"Mom, I'm hungry." Shen Guofu, craving a snack as soon as they reached home, wanted something to eat.
Wang Cuihua felt sorry for her precious son, but they had just finished dinner, and besides, it was too late now; there was nothing left to give him.
"Bear with it and eat tomorrow morning."
"No, if I'm hungry, I won't be able to sleep." Shen Guofu was ready to cry at the slightest provocation.
Mother Shen held five-year-old Shen Guofu and coaxed him, "All right, all right, isn't it just food you want? Grandma has food, I'll give it to you."
Hearing there was food, Shen Guofu stopped making a fuss.
In this household, Mother Shen doted on Shen Guofu the most; you could say she gave him whatever he wanted.
Her favorite phrase to use was: Shen Guofu is her old Shen family's precious lump of gold.
No one bothered to go and check on how Jiang Tang was doing; they each went back to their own rooms.
The next day, the members of the Shen Family got up one after another.
What awaited them was a cold table with not a trace of cooking smoke, making Mother Shen's temples throb.
Usually, when they got up, their meals were already prepared and waiting on the table, and they didn't have to worry about cleaning up after eating. Someone would clear it away anyway.
"Good grief, Jiang Tang, is she trying to starve me to death?" Mother Shen was so furious she felt dizzy. Don't think she can just stop doing anything simply because she's sick; there are no such rules in this family.
She wasn't dead yet! She was the one who called the shots in this house.
Wang Cuihua was washing Shen Guofu's face and fanning the flames from the side, "Mom, I think some people are just itching for a beating. It doesn't matter if we go hungry, but Guofu is still little; if he goes hungry, his body won't grow properly."
Shen Guofu had gone to sleep with a full belly yesterday and wasn't very hungry now, but hearing what she said, he chimed in, "Hungry, my tummy is hungry. I want to eat."
Hearing that her precious grandson might go hungry, Mother Shen didn't hesitate; furious, she strode toward the smallest room and kicked the door open.
She was determined to teach Jiang Tang a lesson she would never forget.
Creak~
At that moment, the door opened.
"Agh, ouch..." Missing the door panel entirely, Mother Shen took a face-plant. Her backside hurt fiercely, her tailbone was done for, and the pain twisted her entire face into a misshapen lump.
Crumpling on the ground in agony, she wailed aloud.
Jiang Tang had been awake for a while and hadn't come out precisely to see what they were up to.
She had timed the opening of the door just right, and it seemed her calculation was quite accurate.
"Ah." Looking flustered and terribly nervous, Jiang Tang reached out to help her up, "Mom, how did you fall like this? This door is truly damned!"
Mother Shen felt an exceptional aversion to that face of hers and directly lashed out with a slap. Jiang Tang went along with the momentum and tumbled to the side, leaving Mother Shen without support, and she crashed down with a loud bang.
Mother Shen, whose health was otherwise fairly robust, had taken two falls in a row, compounding her injuries. No matter how tough a person's bones were, they couldn't take this.
Groaning in pain, she opened her mouth to curse, but the agony left her unable to utter a single word.
Jiang Tang looked at her at a complete loss, "Mom, what's wrong with you?"
Mother Shen cursed vehemently, "You bitch, you still have the nerve to ask what's wrong? If it weren't for you, would I have fallen like this? Just you wait, I'll teach you a proper lesson and make you pay dearly."
Mother Shen, who had never suffered a loss in her life, hated Jiang Tang to the core.
She wanted to stand up and grab the stick she usually used to beat Jiang Tang, so she could give her a sound thrashing.
Soon, Mother Shen discovered that she couldn't do it!
The moment she moved even slightly, her lower body throbbed with intense pain. That kind of pain drilled straight into her bones, and she began to panic. Could she have fractured a bone from the fall?
Someone in the village had fallen down a slope and ended up paralyzed from the waist down.
At this thought, panic seized Mother Shen.
"First Daughter-in-law, hurry up and come help me up."
Faced with this sudden situation, Wang Cuihua, who had originally intended just to watch the show, hurried over to support Mother Shen.
With Wang Cuihua's help, Mother Shen slowly stood up. She felt her leg and tentatively took a few steps.
Every step was agonizingly painful for her, but fortunately, she could walk; she wasn't paralyzed.
Wang Cuihua fanned the flames, "Sister-in-law, are you trying to kill Mom? Look at what you've turned Mom into."
"Mom, I think she's getting more and more out of hand. Now she even dares to talk back."
Logically speaking, she had no grievances or enmity with Jiang Tang, so she shouldn't target her. Yet she particularly disliked Jiang Tang, purely out of jealousy.
Yes, Wang Cuihua looked down on Jiang Tang, but deep inside, she envied her. Such a shabby, insignificant person had managed to marry a catch like Shen Chuan!
Even though Shen Chuan had gone to the army, he still mailed money home to her every month!
Although Jiang Tang never got her hands on that money, and in fact, she herself had spent a portion of it, she still resented her.
With her entire body weight resting on Wang Cuihua, Mother Shen pointed a trembling finger at Jiang Tang with her other hand, almost losing her breath.
"First Sister-in-law, what kind of talk is that? You're really wronging me." Jiang Tang's face, no bigger than a palm, looked at them with an innocent expression. "Even if you gave me ten houses of courage, I wouldn't dare let Mom get hurt."
"Mom, I really wasn't doing it on purpose. I just woke up this morning and had just opened the door, wanting to make breakfast for you all, when who would have known you were lying on the ground..."
After finishing, she stepped forward to support Mother Shen, "Mom, let me help you."
Seeing Jiang Tang now, Mother Shen felt as if her head was fit to burst; she was utterly exasperated. Hale and hearty as she was, she had fallen twice and now hurt so much that even walking was a struggle.
How could she possibly let Jiang Tang support her?
Before she could say anything, Jiang Tang insisted on supporting her, claiming she wanted to make amends by taking care of her. Amidst the tug-of-war among the three of them, goodness knows how, Wang Cuihua's elbow jabbed right into the lower part of Mother Shen's waist.
A needle-sharp pain struck instantly, twisting Mother Shen's face in agony. Her body trembled violently, setting her teeth chattering.
"Oh, First Sister-in-law, how could you take advantage of the moment to hit Mom? Could you be taking the opportunity to get revenge..." Before she finished speaking, Jiang Tang covered her mouth, revealing a pair of almond-shaped eyes, "I didn't mean that. First Sister-in-law is usually so good to Mom, she certainly didn't do it on purpose."
Cold sweat beaded on Mother Shen's forehead as she cast a suspicious gaze at Wang Cuihua.
A layer of cold sweat crept up Wang Cuihua's spine. Especially upon catching Mother Shen's look, alarm bells instantly started ringing in her head.
Jiang Tang wasn't going to give her any chance to speak. She said softly, "Mom, you look like you're in absolute agony. Let me borrow an ox cart from next door, and I'll have First Brother take you to the clinic to get checked out."
Mother Shen frowned. Go to what clinic? Didn't that cost money? Then Jiang Tang's next sentence changed her mind.
"Mom, for the sake of your health, you really should go get checked at the clinic. You're the pillar of this family; if anything were to happen to you, what would become of this household?"
As she spoke, tears welled up in Jiang Tang's eyes.
Mother Shen snapped impatiently, "Crying, crying, crying! All you know how to do is cry. Hurry up and go!"