Translator: 549690339 |? °
Xiao Qianâs house in the Urban Village seemed to have evoked memories for Lily Tang, as she smiled slightly at the comers of her mouth.
âCome on, letâs have some fruit.â Jia Xiufang brought in a plate of fruit and her eyes darted towards Lily Tang.
âWhat is this?â Lily Tang was intrigued by the plate brought over by Jia Xiufang. She was from the south and had never seen the unique fruits of the northern winter.
âFrozen pears, and frozen persimmons. Havenât you ever had them?â Jia Xiufang asked curiously.
âNoâ¦â Lily Tang looked at the dark-colored frozen pears, swallowing her saliva. Could she eat this? A black pear!
Oh dear, this poor child.â Jia Xiufang saw how thin she was and imagined she must come from a very difficult family. Could they not even afford fruit at home?
She quickly pushed the fruit plate closer, showing off her newfound wealth and extravagant hospitality.
âDear girl, help yourself. Make yourself at home when youâre at Auntieâs. Donât be shy.â
âMom, are you done with your work? Arenât you busy?â Xiao Qian could tell that Jia Xiufang had misunderstood.
Treating the daughter of the nationâs top five richest families as a refugee who couldnât afford fruit, her mom was something else.
âIâm not busy, I have time.â Jia Xiufang sat down with a carefree demeanor, looking at Lily Tang and shaking her head.
âThis young lady is so pretty, but why so thin? This little face, oh my, too skinny.â
Jia Xiufang thought that Xiao Qian was the kind of girl who couldnât gain weight. She wished she could put a few pounds on Xiao Qian by force-feeding her like feeding a pig. But when she saw Lily Tang sitting next to Xiao Qian, she felt her own daughter was actually quite well-proportioned.
A homemakerâs instinct, to feel overflowing with motherly love when seeing a thin young girl.
âActually, itâs not too badâ¦â Lily Tang had never interacted with a menopausal woman from a normal family before, and no one had ever looked at her with such a pitiful yet simple look as Jia Xiufangâs.
Those who approached her had ulterior motives, aiming for her father and wanting to please her in order to curry favor with her father. The sensitive child had long seen through everything, so she found it hard to relate to Jia Xiufangâs innocence. But she didnât dislike her, instead, she felt more shy. âDear girl, what do your parents do for a living? I donât think Iâve seen you around here,â Jia Xiufang had the gossiping habit of all housewives, not feeling it was inappropriate to ask about other peopleâs personal details. All the women in this neighborhood were like that.
âMy father.Js a street vendor. Heâs a very stupid man. My mother passed away when I was little, she got sick and even after selling the house and borrowing a lot of money, it wasnât enough. During the day, he would work and then try to make some extra money at night to pay off the debts. At first, he took me to the Night Market to sell chive dumplings. The chives were too spicy, and he couldnât make them well. We froze all night, only to be scolded after selling just one. It was so cold that day, I even got a cold. We had no money left, and when the landlord came to collect the rent, he locked the door and told me not to speak, pretending there was no one at home.â
âOh my, poor thing!â Jia Xiufang couldnât stand to hear this and wiped away a tear.
Xiao Qian listened quietly. It took a lot of effort for her to get Lily Tang to share these stories in her previous life. It wasnât until they had been in therapy for about three months that the girl finally opened up her heart.
But her menopausal mother only took a few minutes to coax out these stories.
It was probably her pure and innocent gaze that touched Lily Tang.
âAuntie, why are you crying?â Lily Tang felt embarrassed to see Jia Xiufang wiping her tears.
Jia Xiufang wiped her tears and said,
âWeâre all just struggling folks, life is hard. My family also runs a small business, this laundry shop. The first couple of years were not easy, too, with hardly any business. My husband was not doing anything productive, I had to take care of the shop and two kids at the same time.â
âMom, stop it. Sheâs not like our family. Go do your work!â Her mother was overestimating the situation by comparing the daughter of the fifth richest family in the country to their own.
âYou brat! Iâm not going anywhere!â Jia Xiufang glared at her daughter and squeezed Xiao Qian to the side with her hips, sitting next to Lily Tang and asking with concern.
âDear girl, has your family managed to pay the rent now?â
âYes, Auntie, that was a long time ago.â
âItâs so sad. Life is not easy, just look at how skinny this child is. In the future, you can come to Auntieâs house for dinner. Xiao Qian doesnât have many friends and she doesnât invite people over. Itâs just us three in our family. Donât leave tonight, stay at Auntieâs for dinner!â
Jia Xiufang had now imagined Lily Tang as a poor child who couldnât even afford a meal.
âDear girl, tell Auntie about your familyâs chive dumpling business, and Iâll try to help your father figure out a solution. The chive dumplings are too spicy, maybe itâs because the chives werenât chosen well, or the preparation method was wrong. Iâll write down the correct way to make chive dumplings later, and you can tell your father when you go back.â
âHeâs not in that business anymoreâ¦but Iâd rather he was still a small vendor pushing a tricycle.â Lily Tang said wistfully.
âWhat happened to the chive dumplings in the end?â
Jia Xiufang was still worried about this. A housewifeâs concerns were a bit different from a normal personâs.
Thinking of the chive dumplings, Lily Tang broke into laughter, âHe couldnât bear to throw them away or sell them, so he tried to improve them for me. When we went back home, he added more oil, saying that processing them with oil would make them taste better. It gave me diarrhea. I was probably 4 or 5 years old at the timeâ¦â
âOh, what a sin!â Jia Xiufang couldnât help exclaiming. What a terrible father, not only wasting food but also guiding his child poorly.
âItâs not just that. When he fried chive dumplings, there were black residues in the oil, and he didnât even filter it. And he fried fish for me, too. He didnât even remove the fishâs bitter gallbladder. It was black and very bitter. My mom wasnât around, and he didnât know how to cook at all.â
âWhat nonsense?!â Jia Xiufang was shocked as if she had heard an unforgivable sin. There were people in this world who didnât remove the fishâs gallbladder?
This was the greatest insult to a kitchen!
âThe fish was inedible, but he was afraid to waste it. We couldnât afford anything else, so he coaxed me into eating it, saying that only the smartest kids in the world are qualified to eat such fish. So I ate it all, it was so bitterâ¦â âWhatâs your fatherâs phone number? I want to talk to him. How could he do this to a child? When a meal is a failure, it should be eaten as a punishment. How could he let a child eat it? Oh heavens! Youâre still growing. Look at what he s done to the child.â As a parent, Jia Xiufang couldnât bear to hear these things.
Xiao Qian pushed Jia Xiufang out of the room.
âMom, go fry your meat. You canât bear to throw away that oil after using it a few times. Hurry up, go! Bye!â She slammed the door shut. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
Jia Xiufang was still shouting from behind the door.
âDear girl, donât leave for dinner. Iâll fry some meat for you, and I can fry fish too. It wonât be bitter at all!â
Xiao Qian helplessly spread her hands, âThatâs my mom, always jabbering on and on. Sheâd latch onto anyone and just keep talking.â
Jia Xiufang knocked on the door again, âDear girl, do you like yellow croaker or small mixed fish?â
See, she said it. Her mom was always being nosy!
âI really envy you. Your mom is so nice.â Lily Tang mumbled to herself..