An Hao returned home, where Bai Xue had already gone down to the fields and prepared dinner. Cornmeal cakes, pickled radish strips, and a pot of simmering millet porridge.
She wasn’t entirely heartless, aware that An Shuchao was sick, she had even cooked two eggs for him and brought them up to his bed to eat.
The rest of the four of them sat around the kitchen table to have their meal.
As Bai Yanjiao ate, she recalled the afternoon visit to Shen Lianqing’s home, and looking up at An Hao, she said, "Lianqing was wearing Snowflake Cream today."
An Hao heard it, but pretended not to and kept quiet, continuing to eat her meal.
Having toiled in the fields all day, endured eating dirt and battling the wind, Bai Xue returned home with a sore back and aching legs. Upon hearing An Shuchao say that An Hao did not agree to dropping out of school, she immediately felt a surge of anger.
That anger had been festering, looking for an outlet, and Bai Yanjiao’s comment was like lighting a fuse.
"If other people can buy Snowflake Cream, it’s because they have money at home. Does your family have money? You are buried in debt, with no one working or earning money, and only expenses. Now that your dad has broken his leg and is unable to work, the whole family has to be fed. Where am I supposed to find money for you?"
Bai Yanjiao heard the underlying meaning in her mother’s words and retorted, "How have I spent any money? Have I been going to school? Have I paid grain taxes to the school? Have I bought textbooks, pencils, erasers, or anything like that? Mom, you’re really casting your net too wide with those words."
An Hao knew that Bai Xue was deliberately picking a fight to vent her frustration, and with a cold laugh, without even lifting her eyelids, she shot back, "If it weren’t for you two, my family’s life wouldn’t have crumbled overnight. After you married my dad, he never made you work the fields or earn any money. Look at what other people’s wives are doing, what are you doing? It’s bad enough that we have to feed you two without any contribution, and we still have to constantly watch out for your Bai Family coming over to take advantage. Now that my dad has broken his leg, you’ve only worked for a day, and you’re already so full of grievances!"
"How dare you speak like that, An Hao? If it wasn’t for my previous husband saving Old An, why would I have married your dad with Yanjiao and lived this poor life?" Bai Xue brought up the past.
An Hao was already tired of her bringing this up and didn’t want to continue the argument, "You chose this! Do we need to go over that shameful incident again? You can’t play the good person after benefiting from the situation! If you were capable and competent, you would live on your own. Why don’t you?"
"Why should I? Your father hasn’t said anything; it isn’t your place to speak!" Bai Xue slammed her chopsticks down on the table, fixing her eyes on An Hao with a fierce stare.
"Whether it’s my place or not, I’ll leave it here. If you had any self-respect, you’d either leave my house or go work in the fields for work points. Don’t stand here accusing me and venting your spite; I am not putting up with it! I’ve had a tiring day, supporting the two of you, and I’m full of anger with nowhere to vent it! Push me too far, and I’ll flip the table, and no one will eat!" An Hao laid it out plain and continued eating without looking up.
"Old An! Old An!" Bai Xue raised her voice, attempting to call Old An from the north room where he was eating.
"Enough! Give my dad some peace. Can’t you let him eat in peace?" An Ping couldn’t bear it anymore, "Times are tough at home. Look, Bai Yanjiao, you don’t earn a penny yourself. Stop nitpicking, wanting Snowflake Cream of all things."
Bai Yanjiao had not expected An Ping to suddenly be on the same page as An Hao. He used to be on the same side as her, and in just a couple of days, An Hao had swayed him.