Luo Yang didn't know how to persuade Luo Li. He walked to the door of the main room but didn't dare to come in, lowering his head and clutching the hem of his clothes.
Luo Yang gently pushed her younger brother and whispered, "Hurry up and go inside. What did I just tell you? Hurry up, don't make your stepmother angry."
Luo Li mustered her courage and shuffled slowly to Xiao Yunying's side, calling out in a tearful voice, "Stepmother..."
Xiao Yunying knew that he was afraid, afraid of himself.
I couldn't quite describe how I felt. I was a little angry, a little disappointed, a little discouraged—a jumble of emotions tangled together. I just felt uncomfortable.
Luo Li's eyes were red and swollen, as if she had been crying for a long time. They were so swollen that they looked like two peaches, barely visible as slits. She looked so pitiful.
The hair at her temples was damp, so she must have washed her face. The swelling around her eyes wouldn't go down anytime soon.
Xiao Yunying didn't want to make things difficult for a child at the dinner table, and besides, she didn't know what to say: "Let's eat."
Luo Li wanted to say something, but Luo Yang pulled her to his usual seat.
Luo Xin asked in confusion, "Mother, why is Third Brother crying?"
Xiao Yunying picked up a piece of celery with her chopsticks and said expressionlessly, "Your third brother is afraid of being bitten by wild dogs."
Luo Li didn't understand what he meant, but Luo Chen almost spat out the food in his mouth.
His stepmother is targeting him.
Xiao Yunying couldn't stand the somber atmosphere and knew they were uncomfortable there, so she quickly ate half a bowl of rice and placed the milk cake she had bought in the city on the table.
"Xin'er, eat slowly. Mom is going to Grandma's house. You can't eat these pastries now. You can eat them an hour after you finish eating. If you can't finish them, wrap them up and put them in the cupboard. But it's best to finish them before noon tomorrow, otherwise they will spoil. Do you understand?"
Luo Xin, with the air of a little adult, earnestly instructed, "I know, then Mom, walk slowly, watch your step, and don't fall again."
Xiao Yunying touched her crooked little bun, which someone had combed for her without her knowledge, and said, "Mother knows."
I went to the kitchen and took five bars of soap and five bars of bar soap from the supermarket and put them in my basket, along with two jars of 2-jin liquor, five jin of pork belly that I bought in the morning, and two packs of osmanthus cake.
Her father, Xiao Shanhai, liked to drink, and her two older brothers could also drink a little. The reason for sending meat was that, although the Xiao family was considered wealthy in the village, they were not always willing to buy meat to eat.
I put on my basket and went out the door, but halfway there I felt something was strange; there were fewer people in the village today.
Did you take a nap or go up the mountain?
As they approached her mother's house, the courtyard gate opened from the inside, and Xiao Yunying said with a smile, "Mother, did you know I was coming and came especially to pick me up?"
Mu Lianrong said irritably, "What the hell are you talking about?"
Xiao Yunying winked at her sister-in-law behind her: "Sister-in-law, who made Mother angry?"
"Mother...she's on her way to find you."
Looking for me?
Mu Lianrong said, "Who else could it be? It's all because you made me angry."
Mu Lianrong looked at the injury on her daughter's head, her eyes flashing with heartache: "Look at how badly you hit your head. Why didn't you go home and tell your parents?"
Xiao Yunying understood; it was probably because news of what happened last night had spread.
"Mom, I'm fine. This injury looks a bit scary, but it's not serious."
Zhang said, "Mother, let Yunying come in and talk first."
Mu Lianrong entered the main room with a long face, followed by Xiao Yunying: "Mother, are you angry?"
"Why should I be angry? My daughter has grown up and become capable. She has completely forgotten that she has parents and brothers. She can pick up an axe and go to fight people. I'm happy for her."
Hearing Mu Lianrong's sarcastic and angry words, Xiao Yunying said with a wry smile, "Mother, I'm really fine. I was just too angry at the time. As soon as I climbed out of the water, I was thinking about settling scores with He Hua. I didn't think much else."
Mu Lianrong said angrily, "If you come back and tell me, I will make your father and brother tear down the Lin family. That bastard did something shameless and actually tried to kill you to silence you."
Xiao Yunying put the basket on the table: "It has nothing to do with the Lin family. Mother also said that it was He Hua's own business and the Lin family didn't know anything about it. Aunt Lin said she would compensate me with money, but I didn't accept it."
Although the ten taels of silver were meant to get her to let He Hua go, Aunt Lin accepted the compensation from the beginning and didn't try to argue or cheat for He Hua; her attitude was acceptable.
Mu Lianrong slammed her hand on the table in anger: "Why don't you accept the compensation offered to you? Money is too hot to handle."
“Mother, although it was He Hua who did something shameful, I made it public. No matter what happens to He Hua, the Lin family will definitely be ridiculed by the villagers. I know better than anyone what it feels like to be talked about and gossiped about. It’s very unpleasant. The Lin family members are all very nice. I feel guilty and have no right to ask for compensation.”
Don't think that being gossiped about is nothing. In ancient society where reputation was highly valued, rumors could really drive people to their deaths.
Although the Lin family was unaware of what He Hua had done, there was a crime of "collective punishment" here. In some people's eyes, if the daughter-in-law was bad, the Lin family members would not be any better.
"If you don't want it, then don't. Our family doesn't need that little bit of compensation money." Mu Lianrong thought of her daughter's past and her voice softened a bit: "Everyone in the village knows what kind of people the Lin family are. If there are really some brainless people making up stories, Granny Lin is not someone to be trifled with."
Xiao Yunying thought to herself, "That's the only way to think about it. As for what the villagers will say behind my back, they can say whatever they want, and nobody can control that."
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