The rising sun illuminated every green spot in the mountains. The sunlight penetrated the branches and leaves, casting mottled shadows. Some illuminated a smooth stone, some jumped on the grass like bubbles, and some on the ends of girls' hair.
Ruan Jie and several friends of different ages were picking firewood in the forest. They put the firewood they picked up in a pile and competed to see who picked up the most. After picking up the firewood, they tied it up with hemp ropes, dragged it on their backs and carried it back home.
The girls walked with the firewood on their backs, singing some folk songs in varying voices to cheer them up.
Living in such a small world, they have no other worries and concerns, nor any other hopes. If they can eat their fill every day, and occasionally taste a little sweetness and meat during festivals, they will feel extremely happy.
Because they don't have too many desires, it is actually easy to be satisfied and feel happy.
However, this simple happiness can also be easily destroyed.
Ruan Jie returned home happily carrying a bundle of firewood. When she walked to the front of the house and hadn't even entered the door, she was no longer happy because she met her mother Sun Xiaohui.
From childhood to adulthood, her mother seemed to be unable to see her happy.
As long as she was happy, Sun Xiaohui would always find a way to make her unhappy immediately.
Ruan Jie wanted to pretend that she didn't see Sun Xiaohui, but Sun Xiaohui called her.
Hearing the voice, Ruan Jie had to stop outside the door of the side room, but she didn't turn around or say anything.
Sun Xiaohui walked straight behind her, stretched out her hand to grab her shoulders, and pulled her to turn around.
Among the three children in the family, she disliked Ruan Jie the most. Last night, she asked her to do something but she didn't get it to do it. Now she disliked Ruan Jie even more. She was so angry that she cursed: "Are you blind? Didn't you see me?"
Ruan Jie lowered her head, bit her lip and still didn't say anything.
Seeing her like this, Sun Xiaohui really wanted to go up and slap her twice to relieve her anger. But she suppressed the impulse with a dark face, and did not reach out to hit Ruan Jie's face, but reached out to pull the hemp rope on her shoulder.
Ruan Jie realized what she was going to do, and quickly retracted her shoulders and dodged.
She looked at Sun Xiaohui and said, "I picked this up."
Sun Xiaohui's eyes widened into two big bull eyes, "What's wrong? What's wrong with what you picked up? I asked you to light a fire last night, but you didn't, and I haven't settled the score with you yet! Don't forget that I am your mother, and I gave birth to you!"
As she said that, she went up to pull the hemp rope on Ruan Jie's shoulders again, pinching her shoulders to remove the firewood from her back.
Ruan Jie tried to resist but she didn't have enough strength. She finally reached out to grab the hemp rope, and her eyes turned red.
She held the hemp rope tightly and refused to let go. She looked at Sun Xiaohui and said, "I picked it up."
Sun Xiaohui had no patience for Ruan Jie. She pushed her away and almost pushed her to the ground.
After pushing Ruan Jie away, Sun Xiaohui carried the firewood to the hut, cursing as she walked, "You little bitch, your conscience must have been eaten by a dog. You eat what's inside and take what's outside. You were born in vain!"
Ruan Jie managed to stand still and didn't fall. She watched Sun Xiaohui put the firewood she picked up into the small kitchen where the new stove was built. She felt pain from being pushed and her palms were also a little painful from being rubbed by the rope. She felt very wronged in her heart. She pouted her mouth and tears fell.
She didn't cry out loud, just sniffed, and then wiped away her tears with her sleeve.
Sun Xiaohui went to the small kitchen to put the firewood, and then went to the main house, saying: "In the future, you should put the firewood in this small stove room for me. If you eat inside and outside, you will be in trouble!" The
firewood used at home included stalks of various crops, wheat straw, rice straw, and corn pith. But these were not as easy to burn as the firewood picked in the forest. The food cooked out was more fragrant, and it was easier to cook.
She added, "As for the pig grass, roasted pig food, and chopped chicken food, they all have to be based on ours first. If the pigs at home don't grow fat and the hens don't lay eggs, I won't be able to give you a good face!"
Ruan Jie didn't say anything, wiped her tears and was about to leave, but suddenly she heard Sun Xiaohui calling her.
She turned around and saw Sun Xiaohui rushing out of the main room with a pile of dirty clothes in her hands, walked up to her and threw the clothes on her head, and continued to scold, "You don't even wash your clothes, do you want to die?!"
Ruan Jie pulled the clothes off her head and looked at Sun Xiaohui with red eyes, and resentment slowly accumulated in her eyes.
Sun Xiaohui pointed at her with a vicious look, "What are you looking at?!"
Ruan Jie stared at her, and the resentment and temper in her heart were obviously uncontrollable. Suddenly, she shouted, "Why do you ask me to wash? My elder brother and younger brother do nothing all day, why don't you ask them to wash? Uncle Wu washes his clothes by himself!"
Sun Xiaohui gritted her teeth in anger, "You still know that Yue Jin and Yue Hua are your elder brother and younger brother? I thought you didn't even recognize your parents! Why wash? Just because I am your mother! And your father and your elder brother and younger brother!"
Ruan Jie stared at her with red eyes without saying a word.
Sun Xiaohui's finger was about to point to Ruan Jie's nose, and she asked angrily, "Are you going to wash it or not?!"
Ruan Jie pursed her lips and said, "No!"
Okay! OK!
Sun Xiaohui was so angry that her forehead was about to burst open. She retracted her hand and turned to go into the stove next to her. When she came out, she was holding a fire stick with an iron hook in her hand. She pointed the fire stick at Ruan Jie and said, "I'll ask you again, are you going to wash it or not?"
Seeing the fire stick, Ruan Jie couldn't help but feel nervous. No matter where this thing falls, as long as it hits, it will immediately leave red marks. If it hits hard, you may have to limp for a few days.
She saw Sun Xiaohui walking towards her, and this time she didn't stand there stupidly, but turned around and ran away.
She remembered that when Liu Xinghua went out in the morning, she said that she was going to borrow a pair of shoes from Grandma Zhao. So she ran straight to Grandma Zhao's house, shouting as she ran: "Grandma, save me!"
Sun Xiaohui was so angry that she was about to explode. She couldn't control her temper at all. She chased Ruan Jie with a fire stick and cursed: "God can't save you today. I will beat you to death, you heartless girl!"
When Liu Xinghua went to Grandma Zhao's house to borrow shoe patterns, several other old friends were there, so she sat down and did needlework with them instead of going home. While working, they talked about the gossips of the families in the mountains.
Grandma Zhao asked Liu Xinghua, "I heard that your second daughter-in-law and your second son had a fight at home, and they went back to their parents' home crying and shouting, saying that they wanted to divide the family property. Is this true?"
Liu Xinghua snorted coldly, "It has been divided according to their wishes. They came back from their parents' home happily last night."
Grandma Li said, "Oh my, you and the secretary are really good-tempered. You agree to split up now? If it were our family, we would have beaten the unfilial son, the second son, to death. We worked so hard to raise him and saved money to marry him off. Now that the family is in trouble, we are preparing to find a wife for the fifth son, but he doesn't even offer to help out. Instead, he wants to split up the family. He is such an ungrateful person. Where did the money for his marriage come from? It was not just you two old people, but also the eldest and his wife who helped to collect it.”
Liu Xinghua pinched a fine needle and rolled white edges on the shoe surface: “Forget it, making a fuss is just making people laugh. They want to share, and if you don’t share, won’t they be unhappy every day? Just share it, each live their own life, and no one will hinder anyone else.”
Grandma Zhao: “Then how much did you and the secretary share with them?”
Liu Xinghua said: “We have shared everything that can be shared, and we need to share it with them.” Either give them half of the money, or give them half of the money."
Grandma Hu glared, "Mom, why did you give so many things to such an ungrateful person? In my opinion, I would give them nothing and just kick the five of them out and let them sleep in a cave."
Liu Xinghua: "They are all sons, how can I not give them anything? Wouldn't you be angry? We don't want people to say that we are partial as parents, loving the older one and the younger one, and ignoring the second one. The whole family was forced to go out and starve. We have done what we should do as parents, so that outsiders and the second son's family have nothing to say. Whether they live well or not in the future, we will no longer care.
"Grandma Zhao nodded, "It's good to have everything done in peace and stability."
However, just as the four words "peace and stability" came out, there was a shout from not far away: "Grandma!"
Several old ladies looked up and saw that it was Ruan Jie who was calling grandma. She seemed to be chased by a wolf. After seeing Liu Xinghua, her steps became faster. Looking back, Sun Xiaohui followed behind with a fire stick.
Grandma Li squinted her eyes and asked: "What are you doing?"
Liu Xinghua didn't know what was going on. Before she could say anything, Ruan Jie ran over and hid behind her.
Ruan Jie put his hands on Liu Xinghua's shoulders, gasping for breath, and said intermittently: "Grandma, I went out to collect firewood for half a day, but my mother took it all away. She also asked me to wash clothes, and she would beat me to death if I didn't. She also said that I had to feed the pigs and chickens."
As she spoke, Sun Xiaohui had already caught up with her with a fire poker.
She put her hands on her waist and pointed at Ruan Jie, still looking ferocious, and panted, "Why don't you go back to me quickly!"
The other old ladies didn't understand, so they looked at Liu Xinghua and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"
Liu Xinghua didn't even look at Sun Xiaohui, and said slowly, "They think Xiaojie eats too much food, so they let Xiaojie follow me when we divided the family. They don't want to raise Xiaojie because she is a girl, but they also want Xiaojie to work for them. Tell me, is there such a good thing in the world? You want the horse to run, but you don't want it to eat grass."
After hearing this, several old ladies looked at Sun Xiaohui together, and everyone showed a look of disgust on their faces.
Grandma Li spoke first, "Sun Xiaohui, is there any mother or daughter-in-law like you?"
Grandma Hu continued, "When times are good, you are happy to sharpen your brain to take advantage, but when times get bad, you instigate your husband to separate the family. Don't you have any conscience? Not only do you have no conscience, you don't even have a bit of shame!"
Grandma Zhao was more direct, "I have seen many shameless people in my life, but I have never seen anyone as shameless as you. Since you don't want to support Xiaojie and don't even want to give her a full meal, how can you have the nerve to ask her to work?"
Sun Xiaohui no longer cared about other people's gossip, but when she heard these unpleasant words in person, she couldn't help blushing and felt like she was being slapped in the face again and again. She held her breath and said, "I gave birth to her, I am her mother, why can't I ask her to work?"
Before the old ladies could say anything, Ruan Jie suddenly said loudly, "I didn't ask you to give birth! I don't want you to be my mother, why did you give birth to me without my consent?!"
What kind of words are these? Sun Xiaohui was furious when she heard them. She clenched the fire stick in her hand, raised it up and pointed at Ruan Jie, "Ruan Jie, if you say another word, I will beat you to death!"
Ruan Jie hid behind Liu Xinghua, and had a lot of confidence and courage, and her face was not so scared. Of course, these words were not hers, but she heard them from Ruan Xi when she chatted with Ruan Xi at night before going to bed, and she felt that they made a lot of sense.
Liu Xinghua continued to encourage Ruan Jie, "Who are you going to kill?"
Sun Xiaohui met Liu Xinghua's calm eyes and her overwhelming aura, and then saw the disgusted and mean eyes of several old ladies next to her. She swallowed her breath and dared not say anything.
These are all mothers-in-law. They have lived their whole lives and are all cunning people. None of them is easy to deal with.
She stood there, gritted her teeth, and after thinking for a while, she put down the fire stick, glared at Ruan Jie, clenched the fire stick, turned around and left.
She got angrier and angrier as she walked. Her fingers holding the fire stick tightened. She couldn't swallow this anger anymore, so she spat at the roadside and cursed loudly, "You old woman!"
As soon as she finished cursing, she slipped on gravel and fell to the ground.
"Aiya!"
Her butt fell to the ground, and the gravel cushioned her waist. She got up with a limp.
Liu Xinghua looked at her limping back and snorted coldly, "You deserve it!"
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