"What are you thinking about! Hurry up and finish eating! After you finish eating, clean up. The weather's been nice lately, you need to take Bang Geng to take a bath!" Jia Zhangshi angrily stuffed a white steamed bun into her mouth while pointing at Qin Huairu and cursing.
Qin Huairu lowered her head and silently ate the cornbread in her hand.
Xiao Dang's eyes darted around on the table. The dishes that Sha Zhu brought back today were quite good, very oily and flavorful.
She seized the opportunity, secretly picked up a piece, stuffed it into her cornbread, and ate it with relish.
Qin Huairu saw it, and Bang Geng saw it too, but neither of them said anything.
They just ate their meal in silence.
The atmosphere in the room was very silent. Ever since Jia Dongxu died, Jia Zhangshi, who had previously treated her fairly well, had changed completely.
Qin Huairu felt that none of the wicked mothers-in-law in the folk tales or the village women could compare to her. They watched her like she was a thief, and if she lingered in the yard for even a moment longer, the mother would peek out from the house, glaring at her fiercely while muttering curses. Qin Huairu had tried to fight back, but to no avail.
She knew her job was still with the Jia family, so she had no choice. She didn't want to go back to the countryside either; she'd be starving there. Here, at least she could eat her fill. And there were corn stalks—that was practically her only hope. She could only endure it; that was all she could do.
"There's not much food left in the house. Go borrow some more from Sha Zhu."
"Mom! Sha Zhu has already borrowed enough this month, how are we going to pay it back!"
"What do you mean, 'return'? What do you mean, 'return'? People's eyes are practically glued to you, what's there to return?" At this point, Madam Jia paused, looked at Qin Huairu with her triangular eyes, and said sarcastically, "Oh, you wouldn't happen to have taken a liking to her, would you? Now you're thinking of her?"
"What are you saying?! Mom! The children are right here!" Qin Huairu said angrily.
“What’s wrong with the child being here? Can’t the child listen? What’s wrong with that! Do I need you to teach me how to do things?” Jia Zhangshi slammed her hand on the table with a deafening roar.
Xiao Dang shrank back, not daring to speak.
Little Huaihua was only about a year old, and when the adults were so fierce, she burst into tears immediately.
"Stop crying, you worthless brat!"
Qin Huairu picked up Xiao Huaihua, stopped arguing with Jia Zhangshi, and went inside.
Madam Jia was still cursing behind him: "Leave? You'd better get the grain back, or else..."
"Grandma, please don't talk about my mom..."
"Oh, my dear grandson, let me tell you something..."
From inside the house came Jia Zhangshi's words of discipline. Qin Huairu, in the inner room, could only silently comfort Xiao Huaihua, but as she comforted her, tears streamed down her face, unstoppable. Xiao Huaihua seemed to sense her mother's sorrow, her little hands twitching and grasping at Qin Huairu. Qin Huairu wiped away her tears, tightened her clothes, and began to sing a lullaby.
This wasn't a famous tune; it was something her mother taught her when she was little. Her mother told her that every time she heard this tune, she could fall asleep quickly. The little locust flower was just like her. With Qin Huairu's murmur, she gradually drifted off to sleep.
Qin Huairu seemed to recall something, and couldn't help but smile, but then she composed herself, put down the locust flowers, and walked out.
"Where are you going?" Jia Zhangshi's words were full of controlling intent.
"Borrow grain." Qin Huairu said expressionlessly.
"Just lend us grain, who are you trying to impress with this attitude!"
Sometimes, people shouldn't eat too much, because if they eat too much, they'll be looking for trouble all the time. Unfortunately, Qin Huairu didn't understand this principle. She didn't want to argue with Jia Zhangshi, so she tightened her clothes and walked out of the courtyard.
The cold wind lifted her spirits a little.
She was somewhat dazed, unsure which way to go for a moment. For some reason, she remembered Wang Shouren's handsome face from earlier that day, and almost unconsciously, she headed towards the backyard. There weren't many residents in the backyard: only Lou Xiao'e, who rarely left her house, an old lady who kept the house in check, and Grandpa Liu and Wang Shouren—a total of four families.
There was no need to worry about gossip. After passing through the moon gate, we arrived at Wang Shouren's door.
She paused, patted her face, and spat at herself: "What am I thinking!"
Just as he was about to turn around and leave, Wang Shouren's door opened.
He said to Qin Huairu with a happy expression, "Sister Qin, you're here."
Perhaps it was because Wang Shouren was too handsome, or perhaps it was because she had nowhere to vent her frustrations, but she just lowered her head and softly hummed in agreement. Before she could react, Wang Shouren pulled her into the house.
By the time she came to her senses, Wang Shouren had already pulled her to sit on the bed.
Her expression turned somewhat flustered, and her voice stammered, "Shou... Shouren, we can't do this."
Wang Shouren said with a smile, "What do you mean, Sister Qin?"
Seeing Wang Shouren's mocking expression, Qin Huairu became angry and embarrassed. She clenched her small fists and punched Wang Shouren. She then got up and tried to leave.
"Sister, sister, don't go." Wang Shouren quickly grabbed Qin Huairu, but he pulled too hard and pulled her into his arms. The two of them rolled onto the bed.
Feeling the softness on his body, Wang Shouren was momentarily flustered.
Qin Huairu, feeling Wang Shouren's increasingly hot body, immediately broke free and said in a somewhat serious voice, "Shouren! We can't do this! It's nothing..."
"Something's wrong!" Wang Shouren covered Qin Huairu's mouth with his hand.
Qin Huairu stared wide-eyed at Wang Shouren in disbelief. She never expected that her usually taciturn brother would be so bold. Wasn't he afraid?
Just as she was in a daze, Wang Shouren's next sentence jolted her awake.
"I like you, sister."
"But."
"No buts, sis. I didn't mean anything by it. I just wanted to tell you that I like you."
Seeing that Qin Huairu still wanted to speak, Wang Shouren interrupted his spellcasting with a move: "Listen to me, sister, you're living too hard a life. You need to take care of your health. If this continues, you'll collapse."
Hearing Wang Shouren say this, Qin Huairu, whose face was slightly flushed, calmed down.
Most people don't know that in this era, people are relatively conservative, and keeping up with Qin Huairu is not an easy task. She's not as cheap as people think.
Wang Shouren was straightforward; he simply said that he had taken a liking to Qin Huairu and had desires for her, without any other complicated reasons.
He felt that Qin Huairu's life was too hard, and he wanted to be a ray of light in her heart.
Qin Huairu's body went limp as she recalled all the things she had experienced over the past year, her eyes reddening: "What else can we do?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
