Seeing his sister's tears, Gu Qing couldn't help but start sobbing too. His sister had suffered so much in the Marquis Mansion all these years.
He didn't know about the past, but in just the last few days, she had been beaten with a plank, thrown in jail, and dragged onto a platform to be sold off. What kind of ordeal was that for a delicate young girl to go through?
Gu Zhang stroked Gu Fei's head, his own eyes growing moist. "It's all my fault. If Dad hadn't gotten sick, I never would have sold you."
"From now on, you don't have to do a single thing around the house. Just consider it Dad's way of making it up to you."
"And, if you want to marry someone in the future, you can. If you don't, Dad will take care of you for the rest of your life."
"WAHHHH!" Gu Fei cried even more heartbrokenly. 'Dad is so good to me. I really wish I could take out the rice, flour, and other delicious food from my space to improve our lives. But I can't. We can only eat corn cakes.'
'WAHHHH! And poor me will have to eat corn cakes right along with them.'
The father and his two children were having a good cry in the room when Gu Erlang pushed the door open, startling them. "What's wrong? Are your sister's wounds hurting again?"
Gu Fei looked up at him, her vision blurred by tears. "No!"
"Then what are you all crying about? It's making me nervous," Gu Erlang said, patting his chest.
Gu Qing wiped his tears and shot him a sideways glance. "What did you come running in here for?"
'So annoying. You've completely ruined the mood.'
Gu Erlang understood his big brother's look and felt quite aggrieved. "Dinner's ready. Mom told me to come get you!"
Gu Fei sniffled and held out her hand. "Second Brother, help me up."
Gu Erlang hurried over to help Gu Fei off the kang bed.
The table in the main room was already set for dinner.
Gu Fei had guessed wrong. The staple food wasn't corn cakes, but cornmeal gruel.
On the table was a single dish of pickled vegetables and another of boiled wild greens.
Gu Fei sat down, her face a mask of misery. 'I want to eat rice. I want to eat red-braised pork. WAHHHH.'
Seeing the look on Gu Fei's face, Mrs. Chen looked a little embarrassed. "My dear girl, this is all we have in the house. Not a single drop of soup was left from this afternoon's chicken. Tomorrow, I'll have your big brother go buy some meat, and Mom will cook it specially for you."
Mrs. Chen sounded generous, but her heart was bleeding.
'The family is out of money. Not only that, we've even mortgaged the land. How are we going to survive?'
Gu Fei quickly forced a smile. "Mom, you don't have to. This is just fine. With the drought this year, many families have nothing to eat at all. It's already wonderful that we have something."
Mrs. Chen nodded. "You're right about that. The heavens... not a single drop of rain. It's like they don't want people to live!"
Gu Fei picked up her bowl of cornmeal gruel, lifted a small amount with her chopsticks, and put it in her mouth, forcing herself to swallow.
The cornmeal wasn't ground as finely as it was in the modern world she came from; the coarse grains scratched her throat as she swallowed.
Her palate had been spoiled during her time in the Marquis Mansion.
In the Marquis Mansion, not even the servants ate this sort of food. They all had white rice and steamed buns made from white flour, though the accompanying dishes weren't anything special.
Gu Fei took a bite of the cornmeal gruel and picked up a piece of the pickled vegetable. Eating this meal was a struggle.
Watching his daughter, Gu Zhang fell silent.
'I was just boasting that I'd take care of her for the rest of her life,' he thought, 'but she clearly can't stomach such coarse food, and here I am, her father, completely helpless.'
He thought sullenly, 'Tomorrow, I have to go into the city with her. I have to find some kind of work. I need to earn money and provide for this family.'
After they had been eating for a while, Gu Qing suddenly spoke up. "I went into the city to buy grain today. The price has gone up again."
The entire family stopped eating and looked at him. Gu Qing sighed. "Grain prices started rising in the spring, and now they've more than tripled. I have a feeling they're going to keep climbing!"