Chapter 237: The Old Madam Is Truly a Noble Person

Chapter 237 -229: The Old Madam Is Truly a Noble Person

Thinking of how she’d been rebuffed by Bai Zhi and Zhao Lan earlier, Old Mrs. Bai hesitated. If Bai Zhi wasn’t around, and it was just Zhao Lan, maybe she’d have a chance.

That girl, Zhi, was too hard-hearted. She could never get anything out of her.

But the hunger in her belly was unbearable. She was going mad from eating wild vegetables, and she couldn’t bring herself to spend the Silver Coins hidden in her box on rice and grain…

She glanced around and saw quite a few people washing clothes or resting by the river. ‘Maybe they’ll care about their reputation in front of the other villagers,’ she thought. ‘After all, I’m Bai Zhi’s grandmother. I raised her for twelve years. Surely I can get a few potatoes out of them?’

Her mind made up, Old Mrs. Bai pulled Liu over to Zhao Lan and Bai Zhi. She feigned curiosity, peering at the potatoes in their bag. “Oh, what are you washing?”

The mother and daughter turned to glance at her, both frowning in unison. ‘These Bai family members are like Yin Souls that just won’t disperse.’

Zhao Lan lowered her head and went back to washing her potatoes. Bai Zhi, however, kept her little face tilted up, a wide smile playing on her lips. “My, Old Mrs. Bai, you must be a person of Fugui, not even recognizing a potato. It seems you must dine on fine fish and meat every day, scorning such lowly food meant for commoners.”

Liu gave a hollow laugh. “Zhi, you sure have a way with words. Since when is food divided into high and low class? It’s all just something to fill the belly.”

But Bai Zhi shook her head. “I used to think so, too. But after hearing what you and Old Mrs. Bai said last time, I’ve come to a new understanding of the classes of food.”

Liu froze. “What did Old Mrs. Bai and I say?” The moment the question was out, she regretted it. ‘This Bai Zhi would never say anything pleasant. I shouldn’t have given her an opening.’

But it was too late!

Bai Zhi set down her potato, washed her muddy little hands in the river, and stood up. She tilted her small face upward, her gaze searing as it locked onto Liu. “You and Old Mrs. Bai said that the family’s rice porridge and dishes were for people to eat. You said only the leftovers, or the food that was about to go bad, was for livestock. And in your eyes, my mother and I were the livestock. We did the heaviest labor and ate the worst scraps—less than the cattle and horses. In fact, in your eyes, I’m afraid we weren’t even as good as pigs or dogs, were we?”

The expressions on Liu’s and Old Mrs. Bai’s faces turned ugly. They never imagined Bai Zhi would bring up the past right here, right now.

Feeling the scornful gazes of the onlookers, they finally realized what was happening. She was saying all this for the benefit of the crowd, using the opportunity to win their sympathy and paint them as cruel and unjust.

Old Mrs. Bai was about to explode with rage. ‘All I did was ask what they were washing! I didn’t say anything else, haven’t even gotten a single potato, and now I’m the villain?’

‘No, I can’t just take this lying down.’

Old Mrs. Bai desperately forced a smile onto her face, one that looked even uglier than tears.

“Zhi, you must have misunderstood. Your Aunt and I have never said anything like that. And even if we did, we certainly weren’t talking about you. You must have misheard.”

Bai Zhi shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe I did mishear. But can you deny that my mother and I ate nothing but leftovers every day in the Bai Family home? That sometimes, when my mother came back late from her work, there weren’t even any leftovers for her? That was our normal, everyday life. Can you deny it?”

This wasn’t something Old Mrs. Bai and Liu could simply deny. Who in the village didn’t already know about it?