As night falls, a crescent moon appears.
Outside the courtyard, dogs barked and the sound of footsteps could be heard in the distance.
After a while, the sound of the small wooden door being pushed open was heard.
Hua Shi wiped his wet hands and came out of the kitchen, "Grandma, Daddy is ready to eat."
She spent nearly an hour picking out the pebbles, but she still couldn't remove all the stones from the rice. At least she had picked fewer. The porridge she cooked was full of water, with very few grains of rice.
All the other rice and grain in the kitchen were locked in the cabinet by Li. She didn't have the key and didn't dare to take them out for fear that Li would be angry.
So I fiddled with it for a few hours and cooked a pot of thin porridge. I washed all the wild vegetables. There was no oil or salt, so I could only blanch them in hot water. They looked dry and shriveled, and I was not very appetizing.
After being busy for so long, the food I made was not appetizing at all, which made Hua Shi very depressed.
There is a vegetable patch in the backyard, but there is no oil or salt. Even if I pick the vegetables, I can’t fry them and make anything delicious. I don’t have enough time, so I didn’t pick them when they bloomed.
This is all we have for dinner tonight.
There might be plenty of edible mushrooms in the mountains. She remembered a wide river beside the path into the mountains. A few days ago, she had seen many teenage children from the village catching fish there. Since she could swim, she thought about catching a few herself for a snack.
Hua Shi was thinking about how to make tomorrow's dinner more delicious.
Li looked at the few stones in the porridge and frowned. She raised her eyes and glanced at Hua Shi, feeling angry in her chest.
After a dull dinner, Hua Shi tried to clean up the dishes, but was stopped by Li, "Let your brother clean up. Go back to your room and sleep."
Hua Yu, who was squatting in the corner, heard what Li said and came over to clean the table without saying a word.
Today he called Hua Shi to the field, but Li hit him with a hoe and threw him into the stream. He learned his lesson and was punished by not being able to eat tonight.
Hua Shi looked at Li, who had an unhappy expression on her face, then looked at Hua Yu, who was silently cleaning up the dishes, and nodded.
Hua Yu was quick and agile, and quickly cleaned up the dishes and took them to the well in the yard to wash them with water.
Hua Shi wanted to take a shower before going to bed. She hadn't taken a shower for several days and her body was sticky and smelly.
Thinking that after Hua Yu finished washing the dishes, she would fetch some water and go back to the house to take a shower.
"Ashi, why don't you go back to the house and rest?" Li asked in an urging tone when she saw Huashi sitting on a small bench in the main room without moving.
Hua Shi said, "I want to take a bath before going to bed."
Li frowned, feeling sorry for the dim oil lamp still burning on the table. She yelled at Hua Yu, who was squatting at the wellhead washing dishes,
"Hurry up, you little brat! What are you staring at? Didn't you hear your sister say she wanted to take a shower? After you wash the dishes, get her a bucket of water, ya hear?"
Hua Shi was startled by Li's powerful scolding.
All I heard was Hua Yu, who was busy washing dishes, responding muffledly, "I know."
Li muttered a few more curses, and soon the room became quiet.
The Hua family courtyard looked quite large, with four rooms, two living rooms and a kitchen. Mrs. Li lived in one room with the paralyzed old man Hua, Hua Shi lived in one room, her father Hua Ciyuan also lived in one room, and Hua Yu lived in one room with his three younger siblings, Hua Xiao, Hua Li and Hua Ying.
When Li was scolding Hua Yu, Hua Ciyuan drank his porridge and returned to the house silently. Eight-year-old Hua Xiao and Hua Li also brought five-year-old Hua Ying into the house.
In the yard, the only ones left were Hua Shi sitting on a low stool and Hua Yu busy washing dishes.
Hua Shi waited for a while, and when Li came into the house, he said to Hua Yu, "Just wash the dishes and go back to the house. I can get water myself, so I don't need you."
Hearing Hua Shi's hypocritical voice, Hua Yu felt his stomach churning and he felt extremely nauseous. His lame left leg also hurt as if it was being bitten by ants.
He sneered, "Heh..."
Under the dim oil lamp, Hua Shi watched Hua Yu turn his head and look at her sinisterly. He was obviously only a fifteen-year-old boy, but his face was tired and his expression was cold, staring at her like a poisonous snake.
Hua Shi glanced at him, lowered her eyes and ignored him.
Hua Yu hated the original owner and wanted to kill him. Hua Shi had seen such a cold look in Hua Yu many times.
A young boy, full of anger...
Hua Shi was in a daze when suddenly there was a sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets in Li's room.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!!”
"Cough cough..." The sound of old man Hua coughing was mixed with Li's cursing.
"Hua Yu! You little bastard, come here! Did you steal the money from my house? Where are my keys? Where did you take them? You have sores on your back and pus oozing from your belly button! I'm going to chop off your hands! How dare you steal!"
Hua Shi was so frightened by this sudden move that he shuddered and subconsciously looked at Hua Yu who was still squatting at the edge of the well.
Hua Yu seemed to have known everything for a long time. He grinned and smiled silently at Hua Shi with a vicious look in his eyes.
Li kicked open the door and walked out angrily. Without saying a word, she grabbed Hua Yu's clothes and pressed him to the mouth of the well.
The thin boy was pinned down, unable to move, his feet off the ground, half of his body hanging upside down at the mouth of the well. If Li had just loosened his grip, he would have fallen into the well, which was more than ten meters deep.
"Grandma!" Hua Shi was startled and hurried over to hold Li's hand.
"Go away! This is none of your business!"
Li's hand strength was astonishingly great. While one hand was pressing Hua Yu, the other hand pretended to push Hua Shi away.
She didn't dare pull hard, fearing that Li would let go.
Hua Yu, who had just glared at people coldly, now had red eyes and a pout, as if she was about to cry, as if she was frightened. She timidly asked in a sobbing voice, "Wu... Grandma, what are you saying?"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com