So, she decided to gather these old leaves and pickle them into salty vegetables. She would have them to eat later.
Liu Baixiao gave Liu Rumei a quick glance, increasingly finding her, a woman he kept, utterly useless.
All she did was eat, yet she couldn’t manage the housekeeping well. She also always wore a bitter gourd expression — the dust on her body could practically form noodles. Couldn’t she wash herself cleaner?
He never considered in this time of drought that having a sip of water was already a blessing. How many people could afford to bathe every day?
Liu Rumei neither cared nor minded what Liu Baixiao yelled at her. All she cared about was having her meals and not starving to death.
"I’m asking you, where is Yushui? Why haven’t I seen that wretched girl? Has she run off somewhere to charm men again?" Not seeing Liu Yushui, Liu Baixiao raised his voice and asked Liu Rumei.
"This damn girl is still playing the fool even with that big belly. She’s disgracing us all. She doesn’t know any better, truly trying my patience! Watch me teach her a good lesson when she is back!"
He had not been able to get anything out of Lin Caisang, making him more and more irritated. But he couldn’t touch Lin Caisang, so he could only vent his frustrations on Liu Yushui.
Unfortunately, Liu Yushui was not at home!
Liu Rumei pursed her lips, not daring to respond.
She couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t just her daughter who was disgraceful. Hadn’t Liu Baixiao disgraced himself enough already? Today, at the Lin family’s, he must have completely lost face, hadn’t he?
Looking at their current grim reality — Liu Baixiao was ruthless, Liu Qingshui wrong and lazy, Liu Yushui was unmarried and pregnant, and her ambiguous relationship with Zhou Liang.
She looked down at her hands soaked green by vegetables, and gritted her teeth.
Not but a few months had passed, and she’d already gone from a pampered lady of the Liu Residence to a woman lower than usual country girls. Her hands were rough and marred with many small wounds. Her complexion had also turned pale and thin due to prolonged hunger.
Such a life was not meant for her. Yet, she had survived through it.
"Liu Rumei, what are you doing!"
Seeing that Liu Rumei hadn’t answered his question, Liu Baixiao crossed the floor and roughly yanked her up by the hair.
The pain in her scalp made Liu Rumei scream.
However, the next moment, Liu Baixiao slapped her face hard and repeatedly, and she began to cry from the excruciating pain. Seeing her cry made Liu Baixiao more vindictive; he kicked her legs hard several times while continuing his barrage of slaps.
"You damn woman! I told you to answer me! Where is Liu Yushui? Tell me immediately!"
"Stop... stop hitting me... I’ll... I’ll tell you," Liu Rumei stammered, curling up on the floor.
After kicking her again, Liu Baixiao paused his assault to ask her.
"Yushui is in the bamboo grove. Today, Zhou... Zhou Liang came to see her," Liu Rumei swallowed her saliva and replied.
She could no longer bear Liu Baixiao’s daily beatings. Enduring a round or two of verbal abuse was one thing, but she had too many wounds on her body already. The parts of her body hidden by her clothing were a mass of black and blue.
Those areas which had been previously beaten were hit again, causing her so much pain that she wished for death!