Chapter 12

Chen Xiaomi shouted from behind: "Sister-in-law, wait for me, I'll go with you."

Seeing her own mother and aunt go out, Chen Zitong blinked her big eyes and stared unblinkingly at her father's liver-colored face.

Chen Gaoyuan pondered for a moment and said to his youngest daughter: "Don't tell your sister about this."

Chen Zitong pouted: "Daddy, it's useless for you to just instruct me. Aunt and Mom will definitely fan the flames in front of sister.

If you don't believe me, just wait and see.

This is a golden opportunity to add fuel to the fire, stir up trouble, and cause obstruction."

Chen Gaoyuan, who was glorious outside, felt a headache as soon as he encountered family matters; there wasn't a single person from top to bottom who didn't cause him worry.

As for what his wife and several sisters were really thinking, Chen Gaoyuan couldn't be clearer; it was nothing more than wanting to completely cut off his eldest daughter's thoughts about Li Heng.

…

Across the way, the old Li family.

Thinking that she and her husband had been eating meat at the Chen family for several days, Tian Run'e began to feel sorry for her children. So she took a kitchen knife, climbed onto the stove, and planned to cut some bacon for dinner to stir-fry a meat dish with garlic sprouts and tofu to help the two siblings improve their lives.

But as soon as she looked up, hmm? She discovered something wrong. Why had the pork leg meat and the pork belly changed positions?

Also, why was this pork belly a section shorter?

Tian Run'e is a very meticulous person. Usually, how much rice is in the rice jar, how long the thread is in the house, how many cabbages are in the field, etc. —she has never made a mistake in all these years of managing the household.

Not to mention this bacon, one of the few things in the house that could be exchanged for money; it was simply her lifeline, how could she not remember clearly?

Her gaze wandered between the two pieces of bacon a few times. A moment later, she switched the kitchen knife from her right hand to her left, and then used her right thumb to scrape the cross-section of the pork belly.

Sure enough, when the soot was wiped off, a white, fresh cut was revealed inside.

Staring blankly at the pork belly that was a section shorter, Tian Run'e suddenly felt a blockage in her heart. She then got off the stove to get some soot and restored the bacon to its original state.

Arriving at the backyard, Tian Run'e quietly asked Li Jianguo, who was feeding water to the cow: "Jianguo, did you touch the bacon?"

"What bacon?"

Li Jianguo turned around, reacted, and asked anxiously: "Did the bacon in the house get lost?"

Tian Run'e shook her head and immediately told him about her discovery just now.

After listening, Li Jianguo fell silent.

After a long while, he said sadly: "Erbao must have been craving it terribly."

Tian Run'e held the same view.

The couple didn't think about theft, because if it were the work of a thief, it wouldn't be as simple as losing a section of bacon; it should have been losing the whole piece.

Dinner was unexpectedly rich, with chive river shrimp and double-sided golden fried tofu.

There was also a flat bowl of bacon ribs.

Whew! These were all things Li Heng loved to eat. He filled a bowl of rice, shoveled a few chopsticks of river shrimp and tofu on top, and buried his head to eat it in big mouthfuls.

They were all family, so there was no need to be too particular; he ate as comfortably as he could, swallowing two big bowls of sweet potato rice in one breath, filling his stomach to the brim.

This was the most satisfying meal he had eaten since his rebirth. Touching his round, round belly, it felt extremely solid.

It's a pity that the only fly in the ointment was the sweet potato rice. He was truly sick of this stuff; he really didn't like eating it. If only it could be replaced with white rice.

After suffering through 20 days of bitter days, he now recognized the facts. Not to mention facing the sea, as long as there is white rice for every meal and meat for every meal, that is spring blossoms.

After dinner, the second sister magically took out a bag of five-spice melon seeds that cost one dime. She just glanced at her brother, didn't call him, and just sat on the threshold and started cracking them by herself.

Honestly, if it weren't for seeing Li Heng's good performance these days, she wouldn't even have glanced at him. In the past, she was used to eating alone.

At this time, Tian Run'e suddenly asked Li Jianguo, "Jianguo, did you eat sweet wine? Why is the sweet wine missing two bowls?"

Missing two bowls?

Didn't the second sister only steal one bowl of sweet wine that night? When did she sneakily finish another bowl?

Li Heng subconsciously looked at the second sister.

Receiving his gaze, Li Lan turned her head away expressionlessly, but her right hand didn't stop, continuing to send melon seeds into her mouth.

Just seeing her upper lip and lower lip touch like that, pia! A melon seed shell was spat on the ground.

Pia! Another melon seed shell fell neatly on the ground.

Seeing this look from Manzai, Li Jianguo understood everything. He knew his wife was acting to warn others, warning Erbao not to eat sweet wine again, fearing her stomach illness would recur.

Li Jianguo smiled and agreed: "I couldn't control my mouth for a moment and ate a bit too much."

One thing wasn't finished, and Tian Run'e brought up another: "The 20 yuan under the pillow is gone. Did you take that too?"

Hearing this, Li Heng's gaze moved down and landed on the second sister's palm, on the five-spice melon seeds.

Li Lan ignored him, turned her head a bit more, and continued cracking melon seeds as if nothing had happened.

Li Jianguo's peripheral vision followed his second daughter, and he continued to cover for her: "When I was tidying the bed this morning, I found 20 yuan on the ground. I picked it up. Because I was busy with Grandma Chun's affairs, I forgot to tell you for a moment."

As he spoke, he counted out two 10-yuan notes from his inner pocket and handed them to his wife.

Tian Run'e took the money, put it into her clothes pocket, and then said to her husband: "Just finished eating, I'll accompany you for a walk. You can't sit for long with your body."

"Eh, good."

For a time, the deeply affectionate couple left and went for a walk along the road.

Li Heng didn't want to be an eyesore either, so he sensibly went to the single room on the second floor to continue writing "To Live."

It was only 600 words away from 40,000 total; he had to finish it today.

Returning from the walk at night, seeing no one in the main hall, Tian Run'e entered her own bedroom for the first time and checked the pillow.

Sure enough, just as she expected, two big "ten-yuan" notes were lying on the bed sheet.

The banknotes were a bit old, and there were blue ballpoint pen marks on them; they must have passed through many owners.

Bending down to pick up the money, Tian Run'e said to her husband who followed her in: "A few days ago, she took a fancy to a set of clothes and told me she wanted to buy it. It cost 16 yuan.

At that time, I thought that the two siblings would need a large sum of money for school soon, and the money wasn't enough, so I didn't agree."

At this point, she paused, and tears suddenly filled her eye sockets, "Erbao once complained to me, saying that the female classmates in her class were all dressed beautifully, but she was the one dressed the worst..."

As she spoke, Tian Run'e couldn't go on. Her heart ached, and she sobbed on her husband's shoulder.

Li Jianguo held his wife with his left hand and gently patted her back with his right. While comforting his wife, he couldn't hold back either, and his eye corners became moist.

At this moment, his mood was extremely unpleasant, full of sadness, full of guilt, and he secretly hated himself for being useless.

Not only did he fail his beautiful wife, letting her become a yellow-faced woman exposed to the sun and rain, but he also failed his three children, who couldn't eat well or dress well, and suffered with him.

PS: The village section has come to an end, the early foreshadowing is almost done, and a new journey will start soon. (Seeking follow-reads, the trial push is on Sunday, follow-reads are related to the fate of this book, please help, big bosses)

(End of chapter)