After Shen ng and the others left, she lay down on the bed. Speaking for a while had made her dizzy, and Wang Guizhi was quite tired as well, but even with her daughter lying down, she couldn't rest. Looking at the silent children, she pulled Lu Mingkai over to her side.
"Xiao ng, the children must still be hungry. There are so egg cakes in your bed-cabinet. How about giving them so to fill their stomachs? When you move back, I'll cook sothing for you. I'll have your father bring so grain over later."
Shen ng closed her eyes, weakly saying, "Okay, mother, please take them. There's also so brown sugar in the cabinet. It'll be good to mix with water. Everyone, have a drink. My body is so weak; I've caused you and father so much trouble. Don't go back tonight. Find soone to take a ssage ho; we'll go back tomorrow. Once we've divided the grain, we'll have rice to cook at ho."
Hearing her daughter's words, Wang Guizhi's heart soured. She took the key, unlocked the cabinet, and gave Ming Liang, Ming Fang, and Ming Kai an egg cake each, then made a large bowl of brown sugar water and put it on the table for the children to drink.
The children, who were used to being scolded and hit, didn't know how to react to such treatnt. The youngest, Ming Kai, with his big eyes, glanced at his mother several tis sneakily, but still dared not eat.
Both Ming Liang and Ming Fang did not eat either. One's eyes kept darting around, thinking of asking for another cake for his elder brother. The other was genuinely afraid, since whenever their mother had given them food in the past, she would regret it later and end up hitting them. Just the thought of it made their butts hurt.
Little Ming Fang panicked, placed the cloth she had been holding on the bed, and pushed the egg cake into Wang Guizhi's hands.
"Grandma, I'm not hungry. You eat it. I...I..."
"Eat, Ming Fang. Your grandmother is here. Your mother doesn't dare to hit you. Just now, your mother said that she would never hit you again. She's realized her mistake. Today, in front of your mother, I say: if she dares to hit you again, I'll no longer acknowledge her as my daughter."
Even after hearing this, Lu Mingfang was still scared. Lu Mingliang took the egg cake from Wang Guizhi's hand and stuffed it into Ming Fang's hand.
"Sister, eat. Listen to grandmother and mother. Mother is sick; we need to eat well to take care of her!" Lu Mingliang then smiled pleasingly at Wang Guizhi and Shen ng.
Despite his young age, he was very cunning. Shen ng could only sigh as she watched; even though he seed very concerned about her, the fear and indifference in his eyes were impossible to hide.
Wang Guizhi took Lu Mingkai in her arms, lovingly cooing to him, and fed him the warm brown sugar water little by little.
"Good boy, Ming Kai, have so sugar water, then eat your cake. Tonight, grandma will make sothing tasty for you and your brother and sister."
Shen ng also managed a smile and said, "Yes, tonight your grandma will make sothing tasty for all of you. Didn't your Fourth Aunt say she would give you brown sugar and eggs? Mother, let's make a pot of brown sugar and eggs tonight; everyone in our family should have a bowl."
"Yes! Okay, it's all to replenish your strength." Although Wang Guizhi was reluctant to be so extravagant, seeing her thin, weak children and her seriously injured daughter, she felt like making all the best things to nourish them.
Holding the tiny Ming Kai, she felt a handful of sharp bones. Ah, the children have suffered too much.
Lu Mingfang and Lu Mingliang were chewing on the delicious egg cakes, occasionally sipping on brown sugar water, feeling as if they were dreaming. No, not even in their dreams would they dare to indulge like this, for they were eating the egg cakes from their mother's kang cabinet.
To snatch food from the jaws of a tiger, oh how they had grown up.
Lu Mingfang ate with trepidation, fearing Shen ng would co after her when she got better. After eating one, she didn't dare to have another. Lu Mingliang didn't care; he felt that with Shen ng barely holding onto life, he might as well eat as many egg cakes as he could now. After all, there may be no chance later.
He wasn't afraid of that wicked woman beating him after the fact. He was older now; if she hit him, he would run, and besides, she had already said she wasn't going to live much longer. He wasn't afraid at all!!!
When he reached for the third one, Shen ng spoke up, saying that the egg cakes these days were quite dry, and eating too many could upset the stomach.
"Alright, Mingliang, keep a few for your elder brother; finish the sugar water in the teacup. Tonight, your grandma will make you so tasty food, so no rush. Take care of Mingfang, and pack up your things. Later on, we'll move back to our own house."
Lu Mingliang paused briefly as he grabbed the egg cake but then took away all of them.
"Alright, mom, I'll keep the egg cakes. When elder brother returns, I'll give them to him. Heh heh, you rest, mom. Mingfang and I will start packing."
"What a sensible child, my good kid. No rush, if there's anything too heavy to move, tell your grandma, she'll help you carry it!"
Lu Mingliang chuckled, stashed the egg cakes properly, then turned to Wang Guizhi and said, "Alright, grandma."
Shen ng didn't mind his little sches, after all, it was just that he feared she wouldn't take them out again. She silently labeled him as a bit sly in her heart.
Liu Sanjin watched as Lu Bangde and Zhang Hongfa weighed out the grains, her eyes reddening with distress, hands trembling on the door fra. Over there, Zhou Jiaojiao and Lu Jiaxuan were carrying their bedding, also with grim expressions. However, the outsiders peeking at the commotion were plenty, and though they were reluctant, they forced smiles on their faces.
The onlookers didn't know the full story, but they had seen Shen ng's mother, hair in disarray and blood on her face, running out of the Lu Family house, saying Shen ng was about to die. They believed the Lu Family matriarch favored the younger son, refusing to call a doctor in hopes of inheriting the brick house for him. Reflecting on the past six months, indeed it had been the younger Lu, Lao Si, living in the larger house. Piecing together the previous scene of Shen ng's father looking for the doctor Lu Changhong, everyone sighed.
It was unexpected that Mrs. Liu, who always spoke of her daughter-in-law as her own daughter, had such deep thoughts. Indeed, a household without a man was not adequate; they pitied how they bullied the mother and her children with Zhenping serving as a soldier away from ho.
So daughters-in-law, who were abused behind closed doors by their mothers-in-law, began to cry on the spot. They empathized, imagining themselves in the situation, conjuring up a dire and desperate image of Shen ng's life in the Lu Family, almost forgetting how Shen ng often chased and scolded the children with a stick.
After all, in the countryside, it's common for children to be beaten and scolded – without a spanking, they don't learn; it's out of pain that one scolds, and out of love that one beats. Could a mother not want the best for her child?
Shen ng was oblivious to the slight improvent in her reputation. She looked at the few bags of grain in front of her, the US$ 12 on the kang table, the brown sugar, and the eggs, her heart swelling with joy.
Reviews
All reviews (0)