Chapter 17 Where is your teacher?
Song Chunxue's words were like a thunderbolt, making the fourth brother, Jiang Yejun, feel a chill run down his spine.
He looked at Song Chunxue in surprise, thinking that his mother's anger had finally reached her.
My mother, who had never received much formal education and only knew how to toil in the fields, suddenly seemed like a completely different person.
Ever since he stopped favoring his older brother last time, he felt that his mother seemed to have lost all kinship ties, treating everyone with indifference.
No, she's starting to favor the third child!
He never called him Third Brother; he always called him Third Brother.
But his mother's words "your third brother" made him feel that something was very wrong.
Given his mother's temperament, if she insisted on going to the school, how could he possibly stop her?
That night, the fourth brother slept alone in the east room, tossing and turning all night without getting a good night's sleep.
Song Chunxue got up early and made soup for Sanwa and herself.
The second and fourth sons couldn't get up, and she didn't think of leaving any for them.
After drinking the soup, Sanwa got up to go herd the sheep, but Song Chunxue called him back.
She handed him a boiled egg, saying, "Eat it if you get hungry on the mountain."
Sanwa didn't take it, looking at her in surprise.
“Here you go,” Song Chunxue picked up another book from the lid of the water vat behind her. “If you want to read, then read. Whenever you want to study, you can sell the sheep to pay for it. We’ve saved up money over the years, and our second son isn’t going to school anymore, so we can afford to support you.”
Sanwa paused for a moment, then took the eggs and the book and turned to leave.
He walked with the speed of the wind, forgetting even to take the sheep whip he never forgot, which he carried every day without fail, and went straight to the sheepfold.
He squatted in the cave dwelling inside the sheepfold, covering his face with his hands, sobbing uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, Song Chunxue, who was in the kitchen, was also squatting on the ground, sobbing and crying for a long time.
Sanwa blamed her; she always knew that.
A few years ago, he regretted suggesting that he raise sheep to support his family, but he never said it.
She pretended to be deaf and dumb, sacrificing Sanwa's opportunity to study, and gave the money he earned from herding sheep to the other three children to study.
If she hadn't grown old, she wouldn't have understood the saying that a kind person is often bullied and a good horse is often ridden, and that this applies even to brothers.
Her unfairness as a mother caused Sanwa a lifetime of suffering.
Just then, the boss came in from outside.
"Mom, do you have any eggs?" He opened the cupboard directly. "Shouldn't we divide up the eggs from the hens that lay them, and also the chicks you just bought?"
Song Chunxue wiped away her tears, pulled him aside, and took two eggs from the porcelain bowl and handed them to him.
"No more," she sniffed. "We had five hens in total. You can take one and raise it, and you'll get two chicks."
"One isn't enough, Feng'er is pregnant..."
"That's your problem. You two were too lazy to even feed the chickens before. I'm already being generous by giving you a hen. If you don't want it, go buy one yourself. I wouldn't mind if you raised a dozen or so."
"..." Hearing his mother's heavy nasal voice and harsh tone, Jiang Yeming realized that she had been crying.
But he didn't want to ask her why she was crying. Anyway, his mother often did this. Sometimes she would take a nap in her room and start crying loudly in her sleep.
He took the eggs and walked out, saying, "I'll go pick them myself."
Song Chunxue remained silent, listening to her boss's receding footsteps as her emotions gradually calmed down.
She felt much better after crying, but she still had to keep an eye on the eldest one, otherwise she wouldn't be able to get it back if it caught an extra one.
Since the couple moved to the thatched cottage, they haven't done any work in the fields.
The eldest brother was making mud bricks morning and night, and Chen Feng was also busy. The two of them chatted and laughed, and there was no sign of them arguing.
Song Chunxue still couldn't stop it; the eldest brother grabbed a rooster and two hens, but didn't take a liking to the chicks.
It seems she'll have to buy a few more chicks next time.
Anyway, raising chickens doesn't require much grain. Every day she brings back wild grass from the fields, plus the time she spends when she comes back to let them eat insects in the fields, and they're fat enough to grow up well.
After her afternoon nap, Song Chunxue handed him the clothes she had just made for Sanwa and asked him to make shoe soles for the one that was too short and old.
The boss happened to see it when he went inside to find tools.
"You made new clothes for the third son? Why didn't any of us get any!"
Song Chunxue didn't look at him. "Because you all got new gifts during the New Year, but he didn't."
"Mother, did Sanwa drug you? It's so unfair that you're so biased towards him now."
Song Chunxue sneered.
"Why didn't you say anything when I favored you and neglected Sanwa?" Song Chunxue looked directly into his eyes. "Now that you're married, you don't need me to be biased anymore. From now on, I'll favor Sanwa. Are you going to object?"
The old man was speechless with anger and turned to leave.
Soon, he returned with his new clothes and threw them directly into the yard.
"Since Mother is going to favor the third child, then you can rely on him to take care of you in your old age and see you off when you die. Don't expect me to be good to you."
A surge of heat rushed to the back of Song Chunxue's head, making her head spin. She immediately rushed up and kicked him twice.
You can tell what a child will be like at three, and what they will be like in life at seven.
Jiang Yeming is twenty years old this year, and the fact that he can say such things so easily shows that this is also his true feeling.
From now on, Song Chunxue will not expect to eat a single meal from him.
“Take your clothes away. You’ve already worn them all. Who will wear them if you bring them back?” Song Chunxue pointed at him and said, “Sanwa will never wear your old clothes again. I will make him new ones.”
"Even if I starve or freeze to death, I will never rely on you to support me." Song Chunxue's voice was low and deep, her eyes fixed on him. "Don't even think about that piece of land in Shuichuan. I don't need to rely on anyone. That land can feed me for the rest of my life!"
Upon hearing this, the eldest brother instantly showed a look of regret.
But words spoken are like water spilled; they cannot be taken back.
He was both angry and regretful, and turned to walk out of the yard.
How could you forget that the land hasn't been divided yet?
Sanwa stood there dumbfounded, clutching the new clothes his mother had made for him.
He saw his mother throw his older brother's clothes out of the yard.
Then, she knocked on the fourth brother's door, asking him to get up and go to school together.
He silently took the clothes into the house and placed them together with the shoes that were in the box.
The second brother, who was holding a storybook, glanced at him and said, "What's the use of reading it every day? You're still growing. If you leave it, you won't be able to wear it anymore. Keeping it will only benefit the fourth brother."
That makes sense.
If I give it to the fourth son, he'll complain, even though he only wears it for two days during the Lunar New Year.
After thinking for a moment, Sanwa took out the clothes from the box and put them on. He looked at himself from left to right and was overjoyed.
"But don't wear this new outfit today. He just had a bad day, and if he sees you wearing it later, he'll definitely beat you up, believe me?"
Sanwa paused, then obediently took off his clothes.
He put on the clothes he wore during the Chinese New Year this year and happily went to herd sheep.
More than an hour later, Song Chunxue followed the fourth brother, Jiang Yejun, to the school.
She arrived at the students' dormitory. Twenty people were crammed into a large room, and Jiang Yejun was in the middle.
"Where is your teacher? Take me to him."
Song Chunxue did not forget the purpose of her visit.
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