Tian Denghua grew angrier as she spoke, her eyes rimmed red.
—Naturally, it was because she felt too much heartache for Song Yueping.
Song Yueping naturally knew his mother was distressed on his behalf. But in his heart, he thought Cuihong wasn’t wrong either—after all, she was an unmarried young woman. What would it look like for a grown man like him to stay in her room?
Anyway, he was young and didn’t mind the cold.
At night, Cuihong had even brought him a quilt—so warm!
Song Yueping looked at his sister pleadingly, hoping his always-doted-on sister would put in a good word for him and soothe their mother.
However, Tian Denghua noticed Song Yueping’s little gesture and slapped him again, fuming, “Still looking at your sister!… Do you know your sister was unconscious for three whole days and only woke up yesterday?!”
Song Yueping truly hadn’t known this. He gasped sharply, “What happened to Yanyan?”
Tian Denghua, recalling the fear and worry of the past few days with her daughter unconscious, grew even more teary-eyed. She scolded bitterly, “You have the nerve to ask what happened to your sister! Go on, keep fawning over the Zhai Family!… Your sister fell and hit her head, was unconscious for three whole days, and only woke up yesterday—did you know that?! Where were you then?! You were living in a woodshed in Shuiwanggou, currying favor with that Zhai! As her second brother, how dare you ask what happened to Yanyan?!”
Song Yueping shrank his neck like a quail, not daring to make a sound.
Seeing Tian Denghua growing more agitated with each scold, Song Yanyan coughed and glanced at her sister-in-law Qi Lian, who sat on the kang beside them with a dazed, smiling expression. She decided to change her mother’s mood.
“Mom! I have to tell you something!” Song Yanyan spoke up.
Tian Denghua was in the heat of anger right now, and even her most beloved daughter couldn’t earn her a pleasant expression.
She snapped, “What is it? Don’t even think about pleading for your shameless second brother!”
Song Yueping chuckled awkwardly, “Mom—”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Mom! Listen to me!” Song Yanyan took off her shoes and stood on the kang, proudly announcing, “Sister-in-law is pregnant! You’re going to be a grandma! I’m going to be an aunt! And Second Brother, who you’ve been scolding like a grandson, is going to be an uncle!”
Tian Denghua froze, the impatient anger on her face suddenly turning to stunned disbelief.
“Wait, Yanyan, what did you say?”
Song Yanyan smiled, her almond-shaped eyes curving into crescents. “Mom, earlier I asked Sister-in-law to take me to Doctor Ding for a follow-up. Doctor Ding checked Sister-in-law’s pulse while we were there and found out she’s already almost two months pregnant!”
Tian Denghua’s heart leaped into her throat.
She couldn’t help raising her voice, “Is it true, Eldest Daughter-in-law?”
Ever since Doctor Ding told her she was almost two months pregnant, Qi Lian had been grinning foolishly.
Now, as Tian Denghua asked her so loudly, a blush spread across Qi Lian’s face. She nodded shyly, “Mom, it’s true. Doctor Ding also said the pulse is very strong, and the baby is doing well.”
Adding a new member to the family was a joyous occasion.
Tian Denghua exclaimed, “Oh my!” Her face lit up with a smile, clearly overjoyed.
“When Eldest finds out this news, who knows how happy he’ll be!” Tian Denghua beamed, then remembered something and slapped her own forehead. “Right, Eldest Daughter-in-law just got pregnant—she needs extra nourishment! I’ll go boil a couple of eggs for you to eat!”
Tian Denghua had already completely put her useless second son Song Yueping out of her mind. Happily rushing out of the room, she went to the kitchen to boil eggs.
Song Yueping was also grinning foolishly: "Wow, I'm going to be an uncle!… Sister-in-law, where's big brother? Why haven't I seen him?"
Qi Lian gently stroked her flat belly, her smile distant: "…Your big brother went to the county town to see someone off. He doesn't know about this yet."
Song Yueping said: "When big brother finds out, he'll be overjoyed!"
Thinking of how silly her husband would look when he was happy, Qi Lian blushed, lowered her head, and softly replied, "Mhm."
Song Yueping then walked over to Song Yanyan. Feeling a bit distressed, he hugged his sister who was standing on the kang and began to fuss with her hair, checking the back of her head: "Yanyan, Mom said you bumped your head? Come, let your second brother see. Where did you bump it? Does it still hurt?"
Hearing her second brother's concerned words, Song Yanyan's eyes grew a little moist.
Although her second brother was a hopeless romantic, utterly infatuated with that girl from the Zhai Family, had done many foolish things, and had even crippled one of his legs for her—truly foolish to the extreme—when it came to his family, he was truly beyond reproach.
Especially towards her, his younger sister, he was extremely good.
On that rainy night when their family was massacred, it was her second brother with his crippled leg who desperately held the courtyard gate shut, telling them to run…
Later, her second brother was cut down by the hidden guards sent by the Princess. To buy them time, he clung desperately to the leg of one of the hidden guards and was slashed over a dozen times, dying a tragic death on the spot…
Remembering the horror from her dream, Song Yanyan couldn't help but sniffle.
Seeing this, Song Yuepan grew frantic. He quickly withdrew his hand from her hair, unsure where to put it: "Yanyan, did I touch a sore spot?"
Even Qi Lian looked over with some concern.
"No, it stopped hurting a long time ago," Song Yanyan said with a choked voice. "I just think… second brother, you went to their house to help, and you could only sleep in the woodshed. It's so cold, and it's snowing heavily!… It breaks my heart. Mom must be heartbroken too!"
Song Yueping breathed a sigh of relief, but then looked somewhat embarrassed, repeating his usual excuse: "…Well, there's nothing to be done about it. Your sister Cuihong and I aren't officially engaged yet…"
Song Yanyan's bright, tear-filled eyes looked at Song Yueping: "Second brother, must Sister Cuihong be heartbroken too? Is she feeling terribly guilty? After going through something like this, surely she won't have the heart to ask you to go help again next time?… Sister Cuihong likes you so much, she must be feeling awful too, right?"
This series of three questions from Song Yanyan made Song Yueping's expression stiffen.
In reality, Cuihong wasn't upset at all. In fact, when his mother came to pick him up, Cuihong even complained a bit, saying the stove wasn't fully repaired yet…
"Yanyan, you're still young, you don't understand…" Song Yueping mumbled vaguely.
Song Yanyan didn't want to let this go so easily. She loudly asked Qi Lian: "Sister-in-law, second brother says I'm too young to understand. You've been married to big brother for three years, you must understand! If big brother went to your parents' house and could only sleep in the woodshed, what would you do, sister-in-law?"
Following Song Yanyan's line of thought, Qi Lian imagined her husband having to sleep in the woodshed at her parents' house in this freezing cold… Her expression changed with distress: "I wouldn't stand for that!"
Song Yueping repeated his old tune, opening his mouth: "…we haven't even gotten engaged yet."
Qi Lian stroked her belly and interjected: "Not being engaged isn't a big deal! Even if you're not engaged, you can still share a room with my brother! Our cousins often come to stay over for a few days. What's the problem with that? …Worst case scenario, if there's really no space at home, you could take someone to stay overnight at a relative's house. When close relatives come to help repair the house, there's no way you should make them sleep in the woodshed! What kind of logic is that?"
When Qi Lian and Song Risheng got married back then, they had taken a liking to each other while gathering firewood behind Qishan Mountain. Song Risheng had eagerly begged Tian Denghua to send a matchmaker to propose marriage. They went three times, and only after the Qi family felt the sincerity of the Song family did they finally agree.
Qi Lian imagined how unbearable it would be if Song Risheng had to sleep in their woodshed on a freezing cold day.
Every word she spoke was filled with genuine emotion.
It also vividly demonstrated how someone who truly cares for another would behave in such a situation—with so many possible solutions, the Zhai family had chosen the one that showed the least regard for Song Yueping.
Song Yueping's face turned pale, then paler still, and he seemed somewhat dazed.
Song Yanyan watched this, nodding slightly to herself with satisfaction.
Let this love-struck fool think carefully about what it truly means to worry about someone in a relationship!