The Tang family has four brothers. The eldest, Tang Jianmin, always speaks of righteousness, but inwardly he is deceitful, appearing fair to the other three households, yet his bias is obvious. The eldest household has three daughters and a son. The eldest daughter, Tang Ying, is already married. The second daughter, Tang Ruyi, is as malicious as her mother, useless except within the family, often bullying Tang Wanwan and her siblings. The third daughter, Tang Ruyue, is of good character and gets along with Tang Wanwan, yet she too is often scolded by her mother and bullied by her sister.
The second household, consisting of Tang Jianyong and his wife Mrs. Xiao, are a couple lacking in intelligence and always avoiding hard work. They envy others' profits but only incur losses in turn. They refuse to exert themselves while working, leaving their fields mostly barren. During autumn harvest, while others carry back baskets of sweet potatoes, wheat, and corn, their fields are overgrown with weeds taller than a person.
Fortunately, Mrs. Xiao has a strong maiden family for support. Granny Zhang, who is also quite snobbish, shows favoritism towards her exceptionally lazy second daughter-in-law. Their daughter, Tang Dan Ni, is as hefty as a large weight, both dark-skinned and rotund, lazier and greedier than even her parents.
The third household belongs to Tang Jianfei, Tang Wanwan's father. The couple has four children, making them the largest household with the most work. According to Granny Zhang, their larger family consumes more, so naturally, they do more work and must hand over all earnings. As a result, the little they originally had was reduced further by the old lady's stinginess, leaving their living conditions painfully clear.
The fourth son, Tang Jianshu, is Granny Zhang's favorite. At eighteen, he's still unmarried and works as a doorman at the county government, a low-skill job despite the official salary. Granny Zhang boasts about him as if he were a high official, even disregarding the clan elders, which subjects them to gossip in the village.
Actually, Mr. Tang Jinfa's family is not even part of the Tang family's direct line, but rather a close collateral branch. They could consider themselves fortunate to live in Tang Family Village, but their greed knows no bounds. Granny Zhang fancies her sons as impressive, lacking restraint, often meddling with Lady Chen and using Tang Wanwan as an excuse. With even the Clan Leader silent on the matter, Granny Zhang and her daughter-in-law's ignorance leaves them without support, incurring much trouble for themselves, with nobody willing to stand up for them.
The only one willing to stand up for them is Lu Yujin, an eighteen-year-old youth.
Today, Mrs. Wang and Granny Zhang caused a big scene. Tang Wanwan was injured again, and Lady Chen also suffered injuries, making dinner preparation difficult, not to mention the lack of decent ingredients. Farming families typically eat only two meals a day; if there's plenty made at lunch, dinner is often composed of leftovers. Normally, if their own food is prepared, they wouldn't go to the old lady's for meals. Arriving late at mealtime means there would be none left. They rarely get anything good, with only a few shriveled potatoes at home, half a bag of sweet potatoes slightly thicker than fingers, some halved or filled with wormholes. The only edible options are a half basket of wild vegetables and half a sack of coarse rice flour.
Seeing this crooked and unappetizing food made Tang Wanwan tear up. This family truly had it rough. Xiao Yi and Xiao Rou, being at a growing age, needed better rice or meat, while her brother required meat for nutrition.
Tang Wanwan understood why her brother's leg wouldn't heal. Poor diet played a part, as did the harm from a quack doctor. If her memories were correct, Tang Wei's leg was merely bent, the bone misaligned. Now, he was almost paralyzed. Another year or two bedridden might leave him entirely useless.
In the main room, one could vaguely smell the rotting flesh from the west room, known to be the worst stench in the world.
"Wanwan, are you still in pain? I see you have no appetite; try to eat more." Lady Chen was pushing herself. Normally, today's meal would be halved, with a couple of small potatoes each and clear broth. Occasionally, there would be plain wild greens, and with no trace of oil, making them hard to swallow, let alone savory.
As for meat, that's another matter.
Families like theirs wouldn't eat meat for a year. Even during the rare festivities or when the old lady had guests, a few slimming scraps might be available, but never for them.
Lady Chen lived too humbly.
Scenes replayed in her mind like a slow, old film, a family's life so tragic it could only be described with 'misery'.
Pitiful people must have their hateful side, too meek to resist, leading to their plight. Yet this original self wanted to fight, just lacked the strength, leaving this opportunity to her.
"Mom, I'm not very hungry, please have more. I'll feed brother medicine today." Though her face reddened at her words, knowing she'd just devoured a bun herself.
"No, A wan, let mommy do it."
"Please eat, mom. I'm really much better." To prove her recovery, Tang Wanwan briskly left the table, with the medicine bowl, heading to her brother's room. Rising revealed her pain, but having spoken big words, she had to endure!
"Oh, this child." Watching her daughter's frail back, limping from today's beating, Lady Chen's eyes moistened again.
"Brother, how are you today?"
"A wan? Did it hurt being hit? Brother's useless, unable to protect you." Despite having prepared herself, seeing her brother Tang Wei was truly heart-wrenching for Tang Wanwan. Such a fine young man, now ravaged by illness.
Of the Tang children, Tang Wei had the most advantages, naturally smart and handsome, truly a fine young gentleman. Before his leg injury, Granny Zhang treated him well, hoping he'd become a scholar for the Tang family.
Tang Wei, versed in the Four Books and Five Classics from early on, needed but a glance or two to remember lessons others required weeks for, indeed a prodigious child.
Unfortunately, Heaven was blind. At twelve, on the eve of his county examination, he was savagely beaten by ruffians while rescuing a young lady from harassment, breaking his leg. Unthinkably, the rescued maiden not only spurned gratitude but falsely accused him of misconduct, whereupon her mother ordered his already-broken leg further crippled with his tendons severed.