Chapter 5 - 005 Injured Rabbit Meat
Li Xianglu felt as if piercing pain brought her back to consciousness; it felt like her back was being jabbed with a needle, the pain nearly making her bite off her tongue. She reached her hand towards her back, only to be quickly subdued by someone. Soon, she distinctly felt someone sewing up her back with a needle and thread.
Following that was a sensation of searing heat, as if on fire, tormenting her until she felt dead or alive. Then, she smelled the scent of alcohol—the searing pain was from alcohol!
Who was this beast, daring to sprinkle alcohol on her wound... Once she regained consciousness, she would never forgive them... These were the thoughts that drifted through Li Xianglu's mind as she slipped back into unconsciousness.
It was unclear how much time had passed before Li Xianglu woke again amid a clamor—the angry berating of an elderly woman: "Are you even this child's real mother? How could you be so heartless? She's flesh of your own flesh, yet you could harm her so?!" The old woman's voice broke into sobs as she spoke.
Then, the familiar voice of Ge Sanmei was heard: "This child was also carried by me for ten months and given birth to. How could I not hurt seeing her suffer like this? In that moment, I too was desperate. This child has a sweet tooth as well, and she just went and ate the flour set aside for her second brother. Mom, you know that in the Li family, it's only the second brother who has a little bit of an education and is expected to have a rationed supply in future. That bit of flour was painstakingly saved from the food left over by the commune cadres in July. It's not meant for a mere girl to consume."
No sooner had these words been spoken than Li Jianqing's voice rose: "Mom, how can you talk nonsense like this? What noodles? I had my bowl of noodles tossed with hot oil, and I left the second brother's portion in the bowl cabinet. Then my sister and I went out together. We never went back. How could you falsely accuse my younger sister?"
Ge Sanmei was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, then quickly thought of something but did not move; she simply defended herself with: "The matter hasn't been clarified, and I did not do it on purpose."
The old lady next to them snorted: "They are all your daughters. Why are you so partial? Jianhong is your favorite, and you neglect her misdeeds, letting the matter pass with just a simple 'it wasn't clear'."
Li Xianglu barely opened her eyes and saw she was lying on the kang (a traditional Chinese heated bed) in her house, and beside her a sixty-year-old woman was seated with her legs crossed. She was wearing an old slant-collared jacket made of black coarse cloth, freshly washed and clean, her silver-white hair wrapped in a black kerchief.