Yunniang felt a pang of sadness; such things happened far too often outside. Her daughter had food, but she couldn't possibly care for so many people.
Two bowls of rice were definitely not enough for the three extremely hungry children. However, they were quite sensible; after finishing their second bowl, they didn't complain of being hungry anymore. Instead, they stood obediently to the side, heads down, not uttering a sound or moving.
Looking at the three dolls, Yunniang was at her wit's end.
"Xue'er, what do you think they should do?"
We can't just leave them here to raise, can we? Now that Jinghua's family knows the address of their shop, Yunniang understands that taking care of them this time will only cause trouble in the future, but seeing the child so hungry, she still can't bear it.
Han Luoxue also considered this point. The child was innocent, and she couldn't possibly kick the child out. The world outside was so chaotic; if the child were taken away, there would only be one way out: death.
People outside are so hungry they're eating their own children. How can those caught outside possibly survive?
Han Luoxue didn't know what to do with them, so Yunniang could only go back and ask Han Mingyuan.
When Han Mingyuan heard about Han Jinghua and her husband's extraordinary feat, he was speechless.
“Brother Yuan, they left the child here, and I can’t just kick her out. What do you think we should do now? We don’t need the food, but we’re worried that she’ll stay like this forever.”
We're not even that close, and she wasn't good to me in the past, so why should I help her raise her child?
"Let Xue'er take the child back. Tell them that we will not be responsible if the child gets lost again."
Han Mingyuan thought for a moment, then steeled himself and said it.
Of all his relatives, the only one he couldn't bear to part with was his eldest sister. He remembered that after the accident, only his eldest sister and Old Lady Han offered to sell a pig to pay for his leg treatment.
The younger sister was scolded by Old Lady Han and eventually chased out with a broom. However, she still secretly brought him food a few times afterward.
Although the amount was small each time, it was the best he received from his siblings.
Now that his life was better, Han Mingyuan suddenly thought of his younger sister. His brother-in-law was also an honest man, and he hoped to help them out.
...
Yanjiacun is quite far from Hutouyacun, about ten miles away. It takes almost an hour to walk there, and Han Lenghua rarely comes back.
"Han Lenghua, you're a barren hen! I really don't know what use you are to our Yan family!"
Han Lenghua's mother-in-law, holding a broom in one hand and tapping her head hard with the other, cursed viciously:
"I asked you to cook, and you dared to steal some food. We don't have much food left, and you, this gluttonous woman, have eaten it all."
"Mother, I didn't." Accused so unjustly by Madam Tan, tears streamed down Han Lenghua's face. Life was hard for everyone these days, and her family didn't have much food left.
Her mother-in-law would give her a small handful of cornmeal every day to cook porridge. A large pot of water would be mixed with just a little bit of cornmeal, and the resulting porridge would be so thin that you could hardly see any cornmeal particles.
When her mother-in-law saw the thin porridge, she kept scolding her, accusing her of stealing some. But the truth was, she couldn't even finish a bowl of that porridge.
Each time, her husband would leave her a small half-bowl of water to tide her over, and she wouldn't dare waste the water used to wash the pot.
Han Lenghua once weakly retorted that if her mother-in-law didn't believe her, then she shouldn't be allowed to cook.
But Madam Tan stared with her triangular eyes wide open, her nose practically pointing to the sky:
"If you don't cook, who will? You're the only hen in our house that doesn't lay eggs!"
Speaking of her children, Han Lenghua felt deeply aggrieved. After getting married, she gave birth to two girls, the older one eleven and the younger one nine. Later, when her husband, Yan Gang, was helping build their house, he fell from the roof beam and remained unconscious for a day before waking up. Since then, he hasn't been able to keep up.
They didn't even have normal sexual intercourse, so how could she possibly get pregnant? But her mother-in-law didn't care and kept scolding her for not being able to have children, saying that she was just occupying the toilet without doing anything and hadn't left any offspring for her son.
Yan Gang had spoken to his mother several times, but the old lady still cursed him.
Han Lenghua has never had any status in their family and is always the one being bullied.
Yan Gang is the second of five brothers. He is neither particularly outstanding nor unsuccessful, and he is honest and doesn't like to talk much.
Seeing that her mother-in-law's broom was about to fall again, Han Lenghua quickly begged for mercy, "I'll do it right now."
Han Lenghua sniffed, took the bowl from her mother-in-law, and glanced at the cornmeal that couldn't even be covered at the bottom. Her heart felt even more bitter.
With just this much flour, even a god couldn't make a thick corn porridge.
She rushed into the kitchen, which was really just a woodshed, and quickly lit a fire to boil water. Yan Gang walked in; he had seen his mother making a scene, but he didn't dare come out.
He knew her mother too well; if he dared to step in and protect her, Han Lenghua would be beaten even more severely.
Hearing familiar footsteps approaching, Han Lenghua didn't even look up, keeping her head down and tending the fire.
"Leng Hua, I'm sorry."
Yan Gang and Leng Hua were only in their thirties, but their hunched backs made them look like they were over forty.
Han Lenghua fiddled with the firewood, her head down and silent.
"I……"
Yan Gang knew he had wronged Han Lenghua, but he didn't dare to defy his mother.
He was an honest man to begin with, and now he feels ashamed towards his wife and daughter.
"Yan Gang, I heard that my third brother from my maternal family has separated from his family."
Han Lenghua suddenly spoke, and Yan Gang looked at her in confusion, not knowing what she meant by saying that.
"Leng Hua, do you want to go back and take a look?"
"But we have nothing now."
It wouldn't be right for him to go back empty-handed, would it? He knew that Han Lenghua's third brother's family was in a bad situation.
"Let's split it too."
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