A bowl of noodles was placed in front of Song's mother, successfully silencing her.
Song Yueying filled herself a large bowl with noodles. The aroma was enticing. She took a deep breath and exclaimed, "So delicious!"
Turning around, Song Yueying intended to add the remaining noodles to Qi Yanjue's bowl, but seeing that Qi Yanjue hadn't touched his chopsticks, she asked in confusion, "Aren't you hungry?"
"Hungry," Qi Yanjue replied.
"Why aren't you eating yet? What are you waiting for?" Before Qi Yanjue could reply, Song Yueying urged him, "Eat quickly so we can go out."
“Wasting food is shameful. You can finish the rest of the noodles in this bowl.” With that, Song Yueying pushed the bowl directly in front of Qi Yanjue.
"No need, no need, this bowl is enough for me." Qi Yanjue quickly pushed the bowl to the middle of the table.
These days, everyone's food supply is limited, and it's common to go hungry and become emaciated. It's already excessive for him to eat one meal here; he wouldn't dare to eat any more.
Chicken broth with white flour dumplings—even without chicken in the broth, it's still considered a luxury food by today's standards of living.
Sitting across the square table, Song's mother reached out and pushed the bowl back in front of Qi Yanjue, saying, "You're so tall, a bowl of noodles wouldn't even be enough to fill a tooth gap."
"Stop dawdling and eat quickly."
Qi Yanjue didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't.
"Listen to your mother, eat quickly. We still need to go out after we finish eating, and we can't waste any more time." Song's mother felt sorry for her son, but Song Yueying didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
Although Song's mother was mentally unstable, she was a good mother.
"One bowl is enough for me. You and Mom can share the rest." Qi Yanjue pushed the bowl to the middle again. He couldn't bring himself to eat such good food without feeling guilty.
In particular, he came here to divorce Song Yueying; after the divorce, they would be strangers. He already owed Song Yueying a life and didn't want to take advantage of her anymore.
Her patience wearing thin, Song Yueying picked up the basin and placed it in front of Qi Yanjue, giving him a sideways glance. "The chicken soup was stewed yesterday morning and kept chilled in well water last night to prevent it from spoiling."
"Mom and I can only finish the noodles in our own bowls at most, we can't eat any more. If we don't finish them this morning, they'll definitely spoil by lunchtime, you decide what to do."
After saying that, Song Yueying sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and began to eat her noodles. Song's mother was about to say something, but seeing that her daughter was already eating, she also lowered her head and ate her noodles.
Qi Yanjue dared not refuse any longer and picked up his chopsticks to eat the noodles. He ate very quickly, and even though he had the most noodles, he was the first to finish.
The second person to finish eating was Song's mother, who put down her chopsticks and looked at Song Yueying.
Song Yueying was chewing the dough dumplings with great effort. At first, she found them very chewy, but as she ate them, she found them difficult to chew.
Seeing that only one piece of dough remained in the bowl, Song Yueying almost burst into tears of joy. She picked up the dough with her chopsticks, took a big bite, and looked up to meet her mother's gaze.
Song Yueying paused.
Song's mother blinked and looked at her with a smile.
After chewing a few times, Song Yueying swallowed the noodles haphazardly. "Just say what you want to say. If you keep watching me eat, I'll get indigestion."
"Little Shadow, Xiao Qi's wounds are hurting again." Song's mother brought up the old matter again.
Qi Yanjue looked at Song's mother in surprise, wondering why she brought up his injuries again.
“You mentioned it before,” Song Yueying said, indicating that she knew about it.
"I know," Song's mother nodded. "What I meant was, you shouldn't go out today."
“No.” Song Yueying refused decisively.
After being refused, Song's mother was stunned for a moment, and said choked, "Mingming cut his leg while cutting pig feed at the village entrance. After you apply medicine and bandage him, tell him to stay at home and not go out."
“When Xiaohua in the village fell and got hurt, after you applied medicine and bandaged her up, you also told her to stay at home and not go out.”
“Even when Chen Yuan, the son of the brigade leader, accidentally dug his foot while digging, after you applied medicine and bandaged it, you still told him to stay home and not go out.”
"Xiao Qi's injuries are so severe, and he's lost so much blood. Why can't he stay home? What if his wounds reopen if he goes out with you?"
Song Yueying didn't feel that her mother's question was an interrogation; on the contrary, she was pleased that her mother had said so much in one go.
“His wound has healed and won’t reopen,” Song Yueying explained patiently.
“Impossible. He lost so much blood yesterday, how could his wounds have healed?” Song’s mother didn’t believe it. “Little Shadow, you can’t say his wounds are healed just so he can go out with you.”
Song Yueying knew that without seeing it with her own eyes, it would be difficult to explain clearly with words alone. So she turned to Qi Yanjue and said, "Let Mom see your injury."
Seeing the injury meant he had to take off his clothes. Qi Yanjue's handsome face flushed red, his expression clearly showing his refusal.
"I just asked you to show Mom your injuries, why are you blushing?" Seeing his blushing face, Song Yueying felt like a bully forcing a respectable woman.
What are you thinking!
Song Yueying raised her hand and slapped her forehead. "I asked you to roll up your sleeves so Mom could see the injury on your arm. I didn't ask you to take off your clothes. You don't need to blush or act coy."
Qi Yanjue was taken aback. She meant for him to roll up his sleeves and show Song's mother the injury on his arm, not to take off his clothes as he had thought.
"Is it really just about the injury on your arm?" Qi Yanjue asked to confirm, genuinely afraid that Song Yueying might make up something on a whim.
"Otherwise what?" Song Yueying asked instead of answering.
Qi Yanjue didn't reply, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He immediately did as Song Yueying said, rolling up his sleeve to reveal the spot where he had been injured.
In order to give Song's mother a better view, Qi Yanjue suppressed his embarrassment and extended his arm a little.
Seeing his considerate actions, Song Yueying was somewhat surprised.
"The injury...it's really healed." Looking at Qi Yanjue's completely uninjured arm, Song's mother stared wide-eyed in disbelief, beginning to doubt whether what she had seen yesterday was real.
Suddenly, she stood up abruptly and walked towards Qi Yanjue.
Upon seeing Song's mother approach him, Qi Yanjue quickly stood up.
"Sit down." Song's mother looked at Qi Yanjue with a very serious expression.
Qi Yanjue didn't know what Song's mother wanted to do, but he still sat down as instructed.
After he sat down, Song's mother stepped forward, grabbed his arm, and started flipping through his books.
Qi Yanjue's expression changed in shock, and he instinctively tried to break free from Song's mother's grasp. But Song's mother wouldn't allow it, holding Qi Yanjue's arms tightly with both hands, "Don't move."
With Song's mother holding his arm tightly, Qi Yanjue was extremely anxious.
He could easily break free from Song's mother's grasp with just a little effort, but he dared not. He was afraid that if he didn't control his strength properly, he would hurt Song's mother.
Anxious and embarrassed, Qi Yanjue's ears turned red. He looked at Song Yueying pleadingly, hoping she would tell Song's mother to let go of his arm.
Unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed. Song Yueying was eating noodles with her head down and didn't receive his pleading look at all.
Fortunately, Song's mother examined Qi Yanjue's arm a few times and, not seeing any wounds, only a few patches of pink, tender flesh, she automatically released Qi Yanjue's arm.
"He was so badly injured and bled so much, how can he be healed so easily?" Song's mother was very puzzled.
After finishing the last sip of noodle soup, Song Yueying put down her bowl and casually remarked, "Perhaps his injuries only look serious, but are actually not."
"Is that really true?" Song's mother expressed her doubt.
“That’s how it is. If you don’t believe me, ask him yourself.” Song Yueying nodded seriously, then turned to look at Qi Yanjue, asking him to testify for her.
She happened to see the tips of his ears turning red, and thinking she was seeing things, she blinked hard.
She wasn't mistaken; Qi Yanjue's ears did indeed turn red.
How innocent!
Feeling a little uncomfortable being the focus of attention from both mother and daughter at the same time, Qi Yanjue glanced at Song Yueying first, then quickly turned his face away awkwardly.
Clearing his throat to cover his embarrassment, Qi Yanjue looked at Song's mother and said, "She's right, my injury isn't that serious."
From what Song Yueying said to her mother, he realized that Song Yueying didn't want her mother to know how badly he was injured. He understood Song Yueying's intentions and was willing to cooperate with her.
Perhaps in Song Yueying's eyes, his injuries weren't that serious.
After all, one of her pills was enough to heal his bleeding wound from yesterday, and even grow new flesh today.
Qi Yanjue's cooperation pleased Song Yueying, and her liking for him increased. However, his quick turn of his face was so funny that Song Yueying couldn't help but laugh.
Who would have thought! This man was tall and strong, looking like a righteous and tough guy. But it turned out he was a shy and innocent young man who blushed easily.
It's truly unfair that two contrasting qualities can coexist in one man without feeling out of place at all.
Just then, the sound of arguing came from the courtyard gate.
Song Yueying frowned. "What's all this commotion outside?"
"I don't know, I'll go out and take a look." Song's mother was standing, and she was closest to the door of the main room.
She had just taken a step when Song Yueying called out to her, "Don't go out. Wash the dishes and then watch the house. He and I are going out to check things out. If everything's alright, we'll leave."
"Stay home obediently, and I'll bring you something delicious when I come back."
"Okay." The mother replied cheerfully, then instructed her, "There are many bad people outside. After you and Xiao Qi finish your business, don't play outside. Be sure to come back quickly."
Seeing is believing, hearing is deceiving.
Seeing that Qi Yanjue's arm injury had healed, Song's mother guessed that his other injuries had probably healed as well, so she stopped insisting that Qi Yanjue stay at home to recuperate.
"Okay." Song Yueying responded, then gave Qi Yanjue a wink, got up and walked out first.
Qi Yanjue wasn't a particularly eloquent person, and Song's mother's situation was quite unique. Not knowing how to talk to her, he simply nodded to her.
He got up and followed Song Yueying away.
As Song Yueying and Qi Yanjue approached the courtyard gate, they heard voices outside.
Song Yueying suddenly became interested and pressed her face against the door, peeking outside through the crack. Qi Yanjue, who was following behind her, twitched at the corner of his mouth and stopped in his tracks.
Firstly, he didn't have Song Yueying's intense curiosity. Secondly, he couldn't bring himself to peek through a crack in the door like Song Yueying did.
Outside the courtyard gate.
Wang Muxiang and her daughter Song Rumeng were arguing with an aunt who looked to be in her fifties.
"Mom, let go of Auntie! Stop hitting her, or someone will die."
"Never mind that. If I don't beat this troublemaker to death today, I'm not a Wang."
“Wang Muxiang, you’re the real troublemaker, the biggest troublemaker in our brigade. Your whole family is shameless, the whole family are troublemakers.”
The aunt retaliated with a barrage of insults. Wang Muxiang was pulling her hair, and her scalp hurt, but that didn't stop her from exchanging insults with Wang Muxiang.
Oh dear! Listening to the insults coming from outside the door, Song Yueying felt that she had been too kind in saying they were arguing endlessly.
The reality is that Wang Muxiang grabbed the aunt's hair and hit her.
That aunt wasn't one to back down easily. She grabbed Wang Muxiang's collar tightly with one hand and started hitting her all over with the other.
Song Rumeng pretended to break up the fight while trying to persuade Wang Muxiang to stop.
"Mom, let go of Auntie, stop hitting her!" Song Rumeng's voice was anxious as she tried to break up the fight, but her actions were the opposite—slow and unhurried.
"Mom, our house and Auntie's house live so close together. You and Auntie have been neighbors for many years. Can't you talk things out properly?"
“I have nothing to say to her. That damned woman is a troublemaker, always stirring up trouble. She wants to see my family make a fool of themselves. I’ll beat her to a pulp.”
"Calling me a troublemaker, Wang Muxiang, how dare you say that?" The aunt's voice cracked, probably from anger.
"Everyone in our brigade knows I'm a troublemaker, but you, Wang Muxiang, are the biggest troublemaker. You're always turning the house upside down."
Enraged by her words, Wang Muxiang flung her daughter's hand away from her arm. "Mengmeng, you're weak, stand further away so I don't hit you."
"That shameless slut, I'm going to beat her to death today."
"You want to kill me? I'll strangle you first, that'll be doing a service to the people." The aunt grabbed Wang Muxiang's collar fiercely, making a very show of force, as if she really wanted to strangle Wang Muxiang.
"Today, I..." Wang Muxiang couldn't finish her sentence; she was being strangled and couldn't breathe properly.
Seeing her mother's face turn blue from being strangled, Song Rumeng no longer dared to pretend to mediate. She grabbed her aunt's hands, which were gripping Wang Muxiang's collar.
"Auntie, Auntie, please let go of my mother! She can't breathe! Auntie, please calm down, don't act impulsively, please don't act impulsively!" Song Rumeng pleaded anxiously.
The aunt smiled at Song Rumeng, but what she said was quite frightening: "Mengmeng, don't worry, Auntie isn't impulsive. Auntie just wants to strangle Wang Muxiang."
These words startled Wang Muxiang and Song Rumeng, and the mother and daughter's faces turned very pale.
"Aunt...Auntie..." Song Rumeng's voice was dry and she stammered. She tried to calm herself down before she could finish what she wanted to say.
"Auntie, my mom is just a straightforward person. She doesn't mean any harm, really. You're a good person, so please don't hold it against my mom, okay?"
"Besides... if you really strangled my mother to death, you'd also be charged with murder and have to be taken to the police station for a beating. That's not worth it."
Upon hearing her daughter's words, Wang Muxiang immediately perked up, "Yes, Mengmeng, call the police, call the police."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com