Zhao Youcai shook his head repeatedly, but Ma Xiulan's slap had already fallen, mixed with his unclear cry for help:

"Old Four!"

Zhao Xingye remembered that his father had told him today that he still had money, more than the two thousand yuan that his mother had.

After thinking about it, he still stood in front of Zhao Youcai despite Ma Xiulan's murderous gaze.

As expected, the slap that was supposed to fall on Zhao Youcai's face fell on Zhao Xingye's face.

Zhao Xingjia narrowed his eyes. Normally, the fourth child didn't seem to be very close to his father, but now he was protecting him. It really seemed that something must be wrong when something was abnormal.

Something must have happened that he didn't know about.

He also has to protect his father so that he won't miss out on any good things.

In the midst of this chaos, Ma Xiulan's stepmother, Old Lady Song, came with her little grandson Jinbao.

"Xiu Lan, didn't you say you would treat us to delicious food and drinks?"

Ma Xiulan welcomed Mrs. Song, whom she had not seen for a long time, into the house. Jinbao was only 8 months old and was handed over to Zhao Youcai by Ma Xiulan:

"Take good care of my nephew. If the baby cries, just wait."

Zhao Xingmin stared at Zhao Youcai worriedly.

Ma Xiulan made her story short and told him about her recent situation.

Tell Old Lady Song that if she takes good care of Zhao Youcai in the next two days and deals with Old Lady Wang who is about to come back, she will give her ten dollars.

After hearing what happened to Ma Xiu Lan, Old Lady Song was furious.

It is true that she was a stepmother, but she exploited her earlier children because her family was so poor and had so little food, so she had to be good to her own children.

It is difficult to be a stepmother. Even if she treats her previous children well, they are not her biological children after all, so she will definitely not be filial to them. It is better for her to focus on her own children.

As the eldest sister, Ma Xiu Lan can earn more money, do more work, and eat less, which makes her life as a mother easier.

Of course, Ma Xiulan and she didn't have a good relationship, because she was having a hard time and needed to vent her frustrations, so she turned to the soft-hearted Ma Xiulan. She also treated Ma Xiulan's brother and sister harshly.

But she was not such a vicious person. At that time, there was an old widower in his forties or fifties who was willing to pay three hundred yuan to marry Ma Xiu Lan. She felt guilty and chose Zhao Youcai, who offered the second highest gift of two hundred and eighty yuan.

Although it was her second marriage, she was only two years older than Ma Xiu Lan. She had no children from her previous marriage, so she wouldn't have to be a stepmother if she married into his family.

And Zhao Youcai still has a job.

She felt that she had been good enough to Ma Xiulan, as compensation for enslaving her for so many years.

I didn't expect the Zhao family to be in such a situation.

"Although I'm your stepmother, I've watched you grow up. If you had come home earlier and told me about the life you were living, I would have come over to help you right away."

Ma Xiulan did not comment.

In the early years, when her father was still alive, Old Lady Song saw that she brought few gifts every time and brought a few hungry children with her, so she told her directly that a daughter who is married off is like spilled water, and asked her not to come to her house again in the future.

Later, she worked hard and became the head chef of the canteen, and Old Lady Song sent her younger brother to call her back to her parents' home.

Just to get the gift she brought.

She has no family, so she can only rely on herself.

Seeing that Ma Xiulan was not cooperating with her in playing the mother-daughter love, Mrs. Song rubbed her hands and said, "The 10 yuan you mentioned is not fake, right?"

Ma Xiu Lan took out two dollars from her pocket and handed them to Old Mrs. Song: "Deposit."

When Old Mrs. Song received the money, her eyes narrowed into slits.

"Son-in-law, boil some water and prepare to wash my feet."

He immediately went out to deal with Zhao Youcai.

--

Old Mrs. Wang didn't expect that all three of her daughters would return empty-handed.

Damn Ma Xiu Lan, she wants to torture her to death.

She was about to get up and go back to the compound, but was stopped by Zhao Youfu.

Zhao Youfu is now waiting for Old Lady Wang to fall asleep so that he can steal the money. If Old Lady Wang goes back now, all his efforts will be wasted.

"It's so dark now. You're walking so fast at night. If we fall again on the road, we can go back tomorrow morning when it's light."

Little did she know that Old Lady Wang was so angry that she couldn't sleep that night.

Her eldest son, whom she loved dearly, was ordered by Ma Xiu Lan to cook. The third son said that he was beaten so badly that his whole body was red and purple, like an eggplant.

When it was daybreak, Old Lady Wang called out to Zhao Youfu and was about to leave.

Zhao Youfu rubbed his eyes. Who would have thought that Old Lady Wang would not sleep all night? He had fallen asleep several times while trying to stay awake. In addition, he had not slept much for the previous day and night, so he really couldn't open his eyes now.

"Mom, you go first. I'll catch up on some sleep. I'll bring your bag over to you in a bit."

He fell on Old Lady Wang's pillow, closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Seeing that her youngest son was extremely sleepy, Old Lady Wang didn't have the heart to wake him up, but she really couldn't bear it anymore.

"Okay, I'll go first. When you wake up, bring it to me."

Old Mrs. Wang glanced at her pillow. Carrying a pillow alone on the road would be conspicuous. She, an old lady, didn't want her pillow to be robbed again. Now that her youngest son was watching her, she would be fine.

So she set out alone in the morning light and returned to the Zhao family.

Seeing the purple circles under his eyes, Zhao Youcai suddenly looked several years older: "Son, what's wrong with you?"

Zhao Youcai hugged Old Lady Wang and cried like a baby.

Last night he cooked dinner for the family, washed the dishes, boiled water, and also had to take care of Ma Xiulan's energetic nephew, who was only 8 months old and was crawling everywhere, making him very difficult to take care of.

He also had to serve Ma Xiu Lan's stepmother, Old Lady Song. When she refused to do so, Old Lady Song said she would go to the factory to report him, saying that he beat her.

So one night, Old Mrs. Song came to his room and said she was hungry and asked him to make her some eggs to drink.

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