Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Shen Yu watched the skinny little Yutao leave the door, then sat there thinking again.

The Yutao in front of him was thin and short, with a malnourished look. She looked no more than eight or nine years old, but she was taking care of and comforting her sister like a little adult, as if she was used to it.

It seems that the original owner of this girl called Yuzhi was a weak person, and Yutao was used to protecting her.

This made Shen Yu, who lived independently, always relied on himself and developed a tough character, a little uncomfortable.

In modern times, Shen Yu's parents died in an accident when she was seven years old, leaving her to grow up in her uncle's house.

After her uncle dealt with her parents' funeral, he sold the house their parents left behind for some money, which, together with some savings left by her parents, was enough to support her to finish college and live independently.

My uncle is busy with work and often travels on business. He only knows to give my aunt living expenses on time every month, but he doesn't know that his eldest brother's only daughter is living a life of hunger. In front of my uncle, my aunt always smiles and puts food into her bowl.

Although her aunt took good care of her openly, she secretly despised her, withheld her living expenses, and often let her go hungry. Fortunately, her cousin, who was two years younger than her, often secretly brought her food, so Shen Yu was able to survive.

After finally being able to live in the school dormitory when she was in junior high school, Shen Yu avoided her aunt and uncle and had a long talk with them, asking her uncle to give her the living expenses every month to use at her own discretion.

After listening to Shen Yu's words, the uncle looked at her height which was shorter than her peers, and then looked at her determined eyes. He sighed helplessly and agreed to her request. Only then did Shen Yu finally have a full meal.

Later, she lived alone while going to school and working, which developed a strong and independent character in her. It also forced her to learn to cook for herself after work.

Unexpectedly, she was quite talented in cooking and learned it without any teacher.

Addicted to cooking, she was not satisfied with figuring it out on her own, and even signed up for a food interest class that was held on Sundays.

With the guidance of several master chefs, I learned a lot of cooking tips and even developed several signature dishes. Whenever I had free time, I would cook for my own amusement. Over the years, my cooking skills improved by leaps and bounds.

After working for several years, Shen Yu finally had some savings.

Looking at the rising housing prices and the growth rate of her savings, she finally made up her mind, having originally planned to buy a house later. She pooled all her assets together and gritted her teeth to buy a small apartment with full payment.

Although my pockets are cleaner than my face after buying the house, I now have my own home and can finally buy furniture and kitchenware as I please.

Thinking about this, Shen Yu's heart was bubbling with joy, and he even walked with the wind.

Who knew that happiness would turn into sorrow? I was happy for just one night and then ended up here inexplicably.

Oh, what bad luck.

Shen Yu kept sighing in his heart.

Never mind, now that I’m here, I’ll just make the best of it. I can’t keep pretending to be sick and weak. This is not something I, Shen Yu, can do. I’ll have to heal the wound on my head first.

Shen Yu tried to move his hands and feet, twisted his waist and legs, and carefully checked to see if there were any other injuries.

I hit my head and it's bleeding, and I feel dizzy and want to vomit. If there is blood stasis pressing on the nerves, it's no joke.

Shen Yu checked his body carefully. Apart from the pain in the back of his head and some abrasions on his hands and knees, everything else was fine.

Although his body is thin, he is very flexible. He may have lost too much blood when he was hit and has no strength left.

It's nothing, you'll recover if you eat well.

Thinking about eating, Shen Yu felt hungry.

After arriving here, I only ate a bowl of porridge and my stomach was already empty.

At this time, it would be nice to have a juicy roujiamo and a bowl of hot tofu pudding.

The more I thought about it, the hungrier I became, and my stomach started to growl.

She was about to stand up and walk out when Yutao walked in carefully carrying a large steaming bowl.

"Sister, you must be hungry. This is the noodles that mom specially asked me to make for you. It's delicious."

Shen Yu stood up happily, but when she saw the noodles in the bowl, her smile froze.

She thought she would see a bowl of clear soup sprinkled with chopped green onions, with oil floating on the top, and a golden, greasy poached egg sitting on top of the thin white noodles.

But in reality, it was a bowl of gray noodles. I don't know what they were made of. The soup was watery and there was not even a speck of oil. There was only a handful of black pickled vegetable shreds piled in the middle of the noodles.

Yu Tao looked at her disappointed expression, put the bowl and chopsticks on the table, and said helplessly: "Sister, the white flour at home has been eaten up a long time ago. Dad has to pay back the money he owed for medical treatment and medicine. The little fine grains we had were taken away by mom to pay off the debt a few days ago. Only this mixed grain flour is left."

Shen Yu realized that he had lost his composure and quickly forced himself to smile: "No, no, I don't dislike this noodle, I just suddenly saw such a big bowl and was afraid that I couldn't finish it."

Yu Tao suddenly realized what was going on and smiled sweetly, "Sister, hurry up and eat, it's delicious. I even dripped sesame oil on the pickles."

"Ah."

Shen Yu agreed, picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of noodles and put it into his mouth.

It was rough, tiring, and extremely hard to swallow. Even during the years when my aunt cut back on my food, I had never eaten noodles so hard to swallow.

Shen Yu tried hard to chew and swallow, his face flushed, but he couldn't spit it out. Afraid of being seen by Yu Tao, he had to lower his head and chew slowly, pretending to be very fragrant.

But I no longer dared to pick up a full cup of noodles with my chopsticks, so I had to chew them carefully one by one. I found that the noodles had a sweet fragrance of grain. Although the noodles were ground very coarsely, I could still eat them if I chewed them hard.

Shen Yu ate a few bites and felt that her complexion was back to normal. She finally raised her head and said to Yu Tao, who had been sitting opposite her and looking at her, "The noodles are very good. Sister, have you eaten them? Is it made just for me, or is it for the whole family?"

A trace of embarrassment flashed across Yutao's face: "Sister, please don't worry about us. We have all eaten. Mother and my younger brother have gone to water the fields. I saw that you have eaten, so I have to go over and help carry water."

Shen Yu looked at Yutao's expression and understood that not everyone could eat such noodles.

She pretended nothing had happened and said to Yutao, "Sister, I just recovered from my injury and have no appetite. I really can't eat such a big bowl. Otherwise, you can get a bowl and help me eat some. It's so hot, it would be a pity if it goes bad."

Seeing Shen Yu's sincere face and then looking at the bowl of noodles that she hadn't finished much, Yu Tao hesitated and asked again: "Sister, can't you eat any more?"

Shen Yu put on a regretful look and said, "Yes, this noodle is delicious, but there is too much. I really can't finish such a big bowl."

No matter how precocious Yu Tao was, she was still a child. After hearing what Shen Yu said, she said happily, "Then wait, sister. I'll go get the bowl."