Quick Transmigration: The Cannon Fodder's Comeback in the Era Tales

Chapter 191: Chapter 191: The Hapless Eldest Sister 5

Mrs. Zhong suddenly weakened, ”Yuan Chun, you know, Mom’s health isn’t good...”

”Mom, you always say you aren’t well. How about tomorrow I take a day off and take you to the hospital?” Yuan Chun interrupted her, showing concern, ”Mom, what if you’ve got some terminal illness? I don’t want to lose you soon. My studies are important, but not as important as you. That’s settled, Mom, we’re going to the hospital tomorrow. Have Guo Qiang help me ask the teacher for leave.”

Bad health, my foot. Just to shirk work, this old woman pretends to be weak every day, constantly manipulating the original protagonist, making her mature and obedient enough to handle all the household chores at a young age.

She treated the original protagonist like a work machine, serving the entire family’s food, drink, cleanliness, and clothing.

Mrs. Zhong was taken aback, watching her eldest daughter finish speaking and return to her room, looking displeased. She wanted to chase after her, grab her hair, and give her a beating. But she’s always maintained the image of a gentle and kind mother, and couldn’t break relations with her daughter over such a trivial matter.

After all, there’s a long road ahead.

Mrs. Zhong bit her lip, looked at the three little children waiting to be fed, and smiled, ”Your big sister doesn’t want to cook, Mommy will do it. You go and play first, and I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

The attitude was completely different, the love in her eyes was sincere.

Zhong Yuanfen hugged her mom, biting her cheek, ”Mom, you’re so good.”

Mrs. Zhong was all smiles.

But thinking of her eldest daughter’s change today, a trace of unease lingered in her heart.

...

Mrs. Zhong only cooked a few bowls of cabbage porridge, just enough for the two adults and the three little children to have one bowl each, along with some hot cornbread, eating that with salted vegetables and shredded potatoes.

Yuan Chun got up and saw Mrs. Zhong and her three younger siblings were eating, noticing a bowl of porridge left untouched on the table.

Without calling anyone, Yuan Chun went over, picked up that bowl of porridge, and started drinking it voraciously.

Mrs. Zhong opened her mouth, ”Yuan Chun, that’s your dad’s porridge. You ate your dad’s porridge; what will he eat when he gets home from work?”

Yuan Chun looked puzzled, ”Mom, where’s my porridge?”

Mrs. Zhong’s face stiffened slightly, replying awkwardly, ”I thought you’d sleep until tomorrow morning, so I didn’t cook your porridge.”

Yuan Chun showed an expression of deep-hearted sorrow, accusing Old Bai Lian, ”Mom, just because I didn’t bring Mantou home today, does that mean I can’t eat? Why do my siblings have meals even though they do nothing all day, while I’m up early every day working to earn money for food, but I can’t even have a bowl of porridge? These cabbages and potatoes were bought with the money I earned selling coal slag, so why can’t I eat them?”

In the outskirts, there’s a smelting factory an hour away from the Zhong Family home. Every day, before the sky brightens, the original protagonist gets up to cook and runs to the smelting factory to pick up partially burnt coal slag.

Once, she bought uneaten vegetables from nearby villagers, which didn’t require vegetable coupons and were cheaper than those at the supply and marketing cooperative by a penny per pound. But since then, Mrs. Zhong handed over the task of buying vegetables to her, without giving her a penny.

To provide vegetables for the family, regardless of wind, rain, or snow, the original protagonist had to work even harder picking up coal slag to earn money to buy vegetables.

The factory’s garbage station also regularly discarded small bits of scrap iron, which she collected to sell as scrap at the end of the month.

Every month’s white Mantou was bought with money made from selling scrap iron.

During seasons of vegetable shortage, to prevent her family from eating plain rice, she would get up even earlier to dig wild vegetables, collect mushrooms... anything edible, she’d find a way to obtain it.

Alas...

Even Yuan Chun felt sorry for the poor little girl that was the original protagonist.

Loving her family wholeheartedly, thinking of them, and in the end... they only treated her as a tool to earn money and food.

Once used up, they even eat ones blood-stained Mantou.

Utterly tragic.

```