Chapter 625 - 325: Another Scolding
Seeing everyone’s expressions, Liu’er’s mother was quite pleased with herself. She proclaimed loudly to the crowd, "It’s my own daughter, so of course I’m the one who cares for her most. I was thinking I couldn’t just keep troubling the Li Family, so I wanted to bring Liu’er home to recover. I’ll butcher a few chickens to help her regain her strength. She’ll get better faster that way, won’t she?"
Li Changliang had long since run out of patience. He felt there was no use speaking nicely to this woman; she only understood being yelled at. So, ignoring the fact that she was now his mother-in-law, he pointed at her and cursed, "You old hag! You just can’t go a single day without stirring up trouble, can you? What’s the use of spouting all that nonsense? No matter how you spin it, Liu’er used to eat and drink the best, but when she came to our home, she had one foot in the grave! Now Liu’er is with my family, and we’ve nursed her back to being alive and kicking. What business is it of yours what I feed her? Even if I fed her corn paste, as long as she gets better, that’s all that matters. Who needs you to come here and show off? Things were going fine until you came and made a scene. Now she’s all upset again. Are you even human?"
Granny Hua staunchly supported her youngest son, adding with a smug boast of her own, "Take her home, butcher a chicken for her so she’ll get better faster? I think she’d die faster! Let me tell you, that won’t work. Who hasn’t butchered a chicken? We did it on the very first day. It was useless. She has to eat congee!"
Liu’er’s mother’s face turned beet red from the scolding.
Anyone who wasn’t blind could see that Liu’er’s health had improved. But she would rather die than believe it was from eating congee. And yet, Li Changliang’s words were impossible to refute—after all, Liu’er ate so well at the Tang family’s home, but it never cured her illness! For her to get better right after coming to the Li Family was just too strange.
The neighbors were also curious and all started asking Granny Hua what was going on.
How would Granny Hua know what was really going on? She just stuck to her story that eating congee was what cured her.
The Zhang family lived next to the Li Family. He had already heard Liu’er’s mother blustering to people about how Juhua had eaten Liu’er’s Ni Qiu, and when Liu’er wanted another bowl, Juhua had coaxed her by saying she’d get tired of it if she ate too much. He was reeling with anger.
She dropped what she was doing, ran to the Li Family’s main gate, and yelled into the courtyard, "Juhua, are you meddling again? Why can’t you just stay home instead of running over here to cook this and that for people, only to get no thanks for it? Even if you’re doing it for Changliang and Liu’er’s sake, just think about that mother of hers! You shouldn’t have come over yourself. You could have just told Meizi what to do and been done with it. Why did you have to eat Ni Qiu here? Didn’t Huai Zi just catch a bunch of Ni Qiu and Huang Shan yesterday? To stir up such a stink over a bowl of Ni Qiu and get yelled at on their doorstep—aren’t you just asking for trouble?"
Li Changliang’s face darkened. He shot an angry glare at Liu’er’s mother. "We were eating our own Ni Qiu, what’s it to you?" Then he turned to He and said, "I’m so sorry, Auntie! Juhua was just trying to help Liu’er, going to all this trouble. Please don’t be angry. Everyone knows Juhua’s family and her in-laws both have fish ponds, why would she care about a single bowl of Ni Qiu? She’s even brought over plenty of sliced fish these past few days; I’ve been keeping track. Only someone with a bad brain would be so petty and assume everyone else is a freeloader like her."
Hearing this, Liu’er’s mother was so furious her vision went black. She nearly went berserk, but Sun Jinshan grabbed her and held her back.
He pursed her lips and said, "Of course I want Liu’er to get better, too. I just told Juhua she should have told Meizi what to do instead of coming over herself. That way, she could avoid running into certain people and getting grief for it. See? Didn’t it happen anyway?"
The members of the Li Family all grew awkward.
Just then, an embarrassed Juhua shuffled out, tugging on He’s arm and whispering, "Ma, let’s go home and eat. I’m not full yet." She, too, felt that today had been terribly unlucky. He was right; it was a case of getting dragged through the mud over a bowl of Ni Qiu soup.
He glared at her and said, "Their food is so much better, is it? The grass is always greener on the other side, huh? Did you enjoy getting a good scolding? Feel better now?" With that, she took Juhua’s arm and turned to go home.
Meanwhile, Sun Jinshan ignored the women’s squabbling. He was only concerned with what Li Changliang had said about Liu’er being alive and kicking now. He turned to Liu’er’s mother and asked gravely, "Is Liu’er better?"
Liu’er’s mother glanced at Li Changliang. In the end, she didn’t dare to lie. She hesitated for a moment before nodding. "She looks much better. She has more energy, and she’s talking and laughing."
Sun Jinshan nodded, then turned to Li Changliang. "Changliang, please take good care of Liu’er. She hasn’t had many good days in her life, so please dote on her more from now on. When we get home, I’ll make sure to keep her mother in line and not let her come bother you all again."
Seeing his sincerity, Li Changliang felt he couldn’t just ignore him, but he couldn’t bring himself to be friendly either. He simply nodded and said, "She’s my wife. Of course I’ll dote on her. You don’t need to tell me that."
Sun Jinshan didn’t say another word. He grabbed his wife and left without looking back.
Liu’er leaned against her bed, listening blankly to the commotion outside.