Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

chapter 4

“Ah? Alright, I understand.”

A bomb seemed to explode on Liu Sisi’s face, making it feel like all the blood in her body had rushed to her face. She was utterly embarrassed!

The hot source pressing against her back, even if she was innocent, in a world full of media and pervasive advertisements, she very clearly understood what it was!

But it was so scorching hot, it felt as if it was going to burn the skin of her back. She couldn’t bear it and instinctively twisted her body, trying to escape from this embarrassing situation.

Suddenly, a gasp was heard from beside her ear. Immediately after, her body was encircled tighter than before.

“Stop moving! If you keep moving, I can’t guarantee that we won’t do something else tonight! Close your eyes and sleep now!”

The deep male voice echoed in her ears, frightening her to instantly close her eyes tight, not daring to move any further.

Though she initially thought she couldn’t fall asleep, a while later, she gradually drifted off to sleep. Even in her sleep, Liu Sisi wasn’t well-behaved. In her previous life, she was used to hugging a pillow while sleeping.

When the weather turned cooler in the middle of the night, she unconsciously turned over. Her hands and feet automatically latched on to Di Yelei as if he was a big huggable pillow. She slept blissfully.

Although she seemed to be peacefully asleep, it was giving Di Yelei a hard time. With a face full of frustrated desire, he countless times pulled away the hands and feet that automatically latched on to him, staying awake till dawn.

Liu Sisi woke up from a deep sleep, only to find that Di Yelei was no longer beside her.

Liu Sisi quickly got up from bed, stepped out of the room and looked around, but saw no one. She walked into the kitchen and saw smoke swirling above the stove. Lifting the lid of the cooking pot, she found that food was being kept warm inside.

After splashing some water on her face to refresh herself, she rinsed her mouth with a willow twig, casually tied her thick black hair into a ponytail, and then headed back to the kitchen – not because she was unwilling, but simply because she didn’t know how to do a traditional Chinese hairstyle.

Just as she turned her head, she saw two little heads peeking out from the corner of the wall. Noticing her gaze on them, they quickly retreated.

“Is that you, Xuan’er and YingEr? Come on out, I see you!”

Liu Sisi, in a playful mood, deliberately teased the two little ones.

Indeed, following her words, two figures slowly emerged from behind the corner of the wall and came towards Liu Sisi, one step at a time.

“Are you two hiding there to play hide and seek?”

Di Xuan held Di Ying tightly and bit his lip without speaking, whereas Di Ying beside him shook her head.

“No? Then why are you hiding there? Come on in quickly, let’s go and eat.” While speaking, Liu Sisi reached out her arms towards the two children.

“We don’t want to go with you! Second Aunt said you’re a bad woman and told us to stay away from you!”

Liu Sisi heard the little girl, Di Ying, blurt out. Di Xuan, standing next to her, wanted to cover her mouth but it was too late.

His face became pale. Recalling what Second Aunt said before, once Dad found a stepmother, they would end up hungry and cold, get beaten every day. He didn’t mind taking a beating, but YingEr was so little, if she were to be beaten…

“Don’t hit my little sister, hit me instead! I’m the brother.”

The little child was shaking all over but remained stubborn, firmly protecting his little sister behind him with no intention of backtracking.

“Who is Second Aunt?”

Liu Sisi asked instinctively, then scolded herself for being a pig. The Second Aunt the kids were talking about must be the wife of Di Yelei’s second brother!

Di Xuan hesitated, “Second Aunt is very fierce, and she always steals things from our house…”

She dared to rob her own house? If she had met this kind of person in her previous life, she would have knocked her head off directly!

“People who come to our house to steal things are naturally not good people. How can we believe what this bad guy says? Don’t you think so?”

Liu Sisi was cheerfully explaining to the two children and trying to get them on side. She was also an orphan, and naturally understood what children who lost their mothers at a young age wanted most.

“But…”

The sudden overturning of his worldview left Di Xuan’s head spinning. He still firmly protected his sister behind him.

“I’ll go serve the food, you guys hurry in and eat.”

Liu Sisi didn’t push it, and turned to walk into the kitchen. Children’s concepts needed to be changed step by step.

She efficiently brought the two dishes from the pot to the table. One bowl was leftover chicken soup from yesterday, and the other bowl was wild vegetables that the siblings had dug up yesterday. After that, she turned to wash the dishes and serve the rice. The rice in the pot was not the same as the white rice from previous days, it was mixed with some sorghum and other foods.

“Little sister, run.”

There was a loud shout from Di Xuan inside the courtyard wall. Before Liu Sisi could react, he dragged his sister into the room and closed the door with a “bang”.

“What’s going on with you two?”

Liu Sisi looked at the two frightened children, watching Di Xuan pull his sister’s hand and keep running around the room, looking terrified.

“You two little rabbits, dare to run! What are you hiding for? Look at you two, born with a mother but not taught by a mother. You can’t even greet people!”

Accompanied by a series of kicking sounds, a sharp woman’s voice sounded outside the door. The continuous cursing made Liu Sisi frown. She turned to look at the siblings huddled together under the small table, a fire burning in her chest. She strode forward and forcefully opened the door.

With a “pop” sound, a woman in a peach-pink dress staggered in from outside, cursing as soon as she opened her mouth.

“Ouch! I’m going to die, you two little rabbits, did you eat a bear’s heart and a leopard’s gall? Look at your old mother not… ”

“Who’s your old mother?”

Liu Sisi narrowed her eyes. This person was so cruel to two motherless children, how could it not make her furious!

The woman finally managed to steady herself, and when she looked up, naturally she saw her. She scoffed and sneered at her.

“Oh! So Third Sister-in-law’s high fever is gone! Looks like she’s saved, that’s really good news!”

Liu Sisi raised an eyebrow, not overpowered by the other’s momentum, “You haven’t answered me yet, who’s your old mother?”