early morning.
After having breakfast early in the morning, Song Erzhuang hurriedly went out to work with his carrying pole and basket.
Qiao Guilan brought out a bowl of freshly cooked porridge from the kitchen, intending to put it in the yard to cool so that it wouldn't be too hot for her son Baogen when he got up to eat breakfast.
She looked up and saw that the dining table was empty.
A glance at where the carrying pole and baskets were kept told her that her husband had already gone to work.
I told her I gave her the credit union passbook this morning.
He left without even mentioning it.
He must have put all the money in his family with his older brother, and let his older brother's family spend it.
Qiao Guilan angrily placed a bowl of porridge on the table in the yard and hurriedly ran into her daughters' room.
Song Caixing was the only one in the bed.
"Caixing, where's your older sister?" Qiao Guilan kept nudging Song Caixing, who was still half asleep.
In the space, the starry sky is dazzling.
Song Yinhua was digging a pit five centimeters deep, eight meters long and five meters wide with a large iron shovel, preparing to go to the market later to buy some cement and gravel to build a large cement drying platform here.
The rice is ripe and ready to be harvested.
Fruits and grains that fall onto the land in this space will disappear into the soil like water.
She built a large drying platform to store the rice.
"Caixing, where did your eldest sister go?"
"Little Si'er, wake up! Get up! What time is it? Where did your eldest sister go?"
From the end of the space came the voice of her mother, Qiao Guilan.
This space can be entered by thought or by physical presence.
Because she needed to build a larger drying platform, Song Yinhua took advantage of her fourth sister's sleep to physically enter the space and has been busy until now.
"Little Fourth..."
Baogen: "Mom, stop pushing Caixing. Let her sleep for a while. What's the rush?"
"Yinhua is gone."
"How could a perfectly healthy woman just disappear? She must have gone to the outhouse. Have you checked the outhouse?"
"Mom's going to check the outhouse... Caixing, you get up too." Qiao Guilan forcefully woke Song Caixing up. "What time is it? Still sleeping! Your dad got up before dawn, how can you be so lazy!"
Song Caixing was sleeping soundly when she was woken up and grumbled.
"They won't even let people sleep anymore?"
"Sleep, sleep, all you do is sleep! Look how hard your father works to support you all, you little ingrate!"
"Second brother just woke up too, and second brother is also rolling his eyes..."
Qiao Guilan was still angry about the savings account, so she raised her hand and smacked Song Caixing, "Your second brother works so hard every day, he deserves to sleep in a little longer. Why are you comparing yourself to him?"
Song Baogen quickly stepped forward to stop Qiao Guilan, "Mom, what are you doing so early in the morning? Why are you hitting Cai Xing? There's nothing else to do this morning, let her sleep if she wants to!"
"You're all so lazy!" Qiao Guilan glared at Song Caixing, venting her anger towards her husband on the fourth daughter. "You don't work to earn money, yet you compare yourselves to others, sleeping in every day. Do you really think you're some rich man's servant? I do this and that every day, there's a ton of work to do, my back hurts so much I can't even straighten up, and you don't even care about me, you just sleep in? I'm not serving you anymore!"
Song Caixing knew that if she talked back again, she would definitely be beaten by her mother.
"I'm the only one who's doing all this work for free in this family, I'm leaving!" Song Caixing cried as she ran out.
"Cai Xing!" Song Baogen hurriedly chased after her.
Qiao Guilan chased after her son as he ran outside, saying, "Baogen, don't worry about Caixing. She has nowhere to go. She'll come back when she's done making a scene."
After everyone left, Song Yinhua left the space and reappeared in the room.
Qiao Guilan searched the outhouse but couldn't find Song Yinhua.
"Strange, where did Yinhua go so early in the morning?"
"Mom!" Song Yinhua exclaimed, carrying a basin of clothes. "You were looking for me?"
"Yinhua, where did you go so early in the morning? I've been looking for you for ages!"
"I went to the river to wash clothes and forgot to take Baogen's clothes, so I came back to get them," Song Yinhua made up an excuse to fool Qiao Guilan. "Mom, what's the rush?"
"It's still about the money," Qiao Guilan said angrily. "Your dad said he'd give me the passbook this morning to check the accounts, but he left early this morning without mentioning the passbook. He must have given all the money to your uncle's family!"
Qiao Guilan started crying as she spoke.
She cried as she recounted her grievances.
From the immense suffering she endured during childbirth, to being nearly beaten to death for lending money to her family, to not giving money to her own mother for medical treatment, which led to her mother and siblings hating her, and her husband giving all the money to his older brother, and so on.
“Mom, when Baogen’s wife comes to visit, Dad won’t be able to come up with any money.” Song Yinhua interrupted Qiao Guilan’s complaint.
If she didn't interrupt, her mother would cry all morning.
"What if your dad doesn't take it out?"
“Baogen is Dad’s only biological son. How can Dad abandon Baogen?” Song Yinhua asked Qiao Guilan. “When you and Dad get old, will it be your biological son Baogen who takes care of you, or Song Hanwen?”
“It must be Baogen!” Qiao Guilan blurted out without thinking. “Hanwen even slapped your dad in public. How could he possibly support your dad and me in our old age? It’s not like your dad and I don’t have sons.”
"Mom, you understand this principle, and Dad understands it too. Would he abandon Baogen for Uncle's family?"
Qiao Guilan finally felt at ease.
"Mom, I'm going to the river to continue washing clothes. You go and find Caixing."
Now that she had calmed down, Qiao Guilan realized that it was wrong of her to take her anger out on the Fourth Miss, so she obediently went to find her Fourth Miss.
Outside the courtyard, Song Baogen kept persuading Song Caixing to apologize to her on behalf of her biological mother, Qiao Guilan.
Qiao Guilan came out just in time to hear, "Baogen, go back and have breakfast. You have to go to work later. Why should I apologize to you?"
"mom……"
"Go inside and eat!" Qiao Guilan shouted at her son. "I was wrong just now. I shouldn't have lost my temper with Caixing. I'll apologize to Caixing myself. Go inside and have breakfast."
Song Baogen was overjoyed to hear that his own mother was going to apologize to Song Caixing, and he went into the courtyard.
After her son Baogen entered the courtyard, Qiao Guilan walked up to Song Caixing and said, "Little Si'er, don't cry. I was a little harsh when I spoke to you just now, but I have always treated all four of you siblings equally and would never favor any of you."
Song Caixing thought Qiao Guilan was apologizing to her, but upon hearing Qiao Guilan's words, her heart sank again.
“Caixing, although your second brother is a boy, in my heart, you girls are no less than your second brother. I treat all four of you equally.”
Qiao Guilan genuinely believed that she could treat everyone equally.
“When have you ever seen your mother be biased? Even though your second brother is a boy, I still let him graduate from high school. I didn’t let him go to university, and I saved the money to send your third sister to university. Your third sister is a girl.”
Qiao Guilan felt heartbroken when she talked about it.
She wanted her son Baogen to continue his studies at university, or at least a junior college if he couldn't get into university, but her husband disagreed and insisted on saving the money for their third son, Qiuxue, to go to university.
If Qiuxue doesn't pass the exam this year, she can repeat a year and take it again.
“If we’re talking about favoritism, your dad is the most biased!” Qiao Guilan couldn’t help but complain about her husband. “Your second brother graduated from high school last year and got into a junior college. He even received his acceptance letter, but your dad won’t let him study there. He said he wants to save the money for your third sister to study there.”
"Second brother received his acceptance letter?" Song Caixing asked in surprise. "Then why...?"
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