??76: Chapter 76: Why is this different from what my older sister taught ?
76: Chapter 76: Why is this different from what my older sister taught ?
For the Li Family Brothers, the Wang Family was naturally closer.
Song Chongjin had little interaction with them on ordinary days and only felt that he had been too gloomy in the past, not a man of many words, and they didn’t know him well.
They had only heard that he was an extrely filial man, but anyone who could still address Wang Yongping as a brother after breaking off an engagent with the Wang Family must also be soone who knew his place.
The Li Family Brothers just gave a couple of token reminders and then headed ho.
Leaving Song Chongjin to turn back with unfathomable emotions in his eyes to glance at the Wang Family’s courtyard.
He shook his head involuntarily and strode away.
When Song Chongjin returned ho, he found Mother Song sitting in the courtyard, her face twisted in conflict.
Seeing him, her eyes darted away, and she nervously fidgeted with the hem of her clothes, careful and sowhat ingratiatingly saying, “Chongjin, you’re back.
I’ve kept your al warm in the pot; I’ll bring it to you—”
Song Chongjin calmly glanced under the eaves, where the plucked and fat rabbit from the morning had indeed vanished without a trace.
Mother Song, seeing where her son’s gaze had fallen, blushed and explained in a low voice, “Your great aunt ca over and said your grandfather hasn’t been feeling well the past few days, so I sent the rabbit to help with his health.
I didn’t give money or tonic herbs, just the rabbit—”
With that, she looked at her son timidly.
Song Chongjin clenched his eyebrows in frustration, said nothing, and headed straight for the kitchen built to the side, uncovering a pot with a bowl of sorghum rice and a dish of dark, pickled vegetables inside.
Taking a deep breath, Song Chongjin carried his al out and looked at Mother Song, “Is this all you’re eating at ho?
Didn’t I tell you to stew the pheasant I caught yesterday morning?”
Mother Song mumbled for a while before she uttered haltingly, “Your great aunt ca over, said it’s been over half a month since they’ve had a drop of oil, and the kids at ho are craving at so badly that I just…”
Song Chongjin snorted coldly, “The day before yesterday, your sister said the sa thing, and you gave her half a rabbit.”
Mother Song was caught off guard, her eyes welling up in an instant as she stumbled over her words, “Chongjin, we’re all family.
Your great aunt’s family is having a hard ti, why not help a bit if we can?
Besides, your great aunt isn’t just taking the rabbit and pheasant for nothing; she promised to find you another marriage prospect—”
Before she could finish, Song Chongjin slamd the bowl down on the table and said coldly, “Tell her not to bother, and not to waste the ga I worked hard to get.
I’m not getting married!”
Mother Song staggered, looking terror-stricken at her son, “Why?
Why won’t you marry?
How can you do this to your father and—” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
Coldly, Song Chongjin said, “I don’t even know who my own father is, how am I supposed to carry on the family line when I don’t know whose lineage I’d be continuing?
What’s the point of getting a wife?”
Mother Song turned deathly pale, her body shaking as if about to collapse, with tears rolling in her eyes.
She opened her mouth to say sothing, but realized there was nothing to say.
After a long while, she managed to find her voice, “Yes, it’s my fault; I deserve to die!
It’s all my fault!
I’ve ruined you—”
If it had been before, when Mother Song spoke like this, Song Chongjin would have felt guilty, sad, remorseful, and would have softened his tone, consoling her while making endless concessions, allowing her to aid her own family, the Song Family.
But ever since his own marriage had been callously traded away by that selfish and ulterior group from the Song Family, his heart had grown colder and harder.
He silently finished his al in a few bites, washed and put away the dishes, without offering a single word of comfort to Mother Song.
Mother Song grew even more frantic.
In the past, just a bit of crying and self-bla from her would soothe Chongjin no matter how angry he was, comforting her and agreeing to her requests to help her own family.
Why had this technique, taught by her eldest daughter and proven effective again and again, suddenly stopped working?
Song Chongjin walked out of the kitchen, and as he stepped into the room, he paused for a mont.
Mother Song, who had been watching her son closely without missing a thing, saw him stop and felt a quick joy, thinking her son had finally given in, had softened.
Just then she heard Song Chongjin say in a calm voice, “Since every ti I leave ga for you and you never have the heart to eat it, and it ends up benefiting others, I might as well sell these things directly in town for money in the future, buying you so large coins for tonics instead.
As for the grain, I’ll just leave out your daily portion from now on, just to spare you the reluctance to eat!”
After he finished speaking, he went into the room and closed the door, regardless of what expression Mother Song wore.
This thod was inspired by the Wang Family, as he had spent so days with Wang Yongping, whose occasional comnts had let him know that this was how the Wang Family distributed their food.
At that ti, he silently thought Old Granny Zhang was too stingy and miserly, guarding against her own family like they were thieves.
Little did he expect that he would now have to use this tactic against his own birth mother.
Song Chongjin turned over on the kang bed, closed his eyes, and concealed the complexity in his heart.
Previously, he had thought won like Old Granny Zhang were too aggressive and vulgar, but now, he envied Wang Yongping for having such a fiercely protective mother; the children of the Wang Family barely suffered any idle gossip in the village.
Old Granny Zhang may have been overbearing at ho, but outside, she was extrely protective of her offspring.
If anyone dared to bully her son or daughter, she could end up blocking their door and cursing them for three days and nights.
If only, if only his own mother were that fierce, that protective of him, maybe…
At this thought, Song Chongjin gave a sneer, discarded the absurd idea, and settled down to rest.
Mother Song stood outside the room, unable to recover her senses for a long ti.
What was her son saying?
From now on, were all the ga and such to be sold without keeping any at ho to eat?
And only the daily portion of food was to be given?
How was this different from what her eldest daughter had taught her?
Wasn’t it said that since it had been over half a month, Chongjin’s anger must have faded, and that all she needed to do was cry a little and Chongjin would surely agree to anything she wanted?
All she had to do was persuade him further to agree to marry, then her eldest daughter would find him a bride from a decent family, and within a year, she could be holding her first grandson.
How beautiful the plans were, and how cruel the reality had beco.
Mother Song felt a bit lost.
Because of a wound in a place that couldn’t be ntioned, Wang Yongping could only eat his dinner lying on the kang bed.
It was still Wang Yongzhu who brought it to him, a cornbread made of two-type flour.
a bowl of sorghum porridge, accompanied by two boiled wild vegetables.
Wang Yongping gobbled it down in two or three gulps and then gratefully said to Wang Yongzhu, “Little sister, you’re still the best to your brother!
Otherwise, I would’ve starved to death!”
“From now on, I’ll listen to everything you say.
You want to go up on the roof, I’ll set up a ladder for you; you want to go underground, I’ll dig a hole for you; you want to catch chickens, I absolutely won’t chase the dogs away, whatever you say goes!”
With food in his stomach, Wang Yongping patted his belly boastfully, making his declaration.
Wang Yongzhu wasn’t moved in the slightest and simply responded with two words, “Heh-heh”—the irony was crystal clear.
“Little sister, why don’t you believe your Fourth Brother?
I keep my word, a spit and a promise, when I say it, I can do it!” Wang Yongping got anxious, why wouldn’t his little sister believe him?
“Last ti you said that, you promised to break the legs of Song Chongjin, who I was betrothed to and then rejected.
And what happened?
Now you’re all brotherly with him, huh?
Is this what you call a spit and a promise?” Wang Yongzhu said coldly.
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