619 The Living Can Also Starve to Death
Old Madam Li swaggered into the house and sat on the brick bed. “You have to help me. Look at your eldest brother’s two children. They’re so thin that they’re all skin and bones! You can’t leave them in the lurch!”
“Mother, it’s not that I don’t want to help, but as you can see, Zhang Miao is just lying there and can’t even move. She has to take a lot of medicine every month. There’s no food at home. I’m not having an easy time either,” Li Gui said awkwardly.
A lot of medicine? That meant she had the money to buy medicine every month!
Old Madam Li’s eyes lit up. If she saved all the money she spent on medicine, that would be a lot of money!
In any case, Zhang Miao was just a girl who would have to marry into someone else’s family sooner or later. Instead of wasting so many years of rations on her, it was better to just let her fend for herself!
If she managed to stay alive, then she was lucky enough! When it was time for her to get married, she would be able to receive a lot of betrothal gifts. If she died, then it would be even better! There would be one less mouth to feed!
“You still have money to buy medicine! Then you definitely have money to give me! I don’t want much, just enough for a living!” Old Madam Li said with a smile.
“No! Zhang Miao won’t recover if she doesn’t take medicine!” Li Gui said anxiously.
Old Madam Li waved her hand and said indifferently, “It’s just a girl. She will have to get married sooner or later! I don’t think that child will get any better. Why are you wasting this money! We, the living people, are still hungry!”
“I’m also your daughter! It’s not as if you don’t come and look for me when you’re in need! Zhang Miao will get better! I’ll definitely make sure she gets better! I have to borrow money to buy the medicine! How can I have money to give you!” Li Gui said angrily.
Old Madam Li did not believe what Li Gui said. She was sure that Li Gui had money and was deliberately hiding it from her. With a money tree like Qiao Mei around, how could she not have money?
There were so many chickens and ducks in the courtyard. If she sold one, they would have enough money to eat for a month!
There were people here who were about to starve to death. It was such a waste to buy feed for the chickens and ducks!
“Then why do you have feed for the chickens and ducks! You’re clearly leaving us in the lurch! This entire matter started because of you! If you hadn’t divorced the man from the Zhang family! The things in our house wouldn’t have been smashed into pieces by them. Your eldest brother wouldn’t have abandoned me and these two children at home and gone off to the county city with his wife!” Old Madam Li scolded as she pointed at Li Gui.
“Those chickens and ducks belong to Qiao Mei. I’m just helping her raise them and she’s the one who provides the feed. How can I just kill these chickens and ducks!” Li Gui said.
“So what if they belong to Qiao Mei! Isn’t she your daughter! Doesn’t she listen to you! She dares to turn her back on her maternal family after getting married! She’s really rebellious!” Old Madam Li said as she put her hands on her hips.
“The money to buy chickens and ducks is from Old Master Qiao. Qiao Mei doesn’t have a job, so her grandfather pays for everything. How can I have the cheek to ask him for it?” Li Gui said.
Old Madam Li could not find any other argument. She suddenly knelt on the brick bed and said to Li Gui, “Your mother is now lowering herself! Please save me and these two children!”
The two children also knelt on the ground in unison as if they had discussed it in advance. When Old Madam Li kowtowed, they followed suit and kowtowed as well. The knocking sounds became louder and louder, like the sound of a bell striking in a temple. Li Gui was so afraid that they would die from knocking their heads that she hurriedly went to help Old Madam Li up.
“Mother, what are you doing! Even if you do this, I don’t have anything else to give you!” Li Gui said.
Seeing that Li Gui was unmoved by force or persuasion, Old Madam Li pointed at Qiao Mei sitting outside and said, “She’s your daughter! You’re living such a difficult life now, why don’t you ask her for help!”
Nowadays, the food they ate at home was all from Qiao Mei’s courtyard. Some time ago, when her family was in dire straits, Qiao Mei and Xia Zhe brought over a lot of things. As she was embarrassed, she rejected Qiao Mei’s kindness.
Later on, Zhang Wei and the other children brought back a lot of vegetables every day. Sometimes, there was even rice. When she asked them, she found out that Qiao Mei used the excuses that she was pregnant and it was inconvenient for her to move around, and that Qiao Qiang was too old to do farm work, so she asked Zhang Wei and the other children to help her out. Every day, the children could get vegetables based on how much work they had done.
It was almost winter and there were no more wild vegetables and mushrooms to pick on the mountain. The children actively went to Qiao Mei’s place to help out and she tacitly agreed.