"Borrow grain?!"
Just as Yun Dazheng and his companions were worrying about what to buy to deliver to County Chief Cao and Black Panther's house, and Yun Dazheng was so worried that he even pulled out a few hairs from his beard, Zhao Cuifen, who could no longer borrow grain from the village, reluctantly went back to her parents' home.
Upon hearing Zhao Cuifen explain her purpose, Old Lady Zhao, who already disliked Zhao Cuifen no matter how she looked at her, immediately flew into a rage. After shouting in an extremely exaggerated tone, she pointed at Zhao Cuifen's nose and began to curse.
"Zhao Cuifen, say that again! What are you here for?"
"Are you crazy or am I crazy?"
"Borrow grain... How dare you even say that!"
“It’s the Lunar New Year, and you know perfectly well that your brothers are struggling financially, with several children and grandchildren to support, not to mention your parents… Our family is barely scraping by!”
"You don't even know how to lend a hand to your family, yet you come here asking to borrow grain. This isn't borrowing grain; you're crawling all over your parents, sucking their blood dry, eating their flesh, and now you want to drink the blood and eat the flesh of your brothers!"
“Zhao Cuifen, do I owe you something? Other people’s daughters, no matter how well or poorly they live after they get married, they always know to help their parents’ family. At the very least, they will bring some gifts home during festivals. At the very least, they will have the able-bodied men in the family come to their parents’ home to help with the work during the busy farming season.”
"You're something else. Not to mention the New Year's gifts, festival gifts, or the busy farming season when you come home to help with the work, you've hardly ever come back even on ordinary days."
"If you're not coming back, then you're not coming back. I'll just pretend I gave birth to a dead piece of flesh, not you, and I'll just pretend I never had a daughter like you. I'll at least have some peace and quiet."
"Who would have thought you'd come back so suddenly, without a word? The end of the year is almost here, and not only did you return to your parents' home empty-handed, you even had the nerve to ask your old mother for grain!"
"Do you really think I owe you anything?"
"Let me tell you. Even if I had food, let alone if we didn't have any at home, I wouldn't lend it to you!"
“You do the math yourself. Count how many people and how many mouths are waiting to be fed in your brother’s family, including your father and me. And your two little nephews too.”
"They say they're your nephews, but you should know how old they are now. They're almost twenty, the age when they should be looking for someone to marry. But because they're poor, they don't even have a partner! As their aunt, instead of trying to find them some, or even helping them out financially, you're here trying to take food from their mouths?"
"Zhao Cuifen, Zhao Cuifen, have you no shame at all? Don't you even know what it means to be embarrassed?"
Zhao Cuifen looked like she was about to turn around and leave.
Unfortunately, with rice in the house, she tried to borrow rice from every household in the village she could talk to, but apart from the initial attempt to borrow a bowl of broken corn and a bowl of rice from the village chief, she couldn't borrow a single grain of rice.
In the dead of winter, with snow falling, it was impossible to even forage for wild vegetables to eat. Every day, she practically counted the rice going into the pot, cooking a thin porridge so clear you could see your reflection in it. Yun Youliang would then scoop out most of the rice and feed it to Yun Shuisheng, leaving her, the one who did all the work, barely able to fill her stomach with water. Her stomach was growling with hunger every day, and even carrying a little grass was exhausting. Today, she had mustered up all her courage to come to her parents' house to borrow grain, so naturally, she wouldn't give up so easily.
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