Chapter 56:
“San Mao, how can you two treat your mother like this?”
Old Li Tou’s dry, raspy tobacco voice finally appeared from behind.
Tobacco pouch never leaving his mouth, sparks flickering in the darkness…
“Look at you all, what time is it now, and you’re only just coming back?”
Luo Zhi’er spoke bluntly: “Dad, you used to come back pretty late too! Were you out playing as well?”
She was nearly exhausted to death, yet still putting on airs, damn it…
“Cough… We used to come back late before, but not as late as you all.”
“Then you took a cart, but I and San Mao walked, and we still had to go sell things…”
Old Li Tou looked at her build; for this one to walk there and back would indeed be quite difficult, so she probably wasn’t lying…
“Let’s drop this matter, but what you did to your mother just now was wrong, Dad saw it all!”
He also felt the old woman was being a bit unreasonable, her nagging piercing, but after all, she was his mother.
How could children just watch their mother in trouble, coldly standing by unmoved, not even lending a hand?
If something happened to him in the future, would they treat him just as coldly?
Also, the third daughter-in-law was cursing them as stinking dog farts just now?
Cough…
Li Sanmao said flatly: “Dad, Mother went to crash into people herself, no one pushed her, so surely you can’t forbid my wife from dodging?”
“This… this, she’s so fat, how could she fall from there? Your mother is old and thin, it wouldn’t happen.”
“Hehe…” Luo Zhi’er sneered coldly…
A shameless person is invincible under heaven; a tree without bark will surely die.
Old Li Tou embarrassedly took a puff of smoke…
“Grabbing that thorn was her own doing too, so no one else can be blamed.”
“But… she is your mother, how could you just watch her fall, get pricked by thorns, and remain unmoved?”
These words hit Zhou Shi right in her wiles, and she instantly began to wail dryly, slapping her thigh: “I really have a suffering life, my daughter-in-law secretly harms her mother-in-law, and my son is just the same, conniving.”
“Fat as a ball, yet treated like a precious treasure! Why don’t you tie her to your body?”
“Old man, we’ve really raised a white-eyed wolf; he just wishes his own mother would drop dead right in front of him!”
“That would fulfill you people’s wishes, wouldn’t it make things easier?”
Li Sanmao was expressionless,
“Mother, don’t wail like that; how I’ve treated you, you know very well in your own heart!”
Zhou Shi was choked by Li Sanmao, her breath stuck in her chest, feeling far from good…
Li Sanmao had always quietly done the work in this home, not talking much usually, but his temperament was hard to grasp, not as easy to read as the oldest brother.
“If you feel I, Li Sanmao, haven’t treated you well enough, and you keep causing trouble and quarreling for me and Miaomiao’s mother every day, then from now on I won’t treat you like before…”
“What?”
Zhou Shi was dumbfounded! How could it be like this? She just felt he hadn’t listened to her at all.
What mind-bending potion had this Luo Zhi’er fed Li Sanmao?
No appearance to speak of, no needlework skills, tiger-headed and chubby…
“You unfilial thing…”
Li Sanmao turned to look at the surprised Old Man Li,
“Dad, you saw it too; there’s a stone cliff over two meters high behind Miaomiao’s mother, how could she fall down without anything happening?”
“Miaomiao’s mother is fat; you all know what happens if she falls. With Mother charging like that, humph, I can’t help but doubt Mother’s motive.”
“You dumb fool, what mother would have a motive against her own son’s wife? Have you lost your brain?”
Zhou Shi wailed dryly…
“Cough… Nonsense! Your mother is old, her eyesight poor, it’s dark, she forgot about that fork in the path, that’s why she crashed over.”
“You’re petty, not letting bygones be bygones; let’s drop this matter!”
Old Li Tou began to play peacemaker…
“Heh, Dad, isn’t this just relying on age to act superior?”
Luo Zhi’er snorted coldly!
Old Li Tou was embarrassed,
“Hey, third daughter-in-law, that’s not how you talk; after all, she’s your man’s mother, your mother-in-law. A woman takes her husband as heaven, children must be filial, that’s only natural; you have to respect your mother-in-law no matter what.”
“Tch, that’s for other ignorant women. I, Luo Zhi’er, have died once and figured it out; staying subservient at home before got me nothing good.”
“From now on, I won’t be like a bun letting people bully me, letting you bully my daughter.”
“What?”
Old Man Luo was speechless; what was going on lately, had the world turned upside down? Could she really have been knocked sensible in the river?
“Respect is earned by doing things worthy of respect; you hit my daughter and tried to crash me to death, and I should still respect you?”
“Hehe, Dad, if it were you—not to mention others—if your wife hurt you, would you still love and cherish her from the heart?”
“Uh… this, she… she’s still your mother-in-law.” Stammering for a long time, still that killer line…
This gave him a shock too; these children had grown up, could tell good from bad now—had they seen through all their previous deeds?
Zhou Shi’s eyes darted, shrilly dissatisfied,
“Me acting like this, isn’t it because you unworthy descendants drove me muddled with anger! I have a suffering life!”
“San Mao, you should have pulled your mother just now.”
Old Li Tou thought it over, still wanting to set him straight, using this mistake to rebuke him, lest he be hard to control later.
“Your mother got pricked; as her son, you should at least step forward to care.”
Li Sanmao expressionless, said, “Dad, Mother failed to crash into Miaomiao’s mother but pricked her own hand instead; don’t you find that laughable?”
“I walked all day, my feet are twisted too, and I carried a bamboo basket of smoked meat the whole way, heavy, tiring, inconvenient!”
“Uh… cough…”
He hadn’t thought of that fork.
When did this San Mao get smart enough to make excuses?
Zhou Shi: “…What? You didn’t sell this meat?”
This was the key point; hearing it, she jumped in fury again: “You two wandered outside all day, coming back at this hour, meat unsold; tell me, what exactly did you do?”
Li Sanmao was about to say they’d gone to sell termite mushroom oil when Luo Zhi’er coldly spoke first,
“What we did? You’ll know soon enough. Never mind my head for now; let’s talk about how you’re settling the matter of beating Miaomiao?”
How had this Luo Zhi’er gotten smart too, countering him on this; his head spun with two big headaches, Old Li Tou hurriedly explained,
“Miaomiao’s matter was her feeding the pig to death; your mother was angry—that pig costs two taels of silver to buy, and fed for so long, how could your mother not be angry?”
This matter made him angry too, eyes flashing with fury; he inwardly blamed Miaomiao too—how could she not even recognize pig feed and feed the pig poisonous grass to death!
“Heh! You adults were all home, not gathering pig feed, and on such a hot day, you sent a little young maid like Miaomiao? She’s so small; what if she encounters a snake or gets heatstroke?”
“No need to be that delicate; your mother had a headache, lay in bed all day, still had to cook…”
“Your eldest sister-in-law wasn’t feeling well…”
Zhou Shi had nagged all day at home; that Xiao Zhou Shi hadn’t gotten out of bed at all, door shut tight, courting death.
Surely couldn’t expect him, an old man, to go gather pig feed?
“Fine, if that’s how it is, she went to gather it, but you blame her for mistaking pig feed and feeding the pig poisonous grass—so did the pig eat poisonous grass, or was it already sick?”
Because Luo Zhi’er recalled the past few days when Zhou Shi kept sending her to feed the pigs.
Hadn’t she long planned to make her the scapegoat? After all, Li Sanmao was currently the biggest earner of silver in this home; even selling a wild boar from the mountain would barely match half a domestic pig.
“Dad, I’m just asking, what if Miaomiao encounters a poisonous snake?”
Old Li Tou was momentarily stunned; just a little girl, if she could help with work at home, good for her, no need to be that delicate.
“You adults all find it hot, afraid of heatstroke, lying at home, and you sent a five-year-old young maid like Miaomiao to gather pig feed, yet call her delicate?”
“Cough…” Old Li Tou coughed violently…
“You explain clearly: what poisonous grass did this pig eat to die?”
“This, this, how would we know? Wasn’t it Miaomiao that dead girl who fed the pig the pig feed? Ask her!”
Zhou Shi chimed in.
Heh! After all that, no evidence, yet framing her Miaomiao!
“Humph! If I find out today how the pig really died, and it’s not Miaomiao’s fault, I won’t let the matter of you beating Miaomiao rest!”
“What? I’m her grandma; she did wrong, so what if I beat her? Won’t let it rest— you gonna beat me?”
“Daring to threaten me now?”
“That’s right; whoever beat her, I’ll beat them, and I’ll go seek justice before the village chief and the two clan leaders in the village!”
“But beating someone like you, I’d still think it dirties my hands!”
Zhou Shi was in disbelief; she dared?
What was wrong with this family? In just a few days, everything had turned upside down?
“If my daughter errs, I as her mother will discipline her; what business is it of others?”
“My daughter isn’t your punching bag! Scapegoat!”
These old things didn’t know restraint in hitting; look what they’d done to her? Causing psychological shadows, what if it ruins her appearance in the future?
“I’ll dirty your hands! I’ll make you call me an outsider! This little hussy has rebelled and dares to tattle!”
If she didn’t give her a taste, she’d think I really feared her.
Beat her once and she’d behave! Saying so, she raised the bamboo strip in her hand to hit her.
Luo Zhi’er’s eyes flashed; seeing Old Li Tou standing opposite saying nothing, she hugged her head and bolted thief-fast straight toward him!
While running, she shouted: “Help! My mother-in-law is hitting people! Mother-in-law is hitting people!!!”
Li Sanmao with his bamboo basket on his back was still anxious… “Wife!”
Old Li Tou hadn’t reacted yet to what was happening when third daughter-in-law Luo Zhi’er ran right past him, even pulling him around…
Then this bamboo strip came crashing down on his face: “Ouch, you old woman, you trying to get yourself killed!”
Clutching his face, it hurt so much he panicked! “Stop your hand, damn it!”
