CMWKSD -Chapter 6 Can We Eat Now?

The sun hung high in the sky; Jiu Yue couldn’t stand outside any longer.

Su Ruo and Ji Dahai carried bowls of rice and dishes toward the main hall, calling as they walked, “Time to eat!”

Jiu Yue shot to her feet. She’d already been starving—yesterday at noon she’d gnawed on a piece of compressed biscuit, and this morning she’d had a bowl of rice gruel so thin it was barely different from clear water.

She’d just turned around when she saw the doors to the rooms slowly opening, people emerging one after another, like nesting dolls.

Jiu Yue clicked her tongue. Weren’t they supposed to be farmers? Every single one of them—how come none of them were working?

Then her peripheral vision caught Ji Dahai and Su Ruo. Oh. There were people working—two old yellow oxen.

But even two old yellow oxen couldn’t possibly support such a huge family, could they?

Well… what did it have to do with her?

When everyone saw Jiu Yue, they were only momentarily puzzled and didn’t pay much attention. The Ji family, aside from treating Ji Dahai’s family as outsiders, was actually quite united.

Jiu Yue didn’t care. She followed behind Ji Yiqing into the main room and plopped herself down by the largest square table. The noisy room instantly fell silent.

Everyone looked at Jiu Yue with different expressions. The only ones qualified to sit at the table were Ji Shan, Hu Chunhua, Ji Dahu, Ji Dajiang, and Ji Dahu’s wife, Shen Mei.

Of course, if Ji Dajiang’s and Ji Dahu’s sons were home, they’d also be allowed at the table. Everyone else didn’t have the right to sit there.

Ji Yiqing didn’t concern himself with such matters. Rather than arguing with them, he’d rather read a couple more books or write a few more characters.

He tugged at Jiu Yue’s sleeve. “I’ll bring your food to the room for you to eat.”

Jiu Yue replied with an “Oh,” but didn’t move.

Then she noticed what was placed on the table—there was rice and dishes. Though she couldn’t tell what exactly they were, at least it was rice and dishes. As for what was on the other wooden board, she didn’t know if it was porridge or water; in any case, it was clear enough to reflect a person’s face.

Seeing that Jiu Yue wouldn’t move, Hu Chunhua had originally thought that since this wild girl would die in a few days anyway, it wasn’t worth arguing with her. But now she was squatting right at the table, refusing to budge.

Ji Dahu kept desperately giving her looks. Ji Shan sat calmly in the main seat—he was the head of the family; something this trivial didn’t require him to step in.

Su Ruo quickly finished distributing the food at the table. Ji Yiqing tried his best to ladle thicker porridge for Jiu Yue, but no matter how thick he made it, it was still very thin.

Holding the bowl, he tugged at Jiu Yue’s sleeve. “Let’s go back to the room.”

Jiu Yue was just about to stand up when she saw the food in Ji Yiqing’s hands—food, if it could be called that. She tilted her head up, blinking in confusion. “This is what we’re eating?”

Ji Yiqing nodded. Some things weren’t convenient to say here. He and Ji Chaomian both copied books to earn silver and always hid a bit of food over the years, but he couldn’t possibly mention that in front of so many people.

If Jiu Yue wasn’t used to this kind of food, he could take out some pastries for her later.

But Jiu Yue didn’t know any of that. She glanced at the bowls of Hu Chunhua and Ji Shan—what looked like yellow millet rice, with vegetable buns on the table and two kinds of greens.

And in her own bowl? Just a bowl of thin porridge with countable rice grains, plus a tiny piece of pickled vegetable.

Ji Yiqing’s was the same—let alone Ji Dahai and Su Ruo. Those two were the main laborers. Eating this little and then going to work? Were they tired of living?

Jiu Yue was so angry at this blatant double standard that she actually laughed.

Seeing Jiu Yue still squatting at the table, Ji Dahu snorted. “A bitch is still a bitch. If you don’t want to eat, then get lost!”

If it weren’t for those fifty taels, she’d have been thrown out long ago. In broad daylight it wasn’t convenient to make a move—no matter what, they had to keep Jiu Yue around until nightfall.

As he spoke, Ji Dahu slapped his chopsticks down on the table with a pa.

Hu Chunhua glanced at Jiu Yue and viciously pointed at her. “Giving you something to eat is already a huge act of mercy. What, you want what’s in my bowl too? Take a look at yourself—do you even deserve it? A cheap bastard! Picked up from the bottom of a cliff—who knows what shameful things you did before getting chased out, dressed all weird…”

As if cursing Jiu Yue gave her some sense of superiority, Hu Chunhua couldn’t stop once she opened her mouth. Ji Yiqing looked over coldly; Hu Chunhua didn’t notice, only glaring viciously at Jiu Yue.

Ji Yiqing turned around and set his bowl on the table.

Then came a bang.

Hu Chunhua’s outstretched hand was pinned straight to the tabletop by a pair of chopsticks. The force was so great it pierced through her palm and into the table. Blood instantly spurted out.

The room fell deathly silent. Ji Yiqing hadn’t expected Jiu Yue to be this ferocious.

Jiu Yue cheerfully picked up Hu Chunhua’s bowl right in front of her. “I really don’t like people pointing at me with their fingers.”

At that moment, Ji Yiqing saw the varied expressions around the table. Hu Chunhua let out a piercing scream, like a duck whose neck had been grabbed.

Ji Yiqing was about to pull Jiu Yue away, but Jiu Yue had already taken the big sea-bowl and shoveled a mouthful of yellow millet rice into her mouth.

And then—

Heavens above!

What kind of crap was this?! It scraped her throat raw!

Jiu Yue choked, eyes rolling back. Hu Chunhua was screaming; some of the others—like Shen Mei—were screaming too, while Ji Shan and Ji Dahu were furious.

And there was also Jiu Yue, nearly passing out from being choked by millet rice. For a moment, Ji Yiqing didn’t even know whom to deal with first.

He raised his bowl to Jiu Yue’s mouth and fed her a gulp of rice soup. “Swallow!”

Jiu Yue gulped it down.

She really had thought—she really thought—that what they ate here would be all-natural, additive-free, dye-free food, that it would taste good, that it’d be delicacies she’d never had before.

She thought that even wild vegetables would be different from the greenhouse-grown vegetables of the twenty-second century—sweet and crisp; that the rice would have a fresh fragrance and be soft and glutinous.

But what the hell had she just swallowed with her noble throat?

It scraped her throat raw!

Hu Chunhua was still screaming. Seeing his mother pinned to the table by a single chopstick, Ji Dahu flew into a rage and rushed forward to grab Jiu Yue and beat her.

Ji Yiqing stepped sideways to block in front of Jiu Yue. Ji Dahu simply went around him, raised his hand, and swung a slap.

“Ah!!!”

The slap never landed. Jiu Yue clamped his index finger and thumb, flipping his palm upward toward the ceiling. Her gaze turned icy; Ji Yiqing didn’t even have time to pull Jiu Yue away.

With a thud, Ji Dahu was sent flying into the wall. The screams in the room abruptly stopped.

Jiu Yue tilted her head slightly and walked over to Ji Dahu. With one hand, she grabbed him by the throat and lifted him straight up off the ground. Ji Dahu’s legs kicked frantically against the wall.

Looking at him, Jiu Yue said, “I really hate it when people try to slap me.”

Her hand tightened. Ji Dahu couldn’t even make a sound, his face turning bright red. Seeing Jiu Yue casually twist her wrist, Ji Yiqing had no doubt she could snap Ji Dahu’s neck with one hand.

He hurriedly shouted, “Jiu Yue!”

Jiu Yue turned her head. “What?”

Ji Yiqing didn’t know if she would listen, but killing Ji Dahu in front of everyone would only bring endless trouble afterward.

“You can’t.”

Jiu Yue clicked her tongue, remembering that this wasn’t the twenty-second century—if she killed someone here, there’d be no one to clean up after her. Annoying.

She loosened her grip. Ji Dahu collapsed to his knees, coughing so hard it tore at his lungs.