Song Yongli chimed in, "That's right, Yongren. Look at my Xiaohong, she never dares to talk back to me. She does whatever I tell her to do."
After saying that, he looked at Song Yongren with a rather smug expression, as if he had won against Song Yongren and it gave him a sense of superiority.
Song Yongren glanced at his niece, who was pale and thin and looked like she could be blown away by a gust of wind, and silently lowered his head without saying a word.
In her heart, however, she disagreed with what Song Yongli said.
His own daughter was also thin, but that was because the family was poor and he couldn't provide her with better things.
But my niece Song Xiaohong's condition was entirely due to not being fed. She was hungry for one meal out of three, half-full for another, and only ate a little bit for the last meal. It was different from my daughter's situation.
My niece doesn't dare to talk back because she's been beaten and is too scared to speak up.
No matter how Song Yongren looked at it, he felt that Song Lili was perfect in every way and didn't need any education.
He said, "Mom, I understand, I'll talk to Lili about it." He was telling her not to talk to her elders like that in the future, but otherwise, he wasn't wrong.
Gu and Song Yongli thought that Song Yongren had compromised. Gu snorted coldly, pushed Zhao Youqin, who was carrying barley on her back, aside, kicked Song Xiaohong, and walked away.
Song Yongli followed behind Gu Shi, glared at Zhao Youqin, and pointed at Song Xiaohong, "Hurry up, I'm waiting to eat, do you hear me?"
Song Xiaohong shrank back, her voice barely audible, "I...I heard it."
Song Yongli didn't hear Song Xiaohong's voice, so he shouted again, "Did you hear me?"
Song Xiaohong's voice was already trembling with tears as she said, "I...I heard it."
"You're a complete failure!" Song Yongren poked Song Xiaohong with his finger and then strode away.
Only Zhao Youqin, carrying heavy loads of barley, remained, along with Song Xiaohong and Song Yongren.
Song Yongren sighed. He disapproved of his mother's and elder brother's actions, but there was nothing he could do to change anything.
He had said it before, but no one listened. After a while, he stopped saying it.
He simply patted Song Xiaohong's head and gave her the remaining half of the wild vegetable pancake from lunch, saying, "Xiaohong, eat it quickly."
This child was never full at home; he practically grew up hungry.
Song Yongren felt sorry for her, but all he could do was give her some food; there was nothing else he could do.
Song Xiaohong took the wild vegetable pancake, whispered "Thank you, Uncle," and then wolfed it down.
She was already hungry after a long day of work, and on top of that, she hadn't eaten breakfast and only had half a wild vegetable pancake for lunch, so she was starving.
Her third uncle also gave her flour, which made up more than half of her food. In her eyes, it was just a flatbread, not a wild vegetable flatbread.
Zhao Youqin, with a simple and honest look in her eyes and a hint of heartache, said to Song Yongren, "Thank you, Uncle."
These were things she should have refused, but she couldn't bring herself to say no.
If it weren't for her uncle feeding the child, Xiao Hong would probably have starved to death long ago.
Thinking of this, tears welled up in Zhao Youqin's eyes, but they were nothing more than tears.
Song Yongren just sighed and said nothing about Zhao Youqin's words. He also resented his sister-in-law for not protecting the child.
But knowing Zhao Youqin's difficulties, he couldn't bring himself to say anything to blame her.
He just looked at Song Xiaohong and said, "If you're ever hungry in the future, come find your third uncle. There's food at your third uncle's house, okay?"
A sixteen-year-old girl. She wasn't even as tall as Lili, probably around 1.5 meters, which made Song Yongren feel incredibly sorry for Song Xiaohong.
Song Xiaohong nodded. "I know, Third Uncle. Your pancakes are really delicious." As she spoke, she licked her lips, looking like she wanted more.
Seeing her like this made Song Yongren feel sorry for her; it was such a tragedy.
It's just wild vegetable pancakes, what's so delicious about them? But the kids still ate them with relish.
Song Yongren was heartbroken, but little did he know that his family's pancakes were actually better than others'.
After earning money, Song Lili bought a lot of seasonings. Since there were no processed ones, she bought star anise, ground it herself, and put it in her food.
With oil and seasonings, how could it not taste good?
Song Yongren felt around in his basket and found that the wild vegetable cakes were gone.
Our family isn't at the point where we can eat as much as we want; food is prepared according to the number of people.
That half was leftover from when he finally ate two more cucumbers; otherwise, he wouldn't have even had that half.
cucumber?
Yes, cucumbers. And maybe more; Lily's been carrying quite a lot lately.
Upon touching it, there really was some, but it was rather small, only slightly thicker than a finger. Song Lili didn't want it because it was too small to eat, so she left it behind.
He took it out and handed it to Song Xiaohong, saying, "Third Uncle is also struggling with these things now, so just make do with them."
With these things to tide me over, I can eat a little more at night and shouldn't go hungry, and I should be able to get a good night's sleep.
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