Li Aijun and Li Aidang were overjoyed to see Li Ping return and kept talking to her, while Li Guoliang asked Jiang Hu to go to the study to talk.
Li's mother, on the contrary, became the most idle person in the family.
Looking around, she felt completely alone. Her husband and children were at home, yet she felt so empty inside.
She then thought of her second daughter, Li Aihong. If Aihong were home, she wouldn't be like this.
No, she wouldn't have acted like this before her eldest daughter came back.
So when she looked at Li Ping, she felt even more uncomfortable.
She knew she shouldn't dislike her child; after all, it was her own flesh and blood, and she shouldn't dislike it no matter how bad it was. But some feelings are just unstoppable.
I can't control these emotions myself.
Perhaps she had been watching Li Ping for too long, because Li Ping sensed it, looked up, and the mother and daughter exchanged a glance. Li's mother then looked away uncomfortably and went into the room.
Li Ping lowered her head and continued chatting with her younger siblings. She told them how to live in the army and shared her knowledge of interpersonal relationships with them.
After all, who knows when they'll see each other again? Unless something major happens, she and Jiang Hu don't plan to return. There are many rules in the military, and they can't leave their posts frequently.
The conversation lasted until almost late at night. Li Aijun and Li Aidang went back to sleep, and Li Guoliang and Jiang Hu also left the study.
“It’s so much better to sleep at home, why do you have to stay out? It’s fine if we squeeze in,” Li Guoliang sighed.
Li Ping smiled and said, "Dad, we feel bad that our return has disturbed your rest. The guesthouse is right in the courtyard, so close and convenient. It's no different from staying at home."
"Alright, go back and get some rest. You have to catch your train tomorrow."
"Mm." Li Ping nodded with a smile, then took Jiang Hu's arm and left.
Before the two had gone far, they heard footsteps behind them, "Pingping."
Li Ping turned around and saw her mother standing behind her in a military overcoat. She looked at Li Ping, then at Jiang Hu, "Jiang, Pingping and I are having a chat."
Jiang Hu looked at Li Ping, and only after seeing Li Ping nod did he walk away a little, still looking in Li Ping's direction with a somewhat worried expression.
Li's mother felt a lump in her throat, but she still looked at Li Ping and said, "Pingping, I have a favor to ask of you. Could you talk to Aijun and Aidang and help them get along better with Aihong? They used to be very close, how did things turn so sour? Aihong is your sister, family, after all. Why can't they be more harmonious? Aihong is married now, and they'll be looking out for each other in the future. As the eldest sister, please help her out."
Li Ping looked at her calmly, "Mom, you think I'm the one who caused all this, don't you? You think I'm the one who made Ai Jun and Ai Dang not as close as Ai Hong, right?"
Li's mother remained silent.
"Mom, when Ai Hong and the others weren't close to me before, did you say this to Ai Hong as well?"
"They are better than you."
"No, because you don't like me. You haven't liked me since I came to your house. You treat me like a relative's child, not your own. You always complain about how hard Ai Hong and the others suffer, but you've never thought about how hard I suffer."
Li's mother retorted, "I also grew up in that environment."
"It's different. When you grew up, your grandparents were still young, but when I grew up, they were already old. In the environment where I grew up, my grandparents could no longer do much farm work, and we still had to suffer exploitation."
Back then, we could only drink one bowl of rice porridge each. My grandfather would take me to the mountains to find food, and we would often fall and get bruised and battered. People often came to the village looking for Red Army soldiers' families, and I would be hidden inside the stove. Looking at the ashes from the burnt wood, I was always worried that they would throw a fire in and burn me to death.
Sometimes I'd be stuffed into a well, it was pitch black. I was always worried that the rope would break and I'd fall in.
Once, I hid in a haystack, and enemy bayonets were stuck right next to me, just a hair's breadth away… At that moment, I thought, where are my parents? Dad used to ask me if I resented them back then, and I said no. But how could I not resent them? I always thought, my parents are heroes, they protected the people, but why couldn't they protect me? I'm just an ordinary person too.
Later, peace came, and I longed for your return. But I waited year after year, until my grandparents became seriously ill, before you finally came back to take me away.
“Pingping, I…” Li’s mother didn’t know what to say.
“I thought it was because my family was too poor to support me. But when I came to live with you, I saw them dressed neatly, carrying fun toys, and having such good stationery. I can’t even fool myself. You just don’t like me.”
Li Ping listened calmly, but tears streamed down her face. "If you don't like me, you don't like me, it's no big deal. I'm not sad that you don't like me now. But you can't ask me to do anything."
After she finished speaking, she turned and walked towards Jiang Hu.
Jiang Hu saw her wiping away tears and rushed over anxiously, "What's wrong?"
"It's okay, I'm quite happy. A lot of things have become clear, and I feel especially happy. Jiang Hu, it's so good to have you."
Li Ping smiled and took his hand.
"I'll stay with you from now on, so please don't cry anymore. Seeing my own wife cry makes me feel like I've committed a terrible crime."
"I'm not crying anymore, I won't cry anymore." Li Ping wiped away her tears. She really wasn't crying anymore; she had only cried because she remembered the grievances she had suffered. It was a natural bodily reaction, but afterward, she felt nothing. Everything was in the past.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com