Liu Shiting glanced at her, his tone neither warm nor cool. “You framed someone else, yet you’re complaining that I’m taking the side of reason over family?”
Liu Yuexia’s face flushed red as she tried to argue illogically, “Was I framing her? She didn’t prove she didn’t steal the egg, did she?!”
Seeing that she was deliberately determined to make things difficult for Ye Qisheng, Liu Shiting didn’t waste any more breath on her. He looked directly at his mother and spoke bluntly, “Mom, it’s one thing for Yuexia to be young and ignorant, but why did you have to go along with the foolishness? Stealing is no good reputation. If word gets out and reaches people who don’t know the whole story, how do you expect Miss Ye to face people in the future?”
Naturally, Mother Fan knew all about that missing egg. Now that her son called her out like this, a trace of sheepishness inevitably crossed her face, but she refused to back down verbally. “Aren’t I doing this for the good of the family? Take a look at what we’re eating right now—every day we practically have to count out the rice grains before putting them in the pot! I’m an illiterate old woman who doesn’t understand any high-minded spirit of self-sacrifice; I only know that when our own family members can’t even eat their fill, there’s no way we can support an outsider who doesn’t even know when she’ll leave!”
You couldn’t say that was entirely wrong. People naturally distinguished between blood relations and outsiders, and it was normal for his mother to have this mindset. It was precisely because he understood this that Liu Shiting hadn’t publicly exposed the truth earlier.
Yet even so, in his heart, there was still something forever more important than filling one’s stomach: keeping a promise.
Since Dr. Xu had entrusted this person to him, he could not fail that trust.
Liu Shiting deliberated for a moment and said, “Since that’s the case, from now on, half of my share of Miss Ye’s food will be split from mine and given to her. That way, you shouldn’t have any objections, right?”
In reality, having no objections was out of the question! Mother Fan was the first to jump out in opposition, saying harshly, “No way! Chengshi’s health isn’t as good as yours, and he can’t work as efficiently as you can; half the heavy lifting in our family falls on your shoulders. If you don’t eat your fill, what are we going to do about the work in the fields?”
“Exactly! Brother, isn’t she just some down-and-out wretch Dr. Xu casually picked up along the road? Allowing her a place to stay is already the utmost benevolence and righteousness—why on earth do you have to treat her so well?”
Liu Yuexia hurriedly chimed in as well. This older brother of hers was the absolute backbone in the fields; not a single person in the village could compare to him!
If her older brother’s work got delayed because he didn’t eat enough, the rest of the family would inevitably have to step up to cover his share, and she certainly didn’t want her workload increased!
“Rest assured, I’ll just eat a few mouthfuls less; it won’t affect me much.” How could Liu Shiting not know what his mother and sister were plotting? Pausing for a moment, he said with a serious expression, “Dr. Xu has a grace of kindness toward our family; I cannot let down his trust. I also hope you can know gratitude and repay kindness, and treat Miss Ye a bit better from now on.”
At the mention of Dr. Xu, Mother Fan instantly fell completely silent.
Yet Liu Yuexia remained unconvinced, gritting her teeth as she said, “I don’t care! Anyway, I just don’t like this woman. As long as she doesn’t leave, I won’t have a moment of peace!”
Liu Shiting frowned, knowing that this younger sister of his was completely impervious to both soft and hard approaches, so he didn’t bother wasting his breath.
Before leaving, remembering something, he stopped in his tracks and said, “Today’s matter ends here, but let this be a one-time thing. If I ever catch you conspiring to bully Miss Ye again, don’t blame me for siding with reason over family.”
Without paying any attention to the reactions of the mother and daughter in the room, he turned around and walked away without looking back.
As he came out, he happened to see Ye Qisheng walking into the kitchen. Liu Shiting stood in place for a moment, then lifted his foot and followed after her.
Earlier, Ye Qisheng had asked Zhou Fenling to leave some fire for her. Despite the commotion that had just taken place, who knows what was going through Zhou Fenling’s mind—after pouring out her own family’s hot water, she had actually helped fill the pot back up with water, sparing Ye Qisheng the trouble of having to draw water from the well herself.
Guessing that Zhou Fenling must be feeling a guilty conscience, Ye Qisheng couldn’t help finding it a bit amusing.
The environment she had grown up in was simply incomparable to what these people raised in the countryside had experienced.
Back in her earlier years when the family was fighting tooth and nail for power and wealth, she had been framed and plotted against countless times by her biological father’s legal wife. She had survived life-or-death trials like kidnappings and car accidents several times over; this little drama stirred up by the three women of the Liu family was nothing she feared at all.
If things really came to blows, ten more Liu Yuexias wouldn’t be enough to match her.
Ye Qisheng picked out a few pieces of firewood of appropriate size, imitated Zhou Fenling’s movements from just moments ago to shove them into the stove, and then picked up the blower lying nearby. Just as she pursed her lips to blow air into it, Liu Shiting’s somewhat cool voice abruptly sounded from behind her, “Don’t stuff so much in. It wastes the firewood and won’t burn brightly.”