Bai Dazhu said: “I don’t think Xiaofeng is doing well in his school, so it’s better not to go. He should just follow me and Dabao plant melons next year.”
Mrs. Liu Guihua immediately shouted: “That’s not good. I hope for Xiaofeng to be an official in the future so that he could let me enjoy a good life. He’s been studying all these years, so how can you say he’s not doing well? What is wrong with you? Don’t you know how clever our Xiaofeng is? He is meant to be an official!”
Bai Dazhu was too lazy to compete with Mrs. Liu in this matter, so he simply said: “In short, you should buy meat with that money first. How long has it been since I eat any meat? Look at my face, I’ve lost a lot of weight.”
The two say one sentence after another. As if the money for the embroidery work was already in their hands, and just waiting to be spent.
When the two got tired, they closed their eyes and sleep. They didn’t eat lunch and just sleep until the afternoon.
*
At this time, Mrs. Zhang finally finished embroidering the other two. So she got up and stretched out her muscles, then warmed her frosted fingers.
When she went out of the room, she saw at a glance the embroidery designs she gave to Mrs. Liu, staying in the same place. Mrs. Liu didn’t even bother to pick it up. Mrs. Zhang was very angry. She glared at the closed door, took the embroidery designs, and turned back to their room.
Then, she said to Bai Erzhu who was lying in bed: “Don’t give them food tonight. If you still dare to give them food secretly, we cannot live another day.”
Bai Erzhu didn’t know what happened. He looked at his wife and asked: “What’s the matter? Who made you angry again?”
Mrs. Zhang told Bai Erzhu what happened. Bai Erzhu got angry when he heard of it. No need to mention about the past, but at the moment, the first branch was penniless. Their whole family was just depending on them. His wife was kind enough to give them some work so that they could earn money, but what did they do? They didn’t even grab this opportunity to earn money. They only know how to lazy around, thinking others should feed them.
“In the evening, as soon as I cooked the meal, I’ll bring it here. I will give them nothing.” The first branch has eaten all the grains that were given to them, so now they were too lazy to cook. They were just waiting for the second branch to finish to cook, and then they will grab their food.
At night, Mrs. Zhang lit up the lamp and rushed to finish the remaining embroidery job. While Bai Erzhu simply cooked some porridge in the kitchen and divided it into five bowls. One bowl for his son, daughter, wife, himself, and the old lady.
When he entered the old lady’s room, the old lady was lying on the bed. She doesn’t want to get out of bed, so she asked Bai Erzhu to moved a small table and said she will eat later. Bai Erzhu finally understood to whom Bai Dazhu and Mrs. Liu learned their laziness.
He used to be lazy like them, thinking that he could eat even when he doesn’t work. Why does he have to work? Isn’t it enough that he was happy?
But now, he has changed. He was forced to change by the flow of life and also by his wife. It was really unimaginable. If his wife was like Mrs. Liu, how will his family survive?
*
Mrs. Liu pushed Bai Dazhu, who was lying beside her: “Dazhu, I seem to smell porridge. You hurry up and get a few bowls.”
Bai Dazhu didn’t move: “I’m not going, you go. I’m the one who did it yesterday. It’s your turn now.”
Mrs. Liu pushed him again: “What can I do? If your second brother refuses to give me, can I beat him?”
Bai Dazhu still didn’t move, so Mrs. Liu angrily said: “You go quickly, they will finish eating after a while. We can’t even drink the soup by then.”
Bai Dazhu has been hungry for a long time. The smell of porridge made him even hungrier.
He didn’t want to move, but his wife was lazier than him.
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