Seeing the situation, Song Zhaodi immediately guessed it was serious. “Jiefu, is erjie asking for money again, or–?”
Liu Yang suddenly looked at Song Zhaodi. How did you know?
Song Zhaodi raised an eyebrow. “And what excuse is she using this time? Last time, Mom said it was because the child was sick. What about now?”
“Laibao, you tell her.” Liu Yang nudged Song Laibao with his elbow. “Might as well get it out so Zhaodi won’t worry.”
Just thinking about her second sister made Song Laibao’s head throb. She wished she didn’t have this sister at all. “Last year, Lainan sent her child to live with her mother-in-law so she could work at the paper factory in town.
“But that brainless woman thought working at the factory was the same as being at home. She saw the factory producing toilet paper every day and started sneaking some home after work.
“One day, a female coworker caught her and demanded half. Lainan refused and even mocked the woman, saying she had no guts and didn’t dare take anything from the factory. The woman got angry and reported her the next day.”
“Serves her right! There’s always someone to deal with people like her,” Song Zhaodi said without a shred of sympathy. “And then?”
Song Laibao continued, “The security office called her in. She cried, saying her family was poor and couldn’t afford toilet paper, so she just wanted to bring some home for her child. The security officers felt sorry for her since she was bawling her eyes out, so they let her off with a verbal warning and told her not to steal again.”
“She did it again, didn’t she?” Song Zhaodi asked.
Song Laibao shook her head. “No, but she had already done it too many times, and several people in the factory knew she had been stealing. Those people got jealous and reported her to security.
“The security officers then went to her village to investigate and found out from the locals that she had even stolen from you before. They realised she had lied to them. Plus, with multiple witnesses proving she was a habitual thief, the factory fired her.”
“Lainan actually blamed us for her getting fired,” Liu Yang added. “When she went home to argue with Mom, she said, ‘So what if I took some of Zhaodi’s face cream and clam oil? It’s not like she can’t afford more. Why did she have to blow it up and make me lose my job?’”
Song Laibao nodded. “That’s exactly what she said. Mom nearly fainted from anger. Dad pointed to the door and told her to get out. Lainan said she would leave, but since she lost her job, her husband’s salary couldn’t support their family of four. So, she demanded 100 yuan from Mom.”
“Mom said she had no money,” Liu Yang said. “Then Lainan turned to you, saying you had money. She even brought up how Jianguo earns over 100 yuan a month. She said since you’re so well-off, you should help those who are poorer than you.”
Song Zhaodi was stunned. “That’s exactly what she said?”
“We were all dumbfounded too,” Liu Yang admitted. “Dad immediately denied Jianguo’s salary was that high. But Lainan claimed she had asked around when she stayed on the island and knew for sure.”
Song Zhaodi chuckled. “What a wonderful sister I have. Did Mom give her the money?”
“Mom wanted to give her 100 yuan to make her leave,” Liu Yang sighed, “but Dad refused. He said if they gave in once, she’d keep coming back for more. Mom has always felt guilty toward Dad for not giving him a son, so even though she acts tough, she actually fears him deep down. Since Dad refused, she didn’t dare give Lainan the money.”
Song Zhaodi was curious. “Did erjie ever come back after that?”
“She came back on the second day of the New Year,” Song Laibao said. “She brought her kids along and had them kneel to ask for New Year’s money from our parents.”
Liu Yang nodded in agreement. “Even her husband joined in. When he saw the kids asking for money, he stood behind them and praised them for being clever and knowing what New Year’s money was.”
Song Zhaodi snorted. “I saw through him the last time they visited. Jianguo thinks he’s just an honest man afraid of his wife, but in reality, he’s very cunning. You two should keep your distance from him. Otherwise, one day, you might get scammed so badly you’ll be bleeding money.”
“We know,” Song Laibao sighed. “But in a way, this whole mess wasn’t entirely bad. Mom and Dad ended up giving their savings to us instead. Mom said she was afraid Lainan would steal it.”
“Take it. You two will be the ones taking care of them when they’re old anyway,” Song Zhaodi said. Hearing the clock chime upstairs, she added, “Let’s make lunch, it’s already noon. Dajie, jiefu, do you want porridge or noodles?”
“Porridge,” Song Laibao said. “We don’t have much of an appetite.”
Song Zhaodi thought for a moment. “Then go upstairs and rest. I’ll cook on the stove.”
Since the Zhong family had a stove, she could cook without needing to light a fire, so Song Laibao and Liu Yang went upstairs.
After they left, Zhong Jianguo came home. Hearing sounds from the kitchen, he walked in, surprised to see only Song Zhaodi. “Where are your sister and brother-in-law? Chen dasao told me we had guests.”
“She actually spoke to you?” Song Zhaodi was surprised. “I thought she’d ignore us for a few more days.”
Zhong Jianguo asked, “Maybe she forgot that you confronted her earlier. But not helping you cook doesn’t seem like your eldest sister’s style.”
“Da jie and jiefu are in a bad mood.” Song Zhaodi then recounted what Song Lainan had done and concluded, “Good thing we cut ties with her. Otherwise, she’d be writing to us every few days complaining about being poor. Even if we didn’t give her money, she’d still annoy us to death.”
Zhong Jianguo laughed. “You were the one who said to cut ties, but your second sister won’t cut ties with you. Speaking of which, do you think your second sister got kicked in the head by a donkey when she was little?”
“No.” Song Zhaodi replied, “Her becoming so troublesome has to do with dajie and jiefu’s marriage. When our parents told them to get a marriage certificate and stopped erjie from ruining things, she felt that our parents didn’t love her.
“Once that thought took root, every little incident from the past got blown out of proportion in her mind. Later, when I got into university, erjie felt our parents favoured me too, paying for my education but not hers, which led to her having to marry an ordinary worker.”
“What kind of twisted logic is that?” Zhong Jianguo was confused. “I can understand her envying your eldest sister, but being jealous of you? That’s a stretch.”
Song Zhaodi handed him a yam to peel. “Erjie is the type who never thinks she’s wrong, everyone else is to blame.”
“I don’t quite get it,” Zhong Jianguo said.
Song Zhaodi explained, “For example, if erjie badmouths me to you, and you tell me about it, and I confront her, she’ll say she only spoke badly of me because you already thought poorly of me, she was just voicing your thoughts. And the worst part is, it’s not even because she’s guilty. She genuinely believes you dislike me.”
“Her way of thinking is truly baffling.” Zhong Jianguo was dumbfounded.
Song Zhaodi nodded. “There are plenty of people like her. They don’t work hard but blame society for being unfair, curse fate for being blind. If they steal something and get criticised, they call others stingy.”
“Wow, there’s always someone worse,” Zhong Jianguo admitted. “I used to think no one could be more unreasonable than Dawa’s maternal and paternal grandmothers.”
Song Zhaodi laughed. “You spend all your time in the military camp, so you don’t meet enough people. If you were thrown into a factory with thousands of workers, you’d make new discoveries every day.”
“How are we cooking the yam?” Zhong Jianguo finished peeling and washed his hands.
“Stir-fry it with garlic sprouts,” Song Zhaodi said.
“I’ll peel another half. The kids love it,” Zhong Jianguo suggested. “By the way, Regiment Commander Lin and Old Ma know the commander doesn’t have many relatives. When Liu Ping returns home on the ninth, your eldest sister’s family will be there for dinner. If Old Ma or Regiment Commander Lin asks about your brother-in-law’s connection to the commander, how should we explain?”
“Just say brother-in-law is still within the five degrees of kinship with Uncle Liu,” Song Zhaodi replied. “If we claim he’s Uncle Liu’s direct nephew, Ma Zhonghua will be sour about it every day.”
“Alright, let’s go with that. Make sure the kids know not to slip up.” Zhong Jianguo paused, then realised something. “Wait, you’re already cooking, but Dawa hasn’t come down yet?”
“I thought that was strange too,” Song Zhaodi said, then shrugged. “Never mind him. Light the fire, I’ll use the big wok. It cooks faster.”
“Just one yam dish?” Zhong Jianguo glanced around. “There are tea eggs. Let’s add lettuce or spinach too.”
Song Zhaodi shook her head. “Even if we don’t cook more, eldest sister won’t complain.”
Sure enough, Song Laibao hated troubling others. When she saw two plates of stir-fried yam, a plate of boiled eggs, a plate of salted duck eggs, along with pickled carrots and garlic cloves for lunch, she frowned and scolded Song Zhaodi for preparing too much, saying they wouldn’t be able to finish it all.
Song Zhaodi didn’t argue that there were many people and too little food wouldn’t be enough. Instead, she simply said the weather was cold, so the dishes wouldn’t spoil for a couple of days. If they didn’t finish them at lunch, they could eat them for dinner or the next day.
By 1 pm, everyone had put down their chopsticks. Not only was the pot of rice porridge gone, but even the pickled carrots and garlic cloves had been wiped out.
While clearing the dishes, Song Laibao noticed the empty plates and blurted, “Your family really eats a lot.”
“Auntie, Dali had two bowls of porridge,” Dawa quickly spoke up, worried that her next words would be that they were all gluttons. “He also ate a tea egg and a salted duck egg.”
Song Laibao immediately dropped the dishes and ran to her son. “Dali, are you okay?”
“A little too full,” Song Dali admitted, embarrassed. “My stomach feels a bit uncomfortable.”
Song Laibao raised her hand and smacked his head. “You fool! Have you never eaten before?”
“Dajie, why hit him?” Song Zhaodi frowned. “He ate so much because my cooking was delicious.” She turned to Dali. “Dali, do you usually eat less at home because your mom’s cooking is bad? If you say yes, Auntie will kill a duck for you tomorrow.”
Dawa nudged Dali. “Say yes. If you do, we’ll get to eat duck meat.”
Dali, an honest child, instinctively glanced at his mother.
Dawa pinched his arm. “Why are you looking at Auntie? My mom’s the one asking. Just say it, if Auntie scolds you, my mom will step in.”
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