As Zhao began making a scene, Old Madam Lu also started crying loudly.
“My sons, you arrived just in time! Look at the face of this vicious woman. How can our Lu family keep such a daughter-in-law? Go invite the village chief. In the next few days I will divorce her on behalf of my son!”
Lu Shan and Lu Ming exchanged glances.
Lu Shan quickly stepped forward and asked, “Mother, what exactly happened? Why did you come to Third Brother’s house?”
Before Old Madam Lu could speak, Lu Shan’s eldest son, Lu Dazhuang, spoke first.
“Waaah… Father, Third Aunt had delicious food but wouldn’t let us eat it. She even hit me!”
As soon as he spoke, Lu Shan looked at the rabbit in his second son’s arms and immediately understood what had happened.
News had already spread throughout the village that Pei Luo had hunted a rabbit and even picked up a fox today. Clearly, their mother had heard about it and brought the children here to demand food, which eventually caused a conflict.
“Shut up! You still dare to talk!” Lu Shan scolded angrily. “That rabbit was hunted by your Third Aunt. What does it have to do with you?”
Then he looked at Old Madam Lu helplessly.
“Mother, you really shouldn’t have done this. You know how difficult Third Brother’s family’s situation is. Yet you still brought the children here to make trouble. Do you want the entire village to laugh at us?”
Lu Shan felt extremely helpless. But with such a mother and wife, what could he do?
“You wretched son!” Old Madam Lu shouted. “Now it’s my fault? Your third brother isn’t home. She has good things but doesn’t know how to show filial respect to me, her mother-in-law. Am I not allowed to say anything?”
“In this world, it’s natural for children to honor their parents. Since she married into the Lu family, serving her parents-in-law is her duty. Now I only asked for a little food, and that’s wrong?”
Old Madam Lu truly believed she was right.
Lu Ming sighed and spoke calmly.
“Mother, Third Brother isn’t home. Their family of three has no land and no fields. Life is already difficult. Now that she finally managed to get a little food by luck, you still want to take it.”
“When Third Brother returns, how will he view us as his brothers? Look at the two children—they’re already skin and bones. If Third Brother sees this, how will you explain it to him?”
Lu Ming had studied before and knew exactly how to persuade their mother.
Sure enough, once land and the children were mentioned, Old Madam Lu’s arrogance weakened slightly.
Her face showed some guilt.
After all, when the third son moved out, she indeed hadn’t given them any land. But in her mind, she still believed it was their own fault.
“But she shouldn’t have hit Dazhuang!” Old Madam Lu argued weakly. “You didn’t see it—she kicked him so hard he flew through the air! Your sister-in-law Zhao was also kicked!”
As soon as Zhao heard this, she became energetic again.
She pulled Dazhuang forward and tried to show Lu Shan the footprint on his chest.
But Lu Shan felt that Pei Luo was just a woman. Even if she kicked him, it couldn’t be very serious, so he didn’t pay much attention.
At this moment, Pei Luo lifted Xiao Man’s injured arm and showed it to Lu Shan and Lu Ming.
“For a bite of food, they bit their own cousin like this. What’s the difference between them and beasts?”
“Was I wrong to hit him?”
“Xiao Man is only five years old. If I hadn’t come out in time, her arm might have been bitten off!”
“One is Xiao Man’s own grandmother, the other her own aunt. Yet they just stood there watching her get bitten without stopping it. Such heartless relatives are better off not having.”
Pei Luo’s voice was firm and powerful.
When Lu Shan and Lu Ming saw Xiao Man’s bloody wound, they were both shocked.
Such a small child, with such a thin arm…
No wonder Pei Luo was furious.
If it had been their own daughters bitten like that, they would have been equally angry.
Lu Shan immediately scolded his son.
But Lu Dabao was unwilling to return the rabbit meat. Since he couldn’t eat it, he decided no one else would either.
He suddenly threw the rabbit meat onto the ground and stomped on it several times.
“Hmph! If I can’t eat it, then none of you can!”
He glared viciously at Xiao Man.
When Xiao Man saw the rabbit that her mother had worked so hard to roast being ruined like that, she burst into tears again.
Smack!
Lu Shan hadn’t expected his son to behave this way. He immediately slapped him across the face.
But Pei Luo had no interest in watching their family drama.
“If you want to discipline your child, do it at home. Don’t dirty my yard,” she said coldly.
Zhao wanted to argue with Lu Shan after seeing her son get slapped, but Pei Luo had already chased them out.
Knowing they were in the wrong, Lu Shan could only drag away his cursing mother and shouting wife.
After closing the yard gate, Pei Luo comforted the two children before bringing Xiao Man inside to treat her wound.
The little girl’s face had turned pale from pain. Tears filled her eyes, but she bit her lip tightly to keep them from falling.
The mixture of grievance and stubbornness made Pei Luo’s heart ache.
“Xiao Man, be good. Don’t be upset. Mother will roast another rabbit for you later. We still have one more rabbit,” she said softly, wiping the girl’s tears.
But in her heart, she firmly remembered today’s grudge.
One day, those people would pay for it.
Xiao Man nodded obediently.
Pei Luo washed the girl’s arm with spiritual spring water and applied powdered Bletilla to the wound.
Fortunately, she had gathered Bletilla earlier that day.
Bletilla was excellent for stopping bleeding and preventing scars. After applying it, the wound would likely heal without leaving a mark.
After bandaging the arm, Xiao Man still hissed softly from the pain.
By this time, the sky outside had already darkened.
The two children hadn’t eaten anything at noon and their stomachs were growling loudly.
Xiao Chen kept staring at the rabbit that had been thrown on the ground and stepped on, as if he might rush over and eat it at any moment.
In the past, when he was extremely hungry, he had eaten food from the ground before.
Sometimes he even picked wild grass from the roadside to eat.
Although the original owner had seen this, she never stopped him.
If Xiao Man hadn’t taken care of him, the little boy might not have survived this long just from eating random things.
Pei Luo walked over and threw away the trampled rabbit.
Xiao Chen pointed at it sadly.
“Rabbit…”
Pei Luo gently coaxed him.
“Be good, Xiao Chen. The rabbit will be ready soon. The one earlier was dirty. If you eat it, you’ll get a stomachache.”
“Stomachache… Xiao Chen won’t eat it.”
He nodded obediently.
Pei Luo rubbed his little head and began roasting another rabbit.
Fortunately, she had gathered plenty of Sichuan pepper earlier, enough to season the meat.
She was secretly grateful that she had enjoyed cooking in her previous life and had good cooking skills. Otherwise, even preparing food in this world would have been a huge challenge.
After waiting for a long time, the rabbit was finally ready.
Each child received a rabbit leg, and they ate until their mouths were greasy with oil.
Pei Luo was worried they might get stomachaches from overeating, so she gave each of them a bowl of spiritual spring water to drink. She also drank some herself.
Although the space required the strange “power of merit,” it was still quite useful.
The spiritual soil was especially reliable.
The medicinal herbs she had planted earlier were growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Before long, she would probably be able to sell them.