The rising sun illuminates every patch of green in the mountains, and the sunlight shines through the branches and leaves, casting mottled shadows. Some illuminated a smooth stone, some jumped on the grass like bubbles, and some were on the tips of girls' hair.
Ruan Jie and several friends of different ages were picking firewood in the mountains. They put the firewood they picked up in a pile and competed with each other to see who had picked up more. After picking up the items, he tied them up with a hemp rope, put them on his back and carried them back home.
The girls walked with firewood on their backs, singing folk songs in varying voices to liven up the atmosphere.
Living in such a small world, they have no other worries or concerns in their hearts, and no other hopes. If they can have a full stomach every day, and occasionally taste a little sweetness and meat during festivals, they will feel very happy.
Because there are not too many desires, it is actually easier to be satisfied and feel happy.
However, this simple happiness can be easily destroyed.
Ruan Jie happily returned home carrying a bundle of firewood. When she reached the house and before she even entered, she became unhappy because she met her mother Sun Xiaohui.
Since she was a child, her mother seemed to be unable to bear to see her happy.
As long as she was happy, Sun Xiaohui always found a way to make her unhappy immediately.
Ruan Jie wanted to pretend she didn't see Sun Xiaohui, but Sun Xiaohui called her.
Hearing the sound, Ruan Jie had to stop outside the door of the side room, but she did not turn her head or speak a word.
Sun Xiaohui walked straight behind her, grabbed her shoulders, and pulled her around.
Of the three children in the family, she disliked Ruan Jie the most. Last night, she asked her to do something but she didn't do it. Now she disliked Ruan Jie even more. She was so angry that she started to curse: "Are you blind? Didn't you see me?"
Ruan Jie lowered her head, bit her lips and still said nothing.
Seeing her like this, Sun Xiaohui really wanted to go up and slap her twice to vent her anger. But she suppressed the impulse with a gloomy face. She did not reach out to hit Ruan Jie in the face. Instead, she reached out and pulled the hemp rope on her shoulders.
Ruan Jie realized what she was about to do and quickly retracted her shoulders and stepped back.
She looked at Sun Xiaohui and said, "I picked this up."
Sun Xiaohui's eyes widened, "What's wrong? What happened to what you picked up? I asked you to light the fire last night but you didn't, and I haven't settled the score with you yet! Don't forget that I'm your mother, and I gave birth to you!"
As she said this, she went up again and pulled the hemp rope on Ruan Jie's shoulders, pinching her shoulders to take the firewood off her back.
Ruan Jie tried to resist but she didn't have enough strength. She finally reached out and grabbed the hemp rope, and her eyes turned red.
She held onto one end of the hemp rope and didn't let go. She looked at Sun Xiaohui and said, "I picked it up."
Sun Xiaohui had no patience at all for Ruan Jie. She reached out and pushed her away, almost making her fall to the ground.
After pushing Ruan Jie away, Sun Xiaohui carried the firewood to the small thatched hut, cursing as she walked: "You stupid girl, I'm afraid your conscience has been eaten by a dog. You are a glutton, and I gave birth to you in vain!"
Ruan Jie managed to stand firmly and not fall. She watched Sun Xiaohui put the firewood she had collected into the small kitchen where a new stove had been built. Her body was hurt from being pushed, and her palms were also a little sore from being rubbed by the rope. She felt so aggrieved that she pursed her lips and tears fell.
She didn't cry out loud, but just sniffed and then wiped away her tears with her sleeves.
Sun Xiaohui put the firewood in the small kitchen and went back to the main house, saying, "From now on, put all the firewood in this small kitchen. If you continue to be disloyal, you will suffer the consequences!"
The firewood used at home includes various crop stalks, wheat straw, rice straw, and corn husks. But none of these are as easy to burn as the firewood picked up from the woods. The food cooked with them is more fragrant, and it is easier and more convenient to cook.
She added, "As for the pig grass we pick, the pig feed we cook, and the chicken feed we chop, we all have to give priority to ours. If our pigs don't grow fat, and our hens don't lay eggs, I won't be happy with you!"
Ruan Jie didn't say anything. She wiped her tears and was about to leave when she suddenly heard Sun Xiaohui calling her.
She turned around and saw Sun Xiaohui rushing out of the main room with a pile of dirty clothes in her hands. She walked up to her and threw the clothes on her head, scolding her: "You don't even want to wash the clothes, do you want to die?!"
Ruan Jie pulled the clothes off her head and looked at Sun Xiaohui with red eyes, resentment slowly accumulating in her eyes.
Sun Xiaohui pointed at her with a fierce look on her face, "What are you looking at?!"
Ruan Jie stared at her, her resentment and temper clearly uncontrollable, and suddenly shouted: "Why do you ask me to wash? Big brother and little brother do nothing all day, why don't you ask them to wash? Fifth uncle washes his own clothes!"
Sun Xiaohui gritted her teeth in anger, "You still know that Yuejin and Yuehua are your elder brother and younger brother? I thought you didn't even recognize your parents! What's the basis for you to clear your name? Just because I'm your mother! And your father and your elder brother and younger brother!"
Ruan Jie stared at her with red eyes without saying a word.
Sun Xiaohui pointed her finger at Ruan Jie's nose and asked angrily, "Are you going to wash it or not?!"
Ruan Jie pursed her lips: "I won't wash it!"
good! Can!
Sun Xiaohui was so angry that her head was about to burst. She withdrew her hand and turned to go into the kitchen next door. When she came out, she was holding an iron hook and a fire stick in her hand. She pointed at Ruan Jie with a fire poker and said, "I'll ask you again, are you going to wash or not?"
Seeing the fire poker, Ruan Jie couldn't help but feel nervous. No matter where this thing falls, as long as it hits, it will immediately leave a series of red marks. If the injection is severe, you might be lame for a few days.
She saw Sun Xiaohui walking towards her. This time she didn't stand there stupidly. She turned around and ran away.
She remembered that when Liu Xinghua went out in the morning, she said that she was going to borrow a pair of shoes from Grandma Zhao. So she ran straight to Grandma Zhao's house, shouting as she ran: "Grandma, save me!"
Sun Xiaohui was so angry that she was about to explode. She couldn't control her temper at all. She chased Ruan Jie with a fire stick, cursing: "Even God can't save you today. I will beat you to death, you heartless girl!"
When Liu Xinghua went to Grandma Zhao's house to borrow a shoe pattern, several other old friends were also there, so she sat down and did needlework with them and did not go home. While working, a few people talked about the daily life of the people living in the mountains.
Grandma Zhao asked Liu Xinghua, "I heard that your second daughter-in-law and your second son had a fight at home, and she went back to her parents' home crying and shouting, saying that she wanted to divide the family property. Is this true?"
Liu Xinghua snorted twice, "It has been divided according to their wishes. I came back from my mother's house happily last night."
Grandma Li said, "Oh my, you and the secretary are really good-tempered. You agreed to split the family property right away? If it were our family, we would have beaten the unfilial son, the second son, to death. We worked so hard to raise him and saved money to get him married. Now the family is in trouble and is preparing to find a wife for the fifth son. He doesn't even offer to help out, but instead turns around and wants to split the family property. He's such an ungrateful person. Where did he get the money for his marriage? Wasn't it saved up by you two, as well as the eldest son and his wife?"
Liu Xinghua pinched a fine needle and rolled a white edge on the shoe surface: "Forget it, it's just a joke. They want to split up, and if I don't give them a split, won't they be unhappy every day? Just split up, and live our own lives. No one will bother anyone else."
Grandma Zhao: "Then how much did you and the secretary give them?"
Liu Xinghua said: "We have divided up everything that can be divided, either by headcount or by giving them half."
Grandma Hu glared at him and said, "My God, why did you give so many things to such an ungrateful person? If it were me, I would just give him nothing and kick the whole family of five out and let them find a cave to sleep in."
Liu Xinghua: "They are all sons, how can we not give them to you? Wouldn't you be so upset? We also don't want people to say that we are partial as parents, favoring the older one over the younger one and driving the second son's family out to starve. We have done what we should do as parents, so that outsiders and the second son's family have nothing to say. In the future, we will no longer care whether they live a good life or not."
Grandma Zhao nodded. "It's better to divide it peacefully and cleanly."
However, just as the words "safe and sound" came out of her mouth, a voice suddenly shouted from not far away: "Grandma!"
Several old ladies looked up and saw that it was Ruan Jie who called grandma. She seemed like she was being chased by a wolf, and her steps became faster when she saw Liu Xinghua. Looking further back, we see Sun Xiaohui following behind with a fire poker in her hand.
Grandma Li narrowed her eyes and asked, "What is this for?"
Liu Xinghua didn't know what was going on. Before she could say anything, Ruan Jie ran over and hid behind her.
Ruan Jie put her hands on Liu Xinghua's shoulders, gasping for breath, and said intermittently: "Grandma, I went out to collect firewood for half a day, but my mother took it all away. She also asked me to wash clothes, and she would beat me to death if I didn't. She also said that I had to feed the pigs and chickens."
As she spoke, Sun Xiaohui had already caught up with him, holding a fire poker.
She pinched her waist and pointed at Ruan Jie, still looking ferocious, and panted, "Why don't you go back quickly!"
The other old ladies didn't understand, so they looked at Liu Xinghua and asked in a low voice: "What's going on?"
Liu Xinghua didn't even look at Sun Xiaohui, and said slowly: "They thought Xiaojie ate too much food, so they let Xiaojie live with me when they divided the family. They didn't want to raise Xiaojie because she was a girl, but they also wanted her to work for them. Tell me, is there such a good thing in the world? You want the horse to run fast, but you don't want it to eat grass."
After hearing this, several old ladies looked at Sun Xiaohui together, and each of them showed a look of disgust on their face.
Grandma Li spoke first: "Sun Xiaohui, is there anyone like you who is a daughter-in-law and a mother?"
Grandma Hu continued, "When life is good, you are so happy to take advantage of others. When life gets bad, you instigate your husband to separate from you. Don't you have any conscience? Not only do you have no conscience, you don't even have a bit of shame!"
Grandma Zhao was even more direct: "I have seen many shameless people in my life, but I have never seen anyone as shameless as you. Since you don't want to support Xiaojie and don't even want to give her a full meal, how can you have the nerve to ask her to work?"
Sun Xiaohui no longer cared about other people's gossip, but when she heard these unpleasant words in person, she couldn't help blushing and felt as if she was slapped in the face again and again. She held her breath and said, "I gave birth to her, I'm her mother, why can't I ask her to work?"
Before the old ladies could say anything, Ruan Jie suddenly said loudly: "I didn't ask you to give birth! I don't even want you to be my mother, why did you give birth to me without my consent?!"
What are these words? After hearing them, Sun Xiaohui felt a surge of blood rushing to her head and inspiration rising to the sky. She clenched the fire stick in her hand, raised it and pointed it at Ruan Jie, "Ruan Jie, if you say another word, I will beat you to death!"
Ruan Jie hid behind Liu Xinghua and felt more confident and courageous, and her face didn't look as fearful anymore. Of course, these words were not thought up by her, but heard from Ruan Xi when they were chatting before going to bed at night. She felt that they made a lot of sense.
Liu Xinghua continued to encourage Ruan Jie, "Who are you going to kill?"
Sun Xiaohui met Liu Xinghua's calm eyes and her overwhelming aura, and then glanced at the disgusted and harsh looks of the old ladies next to her. She swallowed her breath and dared not say anything.
These are the mothers-in-law who have lived their entire lives and are cunning people. None of them is easy to deal with.
She stood there gritted her teeth, put down the fire stick after thinking for a while, glared at Ruan Jie fiercely, clenched the fire stick, turned around and left.
She became angrier and angrier as she walked. Her fingers gripped the fire stick tighter and tighter. She couldn't hold back her anger any longer, so she spat at the side of the road and cursed loudly, "What a bunch of damn old women!"
Then, just as she finished cursing, her feet suddenly stepped on gravel and she slipped, her body unstable and she fell to the ground with a bang.
“Ouch!”
His butt fell to the ground, and he used stones as a cushion for his waist. When he got up with a "ouch", his leg was limping.
Liu Xinghua looked at her limping back and snorted coldly, "You deserve it!"
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