The room was left with only Li's mother and Tian Jing, Tian Jing's complexion was not good, and Li's mother became nervous as if she had made a mistake.
Looking at the nervous Li's mother, Tian Jing refused to be soft-hearted, "You should know that your body cannot withstand such loud noises, yet you still tolerate others too much. Your tolerance increases the burden on your body, and it also increases the burden on your children."
"The family is already this poor, and you cannot be left alone. This entire family relies on Li Zhengguo to support it. No matter how many work points you earn in the production team, it's not enough for you to get sick once."
"I just don't understand, why do you worry and fret like this every day? Do money and food appear just by you thinking and worrying about them?"
"By doing this, what can you gain besides a few words of sympathy from others?"
"Not only does it affect your children's marriages, but it also causes them to be disliked by their in-laws after marriage. No one wants in-laws who are always sick and frail."
"Truly, I look down on people like you the most, who torture their relatives with their own bodies."
After speaking, Tian Jing left the east room, not caring what she thought. She would vent her frustration first.
Lin Daiyu's disposition was what she disliked the most. Moaning without cause made her insides burn and her seven orifices smoke. If she didn't try to change it, she worried that in the coming days, she would send this mother-in-law to see the Buddha prematurely.
Li's siblings also heard Tian Jing's words.
After the incident this morning, Li Min was too embarrassed to target Tian Jing again. After all, she was blind and had been led around by Zhang Fangcao for three years.
Li Zhengguo, on the other hand, was thinking about the differences between his past and present lives. In his past life, Tiantian hadn't said these words, but instead, he would occasionally accuse his mother of faking illness to gain sympathy.
Li's mother lay on the warm kang, smiling through tears. No one had ever spoken to her like this before. She should pull herself together.
Ever since her husband left, she had been complaining and living aimlessly. Now and in the future, she would live for her two children.
Tian Jing poured the wild vegetables from the back basket, intending to sort them out before washing them.
Seeing this, Li Zhengguo picked up the water buckets and went to fetch water.
Li Min slowly moved to Tian Jing's side, "I... I'll sort them too."
Tian Jing looked up and saw her awkwardness and fawning, then lowered her head to continue sorting the wild vegetables.
"Sort them, it'll be faster if we do it together. Later, blanch the sow thistle and mix it with cornmeal, add a little saltwater, and pour it into the dough. With vegetables and salty flavor, you won't need to make a separate dish."
"That's right, how did I not think of that? This saves both firewood and time." Li Min's tone carried a hint of fawning.
"Mm," Tian Jing nodded indifferently, "Separate the shepherd's purse, and make shepherd's purse soup."
"Okay, I'll listen to you."
Li Min happily agreed, feeling that Tian Jing's arrangement was much better than her usual three dishes.
"Listen to me?" Tian Jing said sarcastically, "Don't you listen to your Sister Fangcao?"
"Uh." Li Min was so embarrassed that she wished she could find a hole to crawl into.
Tian Jing glanced at her flushed face and decided not to argue with her, as she was several years older than her in terms of psychological age.
The matter of exchanging brides must have been instigated by Zhang Fangcao.
Zhang Fangcao's goal was none other than to prevent Li Min from finding a good husband. She herself had not married out of the mountains, and if Li Min married out, her life would be better than hers.
Exchange brides were like child brides, disliked by their in-laws.
Thinking of the temperament of the Tian family, Tian Jing shook her head. With Li Min's temper, she would be used as a pawn in the Tian family.
In her past life, after being driven away from her maternal home by the original owner, what happened to her, the original owner had not cared about.
The two silently sorted the vegetables, and Li Zhengguo's return with a load of water broke the silence.
Li Min rushed to wash the vegetables.
Tian Jing did not compete. She had no intention of washing vegetables or cooking.
She commanded Li Zhengguo, who had returned with another load of water, "Go and carry your mother out to get some sun."
"Okay," Li Zhengguo replied softly. He would do as Tiantian said. The sun was good today.
Li Min anxiously grabbed her elder brother, "Mother can't be exposed to the wind."
Li Zhengguo looked at Tian Jing.
Tian Jing rolled her eyes at the siblings, not wanting to deal with these two fools. But thinking that she would still live in the Li family for the next few years, she could only explain to the fools.
"Appropriate sun exposure can obtain vitamin D, promote the absorption of calcium and phosphorus, be beneficial for children's growth and development, and can prevent infantile rickets and osteomalacia."
"For the elderly, sun exposure can prevent osteoporosis and arthritis. The ultraviolet rays in sunlight have a certain bactericidal effect, accelerate metabolism, enhance immunity, and prevent skin diseases."
"Sun exposure can also stimulate the bone marrow to produce red blood cells and prevent anemia. Can crops live without sunlight? Your mother's body has become weaker and weaker because you always say 'no' to this and 'no' to that."
Malnutrition and being denied the chance to feel the wind and sun could kill even the most resilient grass.
Under Tian Jing's disdainful gaze, Li Min let go of her elder brother's hand, "You go carry mother, I'll move the sunbed."
Li Min bustled about, spreading a mat on the sunbed, and then covering the mat with a double-layered thin quilt.
After Li Zhengguo placed Li's mother on the sunbed, Li Min quickly took the other thin quilt in her hands and covered her mother, then looked at Tian Jing, "Is this okay?"
Tian Jing glanced at the headscarf on Li's mother's head and said indifferently, "Sunning the top of the head and the back of the neck is sufficient."
Li's mother was bathed in sunlight, feeling as if the pores all over her body were opening up to absorb the long-lost sunshine. Hearing Tian Jing's words, she unhesitatingly pulled off her headscarf.
"Mother?" Li Min was a little worried. Her mother really couldn't be exposed to the wind; she would get a headache if she was.
"Don't worry," Li's mother felt the warmth on her head, "I feel warm all over. I haven't felt this warm in a long time."
"But Mother..."
Li Min still wanted to persuade her, but Tian Jing was impatient. She got up, snatched the headscarf from Li's mother's hand, folded the already diagonally folded headscarf a few times into a palm-wide strip, stood behind Li's mother, tied it to Li's mother's forehead, and then gave Li Min a contemptuous look.
"You only know 'no' to this and 'no' to that. Are the shoulders on your head pig heads? So stupid. When you go to the Tian family, you'll be eaten until not even your bones are left."
Li Min flinched. She had always thought that living with her in-laws would be like living in her own home. Her family of three was often mocked and bullied.
If it weren't for the help of her cousin's family, her family would have had an even harder time. She thought that with more people in the Tian family, there would be more strength, and their lives would surely be better than hers.
Hearing Li Min's words, Tian Jing sneered, "More people, more strength? More people, more trouble. More people also means more mouths to feed."
"Sister-in-law~" Li Min looked at Tian Jing with pleading eyes.
"Tiantian~" Li's mother also looked at Tian Jing with pleading eyes.
Tian Jing surrendered. She was someone who yielded to gentleness, not to hardness.
Unable to bear the gaze of this mother and daughter, and feeling that chatting while sunning was the most comfortable and pleasant thing, she relented.