Poor Sun Min
When Liu Xiangmei planned to go to her older sister's house to buy groceries, she had already decided to buy a vehicle. However, she planned to buy a bicycle and tie a basket to each side of the back seat so that she could put the groceries and food in the baskets when she went to pick them up.
Now that my second sister says that a second-hand pedicab is only a little over 300 yuan, I'm immediately tempted. A pedicab can carry much more than a bicycle.
Without further ado, the group immediately set off to check out the secondhand market.
As they passed the station, they noticed a large crowd gathered across the street. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that members of the Sun family were fighting.
Liu Xiangqiu was about to go and see, but Sun Min stopped her. She had just made some harsh remarks to her father not long ago. If she went back now, wouldn't those harsh remarks have been wasted?
Liu Xiangqiu was unaware of her worries. He pulled her hand away and said, "Something happened at home. I have to go back and check on things."
Sun Min blocked her way, "Mom, have you forgotten our plan? It's to make Dad feel like he can't live without you, and then he'll back down to get you back. Isn't this perfect?"
Liu Xiangqiu looked at Sun Min with disapproval, "Xiao Min, a plan is a plan, but your father is in trouble now. How can you be so cold-blooded and heartless, disregarding your father's safety for the sake of the plan?"
Sun Min staggered, feeling dizzy and having difficulty breathing.
Is she cold-blooded? All she wants is a stable home of her own. How is she cold-blooded?
Wang Yao stepped forward and put her arm around Sun Min, rubbing her back reassuringly before saying to Liu Xiangqiu, "Second Aunt, I'll go take a look. It's broad daylight, so it's unlikely that anything serious will happen. I'll be right back. You wait for me here."
Wang Yao quickly ran to the edge of the crowd and, after asking around, learned that it was Granny Sun who had caused the trouble.
While Sun Dong was out, Granny Sun was selling her wares haphazardly. One adult sent a child out to buy salt. The salt originally cost eight mao a bag, but Granny Sun charged the child two yuan. When the child went back and told his parents, they came looking for her. However, Granny Sun denied it, saying that the child had lied.
There were some onlookers nearby who had also bought things from Granny Sun earlier that day. They had initially thought the prices had gone up, but then they realized that Granny Sun was overcharging them. As a result, several people started demanding refunds.
Sun Dong was trying to calm everyone down, but Granny Sun was stirring up trouble with foul language from behind, which made everyone even more agitated. This led to the scene that Wang Yao and the others had just witnessed, where it seemed like several people were surrounding and bullying Sun Dong.
By the time Wang Yao had found out what had happened, the crowd had quieted down.
Because Sun Dong had already locked Granny Sun in the room, he came out himself to compensate everyone who had bought things at high prices at the original price, and then apologized to each of them.
After Wang Yao returned and explained everything, Liu Xiangmei glared at Liu Xiangqiu and said, "Now you understand, right? What could possibly happen to Sun Dong, a grown man, at his own doorstep? You're the one who's worrying unnecessarily. Xiaomin kindly advised you, and you called her cold-blooded. Is that something a mother should say? Apologize to Xiaomin right now."
Liu Xiangqiu felt embarrassed, realizing she had overreacted. She was genuinely worried about Sun Dong handling the household affairs alone. She had managed them for so many years, and without her, Sun Dong would definitely be very busy and overwhelmed, especially with a mother-in-law who only caused trouble.
She also felt that she had spoken too harshly to Xiaomin, but as a mother, what was wrong with saying a few words to her daughter?
"Hurry up, don't dawdle!" Liu Xiangmei urged.
Liu Xiangqiu then glanced at her daughter and stammered, "I was just worried. I was worried about your dad. Your dad, despite his tall and strong appearance, is actually not good at taking care of people..."
Liu Xiangmei sensed something was wrong as she listened and impatiently interrupted, "Alright, just apologize when I tell you to. Why are you talking so much nonsense?"
"This is no nonsense," Liu Xiangqiu muttered, then said to Sun Min again, "It was Mom's fault, Mom spoke without thinking. Please forgive Mom, okay?"
Sun Min lowered her head and remained silent.
Liu Xiangmei spoke again to ease the tension, "Alright, Xiaomin feels better now that you've apologized. Think before you speak next time. How can a child bear such harsh words? If you do this again, Xiaomin will never forgive you, understand?"
Fearing the secondhand market would close if they wasted any more time, Liu Xiangmei urged everyone to leave quickly.
They were lucky; not many people were looking at used tricycles today, so there were still three to choose from.
Liu Xiangmei didn't even look at the worst bike. She tried riding the other two, chose the one with better handling, and after some haggling, bought it for 330 yuan.
Just as they were about to leave, they saw a vendor packing up his stall. He had several secondhand electric fans on his stall, and at Wang Yao's insistence, Liu Xiangmei bought another one.
Wang Yao felt that it was fine at other times, but it was really hot when eating. Without an electric fan, eating was a bit painful.
Finally, I browsed around a bit more and bought some styrofoam lunch boxes, disposable chopsticks, plastic basins, and other similar items. Of course, none of these were secondhand.
Because Liu Xiangmei was a novice driver, no one dared to ride in her car and preferred to walk back. However, Liu Xiangmei insisted that Liu Xiangqiu ride with her because the electric fan was in the open-top compartment at the back. She was riding slowly and was afraid that someone might steal the fan without her noticing, so Liu Xiangqiu had to sit in the back and watch over it.
Liu Xiangmei rode ahead, urging the two on foot to hurry up and keep up. Liu Xiangqiu followed behind, constantly telling them to ride slowly. The two bickered and argued as they rode away.
Wang Yao and Sun Min disobeyed; even after the adults had walked away, they continued to stroll along unsteadily.
The road was lined with shops on both sides, and the upper floors of the shops were residential. Every now and then, you could hear an adult beating a child, or someone watching "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" on TV...
Wang Yao heard Sun Min sigh, and then heard Sun Min say, "Yao Yao, actually I'm quite envious of you!"
"What is there to envy when one wishes to care for one's parents but they are no longer there?"
Sun Min hurriedly explained, "That's not what I meant. I was talking about my aunt. I think my aunt is very good to you, and only to you."
Wang Yao nodded. "I know, because my mom and I only have each other now. If my dad were still alive, hmph, I would definitely be the brightest third wheel in our family."
Sun Min didn't understand why she was a third wheel for a moment, but after thinking about it, she burst out laughing.
She took Wang Yao's arm and whispered, "I'm always happy when I'm with you. Yao Yao, actually I haven't forgiven my mother. I think I might really be a cold-blooded person. I hate my grandmother, scheme against my father, and resent my mother. It's like I don't have any family members who love me."
Wang Yao stopped in her tracks. By the dim light of the streetlamp, she could see Sun Min clearly. Her fair face seemed to always have a pair of red eyes, and her lips were tightly pursed, like a child who had made a mistake but stubbornly refused to admit it.
But what wrong did Sun Min do?
Wang Yao felt sorry for the girl in front of her and gently put her in her arms. "Xiao Min, you're not cold-blooded. It's because you don't get enough, so you need more. That's normal. But you have to learn to nourish yourself. Your mother loves your father and you, but she loves herself the most. You have to be like that too."
Feeling the person in her arms trembling slightly, and feeling her own shoulders gradually getting wet, Wang Yao gently stroked her back, wanting to give her some strength.
…
A new day has begun, and Sun Min seems to have completely forgotten what happened yesterday, or even all her troubles, focusing only on working enthusiastically at home.
Early in the morning, I gathered all four people's clothes and washed them one by one.
After that, he helped Liu Xiangmei wash vegetables.
The vendor selling honeycomb briquettes was calling out downstairs. Liu Xiangmei bought a lot, and the vendor helped carry them upstairs and piled them in the hallway.
Liu Xiangmei planned to make twenty boxed meals today and sell them at the construction site to see what the market was like. Originally, Liu Xiangmei wanted to go by herself, but Sun Min insisted on coming along to help, so Wang Yao went along to check it out as well.
In short, she doesn't allow herself to be idle.
When we arrived at the construction site, it was just time for the workers to have their meal.
Seeing the workers coming out in twos and threes, Liu Xiangmei immediately started hawking her food, "Boxed lunches, hot boxed lunches, one meat and two vegetable dishes, plenty of oil, three yuan a serving, a real bargain, brother, want a boxed lunch?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com