Chapter 191: Chapter 191 Freeloading Chapter 191: Chapter 191 Freeloading Xuexue thought that if Madam Xie had something to do, she wouldn’t have wild thoughts. Big Bull was strong and responsible for turning the soil in the creek, while they only needed to pull out the loaches from the mud and throw them into a wooden bucket; the task wasn’t tiring at all, so she said, “Sure! I’ll call you when Big Bull and I go tomorrow.”
With her mind full of worries, Madam Xie started to speak several times but stopped, finally letting out, “Xuexue, should we go and gather some more river snails to sell at the market?”
“Let’s talk about that later, now we’re busy with the loaches! And besides,” Xuexue continued as she kept her head down, working on the loaches, “river snails aren’t available every day, we have to wait for them to grow bigger first.”
“What’s the matter?” Xuexue finally sensed something was off and looked up to ask.
“Mother is afraid we won’t have enough grain at home.” Madam Xie felt somewhat ashamed; these were things she should be worrying about, but she was not clever enough and had to rely on her daughter, who hadn’t even reached adulthood.
“Don’t we still have sweet potatoes? If we run out, we can just steam some sweet potatoes,” she suggested.
Xuexue did it on purpose; who asked Mo Yaner to be so detestable, always claiming that Xuexue had stolen Auntie Sun’s money to live a good life and constantly pressing her to hand it over.
“Adults can manage, but the children can’t! Tuantuan and Yuanyuan are so young, sigh!”
“Mother, don’t worry, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Even if things get bad, they still have parents to take care of them, don’t they? And if not, let big sister take them to the Mo family’s place to eat, she’s always saying how good father is and how generous stepmother is, isn’t she?” Xuexue thought about how Mo Yaner brought people from the Mo family to cause trouble at the old residence, and it made her furious. However, the children were innocent and she wouldn’t take her anger out on Tuantuan and Yuanyuan. She was just infuriated by Mo Yaner’s actions, behaving so unscrupulously; no matter what, Madam Xie was still her biological mother.
“Go eat at the Mo family’s place?” Madam Xie shook her head vigorously, “You know what kind of person Old Lady Mo is, and Auntie Sun and Madam Ruan aren’t pushovers either. I fear they’d be chased out before even stepping foot inside.”
Having lived with Old Lady Mo for over a decade, she knew the old woman’s nature all too well. Without offering her any benefits, the thought of going to the Mo family’s house for a freeload was a pipe dream, not even worth considering.
Xuexue’s eyes darted around; she needed to give Mo Yaner a harsh blow to set things straight. Otherwise, she wouldn’t understand who sincerely cared for her and who was being deceitful. Even more so, she wouldn’t know how genuinely concerned her biological mother was for her.
“By the way, Xuexue, after you left today, Yaner came back, and kept asking where you hid Auntie Sun’s money. I told her there was none, but she just wouldn’t believe it. What kind of Bewitching Powder did that Seductress Fox give her to make her so unreasonable, huh!” Madam Xie’s head ached enormously just thinking about it. Her eldest daughter was already married, yet how could she be so obtuse?
“Just ignore her,” Xuexue said through gritted teeth.
“Sigh! With all the gambling debts Li Feng owes, what will Yaner’s future be like?”
No sooner had she lamented her eldest daughter’s lack of appreciation and assistance to others in mistreating her own family than she became worried about her future livelihood. Such is a mother’s heart, Xuexue thought with deep emotion, fortunate to have someone like Madam Xie as her foster mother.
When it was time to eat, Mo Yaner returned.
“Oh! Big sister, aren’t you going to eat at the Mo family’s house?” Xuexue picked up a sweet potato and asked deliberately.
Mo Yaner’s face immediately darkened. Just now, at the Mo family’s mealtime, Old Lady Mo had deliberately found an excuse to push her out the door, and her own father, Mo Xiaoqiang, had pretended not to see her, chatting and laughing with Aunt Sun by the side. Her heart felt cold.