Chapter 48 Are you scared?
At lunchtime, the fourth child obediently appeared at the table.
Not only that, before Sanwa came home, he filled all the sinks with water, and also filled the large water tank in the kitchen.
The third child was a little surprised. He didn't expect his mother's yelling to be so effective. The fourth child, who always made the most excuses, actually hung so many buckets of water.
His older sister, Jiang Hongying, quietly told him that their mother's tactic of "courtesy first, then force" was very effective.
At the dinner table, apart from the one-year-old Xiujuan and the sounds of eating, everything was as quiet as a chicken.
No one spoke, but everyone was quietly observing Song Chunxue's expression.
"Clang."
After eating three bowls of soup and rice, Song Chunxue placed the bowls on the table.
The other four people all turned their attention to him.
Song Chunxue stared straight at the fourth brother, then turned to the third brother after a moment.
"Sanwa, pack your things these next couple of days. I'll take you to school the day after tomorrow. If you don't like going to the village, you can go to a school nearby. In short, our whole family owes you something, and it's time to pay you back."
"You're no longer in charge of herding sheep. You can come back to herding sheep when you no longer want to study."
At this point, Song Chunxue's tone became much heavier. "You started herding sheep when you were six, and by the time you were eight, the family's flock of sheep was under your care, and I never had to worry about them again. So, those sheep will all be yours from now on, and no one can take them away from you."
Then, she looked at the fourth brother.
"Jiang Yejun, I gave you a chance, a month's time limit, but you not only didn't cherish it, you went even further, do you think I would let you squander my hard-earned money?"
“Starting tomorrow, you will take over Sanwa’s job, going out to herd sheep morning and night. If you refuse, I will not cook for you anymore. If you want to eat, you will have to cook for yourself.”
As she spoke, she stood up and looked at Jiang Hongying, "Give me the child, you go wash the dishes."
"Okay." Jiang Hongying quickly stood up, her movement so abrupt that she knocked over the chair behind her.
"Don't rush, let's talk after we finish eating. I don't eat people."
"..." Jiang Hongying couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. Her mother's behavior was even more terrifying than cannibalism.
The fourth brother stirred the wheat flour dumplings in his bowl, but he had no appetite at all.
He lowered his eyelids, adopting an attitude of "a dead pig doesn't fear boiling water."
"You don't like it, huh?" Song Chunxue said with a half-smile. "Of course it's not as good as the mutton head soup on the street, nor can it compare to the minced meat noodles in noodle shops. You're making yourself miserable eating it at home, aren't you?"
"Hmph, you won't get any food even if you want to from now on." She looked at Jiang Hongying, who was heading to the kitchen, her face darkening. "Take his bowl of rice away. If he doesn't like it, fine."
As soon as he finished speaking, the fourth brother got up and ran out of the yard.
Sanwa and Jiang Hongying looked at each other in bewilderment.
But remembering what their mother had just said, they didn't dare chase after the fourth son. They quietly tidied up the table and left the north room.
That's terrifying.
Yesterday I thought my mother was gentle and kind, but today she's so scary. Her voice isn't louder than when she gets angry, but her legs are trembling with fear.
Apart from her face, Mother seemed like a completely different person.
Sanwa comforted her, "Sister, don't worry, she's doing this for our own good. Don't be so scared that you run back to your brother-in-law's house."
"That's not true. No matter how scary our mother is, she's still our mother. Your brother-in-law's family are all wolves and tigers. If you don't serve them well, they'll act like witches, throwing things and cursing. That's what's scary."
Jiang Hongying smiled and said, "I never thought that I would let you continue your studies. I am very supportive. The fourth child is only one year younger than you. I originally planned to support him until he was eighteen."
"Yeah, I didn't expect it either." Sanwa scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "To be honest, I really wanted to go."
"Then go, don't hesitate. Pack your things quickly, why miss an opportunity?"
Sanwa nodded emphatically, "Okay, I'll go pack my things now."
East room.
The fourth brother lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), tears and snot streaming down his face, sobbing in a low voice, his heart heavy with grief. All the books in the room were thrown to the ground.
But he didn't dare throw anything that could make a noise, afraid of angering his mother and getting another scolding.
When his mother went to work in the fields, he went to visit his older brother in the thatched hut, and he was startled.
That was the eldest brother whom Mother used to love the most. Sometimes he and his second brother would get a beating for doing something wrong, but the eldest brother was never beaten for doing something wrong, and he was rarely even scolded.
But now my older brother is lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), his legs are bruised and swollen, and he can't even walk normally.
His sister-in-law also went back to her parents' home in a huff. No one brought him water or food, and no one fed the chickens and pigs that had been given to him. His older brother made him feed them.
When he was feeding the chickens, he noticed that there were no eggs in the coop, but there was chicken feed and water. The pigs were also being fed, so his mother must have been feeding them.
She then realized that her mother nowadays meant what she said; if she said she would hit someone, she really would, and she would even tell you beforehand.
He had never suffered such injustice or been scolded like this before, and he felt wronged and regretful.
I should have stayed in school and studied properly instead of being greedy and pretending to be rich. I had to hang out with people who had some savings.
Staying at home not only meant doing chores, but also herding sheep.
His hands are so delicate that the IV drip has chafed them raw. If he goes to herd sheep tomorrow, he'll definitely get sunburned and his skin will peel off.
He's so stupid and foolish, why would he do something like that!
*
The next day, Song Chunxue stopped Sanwa from going to herd sheep and asked Lao Si to do it instead.
Sanwa was worried because it was already past 5 a.m. and Lao Si hadn't gotten up yet. Lao Si didn't know how to herd sheep, and he was afraid of losing control of the sheep, so he insisted on herding them for another day.
He carried a large basket on his back, saying he was going to shovel some grass back so that his fourth brother could graze it tomorrow. If the sheep weren't full, he could let them go back into the pen to continue eating.
Song Chunxue couldn't persuade him otherwise, so she told him to go home and rest early.
With the crops in the fields almost harvested, May arrived in the blink of an eye. As the weather grew hotter, Song Chunxue focused on shoveling dandelions to sell for money.
The wormwood has grown up and can no longer be called wormwood; it should be called oil wormwood.
Under the blazing sun, as she was carrying a large basket of dandelions home, she ran into Li Dazui.
He sat on the edge of the ground, waiting specifically for Song Chunxue.
I just wanted to ask her face-to-face how she got into a fight with Kamikawa's men that day.
Song Chunxue watched him from afar as he sat on the edge of the ground, looking this way and that, seemingly eager to ask her something. She wanted to laugh, but also felt sorry for him.
In this village, no one lives alone, except for Li Dazui.
Although he had a son and a daughter, his daughter got married and his son stopped farming and went out to earn money, leaving him alone to farm.
He wasn't serious about farming. He would leisurely hoe the fields and leisurely go home. If he weren't so bored and didn't want to chat with people every day, he wouldn't even bother hoeing the fields.
Because farmers are all busy, busy with this and that, while Li Dazui is a leisurely person in this village.
Few people are truly envious of him.
However, ten years later, when his son got married and had children, and then went to the city to make connections and build houses with others, he became the kind of person that others envied.
"The sun's practically overhead, why are you only now heading home?" Li Dazui shouted from a dozen meters away. "I heard you're quite the big shot these days, daring to curse and beat anyone. Even my relatives in Shangchuan Village pushed me off my donkey cart, threatening to come and settle scores with you. Aren't you scared?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
