Hu Guangcai, clutching his face, glanced at his eldest sister and then at his mother, feeling utterly bewildered. How could Mom have hit him? Was it possible that she had accidentally struck him while aiming for his sister?
Thinking this, he immediately directed his resentment toward Hu Chunhua. "Eldest sister, what are you dodging for? If Mom hits you, it means you're in the wrong! How dare you dodge? Do you think Mom is wrong?"
Having said this, he turned his head toward Feng Yun, eyes brimming with tears as he complained, "Mom, look at this! Eldest sister hit me like this. Hurry up and hit her back!"
Feng Yun was so infuriated by his words that she couldn't help but laugh. Every family’s youngest son is pampered. While she wasn't particularly obsessed with having a son, she had indeed favored her boys. She was well aware that her sixth child was lazy, gluttonous, and a troublemaker who would never amount to much, but she had tried pushing him and hitting him, and since he refused to improve, she had felt helpless.
You can be lazy, but you cannot be this selfish—this much of an ungrateful wretch.
"You deserve to be hit!" Feng Yun gritted her teeth, glaring at him with hatred. The memories of her death flashed through her mind. Since she had given her heart and soul in her previous life only to end up in that pathetic state, she wasn't about to pamper anyone anymore. If he didn't know how to behave, she would beat it into him.
Hu Guangcai sensed that something was wrong. Why did his mother's gaze feel like it was directed at him?
"Mom, you..."
"I'll beat you to death, you ungrateful wretch!" Feng Yun lunged forward, raised a wooden pestle, and began raining blows down on Hu Guangcai—hitting his legs, his stomach, his back, with a flurry of strikes.
Hu Guangcai shrieked, leaping high into the air. Though he was agile, the kitchen was small, and there was nowhere to hide. He took seven or eight solid hits, howling in pain and calling for help. It wasn't until Hu Chunhua couldn't bear to watch any longer and grabbed the enraged Feng Yun that Hu Guangcai was able to scramble away.
As he bolted out the door, he collided straight into Hu Jianguo, who was just entering the courtyard. Hu Guangcai grabbed him like a lifeline, wailing, "Dad! Help! Mom’s gone crazy, she’s trying to beat me to death! Waaaah..."
Upon hearing this, Hu Jianguo reflexively snapped, "Is she acting crazy again?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than he raised his head to meet Feng Yun’s icy, menacing stare. Instinctively, he gave a shove—
*Slap!* Hu Guangcai landed hard on his backside, completely stunned. Had he just been slapped by his own father?
"Dad, you hit me too?!"
Hu Jianguo looked at his own hand, dumbfounded. He swore he had only intended to push Hu Guangcai aside—how was he to know the boy would turn his face just at that moment? Was he to blame?
"If he hit you, it's because you deserved it!" Feng Yun walked over, brandishing the pestle and pointing it at Hu Guangcai’s nose. "You gluttonous, lazy good-for-nothing! You spend your days idling about, causing trouble and stealing, and then you have the audacity to act tough toward those who actually work for a living? We raised you, and instead of contributing, you gobble up food and have the gall to demand I hit your sister? Don't you have a mirror? If not, go find a puddle and look at yourself! With a character like yours, you’re nothing but an ungrateful wretch!"
Hu Guangcai was utterly shell-shocked. "Mom... Mom, what’s wrong with you?"
Between being hit by his parents and scolded by his mother, he began to doubt his entire existence. Was he no longer their precious treasure? Was all this really over two bites of scrambled eggs?
"Don't 'Mom' me! I’m done being your mother!" Feng Yun took a few deep breaths to suppress her rage. "No dinner for you today. You’ll go work in the fields this afternoon, or you won't get a single scrap of food tonight!"
Hu Guangcai was dumbstruck. "Mom, I... I’ve never worked in the fields. I don’t know how! Mom, listen to me, I know I was wrong. I won't steal the eggs anymore, okay? Please, don't make me go work!"
Feng Yun sneered. This son was cunning, lazy, and gluttonous. Since he was a child, he’d whine about aches and pains at the slightest task, only to become instantly spirited the moment he sat at his gambling friends' table. In the past, with her and Hu Jianguo coddling him, he would always eat the most nutritious portions whenever he returned from playing, never caring about anyone else. She used to think that since the food was already gone, there was no point in making a scene, so she would just scold him a little and move on.
But selfishness without consequences only breeds more. He knew that even if he snatched the food, the worst he’d get was a lecture, so he continued his selfish behavior without a shred of guilt. Now that she thought about it, the look in her other children's eyes back then must have been disappointment. When disappointment piles up, people leave. The second child did, the third child did, and eventually, the fifth would too.
Thinking of her gentle and sensible eldest, her second daughter who married early, her third son working as a temp in the city, and her most obedient fifth child, a wave of bitterness washed over Feng Yun.
"If you don't work, fine. There’s no food for you in this house. If you want to starve, that's your business! Sixth, let me tell you, from today on, I will no longer indulge you! And not just me—no one else is allowed to, either!"
Feng Yun swept her sharp gaze around the room, finally locking eyes with Hu Jianguo. Hu Jianguo shivered under her look and quickly waved his hands. "I won't indulge him! I certainly won't indulge him!"
Feng Yun snorted. "If you dare coddle him, I'll break your legs! Go, fetch the fifth child for dinner! You're quite the father, aren't you? Letting your son work in the fields alone while you play the master at home? You’re not even fifty yet—what is this? Trying to act like a capitalist, kicking back and ordering people around? Aren't you afraid of being drowned by the scorn of the villagers?"
Hu Jianguo was rattled by her scolding. "Don't go blowing things out of proportion... I... didn't I just come back to see how things were since the fourth child is home?" With that, he scurried away. Once he was out of sight, he dared to mutter, "Damn woman, wait until I come back—I'll show you!"
...
Feng Yun, unaware of Hu Jianguo’s performance, set down the pestle and turned to carry the dishes from the kitchen. Hu Chunhua looked at her sixth brother, who was cowering in the corner, and couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. She whispered to Feng Yun, "Mom, how about you let the sixth brother have a bite this time? I’ll take him to the fields with me this afternoon, okay?"
Feng Yun spun around, glaring at Hu Chunhua. Her anger flared up instantly. "Chunhua, if you pity him so much, you can starve right along with him!"
Hu Chunhua turned pale with fright. "Mom, I... I just thought, he is my brother, I..."
"Brother?" Feng Yun slammed the table in frustration. "When he was twisting the truth and telling me to hit you just now, did he act like you were his sister? You work to support him, you wait on him at home, and the moment he returns, he turns everything upside down to smear your name! Does he treat you like a sister? If you want to be a saint, go ahead; I can’t stop you from being a beast of burden, but don't you dare bring that nonsense in front of me, or I'll hit you along with him!"
Feng Yun knew she shouldn't be this angry. Her eldest daughter was kind by nature; she had helped raise her younger brothers, and even as the eldest sister, her bond with them was deeper than a mother’s. Her soft heart was understandable. But this couldn't go on. Since she had been reborn, she was determined to break her eldest daughter of her "beast of burden" nature. If soft words didn't work, it seemed she would have to try a different approach.