"Mom, why did you eat all the crabs?"
Shen Dongsheng couldn't help but complain. He hadn't tasted meat in a long time, and every day it was either cornbread or wild vegetable dumplings.
Grandma Shen smacked her lips, still savoring the sweet taste of the crab meat in her mouth.
"Oh dear, Dongsheng, my life is so hard! The wife you married is such a shrew, she never gives me any meat to eat."
It's her own bastard who's gotten so fat and bloated. Your mother's life is just a burden to you; you might as well... you might as well go find your father..."
For Old Mrs. Shen, wailing a few times was simply a daily occurrence.
As she spoke, a deep sadness welled up within her, and it was unclear whether she was genuinely heartbroken or not, but two tears actually streamed down her face, causing Shen Dongsheng to feel a pang of guilt.
"Mother, I'm sorry, it's all my fault!"
"That's right, you're useless," Old Mrs. Shen thought to herself. "You're such a good-for-nothing who can't even control your own daughter-in-law. I don't know how I gave birth to such a useless thing."
Although I thought that way, I certainly couldn't say it out loud.
"It's alright, Mother knows you're the most filial. Mother also knows there's nothing Mother can do to help you right now, but Mother is just worried about you. You don't have a son yet. What will you do if you die and no one takes care of you in your old age?"
"Why don't you go and bring your nephew back?"
Yes, perhaps because life had been too peaceful, Old Mrs. Shen even thought of her eldest grandson, Shen Guangzong.
Shen Dongsheng was silent for half a minute, then opened his mouth and after a long while said, "Mother, Guangzong went back to his maternal grandmother's house, so I can't go to my younger brother and sister-in-law's house..."
"It's too early to talk about breaking pots for the elderly. You should eat this cornbread first, and then I'll go home and get a couple of crabs!"
He turned and walked out without looking back. Whether he broke the basin or not was not important; what mattered was that he hadn't eaten any meat yet.
No sooner had Shen Dongsheng left than Old Mrs. Shen felt a numbness in her mouth. She thought it was because she was thirsty and reached for the water by the bedside, but then worried that the taste of meat in her mouth would be washed away by the water.
After hesitating for a few minutes, she suddenly felt dizzy and saw the black beams spinning in front of her. Her only remaining hand, which she could lift after her stroke, was also numb.
Immediately afterwards, she felt a churning in her stomach, and she kept vomiting foam. It felt as if a dull knife was churning inside her abdomen.
Even if she was incredibly stupid, Old Lady Shen knew at this moment that something was wrong with her.
She opened her mouth to call out to Shen Dongsheng, but found that she couldn't make a sound at all, and couldn't even feel her tongue.
Then, dark red blood began to flow from her nose and eyes again.
Finally, with her eyes vacant as she stared at the dilapidated roof, Old Mrs. Shen slowly lost consciousness amidst excruciating pain throughout her body.
Shen Dongsheng, who was completely unaware of this, had just returned home when Qian Xiaohua was busy tying ropes to the crabs in the bucket. When she saw Shen Dongsheng come in, her face immediately darkened.
"Shen Dongsheng, did you steal crabs from home to offer as tribute to that old hag?"
Shen Dongsheng frowned at these words. "What do you mean by 'old hag'? That's my mother!"
"What's wrong with me giving my mom some crabs?! My mom has had a hard life; she hasn't had any meat for almost half a month."
Qian Xiaohua was so angry at his words that she almost laughed. "An old geezer who lies around all day waiting to be fed, wants meat too? Why should she? Just because of her good-looking but useless son?"
Before marriage, Qian Xiaohua admired Shen Dongsheng quite a bit. She thought he was tall and strong and was qualified to be her man.
Unexpectedly, after the two got married, she discovered that this man was all show and no substance.
Putting everything else aside, just the time she spent in bed was really less than that of her deceased husband.
After hearing Qian Xiaohua's words, Shen Dongsheng's face turned as black as ink, and he finally slammed the door and left.
Qian Xiaohua didn't chase after him. She only glanced at Shen Dongsheng's departing figure before lowering her head to continue tying up her crabs.
Just now, after she finished eating the crab legs that her son had left over, she went into the kitchen and found that two crabs were missing.
Considering that only Shen Dongsheng had entered the kitchen, she immediately guessed that he had taken it to give to Old Lady Shen.
Despite her sharp tongue, she was actually quite nervous inside.
That brat Fu Wan said the crab was poisonous. Could it really be poisonous?
Just as she was pondering this, Village Chief Fu and Liu Sanniang knocked on her courtyard door.
"Qian Xiaohua, where's your poisonous crab?"
As soon as Village Chief Fu entered, he asked her directly, making Qian Xiaohua feel guilty.
She stubbornly retorted, "Poisonous crab? What poisonous crab?"
Liu San Niang was quick-witted, saying, "Qian Xiao Hua, don't be so stubborn and ask for trouble."
"Ah Wan said those crabs are poisonous. If your son gets sick after eating them, I bet you'll be kneeling and crying in front of the Fu family's ancestral graves!"
As a mother herself, Liu San Niang knew best what Qian Xiao Hua's weaknesses were.
But when they dragged the crab bucket over, the poisonous crab was nowhere to be found.
Seeing Qian Xiaohua's shifty eyes, Liu Sanniang sensed something was wrong. "Where are the poisonous crabs?!"
Qian Xiaohua's arm ached from Liu Sanniang's pinching. Seeing that she couldn't hide it any longer, she simply closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and said, "Shen Dongsheng cooked the crab for his mother."
"What!"
Village Chief Fu felt a headache coming on. "You guys are really something!"
This could really be fatal!
Village Chief Fu could only pray that Old Lady Shen hadn't eaten that stuff yet.
Having obtained the whereabouts of the poisonous crab, Village Chief Fu and Liu Sanniang hurried towards Qian Xiaohua's old house.
They encountered many villagers along the way, and seeing the two of them in this state, many people asked them with concern where they were going.
Old Village Chief Fu didn't want to talk, but Liu San Niang was straightforward and outspoken, and she explained the whole story in just a few words.
Most of the villagers witnessed or heard about what happened on the mudflats today, so they were all quite shocked to hear Liu San Niang say that Shen Dongsheng had given the crab to Old Lady Shen to eat.
Shen Dongsheng is such a filial son!
"Wait, I saw Shen Dongsheng! He just bought half a pound of meat from Dazhuang!"
Good heavens, my life hangs in the balance, and this guy still has the nerve to buy meat.
"No, I saw Shen Dongsheng go to the old house again. He must be buying meat for his mother."
Hearing this, Village Chief Fu felt a little relieved; perhaps things weren't so bad after all.
As luck would have it, the group happened to run into Shen Dongsheng as he was about to push open the door to Qian Xiaohua's old house.
Seeing this, Village Chief Fu hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed him, and asked, "Shen Dongsheng, where is your mother?!"
Shen Dongsheng was confused. "It's inside!"
Seeing his bewildered look, Old Village Chief Fu was so anxious that his beard almost stood on end.
"Go in and take a look!"
He thought he was overthinking it, but not long after Shen Dongsheng went inside, his terrified screams came from within:
"Mom! What's wrong with you!"
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