Hu Mingmei was really weak and in poor health. He didn't tell Bai Nuo how he fell ill, but when he passed away, Lu Ying carried him on her back.
So weak that he couldn't even walk.
Bai Nuo watched them leave before stirring the fire in front of him again—no one was tending to it as it was about to go out, and it occasionally crackled with a few sparks.
Looking at the sky, it was getting late. Then, glancing at the several plump fish that were already grilled, Bai Nuo quickly put Hu Mingmei out of her mind and focused on cleaning the fish that weren't ready yet. Then, she quickly wrapped the fish in lotus leaves and went home.
The entire Bai family home was shrouded in darkness, and there were no lanterns hanging at the entrance to light the way. However, with the full moon tonight, one could vaguely make out where the threshold and the stones were by the moonlight.
Inside the Bai family home, the main room and kitchen were completely dark. Bai Dalin and Chen Qiuling had already gone to bed, and neither of them cared where Bai Nuo had gone or whether she had eaten dinner.
Bai Nuo sneaked into the kitchen in the dark, lit a small lamp, and took out flour by the dim light. She added water and salt to make a batter, then spread it in a pan to make potstickers. Then, she took a few potstickers and some grilled fish to her grandmother's room.
Grandma was used to being frugal, and she never turned on the lights in her room. She would go to sleep when it got dark. Bai Nuo had been here for so long, and she had only seen Grandma turn on the lights once—when she was making clothes for her.
Bai Nuo pushed open the door and went inside. First, she turned on the light, and the dark room was instantly illuminated. Grandma was lying on the bed fully clothed. After Bai Nuo had set out dinner, she woke Grandma up.
Then, Bai Nuo went to find A Yu.
When we arrived at A Yu's room, the lights were on. We pushed the door open and saw A Yu with his back to the door, squatting under the bed, doing something we couldn't tell.
"What are you doing?" Bai Nuo walked over and saw that A Yu was sticking his butt out towards the bed, and on the bed was a pile of copper coins.
Wasn't that what I earned today?
Startled, A-Yu turned around abruptly. Upon seeing her, he stammered, "Sister..."
"Didn't I tell you not to take it out?" Bai Nuo lowered her voice. "At least not here. What if they find out?" Bai Dalin had already asked her for money without even seeing it; if they found out, she wouldn't have a single copper coin left.
“I…” A-Yu reluctantly gathered all the coins together, “I just wanted to count them to see how many there were, and then I would put them back.”
She looked so wronged.
"Alright, let's go eat." Bai Nuo picked up all the coins, making sure nothing was missing, before handing the bag to A Yu. "We'll count them again after we finish eating."
"Great!" Ah Yu's eyes lit up again.
When they arrived at Grandma's room, she was already waiting. Looking at the grilled fish and potstickers on the table, Ayu asked in surprise, "Are we eating so well today? Is Bai Dalin being so kind?"
In his memory, he had never eaten so much meat before.
"Ayu, don't talk nonsense!" The old lady was determined to change Bai Dalin's impression of Ayu, and frowned immediately when she heard Ayu's words. "Your father is actually quite good sometimes."
"Grandma, this really wasn't given to me by my dad!" Bai Nuo sat down and put the fish into Grandma's bowl before explaining, "I caught this fish myself. Why are we eating so late today? It's because he didn't give us dinner, so I brought it back so late. This bowl, however, was taken from the kitchen."
"I knew he wouldn't be so kind!" Having never received his father's love, A-Yu had basically given up hope on Bai Da-Lin and took a bite of the fat fish.
After the first bite, Ayu was amazed. "My God, when did fish become so delicious?" The fish skin was crispy, and it broke apart with a bite, spreading in his mouth. The fish skin was golden and crispy, but the fish meat was very tender and juicy, melting in his mouth. The fish meat also had a fragrant, sour fruit flavor that he often ate.
"This isn't an ordinary fish; I caught it in someone's field." Bai Nuo also really enjoyed this way of eating it. The fish skin was crispy, but the flesh wasn't tough. It had plenty of meat and few bones, and she ate it with great pleasure.
"Grandma, is it delicious?" Bai Nuo picked out the fish meat for Grandma and ate the fish head and bones herself.
"Delicious!" The old lady ate all the fish in the bowl, and before she knew it, her appetite had returned, and she ate quite a lot more.
As for Ayu, he was already starving. One fish wasn't even enough to fill his teeth. He ate one fish after another. In the end, his grandmother sewed half of her fish for him, and then he wolfed down potstickers.
"Grandma, let me tell you, I've started making money!" After dinner, Bai Nuo held the money bag and said to Grandma with a smile.
Ah Yu followed Bai Nuo closely, watching with longing eyes, like a little dog that had just seen meat.
He's a money-grubber. But he really wants to count money.
"What?" the old woman exclaimed in surprise. "What do you mean by making money? What have you been doing?" Her reaction wasn't happiness, but shock. "Have you been doing something bad behind my back?"
Bai Nuo knew Grandma would react this way!
Why are all parents the same? They don't trust their own children, and if their children do anything outside, they think they've done something wrong?
"No!" Bai Nuo didn't intend to anger the old lady, so she quickly explained, "Grandma, A Yu and I didn't do anything bad. Didn't I make you some food that day? I made some more and sold them. Everyone liked them, so we made a little money."
Ayu nodded vigorously from the side.
"Really?" The old woman was skeptical; she couldn't quite believe that the two of them could make money.
"Look, all the money is here!" Bai Nuoyang waved the money bag in his hand and poured out half a bag of copper coins. "That's all, not much, just a few hundred coins."
“Let’s count it and we’ll know how much it is!” A-Yu jumped over and counted all the money in front of the old woman. There were only three hundred coins in total.
"You all, just don't do anything bad!" Seeing that it was such a small amount of money, the old woman finally believed her. She carefully put the money away and instructed, "Keep it safe and don't let your father know."
She knows her son best; if he knew she had money, he definitely wouldn't leave it to them.
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