Chapter 141 Calculate it all
The door is closed; family scandals should not be aired in public.
Bai Lu slowly rose from the small stool, her expression calm as she met Li Xuelan's gaze: "You say I have no conscience, that I don't care about you, but have you ever cared about me?"
"You only have eyes for Bai Chaojie, don't you?"
The agonizing cries of Bai Chaojie, a consequence of his infidelity, echoed throughout the entire front yard; it was truly a miserable experience.
Hearing this, Li Xuelan felt heartbroken: "Xiao Jie is your younger brother. What's wrong with giving in to him? As his older sister, do you have to fight with him for everything? Would it kill you to give in to him?"
"Have I ever given in to you enough growing up?"
Before Li Xuelan, whose eyes and heart were only on Bai Chaojie, could refute, Bai Lu helped her recall one by one all the unfair treatment the original owner had suffered in the Bai family from childhood to adulthood.
“When Bai Chaojie was six years old, he was playing in the mud with other children. When I was six, you made me wash the whole family’s clothes and learn to cook. From the age of six, washing clothes, cooking, and carrying water were all my responsibilities.”
“When Bai Chaojie was ten years old, he would go out to play with other children, whether it was after school or on weekends. I had just turned ten when you made me go to the brick factory to help haul bricks, dry bricks, and stack bricks. After I finished working, I was still the one who did the laundry and cooked.”
"When the family was so poor that they ate porridge, Bai Chaojie ate porridge, and I drank the porridge water. When the family could afford rice, Bai Chaojie ate rice, and I drank porridge. When the family could afford meat, Bai Chaojie ate meat, and I ate vegetables. When the family ate chicken, Bai Chaojie ate chicken legs and wings, and I ate chicken heads, chicken feet, and chicken backs..."
“Bai Chaojie gets new shoes and clothes every year, while I wear my clothes patched up and patched. When my shoes are too small, I squeeze into them. I patch my clothes until there are more stitches than fabric, and only when I can’t patch them anymore can I get the cheapest new clothes.”
"Bai Chaojie has a slight cold and fever, and you all rush him to the hospital for treatment. When I'm sick, I just rest for a couple of days. I don't have to do laundry or cook. I just lie in bed and let it go. If I can make it through, I'll be alive. If I can't, then I'm just unlucky. Has anyone ever cared whether I live or die?"
Li Xuelan admitted that she did favor Bai Chaojie, but she absolutely denied disregarding Bai Lu's life or death: "If I didn't care about your life or death, would you still be alive now?"
“Your younger brother is a boy. When he grows up, he will carry on the Bai family line, continue the ancestral rites, and take care of your father and me in our old age. If I don’t treat him well, who will I treat well?”
“Once a daughter is married, she belongs to her husband’s family. The family that takes care of her in her old age and sees her off in death is her husband’s family. Will you still care about our well-being in the future? No matter how badly I treat you, I still gave birth to you and raised you to adulthood. I owe you the debt of gratitude for giving birth to you. Shouldn’t you help your family when they are in trouble?”
Li Xuelan didn't think it was wrong to be biased; the debt of gratitude for giving birth to you was always greater than anything else: "If I were really heartless and had given birth to you and then abandoned you, you would have starved and frozen to death just like the homeless man begging at the end of the alley last year."
Li Xuelan did indeed raise the original owner of this body, but that doesn't mean she can erase everything the original owner did.
Since Li Xuelan wants to calculate it this way, Bailu will help her calculate it clearly, so that she won't always bring up the matter of being born and raised in the future.
"You carried me for ten months and gave birth to me; you are indeed kind." The facts should be stated as they are, and Bai Lu will not refute them.
But the wrong thing must be refuted: "As for raising me to adulthood, it can only be considered as the payment for taking on all the big and small chores for the family since I was six years old, and for working at the brick factory after school and on weekends whenever I had free time. During this period, my food, clothing and daily necessities were worse than those of the servants in the landlord's house in the old society. How can there be any gratitude for raising me?"
Li Xuelan was speechless after being retorted by Bai Lu's sharp tongue, and for a moment she felt that Bai Lu was no longer like Bai Lu.
Bai Lu, whom she had watched grow up, had truly changed. She was submissive, timid, and weak.
She stopped listening to her, stopped being naive and foolish, and could calculate everything clearly.
Li Xuelan couldn't accept this unfamiliar Bai Lu, and her tone became even more impolite: "Do you think you don't need money to go to school? Your tuition and textbook fees from elementary school to junior high and high school were all paid by your family. Do you think the little bit of housework you do can cover such a large sum of money?"
"It's no match for them."
After accepting the facts, Bai Lu calmly refuted them, saying, "Isn't the 30,000 yuan that Xiao Cheng gave me enough?"
Li Xuelan choked.
Bai Lu continued, "Didn't you ask me where the money I made from selling roasted chestnuts went? I'll tell you now, it's all been returned to Xiao Cheng."
“Nothing happened between Xiao Cheng and me that night. The pregnancy test was a misdiagnosis by the hospital because of the same name. I am not pregnant at all. You are using the child to blackmail Xiao Cheng for the 30,000 yuan dowry. There is absolutely no legitimate reason for you to do so.”
“If Xiao Cheng sues us for extortion, you and I will both go to jail. If I hadn’t rushed to sell roasted chestnuts and returned the money to him before things were exposed, do you think you would still be standing here peacefully?”
Li Xuelan knew exactly who Xiao Cheng was; to call him ruthless would be too kind.
No one in this world has ever managed to outmaneuver Xiao Cheng and walk back; they either have to crawl or be carried back.
Only then did Li Xuelan notice Bai Lu's belly, which was so flat that it didn't look like she was seven or eight months pregnant at all.
Only then did I notice that Bai Lu's figure was not as slender as before, and her skin was fairer and more delicate than before.
Working at the brick factory, exposed to the wind and sun, even if Bai Lu's skin is naturally fair and won't turn into charcoal, it will eventually turn into a yellowish-brown skin. If it weren't for her delicate features and beautiful face, she would be unsightly.
Moreover, Bai Lu's hands are covered with a thin layer of calluses from frequent work. They become dry and peel in winter, and will turn white for a while. But when she goes to work at the brick factory, the calluses will return, making them look nothing like the fair and tender hands she has in front of us.
Li Xuelan remembers clearly that before Bai Lu moved to Xiao Cheng's house, she was a thin, yellowish-brown woman who looked like she could be blown away by the wind.
To achieve her current fair and delicate appearance, Bai Lu must have stayed at Xiao Cheng's house all winter. Without being exposed to the wind and sun or doing any work, staying at home every day allowed her to regain her fair skin. After the calluses on her hands peeled off and regenerated, she didn't do any more work, which allowed her to develop her current fair and smooth skin.
Her no longer thin frame and healthy, radiant complexion proved that Bai Lu was doing well in Xiao Cheng's home.
Li Xuelan seemed to have figured out why Bai Lu had suddenly become a stranger and was siding with Xiao Cheng.
"Thirty thousand yuan can cover your school fees, but what about the life-saving grace you acknowledge? Without me, you wouldn't exist. I carried you for ten months and went through so much hardship to give birth to you. Is it too much to ask you for a recipe for roasted chestnuts?"
"Not excessive."
Bai Lu remained calm and composed, speaking in a flat tone: "But I have the right to choose not to give it to you."
"To say something outrageous, if you get old and become bedridden, I will fulfill my duty as a child and hire a high-class caregiver to take care of you."
"It is absolutely impossible for me to serve you like before, to do whatever you say."
(End of this chapter)
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