While the Chen Lingli sisters were chewing pig's trotters in the Chamber of Commerce on the second floor, their biological mother Liu Mei was bandaging her wounds with an empty stomach in the Shuangfeng Town Health Center not far away.

The place where Liu Mei was hit by the pencil case was on the back of her head. In order to facilitate the cleaning and disinfection of the wound, the doctor did not even ask any questions. Without saying a word, he took a small clipper and skillfully shaved off all the hair in that area.

Then comes disinfection and bandaging.

The doctor also asked her who had inflicted the injury and whether she wanted to go to the police station.

Liu Mei replied vaguely, "I accidentally hit it." Covering the bandaged wound, she went to pay the bill by herself, took the anti-inflammatory medicine prescribed by the doctor, and rode her bike all the way home.

I originally thought that Yaozu took the money out to buy some snacks or something, and would definitely come back to eat at noon.

Liu Mei decided that she couldn't continue to spoil this damn child.

He must go hungry first so that he will remember his lesson and at least be more filial to her as his mother in the future.

Therefore, after returning home, Liu Mei deliberately only cooked one bowl of noodles, mixed it with the chili sauce at home, and ate it in one go.

Just wait for that damn kid Chen Yaozu to come back and teach him a lesson!

Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long time, it was almost dark, but Chen Yaozu still didn't come home.

This time, Liu Mei panicked.

After asking around, she found out that her children were not the only ones in the village who hadn't returned!

Upon further questioning, we found out that they were all naughty boys studying in the village primary school.

When the village chief heard the news, his head almost exploded: "Oh no! Did these naughty boys go to the river to play in the water?"

The "big river" that the village chief mentioned is none other than an irrigation canal outside Chentang Village. People often swim in this canal in summer, and several lives are lost in it almost every year.

The villagers often scare their children by saying that there are water ghosts in the canal and anyone who goes swimming in the river will be dragged down by the ghost.

It's so funny! The school has long been promoting the idea of ​​"breaking feudal superstitions". Primary school students don't believe these superstitious stories at all. They prefer to believe what the school teaches them.

There are no such things as water ghosts in the world. They must have been made up by adults to trick children.

Otherwise, why do the adults in the village like to swim in that river?

Everyone stumbled to the river.

Sure enough, I found some of the naughty kids’ sandals and clothes under the bridge.

Liu Mei fainted on the spot.

When she woke up, it was already the next morning.

The four missing children were all salvaged, including Chen Yaozu.

Liu Mei screamed and rushed over, trying madly to pry open her son's eyes and mouth. She also pressed hard on his chest to see if his heart was still beating.

How could there still be a heartbeat?

The last person in the village to see the four children was the owner of the convenience store.

He said that it was probably after lunch when Chen Yaozu brought three other boys over and said he would treat them to some ice soda.

At this time, the ice soda is still in glass bottles, and you have to return the bottles to the store after drinking.

The four boys sat in the store, drank the ice soda, bought four packs of instant noodles, and then left the store.

This situation is very common in the village.

In the summer, the adults in the family work in the morning and usually take a nap at noon.

Children are full of energy and cannot sleep at noon, so they usually come out, shouting and having fun.

Who could have thought that these naughty boys would secretly run to the river to play in the water?

…

Their younger brother died inexplicably. After receiving the news, the Chen sisters no longer cared about fishing for lobsters to make money. They packed some clothes and rushed home.

When I got home, my brother's ashes had already been retrieved.

According to the local customs, a funeral hall cannot be held for children who died before adulthood. According to the saying passed down by the older generation, this is said to allow the child to pass away quietly and not scare away other children who want to be reborn into their family in the future.

Liu Mei cried so hard that she couldn't cry anymore. When she saw her two daughters came back, she didn't beat or scold them like she did last time when her husband died.

The body of a child who died young cannot be kept at home, so after Chen Yaozu’s ashes were brought back, a small grave was built next to his father Chen Qiang’s grave that evening and the small urn was buried there.

Seeing that Liu Mei seemed to have lost her soul, the two sisters didn't know how to comfort her.

Of course they were very sad because their brother died.

But the two sisters knew in their hearts that their sadness was definitely not as great as Liu Mei's.

Because, in Liu Mei's heart, Chen Yaozu is not only her own flesh and blood that she gave birth to after ten months of pregnancy, but also her only support for the rest of her life.

Ridiculous, right?

Two living daughters stood before her.

But for Liu Mei at this moment, her "only hope" in this world is dead.

At night, the two sisters looked at each other in silence, listening to the suppressed crying and roaring coming from next door.

After a while, Chen Conghui patted her second sister's head and said, "Go to sleep, study hard in the future, and when we can all work and earn money, we will have to provide for our mother in her old age."

Chen Lingli hummed and slowly closed her eyes.

After a while, the crying from next door gradually stopped.

The next morning, Chen Conghui wanted to get up early and make breakfast for Liu Mei.

Unexpectedly, when she got up, Liu Mei had already cooked the red bean porridge.

"Are you up? Go and call the second brother to get up for breakfast." Liu Mei greeted her calmly.

A strange feeling suddenly came over me.

What was even more strange was that when she and Chen Lingli came out after washing their faces, Liu Mei had already served out three bowls of red bean porridge, and in the middle of the table, there was a plate of golden chive egg pancakes!

How could her mother have the mind to do all this when her brother just left?

Could it be that he finally figured it out, thinking that now that his son is gone, he will have to rely on his two daughters for support in his old age, so he is thinking of pleasing them now?

Seeing that Chen Lingli had already picked up the red bean porridge and was about to put it into her mouth, Liu Mei's tightly pursed lips suddenly revealed a strange, barely detectable smile.

Chen Conghui only took one look and his scalp almost exploded.

Without thinking, he waved his hand and knocked away the red bean porridge that Chen Lingli had already brought to his mouth.

The hot porridge flew out, brushing against Chen Lingli's cheek, but some of it still fell on her lips.

Chen Conghui grabbed her second sister's hand, ran to the water tank, picked up the gourd ladle beside her, scooped up a ladle of well water, and poured it into Chen Lingli's mouth without caring about anything.

"Shut your mouth! Don't swallow the porridge!"

Chen Lingli was confused, but she was used to listening to her elder sister since she was a child, so she did whatever Chen Conghui said. Fortunately, not much porridge fell into her mouth, and she washed it off quickly.

Seeing that she had spilled the porridge, Liu Mei's face changed.

If it had been in the past, if the two sisters had wasted food and broken a bowl in the house, even if they didn't get beaten, they would at least have been scolded by Liu Mei for a week.

But today, what was unusual was that instead of scolding her, Liu Mei took out a new bowl, filled it with porridge, and placed it in front of the bench where Chen Lingli was sitting.

It was as if she had to see the two sisters drink up the bowl of porridge today.