Chapter 286 Extra Chapter Jiang Er
Upon hearing this, Cui Yulin gripped the ledger tightly in his hand.
After a long pause, he said, "Father will be back soon. Go and cook some vegetable porridge."
As if afraid that Jiang Wansu would be dissatisfied, Cui Yulin added, "Father works hard outside, and we are the younger generation, so it is not appropriate for him to do everything."
In recent years, his legs have atrophied severely, making it increasingly difficult for him to exert any strength. He has completely given up hope of treatment.
My father has aged considerably. He works during the day and then comes home in the evening to cook and do laundry. He really is...
I couldn't bear to do it.
After discussing it with Jiang Wansu for a long time, Cui Yulin finally agreed to take on the cooking job.
But she doesn't do laundry.
She said her hands would get rough.
But Cui Cheng was her father-in-law, so he couldn't very well wash Jiang Wansu's clothes. After much discussion, they decided that Cui Cheng would wash his and Cui Yulin's clothes, while Jiang Wansu would wash her own.
Jiang Wansu didn't move after hearing this, and after a long while, she finally nodded.
Cui Cheng wouldn't be home until the moon was high in the sky. If she didn't cook, she and Cui Yulin would go hungry indefinitely. After all, Cui Yulin couldn't even light a fire in the stove.
Jiang Wansu walked unsteadily towards the outside.
The room was too small, so she shared a room with Cui Yulin, Cui Cheng had his own room, and there was a small corner that was partitioned off as a toilet area for Cui Yulin.
He was unable to walk properly, so the outhouse in the yard was unusable; this was all he could do...
As a result, the stove had to be moved outside, with only a thatched shed for shelter from the wind and rain on top.
Jiang Wansu bent down to pick up the firewood and numbly stuffed it into the stove.
It was difficult to start a fire, and she wasn't in the mood for it, so it took her two or three tries to get it going.
Cui Yulin watched from inside the room, his face tense.
He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the fire in the stove was lit.
Firewood was always collected and chopped by his father either early in the morning or late at night, so it wasn't very easy to obtain...
Hearing the sound of rice being poured into a pot outside, Cui Yulin slowly relaxed a little.
He had been sitting for a long time, and his back ached. He had no choice but to push his wheelchair to the bedside and climb into bed with difficulty.
I was just thinking of taking a short rest, but I accidentally fell asleep.
When he woke up, Cui Cheng was already home.
"father……"
Cui Cheng's body was hunched over considerably. In the past, he was the manager of the machine room in the Xie family, and everyone in the Xie family, even Xie Boyu, treated him with great courtesy.
Not to mention the servants of the Xie family and the artisans and embroiderers in the weaving and dyeing garden.
He didn't need to do any heavy work; he just helped Master Song figure out how to fix the loom when it malfunctioned.
Another task is to keep an eye on the troublemakers in the garden and make them behave better.
But now...
Cui Cheng wanted to do everything; he was supposed to be in charge, but he actually had to manage everything.
He had to take care of the crying child, manage the kitchen shortage of rice and oil, and even if a mouse got in, he would transform into a cat to catch the filthy creature...
Therefore, Cui Cheng is now extremely old and frail.
When Cui Yulin woke up, she saw Cui Cheng sitting at the doorway, too exhausted to wake up. Cui Yulin called him four or five times, but Cui Cheng didn't wake up.
It was Jiang Wansu who came in from outside and woke Cui Cheng up.
"Father, Yulin is awake."
Cui Cheng shuddered violently, and it took him a long time to calm down from the shock.
Jiang Wansu said, "I just asked Madam Qian for some pickled vegetables to go with my rice."
She can't cook, so if they don't go out to get something to eat, the family will just have to drink porridge.
Cui Cheng placed the pickled vegetables on the table. He looked at the small dish, which even had a piece of bright green leaf placed on top of it, as if to make it look more appealing.
That single chopstickful wasn't even enough for anyone to take a single bite.
Once you've asked that old woman for money, you've incurred her favor, which you'll have to repay in the future. Either you'll do chores for her, or you'll return her belongings.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that their family is now destitute, so they have no choice but to work as laborers.
But no matter what you do, repaying this favor with a bite of pickled vegetables is a losing proposition.
When Cui Chengyi saw the table full of thin porridge with only water and no rice, plus a mouthful of pickled vegetables, he couldn't help but sigh.
This sigh sent Jiang Wansu's anger soaring to the heavens.
Cui Cheng was like that, sighing all day long at home, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.
Jiang Wansu wanted to throw down her chopsticks, but she managed to hold back.
"This porridge..."
Cui Yulin scooped the porridge up and down with a spoon, only to find a few scattered grains of rice floating in the water. He pondered for a moment, then frowned and said, "This porridge is too thin; it won't fill my stomach at all."
Cui Yulin is alright; he sits at home all day, and even if he eats less, it's fine.
But Cui Cheng couldn't handle it; he was too busy every day and didn't get enough to eat, so his body couldn't keep up.
Jiang Wansu said, "There's nothing we can do about it. We don't have much rice left, and I don't dare to take too much. If we use too much, what will the family eat before Father receives his monthly allowance?"
"This little bit of rice porridge is already quite good."
After saying that, Jiang Wansu took a sip of rice porridge.
What came to mind were the sweet and soft osmanthus cake, as well as the stewed bird's nest, braised pork belly with eight delicacies, and silver thread rolls with osmanthus honey that she often ate at the Xie family's house.
My mouth tasted sour, and drinking a bowl of porridge not only failed to satisfy my hunger but actually made me even hungrier.
Cui Yulin looked at Cui Cheng and gritted his teeth, saying, "Father, I'll go to the butcher shop tomorrow and buy a piece of meat on credit. At worst, I'll do his accounting for two months."
Jiang Wansu said, "What accounts could a small butcher shop possibly have to settle..."
Cui Cheng finished the porridge in his bowl, waved his hand, and said, "That's enough, I'm going to sleep. I need to pick up the goods at the dock tomorrow."
Cui Yulin said urgently, "Now, do I also need you to handle the matter of picking up the goods?"
Cui Cheng's back stiffened, and he sighed again.
When you're under someone's roof, even if the owner tells you to act like a dog at the shop, you have to obey, let alone just to pick up goods at the dock.
Cui Yulin was panting heavily, while Jiang Wansu seemed lost in thought, as if she had lost her soul.
After a while, Cui Yulin said, "Go to the butcher shop tomorrow and get some meat on credit. Make some meat for Father to eat tonight."
“My father is not the same as before; he can’t eat such bland and watery food.”
Jiang Wansu said, "If Father can't eat it, then I can? Yulin, you know I've never suffered like this before."
"This porridge... I have never drunk anything like this before."
"But why do you only care about your father and not care about me? Why don't you tell me how hard it has been for me since we got together?"
"When I was in the Xie family, I didn't care to eat more than a bite of abalone, sea cucumber, shark fin, or fish maw. But now?"
"Now that I'm with you, am I not even entitled to a bite of meat?"
For no apparent reason, the anger that had been building up all day exploded, and Jiang Wansu slammed her chopsticks down on the table.
Cui Cheng, who had already entered the room, sighed again, a sigh that sent chills down Jiang Wansu's spine and made her tremble all over.
She could no longer hold back and abruptly overturned the wooden table that had been repaired and patched up many times.
“Cui Yulin, I really misjudged you. If I had known this would happen, I would have been better off staying with the Xie family and being with Xu Chuan…”
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