Chapter 11: She’s Not Your Mother

Su Luoluo squeezed her eyes shut. She needed to take better care of herself.

She said, “Sister-in-law, there’s always work to be done. You need to rest.”

Zhu Yanhua gave a wry smile. With the family’s situation, even if she wanted to rest, she didn’t have the time.

“This breakfast…”

Sitting at the dinner table, Su Luoluo felt numb. Rice porridge with pickled vegetables and radishes—this life was unbearable.

“What’s wrong?”

Zhu Yanhua ate heartily, looking at Su Luoluo in confusion. They usually ate rice bran porridge; this refined rice porridge was a first, and it was delicious.

“Nothing.”

Seeing everyone else wolfing down their food, Su Luoluo swallowed the words she was about to say.

Life without money was truly difficult.

“If we had chickens, we could have eggs,” Zhu Yanhua said hesitantly, seemingly sensing something.

Su Luoluo took a sip of porridge. Hmm… the taste of poverty.

——

Su Luoluo left home and knocked on the Wu family’s door.

Li Fang, Wu’s sister-in-law, opened the door and was surprised to see Su Luoluo.

“I was too hungry before, and I took Xiao Tiezhu’s cloud cake,” Su Luoluo said, recounting the original owner’s actions with difficulty, her face flushed.

She wasn’t particularly strong-willed, but the things the original owner had done filled her with shame.

“This is an apology for Xiao Tiezhu.”

She handed a basket to Wu’s sister-in-law.

Li Fang was stunned. She hadn’t expected Su Luoluo to apologize and bring a gift. In the past, Su Luoluo was not only overbearing and shrewish, but also a stingy miser; even a dog would likely get slapped if it tried to get a bone from her.

Li Fang looked at the contents of the basket—candies and biscuits. Her eyes widened. Candies and biscuits were uncommon in the countryside; such expensive things were a luxury many families couldn’t afford even once a year.

“It was just a little cloud cake. You don’t need to compensate. You saved our Tiezhu; you’re our benefactor. I can’t accept this.”

Li Fang pushed the basket back.

“I insist.”

Su Luoluo didn’t take it back, waved her hand, and quickly left.

Li Fang held the basket, staring at the sun in the sky. Had the sun risen in the west today?

Su Luoluo put on her backpack, took her beast-repelling medicine, and grabbed a chipped sickle. She went into the mountains to look for herbs and check her traps. She really didn’t want to eat pickled vegetables and radishes anymore.

She checked her traps, but found nothing. Disappointed, she searched for herbs, but her luck wasn’t good. She only found some common herbs like Radix Notoginseng and Ho Shou Wu.

Su Luoluo carried the herbs, paid fifty cents for a ride on an ox cart, and went to town.

Carrying her bamboo backpack, she went to Guang’an Pharmacy to sell the herbs.

Sigh! Her bottom was aching again.

From the luxurious driver’s seat of a Rolls-Royce to the hard seat of an ox-drawn cart—what a depressing experience!

“Comrade Su is here.”

Seeing Su Luoluo, Boss Cai greeted her with a warm smile, his attitude extremely respectful.

“I dug up some herbs. Boss, please take a look and tell me how much they’re worth.”

Su Luoluo handed the backpack to Boss Cai.

“Fifty yuan.”

Boss Cai held up five fingers, smiling.

Su Luoluo looked at Boss Cai in surprise, knowing he was generous.

These were just ordinary herbs, not worth much, yet he gave her fifty yuan.

“What’s wrong?”

Boss Cai noticed Su Luoluo staring at him.

“Nothing.”

Su Luoluo took the money and left.

“Boss, those herbs aren’t worth fifty yuan; you overpaid,” the pharmacy apprentice said, looking at the herbs.

“You’re so smart, what do you know?”

Boss Cai glared at the apprentice.

Yesterday, the whole town had heard about a girl who knew acupuncture, who had saved an elderly man who had been in a car accident and had stopped breathing. The rumor said the girl had a large red birthmark on her face, along with red rashes and blisters, making her extremely ugly.

It just so happened that Comrade Su had bought a set of acupuncture needles from him yesterday.

That person must be Comrade Su.

If Su Luoluo knew the rumor described her as “extremely ugly,” she would have been speechless.

Boss Cai was shrewd; being kind to capable people never hurt.

Su Luoluo went to the market and bought a pound of pork belly. Seeing a vendor selling chicks and ducklings, she remembered her sister-in-law’s words from that morning and asked about the price.

She bought six chicks and six ducklings.

Seeing she bought so many, the vendor gave her a bamboo basket to carry them.

Su Luoluo carried the basket and saw an old man with gray hair at the end of the street, looking around and searching for something in the crowd.

Oh no!

He was coming for her!

Su Luoluo ran away; she didn’t want to be scammed by this old man.

She took the ox cart back to the village.

Su Luoluo didn’t go home immediately. She went back into the mountains to check her traps. This time, she caught a pheasant and a rabbit.

This was an unexpected bonus.

Su Luoluo tied the pheasant and rabbit’s legs with strong vines and put them in her backpack to prevent them from escaping. She carried the backpack in front of her.

Niuniu sat on the steps at the entrance, propping her chin up with her hands, her cheeks squeezed together, her gaze occasionally glancing towards the road.

“Niuniu, stop waiting. The bad woman is gone,” Xiao Lei said, frowning at Niuniu, who was waiting at the door.

He saw the bad woman counting money today; she must have run away.

Niuniu’s eyes welled up, her lower lip trembled, her small face pitiful, her small hands wiping her eyes.

“She’s not your mother.”

Xiao Lei hardened his heart and said it.

Niuniu was unhappy, turning her back to Xiao Lei.

Su Luoluo returned with a basket of chicks and ducklings. Xiao Lei looked at her strangely.

Niuniu, however, followed her like a little shadow. Su Luoluo didn’t think much of it, assuming it was just a child being clingy.

But Niuniu was quickly distracted by the basket.

“Wow, chicks, ducklings!”

Niuniu squatted by the basket, curiously staring at the chicks and ducklings, happily shouting.

“Let’s let the chicks and ducklings out,” Su Luoluo said.

Niuniu obediently moved aside.

Zhu Yanhua returned from the fields and found Su Luoluo cleaning the chicken coop. She was surprised, then she saw the chicks and ducklings in the coop, and Niuniu feeding them leaves.

“Eat, eat, they eat, Mama good.”

Niuniu giggled as she fed them.

Zhu Yanhua was surprised. Her sister-in-law had bought these!

Her surprise didn’t last long. Seeing the backpack under the eaves, she was shocked again, her eyes wide.

It contained pork belly, a pheasant, and a rabbit.

Zhu Yanhua’s eyes showed worry.

“Meat, meat to eat.”

Niuniu, after feeding the chicks and ducklings, ran over, seeing the meat in the backpack, her mouth agape. She had never seen so much meat before, clapping her hands.

“Shall we have braised pork tonight?” Su Luoluo asked, smiling.

“Okay!” Niuniu swallowed.

“Did you go into the mountains?” Zhu Yanhua asked, startled.

The mountains were home to man-eating beasts. Even the strongest men in the village were afraid to go into the mountains. A woman had gone into the mountains—she was reckless.

“Don’t worry, I have my ways; I won’t get hurt,” Su Luoluo said, knowing Zhu Yanhua’s concern.

“But still, the mountains are too dangerous. You could lose your life,” Zhu Yanhua said, her previous fear of Su Luoluo’s shrewish nature gone. She didn’t hesitate to object.

People were afraid of encountering wild animals even when passing through the foothills.

This sister-in-law was bold, daring to go into the mountains.

“Okay, okay,” Su Luoluo agreed, thinking she would secretly go to the mountains later.

At that moment, there was a loud banging on the gate.

“Su Luoluo, get out here!”

An angry roar echoed from outside…