Chapter 15: I’m his mother! How could he not support me?

“Are you an idiot?” Li Hua, jolted back to reality by her daughter-in-law’s shouts, rolled her eyes. “What thief ties people up? Even human traffickers wouldn’t want those three.”

“Then, if it wasn’t a thief, where are they?  Why would they disappear?”

Wang Xiujuan, hearing the commotion from the kitchen, wiped her hands on her apron, still confused.

Her sons had married such foolish women!

Li Hua’s face twisted with anger.  She had suspected something was wrong yesterday.

“Thief?  Are your brains made of straw?  Su Yuanyuan, that hussy, stole everything! I knew she was getting bold!  She’s probably having an affair!”

Li Hua didn’t care if Su Yuanyuan ran off; she was worried about the money!

And her dowry!

“She stole everything and ran off with her lover! She even stole my dowry!”

Li Hua was heartbroken.  Even during the Lu family’s hardest times, she hadn’t touched her dowry.

She had sold everything except a mother-of-pearl box.

Su Yuanyuan had stolen it!

Li Hua’s outburst made the others realize.

Yes, the house was robbed yesterday, and today, Su Yuanyuan and her children were gone, the room completely empty. They were the thieves!

“Damn it! I knew she was up to no good, faking illness to be lazy. You were all scared she’d die, and Lu Zhengan would cause trouble. Now, she’s stolen everything and run off with her lover!”

Wang Xiujuan had always disliked Su Yuanyuan’s sickly appearance, especially her husband’s gaze towards her.  She secretly wished Su Yuanyuan would die.

“Terrible! What a scourge! Hurry and find them!  Standing here won’t bring them back!”

Old Man Lu came out, seeing the empty room, almost collapsing.

He hadn’t expected Su Yuanyuan to steal anything.  They had been too kind!

He stomped his feet, annoyed. The New Year was approaching, and this was bad luck.

They rushed to get dressed to search for them.

“Damn hussy! If I catch her, I’ll break her legs! I knew she wasn’t a good person when she married in.”

Li Hua cursed while dressing.

The commotion attracted neighbors.

Besides working, there was little entertainment.

Gossip was a welcome distraction.

The Lu family’s wall was low; they could see into the yard.

The family was cursing; Su Yuanyuan’s door was kicked open, swaying in the wind.

The room was empty.

“What’s going on? Did the Lus throw the third daughter-in-law and her children out?”

The neighbors were surprised; the Lu’s were always unkind to Su Yuanyuan.

Perhaps they were robbed, had no food, and threw them out.  That was typical Lu family behavior.

“The Lus are shameless.  Su Yuanyuan is sick and has two children; she needs help.  It’s understandable she’s resentful. But they took her husband’s salary! What’s there to say?”

Previously, a loud argument erupted in the old Lu family’s home.  People overheard snippets of the conversation.  The children’s father, Lu Zhengning, sent home eighty yuan every month, more during holidays, but their mother and the two children only received ten or twenty yuan.

He took the money, but didn’t treat his wife and children any better. At least he should have ensured they had enough to eat.

Everyone in the village was capable of working, and usually no one needed help, but seeing the two children so thin, their eyes bright as they asked if there was any work they could do, people softened and gave them odd jobs for a few cents.

Everyone had their struggles, and this was all they could do to help the mother and children.

Li Hua came out, dressed and just slipping on her worn-out shoes, when she heard the neighbors gossiping.

She planted her hands on her hips and yelled, “You gossiping fools! It was Su Yuanyuan, that shameless hussy, who stole everything! She ran off with a man last night, taking the children with her!”

She kicked open the door, pointing to the empty room and shouting, “Look! Look! Everything’s gone! Even the washbasin! The damned wretch, a real debt collector!”

Li Hua began to cry, heartbroken over her lost belongings.

The neighbors, initially just onlookers, were shocked.

However, they weren’t fools. After a moment of stunned silence, they rolled their eyes.

“Auntie Li, that’s not right. Everyone knows how frail the third son’s wife is, and the children are so young. It’s impossible for her to steal everything without making a sound.”

Zhang Auntie’s words were echoed by others.

“Exactly! The mother and children are missing.  We don’t know if they’ve been kidnapped. Instead of searching for them, you’re blaming the mother and children. That’s not fair.”

“Everyone in the village knows the mother and children are mistreated, barely getting enough to eat. How could she know where the money and dowry were hidden?  Even if they’re gone, you can’t just spread lies and blame them.”

Several neighbors spoke up for Su Yuanyuan, feeling sympathy for her.

Her husband had been away serving in the army for years, thankfully sending money every month. But Su Yuanyuan, a woman with two young children, was powerless against her in-laws, who tightly controlled the money.

Her sisters-in-law and uncles were terrible people.  It was truly a tragic situation.

“Shut your mouths! You know nothing!  Don’t you have anything better to do than gossip at other people’s doors? Go! Get lost!”

Li Hua grabbed a broom and tried to chase them away.

The neighbors rolled their eyes and dispersed.

Li Hua threw the broom down, scattering dust, and shouted to her eldest son, “Go to the county seat immediately! Go to the post office and write a letter to your third uncle. Tell him his wife stole all the money and food and ran off with another man!”

It would be good if Su Yuanyuan ran away; then the third son wouldn’t know about his children.

They had worried about this before.  The third son would eventually return.

If he found out his wife had given birth to two children the year he left, it would be difficult to explain.

Now that Su Yuanyuan and the children were gone, they could simply deny the children ever existed!

The Lu family members each harbored their own selfish motives.  Lu Zhengning was unhappy.

“That won’t do. We should find them. Or we could keep it a secret, let the third son continue sending money. If he gets the letter and knows his wife ran away, he might stop sending money.”

That couldn’t happen! His children would need money for school in a few years.

Li Hua spat on the ground, hands on her hips. “Nonsense! He stole the money, and it includes my dowry! He has to repay it. Even without Su Yuanyuan, he still has to send money. I’m his mother! He has to support me!”