Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

“Of course, it’s the silver…”

Liu Baihan seemed to realize that he had misspoken, naturally changing his tone, “Cough, cough! I meant to say, of course, the child is more important than the silver! I was just trying to get some money for my daughter Hua… Oh, my poor Hua, how could you leave me behind like this?”

“Cough, cough!…”

A weak cough came from under the grass curtain, causing the arguments among the surrounding villagers to stop.

Everyone glanced at each other.

Finally, the nearest villager cautiously said, “I think I heard… a man’s voice coming from underneath…”

Actually, everyone had heard it, but couldn’t make it out clearly. They exchanged glances and began to slowly move in the direction of the grass curtain.

“Cough, cough, cough…”

A series of raspy male voices came from below the grass curtain. Then, the child’s body moved!

“He’s moving! He’s still closing his eyes, but his body is moving! Is it a reanimated corpse or something?” A villager was so frightened that he blurted out his thoughts.

“The corpse is alive! Run!”

Someone suddenly screamed, and the villagers who were crowded around scattered in all directions, running faster than rabbits!

This even startled Liu Sisi, who was struggling to walk over, completely disregarding her own disheveled appearance.

Could the child really be dead?

It looks like today is going to be troublesome!

“Cough, cough, cough… I’m telling you, you little brat, my ribs are about to break from you hitting me! What are you still doing lying on top of me? Get off me now!”

It seemed like the old injury had been hit rather than a rib break. The pain almost made him lose his breath.

“Somebody’s talking! There really is someone talking underneath…”

The villagers who had been hiding huddled together, shrinking in the shadows of a nearby corner.

This voice…

Liu Sisi’s heart leaped with joy. “Ye Lei? Ye Lei, is that you? Are you the one underneath? Answer me quickly!” she said, rushing forward to lift the grass curtain and searching frantically for the figure below.

The grass curtain was made quite thick to keep warm when it was first woven, making it particularly hard to lift at the moment.

“Sisi! Cough, cough…”

Sure enough, there came a response from below.

“Everybody help! It’s Ye Lei, it’s Ye Lei under there!” Liu Sisi called out in a hurry.

When they saw the child not moving, the villagers were too afraid to help. But hearing Liu Sisi’s cry, the fellow villagers immediately rushed forward, all hands on deck to lift the grass curtain.

“Brother Ye Lei, Brother Ye Lei, are you down there?”

“Ah! This grass curtain is too thick! How can I not find it?”

“Ah!…You bit me? Whose family’s mischievous child is this? Not only playing dead but actually biting people…”

“Throw him out!” It was clear that the mischievous child in everyone’s mouth had angered the crowd.

“I see him!…There’s Brother Ye Lei, quick, everyone come and help!”

With a flurry of hands and feet, the crowd finally pulled the child away and helped Di Yelei up.

Di Yelei was clearly in pain all over, even when he was pulled up by people, he still held his chest with his hand, his face pale.

“Ye Lei, are you alright? How are you?” Liu Sisi hurriedly stepped forward and asked anxiously.

“I’m fine, just…cough, got hit a little.”

Di Yelei coughed several times before looking back at the child being shielded by Liu Baihan.

Liu Baihan’s legs were trembling, and he forcefully questioned the crowd: “What’s wrong? He’s just a child, you all are adults bullying a kid, have you no shame?”

“What kind of child is this? Lying there, pretending to be dead is nothing, but look at my arm, he bit me directly, leaving these tooth marks!” one of the fellow villagers said indignantly.

Another villager was also enraged: “I was bitten too! Look at this! This is a lack of upbringing. We tried to save someone with good intentions, and in the end, we were bitten like this!”

“This is outrageous…” The surrounding villagers murmured and discussed.

“Enough! Everyone, quiet down!”

Seeing Di Yelei apparently unable to speak due to the pain, Liu Sisi hurriedly called for two villagers to help, supporting Di Yelei into the house.

She then turned back to look at Liu Baihan: “Liu Baihan! Let’s not beat around the bush. What are you here for today?”

“I, I came to… give you lanterns…”

It was at that moment that Liu Baihan remembered the previous lanterns, and he hurriedly turned and ran back to pick up the three lanterns, one large and two small.

At the moment, after being trampled by the crowd, these were hardly lanterns – only some red paper was still stuck to the sorghum stalks, even the handle had been broken.

“Liu Baihan, is this the so-called lantern you were talking about? Are you sure you came to deliver lanterns instead of making trouble?”

Liu Sisi’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot, her cold eyes glaring furiously at Liu Baihan.

“This, this is…”

Liu Baihan didn’t know what to say. As he was going to give them away anyway, he hadn’t taken the shabby lanterns seriously. Though the lanterns were a bit worn, they were still in better condition than now… it was just too… that…

Liu Sisi was furious: “Liu Baihan, back then you drugged my food, colluded with outsiders to sell your own sister! Not only that, but you deliberately tarnished and ruined your sister’s reputation. Today, New Year, not only did you deliberately bring this broken lantern but also incited these two older children to come to Di’s family to make trouble. Making trouble was bad enough! I’ll bear it!”

While speaking, she walked two steps forward: “But what you absolutely should not have done is deliberately have your two older nephews make trouble. First, they bullied Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua, scaring the two dogs so they don’t dare to leave the dog house. Fine! I’ll bear it! But you should never, never have thought of money and aimed at the jujube red horse. What’s more, you have this older child fake death to deceive and extort money from people!”

As Liu Sisi’s words fell, the surrounding villagers burst into discussions, talking loudly.

“What? Sisi, this is the brother who sold you away? Does this person have no shame? After selling you, he dares to come and make trouble?”

“That’s right, everyone knows about the hunting hounds, Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua. They are two very good hunting dogs, and you dare to bully them! Aren’t you afraid of retribution?”

“For someone who sells his own sister, would he be afraid of retribution?”