"Eat, eat."
Mother Li busied herself calling out to the courtyard. Her daughter-in-law speaking grand principles, she, an old woman, readily admitted defeat.
The mother and daughters in the courtyard could cry no longer.
Zhao Xiaofang stood in the courtyard with her two daughters, unsure of where to go.
"Come inside to eat?"
"I, I'm dirty. It might be my second period after childbirth," Zhao Xiaofang lowered her head, her voice barely audible.
"We're family, no need for such formality. Hurry inside to eat, and take a bath after. Li Min, go fetch water and get your clothes for your elder sister-in-law to change into."
"Understood." Li Min busied herself with the task.
Zhao Xiaofang was reluctant to enter the main room. "I, I've already entered the courtyard. I'll eat here in the yard."
"So much nonsense." Tian Jing directly dragged her into the house. "Hurry up, you're stinking. Eat and then bathe."
Zhao Xiaofang was pushed to sit by the spacious main hall table.
Daimai pulled her sister to sit beside her mother. Auntie didn't like people who talked too much.
Mother Li and Li Zhengguo came in carrying the dishes and a pot of dough drop soup.
"Daimai, serve your mother some dough drop soup," Tian Jing instructed the capable Daimai.
"Okay."
After serving her mother and sister, Daimai served herself.
Xiaomai drank the dough drop soup with egg swirls, her eyes timidly darting around.
Tian Jing sighed. This Xiaomai had been so frightened that she was afraid even to eat.
At her sigh, Xiaomai immediately put down her bowl in fright.
"Eat," Tian Jing ordered not so gently. "Your mother and elder sister are here, what are you afraid of?"
Daimai held her sister's hand. "This is Third Uncle's house, Xiaomai, don't be afraid."
"Then where is Third Uncle?"
Daimai immediately looked at Mother Li in fright.
Mother Li smiled and coaxed Xiaomai, "Your Third Uncle was lazy and went to heaven to enjoy bliss early."
"Oh." Xiaomai stopped asking questions and lowered her head to continue drinking the dough drop soup her elder sister had pushed towards her.
After the meal, the mother and daughters were all driven to the bathroom to wash, using the large wooden basin in Tian Jing's room.
Tian Jing had never used such a basin. Standing wasn't suitable, and sitting was uncomfortable.
Now, it would be given to someone who could use it habitually.
Under Li Min's guidance, the mother and daughters washed their hair two or three times with shampoo and combed it several times with a fine-tooth comb before they were let go.
Xiaomai smelled the hair of her elder sister and mother. "Fragrant."
The kang had only been heated for ten days, and Tian Jing did not recommend sleeping on it. The bed in the west room was too crowded.
Therefore, Li Zhengguo became the caretaker of the seedlings in the east wing room.
Li Min slept with her elder sister-in-law in the west room, while Zhao Xiaofang slept with her two daughters and Mother Li in the east room.
Zhao Xiaofang was uneasy and wanted to go home, but Tian Jing kept her. "Your life already belongs to me. Your body suddenly recovered, how would you explain it if you went back? My medicine cannot be revealed."
"My medicine is only enough for one life-saving occasion. Whom I save and whom I don't..."
Zhao Xiaofang raised her hand in surrender. "I understand. I'll stay for a few days."
"More than a few days, more than ten days. And we'll see if your husband can still be saved. Otherwise, your own life might still be in danger."
And so, Zhao Xiaofang slept on the bed in the east room with her daughters.
...
Li Rongguo stared at the bloodstain on the kang all night.
Doctor Yang's acupuncture and medicine, even using ginseng slices, still made him shake his head and say there was little hope.
Little hope?
Hope? Did they still have any?
His wife, whom he had been forced by his mother to marry, was obedient and dutifully honored their parents with him.
From the first pregnancy, she had hoped to give birth to a son.
Even after having two daughters, they did not despair, only wishing to have a son. If they had a son, his mother would be happy, and she would like him...
...He heard and saw Daimai's cries and his wife being dragged away from the kang, but he was like a soulless corpse, unable to move.
After his wife was abducted, the large bloodstain on the kang was revealed. How much blood could a person's body hold? His wife was so thin...
Daybreak.
Li Rongguo slowly got up, slowly walked out of the room, and knelt before the main hall door that he could not push open.
Uncle Li tossed and turned all night, thinking of his mother, his third brother, his eldest son, and Zhengguo.
Daybreak.
Uncle Li, whose bones ached from lying down, sat up, sighed, put on his clothes, and got off the kang.
The moment he opened the main hall door, he was startled. "Lao Da, what's wrong with you?"
What startled him was not his eldest son kneeling at the door, but the white hair at his temples.
Li Rongguo kowtowed three times to his father, his forehead bleeding from the blows.
"Father, I know Mother doesn't like me. I've known since I was little, just because Grandma raised me."
"I thought blood ties were unbreakable. I thought as long as I was obedient enough, I would eventually get a smile from her."
"I was wrong. I endured it with my wife and daughters. The more I endured, the less I got what I wanted. Then let it go."
"Father, I only want to ask, did I want to be raised by Grandma from a young age? Why did you place me with Grandma from childhood?"
"Why couldn't you resist Grandma, and instead used me as a tool to get back at her? Whom should I blame? Me, a small child who didn't understand or remember things and couldn't make decisions for myself, whom should I blame?"
"Father, I hate you! I had to obey you and follow Mother's wishes, and at the same time, I hated you, hated you for giving me such a difficult path to grow up."
"You had too many dissatisfactions with Grandma, so I bore the brunt for her. When thinking of filial piety towards elders, there are always unavoidable things that happen, just like you were forced to hand me over to Grandma for upbringing."
"Father, I've suffered enough, haven't I? You disregarded my wishes and used my ignorant young self as a tool for your filial piety and inability to defy elders. At that time, I was ignorant and could not resist."
"You disregarded my wishes and married me to the equally timid Zhao Xiaofang. At that time, I silently endured it. Who I married wasn't important, was it?"
"You disregarded my wishes and put our family into the divided wing room, giving the west room to my younger brother for his wedding. At that time, I thought, I am the eldest, I should be magnanimous."
"Everything you did, disregarding my wishes, for thirty years, isn't it enough?"
"If it's not enough, then I can't do anything about it. I'm tired. I want to leave this home. Even if I have to beg, I don't want to live under Mother's hatred anymore. Father, please let your son leave."
Bang, bang, bang, Li Rongguo continued to kowtow, as if he would continue kowtowing until his father agreed to let him leave.
"Stop, stop kowtowing. Father will let you leave, let you leave..."
"I won't let him!" Aunt Li came out from the east room. "I won't let him, unless I die."
"Get lost!" Uncle Li roared at Aunt Li. "The river has no lid, and there's rope at home. Today, I'm letting Lao Da leave. If you want to die, then die. You've threatened me with death for thirty years, and I'm used to it. If you dare to die, then go, and do it quickly!"
"You? Li Dazuo, you dare speak to me like this? I'll fight you."
Aunt Li lunged at Uncle Li.
Li Rongguo stood up. His father agreed, that was enough. Nothing else mattered.
He wiped his forehead casually and went into the wing room to pack his clothes. Well, his wife's clothes too.
His cousin was very capable, he should be able to save his wife. He needed to prepare clothes for his wife.