"You little vixen, get out of here right now, get out of here right now!" He stood with his hands on his hips, drenched in urine, his face full of fierce features.
"Aunt Ge, it's you! I thought it was some shameless person. Sanlin left too, leaving only the mother and daughter, and another one lying in bed. The loud knocking startled me."
"The little one was so scared he cried. I thought your house had been robbed." Xiaoyue wasn't angry with Grandma Ge and said calmly.
Grandma Ge pointed at Xiaoyue, stood on her tiptoes, and cursed, "You little slut, you run off with a man, you're just a promiscuous woman."
Xiaoyue jumped barefoot off the windowsill and said coldly, "Try cursing me again. The fire that day was in the kitchen. If you keep cursing like that, you'll be in trouble." Old Mrs. Ge was so angry that she pointed at Xiaoyue and took a few steps back, tripping over a protruding stone behind her.
Xiaoyue hurriedly stepped forward to help Grandma Ge up, and whispered in her ear, "Grandma Ge, take care of yourself. I'm not like Little Bean's mother. I'm an outsider, and no one knows what I look like."
"If I had fought tooth and nail for it, it wouldn't have been just Ge Erping who got hurt." The last sentence was said while staring fiercely into Old Mrs. Ge's eyes.
Grandma Ge was so angry she was practically spitting fire. She glared at Xiaoyue, pointing her finger at her and trembling as she cried out, "You, you..." Finally, she couldn't catch her breath and fainted.
Xiaoyue hurriedly went to the upper courtyard to call Old Man Ge, and then went to the east courtyard to find Ge Dalin. She then carried Old Lady Ge into the house.
Ge Erlin and his wife also arrived. Ge Daming jumped onto the kang (a heated brick bed), sat down next to his grandmother, and pinched his nose, asking, "Grandma, what's that smell?" Everyone around Grandma Ge also smelled the strange odor, but none of them dared to ask.
Xiaoyue stood furthest away from Grandma Ge and whispered, "It's Little Bean's pee."
Xiaoyue calmly said, "Aunt Ge came to my house early in the morning and kicked down the door. I thought it was a robber. Luckily, there was a little boy's chamber pot in the house, so I threw it out. Luckily, it didn't hit Aunt Ge."
Hearing this, everyone felt that Xiaoyue hadn't done it on purpose. At this moment, her sister-in-law, Li, noticed that Xiaoyue was barefoot and hurriedly said, "Xiaoyue, put on some shoes and see if Xiaodouding is up yet. Then come and keep your mother company."
Xiaoyue responded and went out.
From behind came Ge Erping's voice, who was lying on the kang: "Big brother, she did it on purpose. She burned down the kitchen last night. Mother wanted her to clean up the kitchen, but she went to find Doctor Hu and made me get whipped by Father."
Grandma Ge felt a chill run down her spine at the thought of Xiaoyue. She was a reckless and unruly girl; it seemed she had been too hasty. Looking at this skinny girl, she seemed quite difficult to deal with. Thinking this, she sighed.
"Eldest daughter-in-law, why don't you cook with second daughter-in-law? Xiaoyue is just a guest in our family, but she can't just stay at home all the time. She has to do some work too. After dinner, let Xiaoyue go cut pig feed."
Cutting pig feed and herding cattle was originally the eldest son's family's job, but it was only done by the eldest son's wife during the busy farming season. When the eldest son's wife got married, her family gave her a loom as a dowry. The eldest son's wife did not have a son, so Old Mrs. Ge did not dare to take the eldest son's family's work too lightly.
After the eldest son's wife sold the cloth, she could still give some money to Old Mrs. Ge.
During the busy farming season, the second son's wife took care of the family's meals. She washed her own clothes. In the previous life, Xiaoyue washed the clothes of the elderly and her sister-in-law. She also did the work of herding cattle, cutting pig feed, chopping firewood, and cooking.
Xiaoyue had overheard everything from outside the door. She went back inside, put on her shoes, and woke up Xiaodouding to wash her face. She wanted to find some clothes for Xiaodouding to change into, but they were all tattered and torn, and her wrists and ankles were showing. The Ge family was really going too far.
Xiaoyue made do with yesterday's clothes and dressed Xiaodouding in them.
The eldest and second sons' wives had already gone to tidy up the kitchen and start cooking. Xiaoyue, carrying the little one, went straight to the main room, where Grandma Ge had already changed her clothes.
Xiaoyue saw that the food had already been set out in the room. There weren't many people, so they ate at one table. The rice was undercooked, which was the kind of rice that Xiaoyue had cooked yesterday, with the bottom burnt and the top uncooked. There was also a salted cucumber, a salted celery leaf, and a plate of stewed potatoes and green beans.
Grandma Ge and the others had already started eating, but Xiaoyue and the child didn't have bowls. Xiaoyue put the child down, went to the kitchen and got two bowls. She put some vegetables in one bowl and filled the other with rice. Holding the bowls in both hands, she said to the little one, "Come on, let's go home and eat."
Grandma Ge slammed her hand down, making the bowls on the table tremble. "How dare you! Stop right there!"
Xiaoyue didn't even turn her head. The little boy opened the door for Xiaoyue, and the two of them took their food and went back to the house to eat with Lu Xiaomei.
"The wild girl that the third brother brought back is a real troublemaker. Mother, look at her, she doesn't even listen to you. She's useless at everything except eating." Second sister-in-law, Xiao Sun, saw that Xiao Yue was ignoring Old Madam Ge and wanted to stir up trouble.
Ge Erlin was sitting next to Xiao Sunshi, picking up a piece of green beans with his chopsticks. He glanced at Xiao Sunshi sideways and quickly explained to Old Madam Ge, "Isn't this new here? You and your sister-in-law can teach her properly."
After taking a bite of rice, he continued, "She's not even as old as my little sister yet. She'll come into our house to serve her sister-in-law and take care of the children."
Grandma Ge slammed down the bowl in her hand and angrily scolded, "She's clearly a jinx, a jinx that brings bad luck to the Ge family." She added with a displeased expression, "I can't eat anymore, Xiaoyue made me angry."
Xiaoyue brought back food and divided it among the three people, and everyone ate their fill.
Lu Xiaomei was still coughing, and she couldn't eat anything at all, only managing to eat a couple of bites occasionally.
Xiaoyue quickly went to the window to brew the medicine, and her second sister-in-law, Xiao Sunshi, came over and said to Xiaoyue, "You've eaten, and Mother wants you to wash the dishes."
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com