Transmigration: I Have Storage Space in the Apocalypse-Chapter 107 - 105: The Bitter Little White Flower

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Now, startled by Zhou Xiuhua’s chain reaction, everyone forgot about bickering and gathered around the old lady.

As she took the bowl from Second Sister Xie, Zhang Shanni dipped her index finger into the water and added a drop of Spirit Core Water. She carefully fed it to her mother-in-law, feeling relieved only after seeing that she could swallow normally.

After a flurry of chaotic efforts, Zhou Xiuhua stabilized. Li Xiaochun, seeing this, didn’t dare to stop; she awkwardly muttered some soft words to Xie Tiesheng, then skulked away:

"My dear in-law, this wife of mine has a sharp tongue. If she did something wrong, just say it, and my old lady will correct it! Please don’t really take it to heart, big sister. It’s just my nature and I didn’t mean anything by it. Now that you’re here, let Xiao Hong take good care of you. I must head back home now; the pigs and cows are waiting to be fed, I... I need to go."

Speechless, Zhang Shanni watched as Second Aunt’s mother-in-law rattled off a stream of words and hurried away, her walking pace rivaled that of a professional athlete – you’d never imagine she was a woman nearly seventy years old!

Speaking of the Fan Family, they really are quite the example. Fan Jiefang is clearly the eldest, yet he married the latest. Being in the military before, it was not easy to say. But after returning to civilian life, it was Li Xiaochun who spent money to marry a wife for the youngest son!

The eldest son is already twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, and the youngest son just turned twenty. They didn’t rush to arrange a marriage for the eldest, but instead found a wife for the youngest.

Zhou Xiuhua learned back then that it must have been an issue with Fan Xiao’er and his girlfriend – family planning. After all, when that young uncle got married, it only took seven months for a girl to be born, supposedly due to a fall that led to premature birth. However, many experienced women could tell at a glance that the baby girl was full-term.

Only the Fan Family deluded themselves, but who in town didn’t know that the Fan kid was unreliable? It was just that Li Xiaochun favored her youngest son, who knew how to flatter and please her, making her feel that he was the most filial and obedient. Since the eldest son had joined the army at the age of sixteen and was not around to take care of her, she became increasingly biased towards the youngest with no restraint.

Completely overlooking the fact that if it wasn’t for Fan Jiefang’s, the eldest son’s, contributions and responsibility, the Fan Family would have fallen apart long ago.

"Pshaw, what nonsense!" As Xie Tiesheng watched Second Aunt, who had disappeared from sight, and saw Da Niu’s resigned and timid demeanor, he was frustrated with his daughter’s lack of spirit, pointed at his eldest daughter, and felt even more sorry for the hardship she had suffered in recent years. With a mixture of anger and pity, he eventually let out a deep sigh.

"What a sin... Da Niu, back then, so many young men admired you – even the Zhou family’s boy looked at you favorably. But you ignored him, thinking he was too young and his widowed mother too difficult to take care of. In the end, you chose Fan Jiefang. Although he is a good man, his mother isn’t much better than a block of wood!"

"Mom~~" "Mom!"

Hearing this, Xie Jinghong and Zhang Shanni called out at the same time.

Xie Jinghong’s voice was soft, pleading as if begging her mother to stop talking.

Zhang Shanni’s call was firm, almost preemptive in its sharpness. This was because she sensed someone approaching from outside the courtyard. Judging by the speed, they would be stepping into the yard very soon.

Zhang Shanni took another careful look and immediately recognized that this was her brother-in-law, Fan Jiefang.

"Mom, you should rest well. Let’s not bring up the past to avoid upsetting Second Sister. It’ll be even worse if Brother-in-law accidentally overheard and misunderstood," Zhang Shanni gently grabbed her mother-in-law’s old hand, softly pressing and massaging it, while distracting her and using the massage of her hand’s acupoints to help her relax.

Most importantly, massaging the hands can alleviate the sensation of a dizzy and bursting head, especially when used together with Spirit Core Water, it has some extraordinary effects. However, if there is an illness in the body, the condition will still recur. Spirit Core Water can only treat minor infections; if there are serious issues like cysts in the body, then it can only be resolved through medication or surgery, and simply consuming Spirit Core Water is utterly ineffective.

"Right, right, listen to San’er’s wife. Old lady, you should rest for a while, don’t worry the kids and make them tired. It’s their good fortune," Xie Tiesheng said, prompted by San’er’s wife’s words. He was sitting on the other side of Zhou Xiuhua, enveloping her other rough hand in his old one. Unlike Shanni, he knew nothing about acupressure massage and was simply holding it firmly, using enough strength to be felt by his spouse but not enough to cause her harm.

Zhou Xiuhua was feeling weak and utterly drained from anger at this point. She wanted to grumble a few more words upon seeing that the person she detested had left, but her surrounding relatives urged her to keep quiet and lie down. She looked at her husband with a sense of grievance and closed her eyes with no energy left, leaning against the wall and slowly sipping the warm water that her daughter-in-law held to her lips.

Seeing her mother like this, Xie Jinghong felt even more distressed. And finally, after a series of events, the children silently surrounded their mother, no longer crying or causing a fuss. It was obvious they were used to it and acting in a seasoned manner, unintentionally catching the glance of Xie Tiesheng who happened to look over, making him feel even more heartbroken.

Xiao Liu was nervously snuggled up next to Second Aunt, his eyes brimming with tears. This was clearly his first time witnessing such a scene, and he was quite frightened, but at the moment all the adults in the room were too preoccupied with Zhou Xiuhua to pay attention to the kids.

Xie Jinghong’s three children were, in fact, not very old. Despite her being over thirty years of age, and viewed as an old maid in the village due to certain reasons, she didn’t marry until she was nearly twenty-five. Now at thirty, with three years and two birth events, her oldest son was only five years old, the same age as Xiao Liu, and the two younger ones were just three years old, barely steady on their feet.

Just like Xiao Liu, Xie Jinghong’s three sons huddled around their mother, looking pitifully silent and afraid to cry, softening the heart of a recovering Zhang Shanni.

Similarly, she also harbored a sense of frustration toward Second Sister Xie!

In her mind, no one should suffer more than one’s own children. A mother should be strong; how could she allow elders to frighten her children? No matter what the reason, if it caused the children to be scared, she would never allow it!

Even if she didn’t dare resist, she should at least be able to take the children and leave, right?

Even though she hadn’t heard clearly the reason for Second Sister’s argument with her mother-in-law, it was undeniable that with such young children, she had failed her responsibility to protect them as a good mother!

To make matters worse, she was so weak that when her mother became upset, she herself was also frightened into a stupor, not showing any backbone. No wonder she’s so inept at handling household matters!

Zhang Shanni grumbled several complaints about Xie Jinghong in her mind, but her expression did not reveal anything. Seeing Second Sister holding her children with a pitiful Little White Flower look and tears streaming down in front of her in-laws, Zhang Shanni inwardly rolled her eyes fiercely. Yet outwardly, she bowed her head as if she saw nothing.

Thankfully it wasn’t her daughter, or she would have been so infuriated she’d keel over.