Tian Jing meticulously described the personalities and tempers of everyone in the Tian family. Li Min listened intently.
Li Zhengguo also listened attentively, wanting to know what kind of life Tiantian had experienced in the Tian family for eighteen years.
Li Min grew afraid. Feeding over a dozen people three meals a day was already a lot, and then there was feeding the pigs and chickens. A day's work left her more exhausted than earning work points in the fields.
Seeing the hesitation on Li Min's face, Tian Jing said with ill intent, "I used to do all of this. As for who will do it in the future, I don't know. After all, the daughters of the Tian family are all married off."
"Sister-in-law, good sister-in-law, please teach me."
Li Min knew that being afraid and backing down wouldn't work. The matter of exchanging brides was inevitable.
Moreover, she was reluctant to send this sister-in-law back to the Tian family. She was knowledgeable and could see through Zhang Fangcao's true nature, making her an excellent person to stay with the Li family and care for her mother and elder brother.
"It's time to cook," Tian Jing said, looking at Li Min. "Your mother should go back to her room. We can continue drying things tomorrow."
"Sister-in-law~"
Li Min continued to implore Tian Jing. Seeing her close her eyes and bask in the sun, unmoved, she could only get up to cook.
Li Zhengguo carried Li Mu back to the room and moved the cool bed back to the main hall. He thanked Tian Jing, who was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed, "Thank you."
Tian Jing merely lifted her eyelids, then let them fall again. It was truly comfortable to quietly bathe in the sunlight, doing nothing and exerting no effort.
No wonder the chirping bird didn't want to build a nest; she also didn't want to move and just wanted to lean lazily in the sun.
Seeing that she didn't want to pay him any attention, Li Zhengguo didn't try to get close as he had before.
However, he felt a strange, elusive sensation. After Tian Jing analyzed the Tian family's personalities.
Li Min worked quickly. While Tian Jing was drowsing in the sun, she heard her call out that dinner was ready.
Tian Jing had some anticipation for this meal. The wild vegetables, stimulated by her wood element ability, would surely have an unusual taste.
As expected, taking a bite of the crispy, savory vegetable pancake, the special fragrance of wild vegetables seemed amplified tenfold, filling her mouth.
"Sister-in-law, where did you dig these wild vegetables? They're so fragrant. I couldn't stop salivating while I was cooking just now," Li Min asked vaguely, chewing on the pancake.
"In the bushes at the foot of the mountain."
Tian Jing replied casually. Whether it tasted good or not was the wild vegetables' doing, nothing to do with her. However, it wasn't appropriate to always have wild vegetables. She should go up the mountain to find other things.
Li Mu also ate an extra half pancake and drank half a bowl of shepherd's purse soup. After eating, she didn't feel the usual indigestion. She didn't know if it was because she had basked in the sun, but she felt much lighter.
After finishing her chores, Li Min moved back to Tian Jing's side, "Sister-in-law, please teach me. Teach me how to survive in the Tian family."
This girl used the word "survive." Had she been too harsh?
"I want to go up the mountain tomorrow. Help me keep your elder brother occupied, and I'll teach you."
"Up the mountain?" Li Min exclaimed, then lowered her voice, "It's not safe on the mountain."
"Heh." Tian Jing let out a cold laugh. "Do you think I could survive in the Tian family if I were afraid of the dangers on the mountain?"
"But, but..."
Li Min's dawdling made Tian Jing impatient. "If you don't help me, why should I help you? Unity is strength. If we aren't united, our respective goals will be compromised."
"Why should I help you solve the dragon's den and tiger's lair that is the Tian family, only for you to exchange me into your home to fend for myself?"
"Although the Tian family treated me poorly, I had solid food at every meal. I just did more work. I'm not afraid of hard work, I'm afraid of hunger."
"If I go up the mountain to find a way to live, and you don't even give me that, what way of life can I show you? Think about it yourself."
Li Min was stunned by Tian Jing's retort. What she said seemed wrong, yet also very right. What should she do?
At dinner, Li Min didn't make more pancakes. Instead, she mixed the last of the dark flour with the old starter and chopped the blanched thistles from noon, wrapping them in the leavened dough. She also sprinkled some salt water. There were no more shepherd's purses, so they drank sweet potato porridge water.
Li Mu ate two vegetable rolls and drank only half a bowl of porridge, not wanting to eat the sweet potato.
Li Min thought that these wild vegetables were dug up by Tian Jing. If Tian Jing could find food that her mother could eat more of, she would be willing to help her stop her elder brother.
Her elder brother's legs were not good, so he could only chop wood at the foot of the mountain. If he followed her up the mountain, he would definitely not be as fast as Tian Jing.
Was this the case?
Li Min asked herself, and it had to be. She was selfish. In order to get firsthand information to deal with the Tian family, she helped Tian Jing despite knowing the dangers of the mountain.
But this was also what Tian Jing demanded of her; she hadn't forced Tian Jing to go up the mountain.
The next morning, as soon as her elder brother went to fetch water, after letting Tian Jing, who was carrying a basket and a woodcutter's knife, leave, Li Min kept comforting herself like this in her heart. If her hands weren't trembling, she could convince herself even more.
Li Zhengguo returned with two loads of water. He didn't see Tian Jing get up and didn't think much of it, assuming he would call her when breakfast was ready.
When he went to her room to wake her for breakfast, the neatly folded quilt on the kang told him that she had gotten up long ago. She might have gotten up while he was fetching water, as he hadn't left the house after that.
With a cold face, he found his sister. Upon hearing the conditions of the forced exchange, he grabbed the kitchen cleaver and hurried out.
"You stay home and watch mother. Don't go anywhere, and don't inform anyone."
"Elder brother." Li Min, scared, grabbed her elder brother. "You can't go. It's dangerous on the mountain."
"Knowing it's dangerous, you still covered for her?" Li Zhengguo gave his sister a sideways glance.
"She forced me to agree. Besides, looking at her attitude, she would have gone even if I hadn't helped her."
Li Zhengguo forcefully pulled his sister's hand away. "Li Min, I didn't blame you when you targeted her because of Zhang Fangcao's instigation. Now, for your own security in the Tian family, you're disregarding her life."
"I don't know how you've become so selfish, but don't stop me from finding her, or don't blame me for turning ruthless."
"I didn't!" Li Min's tears welled up as her elder brother spoke to her like that. "She hasn't told me how to survive in the Tian family yet. I haven't gotten what I want. According to you, I should have let her teach me first before agreeing to let her go up the mountain."
Li Zhengguo was stunned. Did Tian Jing think she could get in and out of the mountain safely by herself?
"No matter what, I must go find her."
"Aren't you disregarding mother and me?"
Li Min's tears fell. "You only care about her, don't you? No wonder Zhang Fangcao called her a vixen. I think so too. You've only known her for two days, and you've already forgotten about me and mother."
Two days? He had known her for twenty years.
Disregarding his own mother? It seemed so.
He let Tiantian do whatever she wanted, get whatever she desired, simply because he had a very good impression of her and couldn't bear to say a harsh word to her, nor could he bear others speaking ill of her.
Just like now, "Sister, I care about her, very much so. If she were gone, I would have no desire to live, just like mother can't bear to be without father."