Chapter 14: Battle Between Mother and Son

After leaving the hospital, Tu Shan went straight back to her rented room.

There was a pile of junk at home waiting for her.

In the courtyard, several older women and Auntie Wang hadn't gone anywhere; they had pulled up stools and were sitting there waiting for her.

Seeing her return, they looked at her with disdain, sniffing and huffing.

"Tu Sanmei, we thought you’d been scared off and ran away."

"You were gone since early morning; you weren't off doing something shameful, were you?"

"You used to never leave the house, but now you're never home. Tell us the truth, Tu Sanmei, were you triggered by the divorce?"

"Oh, dear, one has to accept reality. Don't fantasize about impractical things. Just consider it a good deed and let Ling Yang go, wouldn't that be better?"

"Hey, you didn't go to waylay Ling Yang, did you?"

"Don't say that, it's actually possible."

"Forget it, that's impossible. With you being such a disaster, how could Ling Yang be so confused as to jump into the same fire pit twice?"

The women didn't find their one-woman show awkward at all. Without needing a response from Tu Shan, they chatted away quite happily among themselves.

In the past, they might have been more reserved, not speaking so freely, mostly gossiping behind her back.

Now, she didn't know what misconception Tu Shan had given them that made them feel so comfortable and pressure-free to speak their minds in front of her, getting more and more spirited as they went on.

Tu Shan couldn't be bothered to pay them any mind. She used the leftover broken rice and corn grits from yesterday, added some peanuts, and continued to boil porridge.

As the fragrance wafted out, the women lost interest in being snide.

"Tu Sanmei, who did you trade with at the black market for this grain? How can it smell this good?" There was no one else in the courtyard besides the idle women.

The old women squatted right in front of her clay pot, critiquing it; this porridge really smelled better than meat.

Tu Shan pursed her lips: "Don't get so close, your spit is getting in it.

How would I know who I traded with? It's not like you haven't been there; is that the kind of place where people introduce themselves?"

They naturally knew the rules and situation of the black market, but Tu Shan’s words were infuriating. Who was spitting?

One by one, their faces trembled with rage.

"You little slut, when others get triggered, they get smart; when you get triggered, you just grow a mouth. Do you think I care about your little bit of stuff? Looking at it is giving you face, don't be ungrateful."

Tu Shan scoffed: "If you don't care, then stay away. Don't be a hypocrite; I'm embarrassed for you."

"Damn it, none of you stop me today! I have to tear that mouth of hers to shreds!" The woman rolled up her sleeves, jumping around in place, claws bared.

She turned to look at her old friends: "Wait, are you really not going to stop me?"

The women shook their heads. They really wanted to beat Tu Sanmei, but they couldn't win. If someone else wasn't afraid of death, they were more than happy to cheer them on.

The woman was so angry she was fuming, nearly breaking off their friendship on the spot.

Tu Shan watched the cheap drama: "Alright, alright, go play somewhere else if you have nothing to do. I still have to clean up this pile of junk for you; I'm very busy."

The women relented and cleared a path for Tu Shan.

With the porridge boiling in the pot, Tu Shan swung her hammer, clattering away for the whole morning.

She had arrived home around eight, and it was now nearly one in the afternoon. After working for four or five hours, the porridge had gone cold.

She tossed her things aside, closed the door, and drank her porridge.

Outside, the women were grumbling as they moved their own belongings.

Tu Shan finished the porridge in a few gulps, grabbed some rice seeds, wheat seeds, rapeseed seeds, potato seeds, grape seeds, and vegetable seeds, and headed out.

Now that she had seeds, she didn't plan on buying grain anymore. That stuff didn't taste good and was useless to her; it was a waste of food.

Before leaving, she grabbed a few large burlap sacks. She had to let people see that her grain came from outside, not out of thin air. Otherwise, she would have just forced the growth in her room and wouldn't have needed to run out in such a hot sun.

Of course, the world outside was vast, and it would be more convenient when she needed to force growth on a large scale.

When she opened the door to leave, the courtyard was empty again. The old women were always out and about, and she didn't know what they were busy with.

During summer vacation, it was the time for children to run wild. During the day, you rarely saw kids in the courtyard, but at night, it was filled with their shouting—it was incredibly noisy.

After leaving, Tu Shan headed straight for the distant mountains.

The mountains were densely vegetated and full of vitality. She loved the scent of the mountains, and it was good for the recovery of her supernatural abilities.

Once she reached the foot of the mountain, she continued inward.

She hadn't gone far before she encountered a wire fence.

There was a base in the mountains, and people weren't allowed in casually. Therefore, even though there were wild vegetables here, the surrounding residents didn't dare come to pick them.

Tu Shan observed her surroundings; there was no one around. She put down her things and prepared to force the growth right there.

First, she produced a grapevine, forcing it to sprout, grow vines, and wrap around the nearest crooked tree. It slowly grew, blossomed, and bore deep red grapes.

One vine bore seven clusters of fruit, each weighing five or six pounds.

Tu Shan picked them all and kept them by her side, eating while forcing the growth of grain and vegetables. Her energy was consumed and then replenished, repeatedly strengthening her meridians and space. The process was easy and comfortable.

It was truly a pleasant way to cultivate.

In two hours, she had finished the seven clusters of grapes and produced five hundred pounds of rice, five hundred pounds of wheat, six hundred pounds of rapeseed, a thousand pounds of potatoes, a hundred pounds of small greens, and two hundred pounds of grapes.

The grain and vegetables were packed into the burlap sacks she had brought, and the grapes were kept in a large basket she wove from the vines.

Afterward, she husked ten pounds of rice, added ten pounds of potatoes and ten pounds of greens, and kept one cluster of grapes separately to take home later.

Everything else was tied by Tu Shan to the tops of trees dozens of meters high using forced vines, to be taken to the black market tomorrow.

Once finished, she lugged the sacks and headed home, swaying as she walked.

When she arrived home, the small courtyard was lively.

"You old hag, if you don't give me this money, are you going to take it into your coffin? Don't forget, I'm your son, your only son. When you can't move in the future, you'll have to rely on me to take care of you.

With the way you're clutching your money, stingy as can be, do you expect me to support you in the future? What kind of sweet dream are you having?

If you suck up to me now, and I'm in a good mood, maybe I'll look at you twice later on.

Don't count on those money-losing goods. A married daughter is like spilled water; they can barely take care of their own families, let alone you, you old thing?

Hurry up and bring it out, don't force me to get rough."

The man had a vicious face very similar to Auntie Wang's, but compared to Auntie Wang's "all bark and no bite" ferocity, the man's greed, selfishness, self-righteousness, and cold-bloodedness from head to toe were repulsive.

Tu Shan found this person in Tu Sanmei's memories: Wang Fugui, Auntie Wang's son, the youngest son born after she had four daughters.

Her husband had died of illness when the son was born, and she had placed great expectations and love on this son, inevitably spoiling him.

Inadvertently, she had raised a white-eyed wolf.

The daughters she had exploited since childhood were filial to her, but not by much—who could blame them when she hadn't acted like a human being, stepping on her daughters to raise her son?

The daughters took after their father; they weren't fierce-looking, but they were simple-minded. The men they married were a mix of good and bad, and their lives were ordinary. They would visit her politely during holidays, but were otherwise nowhere to be seen.

Wang Fugui was now in his thirties, had achieved nothing, and spent his days causing trouble with a group of thugs. Whenever he had a problem, he would come home to get money from his mother.

Tu Sanmei had seen the mother-son battles a few times before, and each time she had hidden away as fast as she could.

She had often heard the reality of these battles, but rarely seen them.

So, this was the first time Tu Shan saw pain, despair, helplessness, and regret appear on Auntie Wang's fierce face.