Chapter 149 I'm Not Just Your Grandma
Mrs. Lu only felt that all the troubles in her life were caused by Wang Chunniang.
It's a free gift, so even if you don't want it, you can just put it in front of her.
Looking at her grandchildren kneeling in front of her, she couldn't say a word of blame. It was normal for children to feel soft-hearted towards their mother. It was perfectly normal.
She just asked the grandchildren: "Do you think your father's behavior is too cruel?"
The two children didn't need to answer, they both knelt down and begged, because they felt it was too cruel.
She continued, "Last time, we almost screwed several families. We were very lenient and only asked you to carry the food. We said we asked you to carry the food, but in fact, the only thing that fell on your head was you, the eldest son of the family. Including the pillars, you were only three laborers. We fled with your family of seven. Do you think this is what we deserve? What you deserve? How much contribution have you made? How can people not want to leave you when you are so disgusting?"
"This is an old story, and we don't need to go over it. I just want to say that it has only been a short time since the last incident. Have you ever thought that your mother could steal food in the valley? She stole food when there was no shortage of food at home. What else could she do when there was a shortage of food? Can you imagine it?"
"You can't think of it, right? Even if there is no shortage of food, you see, you still can't think of her stealing food, right?"
She squatted down in front of her grandchildren and nodded her head. "You can never guess what a person who doesn't think before doing things will do, you know? If she is not locked up, do you think this valley is in the heavenly palace? No one else can get in, right? Have you tested the sound? If your mother loses her mind one day and desperately wants to drag someone to be buried with her, and runs to the entrance to howl a few times, if there happens to be someone outside, you see, everyone in the valley will be doomed. Let me say something cruel, even if you think the people in the valley are not as important as your mother's comfort, then think about your brothers and sisters, do you still think your father's suggestion is cruel?"
"You think she's your own mother, so she can't possibly harm you, right? Look at what she did this time. Have you ever thought that you five siblings will never be able to hold your heads up again in this valley?"
"You can't imagine what she's going to do. Her brain is just different."
The old lady laughed at herself when she said this: "Shuanzhu, you regret it now. I should have been more ruthless at the beginning. I divorced your troublesome mother and tied her up in the house until she starved to death. We would leave at night after we transported all the food away. As for you, father and son, brothers and sisters, if you can't let go, I will tie you up together and untie you when the villagers find you."
"If I hadn't cared about you, there wouldn't be so many things going on today. It's fine if it harms our own family, but I was blind and hired such a daughter-in-law. I have to bear the consequences. How badly did the other families suffer to have to deal with our family and your mother?"
"Do you think your father is cruel? He is not really cruel like this. Your father wanted to protect your mother, so he rushed to attack me first."
"Do you know what true cruelty is like?"
"Times of peace and times of war are not the same thing. You haven't seen enough. Or maybe it's because we are so kind to you and have made your life so comfortable that you dare to kneel down and beg for mercy."
"The real ruthlessness is to remain calm, not to get angry, not to make a sound, and not even to let you know that people have discovered the food theft. This morning, we will take all of you out in a friendly manner. No matter which wild boar, wolf pack, jackal, blind bear, or giant insect you meet, they won't have to harm you. They will just run away, or they will only have time to save their own family, or they will save you but be a little bit slow."
"Look, it's so easy to get rid of your mother, this scourge. If you want to save trouble, you can also let the wild beasts tear you apart and eat you both. You don't even have to bury your bodies."
"So, the families in our valley are all upright people with good hearts. At most, they are annoyed with you right now, but they won't bother with you. But if they push you to the limit, they can still deal with it in an upright manner and send you away."
"Don't say I'm afraid you won't get out of here because I'm afraid you'll leak the secret. It's too early for that. Go out of this valley now and walk for a few days to see if you can run into someone. Without A Lie and Da Shan to lead and protect you, do you think it's so easy to walk in the deep mountains and old forests? Are you still alive before you run into someone? Are you still alive before you run into someone? Are you still alive before you leak the secret? Even if you are alive, if you survive one or two of them and then run into someone, you will be alive? What a beautiful dream! The refugees in the north have been fleeing south. Do you know when they will escape to our land? Do you know what the refugees are like when there is real famine in the war? The north is not as mountainous as ours. When all the grass roots were eaten up, do you know how these people with no food survived to the south?"
"I tell you, those who are so hungry that they eat dirt are the truly honest people. They are also the ones who are most likely not to survive. Those who can really survive are either very capable or they are not human beings."
"You know what? During famines and wars, people were called two-legged sheep. They really separated your meat into fat, lean, old and tender. At that time, you were no different from the pheasants and rabbits that are caught outside now. Whether you boiled or stewed, roasted or fried, you were just a pile of meat."
"By then, will anyone know who owns the best meat?"
Shuanzhu was so frightened that he leaned back slightly, his face turned pale, his nostrils flared and trembled, and he was unable to speak.
But Mrs. Lu had no intention of letting him go. She looked at her eldest grandson with a blank expression, but pressed on: "As far as your family is concerned, the best meat is Shitou, followed by Huzi, then Da Niu, Tiezhu, and then you! You are all still children, and this is the most tender meat."
Lu Shuanzhu was forced from a kneeling position to a half-backward position. His hands softened and he fell backwards to the ground. He then stepped back and turned his eyes to look at Wang Chunniang, whose mouth was blocked by a cloth and whose forehead was already covered with a thin layer of sweat. "This time, the best meat, apart from children, is women, and that is you, Wang. At your age, it's okay. The meat is tenderer than Dalang's. Have you heard your parents or grandparents tell you about history? When people are extremely hungry, they can do anything. When it comes to eating human flesh, some people are a little bit taboo and will leave the head behind. The rest are just pieces of meat. Why did you crave pheasant meat a few days ago? If you run into the eyes of the hungry refugees, they will crave your meat."
Wang was going crazy. Her mouth was blocked and she could only breathe through her two nostrils. She was gasping for breath and looked to Mrs. Lu as if she had seen a ghost.
Mrs. Lu's eyes turned again, this time to Dalang Lu: "Again, Dalang is the best. No one would be picky about a man in his thirties in a famine. Although his meat tastes old, he is tall and strong. He has enough meat. If more than a dozen people share it, it can last for several days."
Lu Dalang's legs went weak and he had to pull Lu Erlang beside him to barely stand.
Lu Erlang glanced at him and pretended not to see anything, and did not interrupt his mother.
The four members of the eldest house looked as pale as ghosts. Even Feng Liuniang from the second house and Lu Sanlang, who was several steps away, had trembling teeth.
Mrs. Lu had said enough. She seemed to have lost her temper. She sat down casually on the ground, looked at the four people in the main house, and ordered Lu Dalang: "Take off the cloth gag from her mouth."
Lu Dalang moved his lips before finding his voice: "Mom?"
"Are you afraid she will scream?" Mrs. Lu smiled coldly: "If she wants to scream, then scream. Do you think we have the face to do what your wife did these two times? She has no shame and no respect for men and children. Who else can she count on to protect her?"
"You are so lucky, so lucky that you don't know how to cherish it or be grateful for it. But this kind of blessing is not endless."
When she said this, she pointed at Wang Chunniang with her chin and said, "Tear off the cloth strips, untie the ropes on her feet, and just tie her hands. Your father and I will take her over and call all the families together. We will give everyone an explanation for the grain theft today."
"Even if they don't pursue the matter, we can't be shameless. We can't let you stay here. I can't let the people who help our family be harmed by a bastard like you. I'll apologize to everyone and compensate the food. You and your family will leave the valley soon. Whether you can survive or not depends on fate."
At this moment, everyone except the eldest son’s wife was stunned, and Old Man Lu looked at his wife.
Nothing could be seen on Mrs. Lu's face.
Lu Dalang was stunned at first, then when he reacted, he saw that his mother's expression did not look like a joke at all, so he knelt down and first went to beg Mrs. Lu, hugging her legs and begging, but when he saw that his mother had no reaction at all, he began to cry for his parents and beg his brothers.
No matter what, we should take the children into consideration. If they are driven out of this deep forest, they might not live until tomorrow morning.
He then pulled his two stunned children, and then pulled Wang Chunniang, who had her hands and feet tied, and made her kneel aside and kowtow repeatedly.
The cave, which had been relatively quiet even after such a big incident, suddenly felt like it was boiling.
Mrs. Lu gave Lu Dalang a cold look.
Lu Erlang also watched, and watched for a while, then he pulled Feng Liuniang, who also looked a little panicked, forward to help say something.
Lu Sanlang, who had always disliked Wang Chunniang, was also frightened and stopped guarding the entrance of the cave. He walked to Lu Po and called her "Mom".
Mrs. Lu didn't even look at her other two sons and second daughter-in-law, she only stared at Lu Dalang and his wife.
"Don't want to leave the valley?"
Lu Dalang nodded frantically: "Mother, please do it for the sake of Shuanzhu, Tiezhu, Huzi, and Shitou."
Wang Chunniang's head moved faster than Lu Dalang's, and she responded with a humming sound.
She was afraid of death, afraid of her husband's death, and even more afraid that her children would be dragged down to die with her.
In the past, the word death was very far away, and even though she knew there would be chaos outside, it never got to her sight. Even though she entered the woods, she had someone to protect her, and she soon reached the valley, so she was always safe.
But if the whole family was pushed out today, once out of the valley, without the natural barrier of the valley, before chaos comes, the wild beasts might come over following the human scent the next moment.
She was really scared, she kept whimpering and her saliva soaked the cloth.
After hearing the whimpering sound, Lu Dalang finally reacted and helped pull the cloth out of Wang Chunniang's mouth, and Wang Chunniang's wailing flowed out smoothly.
"Mom, please forgive me this time. I didn't mean it. I was just possessed by a devil. I thought the mice would eat it anyway, so I took a little bit. I really took a little bit. I won't dare to do it again."
"Shuanzhu and the others are also your grandchildren. Just raise your hand, mother. As long as they don't leave the valley, I can do anything for you."
She remembered something, as if she had grabbed a life-saving straw: "Mom, you can lock me up, lock me up, you can even dig a small cave in this big cave to lock me up, just block my mouth, I promise not to go out, and I will never complain."
Mrs. Lu sneered: "How can you be locked up? It's better to have your tongue pulled out and your legs broken."
This one sentence frightened Wang Chunniang so much that her scalp went numb and her head banged against the ground.
Lu Dalang assured her again and again: "Mother, we can keep her here. I'll make a wooden gate and allow her to walk around our cave occasionally. Shuanzhu and Tiezhu will follow her. If she takes one step out of the cave, you can chase us away. Then we won't dare to ask for anything more."
…
Concerning the farce of the Lu family, Mrs. Lu finally chose not to hide it. She tied up Wang Chunniang and asked Lu Dalang to dig a cave. She and Old Man Lu personally led Lu Shuanzhu and Lu Tiezhu to each family to ask what kind of food was missing. No matter whether it was stolen by mountain rats or Wang, they had to apologize and send back double the amount of food. They also stated that Wang would never leave the cave again and asked each family to supervise.
Naturally, this food comes from the eldest son's family.
When she was sent to Chen's house, Mrs. Chen sighed and felt that this was very much in the style of Mrs. Lu.
She looked at the tie-posts and iron pillars that were bowed down, and shook her head: "It's just hard for the children, please comfort them."
Mrs. Lu looked at her two grandchildren and said, "It's not difficult. Keeping this a secret will certainly make them feel more comfortable, but knowing has its benefits. At least in the future, they will know what to do and what not to do."
When they sent him to the Shen family, Chen Lie and Sang Luo didn't say anything. They could only say that the Lu family's quick handling of the matter made them feel less unhappy. They said a few polite words and sent the person away.
At the Xu family, Old Mrs. Xu looked surprised, but she breathed a sigh of relief after the people left.
She did a lot of embroidery when she was young, so it is true that her eyesight is not very good, but she never really spent it to that extent. At that time, she didn't know whether her family had less food or every family had enough. She couldn't say it out loud, so she weighed the pros and cons in her mind before going to Sang Luo to borrow needles and thread.
It's not that I'm afraid of that little bit of food, but I feel uneasy when I see such signs.
In fact, Chen Dashan and Shen Lie are the leaders in this valley, especially the Shen family. Their Xu family can be said to rely on the protection of the Shen family, and Sang Luo actually has a somewhat detached status among the other families, so she chose to leak this matter to Sang Luo.
Old Mrs. Xu knew about the restrictions on leaving the valley this morning. Chen Lie and his wife probably guessed who it was and responded accordingly.
After watching the whole scene, she vaguely guessed what was going on with the Lu family's family, but she didn't expect there would be such a follow-up.
Fortunately, there are some sensible people in the Lu family who can suppress Wang.
When fleeing from war, it is a terrible thing to have a fool who can come and go freely.
It's good like this for now.
Whenever she takes her grandchildren out, she always has to be extremely alert, take good care of them, and then hand them back to her son and daughter-in-law in perfect condition.
…
On the way back, when passing by the innermost waterfall in the valley, there was no one around and the sound of water hitting the rocks was quite loud. Lu Shuanzhu, who had been silent for a long time, finally asked hesitantly what was in his heart.
"Grandma, what you said today... is it true?"
Mrs. Lu stopped and looked at her grandson: "Which ones? The one that will drive you out?"
Lu Shuanzhu nodded hesitantly.
Mrs. Lu curled her lips and said, "You don't believe that I can even give you up, right?"
"Then I tell you, driving you out is a lie, because if I drive you out now, there is still a tiny possibility that it will harm the people in the valley. I won't let this happen, but abandoning your mother or you must be true."
"Don't think I don't care about family affection. Troubled times are cruel. I'm not only your father's mother, but also the grandmother of you and your five siblings. I'm also the mother of your second uncle and third uncle, and the grandmother of Ah Xu. Our family was protected by the Chen and Shen families to protect itself in troubled times. I won't allow a potential threat that could harm us all to run wild."
When she said this, she looked at her two grandchildren with an unprecedented seriousness in her eyes: "So, whether it's for your mother's good or for the safety of your brothers and sisters, keep an eye on your mother. If she is safe, your family, our family, and the six families in this valley will all be safe. As for the two-legged sheep, I didn't lie to you, do you understand?"
Lu Tiezhu only knew that his mother had stolen grain, but he didn't know the details. He asked Lu Shuanzhu, "Brother, what is a two-legged sheep?"
Lu Shuanzhu trembled his lips and shook his head: "Go back and don't ask."
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