Seeing the other party's anxious expression, Jiang Yue really wanted to know the reason, so she reminded him, "Do you know what's going on with the Wang family on the right?"
Wu's face changed, and she clenched her handkerchief between her fingers. "I've heard a little bit about it, but we live so far away, I don't know how much truth there is in the rumor."
"The tragedy in their family was initially caused by relatives coming to stay with them." Although this was not the root cause, it was indeed the trigger.
Jiang Yue saw that she had a liking for the girl next door, so she simply explained it more clearly.
"In a year of disaster, how much food is enough to support relatives? Besides, the relatives who came to their family are useless and only suck blood. This is how they dragged Madam Wang into the abyss step by step."
Jiang Yue finally nodded at the mother and daughter, "Sometimes, you have to refuse decisively when necessary, otherwise, the phrase 'pushing too far' is not used for nothing."
Jiang Nian was a little impatient. He had to say so much just after taking his mint leaves. He was so nagging!
"Come in, it's too hot."
Jiang Yue looked at him with a smile, with sweat dripping from her forehead.
Mrs. Wu was a little embarrassed, then thanked and apologized.
Jiang Yue shook her head, indicating that it was not necessary, and then closed the door and went into the house.
A few words of conversation could be heard faintly, "Son, we can eat pickled vegetable noodles today."
“Are the pickled vegetable noodles delicious?”
"It's just pickled vegetables with noodles, and the ones I make are delicious..."
Seeing her mother's conflicted expression, Fang Lu said, "Mom, we've learned from past experiences. Sister Jiang's warning wasn't without reason. Look at how they sent us away in the end. That's what we should learn. Refuse when you should. Can saving face be eaten? Even if you're soft-hearted, they may not appreciate it."
Mrs. Wu pinched her and said, "Don't talk nonsense, girl! This is your maternal grandfather's house."
"Hiss—" Fang Lu dodged her mother's vicious hand and muttered, "But they took our family's things. We are the closest blood relatives."
Mrs. Wu was choked and wanted to refute, but then she felt that what he said made sense.
Fang Lu is very independent at a young age and can even suppress her mother.
When there were strangers at home, she would not make eye-catching steamed buns, but rather hard multi-grain cakes. And since there were only five of her family, she would say that there was not enough water, so she had to eat it hard.
The Wu family, who claimed they were just staying there and didn't want their son-in-law's family to take care of them, were as black as the bottom of a pot. They had no water or firewood and couldn't start a fire.
Mrs. Wu was so frightened, worried about her parents, that she couldn't eat the cake.
Fang Lu didn't try to persuade her, and instead said, "Mom, if you can't eat more, just split the pancake in half and give it to grandpa and grandma. They're old and can't afford to go hungry."
Wu really took the cake away, but when she came back she was in a daze.
"What's wrong with you, mother? Are your parents happy to accept it and praise you for being filial?"
Wu choked up and said, "They, they shared the bread with their grandson, and then they said, they said I was unfilial, that I was so fussy about even a little bit of water and firewood, and that I had no conscience."
Wu's heart was broken. If she hadn't been thinking about them, what married woman would want to entertain her relatives at a time like this? It was all because her husband was kind-hearted, but now he was being blamed.
Butcher Fang frowned, but said nothing. The more he talked, the more upset his wife felt. He broke the cake in half and said, "Eat it. I'll give you half of mine."
Mrs. Wu shook her head. "No, this pancake is so small, how can it be enough for you?"
Fang Lu took out a pancake from the cupboard and handed it to her. "Mom, don't you understand what I mean? When we have the energy to do so, we can help my grandparents. But we can't even take care of our own family, and you still want to support that whole family?"
"You have to understand that you and we are family. Just like my grandmother only has her two sons in her heart."
When she gets married, it's likely she'll end up like this too. She'll have her own new family, and that'll be her closest family. But she won't be an ungrateful person.
Butcher Fang never expected that the smartest and most thoughtful person in the family was his 12-year-old daughter. He touched her head and felt that she had really grown up.
From that day on, Wu really lived her life with her ears and eyes covered, unaware of the meaning of her parents sighing in her ears all day long.
As soon as they started crying, I cried too, crying for God's blindness, crying for the difficulty of my business, and crying for not being able to get food and water.
The old couple of the Wu family were dumbfounded and could not cry anymore. Their daughter was actually a master...
In the evening, the two families had dinner separately as usual.
Butcher Fang looked at his wife and said cautiously, "A Zheng and I are going to sign up to guard the city gate."
Mrs. Wu's face changed drastically, and Fang Lu also held her father's arm tightly.
"Why would you go? It's so dangerous!"
"The city is under-guarded, but the refugees outside are pouring in wave after wave. If we can't defend the city gates, we can't defend our homes either."
He comforted them, "Don't be afraid. The city is now experienced in dealing with refugees, so there will be no danger. Besides, if the two of us go to defend the city, we can only get three mixed flour buns every day, which will save a lot of food at home!"
Mrs. Wu had no way to refute it, as there was still enough food at home.
In this way, Fang the butcher and his eldest son guarded the city gate every day, sometimes during the day and sometimes at night. Occasionally, he would bring back two extra steamed buns, which greatly reduced the pressure on the family.
Now that the city gates are closed to the public, Jiang Yue can only rely on the tightness of the city guards to judge the situation of the refugees.
"There are more people guarding the city and patrolling." Jiang Nian said after coming down from the roof.
Jiang Yue let out a breath. The energy in her heart had been accumulating, and she didn't know when it would be released.
Three days later, at 9:00 PM, just as I was about to fall asleep, a half-scream suddenly came from next door. It seemed as if the scream was only halfway through when someone covered her mouth.
Jiang Yue and the other person quickly changed their clothes and walked out of the yard.
Jiang Nian climbed up the ladder and came down with a serious expression. He said, "Three people next door have knives and have tied everyone up in the yard. They must be robbers."
Someone broke into the house and robbed it at this time?
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