The next day, before dawn, just as the rooster crowed.
Chen Ruanruan was roused from bed by Jin Minjia to make breakfast.
Though her face was full of reluctance, she forced herself up through the drowsiness. She hadn't slept well last night; the bed was hard as a board, and the quilt seemed to carry a faint, damp smell.
She said, as if casually, "Mom, didn Liuyue say she would teach me how to cook? Shouldn't we wake her up too?"
Jin Minjia, watching Chen Ruanruan's sluggish movements, was displeased.
"Liuyue got up long ago. She went out for a run early this morning."
Chen Ruanruan was stunned: "...Huh?!"
Jin Minjia said impatiently, "Hurry up. You're my own daughter; how can you not even compare to that silly girl Liuyue?"
Fifteen minutes later,
Chen Ruanruan poked her head out from the large stove opening. Her fair face was smudged with black soot, and she looked utterly disheveled.
Not a trace remained of the delicate young lady she once was.
Jin Minjia said from the side, "You can't even tend a fire properly, and I haven't even asked you to chop firewood yet."
Chen Ruanruan said with a tearful face, "Mom, everyone uses gas stoves nowadays. Hardly anyone cooks with these big brick stoves anymore."
Jin Minjia frowned.
"Why are you just like Liuyue, always talking back?!"
"Mom is teaching you for your own good. Besides, we all suffered like this when we were young."
"Even though conditions are better now, you can't be a young lady who never lifts a finger. This is a life skill."
Every word she spoke came from a place of moral superiority.
Waving the banner of "for your own good," she lectured earnestly.
If you didn't appreciate it, you'd seem like an utterly ungrateful, wicked daughter.
Chen Ruanruan felt like crying.
She couldn't help but ask again, "Then... does Liuyue know how to use this big stove too?"
Jin Minjia said matter-of-factly, "Of course. She learned when she was ten."
Chen Ruanruan fell silent.
What was she doing at age ten?
She was probably being sent by her parents to practice under famous dance teachers, or accompanying her mother to high-end brand afternoon teas.
There was no way she would have been sitting in front of a rural stove tending a fire.
Lost in thought for just a moment,
Jin Minjia urged again:
"What are you spacing out for?!"
"Hurry up! Your grandmother is very particular. If breakfast is even a little late, she'll start complaining again!"
...
Chen Liuyue ran from one end of the village to the other.
Villagers she passed cast curious glances her way, but they only whispered behind her back; no one dared approach.
After all, everyone knew about this girl's formidable nature.
Better not provoke her, definitely not!
As she was about to run back to the Tao family house, her sharp eyes spotted a black Rolls-Royce Cullinan parked by the roadside.
She strode over, curled her fingers into a fist, and lightly tapped on the car window.
The next second,
the window slowly rolled down,
revealing a face with sharp angles, handsome and refined.
Wei Miao's long, narrow phoenix eyes lifted slightly.
He waved.
Calmly, he said,
"Morning."
Chen Liuyue curved the corners of her lips into a smile.
"Indeed it is."
"Brother Wei, what are you doing here?"
"Worried about me, aren't you?"
Wei Miao's eyes darted away; he coughed lightly, somewhat awkwardly.
His hands fidgeted restlessly on the steering wheel.
"What if I said I'm here touring the town? Would you believe me?"
Chen Liuyue: "I'd believe it. I'd even believe you're here to tour the Tao family house."
Wei Miao: "Huh?"
Chen Liuyue pointed at a white car roaring in from not far away and said leisurely,
"Because you're not the only one here 'touring.'"
Wei Miao rolled down the driver's side window and leaned out.
He initially thought the newcomer would be Qin Xuanye.
Instead, he saw a familiar license plate.
"How come it's him?!"
Chen Liuyue nodded with a faint smile.
"Mm, I asked him to come."
"More people, more lively. More fun."
The white car seemed to have spotted them too and eventually stopped not far away.
The door opened, and Chen Haotian emerged, looking travel-worn, fatigue evident on his face.
Upon seeing Chen Liuyue, he ran over excitedly and in quick strides.
He demanded sharply,
"Where's Ruanruan? What have you done to her?"
That's right. Yesterday, Chen Ruanruan had been crying, tears falling like pear blossoms in the rain.
Chen Liuyue had taken a picture and sent it to her dear brother Chen Haotian.
How could he bear to see his most beloved sister wronged?! Even if it meant putting aside his work, he had to come and stand up for her.
Chen Liuyue smiled sweetly at him.
"Brother, I've been so good to Sister Ruanruan."
"It was those Tao relatives who bullied her. See, as soon as I found out, I rushed to tip you off."
Chen Haotian stared at her, half-believing, half-doubting.
Chen Liuyue smiled again. "Brother, you came just in time. Perfect timing to have breakfast made by sister."
Chen Haotian didn't process it at first.
When the meaning of her words fully sank in, he was utterly enraged.
He roared,
"What?! You actually dare to order Ruanruan around, making her cook breakfast for you?"
"You need to understand, Ruanruan has never set foot in a kitchen her entire life!"
"You're actually mistreating her like this."
Chen Liuyue calmly corrected him again, her tone steady.
"Brother, it's not me."
"It's Sister's birth mother, Auntie Jin, who's ordering her around."
"If you're worried about Sister, you'd better hurry and go join her."
Chen Liuyue pointed in the direction of the Tao house.
Chen Haotian immediately sprinted off.
She then turned her head to look at Wei Miao and smiled.
"Brother Wei, since you're already here,"
"how about I treat you to a show?"
Wei Miao smiled and said, "I'd be delighted."
...
By the time Chen Liuyue and the others returned to the Tao house,
Chen Haotian, with his fiery temper, was already arguing with Jin Minjia. Old Mrs. Tao had also joined the fray, with Tao Cong and Tao Hui, the sister and brother, adding fuel to the fire from the sidelines.
"Teacher Jin, Ruanruan has never suffered any hardship or done any manual work in our Chen family for twenty years."
"And on her very first day back with the Taos, you treat her like this? Are you really her birth mother?"
"How can you be so cruel?"
Chen Ruanruan hid behind Chen Haotian, tugged at the corner of his clothes, and said softly,
"Brother, don't be like this. Mom is doing it for my own good."
In reality, a smile she couldn't quite hide played at the corners of her lips.
Earlier, while tending the fire, she had almost burned her fingers, and while stir-frying, hot oil had nearly splashed onto her face.
She had long wanted to quit!
Unfortunately, Jin Minjia stood beside her like an iron-faced, merciless Buddha, watching her every move, leaving her no room to escape.
Jin Minjia's combat prowess was also strong.
"You're Chen Haotian, right? Your parents are always polite to me. How dare you point your finger at an elder like this?"
"And if Ruanruan isn't my own daughter, could she possibly be yours, from the Chen family?"
"You're just a foster brother. You're overstepping quite a bit, aren't you?"
Old Mrs. Tao also started wailing from the side, "Oh woe is me, this old woman isn't worthy of having breakfast made by her city granddaughter!"
Tao Hui tried to soothe her, "Grandma, don't cry. If Sister Ruanruan isn't filial to you, Little Cong and I will be filial."
Tao Cong curled his lip.
He hesitated, then said meaningfully,
"Sister Ruanruan, you and your foster brother aren't related by blood, right? For him to be so concerned about you... it couldn't be..."
