I Became a Vicious Supporting Role in the '70s
Chapter 62: How Your Daughter Wants to Use It Is Not Okay

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: How Your Daughter Wants to Use It Is Not Okay

"You’re speaking like this, surely I can’t just open the door now. We both know the truth about mother. Lu Zhenping has been in the military for many years, sending home allowance every month, initially just a yuan or two as a young soldier, then later on to more than ten yuan and even now. It wasn’t just for a month or two, nor just for a year. Even if villagers, like us, eat meat at every meal, how much could that cost? If we really calculated, it just wouldn’t add up. You should just go back!"

Shen Meng, arms crossed, stood behind the door and shouted outward. She peeked through the crack of the door; a crowd was gathering to watch!

At this moment, she definitely wouldn’t go out. Otherwise, it would just be another dispute.

"You, you’re really turning the skies upside down, daring to make up such stories about me. Can you bully me to death every single day? Father, when will you come back? Can I, this miserable person, still see you once a year, my dear mother, my poor mother~ ah!"

Liu Sanjin sat down on the ground and began to wail in a melodramatic tone, making Shen Meng laugh.

Previously, she had only seen such scenes in small video clips, this was the first time she experienced such authentic feelings up close.

"Father, mother, why did you leave so early, leaving me alone~ to suffer in this world~ my dear mother~!"

She sat on the ground kicking her legs back and forth, slapping her thighs loudly with both hands.

Watching this, Shen Meng clicked her tongue in amazement; with such force, her thighs must be red.

Crying with mucus and tears, the villagers who were about to go work couldn’t help but offer her a few words of consolation.

But the more they tried to console her, the more outrageous she became.

"Stop consoling me, I have a hard life, stuck with such a wastrel. Over the years, when have I ever lost my temper? I treated her like my own daughter when she married in. But look how she treats me! I’ve been here for half a day, and she won’t even open the door for me. Lord, when will these hard times end~!"

"Not opening the door because you said you’d kill me. You said you treated me like your own daughter, but when have a daughter and her real mother ever held such grudges overnight? Moreover, the straw from our private plot, how your own daughter wishes to use it is her business. But here you are, fussing about living and dying, what exactly do you want?"

"You... I... this..." Liu Sanjin didn’t expect Shen Meng to suddenly open the door, a few words made her stumble, leaving her unsure what to say.

Looking at Liu Sanjin’s face turning red, Shen Meng pitifully wiped the corners of her somewhat dry eyes.

"Mother, what are you trying to do? I just don’t understand. You have good days to live, why cause such trouble? Your sons and daughters-in-law are filial, your father-in-law can still work outside, Zhenping is even providing you with pension money. In ten miles around, there’s no old lady who has a better life than you in her old age. What are you still not satisfied with? Must you pick on our family’s wool? Can you just be kind, give us a break, is that possible?"

When she spoke these words, the villagers who were consoling her started to feel uneasy. The older ones left with their hoes, they worked hard to earn work points, wasn’t it just to allow themselves and their children a full meal?

Mrs. Lu lived so comfortably without concern, following Zhenping’s wife’s words, who knows how much money she had stashed away?!

When they divided the family assets, Mrs. Lu instantly gave sixty yuan to the main house. Some households don’t even see that much money in a year, yet she just handed it out effortlessly, initially thinking she was fair.

Hah, fair my foot, she was probably just fooling the naive Shen Meng.

Here convincing her is pointless when one is poor as can be. Better off earning some work points for some extra grain for the family.

The gathering crowd gradually dispersed, even those supporting Liu Sanjin showed disdain, shrugged off their hands and walked away.

Seeing that most people had left, Shen Meng didn’t bother to argue any further. She rolled her eyes and turned to head home.

Liu Sanjin sat on the ground, unable to cry or leave, feeling extremely awkward for a moment.

When Shen Meng returned home, Lu Mingkai was still sleeping. She hurried back to the kitchen, whipped up a big pot of stewed pig’s feet with kelp and soybeans, put steamed cornmeal buns and a few dishes of cabbage and glass noodles in the steamer basket. Lu Mingyang had mentioned several times already, but she hadn’t found the chance to take them out from the storage space.

She had just covered the pot when she saw Lu Mingkai, bare-legged and wearing slippers, standing at the door.

Shen Meng: "...."

"Mom, what delicious thing are you cooking? I just saw something being put into the pot, can it be eaten yet?"

"... It’s still raw; wait a bit. Mom will first take Ming Kai back to get dressed. It’s chilly today, don’t catch a cold."

Shen Meng wiped her hands on her apron and quickly went out to pick up Lu Mingkai and rushed inside, while the little guy lay on her shoulder and asked,

"Mom, I can dress myself, just keep an eye on the fire."

What fire? I didn’t even start it!!!

After getting Lu Mingkai dressed, she returned to the kitchen, smiling lightly at Lu Mingkai: "Oh look, the fire has gone out, haha, wait a bit longer. It should be ready around the time your brother and sister finish school. It’s stewed pig’s feet soup, I even added plenty of old kelp, great for nourishing the body. Ming Kai, have more tonight."

Lu Mingkai wrinkled his nose and nodded vigorously, biting his baby teeth. He loved the food his mom cooked the most, it was so delicious he could almost swallow his tongue.

In her hurry today, she hadn’t managed to pay Uncle Guai for the ox cart, nor had she thanked him for helping with the work. Shen Meng simply carried Lu Mingkai, took a handful of fruity candies, locked the door and went straight to Uncle Guai’s house.

Uncle Guai’s house wasn’t too far from hers. When she arrived, Uncle Guai’s wife was outside grinding sesame seeds in a mortar, the aroma of roasted sesame seeds wafting enticingly through the air.

"Aunt, busy, aren’t you?"

Zhu Juying glanced at her, "Why? Didn’t you see?"

The tone was harsh, and Shen Meng guessed it must be because she knew Uncle Guai had helped her work. In just one morning he could earn five work points, each worth 20 cents, making one yuan for a morning’s work. In the countryside, one yuan of work points wasn’t just a monetary payment, it also included rationed vegetables, fruits, cloth tickets, food and sugar tickets, kerosene tickets, and more, all deducted from the work points.

A family working all year round might not be able to eat their fill even a few times, some families didn’t eat at all in the evening, just went to bed when it got dark as sleeping meant not feeling hungry.

Wouldn’t someone be upset if they worked all morning for nothing?

"Aunt, this morning I really owed it to Uncle Guai for helping, or else we wouldn’t have collected the straw from our own farm so quickly. You don’t know, the roof of the mud house back at my parents has several big holes, my dad has been sick, and these few days have been cloudy. I was really worried that if it rained heavily, my dad might... Uncle Guai saw me and my brother working and asked about it, then rolled up his sleeves to help. He’s really a kind-hearted man. I feel bad for taking up his morning, this is for the kids at home, Aunt, please don’t be polite, and this is for Uncle Guai. He helped out at our house today and also missed the collective work. I didn’t think too much, please don’t mind!"

In addition to handing over a handful of fruity candies to Zhu Juying, Shen Meng also gave her 1.5 yuan, as compensation for Uncle Guai’s labor, and an eight-jin cotton ticket.

Zhu Juying’s hands trembled as she took them.

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