Extra (5): Liu and Manman
Song Jinyuan nodded.
"I understand." He raised his sleeve to wipe his face, then looked at her with his scarlet eyes. "Liu did something wrong before. Big brother will apologize to Tang'er on her behalf. This kind of thing shouldn't happen again in the future."
Song Yuntang nodded, not knowing how to comfort him for a moment.
"I'll ask Qiao Da to give you a few days off. You should rest well at home these days. We have two children at home, so I have to go back early."
Song Jinyuan nodded.
"Tang'er, be careful on your way. I won't see you off."
“No need to send it.”
After Song Yuntang finished speaking, he led Xia Ning out the door.
…
After Liu brought her child back to the Liu family, she thought her parents would feel a little sorry for her.
After all, she has sent many gifts to her parents' home over the years.
Her family's attitude towards her has also changed.
But after her parents and brother found out that she was divorced by the Song family, they didn't even let her in the door. They kept scolding her for being an unlucky star, saying that she didn't know how to live a good life and had even made her husband divorce her.
Not only did they steal all the valuables from her, they also yelled at her to get out with her little bastard.
Liu was suddenly divorced, kicked out of her natal family, and her money was taken away. She was heartbroken for a time.
I made a fuss at my mother's house for a while, but after all, two fists are no match for four hands.
She didn't know where to go with her son.
He walked aimlessly halfway when he became so angry that he vomited a mouthful of blood and fainted.
After experiencing this unexpected change, Manman was really scared and kept crying for his mother.
Fortunately, a kind old lady passed by and settled the mother and son under her eaves and gave them a bowl of porridge to drink.
After Liu woke up, her condition did not improve, but became more serious.
The old woman was worried that she would die at the door of her house, so she clasped her hands together and muttered "Amitabha" a few times, then asked the strong men in the village to carry her to an abandoned, dilapidated house overgrown with weeds.
Manman looked at his only support and cried with tears and snot.
"Mom, please get up. I'm hungry and want to go home. Can we go back and beg Dad?"
From having enough food and clothing to being unable to eat enough today, the child has fallen directly from heaven to hell.
If he had known this would happen, he should have been more obedient and shouldn't have hit people so easily.
If he hadn't hit anyone, he wouldn't have been hungry and his mother wouldn't have fallen ill.
Liu had tears in her eyes and her voice was weak.
"Manman, how long has mommy been sleeping?"
Manman raised her sleeves to wipe away her tears.
"We slept under the eaves of the old woman's house for three nights."
"Three nights..."
Liu smiled self-deprecatingly.
When she was at home before, she always wanted to get more for herself. When she saw that Jinsheng earned more than her husband, she couldn't help but feel jealous and wanted her parents-in-law to get more from him to subsidize her own family.
Now that she has lost everything, she realizes that her days in the Song family were simply heaven.
The Song family would not look down on her just because her family was not presentable. Every penny Song Jinyuan earned would be handed over to her.
On the contrary, she was the one who had been testing their bottom line in various ways and was insatiable.
The good days have turned into what they are now.
He also continued his mother's preference for boys over girls in his attitude towards the next generation.
She regrets it so much!
She actually wanted to go back to the Song family and apologize to Song Jinyuan.
But she was so sick now, and she hadn't eaten much, that she felt dizzy even when she sat up, let alone standing up and walking.
Liu looked at her son beside her and said with tears in her eyes, "Manman, why don't you go back to your father and stop worrying about your mother."
Manman pouted.
"No, Dad will beat me. I want to be with Mom."
The mother and son hugged each other and cried for a while.
Liu thought that if she could get better sooner after another good sleep, she could then take her son back to Rongshu Village to find Song Jinyuan.
He is the child's father, he will definitely not ignore the child.
I lived in this shabby house with my son for another seven or eight days, and every day I had to go to the nearby villagers to beg for some porridge and water to survive.
The idea was beautiful at first, but the reality was that Liu's health was getting worse day by day without a doctor's treatment.
She knew that she would not be able to endure this and she could not bear to see the child and herself suffer in the broken house, so she took out the last two copper coins in her arms with trembling hands and gave them to Manman.
"Manman, be obedient and find a decent family nearby and ask them to send you back to Rongshu Village. I am no longer able to support you. If you see your father, tell him that I know I am wrong and that I will still be his wife in the next life if he is willing."
She finished speaking while crying.
After saying this, he seemed to be exhausted and fell asleep again.
From birth till now, I have suffered so much, but all the hardships added together are not as much as those I have endured in the past few days. I have also gradually understood some truths.
He knew that now was not the time to be sad, so he picked up the two copper coins and went to find the family that often gave him porridge.
Fortunately, the family was kind-hearted. They knew that the child came to ask for porridge and water every day, and that his family was probably not well off, so they did not ask for his coins. Thinking that it was only a little over half an hour's journey, they sent the child directly back to Rongshu Village.
Looking at the imposing blue brick and tile house in front of him, the young man scratched his head in disbelief.
"Is this really your home? Your home is so nice, why are you still begging for porridge outside?"
Manman said nothing, but walked up to the house and knocked on the door in silence.
While knocking on the door, I prayed in my heart that my father would be at home today.
The young man felt a little uneasy and wondered whether he should just leave.
Could it be that this child wants to recognize random relatives?
If he wasn't the child of this family, people might think he had some ulterior motive.
But before he could turn around, the gate was quickly opened from the inside.
When Song Jinyuan saw the child in front of him, he was a little surprised.
"Full?"
When Manman left, he was quite tall among children of the same age and was quite strong.
In less than half a month, he lost a lot of weight and his clothes looked a little empty.
Not only that, the whole person was dirty.
The young man was equally surprised.
"Is this child really yours?"
Song Jinyuan nodded, "He's my son, who are you?"
Could it be that Liu found a second family so quickly that she sent her son back to him?
Thinking of this, he felt a little uncomfortable.
"I'm from Weicao Village." The young man pointed at Manman, "This kid found me and asked me to send him back to Rongshu Village to find his father."
After Song Jinyuan thanked the man, he squatted down and looked at Manman.
"How did you become like this? Where's your mother?"
Seeing the worry in his father's eyes, the child couldn't hold back any longer and started crying in grievance.
"Dad, Mom is dying, go save her."
Song Jinyuan frowned.
"What happened? Take me to your mother."
He turned around and closed the gate, and under the guidance of the young man and Manman, he found Liu who was unconscious in the dilapidated house.
In just over ten days, Liu's body had lost the plump look she had before she left. She was so thin that her eye sockets were sunken, and she looked even more shriveled than when she first arrived at the Song family.
With the help of the young man, Song Jinyuan carried Liu on his back, took out two coins from his pocket and stuffed them into the young man's hand to express his gratitude, then led Manman and ran towards Lushan Village.
…
[Here, let's set an open ending. Originally, I thought about arranging a second spring for Song Jinyuan, but then I felt that Liu's character was caused by the indulgence of the Song family. After all, she is the biological mother of two children. If they can live a good life in the future, the original wife is always better than the stepmother.
The advantage of an open ending is that Song Jinyuan can slowly discover Liu's changes during her recovery and reconcile with her, or he can wait until Liu recovers and then help her get justice from her parents and settle her down so that she can find a second spring.
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