Village Belle Chapter 114
Translated by Digitalian (ko-fi)
Chapter 114: Sister Fed Brother Yuntang
After dusk, Wei Yan still followed all the way. She had probably been told something by her family because she called out to Su Tao as well, "Brother Yuntang, Sister Taozi, do you want to come to my house for dinner? My mother is going to fry bacon today."
Judging from the change of approach, the Wei family was planning to coax Su Tao as well.
If Su Tao were a child, she would probably be fooled by the bacon into agreeing. She pulled Xie Yuntang and said vigilantly, "We don't want to eat it, Brother Yuntang, don't you agree?" After saying that, she looked at him straight, as if not wanting him to disagree.
Xie Yuntang didn't want to make her angry, so he nodded without thinking. "We don't want to eat it."
After the two left, Wei Yan pouted unhappily. Xie Yuntang didn't like to play with her.
In fact, they knew before that Xie Yuntang didn't like to play with the children in the village. They only had the idea now because they saw him playing with Su Tao.
Su Tao's family had a sumptuous meal today, with stewed chicken and stir-fried meat served. Su Tao put down her schoolbag and stared at the food on the table. She couldn't help but grab a piece. It tasted quite good.
She pinched another piece for Xie Yuntang, winking and whispering, "Eat quickly, Milksop. You'll get a beating if my mother comes out."
Xie Yuntang glanced at her hand, then lowered his head and ate the food. Just as he was about to do so, Lin Sanzhu, just after being mentioned, appeared with some food.
"Su Zhi! Who told you to eat? I'll beat you to death!"
Su Zhi, before he could even eat, was caught again. He grumbled, "Sister and Brother Yuntang have already eaten, but I haven't yet..."
Xie Yuntang felt a surge of unease. He knew he couldn't eat before his elders did. It wasn't that he was afraid of being scolded, but rather that he knew he had made a mistake.
At that moment, Su Tao said, "Don't push the blame on me! You should own up to your own action. Milksop, let's go wash our hands and eat." With that, she grabbed Milksop and fled the scene.
Su Zhi was left alone to bear the brunt of Lin Sanzhu’s scolding. Lin Sanzhu's voice continued to blare, "Do you think Brother Yuntang is like you? He's very well-behaved..."
"It was Sister who fed Brother Yuntang!"
"I didn't see your sister eating, but I caught you red-handed every time. Okay, go wash your hands. If you do that again, I’ll get your father to punish you!"
Listening to the sounds outside, Su Tao winked at Xie Yuntang in the kitchen and whispered, "That fool Su Zhi always gets caught."
Xie Yuntang swallowed the meat in his mouth, rolled up his sleeves to wash his hands, and earnestly corrected Sister Taozi's faults. "Sister Taozi, don't do that next time. You'll get scolded. I'll buy you whatever you want."
"Then buy me roast duck next time." Su Tao, of course, didn't hesitate.
She didn’t even realize that she had become so dependent on Milksop.
...
Su Fu hadn't finished his work today, so Lin Sanzhu went to deliver dinner to him. Su Tao and the others ate first. Su Tao's arms were almost sore from holding Su Dou while she ate.
"Milksop, come and hold him for me again."
She didn't know what was wrong with Su Dou. He started crying as soon as he got into Xie Yuntang’s arms. This happened several times.
Xie Yuntang quickly put down his chopsticks and carried him over, saying obediently, "Sister Taozi, you eat."
Su Dou started crying again, so Su Tao had to hold him again. She was a little desperate. "What are you doing? Don't cry. If you keep crying, you’ll cry yourself sick."
Su Zhi stuffed a piece of meat into his mouth and said weakly, "Sister, Brother is hungry and wants food."
This thought didn’t occur to Su Tao at all. "..."
She glared at him angrily. "You deserve a beating for not telling me earlier."
"Su Zhi, go and scoop a bowl of rice soup. All you do is eat, eat, eat. Are you a sow?" After saying that, she kicked Su Zhi's stool.
"I'll go."
Xie Yuntang got up and ran to the kitchen. He quickly came back with rice soup and said, "Sister Taozi, do you want to feed him?"
Su Tao nodded. She really couldn't hold Su Dou any longer. "Milksop, you hold him while I feed him."
After Xie Yuntang took Su Dou over, she started to feed Su Dou rice soup. He was indeed hungry. He stopped crying as soon as he was fed the rice soup.
Seeing him blowing bubbles happily, she made a face and whispered, "Little crybaby, you’re annoying just like your brother. I must’ve owed you guys in my previous life."
She had been coaxed by others since she was born. When did she have to coax others?
If her father knew how much she had suffered, he would definitely cry. After all, he had never said a harsh word to her.
She kept mumbling non-stop, looking a little cute and innocent. Xie Yuntang liked Sister Taozi like this and couldn't help but lift the corners of his lips.
Sister Taozi always spoke differently from others.
After feeding Su Dou half a bowl of rice soup, Lin Sanzhu returned. She expertly took Su Dou and carried him back inside to breastfeed him. "You guys go ahead. The food's getting cold."
Su Tao glanced at her. Lin Sanzhu wasn't particularly old. She was only twenty-four, yet was already a mother of three.
It must have been a tough life.
She sighed inwardly, then went to the kitchen to scoop out some rice, placing a few pieces of chicken in the bowl, then a few more pieces of meat.
Xie Yuntang glanced at her. Sister Taozi was truly kind. Although she could be harsh at times, she was kind to everyone.
A moment later, Lin Sanzhu returned, carrying Su Dou. Seeing the bowl filled with food and chopsticks on the table, she froze. She had never counted on her children leaving food for her.
After all, they were still young.
"Mom, eat quickly. It's getting cold. Let me hold Su Dou." Su Tao was indeed full, and she stood up to take Su Dou from Lin Sanzhu.
Lin Sanzhu glanced at her, her lips moving. It would be a lie to say she wasn't moved.
Her wretched daughter still spared a thought for her.
Lin Sanzhu was glad she hadn’t raised Su Tao in vain.
She picked up the bowl of rice and ate while calling out to Xie Yuntang, "Yuntang, eat more, eat until you're full."
"I'm full, Auntie Su, you should eat more." Xie Yuntang put down the bowl and chopsticks, then took Su Dou from Su Tao. He didn’t cry this time.
Su Tao was teasing Su Dou, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Lin Sanzhu put the chicken in the bowl back into the pot, probably wanting to save it for Su Fu.
She sighed inwardly, took her own chopsticks, and handed the chicken back to her, grinning and saying, "Mom, it's already in your bowl, finish it yourself. We won't eat your leftovers." With that, she pressed the chicken hard and scraped the rice on the side.
"Wretched girl, you’ve scraped the rice out!"
Lin Sanzhu quickly held the bowl tightly, fearing that Su Tao would scrape it to the ground, and then glared at her wretched daughter. However, she understood everything in her heart.
She didn't say anything else, but her eyes were red for some reason while she was chewing the chicken.
She grew up without being loved by her father or mother, and she was forever working.
Later, she married Su Fu. Although Su Fu loved her, he was a man and was always working outside. How could he have the time to care about her?
Perhaps because she didn't want the children to see her expression now, she went to the kitchen with her bowl. "I'm going to get some rice soup. The rice is too hard to swallow without that."
Su Tao was teasing Su Dou, so she naturally didn't see it. As for Su Zhi, his mind was on eating.
After dinner, Su Tao was about to wash the dishes, but Lin Sanzhu stopped her and said quickly, "You can't wash them clean. Just wipe the table."
Su Tao was naturally happy to be lazy and quickly got a towel to wipe the table. Su Zhi was also busy because Su Tao asked him to sweep the floor.
Xie Yuntang held Su Dou and watched from the side.
