Wen Hua’er suddenly burst into tears.
For years, she’d been worn down by endless arguments with her mother-in-law, her son’s eye condition, and now even her own mother’s lack of understanding. She had been bottling everything up inside.
Hearing her mother speak those harsh words was the final straw.
All of her pent-up emotions erupted at once.
Little Xiaowei, who had been quietly curled up in her arms, was startled when his mother suddenly began crying. He immediately started crying too.
“Mom… I’ll be good. I’ll be good… Please don’t cry.”
The little boy was so flustered he didn’t know what to do.
Even though his own tears were streaming down his face, he still reached out his tiny hands to wipe away his mother’s tears.
Wen Hua’er finally came back to herself.
Afraid she had frightened Xiaowei, she hurriedly wiped away her tears and forced herself to calm down.
Jiang Lai had accomplished exactly what she’d come for.
She stood up and asked,
“Sister-in-law, which workshop does Big Brother work in? Why isn’t he off work yet? I’ll go take a look.”
Only then did Wen Hua’er realize something.
Ever since Jiang Chunfeng had followed her back to her parents’ home, he’d been returning later and later every night.
He only ate dinner at home.
He never ate breakfast or lunch there.
He had no money in his pocket.
She had no idea where he was eating—or whether he was eating at all.
The more she thought about his unusual behavior, the more uneasy she became.
She quickly picked up Xiaowei.
“I’ll go find him.”
Then she hurried out of the house with her son.
Wen Hua’er knew exactly which workshop Jiang Chunfeng worked in.
She went straight there.
The workshop was enormous.
Normally, workers could be seen everywhere after just a few steps.
Today, however, she searched for quite a while before finally finding him.
She gently tugged at the corner of his work clothes.
Jiang Chunfeng straightened up from the machine he was repairing.
When he saw it was his wife, a smile appeared on his face.
Seeing his father, Xiaowei happily called out,
“Daddy! Daddy!”
Wen Hua’er’s nose tingled with emotion.
Holding back tears, she asked,
“You finished work.”
“Why didn’t you come home?”
Jiang Chunfeng had never been good at lying.
His guilty eyes darted around as he stammered,
“The… the machine broke.”
“I stayed behind to repair it.”
“You haven’t gotten off work on time for more than a week.”
“If you don’t like staying at my parents’ house, why didn’t you tell me?”
“How can your body take eating only one meal a day?”
Before she could finish speaking, tears poured from her eyes once more, falling like strings of broken pearls.
She blamed herself.
She had been so consumed by her own sorrow that she’d completely failed to notice her husband’s suffering.
Seeing his wife crying so suddenly, Jiang Chunfeng instinctively reached out to wipe away her tears.
Only then did he notice his gloves were covered in grease.
He hurriedly pulled them off.
Little Xiaowei saw his mother crying again and immediately reached up to help wipe her tears.
“Mommy, don’t cry…”
“Don’t cry…”
Using the pad of his thumb, Jiang Chunfeng carefully wiped away Wen Hua’er’s tears.
Softly, he asked,
“Did your mother say something hurtful again?”
“Don’t take it to heart.”
“This month we’ll give your mother some money for living expenses.”
“It isn’t right for us to keep eating her food.”
“You say not to take it to heart…”
“But you’re the one who’s taken it to heart too.”
Wen Hua’er muttered through her tears.
Standing some distance away, Jiang Lai quietly watched the warm family scene before her.
If Jiang Chunfeng hadn’t lost his arm…
…this family should have lived a very happy life.
Instead, every single member of the family ended up with a tragic ending.
That was exactly why she’d been so angry after reading the novel.
She had stayed awake for a long time that night.
It had been advertised as a light, feel-good bedtime story.
Instead, it had made her too furious to sleep.
She’d even left the author a comment over a thousand words long.
As supporting characters standing in the heroine’s way, it wasn’t unusual for the Jiang family’s ending to be bleak.
But the Jiang family had started from such a good position.
There were seven people in the household.
Aside from the third brother, who was only a contract worker, and the original Jiang Lai, who had been sent to the countryside, everyone else held permanent state jobs with stable incomes.
They certainly had family disagreements.
But whenever outsiders caused trouble, the three brothers always stood united.
Yet throughout the novel, Song Wenwen’s mother seemed to harbor an inexplicable grudge against Ma Laihua, constantly picking fights and finding fault with everything she did.
Suddenly, a forgotten scene from the novel flashed through Jiang Lai’s mind.
Song Wenwen’s mother had once visited Grandma Song.
Grandma Song had angrily pointed at her and cursed her for “ending the Song family line” because she couldn’t bear sons.
She had even shouted that Song Wenwen’s father should have married Ma Laihua instead.
“At least Ma Laihua knows how to give birth to sons.”
The novel had never explained what had happened between the older generation.
But Jiang Lai had a feeling that Song Wenwen’s mother’s hostility toward the Jiang family might have started there.
When she had time, she’d have to learn more about what had happened between their parents.
“Who’s that young lady over there?”
Jiang Chunfeng finally noticed Jiang Lai standing not far away.
Trying to distract Wen Hua’er from crying, he pointed toward her.
Wen Hua’er turned around.
Seeing that she’d been discovered, Jiang Lai jogged over.
“Big Brother!”
“You don’t recognize me anymore?”
Jiang Chunfeng stared in disbelief.
“Li… Little Sister?”
“It’s me!”
“I came home, and everyone else was there except your family.”
“Don’t tell me you don’t welcome me back?”
she asked, pouting dramatically.
Seeing his little sister’s aggrieved expression, Jiang Chunfeng finally showed the first genuine smile he’d worn in nearly two weeks.
He reached over and gently patted the slightly messy braid hanging over her right shoulder.
“How could we not welcome you?”
“But… how did you get so thin?”
“Oh, don’t even mention it.”
“I almost never got to see you again.”
The smile immediately disappeared from Jiang Chunfeng’s face.
“What happened?”
“There were only two educated youths left in our village.”
“They tried to set me up.”
“They were secretly a couple, and the woman got pregnant.”
“They wanted her to return to the city and live a good life.”
“So the man tried to rape me and steal my job assignment.”
“Luckily I was smart enough to escape.”
Jiang Chunfeng frowned.
“There were only those two educated youths left?”
“The woman… wasn’t she from the Song family at Hongxing Textile Factory?”
He’d accompanied Jiang Jianshe back to the village before the New Year and knew a little about what had happened there.
“Exactly.”
Jiang Lai linked one arm through Jiang Chunfeng’s and the other through Wen Hua’er’s.
“But that’s all in the past now.”
“Uncle escorted me back.”
“Mom reserved a table at the state-owned restaurant.”
“Come have a drink with Uncle and properly welcome him.”
Jiang Chunfeng hesitated.
“I still have overtime today.”
“I already asked your supervisor for leave.”
“You can work tomorrow.”
“If you don’t come, Uncle will think he somehow offended you.”
“Let’s go.”
Wen Hua’er chimed in.
“Little Sister finally came home.”
“We should celebrate.”
“She’s suffered enough these past years.”
Only then did Jiang Chunfeng nod and head toward the restaurant.
Along the way, Jiang Lai exaggerated all sorts of stories about life in the countryside, hoping to earn their sympathy.
If she didn’t make herself sound pitiful enough, they would probably continue blaming themselves.
The state-owned restaurant was about twenty minutes from Hongxing Textile Factory.
The entire walk, Jiang Lai acted like a country bumpkin seeing the city for the first time.
Everything fascinated her.
She stared at everything with wide-eyed amazement.
By the end, both husband and wife looked at her with overwhelming guilt.
Soon, the brightly lit state-owned restaurant came into view.
The warm yellow lights spilled through the windows.
Inside, nearly every table was occupied.
“Big Brother!”
“This state-owned restaurant is so much bigger than the one back at the commune!”
“The one there only has room for two tables.”
“Last year, on my birthday, Uncle took me there.”
“He spent sixty cents and a liang of grain coupons to buy me a bowl of noodles with gravy.”
“It was so delicious!”
“Do they serve noodles with gravy here too?”
Jiang Chunfeng gently rubbed her head, his eyes full of affection.
“Next year, on your birthday…”
“I’ll order you a birthday cake.”
“We’ll reserve a whole table here at the state-owned restaurant.”
Jiang Lai’s eyes widened.
“That would make me just like a real city girl!”
Watching the three of them chatting and laughing through the restaurant window, Ma Laihua finally felt some of the worry weighing on her heart ease away.
As they approached the entrance, she quickly looked away and pretended to busy herself arranging the bowls and chopsticks on the table.
The moment Wen Hua’er entered, she spotted her mother-in-law.
Walking over quietly, she lowered her voice.
“Mother…”
“I’m sorry.”
“I shouldn’t have argued with you.”