Su Wangcai also understood the seriousness of the situation.
If Ye Xiu’e really caused a scene, their family would gain no advantage and would only be condemned by everyone.
So he suddenly had an idea and hurriedly said,
“It was Hongxia! Yes, Hongxia borrowed it! She said she wanted to renovate her family’s house and would return it in a couple of years.”
Su Hongxia was Old Madam Su’s daughter and the second child in the family. She had married into a neighboring village and occasionally came back to stay for a day or two.
Su Wangcai thought he was incredibly clever.
Once he said this, surely Ye Xiu’e wouldn’t say anything more.
After all, she couldn’t possibly go to the neighboring village in the middle of the night to confront Su Hongxia.
Indeed, although Ye Xiu’e was suspicious, she couldn’t confront Su Hongxia right now.
She had a decent relationship with Su Hongxia.
After Youcai died, Hongxia had even helped her before.
If the money really had been lent to Hongxia, then so be it.
But if she discovered that Su Wangcai was lying, then they couldn’t blame her for turning hostile.
Seeing Ye Xiu’e’s expression soften, Old Madam Su knew that continuing the argument would only make things worse.
She could only thicken her skin and try to make peace.
“Xiu’e, I was confused in my old age. I shouldn’t have believed those superstitious things. From now on, I’ll treat Wanwan properly. Please forgive me this once.”
Then she looked at Su Wanwan.
“Wanwan, does it still hurt? Grandma was wrong. It won’t happen again. Hurry and persuade your mother.”
Since things had reached this point, Su Wanwan knew it was time to accept the way out.
Old Madam Su had spoken smoothly and had even apologized to the younger generation.
After all, the injuries were only minor.
If they kept making trouble, the villagers might start saying that she and her mother were being unreasonable.
There would be plenty of time in the future.
She would have many chances to settle accounts with them.
Seeing her daughter so sensible made Ye Xiu’e feel even more heartbroken.
She looked up and glared at Old Madam Su, then took Su Wanwan’s hand and returned to their room.
The neighbors watching the show saw that the matter had ended just like that.
A big drama had started with great intensity but ended quietly.
Feeling a little disappointed, they carried their rice bowls and returned home.
Once the madwoman and the villagers were gone, Old Madam Su and the others finally let out a breath of relief.
But when they looked at the mess on the floor, they immediately began to worry again.
The freshly cooked food had all been overturned by that crazy woman.
Several plates and bowls had also been smashed, making Old Madam Su’s heart ache.
Su Cuifen and her two younger brothers cried and complained that they were hungry.
Su Wangcai had worked all day and was already starving.
Holding his empty stomach, he couldn’t help blaming Old Madam Su.
“Mom, honestly, why did you hit her so hard? Now we don’t even have dinner. Sigh…”
Old Madam Su glared at him angrily.
“What nonsense are you talking about? I didn’t hit her today!”
Su Wangcai muttered under his breath,
“You still hit her before. It’s not like you were falsely accused…”
Old Madam Su didn’t hear clearly, but she knew he was definitely complaining about her.
“How was I supposed to know that woman would go crazy and risk her life? Hurry up and pick up whatever food on the ground isn’t dirty.”
The family carefully picked up the fried radish and fried sweet potatoes from the floor.
Unfortunately, most of it had already been stained with dirt and couldn’t be eaten.
That night’s staple food had been corn porridge.
It had spilled everywhere on the ground, making it completely inedible.
Luckily, some pumpkin and sweet potatoes had been steamed and were still sitting in the pot.
So the family made do with that for dinner.
After eating, Maodan was still complaining that he was hungry.
Xu Shi scolded him, and he ran off unhappily.
Knowing that he hadn’t eaten his fill because of that cousin, he began to hate her.
He secretly decided that he would definitely play a proper prank on her tomorrow.
Su Wangcai was the main laborer of the family.
That little bit of food was nowhere near enough for him.
But he couldn’t very well fight women and children for food, so he only ate until he was about thirty percent full before everything was gone.
He glared bitterly at the mud house, feeling extremely aggrieved.
But after thinking about it, he realized that the mother and daughter had nothing to eat at all.
That thought made him feel a little more balanced.
Meanwhile, Ye Xiu’e had taken her daughter back to their room and closed the door.
Outside, it was already almost completely dark.
The room was pitch black.
Ye Xiu’e fumbled around until she found the switch on the electric wire and turned it on.
Because of its geographical location, Qingshui Village had gotten electricity the previous year.
The old-fashioned bulb gave off a dim yellow light, but it was enough to illuminate the room.
Ye Xiu’e took ointment from her medical bag and applied a thick layer over all of Wanwan’s injured areas before putting it away.
At this moment, Su Wanwan was grateful for the dim lighting.
On top of that, the makeup was waterproof.
Otherwise, Ye Xiu’e might have discovered that the bruises had been drawn on.
Then Ye Xiu’e secretly took a wrapped bundle from her medical bag.
When she opened it, there were several meat patties inside.
Both sides of the patties had been fried golden brown in oil.
They released a rich fragrance and gleamed with an inviting shine.
In this era, people rarely ate meat more than a few times a year.
Although the patties were mostly made of flour, most families didn’t even get to eat flour several times a year.
The fact that there was a little meat mixed inside already made them extremely rare.
Especially with stingy Old Madam Su, who barely bought meat once a month.
Seeing Ye Xiu’e take out several meat patties at once truly shocked Su Wanwan.
As if knowing what she was thinking, Ye Xiu’e smiled warmly at her.
“I helped the Cheng family in the brigade deliver a baby today. Before I left, they secretly gave me a few meat patties and didn’t let your aunt see. They’re still warm, so eat quickly.”
Although Su Wanwan wasn’t hungry, seeing Ye Xiu’e’s expectant expression, she still picked up a meat patty and began eating.
Mm!
It looked ordinary, but it tasted unexpectedly delicious.
Su Wanwan was completely won over.
Whether it was the flavor of the flour or the pork, everything tasted far better than what she had eaten in modern times.
That made sense.
Food in the 1970s was truly natural.
The wheat had never been treated with pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
Pigs weren’t fed commercial feed, let alone injected with hormones or pumped with water.
This original, natural flavor was genuinely wonderful.
It seemed this era wasn’t completely without merit.
Seeing Wanwan eat so happily, Ye Xiu’e felt deeply comforted.
Because of her illness, Wanwan had hardly eaten anything these past two days.
She must have been starving.
Since she liked the patties, Ye Xiu’e decided to leave all of them for her.
She swallowed quietly and was about to get up to sew shoe soles when a pair of small hands tugged at her.
“Mom… you eat too.”
Su Wanwan was still a little unused to calling someone that.
Ye Xiu’e was both excited and delighted.
She lowered her head and looked at the meat patty her daughter was offering with her other hand, but she didn’t take it right away.
Her daughter truly was different today.
She was willing to express her own thoughts now.
Because of her skin disease, Su Wanwan had always been silent and insecure.
After Su Youcai passed away, she spoke even less.
Sometimes she wouldn’t say more than two sentences in an entire day.
She never expressed what she wanted or didn’t want.
But now she knew how to care for her mother and even offered her food.
How could Ye Xiu’e not be moved?
“Mom, you eat too.”
Su Wanwan stood on tiptoe and raised the meat patty higher.
“Yes! Alright, Mom will eat too!”
Feeling pleasantly overwhelmed, Ye Xiu’e quickly took the patty.
The delicious taste spread through her mouth.
Tears shimmered in Ye Xiu’e’s eyes, but a smile rested on her lips.