Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Who is Family with You? Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Who is Family with You? There it was, no sooner had I settled onto my stool at noon, someone came knocking at the door.
Who?
Hao Fang came in, dragging Bai Mei along with her, both of them crying and sobbing.
Bai Xiao glanced at Bai Mei, the once plump and rounded Bai Mei! She now looked withered, her formerly rosy cheeks now dry and thin, her once fair skin had turned dark and sallow, and her once soft and shiny hair was now like dry straw. Especially her face; one eye was still bruised and hadn’t faded, and her eyes were red with tears.
There’s no need to talk about Hao Fang, who had lost a good deal of weight, she was slender, to begin with, but it was unbearable to witness the stench. The moment she entered, it hit the nostrils, her whole body reeked of a terrible odor, who knows how many days it’s been since she last bathed. The two of them tried to sit on the Kang bed! But Bai Xiao swiftly blocked them.
She pointed to the stools on the ground; the house had acquired two more stools which, according to Haiping, Uncle Wang had made.
Bai Xiao hardly had time to figure out who this Uncle Wang was before the mother and daughter entered.
Of course, they certainly hadn’t e for her, Bai Xiao, they must have been heading for Bai Song, who else could be the master of the house if not Bai Song?
“Go sit over there!” Bai Xiao still clutched the broom she used to sweep the bed, Hao Fang and Bai Mei had been in the middle of crying their eyes out, but they were stunned by Bai Xiao’s interjection.
Hao Fang pointed at Bai Xiao, “Xiao, how could you be so cruel? Can’t you see how your sister has been beaten? And you still…” She had thought that after all these months, Bai Xiao’s anger would have subsided, but she received this treatment the moment she arrived.
“Don’t falsely claim to be relatives; I don’t have such a sister. Besides, our Kang bed isn’t for just anyone to sit on. If you bring fleas onto it, do you expect our whole family to spend the evenings hunting them by lamplight?” Bai Xiao had long noticed the lice in Hao Fang’s hair; it would truly be troublesome if it spread.
Hastily, Hao Fang covered her hair with her hands! It was all because of that house, crammed next to the pigsty, stinking and infested with lice and fleas everywhere. Hearing this, Bai Mei jumped in fright, letting go of her mother and stepping back.
Hao Fang was furious inside.
This damned Bai Xiao was her bane.
Why couldn’t this bane just stay away for the New Year? With Bai Xiao around, the things they wanted to do would probably be difficult to acplish.
Hao Fang turned to Bai Song, “Second Brother, you can’t ignore your sister. She was beaten up by that bastard Fang Xiaoshan. If you don’t stand up for her, our Bai Mei will be bullied to death. You don’t know, even the two-month-old child in Bai Mei’s belly was lost because of Fang Xiaoshan’s beatings. It’s such a sin.” Hao Fang cried heartbreakingly at the mention of her daughter’s suffering.
Bai Mei suddenly sat on a stool, covering her face and sobbing.
Bai Song glanced at Bai Mei and Hao Fang with furrowed brows, “I really can’t intervene in this matter. I’ve made it crystal clear; your family has nothing to do with ours, we don’t associate anymore. You should be seeking Bai Jianguo, Bai Shan, and Bai Zhuang for this, not me. I’m an outsider, and I really can’t meddle in this matter.”
Bai Xiao was surprised to see her big brother being so supportive, showing no pity for Bai Mei’s pitiful state, but rather taking a firm stand.
“Bai Song, how can you talk like that? Each and every one of you is so heartless, this calls for divine punishment! You’re all Bai’s!” Hao Fang had not expected Bai Song to respond this way.
Bai Mei also stopped crying and looked up at Bai Song in astonishment.
Bai Song sneered, “What, you think I’m an idiot? When your Bai Mei had that promising match, whom was it supposed to be with? If circumstances hadn’t accidentally changed, who would be suffering now? My sister, Bai Xiao, right? Who’s the heartless one? You’ve brought this upon yourselves, no one’s to blame. This is retribution; you had it ing! You really think I would deal with your mess? You must be dreaming! Get out now or don’t blame me for being rude.”
Hao Fang and Bai Mei had truly not expected Bai Song to react like this. In everyone’s eyes, Bai Song was a man of principle, one to fight tyranny and help the weak. Shouldn’t that be Bai Song’s duty? How could he be so different now?
The mother and daughter were pletely dumbfounded.
Seeing that they still hadn’t moved, Bai Song bellowed toward the courtyard.
“Haiping, Hai’an, take the fire poker and drive these two out. From now on, let’s not just let anyone into our yard.” He really couldn’t stand Hao Fang and Bai Mei.
As soon as Li Haiping and Li Hai’an heard that, they were delighted. They had long been tired of Hao Fang and Bai Mei—especially Hao Fang. In the month just after Bai Xiao left, she would specifically e to their house at mealtime to freeload.
The first time Bai Yue just couldn’t bear to turn her away, but to her surprise, Hao Fang showed up the next day, and the day after that, until Bai Yue eventually locked the main door and wouldn’t open it even if someone knocked it down.
That’s when Hao Fang stopped ing.
But her stopping had a reason behind it; she was waiting for someone in the house who was in charge.
One wielding a broom, the other a fire poker, they stormed right in.
Li Haiping lifted the cotton curtain and, pointing to the outside door, said to the two people.
“Hurry up and get out!”
Li Hai’an, holding the broom, positioned himself in front of the mother and daughter, “Hurry up, don’t dawdle. Don’t let all the warmth in our house out.”
Hao Fang and Bai Mei were so frustrated they were practically itching. Bai Mei looked at Bai Song with fierce hope, “Second brother, you’re really not going to do anything?”
Bai Song answered resolutely, “You’re not worthy of calling me ‘second brother’.”
Hao Fang and Bai Mei left dejectedly.
Bai Xiao watched Bai Mei and Hao Fang leave and quickly called out to Haiping and Hai’an, “Quick, sweep up the house, clean it, and disinfect it. I saw that Hao Fang’s hair was teeming with lice—we can’t let them infect everyone here.”
Everyone hurriedly scalded the chairs with boiling water and swept the floor several times, and even sprayed vinegar all around the house.
No one knew if it would work, but it was done for peace of mind.
Bai Yue brought the dining table over, and the family prepared to eat—big pots of stew, white flour buns, and mushy cornmeal. She glanced around the room—having been busy cooking in the kitchen, she had no idea what had been said in here.
“Did they leave?” The shamelessness of Hao Fang was more than Bai Yue could handle.
Bai Xiao nodded, picking up her chopsticks, “My brother drove them away.”
“Big sister, next time they e, just drive them out directly. The more polite you are to people like that, the more emboldened they bee and start taking advantage of you,” Bai Song said as he picked up a big white bun and took a bite. “Mmm! Sister, the buns we steam are really the best.”
“If it’s good, then eat more without worry. We have enough grain in our house,” Bai Yue said proudly. It was something she wouldn’t have dared to guarantee before, but now she had confidence.
The family’s twenty-five hens were doing extraordinarily well. Just the money from selling eggs was three to four yuan a day, which added up to over a hundred yuan a month. Bai Yue found that buying grain hardly cost her anything.
She was full of confidence and planned to add another twenty-five chicks after spring. That would mean two hundred yuan a month. They could not only buy grain but also afford to build a big tile-roofed house after saving for a year.
She inquired around the village, and a tile-roofed house with nine rooms in a row, plus a front and back yard could be built for just a little over one to two thousand yuan.
And it would be quite the grand house.
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