Otherwise, you'll get beaten—by Grandma and Grandpa.
In her past life, although Su Xueli herself was riddled with hardships, she still felt sorry for the mother and her two children who were suffering. She would give them food whenever the children came.
But at that time she didn't earn any money, so she could only give her child a cold steamed bun from the steamer basket.
Du Mei felt sorry for the mother of the child who had been bullied to the point of being emaciated and heartbroken, but that was all she could do; she couldn't offer any help.
Wei Mingshen whispered to Su Xueli, "She has a mean grandmother who often doesn't feed them. If they tell outsiders that their grandmother doesn't feed them, she will beat them. So the children don't dare to tell the truth anymore and lie and say they are not hungry."
Su Xueli sighed, "Poor child."
The two children usually wore tattered clothes, and their hands and feet were covered in chilblains. After staying in their house with the fire burning for a while, the chilblains thawed and started to itch. They scratched their little hands and stomped their little feet.
"Oh dear, Panpan, Zhaozhao, you can't scratch them! You'll scratch your hands raw, and it'll hurt even more." Su Xueli felt a pang of unease seeing the two children's little hands, which were frozen and looked like rotten eggplants, scratching wildly. She quickly called out to them.
He then instructed Wei Mingshen, "Quickly bring a basin of hot water to wash the child. I have some frostbite ointment to apply to the child."
Wei Mingshen wanted to say, "Can you control this? Applying some medicine will only help for a while, but they'll still get cold once they go outside," but when she saw that the two children's hands were indeed shocking, she immediately went out to get some hot water.
Su Xueli grasped her two swollen and festering little hands and gently instructed, "Listen to your auntie, don't scratch. Your uncle will bring hot water soon. Wash them and your auntie will apply some medicine so they won't itch anymore."
The two little girls were used to being scolded and beaten, so they were very obedient. They endured the tickling and didn't move, staring wide-eyed at the beautiful and kind stranger in front of them.
The eldest brother, Zhao Di, timidly asked Su Xue Li, "Who are you?"
Su Xueli smiled, "I'm your Uncle Mingshen's wife, so you can call me Auntie."
Zhao Di then asked, "So you're not going to leave anymore?"
Su Xueli was stumped by the question, "What do you mean by that?"
Xiao Zhao's eyes sparkled as she said, "If you don't leave, we can come to your room and eat good food."
Su Xueli understood, smiled and said, "I'm not leaving for the next few days before the New Year, you can come every day."
Being a child, upon hearing that there would be good food to eat these next few days, Xiao Zhaodi was so happy that he grabbed his sister's hand and jumped up.
Seeing how happy the two children were, Su Xueli was happy too, and added, "Next time, have your mother come along, and tell her I'm letting her come to my house to play."
Little Pandi said in his childish voice, "My mom is afraid to go out, because my grandma scolds her if she does."
Su Xueli remembered that the reason why Granny Du Mei didn't let her go out was firstly because she was afraid of delaying work, and secondly because she was afraid that she would go out and talk about family matters.
She's bad, guilty, and afraid of being scolded.
This poor woman became the family's nanny after marrying into the family. She cooked for the family, washed their clothes, made their shoes and cotton-padded clothes, and also had to feed the family's cattle, sheep, chickens and other livestock. She was never idle all year round.
"Come on, here's warm water, soak your little hands!" Wei Mingshen brought over a basin of steaming water.
Su Xueli stood up and said, "Come on, let me wash your two little darlings' hands. Come here, soak them in hot water first."
Just like when she was a mother in her previous life, she first tested the water temperature herself, and it was best if it felt slightly hot.
She took their little hands and said, "It's a little hot, but it's good for soaking your hands. Come on, don't be afraid of the heat."
The two little girls had their four little hands pressed into the basin of water. They made a "chih" sound and then smiled, revealing their little white teeth.
Looking at their innocent smiles, Su Xueli felt an overwhelming tenderness in her heart. She gazed at their little faces, and images of her own two children floated into her mind…
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