Chapter 14 Difficulties

Hearing the noise, Lu Weidong, who was smoking inside, stood up angrily and started cursing.

Still not satisfied with his outburst, he coughed violently twice.

He threw the half-burnt cigarette butt in his hand onto the ground, stomped on it a few times, and then sat down after catching his breath.

Lu Fuhua was frightened and got a scolding. He didn't dare to make a fuss anymore. He stood up, sobbing, and silently put on his schoolbag.

He slunk back to his room.

"Where is my mom?!"

Lu Fuhua asked angrily.

Lu Weidong stood in the middle of the courtyard, frowning, with a pipe in one hand.

He raised his pipe and pointed impatiently toward the west room.

"She's sleeping soundly inside with your sister!"

Lu Weidong's tone was indifferent.

"Go ask yourself if you need to eat or not, if you want to continue living in this family! Day after day, you should see clearly who cooks and who doesn't."

Lu Fuhua was stunned for a moment, completely bewildered.

He then gritted his teeth and stomped his foot.

He turned and strode toward the house where his mother, Shen Cuifen, lived.

Pushing open the door, I saw my mother and eldest sister, Lu Xiuwei, resting on the bed.

He became even more furious.

Lu Fuhua rushed forward, yanked off the quilt covering them, and shouted, "Mom! Eldest sister! Aren't you going to cook? Are you planning to starve me to death? Are we going to survive like this? Are you even going to live like this?!"

Shen Cuifen, who rarely gets to lie down for a while, was suddenly awakened, and all her fatigue and dissatisfaction burst out at once.

She sat up abruptly, stared at her son Lu Fuhua, grabbed his collar without a word, pulled him close, and quickly pulled down his pants to check if there was really nothing wrong with his lower body.

After confirming that there was nothing amiss, she raised her hand and slapped Lu Fuhua's buttocks several times, her blows swift and merciless.

"You heartless little brat!"

She hit and cursed at the same time.

"How could you not see that your mother was injured!"

Then, she questioned him emotionally, "Eat, eat, eat! All you do is open your mouth and wait to be fed! Are all the members of the Lu family dead? Why do I have to do all the cooking for you? If I, Chen Cuifen, didn't cook, would you all starve like dogs?"

Still not satisfied, he continued to berate, "Or is it that no one in your Lu family disciplines you? You can't get married or survive without women?"

The three men standing outside the door heard everything clearly.

Upon hearing this, their faces turned bright red.

It must be said that Lu Fuhua was timid and cowardly from a young age.

When I was a child, I had a hernia but I didn't dare to say anything. I endured it for several days before it finally came to light.

It was Shen Cuifen who noticed something was wrong and carried her son to the county hospital for examination and treatment that very night.

That day happened to be raining heavily, and the weather was terrible.

There wasn't a single car on the road that could be called for help.

To save her son, Shen Cuifen gritted her teeth and carried him to the hospital in the dark, falling and bruising herself several times without stopping to rest.

It took several hours to get there.

When they got there, they found out that the boy had fallen down from the tree while stealing peaches and thought he was in pain from the fall, so he didn't dare tell anyone.

At that time, Shen Cuifen felt both heartache and disappointment.

But now that he's grown up, this kid is blaming his own mother, saying that she ruined his life and happiness, and made him a useless person without a father.

From then on, his attitude towards her worsened, and he lost even his basic filial piety.

It was clearly the buttocks that got hit.

But Lu Fuhua's face was burning hot.

The burning sensation traveled from my cheeks all the way to the base of my ears.

He's already ten years old, and to be publicly humiliated by having his pants pulled down and being beaten is incredibly shameful.

The onlookers had long since dispersed.

But those gazes were like nails stuck in his back.

As soon as he pulled up his pants, he burst into tears.

Ignoring whether the floor was clean or not, he grabbed his clothes, tied them haphazardly around his waist, and ran back to his room.

The door slammed shut, and only suppressed sobs filled the room.

"Mom, Fuhua is not young anymore."

Lu Xiuwei spoke in a low voice, her tone tinged with difficulty.

"If he causes trouble again, we can't punish him like this."

Lu Xiuwei looked slightly embarrassed.

She looked down at her mother's hand as she spoke.

Shen Cuifen nodded slightly.

Her gaze was fixed on the direction of the door.

"Alright, I'll do as you say. Are you hungry? Mom will cook you a bowl of noodles."

She looked away and said with a smile.

In this life, although Lu Fuhua was once a complete scoundrel, he is still just a child now.

Seeing that he was safe, Shen Cuifen felt relieved.

Although the past is heartbreaking, she believes that as long as she protects the child's growth, everything will gradually get better.

Lu Xiuwei pressed down on her mother, who was about to get up.

Her movements were very gentle, as if she were afraid of hurting the other person, and her tone was also much softer.

"Mom, let me go."

"Mom, you lie down and rest first, I'll go."

She said this as she got up and prepared to go to the kitchen.

She had wanted to cook something for a while, but Shen Cuifen kept holding her hand tightly.

She didn't know why, but she always felt that Shen Cuifen cared about her a lot.

This feeling lingered in my heart for a long time, yet I couldn't put it into words.

"You start the fire, I'll cook."

Lu Xiuwei glanced back and smiled at her mother.

Shen Cuifen shook her head and did not agree.

She slowly stood up, and only after she had steadied herself did she say, "I'm more skilled at cooking on the stove."

The two of them went into the kitchen together.

The sunlight outside was perfect, shining on the side where the cooking smoke was rising.

Seeing Shen Cuifen come in, Lu Weidong sneered twice and muttered, "After all that crazy, you still have to come back and cook."

He said this without even looking up, his hand whittling a twig, whittling it quite forcefully.

Grandma Zhao took small, quick steps out of the house.

She walked along, straightening her wrinkled clothes, looking anxious.

"Weidong, your dad has diarrhea. Go and call that brat to come and replace him!"

Lu Weidong frowned, his face full of disgust.

He put down the knife in his hand and replied impatiently, "Let Fu Quan go and call her! I can't be bothered with her."

Lu Fuquan's face was usually red and swollen, and he waved his hands repeatedly after hearing this.

He shrank back a step, as if afraid of something, and said, "I don't want to talk to her!"

He's not stupid; he was hit by her last time and it took him several days to recover.

I also made plans with Caifeng to go to town together tomorrow.

He'll be going to buy new clothes and go to the market then; this is something he's been looking forward to for a long time.

What if I get beaten up?

Not only will they be unable to go to town, they probably won't even be able to get out of bed. This is no joke.

Lu Weidong kicked Lu Fuquan in the buttocks with a fierce and sudden motion.

"Go away! You're the only one who hasn't been hit yet today, don't even think about getting away with it!"

Lu Fuquan rubbed the spot where he had been kicked, shrank his neck with a wronged expression, and slowly stood up.

He brushed the dust off his clothes and walked toward the kitchen with his head down.

In the kitchen, Shen Cuifen angrily scooped a spoonful of lard and poured it into the pot.