The Old Madam’s eyes flashed with disdain as she sneered, "If you want to eat eggs, go earn your own work points. Don’t eat my grandson’s. This is the last time."

"Understood." Storm Xavier was seething, but he didn’t dare let it show. He was genuinely terrified of the Old Madam. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

To this day, he still remembered the vicious look on her face as she personally broke both his legs. That was absolutely not the way a mother should look at her son. And yet, he was her biological son, a young master of the Xavier family.

Verna Golding shot him a disgusted glare before heading downstairs alone. ’Honestly, it would’ve been better if the Old Madam had just killed Storm Xavier.’ She’d rather be a widow than have to see this man every day. Worse still was hearing the villagers gossip about his sordid affair with her own cousin. Every time she heard about it, her stomach churned with frustration.

Verna Golding’s foul mood lifted the moment she saw her handsome, sensible son. ’With a son like him, any hardship is worth it. As for that bastard Storm Xavier... I’ll just think of him as the stud pig I borrowed for breeding. Without his genes, there’s no way I could’ve had such a good-looking boy on my own.’

"You’ve finished your books, haven’t you? I’ve saved up a little more money. We can buy you more the next time we go into town!"

Verna Golding chatted with her son while stir-frying the vegetables, creating a warm atmosphere. The last batch of herbs she’d dug up had sold for eight yuan, five mao, and eight fen—enough to buy several books.

"Not right now. I still haven’t finished the books we bought last time," Clayton Xavier said, shaking his head as he added some dry firewood to the stove.

Verna Golding, however, grew anxious. "I can earn the money, so don’t you worry about not having enough for books. I can sell more medicinal herbs in a few days. I was really lucky this time—I dug up an astragalus root that’s over ten years old. It’ll sell for a lot of money! You just buy whatever you need, don’t worry about it."

’Normally, he would finish any books he brought home within a month at most, sometimes in as little as two weeks. It had been over a month this time; there was no way he hadn’t finished them.’

"I went into town again the other day and bought over ten books for two yuan. They’ll be enough to keep me busy for a long time."

"What kind of books are that cheap? Are they any good?"

"Of course they’re useful. I bought them used from the scrap station. New books cost over ten yuan, but these old ones were only two. From now on, I’ll just buy used books. It’ll save a lot of money, so you don’t have to go dig for medicinal herbs every day, Mom," Clayton Xavier urged.

Verna Golding relaxed, a smile gracing her lips. "In that case, I’ll buy you some fabric to make new clothes. Your shirt and pants from last year are getting too short."

"They’re still wearable. You don’t need to. You should make some for yourself."

Clayton Xavier’s heart ached as he looked at the patches piled on top of patches on Verna Golding’s clothes. His mother did the most work in the family, yet she had the worst food and clothing. He desperately wished he could grow up faster, get into university, and lighten her burden.

"What would I need new clothes for? I’m just doing chores all day. It’s time to eat. Go ahead and rake out the fire."

Verna Golding finished cooking and lifted the pot lid, releasing a cloud of steam. Dinner was a bowl of steamed egg custard, stir-fried greens, and steamed preserved mustard greens seasoned with a pinch of coarse salt, a little sugar, and a few drops of lard. The main staple was rice mixed with sweet potatoes, but Verna Golding filled her son’s bowl with only rice, not a single piece of sweet potato in sight. Her own bowl, however, was almost entirely sweet potatoes.

"Mom, why don’t you go get Grandma? I’ll set the table."

Once Verna Golding was out of the room, Clayton Xavier quickly scooped half the rice from his bowl into his mother’s, carefully arranging the sweet potatoes on top to hide it. Then, he finished setting out the dishes. This had become their silent ritual at almost every meal. What Clayton didn’t know, however, was that Verna Golding never ate that rice. She would save it for his breakfast the next day.

She would turn it into simple porridge with pickled vegetables or make egg fried rice, doing everything in her power to ensure her son was well-nourished and always had a full belly.