But upon seeing Qin Xiangyang and his siblings along with Granny Lu each eating a bowl of cornmeal, her heart grew displeased.
"Really that poor, can’t even afford dumplings?"
"Where’s the money?" She raised her chin, demanding others’ money as if it were her own, shamelessly to the fullest, a confidence only Hu Li possessed.
"We have no money," said Qin Xiangnuan as she placed her bowl on the table, "You’ve seen what our family eats. What, do you still think we don’t eat well enough and want to eat at your place?"
"Tch, you wolf-cub scavengers, dreaming of eating the grains from my house."
As soon as Hu Li opened her mouth, she splattered saliva all over the room, but she just couldn’t believe there was no money. Fine, they won’t say it, she’d find it herself.
Qin Xiangnuan continued eating her meal of cornmeal and pickled vegetable dumplings. Go ahead and search, she already knew, hence there wasn’t a single penny in the house. Hu Li turned the place upside down, finding nothing, her face turning green with rage, then she saw the two General’s coats lying on the kang bed, and immediately grabbed them into her embrace.
"Guo Hua, look, these General’s coats are all new, one for you to wear, and one for Pengfei."
Qin Guohua was reluctant to come, but the thought of money moved his heart. Now, he didn’t want to see Qin Xiangyang and Qin Xiangnuan at all, he hadn’t forgotten the oaths he had taken, all the curses he hurled about lifetime poverty and ailments.
The rural folks were superstitious, but upon seeing these two new General’s coats, they couldn’t bear to part with them. So thick, they would be very warm to wear in the fields, and the quality of these military coats was good, issued directly by the army, sure to last for over a decade of wear.
Old Liu in the village has a son in the army, who gave Mr. Li a General’s coat that he wore for several winters.
He clutched the General’s coat and walked straight out, and having seen the Qin family’s meal, he knew there was nothing worth taking, even during the New Year they ate such food, they wouldn’t have any money left.
Although Hu Li was somewhat reluctant as she didn’t find any money, she got the chance to take the General’s coats which she had coveted for a long time.
Qin Xiangyang put his chopsticks on the table and stood up, about to argue.
"Forget it, Yangyang," Granny Lu pulled him to sit down.
"No matter what, he is your father, the one who brought you into this world. They may not be kind to you, but we must not be unrighteous. It’s just two coats, let them take it, just consider it a New Year’s gift."
Who would give them New Year’s gifts? Qin Xiangnuan scoffed to herself.
Even if she had to feed everything to dogs, she wouldn’t give anything to the Qin Family, whose hearts were like that of wolves and dogs, even less than beasts.
She hated the Qin Family deeply, hate that pained her soul, each rise of memory about her past life felt like fire burning her bones, her heart, her blood, her spirit, fueling the resentment in her heart.
After finishing her meal, she closed the door and entered the system to start practicing embroidery, with stitches neither too fast nor too slow, smoothly continuing until her hands moved fluently, and her heart began to settle in peace and quiet.
Finally, she forgot about time, just staring at the pattern in her hands, needle by needle continuing.