Slap, slap, slap...

A dozen or so slaps in a row.

Ma Xiangling’s face was nearly slapped to pieces.

In pain, Ma Xiangling cried and hiccuped, but didn’t dare to say anything more.

Ma Xiangling pitifully moved to live in the thatched hut, lying on the wooden bed where Qian Hongmei and her daughters used to sleep. Smelling the stinky odor coming from the toilet next door, Ma Xiangling felt like she wanted to die.

Her life, in one night, fell from heaven to hell.

She never would have thought that just because her elder brother lost a leg and came home, her mother would change. The mother who used to favor her and her third brother now favored her older brother’s whole family.

Even favored Daya and Erya, those two useless girls.

Ugh...

How could this happen?

Why did this happen?

Is it just because her elder brother lost a leg and her mother felt sorry, so she changed?

Ma Xiangling couldn’t understand, nor did she want to. Her whole body hurt terribly now, her face was swollen bigger than a pig’s head, and just pulling at the corners of her mouth made her want to die from the pain.

Not only was Ma Xiangling lying in bed doubting life, but Ma Laoer’s couple was also lying in bed, feeling that the road of life was gray and without a glimmer of light ahead.

Wang Cui was sick to death of her mother-in-law’s favoritism.

Favored the third brother and fifth brother before, now favors the eldest brother.

Why doesn’t she ever favor someone from the second family?

Ugh.

This life is unbearable.

Just as Wang Cui was overwhelmed with grief and anger, a knocking sound came from outside the door, "Knock, knock, knock, Laoer, Laoer’s wife, are you lying dead inside, hurry up and come out to cook."

Yuan Chun cursed outside the door, "What time is it? If I don’t call you, are you going to sleep until the evening? A bunch of lazybones, can’t eat without end, can’t work at all. How did I end up with such a lazy son and married a lazy daughter-in-law? First in laziness, but last in working, why don’t you just laze yourselves to death."

"I’m telling you, if you don’t work, don’t think about eating. If you want to eat from this old woman’s table, you better work."

"If you don’t come out, I’ll kick the door down."

Just as Yuan Chun was about to kick the door, it was opened.

"Mom, stop scolding, I’ll cook now," Wang Cui said, feeling wronged.

Yuan Chun snorted and handed her a few sweet potatoes and a half-pound of rice, "The eldest is so badly injured, his body is weak and needs nourishment, cook an extra egg for him."

There are both paddy fields and dry fields here. They produce two crops of rice a year, and in the dry fields they grow wheat, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, rapeseed, and other crops. Although there is farm work all year round, and the villagers are a bit tired, the rice and wheat they receive are enough to fill their stomachs, so they don’t starve. At festivals, the production team will also distribute peanuts, sesame, and soybeans.

But the food distributed to the Ma family had several hundred pounds taken away by Ma Laosan, which made the food at home insufficient, and they had to make porridge with sweet potatoes.

Thinking of Ma Laosan, Yuan Chun clenched her fist. That ungrateful son, she should go to the county to teach him a lesson. The couple has been married for seven years, and he hasn’t handed over a penny of his salary to the family, yet he takes away food and vegetables, peanuts, sesame, and other things.

Ha, people in cities have their food rations, they are never short of food.

Ma Laosan taking home food must not be for himself, he must be secretly selling it.

Thinking of this, Yuan Chun returned to the east front room, took a notebook out of the cabinet, which was the ledger kept by the original owner.

The original owner had studied for three years and could keep accounts, recording all the family’s expenses and income, including the allowance sent back by Ma Xiangdong.

Yuan Chun flipped through the pages one by one, and it was only on the last few pages that she discovered Ma Laosan, since starting work, not only did not hand over any salary, but often coaxed the original owner into giving him money to spend.