"Yes, I was in a rush this morning, walking from the county town, so I didn't have time for breakfast." As she said this, Xu Daya's eyes were already fixed on the braised dishes displayed on the table in the shop.
"Wenqing, go and make a bowl of noodles and cut some braised vegetables," Jiang Hua instructed Wenqing behind her.
"Second, Jiang Hua." Realizing she had called her by the wrong name, Xu Erya immediately corrected herself, saying apologetically:
“I have several daughters waiting outside, and they haven’t had breakfast either.”
"several?"
“Three.” With that, Xu Daya turned and walked out. A moment later, she brought in two girls who looked to be three or four years old. The older girl was also holding a girl who looked to be one year old.
The group was filthy, and their clothes were all ill-fitting, with patches on every side. Looking at Xu Daya and her three daughters, they were all in the same state.
"Since there's nothing to eat, let's sit down and eat," Jiang Hua said, gesturing for them to sit at the large table in the corner.
"Wenqing, make all the non-spicy ones, and bring three bowls over," Jiang Hua said to Wenqing, who was making hot rice noodles. Thinking that the little girl she was holding was probably still breastfeeding, she didn't make her bowl.
"Jiang Hua, Pan Di doesn't want to drink milk anymore. Can we get her a bowl of noodles too?" Xu Daya asked, holding her one-year-old daughter in her eldest daughter's arms.
"Is this enough? If you're still hungry, there's more in the pot." Jiang Hua then asked, "Aren't you breastfeeding the baby anymore?"
“What’s the point of a little girl drinking milk? It would be a waste,” Xu Daya said matter-of-factly.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Hua paused. So, she meant that the child wouldn't have any milk to drink from birth, simply because she was a girl?
"Pandi? Then you are Zhaodi and Laidi?" Jiang Hua asked, looking at the two girls sitting obediently next to Xu Daya.
The two girls nodded blankly, leaving Jiang Hua speechless for a moment.
Children at this age are usually at their most lively, but Xu Daya's two daughters were lifeless, with gloomy faces, and didn't say a word.
"Miss, there's some leftover porridge still warming up on the stove in the kitchen." Wenqing brought up the prepared noodles and also sliced a large plate of braised meat.
Seeing this, Xu Daya no longer cared about her two daughters beside her, let alone the baby girl in her arms, and started eating one bite after another.
"Go and get a bowl of porridge," Jiang Hua said. She then took a clean pair of chopsticks and placed two slices of braised meat into Zhao Di's bowl, who was busy eating noodles and dared not pick up the meat with her chopsticks.
However, the braised meat that had just been placed in their two bowls was quickly snatched away by Xu Daya and put into her own mouth.
“A little girl doesn’t need to eat meat,” Xu Daya said as she devoured the meat on her plate.
Jiang Hua seemed not to hear her words and put another piece of meat on their plates: "You eat."
“I’ve already said, they’re girls, worthless trash, they don’t need to eat meat.” Xu Daya was about to take the meat from her two daughters’ bowls when she inadvertently met Jiang Hua’s cold eyes and immediately withdrew her chopsticks.
"Then you can eat it, but you can only have one piece," Xu Daya said to her two daughters, feigning generosity.
Perhaps with Xu Daya's permission, Zhaodi and Laidi dared to pick up the meat in their bowls and eat it bit by bit with reluctance.
Xu Daya reluctantly put down her chopsticks only after the entire plate of braised meat was eaten clean.
Then he remembered that Pandi in his arms hadn't eaten, so he picked up the white porridge on the table and fed her.
Honghua and Wenya, who were in the shop, were dumbfounded as they watched Xu Daya's actions. They had never seen a mother like this before.
After they finished eating, Jiang Hua asked Wenya to remove the bowls. Looking at her sister, who now seemed like a stranger, she felt nothing, but she was unmoved by Xu Daya's actions.
It was quite shocking, and it seemed familiar, reminiscent of the style of the Xu family.
"Jiang Hua, do you own this shop?" Xu Daya, having eaten and drunk her fill, tossed her baby Pandi to Zhaodi.
"I own it."
"How's business? Your shop is so big, it must be doing very well. You must be making a lot of money. Look at your clothes, the fabric doesn't look cheap." Xu Daya said, staring at Jiang Hua's clothes.
"Hmm, not bad," Jiang Hua replied casually.
"My mother wrote to me saying you're married now, and the man you married has a child with him. This shop belongs to his family, right?" Xu Daya said to herself.
"Jiang Hua, I heard from your mother that you still sent that child to school, didn't you?"
"Um."
“That won’t do. He’s not your own son. You need to work harder and give birth to a son to carry on the family line. Have a couple more so you can stay home and raise the children,” Xu Daya advised.
"Otherwise, all the money you earn from this shop will end up in the hands of that stepson, which is not worth it."
"It's my shop, can't I keep the money I earn? Do I have to have a child?" Jiang Hua asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course, otherwise who will take care of you in your old age? If you don't give birth to a son, your life won't be fulfilling, and you'll be scorned by your husband's family," Xu Daya said earnestly.
"How many sons have you had?" Jiang Hua glanced at the three daughters she had brought with her. "Why are you bringing three children out alone? Where is your husband?"
“How can a man take care of a child? A man’s hands are for supporting his family!” Xu Daya quickly denied what Jiang Hua had just said.
"I haven't given birth to my son yet," Xu Daya said, touching her flat belly with an expectant look.
"But I'm sure this time I'm having a son."
Jiang Hua: "..."
"So, what are you here to buy this time?"
“No, Mother told me to come and see you. I didn’t expect you to be married. But since you’re married, I can’t say much more.” Xu Daya looked at Jiang Hua with a sense of relief that she had finally grown up.
"Your shop is doing so well now, you must have made a lot of money. Look at your clothes, I've never worn clothes made of such fine fabric in my entire life."
After all that, the conversation came full circle: "Now that you're living a good life, you can't forget your roots. Your parents raised you with great difficulty, so you should help out more at home."
"After you got married, what did you do to help your family?" Jiang Hua asked in return.
“How can I be the same!” Xu Daya said sharply, “When I got married, my parents sold me for twenty taels of silver.”
She didn't even have a decent wedding dress when she got married! She went back to her husband empty-handed, which led to her mother-in-law always looking down on her.
The reason I was able to come to Qingshi Town to find this younger sister today is because her mother wrote to say that this younger sister opened a shop and made a lot of money, but she didn't think about her family at all.
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