Chapter 482 is still not enough

When I got home, it was so dark I couldn't see anyone. The light in the main room was on, illuminating the mess in the yard.

"Dad, Grandma..."

Su Hongmei carefully stepped over, looked at Su Youfu lying on the bed groaning, and asked softly, "Was the house... burgled?"

"What a load of rubbish, thief!"

Su Youfu moved, aggravating the injury on his buttocks, and hissed in pain, glaring at Su Hongmei.

"Get up and cook! Do you want your grandma and me to starve?!"

Su Hongmei glanced at Old Lady Su, who was wiping Su Youfu's sweat with a cloth, and pursed her lips.

Grandma Su glanced at her, not giving her a friendly look, "The kitchen is a bit messy, go clean it up and get us some noodles. You eat our food and live in our house all day long, and you still don't have any sense of propriety. If you marry into your husband's family, you'll be beaten half to death by your own husband..."

Su Hongmei clenched her fist and said, "I won't get married!"

She didn't want to end up like her mother, marrying a man like her father.

What's the use of a man who doesn't support his family, doesn't cherish his wife, and doesn't love his children?!

Su Hongmei turned around and went out, turned on the kitchen light, and was instantly dumbfounded. The kitchen could not be described as a mess; it had been smashed so badly that there was nowhere to step!

She turned her head to look at the shadows of the mother and daughter who were cursing and swearing reflected in the window, and when she turned her head back, she was stunned.

Upon closer inspection, the window had been blown up!

There was no shadow there, just two people.

Grandma Su looked up and glared at her, "What are you looking at? Hurry up and tidy up!"

If you don't clean up or cook, you won't have anything to eat.

Su Hongmei had been starving for most of the day, and when she ran back, her stomach was rumbling loudly. If she wanted to eat, she had to clean up the kitchen first. Needless to say, the mess in the yard was also hers.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, rolled up her sleeves, and began to tidy up the kitchen in an orderly manner.

Pick up the big items and put them aside. Take the aluminum pot out to get it repaired tomorrow. Pick up the chopsticks and wash them later so they can be used. Only two bowls are left with small chips; the others are either broken in half or shattered into pieces.

He swept away the honeycomb briquettes with a broom, righted the tilted coal stove, cleaned up the extinguished coal pieces inside, and then picked out two slightly better pieces from the broken coal pieces scattered on the ground that could still burn. He then carried the stove to the yard to start a fire.

When she first started cooking, she didn't know anything.

She'd only ever seen Li Banxia and Su Laoda start fires, not bowls or pots. The only skilled tasks involved were breaking bowls and smashing pots.

But Su Youfu and Grandma Su didn't care. If she couldn't cook, she wouldn't eat, and they wouldn't give her any money. She was so hungry that she had to fend for herself.

She still has a scar on the back of her hand, from when she was picking up coal, a piece of coal fell off and burned her hand.

The fire was quickly started. While she was chopping firewood and lighting coal, Su Hongmei kneaded the dough, borrowed a pot from next door, and waited for the coal to heat the water in the pot. She then kneaded the dough, sprinkled flour on it, stacked it together, quickly cut it into strips, picked them up, and threw them into the pot to cook.

I went to the yard and picked a few spinach leaves and two scallions. I squeezed water, washed them, chopped them, and put them in the pot. When the noodles were cooked, I added seasonings and lard.

She retrieved the lard from the broken earthenware jar. It was covered in coal dust on the ground. She only took the clean part; she planned to fry the dirty part in batter the next evening to absorb the dirt.

Su Hongmei filled the only two usable bowls with rice and brought them to the room for the two of them.

While Su Youfu was eating, she asked him, "Dad, I need to register at school tomorrow. Could you lend me fifty yuan? I need to pay my tuition..."

"I have no money."

Su Youfu glanced at her, his eyes full of disdain. "What's the point of a girl studying or going to school? She should just grow up, get married, and stay home to be a wife and mother. If she wants to go to school, she should find her own way. Don't ask me for money."

"I don't want to get married!"

Su Hongmei stubbornly insisted, "I want to study, I want to go to school."

She doesn't want to live the kind of life her mother has; she doesn't want to live for others, she wants to live for herself!

"I'll let you go to school, I'll let you study..."

Su Youfu grabbed the gentian violet bottle placed by the bed and threw it at Su Hongmei.

Su Hongmei squatted down, holding her head, but gritted her teeth and continued to ask for money, "I just want fifty, I will pay it back, I will pay you back when I earn money in the future, if you don't believe me, I can write you an IOU!"

"No! I won't give you a single penny..."

Thinking of Su Laosan, who had caused such a scene earlier that day, Old Mrs. Su patted Su Youfu on the shoulder, "You promised ten yuan..."

Su Youfu also thought of Su Laosan, and his face immediately turned ashen.

"Then it's only ten yuan, take it or leave it!"

Su Hongmei looked up, gritted her teeth, and said, "I want it!"

Ten yuan is still money. After taking this ten yuan, she would still be forty yuan short. She made up her mind that even if she didn't sleep tonight, she would knock on every door in the residential area to raise the remaining forty yuan!

Su Youfu would grumble after every bite he took, but Old Lady Su didn't scold Su Hongmei anymore.

After they finished eating, Su Hongmei took the bowl back to the kitchen, washed one clean, scooped the rice from the pot into the bowl, wolfed it down, quickly washed the pot, added two scallions, and returned it to the neighbor's house.

The neighbor accepted the loan with a smile, but when Su Hongmei asked to borrow money, the neighbor's expression changed, and he said, "I don't even have enough money for my own family, how could I lend you any? No, no..."

Before Su Hongmei could say that she would definitely repay him, she was pushed out.

Even after the gate was closed, people in the yard were still complaining, "She borrowed a pot and then wanted to borrow money too, what was she thinking? Who owes her anything? If it weren't for Banxia, ​​I wouldn't even lend her the pot..."

Su Hongmei pursed her lips and clenched her hands, feeling utterly ashamed.

But she won't yell like she used to, because it's no use.

Most of the people in the family quarters who are still willing to treat her well are mindful of her mother's past kindness. Today, she's probably going to squander all that kindness in one fell swoop.

As expected, there were those who sympathized with her and pitied her, but very few were willing to lend her money.

I'd give her five cents or a dollar at most, just out of pity, and not expect her to pay it back.

Aunt Liu couldn't bear to see it anymore, so she took out ten yuan and said, "There's really no spare money at home. Take this ten yuan. That's all I can do for you. You don't have to pay it back. If you can go to high school, study hard. Don't blame your mother. Your mother was forced into this by your father. Your father is a scoundrel..."

"I know, thank you Aunt Liu."

All Su Hongmei cared about was the ten yuan. Ten yuan was enough for her living expenses for a month. Aunt Liu gave it to her without hesitation, even though she had treated her that way before.

"Sigh... she's pitiful too, take it."

Aunt Liu stuffed the money into her hand, and when she touched her cold hand, she sighed, "Hongmei, wait a moment, Auntie will get you a glass bottle to warm your hands."

"No need, Auntie, thank you."

Su Hongmei clutched the money, turned and ran away. A glass bottle would cost several cents, which she couldn't afford.

After trying to borrow from several places, I found that most of them wouldn't even open their doors.

Those who knocked on her door were willing to lend her money, but they also made it clear to her that they could only lend her money until the end of the year at most, and that they were only lending her one or two yuan because of Li Banxia's sake. They also told Su Hongmei this frankly.

“We lent you money because of your mother’s sake; we don’t approve of what you did.”

Su Hongmei said she knew that no matter what the reason, as long as they were willing to lend her money so she could go to school, she would listen to whatever they said.

But when she got home and sat on the wooden bed, she clutched the money and counted it over and over, but it still wasn't enough.

I'm still short fifteen yuan.