Chapter Fifty Dawn

  When Lian Wan'er and a few others returned to the house, Zhang Shi was still sniffling on one side while chatting with Lian Shouxin in a nagging tone, as if she wanted to pour out all the grievances of the past decade or so at once.

  "Xiu'er, I never thought she would treat me like this. At that time, I and her mother gave birth to our children only a few days apart. I gave birth to Zhī'er, and her mother gave birth to Xiu'er. Because her mother was older at the time, Xiu'er had no milk when she was born, so I let you bring Xiu'er over, and even if it meant starving Zhī'er, we had to feed Xiu'er first. Xiu'er drank my milk for a whole year, and then wouldn't let Zhī'er drink from me anymore, so Zhī'er started drinking rice porridge when she was just a few months old..."

  Lian Man'er was stunned, looking at Lian Zhi'er and then at Zhang Shi.

  "No wonder they're all from the same family, about the same age, my sister is as thin as that, and Old Auntie is as plump and sturdy." said Lian Man Er.

  "I'm sorry, Branch," said Mrs. Zhang. "Branch, are you blaming me?"

  "Mother, it's all in the past now, look at me, I'm doing fine. I don't blame you," Lian Zhier said.

  "I treated Xiuer as if she were my own, even more loving than if she were my own flesh and blood. I nursed her for a whole week, and when Xiuer started learning to speak, the first word 'mother' was directed at me." Zhang continued, "Her mother heard about it, and from then on, she didn't let me take care of Xiuer anymore. For a long time, she didn't give me a good face, until Xiuer got close to her and called her 'mother', ignoring me, only then did things get a little better."

  Zhou wouldn't think that Zhang took her daughter and then looked down on Zhang, would she? Lian Man sighed, it's really true that one kind of rice can raise a hundred kinds of people. If it were an ordinary person, they would have to treat Zhang like a Bodhisattva.

  "Xiu'er was weaned by her grandmother and no longer nursed from me. My Zhi'er then started nursing again. But when Xiu'er saw this, she cried nonstop. I had to harden my heart and also wean Zhi'er."

  What's this, like mother like daughter? Even Xiu'er's temperament is really similar to Madame Zhou's, it has been that way since she was a child.

  "It was my first time being a mother, and I had been feeding Xiuer for over a year. Perhaps because of this, I couldn't help but put her in my heart, thinking of her before anyone else when it came to food and clothes. Later, when Wulang, Maner, and Xiaogui were born, it was still the same. But Xiuer became more and more distant from me day by day. Sometimes when she saw me, it was as if she had seen an enemy, but I didn't take it to heart."

  "Mother, I see that Old Aunt doesn't think much of you. I thought there was some grudge between you two, but where's the grudge? It's clear that you've been kind to her, so why is she treating you like this?" said Lian Man'er.

  "It was our mother," Lianzhi said, "more than once. I heard our mother say bad things about our aunt."

  "What? Won't it be that our grandma and mother are always talking about our mother's bad things behind her back?" said Lian Man Er.

  No one responded. Everyone understood that this was probably the truth.

  “……I thought, because she's the eldest daughter, her mother spoiled her, and that's just her personality. In my heart, I always knew how good I was to her. I didn't expect her to be so ruthless. I begged her to help me back to the house and find someone to call a doctor for me, but she said I was scaring her and turned around and left……” Zhang Shi wiped away tears, “Husband, all these years, I've been pouring my heart out, almost cutting off my own flesh to give to her mother and Xiu Er. How did it end up like this? Did I do something wrong? My heart is so cold.”

  "You're not wrong. Don't cry, don't hurt yourself again." Lian Shouxin awkwardly patted Zhang's back, "Let's look forward, for me and the kids, you also need to take care of your body."

  Lian Shouxin never again made excuses for Zhou Shi and Lian Xiuer this time.

  "My heart is completely grey, if I hadn't heard Xiaoxi and the others calling me, I would have thought about dying." said Zhang.

  "Mother, don't die." Several children rushed to Zhang's side.

  "My mother won't die, my mother will live a good life." Zhang touched this and that, "Yesterday's things, I all know, it was my branch who has been by my side taking care of me, it was my Man Er, Wu Lang and Xiao Qi who ran to the town to ask for a good doctor for me, and also asked the imperial physician from the palace to come. My mother's life is saved thanks to you, my mother went through the gate of death this time, now I understand, I won't use my hot face to stick to other people's cold buttocks again, our kindness will only be towards those who are kind to us. As for others, let them go to hell..."

  Zhang said, thinking that the object of her words was Lian Shouxin's mother and sister, looked at Lian Shouxin.

  Lian Shouxin also had nothing to say, looking embarrassed and speechless.

  Lian Man'er was delighted. Zhang Shi could understand, which was great, although the cost was a bit too high. But for a woman like Zhang Shi who had been indoctrinated with the Three Obediences and Four Virtues since childhood, this was already quite difficult.

  "Daughter, don't think too much about anything else, just focus on taking good care of your body for now." Lian Man'er said to Zhang Shi.

  Zhang nodded, since she had come to an understanding, she wouldn't dwell on it anymore. For her own sake and for the children's sake, she needed a healthy body.

  Lian Lao Ye Zi returned from the fields and found out that Zhang Shi's miscarriage was caused by being pushed by Lian Xiu Er, and her illness was delayed by Zhou Shi. He scolded Lian Xiu Er and Zhou Shi severely. Since Zhang Shi couldn't do any chores during her postpartum period, the burden on He Shi and Zhao Shi increased. Lian Lao Ye Zi ordered that during the autumn harvest, Zhou Shi and Lian Xiu Er would be in charge of preparing three meals a day for the family.

  "Don't expect to sit on the kang all day and let your wives come back and work for you." said Lao Yezi.

  Zhou Shi and Lian Xiuer were also in the wrong and did not dare disobey Master Lian's wishes.

  This morning, before dawn, Lian Xiuer and Zhou Shi got up to cook for the family. Zhou Shi was brushing pots in the kitchen, preparing to cook rice and steam buns, saw that there wasn't enough firewood in the kitchen, so she asked Lian Xiuer to go fetch some firewood.

  Lian Xiuer, although also a farmer's daughter, was spoiled by the Zhou family since childhood. With several sisters-in-law at home, she had never done any hard labor. But now, it couldn't be helped. She couldn't let Zhou go fetch firewood and do chores like making dough for steamed buns, which she herself couldn't manage either.

  Lian Xiuer came out of the upstairs, yawning and walking down. The sky was still dark, and there was fog, so you couldn't see people clearly just two or three steps away.

  The firewood of the Lian family was piled up in the narrow alley between the pigsty and the gate wall. Lian Xiuer walked into the alley with one foot deep and one shallow, and as soon as her foot tripped, she fell forward. Before she could let out a cry of surprise, a sack was put over her head, and someone sat on her head with their buttocks, making it impossible for her to make a sound. Then her body was pressed down, and fists, feet, and sticks rained down on her buttocks, legs, and back.

  Lian Xiuer struggled desperately, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't break free. After a while, she heard Zhou Shi's calls from afar, and the punches and kicks finally stopped. Then, her face was kicked again, just as she was dazed and dizzy. The sack on her head was also removed. She seemed to hear footsteps, then the surroundings fell silent again, followed by Zhou Shi's cries for help.

  Lian Xiuer lay on the ground for a while before she could get up. The fog had not yet dispersed. There was only her in the alleyway. She couldn't even bother to pick up the firewood anymore. Stumbling and staggering as she walked, she tripped again, this time over a bundle of firewood lying across the alleyway.

  Zhou's family had finished rinsing the rice in the upper house. Then she mixed and kneaded the dough, pinched it into small pieces, and waited for a while, but didn't see Lian Xiuer come back with firewood. At first, she shouted once, but no one responded. She thought Lian Xiuer had gone to relieve herself and wasn't in a hurry. After waiting for a while, seeing that Lian Xiuer still hadn't returned, she walked to the door and shouted again.

  This time, Lian Xiuer still didn't answer. Madame Zhou thought that Lian Xiuer was being lazy and her heart was anxious, so she walked out the front door. As a result, she saw Lian Xiuer dragging one leg, with tears all over her face, walking back from the fog.

  Zhou's first reaction was to jump in fright, "Xiuer, is that you? What's going on?"

  "Mother," Lian Xiu'er rushed over and threw herself into Zhou Shi's arms, bursting into tears.

  It wasn't until then that Zhou saw a purplish bruise on Lian Xiuer's face, her clothes were covered in mud and leaves, with several places torn, revealing bloody skin underneath.

  "What's going on, Xiuer!" Zhou's eyes were already red with heartache.

  "I went to hug the hay, then..." Lian Xiuer told Zhou Shi how she was beaten.

  "Who hit you? Tell your mother." Zhou Shi gritted her teeth and said.

  "I didn't see anything." Lian Xiu'er sobbed, "They covered my head."

  "This is outrageous!" Madame Zhou exclaimed in anger, her eyes darting towards the west wing. The main gate of the Lian residence was still closed from the inside, and it was likely that the person who beat Lian Xiuer was someone from within the courtyard. Who would dare to beat Lian Xiuer?

  Zhou Shi let go of Lian Xiuer, and she was swept away by a gust of wind to the door of the west wing. The families of Lian Shouxin and Lian Shouli had not yet risen, and the door was bolted from the inside.

  "Open the door, Old Fourth, open the door for me." Zhou Shi yelled from outside the door.

  After a while, the door finally opened, and it was Zhou Shi who came to open the door with sleepy eyes.

  "Daughter, what are you doing? You haven't even gotten up yet," Lian Shou said.

  "You're still pretending with me, aren't you? Did you hit Xiuer?"

  "What did you say?" Lian Shouxin said, "I want to beat her up, and it's still today?"

  "Is it you?" Zhou Shi hesitated for a moment, then pushed Lian Shouxin aside and rushed into the house.

  Zhang's and Lian Shouxin's bed was at the head of the kang, while on the other side, near the foot of the kang, were the beds of Lian Zhi'er, Lian Man'er, Xiao Qi and Wu Lang, all lined up together. The several children were still fast asleep, only revealing a row of small black heads.

  Zhou rushed towards the kang, but was intercepted by Lian Shouxin from behind.

  "Mother, the child's mother and the children are all still sleeping, what is it that you want to say, let's go out and talk."

  "Either it's you or one of your kids who beat up Xiuer."

  "Xiu'er was beaten?" Lian Shouxin was shocked, "Mom, the kids hadn't even gotten out of bed yet, how could they have beaten Xiu'er? Besides, Xiu'er is taller and stronger than all of them, how could they have beaten her?"

  "Who is it then?" Zhou insisted.

  "Mother, this door was still locked when you arrived. The windows are all pasted with paper, not to mention the children are asleep, even if they were awake, they wouldn't be able to fly away. Mother, you may not want to see us, but you can't shift the blame onto the children." Lian Shou said.

  "Daughter, listen, Xiuer is calling you." Lian Shouxin said again.

  The Zhou family saw no flaw in this, and on the other side, Lianxiang was called away in a hurry, so she had to leave reluctantly.

  At the breakfast table, Lian Man'er glanced at Lian Xiuer who was lying beside her. Lian Xiuer's back was covered in wounds and could only lie down.

  Lian Man'er yawned.

  "Man Er, you've yawned several times already, didn't you sleep well?" asked Lian Zhi Er.

  Zhou immediately shifted his gaze to Lian Man Er.

  "Sister, didn't you hear?" Lian Man'er said in surprise.

  "What was that?"

  "A very small child is outside our window, calling out to my sister and asking me to open the door." said Lian Man Er.

  Zhou's face turned white instantly.