Chapter 195 The Old Evil Woman
"Pack your things, take all your food and daily necessities with you. The grain we just harvested hasn't dried yet, so take your share from us."
As Mrs. Lu spoke, she stood up and prepared to help her grandson. Wang Chunniang was going crazy. It was true that she hated her husband, and sometimes she also hated the children who came out of her stomach and locked her up with outsiders. But this hatred was different from the hatred she had for her parents-in-law, her uncle, her sisters-in-law and outsiders. This hatred was neither stable nor long-lasting, especially for her children. She would grit her teeth when she hated them, but she would not do it if her children's interests were really violated.
So as soon as Mrs. Lu finished speaking, Wang Chunniang went crazy, her blood rushed to her head, and she dared to curse him with all kinds of ugly names, such as old hag, old vicious woman, etc. She even cursed that Ah Xu would never grow up and that the Lu family would have no descendants. She was so crazy that she spoke without thinking.
The big ones like Tiezhu and Da Niu were shocked and tried to dissuade them, while the smallest one, Shitou, was so scared that he started crying.
Hu Zi was ten years old. What the big girl refused to say in front of her grandparents, he and his brothers could get when they asked privately while harvesting rice. He stood there stupidly watching his mother cursing like crazy, and then saw his father get angry and fight with his mother through the fence.
Mrs. Lu did not react at all when she was scolded, and just let him continue to scold her. However, when she heard Ah Xu being cursed, she became so angry that her face turned blue. She turned her head and saw Ah Xu huddled in a corner and Shi Tou who was crying. She held back her anger and asked Old Man Lu, whose face turned blue and who was about to lose his temper, to take the two children out first.
The insults soon turned into muffled and unclear sounds.
When Lu Dalang covered Wang Chunniang's mouth, he really had the intention to kill her for a moment. He thought that if he covered Wang Chunniang to death, their family would live in peace.
As soon as this thought came to his mind, he became distracted and asked Wang Chunniang to pull his hand apart and bite it hard. Finally, Shuanzhu got the key from his grandmother, and the two brothers opened the door and went in to pull the man away. They tied his hands and blocked his mouth. Only then did the cave have a moment of peace.
Although the brothers and sisters were still crying this time, they really knew that they had to leave, so they took the initiative to pack up their belongings. Only Lu Dalang collapsed there, his hands trembling, his eyes blank, and he didn't even move.
Mrs. Lu didn't say anything. She just helped to pack things silently, occasionally asking what had been taken and what had not been taken. She was busy for more than half an hour, estimating how much grain from the fields that had not yet been harvested that should belong to the eldest family, and taking out a portion from her own family. She didn't pack until the big things were almost packed. Then she took a bowl and went out of the cave in the dark.
…
Xu family.
Old Mrs. Xu never expected that Mrs. Lu would come over at this moment. After being stunned for a moment, she quickly invited her in.
Mrs. Lu didn't want to make small talk, so she said, "I came over here to ask you for something."
The Xu family was stunned. Old Mrs. Xu said, "What is missing at home? Just tell me what I have here."
"When we first entered the valley, I remember your family brought some wine with them. I wonder if you still have it. If you do, I'd like to ask for a few spoonfuls."
Mrs. Xu nodded: "I brought it. It's not for drinking, but to prevent the child from having a high fever. This thing is effective for rubbing the body to reduce fever."
He turned around and called Wei Lingzhen to get it.
I wanted to ask Mrs. Lu what she wanted wine for at this time of year, but thinking about the bad things that happened to the Lu family today, I didn't feel like asking and changed the subject to ask if Mrs. Lu had had dinner.
Mrs. Lu shook her head: "I don't have an appetite."
Mrs. Xu didn't know how to persuade her for a moment. Fortunately, the Xu family cave was not big. Wei Lingzhen had already taken out a small wine jar from the shelf. It was a jar that had never been opened. She asked Uncle Xu to help knock off the mud seal. Then she poured wine for Mrs. Lu. The bowl was big, so she poured about three or four cups. Mrs. Lu hurriedly said, "That's enough."
Wei Lingzhen raised her eyes: "Is this enough? If you need it, please don't hesitate to ask for it."
Mrs. Lu said, "That's enough. Thank you very much for today. My house is still in a mess, so I will go back first."
The Xu family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law sent the people a few steps away. When they turned back, they still didn't understand why the Lu family wanted wine at this time. However, it was just a matter of a few glasses of wine. If they couldn't figure it out, they didn't think about it anymore. Instead, they asked Wei Qinghe: "Are you really going to call Chen Lie and the others back tonight?"
Wei Qinghe nodded: "I have conveyed all the words, and I have told Zhou Cunzheng roughly what happened."
He looked at the sky and said, "At this time, Zhou Cunzheng should be going out to deliver the letter."
Mrs. Xu sighed when she heard this: "The old lady of the Lu family looks four or five years older now than she did this morning."
He was full of joy when he was harvesting rice in the morning, but now he looks tired and exhausted, without any trace of the energy he had in the morning.
…
Zhou Cunzheng had indeed left the valley. At this moment, Chen Lie and the others had already come into the valley, and they had asked Shi Er to help cover the entrance.
At this time, Mrs. Lu had already arrived home. She took out a few pieces of black charcoal from the stove and was pounding them finely in a stone mortar.
No one in the family had dinner, but no one could figure out what she was doing, and no one bothered to ask.
Lu Erlang had already entered the valley at this time and learned the whole story from Zhou Cunzheng. The Lu brothers did not let Chen Lie, Sang Luo and Chen Dashan interfere in their own affairs, and asked them to go home first, while the two brothers hurried home.
Mrs. Lu had pounded the charcoal powder in her hands into a very fine powder. She brought over the bowl that had been on the wooden table. In it was some white wine that she had borrowed from the Xu family. She poured the charcoal powder into the white wine and mixed it into a bowl of black paste. Then she walked over to Lu Dalang, who was sitting outside the gate in a daze, and said, "Get up. How long are you going to sit here?"
He handed the bowl over and said, "Go in and give this to your wife."
Before Lu Dalang could react, the four brothers and sisters of Lu Shuanzhu became nervous and couldn't help but say, "Milk."
This was the scene Lu Erlang and Lu Sanlang saw when they hurried in.
When Mrs. Lu saw the brothers coming back, she only glanced at them and turned to her grandchildren and said, "Don't worry, I'm vicious, but not so vicious that I'd kill your mother with a bowl of medicine. I just want her to be a little more obedient and at least not get into trouble on the way out."
Lu Shuanzhu and his siblings couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but then they realized the slight self-mockery in the old lady's words and were a little at a loss for a moment.
Lu Dalang was holding the bowl of medicine, but his eyes saw Lu Erlang and Lu Sanlang. They were like people without souls before, but now they came back to life. He said anxiously: "Erlang, Sanlang, please help me beg my mother. Huzi and Shitou are so young. How can they survive if they are driven out of the valley? After all, they call you Second Uncle and Third Uncle. Please help me beg my mother."
Seeing that he was still talking about the children and didn't mention himself, and even used family affection to argue with the second and third sons, Mrs. Lu was so angry that she shouted, "Give them medicine! They are Shuanzhu's uncles, and you are Shuanzhu's father. There are many people in the mountains now, and those people have no one to protect them. Are they going to die? I didn't know that your bones were so weak before. Do you know how to stand? Don't ask anyone for help. It's useless. I have already told you the consequences."
Seeing his mother's expression, Lu Dalang finally didn't dare to say anything else. He watched Shuanzhu open the door and go in to take the medicine.
Would Wang Chunniang be so honest as to allow someone to force-feed her medicine? Moreover, she had no idea what the medicine was. As soon as the door opened, she struggled to escape. The father and his two sons had to work together to stop her and hold her down. After a long struggle, they finally forced her to drink the medicine.
Lu Dalang was fine, but the brothers Shuanzhu and Tiezhu both had red eyes.
Mrs. Lu looked at this scene and knew that she had done the biggest evil today. She looked at the two brothers and asked, "Blame me?"
The two brothers shook their heads.
Mrs. Lu laughed at herself and said, "Whether I am blamed or not, I still have to do what I have to do. Everyone has to take responsibility for their own actions. I will have to go to Dashan with my old face to ask him to accompany your second uncle and third uncle to find a place to settle your family. We can't let your mother make trouble on the way and harm others, let alone harm the people in this valley."
"Your mother was right in scolding me. I am quite cruel. If you go out, you may encounter wolves, insects, tigers and leopards. I am not sure whether you brothers and sisters will be able to come back in one piece in a few years, or whether none of you will come back. Who can predict it? If something goes wrong, I will accept that you will blame me in your hearts. You can complain to the underworld if you want."
Shuanzhu got anxious, "Grandma, we really didn't blame you just now."
Mrs. Lu stopped him with words: "I'm not saying this to ask you to say you don't blame me. I don't care whether you blame me or not. What I want to tell you is that the life you were supposed to live was like that, or even much worse than that, like the Shen Jin family that your mother mocked. There were six people in the family, but now there are only three left. It was Shopkeeper Xu and their eldest brother who risked their lives to save them."
"A life or death situation is the most realistic reality in the outside world. You have never seen the real hell on earth. The Shen family and the Chen family helped you escape. The peaceful life you have had for nearly a year was given by others out of kindness. It is not what you deserve. Even so, I still have the audacity to ask them to take care of your future life for you, haha."
Mrs. Lu really felt that her face was about to stick to the ground. She had such a thick skin that she could only say that to Chen Dashan later.
"If you ask me, I'm not cruel enough. If I were cruel enough, I should have cut off your mother's tongue, so that you wouldn't be led into the ditch by her perverse theories. That would make your life like that."
"But are you happy about this? Don't you hate me to the core?"
"Once you are out, I have no other requests for you. I won't talk about repaying a drop of kindness with a spring. I have already taught you what you should have taught you. Just one thing, don't repay kindness with hatred. I can't change your parents. When you go out, there will be places I can't guard against. That's all you have to watch out for. Don't let them regret taking us in."
"Be filial, be filial. Filial piety is what you should do, but sometimes filial piety is not the same as obedience. There are some things you have to learn to distinguish for yourselves. This is all I can say and do as a grandmother."
He turned around and took out a bag of meat from the shelves of the old couple and the second and third rooms, and asked Lu Erlang and Lu Sanlang to carry half a stone of millet and half a stone of beans, saying, "Come with me to Chen's house. We can't ask Dashan to drop his work and make this trip for us in vain. I'll take care of the food. You two uncles can help the five nephews and nieces to pay for it. Is that okay?"
Lu Erlang and Lu Sanlang would definitely agree, so they carried the two bags their mother pointed out and followed Mrs. Lu out.
After walking out of the cave, they could still hear Wang Chunniang, who had been picking her throat for a long time, cursing in a hoarse voice that the old vicious woman wished her a miserable death. Lu Erlang and Lu Sanlang clenched their fists. Even though the five children were pitiful, they could not even think of pleading for the eldest wife at this moment.
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