Chapter 2: What’s Wrong with Mother?
Su Mulan looked at the little girl in front of her.
This was the family’s eldest daughter, nine-year-old Bai Shuiliu. She was usually the most diligent, doing the most work, but also the one who received the most beatings from the original owner.
At the moment, there was a red and swollen mark on her left cheek, a result of being whipped with a willow branch by the original owner.
As Bai Shuiliu spoke, she was about to head to the kitchen.
“Wait a moment,” Su Mulan stopped her. “It’s almost noon. I think we should just go ahead and make lunch.”
“Okay, I’ll do it right away.”
Not getting scolded right away, Bai Shuiliu was both surprised and delighted. She quickly called to the second eldest, eight-year-old Bai Lixia, “Lixia, come help me light the fire.”
“You four find some basins, bowls, or jars to catch the leaking water in the house. This rain seems like it will last for a while. If we don’t catch it, the bedding will get wet, and we won’t have a place to sleep tonight.”
Su Mulan rolled up her sleeves and even rolled her pants up to her calves. “I’ll go make the meal.”
With that, she found a somewhat worn straw hat in the house, put it on, and walked through the curtain of rain toward the thatched kitchen.
Bai Shuiliu stood there in a daze, unable to come to her senses for a long time.
Seven-year-old Bai Zhuye cautiously tugged at Bai Shuiliu’s sleeve. “Big sister, what’s wrong with Mother?”
“I don’t know,” Bai Shuiliu shook her head. “It feels…”
As if she had become a different person.
But she was still the same person, right in front of them. It was impossible for her to have turned into someone else.
Bai Shuiliu suppressed her thoughts and didn’t finish the sentence.
“Big sister, I’m scared…” Seven-year-old Bai Midou, the only boy in the family and the youngest, wiped away a tear with his hand.
Yesterday, he slipped while collecting eggs and accidentally broke one. As punishment, he had his fingers pricked with needles ten times. His hands were still red, swollen, and throbbing with pain.
It is said that boys don’t cry easily, but Bai Midou’s tears were unstoppable due to pain and fear.
“Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid.” Bai Shuiliu hugged her youngest brother, gently patting his back. “Big sister is here.”
“Later, you three need to be more careful and not give Mother any reason to find fault. Otherwise, she might get upset and beat us again.”
Although Su Mulan had seemed much more gentle just now, like a normal person, Bai Shuiliu still felt uncertain.
“I’ll go to the kitchen to help with the fire. You three quickly do as Mother said and find some bowls or jars to catch the leaking water.”
“Okay.” The three little ones nodded and hurried to find the necessary items.
Bai Shuiliu thought for a moment, then rolled up her pants and headed to the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Su Mulan was busy preparing lunch.
There wasn’t much food at home. They had only half a bag of white flour, half a barrel of cornmeal and sweet potato flour, and no rice at all.
Su Mulan thought for a moment, then scooped out half a ladle of cornmeal and half a ladle of sweet potato flour from the cracked flour barrel. She added a bit of white flour and mixed it all into a dough.
Once the mixed dough was kneaded tight and elastic, she set it aside to rest for a while. Later, she would use the noodle press to make the dough into noodles and cook them.
While the dough was resting, Su Mulan cleaned the fresh vegetables that Bai Shuiliu and her siblings had picked that morning.
Bai Shuiliu braved the rain and entered the kitchen. Seeing Su Mulan already washing the vegetables. She stood there, stunned for a moment.