Lu Jiaxuan was carrying two bowls of corn porridge and two pieces of yellow millet cornbread when he heard the door open. Just as he was about to smile, whoosh, he saw someone run out of the room before he could get a clear look, and then another person ran out.
He was stunned for a moment, looking into the room and then outside, his attention was snapped back by Wang Guizhi's shouting.
"Terrible, terrible, mother, mother, hurry, something has happened!"
He didn't even bother to check inside the room and quickly ran towards the main hall.
Zhou Jiaojiao was holding half a pound of brown sugar, Lu Jiahe, his wife Wu Xianglan, and Liu Sanjin were alarmed by the shouts outside and hurried out to see.
"Mother, it's terrible, the parents of the elder sister-in-law suddenly ran out, shouting as they ran that the Lu Family beat someone, even saying they want to drive the elder sister-in-law to her death, all because of... because of the three-tiled-house."
Lu Jiaxuan was a bit embarrassed to say that when he and Zhou Jiaojiao were together, he promised her a good life in the future. When they got engaged, he fixed up the house; being the youngest son of the Lu Family, his mother favored him and specially renovated a large southern-facing house for him, with all the best furniture.
But Jiaojiao's mother had set her sights on the elder sister-in-law's three-tiled-roof house which was spacious and the finest in all nearby villages, but it was the elder brother who paid for it. He intended to provide a comfortable home for his elder sister-in-law and her children, being a storage manager at a production team, he didn't have the means to build a brick-and-tile courtyard on his own.
But Jiaojiao's mother was adamant, and since he and Jiaojiao were in love, by the time they were getting married, he couldn't do anything else. It was his mother who came up with the idea of renting it from his elder sister-in-law, though he was unsure inside. Unexpectedly, the elder sister-in-law agreed.
For the past half-year, it wasn't that they hadn't mentioned returning the house; each time, it was his mother who helped intervene. Besides, they paid the rent, he had no guilt.
When Zhou Jiaojiao heard Lu Jiaxuan say this, her face paled, nearly dropping the brown sugar. The first time she came to the Lu Family, she had her eyes on the three-tiled-house. The rooms in the Lu Family Old Mansion were nice, but they were far from comparing to those in the brick-and-tile house where she had lived for over half a year, having put much effort into decorating it. Now asking her to move out was out of the question.
"It's outrageous! When the eldest wanted to build the house, I opposed it from the beginning, if it wasn't for the three yuan a month pension and what he said about living separately without splitting the family, I would have never agreed. Since I've never held back on treating Shen Meng well after she entered our family, and since we did not split the family, if I say the house is for Lao Si to live, then it is for Lao Si to live. Let's see what the Shen Family can do about it, hmm, let's go to the eldest's room and see what she wants to do."
Liu Sanjin threw out tough words and took the lead to go out, Wu Xianglan and Lu Jiahe also hurriedly followed as they rely on the elder couple's pension for better meals and needed to soothe the mother-in-law.
Just as Zhou Jiaojiao was leaving, she saw Xie Jinghao unmoving and paused slightly.
"Sister-in-law, aren't you coming along?"
Xie Jinghao did not even lift her eyes, caressing her belly, "I better not go, it's inconvenient to walk with my big belly. Xiao Gang will need to sleep in a while, I'll stay out of this."
She didn't want to go at all, the whole family watched Shen Meng naively being fooled; she could barely take care of her elder brother's children, it was already good enough to manage her own family, she didn't want to be the villain.
Seeing Zhou Jiaojiao's cold response, she forced a smile, pulling Lu Jiaxuan with her; as long as it didn't hinder her affairs, such a relationship was quite nice.
Shen Meng took advantage of the moment before others arrived, pulling out a bottle of saline from the spatial storage and violently drank half of it, stuffing half a piece of cake; now every time she swallowed, her forehead would throb intensely.
After regaining some strength, she took out a bottle of bare-face cream and evenly applied it on her face, making it unnaturally pale, looking very much like a burnt-out lamp.
Before the door was opened, she quickly tightened up the space with her belongings.
Liu Sanjin entered with a darkened face, just about to scold Shen Meng, but saw her utterly haggard, pale-faced with bloodless lips, a stark difference from the sharp-tongued, vigorous Shen Meng who was brought into the house earlier.
Not only her, but also Lu Jiaxuan, Zhou Jiaojiao, and others who followed were shocked. How could she look like she was truly about to die?
Wu Xianglan felt a chill in her heart, avoided Shen Meng's gaze with a guilty turn of her head, her body trembling with fear. She came just to take advantage, not to see the elder sister-in-law die. Look at that deathly pallor; she had just met her gaze, not knowing if later, when the person really was gone, whether she would come to settle scores.
Thinking this, she lowered her head even more, her insides turning green with regret. She should not have come; the elder sister-in-law was hit by a buffalo—it was a buffalo, which would leave any man disabled, let alone a delicate woman.
Shen Meng, seeing their varied expressions, felt quite satisfied with what she anticipated. She estimated the time; her father was about to bring the kids back, and it was her turn to perform.
"Mother, Jiaxuan, Jiaojiao, Jiahe, and Xiang Lan, what... what are you all doing?"
"Ah? Me, no, elder sister-in-law, I didn't mean—I just came to see you, really just to see how you are." Wu Xianglan, who had been lost in her own thoughts, suddenly screamed in fright when called out.
Seeing that the situation was off, Zhou Jiaojiao managed to squeeze out a couple of tears and was about to run over and cry on Shen Meng.
"My poor elder sister-in-law..."
"Mingyang, Ming Liang, Ming Fang, and my Ming Kai, Ming Kai, where are you? Mother might not make it, my son, where are you? Let mother see you one last time, mother is sorry, my child, where is my child?"
Her mournful screams instantly silenced Zhou Jiaojiao, interrupting the emotions she had been brewing, leaving her weeping expression frozen on her face.
Outside, Shen Fugui was leading a child, followed by nine-year-old Mingyang and seven-year-old Ming Liang. Hearing the crying from inside, they paused their steps.
"Hurry, Ming Kai, my good child, hurry inside to see your mother, or you won't catch her last moments."
Lu Mingkai, the biological child of the original host, although also enduring frequent scolding and beating, was only three years old and still harbored affection for his parent, immediately burst into tears.
Ming Fang, six years old, although young had not been spared household chores and held little affection for the original host, yet hearing about someone dying still scared her.
As for Mingyang and Ming Liang following behind, the two just silently exchanged glances, their faces void of any expression, thinking inside how good it would be if the wicked woman died, clearing the air.
Shen Meng continued shouting, thankful that she had prepared some eye drops earlier, otherwise, she really wouldn't have managed to cry.
"Mother, woo-woo, Xiao Kai doesn't want you to die, woo-woo..."
Shen Meng, hearing the tender cries, lowered her eyes to see, and almost burst into curses, damn it, the crying little boy was her own biological child.