Chapter 12

Su Qianqian couldn’t hold back and rolled her eyes. “Let me make this clear: as for the 20 yuan, you’ll have to figure it out yourselves. I don’t have it. The things I bought today? I won’t be giving them to you. If you want to eat something, go buy it yourself. Lastly, Sanya is my daughter. I won’t be giving her away to anyone.”

“Have you lost your mind? What kind of nonsense is this? Is this how you talk to your own mother?” Su’s mother was furious, pointing a finger at Su Qianqian and yelling, “Your wings have grown, haven’t they? You think you don’t have to listen to me anymore? I’m your mother! What I say goes!”

“I’m married now. I belong to the Cheng family.” Faced with such a mother, this approach still worked in this era. In modern times, this argument might not have held any weight.

Su’s mother, enraged, raised her hand to slap Su Qianqian across the face, but Su Qianqian quickly dodged. Her expression turned cold. “Your youngest son is getting married—go ask your eldest son for help. Why are you asking a married daughter? Or is it that your eldest son is so useless he can’t even come up with 20 yuan?”

“You ungrateful, worthless girl! Today I’ll beat you to death!” Su’s mother immediately took off her shoe and swung it at Su Qianqian. Su Qianqian dashed into the house and slammed the door shut. “It’s getting late. You’d better head home and cook—your family of freeloaders must be waiting for food.”

The door thudded loudly as her mother pounded on it, the sound startling everyone nearby. Neighbors came to see what the commotion was about.

From outside, Su’s mother screamed, “Su Qianqian, you ungrateful brat! You ingrate! You wretched wolf! I should’ve strangled you when you were born! After raising you, this is how you repay me? One day, I’ll beat you to death!”

She cursed for a long time, but Su Qianqian didn’t open the door. Eventually, Su’s mother, exhausted, left.

The noise was so loud that Zhu Tianfang had naturally heard everything. She was dumbfounded. Was there a day when Erbao’s mom didn’t help her maternal family? Not only that, but she even talked back to her own mother?

Too shocked to believe it, she pinched her arm hard. *Ouch, that hurts! Must be real.*

She had been prepared for everything Su Qianqian bought at the cooperative to be taken by her in-laws, but not only was it still there, she also witnessed an argument between mother and daughter. It was truly surprising.

“Erbao’s mom, you—”

“Mom, don’t worry. From now on, when the Su family comes, don’t be polite to them,” Su Qianqian replied calmly.

Both Zhu Tianfang and Wu Yuexiang were slack-jawed with shock.

Now they were convinced—Su Qianqian had really changed!

—

When the workday ended, Cheng Youmin and Cheng Song returned home, and Chuanchuan came back from school. However, Su Qianqian noticed that the three younger children hadn’t returned.

“Where are Daya, Erbao, and Sanya?” Su Qianqian asked.

“They went to cut pigweed. But it’s so late—they should’ve been back by now,” someone replied.

Su Qianqian immediately went outside and saw Daya pacing nervously at the door, hesitant to enter.

When she saw Su Qianqian, Daya flinched and avoided making eye contact.

“Why aren’t you coming in? Where are your siblings?”

“They’ll… be back… later,” Daya stammered. Su Qianqian didn’t notice anything unusual at first, reasoning that the children knew the Tianshui Village well, and people in this era were simple and honest. Besides, the siblings were together, so there shouldn’t be any issues.

However, when it was almost time for dinner, Erbao and Sanya still hadn’t returned.

“Daya, go call your siblings for dinner,” Su Qianqian said.

Daya ran out but didn’t come back with them.

When dinner was ready and the three children still weren’t back, Zhu Tianfang frowned. “What’s going on with those three? This isn’t like them—they’re usually so well-behaved.”

“Grandma, I’ll go look for them,” Chuanchuan offered and ran out. He returned soon after, out of breath. “Grandma, Auntie, I can’t find them.”

Su Qianqian immediately felt something was wrong. She thought back to Daya’s odd behavior earlier.

“Mom, you all eat first. I’m going out to look,” she said, taking off her apron and hurrying out. Zhu Tianfang followed, saying, “Let’s split up and search quickly.”

About an hour later, Zhu Tianfang found Daya, who was crying uncontrollably and refused to speak. Su Qianqian rushed over.

“Daya, why are you crying? What happened? Tell Mom, don’t be afraid. I won’t scold you.”

Daya still kept her mouth shut, tears streaming down her face.

“Daya, do you know where Erbao and Sanya are?” Su Qianqian asked softly, wiping the tears from her face.

Her question caused Daya’s expression to shift uneasily, but she remained silent.

“It’s dark now. If they’re safe, that’s fine. But if they’re not, they could run into wild boars—or worse, wolves. They’re so little—they can’t fight or outrun them. If something happens…”  

Daya panicked, her tears falling even faster.

“Whatever happened, we need to make sure they’re alive, right? Otherwise, you won’t have your siblings anymore.”

At this, Daya burst into loud sobs. “Mom… hic… Erbao and Sanya… hic… are hiding in… the mountain. I’ll… hic… take you… there!” She cried and hiccupped as she spoke, then quickly led Su Qianqian and the others toward the mountains.

Finally!

They found the two children huddled together for warmth on the mountain. The temperature had dropped at night, and the two, dressed lightly, were shivering from the cold.

Su Qianqian immediately rushed over. Erbao and Sanya tightly closed their eyes, bracing themselves for a scolding.

“Don’t be scared; Mommy’s here,” she said, picking them up, one in each arm. Zhu Tianfang came over and took one of them from her. “Why are you hiding here? It’s so dangerous!”

Erbao and Sanya were still in a daze—was their mother not going to punish them?

“Let’s head back first,” Su Qianqian said, carrying Sanya while Zhu Tianfang held Erbao. “Sister-in-law, can you carry Daya for me? She must be tired after walking so far.”

Daya, surprised by the attention, quickly said, “I’m not tired. Really, I’m not tired.”  

She was relieved that her younger siblings were safe—she wouldn’t have known what to do otherwise.

Wu Yuexiang walked over and scooped Daya up. “Let Auntie carry you. With those little legs of yours, you’ll take forever to walk home.”

“Thank you, Auntie,” Daya replied shyly.

—

When they finally returned home, Zhu Tianfang took out some eggs to thank the neighbors who had helped, but they declined and left quickly.

Su Qianqian washed the faces and hands of the three children with warm water before letting them eat dinner. After the meal, she asked, “Alright, tell me—what happened? Why did you run off to hide on the mountain?”

The children exchanged glances before Erbao spoke up. “Grandma came, and we overheard her saying she wanted to take Sanya away. So we hid.”

They explained that they believed their mother could never refuse their grandmother’s requests. Whatever their grandmother said, their mother would always listen. Although Sanya hadn’t been given away last time, they thought she definitely would be this time, so they decided to run away and hide until their grandmother left.

It was such a simple, childlike thought.

Su Qianqian finally understood. She didn’t scold them—she only felt heartache. These children had such a deep sense of insecurity. It would take a long time to build trust with them.

She sighed and pretended to be serious. “You all missed out big time. You didn’t even see me argue with your grandmother. We had a big fight. I told her I absolutely wouldn’t give her Sanya. Didn’t you hear that?”

The children froze, genuinely surprised. They hadn’t heard anything; they’d been too busy running.

“See? That’s why you need to listen to everything properly in the future. Otherwise, something bad could happen. What if a wild boar found you while you were hiding on the mountain?”

“Mommy, we’re sorry. We won’t do it again,” they quickly apologized, grateful they weren’t being punished. They had fully expected to be spanked.

Meanwhile, the Cheng family members exchanged incredulous looks. *Since when is Su Qianqian so reasonable? Did she hit her head and knock some sense into herself?*

*If we’d known this would happen, we’d have knocked her on the head ages ago!*

Su Qianqian: *Huh??*

“Chuanchuan, and you three, come here. I bought something for you all today.”

She brought out some candy and snacks. “Chuanchuan, take whatever you like.”

The children’s eyes lit up instantly.

“Can I really take some?” Chuanchuan asked.

“Of course!” Su Qianqian handed him some fruit candies and puffed rice treats. “When you finish these, you can have more.”

“Daya, Sanya, look—Mommy bought you hair ties and clips.”

The two girls were overjoyed, holding the hair accessories as if they were treasures. They were so pretty.

*Mommy is the best!* they thought, nearly tearing up with happiness.

—

The next day, people in the village assumed the three children would get a beating. Instead, Daya and Sanya were proudly wearing their new hair ties and clips. Not only did other children envy them, but even some young girls wished for such beautiful accessories.

At first, the two girls felt a bit shy. But soon, they stood tall and proud because their mommy said they were the best and the prettiest.

—

In the following days, Su Qianqian made more pickled cucumbers to sell. At two yuan per jar, they sold out quickly, and she even gained a couple of repeat customers, earning ten yuan.

Now she wanted to get some fabric coupons to make new clothes for the children and herself. She also felt she needed to come up with other ideas for making money—this pace was too slow.

However, just as she was pondering new ways to earn, her maternal family couldn’t sit still and came storming to the Cheng household again. This time, they went as far as to “sell” Su Qianqian outright.