Chapter 181 Kindly Adding Fuel to Mother's Bed

The Jiang family mother and son returned home from the market. As soon as they entered the village, they heard someone wailing loudly from a house halfway up the mountain.

That's where the Cheng family lives.

The people from the village went to help the Cheng family, and on the way they heard that the body of the third son of the Cheng family had been brought back.

"Sanwa, go and help out for our family." Song Chunxue sighed helplessly, "When you get there, do more work and talk less."

Sanwa changed his clothes, making sure there wasn't a single bright color on him.

The fourth brother went to the sheepfold to add hay to the sheep. Looking at the few sheep, he felt a sense of emptiness in his heart for some reason.

If he had known it would be like this, he shouldn't have slacked off the past few days.

If I stay at home and don't do any work, my mother might become increasingly displeased with me.

He filled all the water tanks and troughs in the house, fed the donkey and chickens, and collected the eggs, but he still couldn't see his mother's smiling face.

He stayed inside and heard his mother chopping bones in the kitchen; they were supposed to have mutton and mutton soup for dinner.

Sigh, his mother must have been cursing him while she was chopping.

Thinking back to how the eldest son hadn't carried away that big bag of grain yesterday, he had even knelt down before his mother, but she hadn't softened her heart.

The fourth brother couldn't resist the urge to visit the eldest brother.

I wonder if he cried?

Moreover, since the eldest son has already divided the family property, and there is a funeral on the estate today, the eldest son, as the head of the family, should also go.

Thinking this, the fourth brother grabbed a handful of candy and quietly went to the eldest brother's house.

As he walked down the mountain road, he saw his eldest brother getting an IV drip from afar.

It rained a few days ago, and the water in the cistern hasn't had time to settle, so it's definitely dirty now.

The fourth brother then realized that if the eldest brother wanted clean water, he would have to fetch spring water from the river bend.

But the eldest son has never done this kind of work before, so he definitely can't do it.

Sure enough, as soon as he stepped into the yard, he heard Chen Feng cursing and swearing in the kitchen.

The fourth brother couldn't understand why the eldest brother couldn't bear to part with a woman like Chen Feng, who had done such a heinous thing, yet the eldest brother still tolerated her.

She's not bad-looking, but she has a terrible temper; even the roosters in the chicken coop dislike her.

"Fourth brother?"

The eldest brother came out of the kitchen carrying a bucket of water. When he saw the fourth brother in the yard, he didn't look too happy.

He pushed the fourth son outside into the yard. "Why are you here?"

"Let me ask you, everyone on the estate went to help, why didn't you go?" the fourth brother asked casually. "Don't you know that once the family splits up, it's considered to be establishing your own household, and logically, one person in the family should go to help?"

“I don’t want to go,” the eldest brother said, squatting by the door. “It’s too annoying, I don’t like going to join in the fun.”

“Last time, everyone from the manor came to offer their help. I’ve seen the list of those who came; no one missed it. Even if we have a falling out with the Cheng family today, you should still go. Eldest brother, don’t say no one reminded you. If you don’t even understand this basic principle, I won’t dare to come again.”

The leader sneered, "What, are you going to distance yourself from me too?"

The fourth brother looked at the eldest brother, but the eldest brother he once knew was not like this in his heart.

"It was clearly your husband who divided the property. If Mother hadn't gone out, would you have come to talk to me and acknowledge me as your younger brother?"

Judging from his unfriendly tone, the fourth brother didn't give him a friendly look either.

“You’ve become more and more annoying since you got married. I know what you’re worried about regarding Chen Feng, and I understand, so I haven’t held onto it. But you can’t be so ungrateful.”

"If you had spoken to me more politely yesterday, like you always have, and said something like, 'Make me something nice to eat,' even if it was unfair, I wouldn't have let you leave."

"Now I'm in a terrible situation, caught between a rock and a hard place."

The fourth brother turned around and said, "I'm leaving. Do whatever you want. All the sheep at home have been sold. I won't be staying here for long either. You'd better take care of yourself."

The eldest brother got angry, threw down the clod of dirt he was holding, and stood up. "Explain yourself clearly. What do you mean by 'take care of yourself'?"

The fourth brother turned around and looked at him coldly.

“You’re the eldest, there are some things I understand, but you pretend not to. You think that if you fool others, they’ll fool you in the future. You always try to test your mother’s limits with wishful thinking. She won’t care about you anymore. Your mother has changed so much, haven’t you noticed?”

The leader lowered his head. "I've found out, but I..."

“I almost treated you the same way as before, but you asked her to go to the Chen family with you that day, and then you kept putting off the matter of the talisman. Oh well, I’m pretty much the same as you.”

The fourth brother sat dejectedly by the roadside, the cries of the Cheng family reaching his ears.

It must be the Cheng family's daughter who has arrived.

“I was just like you. Studying was so relaxing. I didn’t have to work or herd sheep. My mother gave me a month, but I didn’t cherish it.” He chuckled self-deprecatingly. “But after I started herding sheep, my mother was noticeably nicer to me.”

"I have more than two months left. If I can appease my mother before the end of the year, she will still let me stay home to farm if I return home in disgrace next year. But if I do what I did before, she definitely won't even let me through the gate."

The sound of a child crying came from the courtyard.

Chen Feng shouted, "Quick, go check on the baby!"

The eldest brother stood still.

The child cried for a while, but the older one still didn't move.

Chen Feng came out of the kitchen, muttered something under her breath, and soon the child stopped crying.

The fourth brother stared at the eldest brother, wanting to know what he would do next.

A short while later, someone passed by the door.

"Boss, Chen Feng scolded you again?" Li Liguang chuckled as he carried a bucket of manure. "You even blamed her for burying talismans before. I think you're just naturally afraid of women."

Sure enough, the leader clenched his fist.

He stormed into the house.

"What are you doing?"

Why did you hit me?

"Jiang Yeming, you... Ahhh!"

Chen Feng screamed and cried as she was beaten.

The fourth brother was satisfied. He got up from the ground, patted the dirt off his bottom, and walked home with a smile.

Now I feel much better.

When I'm in a bad mood, looking at people who are even more unlucky than me instantly cheers me up.

Go home and add more warmth to Mother's kang (heated brick bed).

...

Before eating, Song Chunxue carried a basket of dried donkey dung, mixed with some soil, to prevent it from burning too quickly and the fire from getting too big.

But she discovered that the quilt on the kang (a heated brick bed) had been tidied up.

She assumed it was from the third child and didn't pay any attention, then stuffed the hole in the kang (heated brick bed) and went to eat mutton.

After dinner, she sewed clothes under the oil lamp; the peacock blue fabric was pleasing to the eye.

But even though she had already lifted the blankets, why was the kang (heated brick bed) still so hot?

Could it be that the sheep dung from yesterday hasn't been burned yet?

That shouldn't be the case.

She sewed up her arms, and the day after tomorrow she would be able to wear the clothes.

Before long, Sanwa returned.

He went to the north room, "Mother."

Song Chunxue looked up and noticed that Sanwa's eyes were red.

She was somewhat surprised, but quickly realized that he must have been reminded of his father's death by the sight of the scene.

"Sit down and let's talk. What did you eat?"

Sanwa sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), saying, "Radish noodle soup, made by the wives of the fourth and fifth brothers."

He was deeply moved, his face etched with sorrow, as he picked at his fingernails and asked, "My father died of illness, not as tragically as the third son of the Cheng family. We were all very sad back then, and the third son's wife fainted from crying several times."

"Mother, do you still think of my father?" Sanwa wiped away his tears. "If only he were alive."