Although Mrs. Du didn't want them to see Deng Xiaoniang, she couldn't stop her. She could only force a smile and let Mrs. Wang call her out.
After four months of separation, mother and daughter finally met.
Du Qingliu's eyes were a little red and he said: "Mother, my daughter wants to go back to the room to have a conversation with my mother."
Although she despises this concubine and her husband, Mrs. Du will not embarrass them in front of outsiders.
After all, Du Xiucai still wanted to lose face.
So even though she was unhappy in her heart, she smiled kindly and said, "Go ahead, your sister-in-law and I will prepare some food. Later, you and your son-in-law will have dinner at home before going back."
If it weren't for seeing the decent gifts, Mrs. Du really wouldn't have planned to keep the meal.
She is just a concubine, how can she be entertained?
However, she didn't plan to entertain anything later. She just asked her daughter-in-law to cook some rice soup with some sour radish.
After giving the instructions, she pouted and carried the things Yunfei had brought back to her room.
This year, except for Du Xiucai, no one in their family made cotton-padded clothes.
She was worrying about what to wear when going out to meet guests. She couldn't tell people that the Du family couldn't even afford a new cotton coat.
…………
In the woodshed.
Most of this room was neatly stacked with firewood.
There was only a little space left for a bed, a table, and two chairs.
If it weren't for a window, the whole room would probably be dark.
Yunfei didn't go in. After all, this was his mother-in-law's boudoir. It was not good for him as a man to go in.
So I simply took a stool, sat outside the door, and took out a book to read.
It's not because I study hard and always carry books with me when I go out, but I'm used to it. No matter which plane I'm in, I like to keep some personal belongings in the space.
Such as money...
In the room, Du Qingliu hugged her mother and cried bitterly. Her hands carefully held her mother's hands that were as thin as tree branches.
Although it is very thin, it is very smooth and tender.
After all, she still had to make money with her hands, so even if Mrs. Du didn't want to, she would still buy her a small box of cream to clean her hands every month.
Because if your hands are too rough, the thread will be snagged, and the embroidery work will be ruined. Not to mention making money, you will have to pay for it.
"Mom, why are you so thin? Are you not eating enough?"
Having said this, she quickly took out a bag of things wrapped in a handkerchief from her arms.
"Mom, please eat some snacks first." Because I had them in my arms along the way, they were still warm at the moment.
Deng Xiaoniang didn't want to refuse her daughter's kindness. After taking it, she only took one piece and returned the rest to her.
"You can eat it too, mother, just have a taste."
"Mother..." Du Qingliu felt very uncomfortable.
She is now out of the sea of suffering, but her mother's life has no end in sight.
"I'm not hungry. My husband has never treated us harshly when it comes to food. He will buy us whatever we want to eat."
"That's good. If you have a good life, mother will be relieved..."
It had been so long since she had seen her daughter come home, and she was a concubine married to a government official. Even though she was going to be a wife, Deng Xiaoniang was still worried.
The only consolation was that her daughter had a better fate than her and was not assigned to be a concubine.
Du Qingliu didn't know what to say. She really wanted to take her mother away from here, but she also knew that it was impossible.
I can only tell her my current situation to make her feel at ease.
The mother and daughter knew not to chat for too long, otherwise Mrs. Du would find a reason to attack Xiaoniang Deng, so they could only keep the conversation short.
Everything is fine with Du Qingliu, and Deng Xiaoniang reports good news but not bad news.
She ate snacks, looked at her daughter lovingly, and told her what to pay attention to during pregnancy.
Outside the door, Yunfei was reading a book and suddenly felt a shadow.
A thin young man squatted next to him and asked curiously: "Are you the second brother-in-law?"
Du Qingliu ranked second, so it is not wrong to say that he is the second brother-in-law.
"Are you the third brother?"
He heard Du Qingliu say that her third brother was also a concubine and his treatment at home was not very good either.
After all, there is a brother above him.
It seems to be called Du Qingbai.
"Well..." The young man smiled shyly.
"Second brother-in-law, are you reading a book?"
"Yes." Seeing the envy in his eyes, Yunfei didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Du Qingbai, didn't I ask you to chop wood? Where did you die?"
The young man's face paled, and after saying goodbye politely, he ran to the front yard.
Yunfei heard insults coming from the front yard, but he didn't hear the boy say anything back.
There was a voice of a young girl making love to the fire. She was not too old. She must be Du Qingliu's biological sister, Du Qingqing.
Listening to the sound is not a good thing.
She kept making fire and asked her mother to punish Du Qingbai not to eat at night and to collect firewood.
Just like the best family in Ji Lai, it was not easy for Du Qingliu to grow up safely in this kind of environment.
Fortunately she has a capable mother.
If it weren't for the difficulty of selling daughters as wives in this era, and the shame of being sold into slavery, it is estimated that many girls would not be able to grow up at home.
Most families are reluctant to pay the poll tax to girls.
I don’t know what was going on inside, but Yunfei gave Du Qingliu the egg in his sleeve and asked her to hide it for Deng Xiaoniang.
She probably didn't have anything to eat tonight.
After lunch was ready, it was Wang who came to call them to eat.
Yunfei ate in the main room by himself, because there was no man at home who could accompany him to eat.
A bowl of rice soup so thin that no ten grains of rice could be fished out, and a small plate of pickled radish.
As for the pastries and three kilograms of pork belly he just brought, there was no sign of them.
The female relatives all ate in the kitchen.
Du Qingliu had just finished crying and had no appetite at all, but in order not to waste food, he still forced himself to eat.
After the meal was over, the couple couldn't stay any longer, so they had to say goodbye and leave.
As soon as they left, Mrs. Du, who was still smiling, stopped pretending.
Yin and Yang said angrily: "Sister Deng, you also know that there is no food at home. In order to entertain Liu Yatou, I made an extra lunch today, so you should eat less these days."
"It's not that my sister is reluctant to give it to you. It's just that the food at home is already abundant. The extra food you spend now is for your daughter and son-in-law to eat, so you can naturally save it. Do you think that's the reason?"
Deng Xiaoniang didn't argue with her, she just bowed her head in agreement.
Then he went back to his room and continued his embroidery work. There was numbness, pain, and relief in his eyes.
Just wait a little longer...
She would be relieved by making sure her daughter was happy and seeing her unborn grandson again.
It's not that she is cowardly, but that living like this is not like a human being. She can't find any other way to solve all this except seeking death.
If she had to raise her daughter, she would have died a long time ago. Why let these people deal with it like this?
As long as she sees her daughter's happiness with her own eyes, she will be able to rest in peace even if she dies...
Du Qingliu didn't know what her mother was thinking. On the way back, she was in a daze with red eyes.
(End of chapter)
