Shen Qingqing's eyes welled up with tears, and she quickly let go of Shen Yangyang: "Yangyang, play by yourself for a while, your sister has to do her homework."
"Okay!" Shen Yangyang stepped back and went to play on the small mat in the corner.
Shen Qingqing took out a blank notebook from her schoolbag and quickly wrote down everything she could remember.
1. A year later, my parents were laid off from the clothing factory due to unpaid wages and stayed at home. With the few thousand yuan they had left, they decided to open a small shop, but they lost money.
2. The small shop was losing money, and my parents started using handmade shoelaces with strong, pungent odors, which could lead to future health problems.
3. Because of prolonged sitting while making handmade shoelaces, my father developed a severe lumbar disc herniation.
4. ...
Shen Qingqing buried herself in her writing in the room, sweating profusely. In early September, Chaozhou was still so hot that people were saying they were going to die.
Shen Yangyang didn't play for long before she secretly sneaked over to her older sister's desk to watch her write. But she was only in kindergarten and didn't recognize any characters. She just felt that her older sister, who was writing, had a lot of energy.
Just like Daddy, he can pick her up high in one go!
"Qingqing! Yangyang! Come out for dinner!" Li Xunli's voice was extremely penetrating, shooting straight into the room.
Shen Qingqing was pondering how to solve the problems her family would face next when Li Xunli's shout caught her off guard, causing her nose to sting and tears to well up in her eyes.
How I miss that loud voice! She hasn't heard it since Mom was diagnosed and hospitalized...
It was only a little over a year ago, but she acted as if she hadn't heard about it for many years.
"Sister! Hurry up! We have meat today! Dad bought it!" Shen Yangyang was already used to it, and her eyes lit up as she grabbed Shen Qingqing's hand.
Shen Qingqing closed the notebook, threw down the pen, picked up her four-year-old sister, and left the room.
Guangdong and Guangxi are famous for their stews, and Chaozhou is no exception.
Pork rib, corn, and radish soup is a very common soup. The tender and fragrant pork, along with the sweet aroma of corn and radish, is so tempting that it makes your mouth water.
Shen Qingqing has never liked eating rice since she was a child; she prefers to eat mixed grains. In her previous life, she couldn't even afford rice and had to buy some instant noodles that were about to expire to stock up on.
"Have you washed your hands?" Li Xunli asked, her voice turning somber as she watched the two sisters come out and head towards the dining table.
Li Xunli has always been in charge of the Shen family. Her authority, built up over twenty years, is not so easily erased. Shen Qingqing shrank back and turned to run away.
Startled by the fall, Shen Yangyang immediately ran after her, shouting, "Sister! Wait for me!"
After the two sisters washed their hands and returned to the dining table, they found that Li Xunli had already served each of them a bowl of corn.
But Shen Yangyang is not like Shen Qingqing. She loves to eat rice. When she saw the corn soup in her bowl, she pushed it away and said, "Mom, I want to eat rice too!"
When Li Xunli heard her shout like that, she poked her head: "Fan, fan, fan, all you know is to eat that bowl of white rice, just like your dad. You don't know how to eat anything nutritious!"
Shen Qingqing silently lowered her head and began to drink her corn soup, trying to make herself less noticeable so that her mother wouldn't remember her.
Unfortunately, she couldn't avoid it.
Li Xunli placed the rice she had prepared in front of Shen Yangyang, and seeing Shen Qingqing drinking soup, she couldn't help but say, "I really don't know how you two sisters could be born so extreme! One of you only knows how to eat rice, while the other acts like it's your life if you're asked to eat a little rice!"
The two sisters were scolded like two quails, one gulping down soup and the other shoveling rice into her mouth.
On the contrary, Shen Rongzhou felt sorry for his two daughters and spoke up to stop them: "Oh, let the children eat whatever they like. It won't stop them from growing up well!"
"How dare you say that! Every time we cook a big meal at home, all you do is eat rice, you barely touch the vegetables, and I always end up cleaning up after you. My belly has gotten so big from all that eating!"
Li Xunli's fighting prowess was no joke; Shen Rongzhou was defeated in just two sentences and became the third quail on the dinner table.
But this didn't stop the two little quails from secretly exchanging glances and then eating and laughing at the same time.
After eating and drinking their fill, Li Xunli washed the dishes and then called the two younger children to go out to their grandmother's house to pick up Shen Hong.
Before leaving, Shen Qingqing looked at her father lying motionless on the sofa, and thinking of his physique in his previous life, she ran back home and grabbed Shen Rongzhou's big hand to pull him out.
"Dad! Why don't you come with us to pick up my little brother?"
Shen Rongzhou was pulled up by Shen Qingqing and said helplessly, "Didn't you go with Mom before? Why does Dad have to come too?"
Shen Qingqing understood why her father didn't go, because her grandmother thought he was an "outsider" who was not only poor but had also taken her daughter away, so she never treated him well.
However, Grandma was just being stubborn. In her previous life, when Mom was hospitalized, her uncle's family kept sending money to her, but Grandma never said a word. She even always let her stay at her uncle's house.
However, Shen Qingqing would not say any of this. Some things can only be said after they have been done, otherwise it would be futile to say anything more.
"The books say it! You can't sit down right after eating, or you'll get stomach cancer!"
"Walk a hundred steps after a meal, and you'll live to ninety-nine!"
Shen Rongzhou couldn't refuse Shen Qingqing, so he was forced to go to his mother-in-law's house with her.
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