Chapter 13: Bullied

Su Li immediately took off one shoe and threw it at the second son, who was asking if the food was good.

“I told you to eat! Why are you always thinking about food!”

“Mom—why are you hitting me! Who said I’m just thinking about eating? I’m thinking about my wife too!”

“Mom—hit me, but don’t hit my wife!”

Hit you?

Fine, I’ll satisfy you!

Su Li took off the other shoe and threw it swiftly.

“Fifth son, pick those up for me.”

“Alright!”

Cheng Junguo hurried over and retrieved both shoes.

“Mom, put them on quickly; the ground is so cold. I’ll get you a stick!”

“Fifth son, go stand aside!”

The second and fifth sons immediately started bickering, making Su Li’s head buzz.

“Everyone shut up! If you keep arguing, none of you come back unless you earn at least twelve centimeters!”

No more noise.

Su Li looked around the courtyard. Each person had their own flaws, some more obvious than others.

“Cook the food already. What are you all waiting for? Waiting for me to feed you?”

The formidable Su Li was back in charge, and the people in the yard sprang into action.

Before long, Da Niu arrived with Doctor Mao to give Li Meilan some medicine. Su Li paid three mao.

Doctor Mao felt a bit incredulous holding the money. Hadn’t Su Old Madam always bought on credit in the past?

Clutching the three mao, Doctor Mao was momentarily stunned but mustered courage.

“Miss Su, shall we settle the old debts?”

The one who owes money is the master, and the one who owes and won’t be reasonable is an ancestor.

Su Old Madam was a true battle-hardened ancestor!

Old debts?

Su Li dug through her memory and recalled that was indeed the case.

“Okay, go back and total it up, then tell me the amount—”

“Eight yuan, seventy-three cents.”

Doctor Mao spoke quickly, then added, “I just tallied it yesterday, remember that.”

Su Li smirked inwardly. This guy probably thought about money every day to the point of obsession.

If this were modern times, those few words would have been memorized as a bank password.

“Alright, I’ll get you the money.”

Su Li paid, and Doctor Mao drifted out of the Cheng household. On the way, he was asked by some neighbors.

“What’s going on at the old Cheng’s? Heard them shouting early this morning.”

Doctor Mao spoke of Li Meilan’s diarrhea.

“You can’t just say things like that; saying it makes it come true.”

“Old Mao probably didn’t get paid again. If you ask me, if the old madam tells you to go, you just don’t.”

“Exactly, that old madam is so stingy—”

“No, he got paid.”

Doctor Mao’s words made the gossiping aunts disbelieve him, but he didn’t bother explaining; as long as the money was in his pocket, it was fine.

The Cheng family’s morning started in such a chaotic bustle. Just as Cheng Jundong returned, it was time for breakfast.

The whole family sat down, and in front of Cheng Jundong was a bowl of steamed meat.

Cheng Jundong looked at Su Li, who didn’t meet his gaze and said lightly, “Yesterday we had big bones; this is the meat from half the bones, steamed with some soy sauce and chopped scallions for you.”

“Eat.”

That simple invitation stirred Cheng Jundong’s mind: his mother cared about him.

He was reluctant to eat, wanting to share with the children. Su Li disagreed and placed the bowl firmly on the table with a clang.

“What do you mean share? They all ate yesterday. If you, a grown man, don’t have some nourishment, how can you work in the fields? If you can’t work, are you waiting for my old lady to do it?”

Others might say: if you want the horse to run, you have to feed the horse; the eldest son’s destiny is to work hard!

But Cheng Jundong chuckled, hearing it as: Mom specially saved it for you.

“I’ll eat.”

There were only a few bites of meat, and Cheng Jundong finished it in two mouthfuls.

Su Li picked up her rice bowl again, scooped a small spoonful of rendered fat mixed it into the rice with some chopped scallions and a bit of soy sauce—simple but delicious.

“Second son’s wife, you really can’t eat it? Just look, smell it. If you can’t, at least don’t smell too much.”

Li Meilan was so tempted she almost cried. Doctor Mao told her not to eat anything yet. She could have stayed lying in the room but stubbornly got up the moment Su Li started cooking the rice.

“Mom, I won’t eat the fat, but can I at least eat some plain rice?”

Su Li shook her head.

“That won’t do. If you eat and then just go to the toilet, you won’t absorb any nutrition. It’s a waste!”

“Wife, Mom is right. If you eat, it’s really a waste. I’ll eat your share for you!”

The second son, Cheng Junnan, said this, and Li Meilan stared at him.

Just when everyone thought she would be angry, Li Meilan spoke.

“You’re right, husband! We wasted the big bones yesterday. It pains me to see it.”

The family all showed expressions of disdain. No wonder these two made a perfect couple.

Su Li deliberately took out the remaining rice at home and steamed it. The entire morning, the family ate rice mixed with rendered fat, the aroma intoxicating.

Li Meilan, through her drooling and tears, learned a lesson: no stealing the fat.

Breakfast finished, the family went to work fully satisfied.

The meals these days were truly excellent.

Su Li continued making mooncakes at home. Today, it was the eldest son’s turn to cook, but since Miao Xiaocao wouldn’t come back for lunch, the eldest and second daughters came back to cook.

Thinking of the eldest and second daughters who weren’t yet in school, Su Li planned to send them once the autumn harvest was over.

“Nai.”

“Nai.”

The eldest and second daughters returned.

Su Li looked up to see her two granddaughters with grass leaves and dirt in their hair. They lowered their heads and sidled past her.

“Stop right there!”

The two girls froze. The second daughter clenched her tiny fists, sure that Grandma would scold them again.

But they hadn’t done anything wrong.

The eldest daughter tugged the second daughter and gently shook her head. The second daughter pouted stubbornly, tears brimming in her eyes.

“Grandma—we were wrong.”

The eldest daughter looked up and admitted fault immediately.

Su Li noticed the bruises on her face.

“I haven’t even heard what happened, why admit fault so quickly?”

“Tell me everything from beginning to end.”

The second daughter lifted her head. This was the first time Grandma hadn’t immediately scolded them for being no-good or wild, or said they should have been drowned at birth.

The second daughter, hot-tempered and already discontented, could not hold back any longer.

“Tie Dan blocked our way, snatched our mooncakes, and when we wouldn’t give them up, we fought!”

“I bit Tie Dan hard, didn’t lose!”

“But the mooncakes got smashed.”

The second daughter stuck out her neck with a face full of sorrow. Though they picked up and ate the broken pieces, it still hurt—it was such a big piece!

Su Li looked at the little warrior second daughter, then at the downcast eldest daughter.

“Tell me.”

“Grandma, the mooncakes were given to us by Dad. We didn’t take your mooncakes.”

Su Li looked at the eldest daughter’s explanation and felt a pang of sadness.

“I believe you!”

Those two words stunned the eldest and second daughters. It was the first time Grandma said she believed them.

“Alright, go cook now.”

The two girls, cheered by those words, happily went to prepare the meal.

“So easily satisfied. Must be because they’ve gotten so little,” Su Li muttered as she got up, taking two eggs for the eldest daughter to boil.

Soon, the meal was ready. Su Li took the eggs and gently rubbed the bruises on the eldest and second daughters’ faces.

“Eat up. Today, Grandma will come with you to deliver the food.”

You can’t just bully your granddaughters and let it go so easily.