Bai Jiu certainly didn’t believe this wretched old woman. It would be a miracle if she truly had such good intentions. She was the type of person who could talk the dead back to life with her lies.
"Mother, isn’t it completely heartless to say such things? You complain that Xiuxiu doesn’t do any chores? Why don’t you look at the daughter you raised? Look how old she is! She eats more than anyone and eats better than anyone. Has she ever done a single day of work all these years?
"No matter how much you look down on Xiuxiu, she still goes out to cut pig grass every single day. Even if it’s only two work points a day, she earns enough to feed herself, doesn’t she?
"Not to mention she also washes clothes and sweeps the floor. If you want to talk about a money pit, the daughter you raised is the biggest money pit in this family!" Bai Jiu was referring to the Gao family’s youngest daughter, Gao Yulan.
Song Caihua had given birth to a total of four children—three sons and one daughter. Since Yulan was the only girl and the youngest, born to them in their later years, the old couple doted on her endlessly. In the Gao family, Gao Yulan didn’t have to lift a finger. She ate the best food and wore the best clothes; even half of the military allowance Gao Zhijun sent home was spent on her. Old Mrs. Song was raising her youngest daughter like a city girl, hoping she would eventually marry into the city and become a true urbanite.
Hearing this, Old Mrs. Song flew into a rage. "Pah! How can a little money pit compare to my Yulan? Just look at what that little wretched thing is!"
"Whether they can be compared or not, I don’t know," Bai Jiu said indignantly, glaring at the other family members who were standing by and watching. "But I do know that half of Xiuxiu’s father’s forty-yuan monthly salary was spent on Yulan, and the other half supported the rest of you.
"And now you want to give his daughter away for someone else to raise? How can you face your dead son?"
There wasn’t a single decent person in this entire family. They were all leeches sucking Gao Zhijun’s blood, yet they still mistreated his wife and children.
"That was in the past! Now that Zhijun’s whereabouts are unknown, where is this allowance you speak of?"
Bai Jiu shot Old Mrs. Song a sharp glare. "Don’t think I’m stupid. I know everything. Zhijun might not have his regular allowance anymore, but he had an accident while working for the country. The state issued him a pension and a subsidy," she said coldly.
Old Mrs. Song was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Bai Jiu to know about this. She had intended to keep it a secret, and she wondered which blind fool had leaked the news to her. If she found out, she would make sure that person suffered a terrible fate.
In reality, the original owner of this body hadn’t known a thing. But Bai Jiu, as a modern woman, understood the state’s policies much better. The country would never abandon its people, let alone the heroes who had contributed to the nation. In a situation like Gao Zhijun’s, where he had an accident while on duty, the state would absolutely not leave his family to fend for themselves. Seeing the look on Old Mrs. Song’s face, Bai Jiu was even more certain that Gao Zhijun’s subsidies had been pocketed by the old woman.
With this confirmed, Bai Jiu planted her hands on her hips, acting as arrogant and fierce as she possibly could. "Mother, if you dare give Xiuxiu away today, I’ll take this matter to the commune! I’ll take it all the way to the provincial government! I refuse to believe that the orphan of a man who sacrificed himself for this country has nowhere to seek justice!"
Seeing her usually meek and submissive third daughter-in-law suddenly find her wits today, Song Caihua was so furious she could have bitten someone. If this matter really got taken to the commune, it definitely wouldn’t end well for her.
Meeting the murderous glint in Bai Jiu’s eyes, Song Caihua instantly deflated. "Fine, we won’t give her away. There’s no need for you to make a scene at the commune. We’re a family, after all. We can’t embarrass ourselves in front of the leaders."
As Old Mrs. Song said this, her heart bled. She thought of the twenty yuan the other party had originally promised, and how she had planned to use that money to buy some meat to nourish Yulan. Hmph, not only did she fail to get the money, but now the family still had to feed a useless mouth. It was truly infuriating.
While Bai Jiu had been making a fuss, the members of the second branch of the family had been listening intently from the sidelines. Even Gao Yulan hid in her room, refusing to come out. It was evident just how ruthless this family was. Every single one of them was a vicious predator who would devour a person whole without spitting out the bones.
After the confrontation, Bai Jiu returned to her room to check on her children. Gao Xiuxiu’s face was flushed red from fright, and her eyes were swollen from crying. Bai Jiu walked over and pulled the little girl into her arms, gently patting her back. "Mother is here. I won’t let anyone send you away. Don’t worry."
Gao Xiuxiu had likely been severely traumatized. She nodded against Bai Jiu’s chest and kept her arms wrapped tightly around her mother.
Gao Zhengyang, on the other hand, looked at his mother with pure adoration. "Mother, you were so amazing today! Grandma didn’t even dare to give my sister away."
The original owner had possessed a weak, yielding temperament. Whenever her children suffered grievances in this house, her first reaction was always to tell them to endure it. If things had continued like that for years, these two children would have been completely ruined. Not only ruined, but they likely would have become lifelong slaves to this family.
Even though her sudden change in personality took the children a little getting used to, children of the poor grew up fast. They much preferred their mother the way she was now. Only like this could she protect them and keep them from being bullied. After all, who was born just to be bullied?
After calming them down, Bai Jiu finally took a proper look at her two children. Although living conditions now were better than during the famine years, resources were still extremely scarce. It wasn’t just this one village; it was the same across the entire Blue Country. The grain rations distributed by the production brigade at the end of the year were never enough to feed everyone, let alone provide meat or extra nourishment.
Because the original owner and her children were treated so poorly in the Gao family, their daily meals consisted of watery wild vegetable porridge, with so few grains of rice you could count them at a glance. As a result, the children were painfully thin with sallow complexions, not to mention the tattered clothes they wore, which were beyond patching.
It was the dead of winter, yet what were they wearing? Their garments were incredibly thin, short, and wholly inadequate. Their hands, feet, and faces were covered in frostbite. Even the original owner’s condition was no better than the children’s.
Her husband had earned a monthly allowance of forty yuan, yet this mother and her two children lived worse than the widows in the village. Looking at the two little ones, Bai Jiu’s heart ached terribly. If the original owner had been even slightly more assertive, Gao Zhijun’s allowance would have ensured their family never fell into such destitution.
From now on, she was their mother, and they were her children. She would absolutely never allow them to suffer like this again. She wasn’t the original owner. She couldn’t bow her head and endure every injustice. She fully intended to raise these two children and live a good life, ensuring they would never have to swallow their grievances like before.
"Xiuxiu, Zhengyang, come here," Bai Jiu called softly. She rummaged through the closet and pulled out all their available clothing, planning to layer it on them. If they didn’t take proper care of their bodies this winter, the damage would be irreversible when they grew up.
"Yes, Mother," the two children replied obediently.
After helping them bundle up in the extra clothes, Bai Jiu pulled a handful of White Rabbit milk candies from behind her back and handed them out.
"Mother kept these hidden away. Eat them secretly, and don’t let anyone else see."
She actually had many things stored in her spatial dimension. But she couldn’t take them out right now. It would be too conspicuous. Although she didn’t know why she had been brought to this world, she knew that going back would be nearly impossible. From now on, she was the Bai Jiu of this era.
Looking at the milk candies their mother had just handed them, the two children were utterly astounded. "Mother, where did you get these?"
One had to understand that in the countryside, let alone milk candies, even the cheap fruit candies that cost a penny for two were considered a precious luxury. Buying sugar didn’t just require money; it required ration coupons. Money was relatively easy to come by, but ration coupons were hard to acquire—especially highly prized sugar coupons.