What else can she say? She can only quietly do her job. Mrs. Liu hadn’t cooked in the kitchen for two years now. Fortunately, she only had to cook a pot of porridge and stir a large pot of vegetables.
Bai Erzhu put the 60 copper coins in his purse and was about to go to their room. However, as soon as he walked out from his aging mother’s room, he saw Doctor Lu carrying his medicine box and a few packets of medicine into their yard.
Bai Erzhu hurriedly welcomed Doctor Lu: “Oh, isn’t this Lu dafu? What brings you here?”
Doctor Lu was feeling lazy to talk to Bai Erzhu. So, he simply said: “I came to treat Zhao Lan. Your not here earlier, so you might not know. But, your mother knew this.”
Bai Erzhuo replied: “They are not here, their house collapsed, so they went to Hu Changlin’s house.”
Doctor Lu look towards the broken house, and indeed, it collapsed. Doctor Lu sighed and said: “Okay, I’ll go to Old Hu’s house and give her the medicines.”
When Bai Erzhu heard this, he hurriedly stopped Doctor Lu: “Give her the medicines? Isn’t she alright now? Her broken hand is not worthy to be spent with medicines. We don’t have so much money to waste with her. Just take back your medicines.”
Doctor Lu said: “These medicines have already been paid. And it was for Bai Zhi. Have you seen her condition? If I will not give her this medicine, she’ll get sick the whole night. If anything bad happened, then don’t blame me ah.”
Bai Erzhu remembered the year when his father and third brother fell from the roof. At that time, they vomited blood, but they were still conscious.
Doctor Lu also gave them prescriptions, but he asked them to go to the town to get the medicines. They felt that the medicines in the town will be expensive, so they didn’t go. After dragging the treatment for a few more days, they both died.
Although Bai Erzhu felt distressed this time by spending money to a doctor. He only swallowed his words. After all, if Zhao Lan and Bai Zhi reported this case. His mother and sister-in-law will definitely go to the prison. Can their family survive if that happens?
Bai Erzhu closed his mouth and said nothing, then he turned and entered their house.
Doctor Lu shook his head and took his medicine box to go to Hu Changlin’s house.
*
At last, the Bai Family was now having their dinner. Old Lady Bai stared at her bowl of porridge and frown her eyebrows: Is this a porridge? This is clearly a rice soup.
The old lady then swept her eyes towards Mrs. Liu. In the past, this daughter-in-law always tried to give her a thick porridge. But now, in this dining table, she didn’t treat her like an elder.
Mrs. Liu didn’t dare to respond to the old woman’s dissatisfied eyes. She only acted natural, as if she didn’t notice anything.
When Mrs. Zhang took a bowl of porridge back from the kitchen and came to the dining hall. She slammed the bowl and said: “Sister-in-law, is this a porridge or a rice soup?”
Mrs. Liu smiled, then replied: “Of course, it’s a porridge, it’s only a little thin.”
Mrs. Zhang’s said in dissatisfaction: “A little thin? Can you please help me look for the rice in this porridge?”
Mrs. Liu busily replied: “You shouldn’t blame me in this. You and I both eat the same meal. We don’t have much rice in the jar. Of course, I can add more rice to this. But, if I did that, we won’t have a meal on the following days. Not to mention, even rice soup will not do.”
For this reason, Old Lady Bai’s eyes become soft and so she waved her hand, then said: ” Stop it and let’s just eat. We still have work to do tomorrow.” Then, the old lady turned her head to her second daughter-in-law: “After this dinner, we will divide the food per head to avoid this situation.”