Male Lead's Canon Fodder Wife - Chapter 1019

Chapter 1019: Worries
Realizing their pleas were in vain, Zhang Damu stood up abruptly and pointed at his brother as he said angrily, “Since you refuse to help, from today on, we will have nothing to do with the Zhang family. Don’t come looking for my sons to carry your urn in the future!”

Hearing this, Zhang Damu’s wife also stood up and spat angrily, “Pei! You are already 28 and still unmarried. No one wants you, and you will die a lonely death!”

After their outburst, they stormed out and noticed Li Chenze on the balcony.

Li Chenze glanced at them as they passed and walked inside, “Brother Ermu, have you eaten yet?”

Zhang Damu’s wife scoffed, “Another beggar here for grains and food!”

Although Zhang Damu stayed silent, he shared her thoughts. His brother was known as a pushover, easily taken advantage of. People often came to pilfer food from him, and he himself had taken his brother’s grains on many occasions.

Lately, he had found nothing in the warehouse when he visited in the middle of the night and could only come today intending to borrow.

Inside the house, Zhang Ermu was surprised to see Li Chenze. He stood up and asked, “Brother Chenze, why are you here? Did something happen at home?”

Li Chenze sat down and said with a smile, “I came to borrow your bullock cart.”

Zhang Ermu’s eyes widened with concern and asked again, “Is everything all right with the children and sister-in-law?”

“They are fine,” Li Chenze assured him.

“I need your help delivering my third brother’s grains, vegetables, meat, and fruit to Lu Han.”

Hearing this, Zhang Ermu was finally relieved. He took his seat and asked, “Brother Chenze, when do you want to go?”

“If you are not busy on the farm, tomorrow would be great. My second brother is hosting a wedding banquet in the capital, and we need to send the supplies,” Li Chenze thought for a moment and said.

“Understood. I will be at your third brother’s house by four in the morning,” Zhang Ermu agreed readily.

Li Chenze nodded, then glanced at the table. Looking at the water stains, he asked, “Was your brother here to borrow grains?”

Zhang Ermu sighed and nodded, “Yes. I have moved everything to the underground cellar. Several times he came in the middle of the night and came back empty-handed. Therefore, he could only borrow food openly now.”

Li Chenze nodded knowingly. Zhang Damu had a reputation in the village for being lazy and unreasonable. He was so lazy that he could only earn a maximum of 5 work points even during peak times.

It wasn’t surprising he struggled with the lack of food not long after the distribution. With two sons and three daughters, it is not easy to support a family.

Over the years, he had regularly stolen from his brother, and Li Chenze had once urged Ermu to report him. But Ermu refused—not out of sympathy for his brother and sister-in-law but for the children, who often went hungry.

Once, Zhang Damu’s youngest daughter even fainted from hunger while foraging pigweeds. When Ermu discovered the stolen grains were only feeding the parents, not the children, he was furious. Unable to adopt them officially, he could only invite the children to his house for meals.

Li Chenze, noticing Ermu’s pensive look, cleared his throat and said, “Ermu, if you ever need help, come to me. You are my brother in all but name.”

Zhang Ermu smiled when he heard this and said, “Thank you, Brother Chenze.”

Li Chenze nodded but said nothing. He left soon after to join his family for dinner.

When he was alone, Zhang Ermu went to the cellar and retrieved rice, salted meat, and pickled vegetables.

He planned a dinner of steamed rice and stir-fried pork with pickled vegetables. Thanks to the basket of eggs Li Chenze had given him, he prepared an egg with brown sugar soup for his grandparents and sister.

Thinking about his sister, he let out a sigh. She was born when their parents were already in old age, making her ten years younger than him and now past the typical marriageable age. At 18, his mother was anxious and eager to find a good match for her.

But given their family’s situation, finding a suitable husband would be difficult. Most of the matches introduced by the matchmaker were either old bachelors or widowers with children.

Even though their family was poor, he didn’t want his sister to marry an older man or become a stepmother, so he kept refusing those matches. Now, no one was willing to introduce a suitor for her anymore as they thought that their family looked down on those men.

“Maybe I should ask Brother Chenze to introduce someone to my sister,” he muttered to himself as he cooked.

Half an hour later, he finished cooking and packed some food and the eggs with brown sugar for his grandparents in a bamboo basket. Afterward, he walked to the cowshed near their house under the cover of night.

Since the cowshed was located far from the village, no one noticed him bringing food to his grandparents every day.

When he reached the cowshed, Zhang Ermu opened the door and called softly, “Grandpa, Grandma, I brought your dinner. Come and eat first.”

Hearing his voice, the two elderly emerged from one of the pens and said, “Ermu, you are here.”

“Grandma, Grandpa, I made eggs with brown sugar for you. The weather is changing, and it’s easy to get sick. You should drink this to warm your body,” Zhang Ermu said, handing each of them a bowl.

Seeing the eggs in the brown sugar soup, Grandma Zhang said with a sigh, “Ermu, you should save this for yourself. You work from dawn until night. If you don’t eat well, you will get sick.”

“Grandma, I’m young and have a strong body so I don’t need to eat the eggs. What’s more, these eggs were given by Brother Chenze for you and Grandpa. So, please eat,” insisted Zhang Ermu.