“Did something happen in the troupe?” he asked. “Don’t cry. Tell me what happened, and we’ll figure it out together.”

 Sheng Third was confident in his guess that something must have happened in the ensemble. Although he wasn’t happy about it, seeing how hard his daughter was crying, he didn’t have the heart to press her about it.

 He knew his daughter was stubborn and that there was no use questioning her any further.

 “It’s noon. I’m going to call your aunt back to prepare lunch.” Sheng Third had always wanted his daughter to call Luhua “Mom.” But every time he brought it up, she always kicked up a fuss, and he eventually abandoned the idea.

 “Father, that won’t be necessary,” she said. “I’ll do it.”

 Sheng Third was already halfway out the door when he turned around, thinking he misheard her. “What did you just say, Daughter?” he asked.

 Sheng Ning’s face reddened in shame. “I’ll cook lunch, Father.” With that, she headed straight into the kitchen.

 In the small and cramped mud-brick room, the cement stove had been scrubbed spotlessly clean. It was obvious that Shen Luhua was a lady who was particular about cleanliness.

 Sheng Ning rummaged through the kitchen. There wasn’t much to eat, just a few radishes and leeks, which were common in the village’s vegetable farm. There wasn’t a single piece of meat or fish.

 Unlike in her past life, when she returned home this time she realized her whole family had lost weight. Their lives must’ve been hard these past six months if they weren’t able to afford any kind of meat.

 Sheng Ning didn’t know how to cook at all in her previous life. After she was released from prison, she attended housekeeping classes and worked at a five-star hotel. There, she developed a friendly relationship with the chefs, and, because she was a quick learner, she learned how to cook a variety of dishes.

 She initially intended to open a small eatery after losing her job at the hotel. Unfortunately, upon discovering she had cancer, she gave up on her dream.

 “Are you able to handle it, Daughter?” Sheng Third asked from outside the kitchen. “The rice is in the vat. Have you found it?”

 “Don’t worry, Father. I’ll manage. I learned everything while at the troupe,” Sheng Ning replied loudly after arranging her thoughts.

 “The troupe sounds amazing. They’re able to train a person in almost anything.” Sheng Third walked out of the house with a sigh. While walking, he suddenly remembered that his daughter had joined a song and dance ensemble, not a cooking school, so how did she manage to develop her culinary skills there?

 He could only hope that she wouldn’t burn the kitchen down.

 At the thought, Sheng Third hurried to look for his wife to get her to cook instead.

 At the east end of the village was a small shop, and on a normal day, the villagers loved to gather under the jujube tree at the entrance and trade gossip with each other.

 Today, there was a lot of people under the jujube tree. Many of them had come straight from the market fair, and, instead of going home, had eagerly rushed over to the shop.

 “You have to hear this! Zhang Fang is seriously unbelievable. Just think of how well Qi Mei’s been treating her all this time. I can’t believe she’d dare to seduce a married man.” It was Qin Cuifen’s second aunt who spoke, and the Qi Mei she referenced was the village head’s wife and the women’s director of the village.

 Qi Mei was someone many women had envied for a long time. Now, the news that Widow Zhang had seduced her husband was met with various reactions. Some were perversely happy to find out about it, while others gloated at her misfortune. Many of them couldn’t wait to bring the news to her and ridicule her for it.

 “Is what you just said true?”

 “Yes! We couldn’t all have heard the news wrong.”

 “Erhei, did you really not hear about it?”

 “Heh heh heh! I caught wind of it, but I didn’t hear all the details,” he said.

 Walls have ears, and that rumor had long been an open secret among the villagers. But out of respect for the village head, no one had ever discussed it openly.

 “You should’ve seen Zhang Fang’s face! Her expression was something to behold! It turned so ugly!”

 “Who was the one who said it?”