Chapter 7 Either We Split Up

All the Su family members were awakened from their sleep. Finally, the kerosene lamp was lit, and everyone gathered around Chen Jiao'e, who was holding a bowl of freshly stewed eggs in her hand.

What did everyone eat in the evening? They had pancakes made of sorghum flour mixed with cornmeal, with a plate of fried pickles, and cornmeal porridge for drinking. It was just enough to satisfy hunger, but not very delicious. A good cook cannot cook without rice. Su Ningning was reluctant to use the crucian carp she had worked so hard to catch as a base, and was too lazy to let the big room take advantage of her, so she just cooked this meal in a conventional way. Everyone was thinking about the fish soup and bean noodles from yesterday, and it was not enough to eat it in the evening.

Seeing the stewed eggs in Chen Jiao'e's hand, everyone was instantly hungry. Who doesn't want to eat eggs? We are all family members, so how can Chen Jiao'e stew eggs in the middle of the night? Who is she giving it to?

Without anyone telling her, Chen Jiao'e and her two daughters-in-law immediately started to question, "Mom, who are you stewing eggs for in the middle of the night?"

Chen Jiao'e's face turned pale and she felt weak inside, but she still forced herself to remain calm and said, "Didn't my sister-in-law give me a few eggs when I visited my parents' last time? She likes Lanlan very much and asked me to nourish her because she was weak. It happened that Lanlan didn't have dinner the day before, so I was thinking of stewing some eggs for her, but who knew that Ningning would be so reckless and scared me in the dark! My waist is hurting and I woke you all up. Okay, okay, let's all go to bed..."

But who can sleep after seeing this bowl of stewed eggs!

Su Ningning's mother sneered: "Sister-in-law, your sister-in-law is a stingy person. She would scold you for bringing back a scallion from your mother's house. How could she be willing to give you eggs? These eggs are not ours, are they? We have agreed that if we want to eat the eggs, everyone eats them, but no one can steal them!"

Chen Jiao'e was immediately annoyed: "What do you mean? I brought these eggs back from my mother's house in a fair and square manner. Who stole the eggs? Wang Yumei, who are you scolding? Do you believe me or not, I will slap you in the face!"

Wang Yumei was not to be outdone: "I don't think you brought these eggs from your mother's house. You must have stolen them from our family. You are in charge of collecting the eggs, and you say one chicken is lazy and didn't lay eggs, and the next you say that the other chicken is sick and didn't lay eggs. I don't think the chickens didn't lay eggs, but you stole them and ate them!"

Seeing that the two sisters-in-law were about to quarrel, Su Laoda's face darkened: "Stop it! What are you quarreling about in the middle of the night? Bring the basket of eggs over here, I'll count how many are left!"

Su Lanlan's eldest brother Su Jianshe immediately went to fetch the basket of eggs. Old Mrs. Su counted them herself and said, "There are still thirty-five eggs left at home, that's right. I will collect the eggs myself from now on, and no one else can interfere. Okay, let's just leave it at that. It's disturbing to hear you make noise in the middle of the night!"

Wang Yumei felt indignant, but Chen Jiao'e began to feel secretly proud, because she knew that her mother-in-law was on her side, and after this matter was over, she would be able to coax her mother-in-law into the job of collecting eggs after a few more coaxings.

But who knew that Su Ningning would speak after being silent for a while.

"But why did I hear Su Lanlan say last time that grandma asked my uncle to bring ten eggs to visit my uncle, but my uncle didn't bring any eggs, but only two cabbages? Shouldn't these eggs really be given to my uncle?"

If Chen Jiao'e hadn't just been quibbling, Su Ningning wouldn't have remembered this detail in the book. Chen Jiao'e loved her daughter very much. She was worried about her daughter's poor health and forgot to give the eggs to her uncle. In fact, in Su Ningning's opinion, Su Lanlan was in good health and didn't need to eat any eggs at all! And their uncle, that is, Mrs. Su's biological brother, became sicker and sicker due to lack of nutrition and didn't survive this winter!

Sure enough, when Old Lady Su heard this, she immediately became angry: "Is this true? Chen Jiao'e, tell me the truth! If you refuse to tell me, I will go to his uncle's house tomorrow to ask!"

Chen Jiao'e shuddered and finally admitted it. Wang Yumei immediately seized the opportunity to shout: "Great, you really stole eggs to eat! So, how many eggs did your sister-in-law and her children steal? You secretly cooked for us, and we all had to eat coarse noodles. Mom, we can't live like this anymore!"

It was indeed the eldest wife who was wrong in this matter, but Chen Jiao'e still wanted to argue: "I did that because I wanted to nourish Lanlan's body. Lanlan's health is not good..."