Ma Xiulian looked at her indifferently and said leisurely, "My eldest daughter was chosen by the townsfolk precisely because she's beautiful, and now she's working at the supply and marketing cooperative, eating rationed grain."
Old Lady Song shot back resentfully, "A married daughter is like a bucket of water thrown out, no matter how successful she becomes, she belongs to someone else's family."
Ma Xiulian countered her assertively, "Even after marrying, she remains my daughter and has never stopped being dutiful to me and her father."
People in the production brigade had personally witnessed Chen Honghong carrying big and small bags back to her maternal home time and again. It would be a lie to claim that they weren't envious.
Ma Xiulian's fate was too good!
She married into the Chen family and within five years, she bore three plump sons. The only daughter she had got married to someone in town. The fourth son was selected to be a soldier, and the youngest son was learning carpentry in the town.
Old Lady Song, unable to rebuff, could only swallow her words.
She grumbled to herself resentfully about her daughter's lack of success in not bringing good things home.
*
Ever since her full moon festival, little Helian Qiao grew like a weed, changing every day, and her appetite enlarged accordingly.
Gradually, she found that her mother, Li Chunhua, did not have enough milk to feed her.
Particularly in these past few days, she found her mother's milk run out while she was still only about 70-80% full, and she could only go to sleep and drink again after waking up.
Ma Xiulian felt sorry for her but couldn't do anything. She could only try to find nourishing food for Li Chunhua to help her body recuperate, in hopes to get her to produce more milk.
Everyone thought Helian Qiao couldn't get enough milk because her appetite was too big. Even Helian Qiao herself thought so.
But one day, she woke up from her nap to find two-year-old Chen Xiaobao curling up in Li Chunhua's arms, happily drinking milk.
This little human brat had the audacity to steal her food!!
And so, Helian Qiao was enraged.
"Waaahhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Boom——"
Suddenly, thunder exploded from a clear sky. In an instant, the sky turned stormy, and the clouds rolled in.
Ma Xiulian, who was working in the field, paused, dropped her sickle, and sprinted towards home, leaving everyone else stunned.
It took a while for the foreman to regain his senses and call out, "What are you doing, Jianguo's mother?"
But Ma Xiulian had already run far and couldn't hear.
The foreman came up with an excuse not to dock her work points, "Jianguo's mother must've gone home to take care of something urgent. Let's all work harder and try to keep our brigade's first place title."
Suddenly, everyone in the production brigade was pumped up and full of energy.
"Ah, how can the weather change so suddenly?"
"Yeah, if it rains, our progress will be delayed."
*
At the Chen residence, Chen Xiaobao was so scared of the thunderstorm that he choked on his milk and started crying.
Chunhua gently patted his back with a heartbroken look, soothing, "Little treasure, don't be afraid, mommy is here, don't be afraid~"
Then, she accidentally saw Helian Jiao lying on the bed, grinning at them.
That serves you right! You dare to steal this princess's food.
Li Chunhua slapped her saying, "You little devil, what are you laughing at?!"
Helian Jiao was stunned by the slap.
At first, she blinked her big eyes in disbelief. Feeling the undeniable pain, she started to wail——
Just as Ma Xiulian, seeing the clearing skies, was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she heard thunder rolling again.
The sky quickly darkened again amid the flashing lightning, and it started to pour.
She caught her breath and raced toward her front door.
In the house, Chunhua was still comforting Chen Xiaobao while scolding Helian Jiao, "Shut up, stop crying!"
I can't understand how such a little girl can have such a loud voice, it's going to make us deaf.