Chapter 117 Mother, I Don't Resent It
Pushing open the door of the thatched kiln, Song Chunxue saw Chen Feng kneeling on the kang (a heated brick bed), crying and shaking the child's hand.
"Mother, come quickly and see what's wrong with him!"
Chen Feng got off the kang (a heated brick bed), her face streaked with tears, looking somewhat ferocious under the oil lamp.
If it weren't for the child, Chen Feng would never have called out "Mother."
Song Chunxue didn't hold it against him. She had given birth to five children and had suffered countless frights. She had knelt in the courtyard, begging the Kitchen God, the Earth God, Guan Yu, and the Jade Emperor to save her children.
She quickly climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed), took a needle and pricked the child's earlobe, as well as the acupoints on his thumbnail and the area next to it.
This was taught to her by a traditional Chinese medicine doctor. It can be used for fever and convulsions, and can also be tried for rapid heartbeat and chest discomfort.
She couldn't remember which one it was, but trying them one by one at a crucial moment was better than being at a loss.
The child's face had turned ashen, and Song Chunxue's heart clenched with worry.
Putting everything else aside, this is my first grandson.
She had hugged him several times in her past life, but she didn't plan to do so in this one.
Seeing that the child's complexion had eased slightly, she pinched the child's toes and drew blood from the big toe.
The eldest brother and Chen Feng stood on the ground, watching the child struggle and cry. They felt both heartache and tension, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Chen Feng quickly climbed onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and hugged the child in her arms, then pressed her cheek against the child's and cried out.
Song Chunxue put away the needles and saw that the child was covered up tightly.
"Don't dress him too warmly, and keep him out of the wind. Let the child sleep a little inside, otherwise he's developed a rash on his neck."
"After the confinement period, give the baby a bath. If you are afraid of the cold, make a fire, close the doors and windows before bathing, and wait until the baby is dry before opening the door."
She couldn't help but remind him, "Don't be too careful, babies aren't that fragile. Babies need to be kept slightly hungry and slightly cold, and don't feed them every time they cry, otherwise their stomachs will be bloated and they won't be able to sleep."
As she spoke, she looked at the eldest brother, whose eyes were red.
"Buy a few more chickens to nourish your body and help the child get better. It's better than taking medicine."
Song Chunxue got off the kang (a heated brick bed), put on her shoes, and went outside.
The eldest son followed her out, saying, "Thanks to Mother, I..."
"You were the same way back then. You were born of me, a piece of my flesh. If they don't give me an explanation for this talisman matter, then you can consider yourself someone else's child, and we'll never see each other again."
After saying that, Song Chunxue went into the courtyard.
The autumn wind, carrying rain, lashed at her face, feeling both cold and painful. She quickly ran back into the house.
Before long, Sanwa also ran over.
"Mother, what happened?"
Sanwa rubbed his eyes, clearly having been woken up, and had been waiting for her to come in.
“Your older brother’s child had a seizure, but I checked on him and he’s fine now. Go to sleep,” Song Chunxue urged him. “You have to get up early for school tomorrow, so go to sleep.”
Sanwa touched his arm and remained seated. "Tomorrow is a day off, Mother, are you going to the market?"
Song Chunxue was taken aback. Tomorrow was market day, but she hadn't originally planned to go.
"Do you want to buy anything?"
Sanwa lowered his head and touched his nose. "I've run out of paper. I want to buy some paper to write on, but the teacher said that drawing on the ground is different from writing on paper. He told me to practice more."
“Then let’s go together tomorrow. I’m thinking of buying some cotton to make cotton-padded clothes. Your cotton-padded clothes are worn out and can’t be worn anymore. Anyway, I’ve made a lot of money recently. If I don’t spend it, others will covet it.”
Sanwa lowered his voice, "Isn't Mother going to buy land?"
"Um?"
Song Chunxue was taken aback. How did he know?
"How about I go to the county with Mom? She'll have to go eventually anyway, and it's better for me to go with you than for her to go alone."
Seeing his sleepy-eyed appearance, Song Chunxue suppressed the bitterness in her heart and nodded gently.
"Okay, let's go together." She looked at Sanwa, her tone low and gentle. "Don't you think I'm wasting money?"
“Buying land is never a bad idea. Even if the price doesn’t go up, we can still sell it in the future. It’s not good to keep money at home. If someone steals it, we can only watch helplessly.”
Sanwa leaned back in his chair and let out a big yawn.
“As long as the land deed is in Mother’s hands, she will have something to rely on. When she gets old, she can exchange it for money. No matter what, money is more reliable than people.”
"..." Song Chunxue was extremely surprised, staring at him blankly, as if she had never known him before.
"Mom has changed a lot in the past six months. She must have encountered something we don't know about. Mom is suddenly being nice to me because she doesn't want to mistreat me, right?"
His voice was soft. The rain had stopped, and the night was a little brighter than before, but they couldn't see each other's expressions.
The wind was howling outside, but the room was eerily quiet.
Song Chunxue felt as if a heavy stone had settled in her heart, burning and pressing down on her, and tears welled up in her eyes uncontrollably.
She never imagined that the person who understood her best was actually Sanwa, whom she had previously taken for granted.
Sanwa sat on a chair by the door and saw his mother sitting at the main table, biting her lip and silently shedding tears.
Originally, I couldn't see clearly, but the tears were very bright in the night, as if they were reflecting light.
He panicked a little; he had only said it casually, but he hadn't expected his mother to cry so fiercely.
"Mother, are you alright?"
He seemed a little lost, got up and walked out, saying, "I'm going to sleep."
"Sanwa," Song Chunxue choked out, "do you resent me?"
"..." Sanwa paused, a stream of sweat running down the back of his head and across his entire body.
He had resentments, and had regretted countless times the choices he made when he was young.
But when he saw how exhausted his mother was, he didn't regret it as much.
How could he not resent seeing his mother thinking of others and seemingly forgetting him every time?
But she is his mother. If he doesn't help his mother, no one else in the world will.
After complaining for a long time, he stopped complaining. After seeing so many adults who advised him and pitied him, he realized that this was his fate.
A person with no ambition is destined to toil; what's the use of complaining?
He would rather spend that time herding sheep a little longer and gathering more wild firewood to take home and burn.
"Go to sleep, we'll leave after you wake up."
The mother's voice came, and Sanwa came back to his senses.
“Mother, I don’t resent it. Everyone has their own destiny. I really didn’t believe in studying back then. The madam’s beatings hurt my palms, so I felt that herding sheep was more carefree, with no one to manage or scold me.”
He chuckled, lifted the curtain, and walked out. "Besides, I'm studying again now, and my mother is so good to me. I'm overjoyed."
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, Mother, didn't you remember me?" He chuckled foolishly. "Mother, don't think so much. Go to sleep. You won't feel energetic all day when it gets light."
"Okay, go ahead."
Sanwa returned to the west room, closed the door, crawled into bed, and soon fell asleep.
Song Chunxue sat blankly on the old wooden chair, and finally covered her face and sobbed in a hoarse voice.
Why couldn't she have been fairer and taken care of the three kids?
The wind in the courtyard was sometimes strong and sometimes gentle, and the withered leaves drifted in the wind.
A faint light gradually appeared in the east.
Lijiazhuang was quiet before dawn.
After the rooster crowed, a thin figure walked quickly and hurriedly to the gate of the Jiang family compound.
She squatted outside the courtyard wall, anxiously and nervously waiting for Song Chunxue to get up.
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