Seeing Sanbao drooling greedily made Li Tingyun want to laugh.
She took out a spoon and a banana, then carefully scraped off little bits of banana mash with the spoon to feed Sanbao.
Of course, she didn’t dare let him eat too much and only fed him a tiny amount. The rest went into her own stomach.
It was still work hours outside, and the sun remained scorching hot, so she didn’t let the children go out to play.
She had forgotten to buy children’s books for the two older kids during her trip to the county today. After thinking about it, Li Tingyun carried Sanbao into her space.
When she had stocked up at the baby store, she might have casually tossed in some books as well. If not, she would have to wait until her next trip to the county to look for them again.
Fortunately, besides black-and-white cards and color cards for babies, there were also one or two storybooks.
Taking the storybooks and colorful cards outside, she handed one book each to Dabao and Erbao.
“Look, there are storybooks here.”
Dabao took one and flipped through it. She was very interested in the illustrations inside, but she couldn’t recognize any of the words.
“Mother, what do these words say?”
Erbao also pointed at the text and said, “Mother, these words know me, but I don’t know them.”
The children’s innocent words made Li Tingyun laugh.
Holding the book, she said, “That’s okay. You’re still little and don’t know how to read yet. Mother will read them to you.”
Just as she was holding Sanbao and reading stories aloud to Dabao and Erbao, a knock suddenly sounded at the door, breaking the warm atmosphere.
Children naturally had trouble sitting still. Now that someone was knocking, it gave them the perfect excuse to escape.
Erbao immediately jumped up and ran to grab the unfinished snacks from the table.
Li Tingyun carried Sanbao to open the door, only to find someone she hadn’t expected standing outside.
“Xiaoyun,” Xu Hui greeted her with a smile. “My brother asked me to come ask if you’re going to town in a few days. He wants you to help buy some things for him.”
An uncontrollable flash of disgust crossed Li Tingyun’s face.
Xu Hui was Xu Feng’s younger sister.
The original owner had once been very fond of Xu Feng, but Xu Feng himself was arrogant and full of pride. He looked down on country people and always complained that rural areas lacked everything.
Whenever he needed something, he would send his sister Xu Hui over and have the original owner travel to the county town to buy things for them.
Who knew what kind of spell Xu Feng had cast on the original owner? Whatever Xu Feng wanted, she obediently went to buy.
She had been unwilling to spend money on herself or even on her children, yet she lavished it on an ungrateful outsider with no actual relationship to her.
It truly wasn’t worth it.
Now that the original owner had become her, did Xu Feng still think he could take advantage of her like this?
Absolutely impossible.
Li Tingyun rejected her without hesitation. “No time. Tell him to buy his own things.”
As she spoke, she raised her hand to shut the door.
“Wait,” Xu Hui quickly blocked the door and said, “Xiaoyun, are you still angry about what happened that day? My brother said he was just upset at the time. You wanted to leave with him but didn’t trust him. When you jumped into the river, he knew you could swim, so he didn’t stop you. Look, aren’t you perfectly fine now?”
In other words: My brother already lowered himself to make peace. If you keep acting stubborn now, you’re going too far.
Li Tingyun looked at Xu Hui coldly.
Xu Hui had delicate features, and somehow both she and Xu Feng had managed to get assigned to the same production team.
She was pretty, and many young men in Shuangbanqiao Village liked her. She was also very smooth-tongued.
That opening “sister-in-law” earlier—if this had been the original owner, she probably would have been overjoyed beyond reason.
Li Tingyun frowned and corrected her sharply.
“Don’t casually call me sister-in-law. I have nothing to do with your brother, and my husband certainly doesn’t have a sister like you.”
Xu Hui froze for a moment, clearly not expecting Li Tingyun to be this angry, to the point where even the title “sister-in-law” was forbidden.
Recovering quickly, she smiled awkwardly. “Alright, alright. I won’t call you that anymore.”
Li Tingyun expressionlessly moved to shut the door again, but Xu Hui hurriedly added,
“Xiaoyun, then about the things my brother wanted…”
Halfway through closing the door, Li Tingyun suddenly realized Xu Hui still intended to treat her like a gullible fool.
She yanked the door open again, startling Xu Hui.
“If your brother wants something, can’t he buy it himself? A grown man needing a married woman to buy his things for him—does he even count as a man? Does he have any shame?”
Pausing, Li Tingyun glanced toward the corner where a patch of dark blue fabric was faintly visible and deliberately raised her voice.
“Do you really think your brother is some irresistible treasure? Always treating other people like suckers? You think he’s that desirable? Let me tell you this: I was already being merciful by never asking you to repay all the money I spent buying things for you before. If you keep pestering me, I’ll make you spit back out every single thing you took from me!”
Her fierce tone clearly frightened Xu Hui.
Xu Hui had never seen Li Tingyun look like this before. Her face turned pale as she stared blankly, unable to speak.
“And another thing,” Li Tingyun continued coldly. “Your brother and I aren’t close, and neither are you and I. Don’t come looking for me anymore. Don’t ruin my reputation.”
Without waiting for a reply, Li Tingyun slammed the door shut with a loud bang.
Startled, Xu Hui instinctively stepped back and rubbed the nose that had nearly been smashed by the door.
Looking once at the tightly closed gate, she turned and walked to the corner before speaking quietly.
“Brother, I think she’s really angry this time.”
Xu Feng’s face darkened.
“She doesn’t appreciate kindness,” he said coldly. “Forget about her. Let’s go. In a while, she’ll realize she was wrong.”
“But, Brother…” Xu Hui grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. “I still haven’t figured out this month’s menstrual pads yet.”
Xu Feng was already irritated that Li Tingyun’s rebellion had slipped outside his control. Combined with the insults she had just shouted at him, hearing Xu Hui mention this only made him more impatient.
He yanked his arm back and snapped, “Can’t you figure it out yourself? Just wash and reuse the old ones. They still work.”
After being humiliated by Li Tingyun and then scolded by her own brother, Xu Hui no longer dared say anything else and could only follow behind him pitifully.
Standing behind the door, Li Tingyun had heard everything clearly.
Once the brother and sister finally left, she snorted softly and returned inside.
Like Xu Hui and Xu Feng, the original owner had also been an educated youth sent down from the city.
But Xu Hui was particularly delicate and pampered. Every single month, she insisted on using brand-new menstrual pads.
Although pads weren’t expensive, and to Li Tingyun it had only been a casual favor, even Li Tingyun herself only replaced her own after the old ones were practically unusable.
Xu Hui, on the other hand, was extremely generous toward herself—only because she had been spending Li Tingyun’s money.
And now, with another month nearly passed, Xu Hui had come once again asking her for those things.