Chapter 10 The Boss Has His Eyes on the Land

Is this how a mother should act?

On a cool, moonlit night, Song Chunxue sat by the window, pondering this sentence over and over again.

She asked herself honestly, "Is this how a mother should act?"

Before her rebirth, she lived to be seventy-eight years old. Now, although her body has returned to the age of thirty-six, her soul is weathered and worn.

She knew perfectly well that if she hadn't been such a bad mother, she wouldn't have ended up like that.

But now, with her children growing up, she knows she has never mistreated her eldest son, and the person least qualified to ask her that question is her eldest son, Jiang Yeming.

Leaning against the cold windowsill, a stone pressed against her chest, but she was also determined not to easily separate from her family.

She wants to wait for the eldest son to back down on his own.

She's spoiled her eldest son; reasoning with him won't work, so she'll try a different approach.

The next day, Song Chunxue got up very early.

She steamed buns with mixed grains and also fried six eggs.

She and her second and third brothers each had two eggs, and the porcelain bowl for holding the eggs was already empty.

Even if she didn't do that, the eggs laid in the chicken coop every day would be secretly taken away by the eldest son's wife, Chen Feng.

In the past, she would turn a blind eye to their behavior, but this time she wouldn't tolerate it.

She brought breakfast to the north room: poached eggs and steaming hot coarse flour buns. Sanwa ate with great relish.

Although the second son was annoyed that his mother had woken him up so early, he thought that if he was late he wouldn't get to drink the fried egg, so he ate it in big mouthfuls.

This time, the eldest brother is really going to fight with Mother. He knows Mother's temper well, and he knows he can't win against her.

Moreover, the eldest brother hasn't separated from the family yet, and he still relies on his mother for food and drink; he can't stand on his own two feet.

"Clang."

Just as the three people in the north room were enjoying their meal, the eldest brother pushed open the door and came in, coldly staring at the poached eggs in his bowl.

Sanwa and Lao Er quickly swallowed the eggs, chewed them twice, drank some soup, and swallowed them down.

Jiang Yeming suppressed his anger, clenched his fists, and looked at Song Chunxue.

"Mom, have you finished eating the eggs?"

Song Chunxue took a sip of soup and said unhurriedly, "Chen Feng hid eggs in her trunk, you know that, if you want some, go and cook them yourself."

"..." The boss's face was terribly gloomy.

"Oh right, since she wants to eat eggs, she can't do the work in the fields, but she can at least feed the chickens and pigs at home, and she can at least sweep the yard, right?"

"If you still want a share of the family's things, you'd better do some work. Otherwise, if I'm unhappy, I'll kick you out, and no one will say anything. After all, even Li Guangzheng's dog knows that I used to favor you."

"..." Everyone fell silent.

The second brother, Jiang Yehui, and the third brother, Jiang Yexun, forced themselves to drink a sip of soup to suppress the urge to laugh.

Seeing his two younger brothers trying to suppress their laughter, the eldest son was so angry he wanted to kick them.

But Feng'er was pregnant.

Even though his mother was targeting him like this, he couldn't let the baby in his belly suffer.

He resisted the urge to kick the door, and angrily lifted the curtain to go to the kitchen to make soup.

I wanted to use the flour, but found that the cabinet where the flour was stored was locked.

"Bang!"

The small stool next to his feet was kicked away by him.

Song Chunxue, who was in the north room, heard everything clearly. After finishing her soup, she got up to go about her business.

"Second brother, go wash the dishes. We should get busy. Also, since you're home, you're in charge of watching the house these next few days. Don't let them move their things out."

The second brother hesitated for a moment, "But I can't beat my eldest brother, what if I can't stop him?"

"If we can't stop them, we won't. Just see where they've hidden and tell me when they come back," she said expressionlessly. "Those are all things I earned with my own sweat and toil; he has no right to take them."

The third child looked at the second child.

The second son cautiously asked, "Mother, why are you suddenly so wary of my eldest brother?"

Song Chunxue chuckled and swept the headboard with a worn-out broom.

"Suddenly I understand. I spoiled him. He won't remember the good things I do for him, but if I upset him in any way, he'll hold a grudge until he dies."

“Chen Feng is even worse than him. She always encourages him to do those shady things. I don’t want to spoil him anymore.”

The second child looked at the third child, picked up the bowl, and turned to leave.

Sanwa also took his bowl to the kitchen, and then the two brothers went outside together, probably curiously discussing how she suddenly became clear-headed about the eldest brother's affairs.

Song Chunxue didn't have time to worry about these things; she needed to get to work as soon as possible.

Now that she is healthy and agile, she needs to make the most of her time.

She wrapped her knees with Sichuan peppercorns at night and kept them warm on the scorching hot kang (heated brick bed), and her legs stopped hurting.

This feeling of lightness and nimbleness throughout the body is wonderful.

After returning from hoeing the fields, she picked out the herbs to dry, and took the wild vegetables to the kitchen to wash them, preparing to blanch them and then mix them with other ingredients.

But when they got to the kitchen, they found two unwashed bowls and a large poplar cabinet with axe marks.

She knew without even guessing that it was the boss who did it.

She took a deep breath and told herself to stay calm.

Since she's found something so easily, don't blame her for continuing to manipulate people.

She went to the west room and found that the eldest son and his wife were not there.

Once outside the yard, I saw the two of them playing with the lambs in the sheepfold.

"What time is it? Why isn't the food ready yet?"

Song Chunxue said slowly and deliberately, "Aren't you going to cook and wait for me to serve you?"

Chen Feng stood up and forcefully threw away the sorghum grass in his hand, as if he was about to lash out.

The eldest brother grasped her hand, his cool gaze falling on Song Chunxue.

“We’ll do it in a bit, there’s still time. She just has a bit of an upset stomach, I just brought her for a walk in the sheep pen.”

"..."

“I know what Mother is going to say. She is only five months pregnant, while when you gave birth to us, you were working in the fields the day before you gave birth. But you didn’t take good care of your body back then, and Father didn’t care about you either.”

Song Chunxue's heart sank. Was her boss mocking her, using the same words she used to say to shut her up?

“We haven’t been idle today either. We’ve fed the livestock, added fuel to the kang (heated brick bed), and fetched water. I’ll cook lunch. Let Feng’er rest for a while.”

As he spoke, the eldest brother took Chen Feng's wrist and led her inside, looking as if he had won a battle.

Song Chunxue stood frozen in place, holding an old knife used for cutting chives, feeling as if a thorn was pricking her heart.

She wanted to refute something, but upon closer reflection, she realized that her boss was right.

It's her own fault; she went through so much trouble to have so many children without taking care of her own health at all.

She doesn't know how to discipline her children, and she has a habit of sharing her own hardships to let them know how hard she works to raise them, which makes them resent and disgusted.

"Mother, what are you doing standing here? Go back inside and rest." The second son appeared out of nowhere and quietly walked up to her.

"Are you going to cut the chives? I'll do it." With that, he picked up the small knife from Song Chunxue's hand.

Seeing how sensible the second son suddenly was, he must have heard what the eldest son had just said.

The eldest brother's words left her feeling utterly drained. She listlessly walked back to the house, ignoring her dirty clothes covered in dirt, and lay down directly on the kang (a heated brick bed).

The boss's knife really hurt; it stabbed her in the heart.

It seems this family needs to be separated as soon as possible; she has no desire to live under the same roof as the eldest son.

During the meal, the eldest brother spoke first.

“Mother, I’ve made up my mind. I want to build a yard on that piece of land down there. I’ve consulted a geomancer, and he’ll be here in a few days to determine the location of the yard.”

Song Chunxue curled her lips into a cold smile; this time, he had no choice.