough porcelain bowls were filled with steaming buckwheat rice.

Tang Lifu had already put down his axe and come over, his eyes glued to the food, almost completely captivated.