"Why is that all?" The elderly woman stood by the table, her mouth drooping and her eyes showing too much white. Even without making any expression, she looked fierce and mean.
The girl shrank her neck. She didn't dare to speak or defend herself.
Kelly's words scared her. She didn't want to collapse in the supermarket, and she didn't want to be fired.
At least working in the supermarket she can eat a little meat and vegetables every day. Although she is not full, it is much better than when she is at home.
So today she bravely ate a little more.
But even if it was just a little bit, my mother still noticed it.
The woman walked up to the girl and shouted, "Lift your head!"
The girl trembled without moving, her legs shaking constantly, but she didn't dare to run away.
If she ran away, she would be beaten even more severely.
The woman suddenly slapped her on the head, and the slap without holding back made the girl's body tilt to the side. When she was about to fall, the woman grabbed her wrist and helped her stand firm again.
“Mom…” the girl murmured timidly, but this time, the woman grabbed her hair and forced her to look up.
With a "slap", the girl was slapped to the ground and her cheeks immediately turned red.
The woman was still not satisfied. She pointed at the lunch box the girl had brought back on the table and said, "I gave birth to you and raised you. It was not easy for you to bring something back, but this is all you brought!"
"I can't even eat this much!" The woman said, "What did you let your father eat?!"
The girl covered her face and knelt on the ground, not daring even to cry.
The woman looked at her with disgust: "If not..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but the girl knew what she was going to say.
If she wasn't their only daughter, they would have thrown her away long ago.
"Go to work," the woman scolded, "and don't come back until you've finished your work!"
The girl supported herself on the ground with her hands, climbed up covered in dust, and stumbled out of the house.
She had to clean the chicken coop, feed the chickens, and collect firewood. After a day's work, she still couldn't rest when she got home.
While collecting firewood, the girl looked at her face by the pond. The side of her face that was hit was swollen, and she could taste a hint of rust when she swallowed.
After collecting firewood, she had to fetch water. By the time she finished, it was already dark.
She tiptoed, pushed the door open, and walked into the room carefully. Her parents were already asleep, and there were no unwashed dishes on the table.
The girl could only take the dishes out to wash.
Her eyesight was poor, especially at night when she was almost half blind, so she could only work in the dark relying on the habits she had accumulated over the years.
After finally finishing washing the dishes and going to bed, the girl pulled her bedding out from under the wooden bed, made the bed near the door, then curled up on it, covered her head with the torn quilt, and slowly fell asleep.
·
With the sound of roosters crowing, the whole village woke up.
The girl opened her eyes at the first crow of the rooster. She quickly got up, folded the quilt and put it aside. She tidied her clothes, put on her coat, went to boil water, and then fed the chickens.
After feeding the chickens, the parents got up. The girl put beans and wheat into the pot, and after cooking, it became breakfast for their family.
Sitting at the dinner table, the girl carefully told her parents about being bullied in the supermarket.
She looked at the less than half of the food in her bowl and couldn't describe the feeling in her heart.
"Don't argue with him." The woman thought it was no big deal.
But the farmer frowned and said, "He took half, so you only got so little?!"
The peasant woman also realized this, and she immediately shouted in a sharp voice: "You can't give it to him! They are all our family's things, why should we give them to him?!"
The girl took a deep breath and said timidly, "I'm afraid they will beat me..."
The farmer scolded, "Then let them beat you. It's better than having your food taken away by them."
Although she knew this would be the result, the girl's eyes were red. She lowered her head and said, "They beat me, but they still took the food away."
The farmer slammed the table and said, "What's his name? Do you think we are easy to bully?!"
The peasant woman followed suit and said, "Even if our family is small, our village is so big! You still have so many cousins!"
The girl thought of what Feng Ling said to her after she chased her out after get off work yesterday.
"You are too weak, so you need the help of a stronger force."
"Blind devotion is not strength, it is cowardice. Resistance requires courage."
"If the people around you are trying to take advantage of you, why can't you take advantage of them in return?"
The girl clenched her fists. She was so nervous that her teeth were chattering. But she still looked up and said, "There are a lot of people in their village. They said that if they kicked me out, people from their village would be able to work in the supermarket."
This sentence finally made her parents explode.
"Damn you pig!" the farmer cursed. "What a lowly creature."
The peasant woman also stood up: "I'll go find someone!"
They even took hoes and sticks from home.
The girl stood up and said, "We can't go to the supermarket! If we make trouble in the supermarket, we will all be fired!"
The couple looked at their daughter with disdain in their eyes. They said almost in unison: "Don't we understand this principle? Do we need you to teach us? Go back to work!"
Usually the girls go out first, but this time it was the couple who went out first.
The girl who stayed in the house watched her parents walk away. For some reason, she did not feel uneasy or ashamed about lying. On the contrary, her heart beat fast and her breathing became rapid. She felt an indescribable sense of pride.
This time, at least this time, she did not allow herself to be bullied.
After tidying up her house, the girl set out for the supermarket. The road was not easy to walk on and she was the only one in the village working in the supermarket, so she didn't even have anyone to travel with. She always felt lonely before, but this time her steps were exceptionally relaxed.
She had a vague feeling that if she was bullied, her parents would not stand up for her.
They all believed that one day she would get married, become someone else's woman, and take her husband's surname, so they didn't need to be too nice to her. They just needed to exploit her as much as possible before she got married.
Then when she is about to get married, she asks the man for some money or some land.
She used to think so too. She would not stay in this family for long, and all she could do was to continue to devote herself.
She just needs to do the work her parents give her, right? She just needs to finish the work before they give her the order, right?
As long as she continues to devote herself desperately, she will be recognized and loved, right?
But Kelly's words shattered the armor she had worked so hard to put together for herself.
Her dedication cannot move anyone, no one will feel how important she is, and no one will love her or recognize her because of her dedication.
She suddenly understood what Kelly said.
Her dedication and sacrifice were not due to bravery, but cowardice. She did not dare to resist, so she relied on constantly abusing herself to win the favor of others.
When the girl was about to reach the supermarket entrance, she wiped away her tears and put on her face the same timid and flattering smile as always.
·
"You come so early again?" Cao'er, who came out of the staff dormitory, saw the girl waiting at the supermarket door at a glance.
Cao'er has a good impression of her. To be more precise, Cao'er has a good impression of all people who work hard.
"What did you eat at home?" Cao'er opened the supermarket door and turned to ask the girl, "Do you want to eat something else? It just so happens that I wanted to eat bread today, so I didn't eat it in the dormitory."
The girl swallowed her saliva. She knew that the bread in the supermarket was good stuff. She had never even seen white bread before, let alone eaten it. But she still shook her head.
Seeing her skinny appearance, Cao'er thought of her past self, so she said generously: "I'll treat you, don't hesitate, my salary is not bad."
The girl shook her head repeatedly: "No, no, no, how can I let you treat me? I'm not hungry, really, I don't want to eat."
“I’ve eaten enough at home!”
Cao'er turned around and patted her shoulder: "Don't lie to me, I can see it."
Cao'er sighed a little. Although her family was poor, her parents loved them very much. Unlike other families in the village, their families were not poor, at least not so poor that they could not afford food, but they raised their sons like princes and their daughters like slaves.
Even if there is only one girl in the family, he will still not give her a good face.
The whole village is filled with people hoping for a brother, wanting a brother, begging for a brother, and missing a brother. There is even a girl named Mei Jue.
Cao'er didn't know whether the people here also wanted a son, but it seemed that even if they didn't want a son, they wouldn't be much nicer to their daughters.
"If others don't care about you, you have to care about yourself." Cao'er walked inside, "Hurry up and keep up."
The girl didn't dare to disobey the formal worker's wishes and could only follow Cao'er.
Cao'er went to the shelf and got two cartons of milk and two hot dog buns: "I like to eat cold food. If you like hot food, I'll heat it up for you."
Before the girl could say anything, Cao'er walked towards the microwave: "I'd better go heat it up for you."
The girl quickly said, "No, no, just cold ones are fine!"
Cao'er turned to look at her, and the girl realized that she had said the wrong thing - she shouldn't have asked for it!
Cao'er smiled and handed her the bag of bread: "Eat more."
The girl looked at Cao'er's smiling face and her eyes suddenly became moist. She stood there at a loss, trying to wipe her tears frantically, but the more she wiped, the more tears came and she couldn't stop them.
At this moment, she was like a real child who had been wronged, and her sobbing turned into crying.
From beginning to end, Cao'er didn't let her stop. She just watched her silently, waiting for her to vent her emotions.
Cao'er didn't know what she could do for her. She herself could only live the way she is now relying on the protection of the immortal.
But she still felt compassion.
Maybe it was because they were all girls, or maybe it was because she herself had enough food and clothing now and could show some extravagant love.
But at least today, she could keep the girl from going hungry.
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