011, beaten
011, beaten
In August, the autumn is high and the moon and stars are sparse.
At the end of the first hour, it was still dark outside. The chickens in the chicken coop and the pigs in the pigsty were still sleeping, but Liu Sanniang had already gotten up in the dark.
The moon was still high in the sky, casting a brilliant white light on the ground in the yard. Even without lights, she could see the road outside clearly. She went out of the house, first fetched a spoonful of water in the yard, washed her face and rinsed her mouth, then came over and knocked on the window of the room where her father-in-law and mother-in-law lived.
“Knock knock—knock knock—”
After a few light knocks, she heard someone getting up from inside, so she withdrew her hands and stood a little further away, waiting for her mother-in-law to come out.
After a while, Old Mrs. Lu came out of the house with a lighted oil lamp in her hand and a dark face. She glared at her third daughter-in-law who woke her up in the middle of the night with displeasure in her triangular eyes with drooping eyelids.
"Mother." Liu Sanniang could sense her mother-in-law's displeasure, but the kitchen door was locked. The key was with her mother-in-law, and without it, those who got up early to cook couldn't open the door and go in to cook. So every time it was their turn to cook, they had to go to her mother-in-law to open the door and get them the rice and flour for the day.
Even the food in the kitchen, rice and flour, could not be taken at will by the people who cooked that day. They had to ask the mother-in-law to give them what she gave them. They could only use as much as the mother-in-law gave them. If it was not enough, they could not take it themselves. Otherwise, if the mother-in-law found that there was something missing in the kitchen, she would find the person who cooked that day to settle the bill.
Old Mrs. Lu uttered a deep "hmm." Seeing that only her third daughter-in-law was there, she walked over and knocked on the door of the room where her fourth son and his wife lived. She banged hard a few times with her hands and said to the people inside in a low voice, "Hurry up and get up. You have to be asked to do some work again and again. What's wrong with you?"
"Mother, I'll get up right away." Chen, who was woken up, heard her mother-in-law's voice outside. She didn't dare to get angry with her mother-in-law, but responded in a low voice with fear and trepidation.
After hearing someone's response from inside, Mrs. Lu turned around with a sullen face and walked towards the kitchen, unlocking the door with the key in her hand. She placed the oil lamp on a low cabinet nearby and used a bamboo spoon to measure out the food for the day, then filled two large basins with the coarse grains and flour.
Seeing that the food her mother-in-law brought out was the same as usual, Liu Sanniang hesitated for a moment before finally speaking, "Mother, Qilang's father and uncle are out working today. If they don't have enough food, they won't have the energy to work. Why don't we make a few more steamed buns for them to take with them?"
"Eat, eat, eat. All you do is eat all day long. Even if we open a grain store at home, it's not enough for you to eat!" Old Mrs. Lu glared at her third daughter-in-law fiercely. Seeing that her third daughter-in-law stood aside with her head lowered and did not dare to talk back, she was still very angry.
Thinking of her four sons working as temporary laborers for the landlord and earning several hundred coins a day, Mrs. Lu paused for a moment and used a bamboo spoon to measure two more spoonfuls of coarse grain flour into the basin.
Seeing this, Liu Sanniang finally breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly thanked her mother-in-law: "Thank you, mother."
"Hmph!" Mrs. Lu snorted coldly. After thinking for a moment, she used another small key to unlock the low cabinet and took out two eggs. After thinking for a moment, she took out two more. "These four eggs are for Dalang to eat on the road. If you dare to touch Dalang's things, watch out for your skin!"
Hearing this, Liu Sanniang fell silent. She knew that only the eldest nephew could eat the good things in the house, and no one else could touch them. If anyone dared to touch the eldest nephew's things, a beating and scolding would be the least of their punishment. In the past, the girl from the second house had only stolen an egg, and she was beaten and locked in the woodshed and starved for a day.
Thinking about what happened in the Lu family over the years, Liu Sanniang didn't agree with some of her mother-in-law's ways of doing things. It was just that she herself was not liked by her mother-in-law at home. She saw some things but didn't dare to say anything.
Because she knew these family rules and her mother-in-law's character, she never touched anything her mother-in-law left for her eldest nephew, and she also taught her own children not to touch it. It was just a bite of food, there was no need to anger the elders over it and have the children punished.
Seeing that her third daughter-in-law had a humble and submissive look, Mrs. Lu did not like this daughter-in-law who had only given birth to one child in all these years, and she also became disgusted with her third son who sided with her daughter-in-law.
It had been so long, and the other daughter-in-law still hadn't come. Old Wang's face darkened again, and she cursed, "What's going on with the fourth daughter-in-law? Why hasn't she come in for such a long time? What has she been doing hiding in the house?"
"You keep busy here, I'll go see her."
As she said this, Old Lady Lu took away the oil lamp on the low cabinet and left without caring whether her third daughter-in-law in the kitchen could see anything.
When she came out, she happened to run into her fourth daughter-in-law coming to the kitchen. Old Wang caught her and scolded her. Seeing that she was still standing there, she scolded her again: "What are you still standing here for? Why don't you go and cook?"
"Yes, mother, I'll go with you." Chen held back the tears in her eyes and went to the kitchen with a feeling of grievance.
After scolding her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lu saw that the children hadn't moved at all. She angrily kicked open the door of the woodshed, went in with a stick in her hand, and started beating up the granddaughters who were still sleeping in the room, cursing as she did so: "You are a bunch of lazy and greedy girls. I raised you to be rich girls? Huh?"
"You've slept so long and you don't even know how to get up and work? You still need me to ask you for help! If I don't give you a good time today, you won't even know that there is work to do..."
"Wuwu, grandma, please stop hitting me..."
"Stop fighting, we know we were wrong, let's get back to work..."
From the woodshed came the sound of wailing and begging for mercy.
Liu Sanniang, who was busy in the kitchen, heard her mother-in-law beating people and crying in the house. She stopped working and sighed heavily, "Oh!" Then she continued to light the fire in the stove.
After she lit the fire in the stove, her pregnant aunt also came to the kitchen.
The two sisters-in-law greeted each other and then went back to work.
Yesterday, the first and second wives cooked, and today it was the third and fourth wives' turn. Thinking that the men in the family had to go to the farm to work today, if they didn't prepare breakfast early so they could eat a full meal before leaving, they would have to go hungry all morning. Liu Sanniang couldn't bear to let her husband go out hungry, so she got up early to make breakfast. Unexpectedly, this caused her young aunt to be scolded and her nieces to be beaten. Thinking of this, she felt a little guilty.
When Chen heard her mother-in-law beating and scolding her two daughters and several nieces from the second wife, there was no expression on her face, as if the people being beaten had nothing to do with her.
When the two daughters who had been beaten came to the kitchen with red eyes, Chen glanced at them and said coldly, "I won't beat you. I'll let your grandma take care of you. I raised you so big, but you don't even know how to help me with some work."
"What are you still standing there for? Why don't you get back to work?"
Looking at her two daughters, Chen felt a little angry, mostly because of her anger and dissatisfaction with her mother-in-law, Old Wang. However, she didn't dare to vent it on her mother-in-law, so she could only vent it on her two daughters.
"Yes, mother." Lu Sanhua responded with red eyes, and took her sister to help with the work.
Chen gave birth to two daughters first, and only gave birth to a son after the third.
Lu Sanhua is the older sister, the one in the front row. She's eight years old this year. Her younger sister, Sihua, is one year younger and seven years old this year. Both sisters are thin and petite, about the same height, with dry, wispy hair. Their facial features resemble their mother's: a small face with a pointed chin, single eyelids, and small eyes. But taken together, they're not ugly, and their looks are quite appealing.
Lu Mingfei was frightened awake when his grandmother was beating someone. When he heard the noise outside, he knew that it must be the old lady who got up in the morning and beat some of his cousins.
Thinking of his cousins being beaten by the old lady every now and then, he really didn't know what to say. Sometimes he also sighed that it was really not easy for the Lu family's daughters to grow up to this age. In this family that seriously favors boys over girls, girls are really like grass. The girls of the Lu family have been helping with housework since they could walk. They don't have enough food or warm clothes, and their father and mother don't love them. And every once in a while, they still get beaten by the old lady.
这会他不由的在心里庆幸，还好自己生来是个男孩，虽然也没得爷奶的疼爱，但是至少不会像几个堂姐那样大早就因为没早起干活挨揍。而他比较幸运一点的是，遇到了一对疼爱他的爹娘。
Hearing the noisy sounds next door, Lu Youtian also got up. Seeing his son sitting on the crib, he asked, "Qilang, are you awake?"
"Well, Dad, I'm up." Lu Mingfei couldn't sleep anymore, so he got up.
The father and son left the house together. Lu Youtian sent the child to the kitchen door, said something to his wife, then took two wooden buckets and a shoulder pole, opened the gate of the yard, and went out to fetch water.
"Just sit here and help us watch the fire in the stove and don't let the firewood fall out." Liu San watched her husband's figure disappear at the door, so she pulled her son to sit on the small stool in front of the stove to help them watch the fire.
"Okay." The fire in the stove made people feel warm. Lu Mingfei couldn't help but yawn. He supported his chin with one hand, stared at the fire in the stove, and emptied his mind to think about nothing.
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