Lu Mingkai looked at the deathly pale woman lying on the kang (heated brick bed), not daring to take a step forward. Her small hands tightly gripped Shen Fugui's trouser leg. Seeing this, Mingfang moved closer and gently embraced him.
Shen Meng looked at the wailing child, wanting to go forward but not daring to, her heart aching with fear.
Before she could say anything, two more children entered the cramped room.
They were dressed in tattered clothes, patches upon patches, their hair a mess, their clothes dusty and gray. The younger child was barefoot.
But that wasn't the most important thing. The most important thing was that both children were expressionless, their eyes cold and sinister, their lips slightly upturned, as if they were rejoicing in her impending death.
Shen Meng was horrified. She couldn't believe she could see such terrible thoughts in two such young children. A breath caught in her throat, unable to rise or fall.
The wind blew in through the window, and she suddenly started coughing. When she came to her senses, she realized she was covered in a cold sweat.
Liu Sanjin had a lot to say but couldn't get it out. From the initial shock of seeing Shen Meng to the current nervousness upon seeing Shen Fugui, it wasn't until Shen Meng coughed that she realized this matter was unlikely to end well.
"Come on, Mingkai, go see your mother! She's badly injured! Look at your grandmother, your uncles and aunts, just watching your own mother die like this? They didn't even call a doctor! Do you know what they're up to? They want to take all the brick house your father built for you and your mother! After you lose your mother, what will they do to you? My grandson!"
Shen Fugui hadn't intended to cry, but seeing his seriously injured daughter, his young grandson, his cruel in-laws, and his own incompetence,
tears streamed down his face!
"In-laws, in-laws, you can't say that! When the eldest son first came back, he was perfectly fine, just a small head injury. Otherwise, we wouldn't have refused to call a doctor. Our Lu family is a well-regarded family in this area. You can't make false accusations!"
"False accusations? I'm making false accusations? Then how did my daughter end up like this? Why aren't my grandchildren home? You're all eating and drinking well at home, while the kids are out catching sparrows. If they weren't starving, how could those short-legged toddlers find food on their own?"
Liu Sanjin was speechless at Shen Fugui's words. They had fried a plate of eggs for lunch today but hadn't called the eldest son's children, afraid they would eat them. However, they had left two bowls of porridge for them in the stove; they weren't deliberately starving them.
Liu Sanjin already disliked Mingyang and the other children, and seeing that they were being used against him, he was even more annoyed and immediately glared fiercely at them.
Wu Xianglan silently prayed, terrified that Shen Meng might really leave and come looking for her in the middle of the night. She dared not utter a word. Zhou Jiaojiao was equally afraid to speak, but she couldn't remain silent. At this time, she couldn't argue;
she had to appease her. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to live in those three large brick houses, and the infamy of forcibly seizing the eldest son's property would fall on her shoulders. "Sister-in-law, you have to hold on! Mingkai is still so young. If you leave, how will the children survive? Waaah..."
Shen Meng ignored her. She just wanted to use her pitiful appearance to gain sympathy from the children. The Lu Mingyang and Lu Mingliang route was clearly not working, so Shen Meng set her sights on Lu Mingfang and Lu Mingkai. Girls were soft-hearted and easy to win over, and with a young child, it would be even easier.
"Zhou Jiaojiao, move aside, you're blocking my view of the children."
Upon hearing this, Shen Fugui, without caring whether the two children wanted to or not, grabbed them and pushed them to the front of Shen Meng's bed, squeezing Zhou Jiaojiao aside as well.
"Xiao Meng, Mingkai and Mingfang are here. Look at the children. What do you want to say? Speak slowly, no rush, my dear!"
Zhou Jiaojiao stumbled from the push, almost twisting her ankle, and didn't dare say a word, afraid that Shen Meng's mind would suddenly clear and she'd think about the house.
Shen Meng looked at the two children in front of her, pinched her thigh hard under the covers, and tears streamed down her face.
The eye drops she just used must have been cheap and ineffective; they stopped working so quickly, and now her eyes are dry, itchy, and tired.
"Mingkai, my son, I'm so sorry. I carried you for ten months, watching you grow up little by little. How could I not love you? But I was only nineteen when I gave birth to you. I didn't know anything. I was so anxious, and your father wasn't here. There was no one to help me. You were so small, and every night I would wake up in fear, putting my hand under your little nose, afraid something might happen to you. Waaah, you're my own son, how could I not love you!"
Shen Meng gently placed her hand on Lu Mingkai's head, stroking and rubbing it affectionately.
The little guy was held down by his grandfather's large hands, unable to run away. He looked at the woman who usually hit, scolded, pinched, and tormented him. The woman was crying so pitifully, saying she loved him and apologized. He didn't understand. He wanted to run away, but in his memory, he had never been treated so gently by his mother. For a moment, he was stunned.
Mingfang's tears were also streaming down her face. It wasn't that she was moved by her wicked stepmother's words, but rather that she was afraid when she saw her stepmother raise her hand to place on Xiaomingkai's body. She was afraid that the hand that was touching his head would suddenly slap her little brother.
“Mingfang, my child, I’m so sorry to you and Mingyang. Mingliang, when you first married into the family, you were so good to me. You were such a little girl, you didn’t even have time to eat yourself, you were just worried about whether I was hungry in the new room. You brought me a bowl of rice, your little hands were red from the heat. I’m so sorry for how I treated you later. They say a daughter is a mother’s warm little cotton-padded jacket. If I had another chance, I would cherish you like my own heart. Father, take out that black cloth bag from the cabinet. It’s the fabric I saved for Mingfang, thinking of making her a new dress at the end of the year. Now I’m afraid there’s no chance.”
Shen Meng spoke haltingly, with great effort. The Lu family didn’t dare interrupt her, afraid that if she suddenly stopped breathing, Shen Fugui would blame them. And there were the other children, Mingyang and Mingliang. They were all grown up and had good memories. Even if Shen Meng wasn’t good to him, she was still Lu Zhenping’s wife. When he came back and found out how his wife was gone, wouldn’t he be furious?
Lu Mingfang stared blankly as her grandfather took a black cloth bag from the wicked woman's kang cabinet, pulled out a piece of green peony-patterned cotton cloth, and placed it in her hand. Her heart felt as if pricked by a needle, instantly softening.
Leaning against the doorframe, Lu Mingyang sneered inwardly. This woman was truly wicked; even on her deathbed, she was still trying to deceive people. She had clearly boasted before that she had acquired a new piece of cloth to make cotton trousers for herself, and now she was telling Mingfang about it, just to make her younger siblings remember her kindness. She probably had her eye on the first incense and paper money offered during festivals.