Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

chapter 64

He clenched his fists tightly, pursed his lips, but didn’t say a word.

As the people were talking, Di Yelei, with an iron-blue face, had already passed by them and went straight into the house, slamming the door with a loud “bang”, making the house tremble for a moment.

Three children were scared into silence, but the only two little puppies still wagged their tails and followed closely without any impact on them.

A hint of sourness rose from the bottom of Liu Sisi’s heart, her eyes dimmed.

She knew Di Yelei disapproved of her going out to work, but the job allowed her to get closer to books, and she would never give it up!

“Xuan’er, come here.”

Liu Sisi called out to Di Xuan, waving at him.

Di Xuan was feeling upset at the moment, hearing Liu Sisi’s shout, he reluctantly walked over, his lips pursed and silent.

Liu Sisi didn’t dwell on it, taking out the calligraphy tools she had bought, she handed them to Di Xuan.

“Although mom didn’t buy you candied hawthorns, I bought you these instead. Look inside. Do you like them?”

Di Xuan obviously didn’t expect Liu Sisi to buy him something; he hesitated before opening the paper package, then gasped, with tears immediately welling up.

“Mom! ——”

Di Xuan’s call was full of emotion and unceasing tears.

“As long as you like it! But remember, be careful when using it, and never damage it, understand?”

“I understand, mom!” Di Xuan nodded heavily.

“Good, it’s getting late, I’ll go cook.”

After saying that, Liu Sisi went into the kitchen, thinking about how to persuade that stubborn donkey-head to agree, so she could help in the drawing workshop.

“Di Xuan, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

Zhang Yun, who had been playing happily with YingEr next to him, rushed over when he saw Di Xuan cry.

Di Xuan sobbed, wiping his tears, “My mom, my mom she…”

“What happened to her?” Zhang Yun grew worried.

Not long ago, several of his playmates had secretly ridiculed Di Xuan; they assumed there wouldn’t be good days for him after his stepmother moved in. However, Di Xuan was crying so hard now, did his stepmother hurt him while he wasn’t paying attention?

But these words, Zhang Yun only thought about them in his mind and didn’t say out loud.

Di Xuan kept wiping his tears and shook his head vigorously, choking, “My mom, my mom bought me a set of calligraphy tools! Look! I…I’m just so happy! Sob sob…”

It was indeed a set of the Four Treasures of the Study!

Zhang Yun looked at the cloth bag tightly grasped in Di Xuan’s hand, filled with envy!

He initially thought Di Xuan had been mistreated by his stepmother, but didn’t think that this stepmother would give him a set of the Four Treasures of the Study so casually, which were not cheap— a set cost several taels of money!

Unexpectedly, they really gave Di Xuan the set, moreover, Di Xuan was only seven and a half years old!

How could he not feel envious and jealous?

But he was ultimately still too young, so as soon as he returned home, he couldn’t wait to tell a few of his friends about it. Soon, the news spread among them.

In no time, the entire Upper Village had heard that Di Yelei’s new wife had actually bought a set of four treasures of the study for Di Xuan – an item worth several taels of silver!

It was common knowledge that the Di Family was in debt of a whopping 20 taels of silver!

Could it be that the Di Family suddenly struck it rich?

The average family in Upper Village only spent one and a half taels of silver a year. With Di Family’s new wife spending several taels of silver so casually, where did they get the money to buy such expensive things?

For a moment, everyone in Upper Village was buzzing, and various sorts of nasty comments were passed.

Of course, Di Yelei and Liu Sisi were unaware of all this.

Liu Sisi cooked the food, making a pot of coarse grain porridge and stir-fried water spinach. The water spinach was growing well at the moment. She would pinch the top parts of it with bamboo chopsticks when it reached a certain length, ensuring that only the tenderest vegetables were used.

She sent YingEr to call Di Yelei, who was hiding in his room, to dinner. Meanwhile, she calmly laid the table and pondered how to break the news to him.

But before Di Yelei could come out, the two little puppies in the courtyard outside started barking non-stop.

Folowing that, the tightly closed main entrance was pounded with loud thuds!

“Open the door! Open it now for me! If you won’t open this door, I’ll burn this whole house down and let’s see if you’re still so arrogant! Open up!”

Even without seeing who it was, Liu Sisi could naturally recognize that it was none other than Di Family’s Second Sister-in-law, Ms. Wang, who was pounding on the door.

Ms. Wang stood proudly outside the Di Residence’s gate, hands on her hips as she yelled out.

At the moment, it was the hottest time of the afternoon, and people working in the fields had long retreated to their homes for a break, waiting until the heat subsided before continuing with their work. As soon as they heard the shouting, the people in each house came out one after another, hiding in the shadows to watch the commotion at the Di Family’s doorstep.

Seeing the onlookers, Ms. Wang cursed even more fiercely!

“Everyone, come and see! Look at this! Is Di’s Third Son really treating people this badly? Ah! A few days ago, they bought land from the Land Officer. Today, they bought the four treasures of the study for that little brat! That’s a precious thing! Isn’t everyone aware that those four treasures are worth several taels of silver, and they just casually gave it to the child to play with, yet they oddly don’t have the money to repay us! What’s the meaning of this? Everyone, come and evaluate, am I wrong?”

As soon as Ms. Wang opened her mouth, her upper and lower lips flipped non-stop, speaking with an impressive fluency!

Liu Sisi in the house was stunned for a moment, then, she removed her apron casually and walked out of the room.

Di Yelei came out as well, furrowing his brow while striding toward the yard door.

“Creak!”

As soon as the gate opened, Ms. Wang immediately approached with a smug expression, “Yo! So Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law are finally willing to come out! I thought you two were planning on becoming turtles, hiding in there for the rest of your lives.”

“Second Sister-in-law! Watch your filthy mouth!”

Di Yelei’s face turned even more iron-like and ugly. He repeatedly pushed back the anger inside him, finally restraining the urge to throw a punch.

“What do you mean by ‘watch my filthy mouth’? When you borrow money, you act humble, but when it’s time to pay back, you act like a lord. Let’s go to the Land Officer to settle the matter, and let’s hear what he thinks!”

With her hands on her hips and a triumphant look on her face, Ms. Wang wasn’t at all afraid of making the matter more significant, now that she’d caught onto the weakness of the third family branch.

“Second Sister-in-law! Borrowing money and repaying debts are just part of life! Just last month, we had agreed in writing that the debts would be repaid within half a year.”