CH 24

The rain only started to lessen after an hour. Some of the people who were in a hurry to go back home had already left.

Mrs. Liang’s voice sounded from outside, “Ling’er, Yan’er, where are you? It’s time to go!”

Mo Ling dragged Mo Yan outside as she yelled, “Coming!” Cao Zhang ran after them with an umbrella, but to no avail.

Mrs. Liang stood outside. She saw them and sternly said, “It’s time to go home!”

Inside the wheelbarrow were the remaining ingredients, but they had been irreparably damaged by the rain. Mo Ling pushed it back home as Mo Yan followed her.

When they returned back home, the rain had completely stopped. Mrs. Liang couldn’t help but say, “You two talked about trying to open a business, but everyone would if it was that easy! You only saw the profits and not the expenses. If it was that easy to get rich, there wouldn’t be any poor people in the world would there?”

The sisters expected this would happen. They pushed the wheelbarrow to the kitchen without saying anything as Mrs. Liang went back into her room to change.

As Mo Ling walked past Mrs. Liang on her way to the kitchen, she looked at the flatbread and meat that had been soaked by the rain. “Usually, even Feng’er can’t eat high-quality white bread like this, but today, it got soaked by the rain! We lost money on our first day!”

She was mad and didn’t have anywhere to vent her anger when Mo Yan went past her with a clay jar filled with sauce. Mrs. Liang slapped her on the back of her neck, and Mo Yan dropped the clay jar, which broke into two halves. The sauce flew everywhere and landed on both Mo Yan and Mrs. Liang.

Mrs. Liang got even angrier and she raised her voice even more, “You even broke the jar of sauce! That’s it, no dinner for you tonight!” As she said that, she rained slaps onto Mo Yan’s body.

Mo Ling came out of the kitchen and shielded Mo Yan with her body, “You can’t control the weather, and if you could, why would you be hitting her?”

“If it’s not for her, why would we suffer so much? She’s a cursed child who does nothing but bring misfortune to our family!”

Mo Yan was born on the fifth of November. The fifth, fourteenth and twenty-third of November are all considered unlucky days, and happy events such as the birth of a child and marriages shouldn’t happen on these days.

Mo Yan’s eyes were red, but she wasn’t crying. Her birthday was given by her mother, and so was her life. She could do whatever she liked, and Mo Yan couldn’t stop her. [1]

Mo Ling dragged her sister inside to change, then put those clothes into a basket which she took to the well near the pond to wash. She rarely washed clothes by the well and only did it today to avoid her mother.

Mo Yan was afraid the ducks had been scared by the rain and ran over there as well. She had only gone to the well when she saw them swimming around happily.

The rain had made the water levels in the pond increase by a lot, and the water also seemed much clearer.

Mo Ling started washing the clothes by the well. On the far end of the pond, she saw Mrs. Liang going to the Lu family’s.

Lu Junming was letting his big white horse drink some water. The pond water was sweet after the rain, and it drank deeply before neighing in satisfaction.

Lu Junming saw Mo Yan, so he got onto his horse and trotted over to her.

“Yan’er, why didn’t you go on your morning run today?”

“I didn’t feel like it.”

He jumped off and leashed his horse and stood directly opposite Mo Yan. “Why? Because you couldn’t gather medicinal herbs due to the rain?”

“No. I don’t want to talk to you, go home and eat your lunch!”

Lu Junming got back on his horse and trotted past Mo Ling, who told him as she washed the clothes, “Don’t mind her. She’s just mad because she got a beating from my mum at home.”

He went back home on his horse and sat down in the shade of the tree in his courtyard. He saw the smoke coming from the kitchen dissipate as Mrs. Liang came out, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow, “Junming, where do you want to have lunch today?”

Lu Junming nodded towards the tea table in front of him and said, “I’ll have it here!”

Mrs. Liang cleaned the tea table and placed his lunch down. She was prepared to leave when Lu Junming asked her sullenly, “Aunt Liang, do you have any complaints about working for us?”

She froze for a second before plastering a smile onto her face, “Of course not! I’m working here willingly.”

“Aunt Zhang was also willingly working here, but I fired her and employed you instead. Do you know why?”

“Because I’m a better chef than her!” Mrs. Liang replied confidently.

“Mo Yan is the first friend I made here in Chenzhong Village, and I want her to live a good life. I hired you because she wanted you to get a job here.”

Lu Junming was just a thirteen-year-old boy, but he put a lot of deliberation and thought into his words before saying that. He couldn’t let Mrs. Liang feel too hurt, otherwise how would they interact in the future?

Mrs. Liang was very cunning and naturally understood what he meant. She yelled at him in his mind, Are you, a bastard son of a military family, trying to lecture me? I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t pay me eight hundred dollars every month!

However, she still kept the smile on her face. “Children don’t grow without being beaten. Who hasn’t been hit by their parents before? Additionally, I just hit her a few times and didn’t use any real force.”

“You’re correct, but I still hope she can live a good life.”

“I know, I know, I love her dearly. But I have a short temper and sometimes I can’t control it.”

Mrs. Liang took off her apron and went back home. On the road, she shouted at the heavens in her mind, then the world, then her husband.

That good-for-nothing Mo Zhenian doesn’t show up around home at all, and never gives us any money. He’s just my husband in name only! He made me have to take care of the elderly and his children. Now, I even have to suffer by the hands of the Lu family!

Back when I wasn’t married, I lived a good life. I could say something, and no one would object to my demands…

When she returned home, Mo Ling and Mo Yan were nowhere to be seen. However, Mo Feng had made a wrap with the flatbread and meat that had been drenched by the rain and was currently eating it.

When he saw her return, he wrinkled his brow and started complaining, “Mum, why is this bread and meat so soggy? There’s no texture at all!”

Mrs. Liang couldn’t deny the anger in her heart when she saw her waste of a son. She slapped him on the head, “All you know is to eat! You’re already fourteen, and you’re even older than the bastard from the Lu family by a year! So son, why are you so useless?”

Her voice was filled with resentment. Mo Feng rubbed the back of his head and stopped eating, “Mum, what’s going on? I’m not useless at all! I’m the best student at school, and I’ll definitely marry a good wife to pay respects to you.”

Mrs. Liang shook her head, “Why am I so unfortunate? I just had to encounter you and your deadbeat father!”

Post-edit notes: The obvious and blatant lies that Mo Feng was telling…

[1] Yeah this basically proves that the author has no recollection of the fact Mo Yan was ever a transmigrator at all.