"Mom, do they often hit you?" Lin Wan asked with reluctance.
Shen Qing glanced at her daughter-in-law and sighed, nodding her head.
"Does Uncle Hu know?"
Shen Qing shook her head again, "Mostly, he doesnât know. At first, I didnât want to make things hard for him. Later, he found out a few times and argued with his mother, but his elder brother and sister-in-law played the good guys behind his back. His mother is unreasonable, and every time it ends unresolved. In the beginning, we thought about living separately, but when Lijuan and Xiao Dung were born, his mother said if we separated, she wouldnât help with the children. We had no choice. Later, as the kids grew up, it became hard to separate."
The mother-in-law should be about the same age as Mom. She might have lived in the city and never worked in the fields, her skin is very fair, and she doesnât look old. Comparing her to Mom, who just arrived in the city, she is probably much better. Perhaps too much distress weighs heavily on her heart, making her always appear lifeless.
"Mom, sometimes keeping things bottled up inside, with only you knowing, is useless. Uncle Hu doesnât see it. It will only make those people more arrogant. They think youâre easy to bully and get more wanton. They see that in you, Mom, so they are bold. If you had been tougher when being bullied, maybe life would be different." If that were the case, perhaps Han Yi would be different too.
Shen Qing, perhaps understanding something, looked silently at Lin Wan.
"I lost my dad when I was very young. It was my mom who raised my brother and me with great difficulty. My mother used to be a gentle woman, but where we come from, such women are the easiest to bully. We had no backing in the village, no power, and some people just saw us as easy targets. Theyâd trouble us, either taking over our land or shortchanging us when distributing fields... When bullied, no one stood up to help. My mom had to rely on herself because she had two kids to raise. Without a choice, she learned to be unreasonable, to lie, and to throw tantrums."
"And then what happened, did anyone still bully you?"
This time it was Lin Wan who shook her head, smiling playfully, "Things got much better. When some people thought about picking on us, they had to consider my difficult mother."
Shen Qing looked at the cheerful Lin Wan and thought about the state of Lijuan. She sighed in her heart, questioning if this was fate or her own fault.
The mother-in-law and the young aunt were fine; they could squeeze into Grandmaâs room. Hu Dong, being a boy, could only sleep in the shop at the gateway. Fortunately, itâs summer now, and laying a mat on the floor would suffice.
"Saozi, this is good. When I was at home, I didnât even have my own room, always squeezing in with Mom and Dad in one room." His and his sisterâs biggest wish now is to have their own rooms.
Lin Wan observed the situation today. The conditions at her in-laws werenât great, but they werenât bad either. Grandma Wang said that many of her neighbors had siblings sharing a room with bunks.
Some married couples without a house didnât want to spend money renting one and just built a wooden cabin in their yard. Itâs okay in summer, but living there in winter is impossible.
"Okay, let me know if you need anything. Iâll bring you some of my brotherâs old clothes from high school in a bit. You can wear them for now. They might be a little worn out, but donât mind," Lin Wan said. The clothes were Han Yiâs old high school clothes, with patches on them. Grandma couldnât bear to throw them away or give them to someone, so she kept them at the bottom of a box.
"I donât mind," Hu Dong said, scratching his head shyly.
He knew from a young age that he had an older brother from the same mother but a different father. Other than the initial confusion, he ended up admiring him deeply. It was all in his heart.
Because this brother wasnât particularly close to them, he didnât dare to get too familiar.
After arranging things for Hu Dong, Lin Wan saw Hu Lijuan coming out after a bath. She was still wearing the same clothes from today.
"Saozi," Lin Wan could sense Hu Lijuan was a bit reserved.
This might be because of Han Yi.
"Come sleep with me tonight."
"No need, I can sleep in Grandmaâs room with Mom."
"Three people squeezing on one brick bed is a bit cramped. My side is big, and thereâs even a fan."
"Lijuan kicks the covers when she sleeps. Let her sleep with me in your grandmaâs room," whether it was Han Yi or his wife, she didnât want to trouble them. Because she had no right to.