"Mom, carrying a table won't kill you!" Song Baogen didn't let his own mother help, and together with his eldest sister Song Yinhua, they carried the table outside.
"Pah! Pah! Pah! Don't ever say 'death' again! It's bad luck!" Qiao Guilan stopped her son, who was about to help serve porridge and get bowls and chopsticks. "Let your older sister do it. You sit down and rest for a while..."
Song Baogen ignored his mother's advice, shook off Qiao Guilan's hand, and went to help.
"This child!" Qiao Guilan said angrily, "I'm only doing it for his own good!"
"If Baogen is willing to do it, then let him do it," Song Erzhuang advised. He didn't care about these things; he just hoped his children would have a good relationship. As long as they didn't care who did more or less work, that was fine with them.
Dinner was served, and Song Yinhua went to call Song Caixing to come out and eat together.
"I told you I'm not eating. Let me starve to death. Anyway, nobody in this house cares about me." Song Caixing was still angry.
“Of course they do! Your parents and Baogen are waiting for you to have dinner. They said if you don’t come out to eat, they won’t eat either and will go hungry with you. Everyone cares about you. Dad and Baogen have been working all day, and Mom has also been working all day. They are both tired and hungry, but no one has eaten first and left you behind.”
Song Yinhua sat by the bed and tried to persuade Song Caixing for a long time before she finally managed to get her to come out.
A family of five was enjoying their meal in the courtyard while cooling off.
Qiao Guilan scolded Song Caixing a few times, saying that she had to be invited three or four times just to have dinner with her.
Song Caixing was timid, but with her older sister and brother around, she mustered her courage and retorted a few words to Qiao Guilan, accusing her of only caring about her second brother and leaving all the housework to her alone.
"When have I ever only cared about your second brother? You're part of the family too, what's wrong with doing some work? Mom wasn't idle either, so are you trying to compete with your eldest sister who didn't do any work?"
"I didn't!" Song Caixing stood up excitedly.
"No, no, why are you so agitated?" Qiao Guilan took a sip of porridge and said while eating her dinner, "Your eldest sister got married just like that. Can you compare to your eldest sister? If you think it's too tiring, then you should get married too!"
"I'll marry him then!" Provoked by Qiao Guilan, Song Caixing blurted out, "I'll find Matchmaker Wang tomorrow and agree to marry Han Zhiyuan..."
Snap!
Song Erzhuang slammed his hand on the table. "You all can't even have a quiet dinner! Qiao Guilan, if you can't speak properly, then shut up!"
Qiao Guilan was scolded by her husband in front of their children, which made her look bad.
But faced with the authority of the head of the family, she dared not speak out and angrily gulped down her porridge.
After finishing his meal, Song Baogen put down his chopsticks and asked his parents, "When are you going to pay my eldest sister back her salary?"
Song Erzhuang and Qiao Guilan both looked at their son in shock.
Qiao Guilan couldn't help but scold her son, "What's wrong with you? What do you mean by salary? Your older sister's meager earnings aren't even enough to support you all, they're all gone long ago."
"Mom, give my eldest sister her wages back. I'm earning money now, and I'll take care of you all from now on."
"We're all family, why are you making such a big deal about paying back what you owe? Besides, your older sister doesn't earn much money... Alright, alright, hurry up and eat." Qiao Guilan felt very guilty, glanced at her husband, and then continued to drink her porridge.
Just then, a voice came from outside the courtyard: "Is Erzhuang home?"
Song Erzhuang put down his chopsticks. "Sister-in-law, what happened?"
"Come out here for a moment, something's come up." Tang Suxiang glanced at the courtyard and called Song Erzhuang away.
Fearing that her son would make her pay back the money to the eldest daughter again, Qiao Guilan hurriedly put down her chopsticks and followed him.
"Mom..." Song Baogen tried to call out to Qiao Guilan, but Song Yinhua stopped him.
“Baogen, stop pressuring your mother. There are so many mouths to feed in this family, and we all need money. Let’s leave this matter here and not bring it up again.”
“But sister, you’ve worked for ten years, Mom shouldn’t leave you not a single penny.”
Song Caixing agreed, saying, "Second brother is right, Mom is biased!"
Song Baogen turned his head and glanced at Song Caixing. He knew that his mother favored him, and everyone in the family knew it.
Song Caixing knew she had said the wrong thing again, so she lowered her head and said timidly, "I was raised by my eldest sister, and I just feel sorry for her."
“Baogen, Caixing, our parents used to support the four of us sisters by farming and Dad doing odd jobs for other people. Life was hard for us.”
I'm the eldest sister, so it's only right that I earn money to support my family. I think it's worth it for me to do this.
And I'm so grateful that you all side with me like this. Having such thoughtful younger siblings makes it all worthwhile.
"Big sister!"
Both Song Baogen and Song Caixing were somewhat moved.
Song Yinhua took her younger brother and sister's hands and said, "We sisters have such a good relationship and are so united. If we work hard together to earn money, our lives will definitely get better and better."
Song Yinhua thought of her mysterious space and used the resources inside to help her younger siblings get rich. She believed that everyone could become wealthy.
-
Grandpa Tang looked at Song Erzhuang and said, "Erzhuang, your daughter switched Erbao's amulet. As long as you make Yinhua hand it over, we won't hold it against her for stealing Erbao's amulet."
Old Master Tang had been staying at Tang Suxiang's house for two or three days. He tried many methods, and when no one was at Song Erzhuang's house, he secretly went over and searched through the drawers and cabinets several times, but he still couldn't find the whereabouts of the jade pendant.
He dared not delay any longer.
If others discover the secret of the jade pendant, it's a small matter if the pendant can't be returned; the real problem is that the Tang family's descendants will lose their wealth and status.
Qiao Guilan apologized to Grandpa Tang without thinking twice, "It's my daughter Yinhua who's been dishonest. I'll definitely give her a good talking to when we get back!"
Song Erzhuang glanced at his wife. It was just a little trinket for a child. His daughter wasn't hard to raise, so what use was that thing?
Before she even understood what had happened, she immediately admitted her mistake and apologized, making it seem as if it were really his daughter who had stolen someone else's things.
"Go back and call Yinhua over."
A few minutes later, the Song siblings arrived.
Grandpa Tang insisted that Song Yinhua had stolen Erbao's amulet.
Song Yinhua retorted, "What evidence do you have to prove that I stole Erbao's amulet? That night, my sixth cousin came to our door and took away the jade pendant. My mother was there at the time, and my sixth cousin even checked it and said there was nothing wrong with the jade pendant."
Qiao Guilan nodded vigorously, "That's right, that's right, Sixth Aunt, you came to pick it up that night, and you said there was no problem."
Tang Su'e stammered, "It was too dark, I couldn't see clearly."
Grandpa Tang earnestly advised Song Yinhua to take out the jade pendant, indicating that he was willing to give her a thousand yuan.
"Without Erbao's amulet, he's dead. As long as you take out Erbao's amulet, you can ask for any amount of money you want, and we can discuss anything else you want."
With such generous terms, Qiao Guilan was somewhat tempted.
"Yinhua, did you take it or not? If you did, give it back to them."
Tang Su'e also cried, "Without that talisman, if anything happens to my grandson, I don't want to live anymore."
She grabbed Song Yinhua, crying and begging.
"Sixth Aunt, you checked it yourself that night and said there was no problem. If you have evidence that I switched Erbao's amulet, then produce the evidence!"
Grandpa Tang never expected Song Yinhua to be so eloquent. He had always thought she was easy to manipulate, and that she had been slandered for over a decade without uttering a sound.
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