Chapter 50: Mutual Concealment
Finally, it was dark.
Seeing that it was dark, Jiang Mianmian felt a little happy.
Because when it was dark, the Elder Brother and Father would return.
There were many mosquitoes at night.
Originally, darkness was an unpleasant thing, but because there were people she looked forward to seeing, it became something wonderful.
Watching the two of them return together.
The Elder Sister happily went to greet them.
And Mother, holding her while standing under the tree, also wore a smile.
At this moment, Jiang Mianmian could feel Mother’s joy.
Mother probably wanted to rush forward too, but the Elder Sister had beaten her to it.
She also joined in the excitement, crying out, “Yiya yaya.”
Jiang Yu stepped forward, wrinkled her nose, leaned closer to her brother, and asked indignantly, “Brother, did you sneak off to eat something good behind my back?”
Jiang Feng had been dragged into the yamen by a Yamen Runner for the first time today; it could be said to have been a day of terror.
Although their group of loafers was idle and lazy, they had never been invited into the yamen before.
They had seen Yamen Runners arrest people; they were very fierce. Regardless of whether one was guilty or not, once taken in, one would be given thirty strokes of the cane before being interrogated, and no one came out unscathed.
In truth, he was also afraid.
But in that scene, in front of the two young masters with their fine horses, he felt that it would be shameful to show fear and beg for mercy.
When acting as a loafer, he actually had no face; being scolded and kicked was a common occurrence.
But those two were refined and courteous, treating him with equality and respect. In front of them, Jiang Feng subconsciously wanted to save face.
He didn’t beg for mercy, didn’t cry, and didn’t throw a tantrum.
And then, he actually got through it without a scratch…
The reason he had been so excited talking to Father on the way back was not unrelated to this.
The young man felt the meaning of “face” for the first time.
The face of a high official from the capital.
His own vain face.
Brother Meng and Brother He borrowed the face of their elders.
He borrowed the face of Brother Meng and Brother He.
He liked this feeling. He thought that if one day he became very powerful, others would have to give him face, and also give his family face.
But for now, Jiang Yu tugged at his sleeve, pulling him back to reality.
If he hadn’t been caught, he definitely would have packed some food for his family. The restaurant had so much food; it was a waste to throw away what couldn’t be eaten.
“Don’t mention it. I was almost dragged into the yamen today. Good food? Eat your head.” Jiang Feng tapped his sister on the head.
Qin Luoxia was very worried and asked, “Did you cause trouble again?”
Jiang Changtian stepped forward, took the child from his wife’s arms, and shook his head, saying, “It’s nothing. I’ll tell you in detail when we get back.”
Jiang Mianmian lay in Father’s arms for a while before being taken over by her brother.
Her brother seemed to be deep in thought, his hand constantly stroking her head.
She was genuinely worried about being rubbed bald, so she struggled hard to get out and even punched her brother with her little fist.
Jiang Feng hadn’t expected his sister to be able to punch people.
He looked surprised.
“Hit me again. Mianmian is so amazing, so amazing.”
Jiang Mianmian…
She tried hard to clench her fist and gave her brother another little punch.
It made her fingers ache from the impact.
Her brother laughed out loud.
He picked her up and lifted her high, going over to show off to Father and Mother.
“Mianmian can punch people now! Father, Mother, Little Sister is so amazing!”
Jiang Feng held Jiang Mianmian, and she waved her little fist, working very hard to punch Father, Mother, and Elder Sister one by one.
The whole family was full of praise.
Father: “Her hands are very strong. She’ll be like your Mother in the future and won’t be bullied. Amazing, our Mianmian is the most amazing.”
Mother: “Her grip is very steady, like your Father. These hands will definitely be able to hold a brush; she will be able to write in the future. Our Mianmian is amazing.”
Elder Sister: “Little Sister is so strong! Other babies in the village are much older and can’t do anything, but my little sister can already punch people. So amazing!”
Jiang Feng felt honored: “Yeah, our family’s Mianmian is the most amazing.”
Jiang Mianmian: …
Anyone who didn’t know better would think I’d conquered the world. I just clenched my fist and punched each of you, and that was only because you leaned your bodies toward my fist to be hit.
If you praise me like this, I’ll easily become arrogant.
Qin Luoxia added even more proudly, “She could even say ‘Mother’ today. Mianmian, say ‘Mother’.”
Jiang Mianmian: …
“Pee, pee, pee!” Jiang Mianmian tried her best.
I’d better stick to performing punches.
“Little Sister is saying ‘bird, bird, bird,’ right? She must want to eat the birds in the tree. There are so many birds in the tree today,” Jiang Yu said.
Elder Brother Jiang Feng patted her bottom: “Mother, Little Sister peed.”
Jiang Mianmian: … I couldn’t hold it. Clenching my fist to hit people takes a lot of effort; I accidentally peed.
She lay there with an innocent face.
Father changed her diaper.
After changing it, he actually kissed her bottom~~ So shameful.
The whole family had a lively dinner, vegetable porridge with meat.
After Mother went to dig for wild vegetables and hunt along the way, the family’s food had become much richer.
The whole family’s complexion looked much better.
Jiang Changtian washed his face as soon as he got home; after washing, his bearing was elegant and outstanding. Fortunately, his own family knew Father was good-looking, and except for Jiang Mianmian sometimes staring blankly at Father and drooling, everyone else was normal.
Everyone thought it was the credit of eating meat.
After eating meat, their faces had opened up.
Those young masters and young ladies were so good-looking; it must be because they grew up eating meat.
Having experienced their eldest son almost dying, Qin Luoxia and Jiang Changtian no longer saved every little bit of money. They spent it first; using it on the children was what mattered, and there wasn’t much to begin with anyway.
A Kidnapper’s foolish son was fed until he was plump and chubby; her children were too thin.
Qin Luoxia didn’t notice that her thinking had changed just a little bit. Before, she had to save money, saving for her burial expenses.
But after going through the ordeal of Fenger almost dying, and thinking about buying a coffin, her heart ached as if it had been gouged out.
That money might as well not be saved.
At the dinner table, Jiang Feng talked about today’s experience.
Jiang Mianmian was so engrossed in listening that she couldn’t even bother looking at Father.
What?
That bad guy who hurt the Elder Brother was poisoned to death by someone?
Jiang Yu was excited when she heard this: “This is karma, right? That person was so bad. He hurt the Elder Brother, and he even coated his weapon with poison. Fortunately, Elder Brother had a big life, and in the end, he was poisoned to death himself. Serves him right.”
Qin Luoxia didn’t express an opinion; she just picked up a piece of meat and put it in her husband’s bowl.
“You are too thin; you need to eat more.”
Jiang Changtian picked it up and ate it very seriously.
Actually, he didn’t like eating meat, because when he was a child, whenever his health wasn’t good, his family would starve him. Having been starved too much, he didn’t want to eat, and seeing a piece of greasy meat made him want to vomit.
That disgusting, nausea-inducing feeling of revulsion.
Living outside, when starving, naturally one had to eat meat. Not to mention meat, eating grass or dirt—if one could survive, one had to eat anything. But that deep-seated sense of revulsion still existed.
No one in the family had noticed; perhaps they couldn’t understand how anyone could dislike eating meat.
And Jiang Mianmian saw that when Father buried his head to eat meat, he was actually frowning.
Just like a picky child.
Sigh, Father looked like someone who lived on dew; so ethereal.
In the future, she could secretly add things to Father’s tea after meals.
In the whole family, Father looked the thinnest.
Nighttime.
Stars hung high.
Fireflies wandered about.
Aunt Qin, who had been the pillar of the family all day, became the young girl Luo Xia in front of Father.
Jiang Mianmian saw Father actually washing Mother’s feet.
She was simply stunned.
Even in modern times, not many husbands washed their wives’ feet.
Although Mother was a little embarrassed, it was clearly not the first time.
Jiang Mianmian, in Mother’s arms, watched Father sitting on a small stool, his long hair reaching his waist, head bowed as he earnestly massaged Mother’s feet…
She suddenly understood why Mother was so strong when chopping off the python’s head, ahhh!
If there were a long-haired, stunningly handsome man washing my feet at night, I could also wield a big blade and chop, chop, chop during the day!
“Sister Xia, you’ve walked a bit too much these past two days. How about resting at home tomorrow?”
Although Jiang Changtian didn’t have much strength, he could precisely find the acupoints, and the massage was very comfortable.
Qin Luoxia tried hard to control her facial expression; sometimes it was a bit ticklish.
She had many things to do, but when her husband said that, she muddledly agreed: “Okay, okay, okay.”
After soaking her feet and feeding the baby, Qin Luoxia was still wandering around and not getting into bed.
Jiang Changtian sighed and asked, “Sister Xia, is there something you want to say?”
Jiang Mianmian pricked up her ears; she also wanted to know what Mother had done today. When she came back, Mother was obviously in a bad mood and had cried.
Qin Luoxia lifted her clothes again and lowered her head to feed the baby.
Jiang Mianmian: … Forced to eat an extra meal, I’ll get fat, gulps.
Under the dim moonlight, the healthy, beautiful woman, half-bowing her head, lifted her clothes to reveal a patch of snow-white skin. With a high nose, high forehead, and round face, she was actually a very beautiful woman, just unaware of it herself.
“Husband, I did something wrong. When I thought about how that kidnapper kidnapped our baby, I wanted to kill his baby. But I went to He County, and I saw their foolish son. I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The fool was beaten by someone and had a nosebleed, and I even helped him wipe the nosebleed. The fool didn’t recognize his own Mother and looked at me, calling me ‘Mother’. I…” Qin Luoxia’s voice choked up again.
Jiang Mianmian also choked; Mother was too emotional, spraying milk, and she choked.
In her heart, she thought Mother was also too fierce; she actually ran to the Kidnapper’s den.
Jiang Changtian hugged his wife.
His wife was very tall; when the two of them were together, they were actually about the same, perhaps he was barely a little taller.
He loved his wife very much.
He liked her tall stature and healthy, beautiful body.
Whenever they hugged, it made him feel at ease and joyful.
How many times, when he returned home tired and desperate, being able to hug his wife made him feel that there was hope to go on living again.
Jiang Changtian hugged his wife and child, gently patting his wife’s back.
“Sister Xia, it’s not your fault. You did very well. You are kind-hearted. Don’t let your hands get stained with blood; it’s not good. You did the right thing. That fool living will make his future days a thousand times more bitter than death. Don’t be sad for such a person; it’s not worth it.”
Qin Luoxia originally wanted to tell him about the arson, but her husband said she was kind-hearted. Her husband had always thought she was kind-hearted, and she didn’t dare to say it, fearing it would scare him.
“I tore the fool’s clothes, and those clothes were stained with the fool’s nosebleed. Find a way to send them to that Kidnapper couple; it can be considered leaving them a memento before they die,” Qin Luoxia said.
Jiang Changtian nodded. He didn’t say that the Kidnapper couple had been pardoned from the death penalty.
He didn’t say that he was the one who designed for Old Wu to return home early to discover Guard Wu Liu. His hands were stained with blood; he had killed someone. His Sister Xia had always thought he was a very good person, and he didn’t dare to say it, fearing it would scare her.
He hugged his wife and child; this was fine.
Jiang Mianmian, squeezed in her parents’ embrace, thought that when she grew up, she shouldn’t forget this night. This embrace was a bit crowded, but it felt very safe.
Her parents were both very, very good people.
