The stern expression on Mr. Qin's face softened a little. He used his chopsticks to move the chicken leg into Xiao Tao's bowl. "Let the boy have it. I don't care for it."
Old Mrs. Qin also chimed in, "As it happens, I'm not a big fan of it either..."
"Then, Grandma, give your chicken wing to Xiao Shi. Look how skinny she is—she's not even as tall as Xiao Tao." Without waiting for a reply, Qin Jiao used her chopsticks to move the chicken wing into her sister's bowl.
Old Mrs. Qin blinked, her gaze falling on her grandson's already-full bowl, but she didn't say anything. Qin Shi, however, pressed her lips together, not daring to eat.
Qin Jiao said gently, "Go on and eat, Xiao Shi. See how good our aunt is to us? We can't let her kindness go to waste."
Feng Lan's face grew even darker.
Qin Shi nodded emphatically and began to eat with a sense of urgency.
The poor girl hadn't had meat in who knows how long.
She only ever got to eat such delicious roast chicken on the couple of occasions each year when her parents, who were migrant workers, returned home.
Feng Lan was fuming over this little drama, but with Mr. Qin right there and her husband, Qin Jiqun, focused only on his food, there was no way for her to vent her anger.
After the meal, Qin Jiao and her sister gathered the dishes from the backyard and then headed home.
Once the door was closed, Feng Lan fumed at Qin Jiqun, "I'm so mad I could just die! That damn girl is going to be the death of me!"
Qin Jiqun was picking his teeth with a thin stalk. "What's gotten into you? By the way, what made you decide to call my parents over to eat today? With so many people sharing one roast chicken, I barely got any meat."
Feng Lan shot back, "What are you talking about? I didn't invite them! It was Qin Jiao, acting all on her own! Once your father and mother showed up, could I really have turned them away?"
Qin Jiqun said dismissively, "Oh, it was probably just a one-time thing. Forget about it. After I finish my card game tonight, I'll buy some fire-baked donkey meat pastries on my way back, and it'll just be for the three of us."
Only then did Feng Lan seem satisfied.
What they didn't expect, however, was that these "accidents" would start happening frequently. Whenever their family was about to secretly eat something good, Qin Jiao would somehow manage to coax the grandparents over.
Over time, even though the only result was that the little waif Qin Shi got to eat a few good things, the whole affair thoroughly exasperated the couple, Qin Jiqun and Feng Lan.
Eventually, it got to the point where if the family of three wanted to eat something nice, they had to sneak out of the house to do it!
On top of that, ever since Qin Jiao had come home for the break, Qin Xiaotao hadn't been able to bully Qin Shi anymore. After all, every time he tried, he was the one who ended up worse for it.
Besides making life difficult for her uncle's family, Qin Jiao also took her sister up into the mountains to dig for wild vegetables and gather mushrooms.
The vegetables could be kept fresh in her spatial storage. In this era, the villagers didn't lack for staple foods, so things like wild vegetables and mushrooms on the mountain were largely ignored. But it was a different story in the county seat, where plenty of wealthy people were willing to pay to try such novelties.
The plan was to store the wild vegetables and mushrooms in her space for now. Then, just before school started, she would return to the county seat early and sell them at the market.
After all, she still owed Shen Yi twenty yuan. The sooner she paid him back, the less she'd have to do with him.
Besides, she had another plan in mind, so she needed to earn a bit more money.
Early the next morning, the two sisters headed up the mountain with bamboo baskets on their backs. The mountains around their hometown weren't high or steep, but they were rich with vegetation. Little birds chirped in the woods, and occasionally, they would spot a wild rabbit with a tail like a little ball of fluff.
Xiao Shi still looked sallow and thin, but her eyes were much brighter than before. She held out a groundcherry she had just picked, offering it eagerly to Qin Jiao. "Here, Sis, for you!"
"We'll eat it together, Xiao Shi."
"Mhm." Xiao Shi nodded and said happily, "Sis, I feel so happy right now!"