Rebirth: I became rich by farming-Chapter 43 - Overeating

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Overeating

Chapter 43 -43: Overeating

Liang Xiao, who grew up in such an environment, had long since developed her own strategies for survival.

It wasn’t that she never missed dinner; going hungry didn’t matter as long as she could compensate for it in the morning. Whenever she was punished by being deprived of her evening meal, Liang Xiao would eat twice as much the following morning.

The Liang family wasn’t so cruel as to starve a child for several meals in a row, but it was a fact that Liang Xiao would eat enough for two people. Seeing Liang Xiao eat like this, her mother felt even more that Liang Xiao was not presentable, “Can’t you learn from your sister? Eating so much, why don’t you burst?”

“Why should I burst? I’m just making up for what I didn’t eat yesterday. If you dare stop me from eating, I’ll faint in school. Then the whole school will know you don’t feed me, and it’s all because of Liang Qianjin. Let’s see how your eldest daughter will be able to face anyone at school after that.” Liang Xiao knew exactly how to hit her mother’s sore spot, and she didn’t avoid saying it when others were present. Liang Qianjin heard it all too, and the thought disturbed her greatly. Despite her irritation, she still had to console her mother who was beside herself with anger, “Mom, Xiaoxiao is always like this, don’t take it to heart. If she didn’t eat last night, of course, she has to eat more this morning. It’s not a big deal. If you don’t want to cook, I won’t eat. Just give my portion to Xiaoxiao.”

“Xiaoxiao, stop making Mom angry in the future, then you can have dinner, right?” Liang Qianjin’s sensible and gentle behavior only made Liang Xiao seem all the more useless. Regardless, their mother would never let Liang Qianjin go hungry, “Mom knows you have a good heart. How can you skip breakfast? Eat up.” After her words, she looked up at Liang Xiao, who was gobbling down her food, and said irritably, “It’s like a curse. Eat, eat, eat—I’m the one cooking for you. If you don’t finish, don’t go to school.”

Their mother went to the kitchen to prepare some extra breakfast, and while Liang Xiao felt upset watching her mother’s retreating figure, seeing Liang Qianjin’s smug expression made her blood boil. Liang Xiao raised her voice deliberately, “Mom, if you deliberately make too much food and make me late for school, I’ll make sure my sister is late with me.”

While adding noodles to the pot, their mother paused at Liang Xiao’s words, realizing in her anger she hadn’t paid attention to how much she had put in. Upon closer inspection, the pot was nearly full. She stuffed the remaining noodles back into the bag, “I don’t need you to tell me. If you talk nonsense again, you can do it yourself.”

After wolfing down another bowl of noodles, Liang Xiao grabbed her backpack and left the house. She never went to school with Liang Qianjin; their paths were different, and not meant to converge. Even as twins, they were not on the same journey, and there was no need to wait for each other to go to school together.

While things were unsettled at Liang Xiao’s home, Mei Mengzhen’s family was in much the same state.

Fan Tianyu, unsuccessful with making dinner, decided to take on the task of preparing breakfast. He believed that dinner was too complex, which was why he couldn’t do it well, but breakfast was simple. How could he possibly fail? He was determined to take over making breakfast, but Mei Mengzhen did not agree. Morning time was precious; she had to make both breakfast and lunch. There was no room in the kitchen for her cousin to mess around.

Fortunately, Mei Mengzhen had not agreed, because Fan Tianyu, who had spoken confidently the night before, hadn’t even gotten up by the time she left for school in the morning.

Although he hadn’t woken up, his alarm clock managed to wake both her and her brother. It started ringing at 4:30 a.m., every 10 minutes, and didn’t stop until her waking time at 5:30 a.m., while he lay in bed blissfully asleep.

Mei Mengzhen, frustrated from lack of sleep, couldn’t quite bring herself to lose her temper. So, the cooking was done that morning without the controlled volume of the day before. Nevertheless, all the noise from the kitchen failed to wake Fan Tianyu. By the time she had finished making and eating breakfast, and lunch preparation was completed, she left for school while Fan Tianyu was still enjoying his slumber—and the alarm clock hadn’t ceased its purpose.

What time Fan Tianyu had gotten up, she wasn’t sure, but not sleeping well was a fact for both her and her brother. Carrying a grudge, she arrived at school only to hear Liang Xiao burping as soon as she sat at her desk.

Burping usually happens after overeating or missing a bite, and Liang Xiao clearly looked as if she had eaten too much. Mei Mengzhen asked, “Why did you eat so much this morning? Don’t tell me you didn’t have dinner last night.”

Previously, when Liang Xiao didn’t have food at home, she would eat at Mengzhen’s place. Grandfather Mei had been neighbors with the Liang family for decades and was quite disapproving of the Liang family’s conduct, wondering what the point was in frequently starving a child. Therefore, when Grandfather Mei was alive, Liang Xiao would come over to Mengzhen’s house for meals if she had none at home. After Grandfather Mei passed away and Mengzhen’s parents moved in, Liang Xiao ate there a couple of times. However, Mengzhen’s parents were not much different from her own parents. Knowing Mengzhen’s own difficulties, Liang Xiao stopped visiting. Later, she learned her own strategy for survival.

Whenever she missed dinner, she developed the habit of eating a lot in the morning. While it did not happen frequently, it was quite noticeable when she did overeat.

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Liang Xiao hadn’t expected Mengzhen to be so perceptive, guessing correctly, “How did you know?”

“It’s true then? Are you silly? If you have no food, come to my house. I’m not going to let you go hungry. Look how uncomfortable you are from overeating.”

Liang Xiao gave a wry smile: “Your house…” She paused suddenly, unsure how to continue.

Mengzhen didn’t mind: “What about my house? It’s different now. Nobody will say anything if you come over for meals.” She leaned closer to Liang Xiao’s ear and whispered, “I earn enough to afford food, and you won’t eat that much anyway.” She then moved away from Liang Xiao’s ear and spoke at a normal volume, “Next time you have no food, just come to my house.”

After thinking it over, Liang Xiao realized the harm in alternating between stuffing and starving herself, especially during the sensitive period of her senior year in high school, “Okay, if you need anything, I’ll help you for free.” This help would naturally involve shopping and looking after the food stall, but with many eyes and gossipers at school, there was no need to make it so explicit—they understood each other well enough.

“Deal.”

Mengzhen took out a digestive aid and handed it to Liang Xiao, who was at a loss for words, “Why do I feel like you knew I’d overeat and specifically prepared this?”

“Actually, no. I don’t have clairvoyance. I bought this because I used to eat too much. Besides, you can tell this medicine has been opened—it’s not new.”

This was indeed the case, as the vegetables from her special space were too delicious, often leading to accidental overindulgence, making these digestion pills an essential household supply.

Liang Xiao understood the implication of Mengzhen’s words, so she didn’t elaborate any further.

Mornings were always a rush, and before Mengzhen had the chance to chat for a bit, morning self-study began.

It was only after all the morning classes had ended that Mengzhen realized she was in a bad spot.