Chapter 262
"If only that wretched girl hadn't gone to the countryside..." Margaret Wilson clenched the rag in her hand, her knuckles turning white. She stared at the sycamore tree outside the window, her eyes dark with resentment.
The shrill whistle of the kettle in the kitchen startled her.
"That ungrateful brat better never come back!" she spat viciously, throwing the rag into the basin and splashing water everywhere.
Meanwhile, in the fields at the foot of the mountain.
"Achoo—" Emily Johnson rubbed her itchy nose as dappled sunlight filtered through the leaves onto her face.
"Mommy, are you sick?" Little Tommy stretched on his tiptoes, trying to touch her forehead, his small face full of concern.
"I'm fine." She chuckled, pinching his chubby cheeks. "Let's keep looking for mugwort. Mommy will make you some sweet rice cakes."
The spring breeze carried the scent of fresh earth as it swept across the fields. Emily squinted against the sunlight, suddenly remembering the soft, fragrant rice cakes her grandmother had made in her past life—the taste still lingering on her tongue.
"Mommy, mushrooms only come after the rain!" David crouched in the grass, carefully searching the undergrowth.
"Silly boy, Mommy's looking for mugwort." She laughed, brushing the dirt from his face.
The next morning, Emily rode her bicycle to town to pick up a package. An old ox plodded along the ridge, the air thick with the mingled scents of grass and manure.
Behind the post office counter, Mrs. Wang smiled as she handed over the parcel. "Another package from your family, Emily?"
"Yes." Emily took the heavy package, her fingers brushing against the rough brown paper. She bought half a pound of pork belly and a couple of ounces of fruit candy before heading back.
By noon, the aroma of braised pork filled the house.
"So you're really going to take the exam again?" Mary Stone asked suddenly, setting her chopsticks down with a light clink against the bowl.
Emily ladled soup into her mother-in-law's bowl. "Mother, there's no harm in furthering one's education." Her gaze drifted to the rice sprouts drying outside, their tender green shoots stretching toward the sunlight. "Look at those seeds..."
Mary fell silent. It was true—since adopting Emily's method, their rice germination rate had increased by thirty percent.
"If you pass," the older woman lowered her voice, "I'll take care of David and Tommy."
Emily paused mid-bite. Was her mother-in-law... actually supporting her?
That afternoon, she opened the letter from home alone. The handwriting was neat, almost rigid:
[We're arranging work for you. Your husband's tractor skills are an advantage...]
Her eyes lingered on the words "separate households." The proud sister-in-law she remembered had actually been kicked out of the family home?
The pen scratched against the paper as she wrote:
[Mom and Dad, Michael and I have discussed...]
After finishing the last sentence, she pulled out a math test and walked toward Michael, who was chopping firewood.
"Pop quiz." She waved the paper, its whiteness glaring in the sunlight.
The man froze mid-motion, sweat still on his brow.
"Bro, why do you look like a wilted eggplant?" Daniel River leaned on his hoe, eyeing him suspiciously. "Don't tell me..." His gaze flicked toward the house.
Michael sighed deeply, clutching the test paper like a man marching to his doom.