Yuan Chun spat and kicked in frustration, "Ungrateful brat! When you tricked me into giving you money, you promised you’d honor your mother with it. You’ve been working for seven or eight years, yet your mother hasn’t even tasted a single piece of candy from you, just a sweet-talking unfilial son. Look, you knew your mother was coming, and you just got your own meal at the cafeteria. What, your mother doesn’t deserve to eat at your house?"

"Mother, I’m hungry too."

Watching his favored younger brother get hit and scolded, Ma Laoer found it quite entertaining. Only when his stomach growled did he say, "Mother, I’m hungry too, let’s eat first."

Yuan Chun snorted and went to the kitchen to cook.

There were quite a few ingredients in the kitchen, so Yuan Chun picked out some good items to cook, steamed a pot of rice, stir-fried a dish of chili with eggs, made a dish of eggplant in oil, and a dish of braised mushrooms.

Seeing that there were still over twenty eggs left in the basket, brought from home by Ma Laosan a few days ago, Yuan Chun glanced at the remaining half bag of rice, then placed all twenty eggs into the rice, and put them at the very bottom of the backpack.

After finishing the meal, Ma Laosan looked at the colorful and fragrant dishes but didn’t care about Ma Laosan himself, scooped up some rice, and buried his head in eating voraciously.

Ma Laosan gritted his teeth in anger but feared being beaten, dared not say anything else.

Once they were full, Yuan Chun carried the backpack, and told Ma Laoer to carry his bicycle down the stairs, then returned to Qinghe Village.

Handing over the things scavenged from Ma Laosan’s house to Qian Hongmei for sorting, she took a cotton coat and went into the east front room, closing the door and bolting it, then began counting money inside.

Inside the old cotton coat, there were thirty-three stacks of money, each stack containing ten ten-yuan bills, amounting to over three thousand three hundred yuan. These two of Ma Laosan really knew how to rake in money.

Yuan Chun gleefully stored all the money into the Jade Gourd Space.

Money kept in the space is the safest.

Outside, Qian Hongmei knocked on the door a few times, said, "Mother, Daya’s dad is calling for you, saying he has something to talk to you about."

"Got it, I’m coming."

Yuan Chun, having put the money away, patted herself down and went to the west front room.

Ma Xiangdong was practicing the Golden Chicken Stand Alone inside the room, upon seeing his mother, hopped a few steps and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Mother." Ma Xiangdong reached under the pillow, pulled out a large paper package, and handed it to her, "Mother, this is my discharge money and disability compensation, it’s all here, totaling one thousand six hundred yuan, for you to keep."

Yuan Chun did not reach out to take it.

She looked at her eldest son’s empty pants leg, her eyes moist, saying, "Eldest, Mother knows you are filial and don’t keep secrets, but this money, Mother can’t keep it for you."

"This money, no one has the right to hold it. It’s the money for buying your leg, you keep it well yourself."

Yuan Chun’s voice was a bit choked, appearing very sad.

"Eldest, Mother used to favor Laosan and Laoer, neglected Hongmei and Daya and Erya, the allowances you sent back were all used for building the house and supporting Laosan and Laoer in their studies, buying a job and getting a wife for Laosan, not a penny was spent on Hongmei and the girls. Mother... Mother feels very ashamed."

Yuan Chun said, again burst into tears, "Eldest, Mother has realized her mistakes, Mother apologized to your big family, Mother can’t let your younger siblings take advantage of your big family anymore, so, keep this money well yourself, save it for the children’s schooling later."

"I just came back from Laosan’s house with a sum of money, enough for us to live on for quite a while, so you don’t need to worry about not having money for household expenses."