Chapter 4: Schemes

Leng Yongkang returned home from the hospital to find that his family was already asleep.

Returning so late, he didn't dare make any loud noises, so he went straight to bed without even washing up.

The next day, he was woken up by the sound of a child crying.

"The child is still young; did you eat gunpowder first thing in the morning? Why are you hitting him?"

Old Mother Leng smoothed her hair as she walked in from outside. She pulled her little grandson in front of her to comfort him, not forgetting to scold her second daughter-in-law, Sun Xiaojuan, while she was at it.

Sun Xiaojuan smeared a little oil in the pot and, with nimble movements, used a spatula to scrape the floor. The egg that her youngest son had just dropped on the ground was scraped up, shell and all. She picked out the shell, put the egg into the pot, and waited for it to slowly fry.

"Mom, it’s not that I wanted to beat him first thing in the morning, but he dropped the egg on the floor. You tell me, does he deserve a lesson?"

After hearing the sequence of events, Old Mother Leng couldn't really favor her little grandson, so she patted his bottom a few times. "You child, really. Do you know how many eggs our family gets in a month? Our family’s three jobs only earn us one jin of eggs a month. You broke one today; your mother isn't wrong to hit you."

The seven or eight-year-old boy wasn't angry after being spanked. Although he was blowing snot bubbles, he felt happy inside thinking about the egg he could eat in the morning.

Leng Yongkang returned from washing up outside. Just as he sat down at the table, Sun Xiaojuan enthusiastically served him a bowl of sorghum porridge. "Big Brother, don't be late for work later, eat quickly."

Leng Yongkang was slightly stunned, unable to understand why Sun Xiaojuan was being so attentive to him, her brother-in-law, today.

But he wouldn't dwell on things he didn't understand. He nodded politely and sat down to drink his porridge.

Sun Xiaojuan pushed the pickled radish strips on the table toward him. "Big Brother, don't just drink porridge, eat some vegetables too. After you finish breakfast, go to work with peace of mind; I’ll go deliver food to the hospital."

Perhaps no one thought much of it when she served the porridge, but now that she was being this attentive, even Old Mother Leng sensed something strange, let alone the person involved.

Leng Yongkang glanced at Leng Yongxing, who was burying his head in his porridge, and thanked Sun Xiaojuan: "I'll have to trouble you with this, sister-in-law."

"It's all family business, what trouble is there? I don't have to go to work, so I'm just at home helping you all cook. This is what I should do."

As she spoke, Sun Xiaojuan changed the subject: "It's just that Sister-in-law is pitiful. After undergoing a major surgery yesterday, not only is her body exhausted, but she can't go to work either. I don't know if the leaders at her unit have any opinions about that."

These words successfully misled everyone into thinking too much.

She took the opportunity to ask: "Big Brother, do you think the leaders at Sister-in-law's unit will give her a hard time and take the opportunity to fire her?"

Old Mother Leng stared at Sun Xiaojuan with a strange look, not missing any expression on her face.

"That won't happen. I helped her ask for leave yesterday, and since it was approved, it should be fine." Leng Yongkang didn't think much of it.

Sun Xiaojuan frowned slightly, still looking worried as she said: "Even though she asked for leave, three or five days of rest might not be a problem, but Sister-in-law had a major surgery this time. I heard even half of her spleen was removed, so she has to stay in the hospital for at least half a month. Besides, she still needs to rest at home for a while after being discharged. If this time drags on..."

Hearing this, Old Mother Leng didn't wait for her to finish. She gave a start, finally realizing that her second daughter-in-law was eyeing her eldest daughter-in-law's job.

However, she didn't care which daughter-in-law went to work.

The important thing was not to delay earning money to bring home.

She didn't know how long it would take for her eldest daughter-in-law to fully recover from this illness, and every day delayed was a day's wages lost. If her second daughter-in-law went to cover her shift, it would be different.

The factory wages wouldn't be a penny less.

"Eldest, Xiaojuan is right. Why don't you let Xiaojuan go cover your wife's shift while she's recovering? With her covering the shift, your wife can rest at home with peace of mind. If you have internal organs removed and don't rest well, you might be left with sequelae later."

Sun Xiaojuan nodded with a chuckle: "Right, Mom is right. If you don't nurse your body back to health and bury the roots of illness, it won't be good."

Seeing that Old Mother Leng also supported it, Leng Yongkang didn't think much and nodded: "Alright, I'll go ask Xiaolin at the hospital after I get off work. If she has no objections, I'll let sister-in-law cover the shift for a while."

Sun Xiaojuan and Leng Yongxing exchanged a silent look, secretly triumphant; this plan had a chance.

"Alright, it's settled then."

"What's settled?"

Leng Hui had just walked in when she heard this sentence. In her impression, she felt these people were definitely up to no good.

"Huihui is back. Is your mother doing okay at the hospital?" Sun Xiaojuan was startled by Leng Hui's sudden appearance.

However, noticing that Leng Hui's expression hadn't changed, she smiled and changed the subject: "Have you eaten breakfast?"

Leng Hui glanced at Old Mother Leng and snorted: "You didn't give me any food stamps or money, where would I eat?"

Thinking of Leng Hui's behavior yesterday, Old Mother Leng rolled her eyes at her and said in a harsh tone before Sun Xiaojuan could speak: "You didn't say a word about coming back to eat. We didn't prepare food for you; if you want to eat, do it yourself."

Sun Xiaojuan glanced at her mother-in-law. She had heard a bit about what happened at the hospital yesterday, and she wasn't about to undermine her mother-in-law for Leng Hui's sake.

Therefore, she said politely: "The food made at home in the morning is rationed. I thought you had eaten at the hospital. Since you haven't, then please help yourself. I have to go to the farmers' market to buy vegetables after eating; I'm afraid the fresh ones will be snatched up if I'm late."

Leng Hui scanned the breakfast on the table: a bowl of sorghum porridge and a bowl of radish strips for everyone, and a fried egg in the bowl of Leng Feng, the youngest in the family.

"Why is Leng Feng eating alone today? Out of all the children in the family, only he has an egg?"

Old Mother Leng glared at her: "What do you mean eating alone? You're a grown girl and you want to snatch food from a child's mouth?"

Afraid that Leng Hui would misunderstand, Sun Xiaojuan explained with a smile: "There are only so many eggs in the house a month, how could I bear to fry one for him to eat? This morning, the kid broke an egg, so it would be a waste not to fry it."

After finishing the porridge in his bowl, Leng Yongkang also added a rare explanation: "The egg fell on the ground, so your aunt had no choice but to fry it."

Except for Old Mother Leng and Leng Yongkang, everyone else in the family found it a bit strange that Leng Hui was so nitpicky today.

When Leng Hui heard it was scraped off the floor, she gave a meaningful glance at Leng Feng, who was burying his head in eating the egg.

As it turned out, the kid was completely disappointing, crying out with his mouth full: "Mom, there's sand in the egg!"

Hearing this, Sun Xiaojuan couldn't care about Leng Hui anymore. She scolded him irritably: "Can't you keep your mouth shut even when you're eating? If there's sand, can't you spit it out? Are you an idiot?"

"Won't spit it out!" Leng Feng shook his head.

Leng Hui watched him chew and swallow it down, her mouth twitching slightly.

Leng Yongkang and Leng Yongxing put down their bowls and went out to work, and Sun Xiaojuan took her basket and went out to buy vegetables.

Old Mother Leng patted the shoulder of Leng Mei from the second branch, and the grandmother and granddaughter went out together carrying matchboxes to deliver the goods, taking the opportunity to pick up more matchboxes to continue pasting.

Finally, the house emptied out, leaving only Leng Hui and the two boys from the second branch, Leng Chuan and Leng Feng.

Leng Chuan was twelve this year, and Leng Feng was eight. After eating, they grabbed their schoolbags and went out.