Chapter 22: The Egg Storm

  When Zhang heard Zhou shouting outside, she stopped talking. Lian Man'er was curious and leaned against the window to look out. The windows of the wing room were two windows for each room, each divided into upper and lower parts. The lower part had wooden lattice windows with paper glued on them, which were fixed, while the upper part also had wooden lattice windows with paper glued on them, but they could be opened. In summer, screens were nailed outside to open the top half of the window for ventilation. Now that it was not cold yet, all the top halves of the windows were open.

  Lian Man'er was looking out through this window screen.

  Zhou stood at the gate of the upper house, pointing at the east wing and scolding loudly.

  "Second wife, is it you again who secretly ate the eggs? You've ruined the porridge, or was it that your gluttonous mouth got a sore!"

  He Shi rushed out of the east wing with a loud crash.

  "Girl, you're talking nonsense. You should keep your eyes open when speaking. Which eye of yours saw me stealing eggs? Every day you're staring at the chicken's butt, watching it lay eggs as if someone would steal them under your nose." He Shi sneered, "I haven't seen anyone else like our family, watching the chicken's butt so tightly, treating us all like thieves."

  "I'm watching closely, if I don't watch closely, there won't be anything left in this house. You've been stealing food many times, you still don't admit it, you're a wasteful woman." Zhou Shi scolded He Shi, pointing at her.

  The Zhous and the Hes were talking, and Lian'er saw that there were several faces also stuck to the windows of the upstairs rooms and the east wing, looking out.

  "What's the point of bringing up past things?" He was slightly softened when Zhou mentioned his past, "Today I went out early and took Ya to her uncle's house in Xicun. We didn't come back until dinner time. When would I have had the energy to look for eggs to eat?"

  Zhou thought for a moment, and indeed that was the case. But clearly in the morning she had touched more than five eggs, yet only four were picked up. That one must have been stolen by someone to eat. Who else could it be besides He?

  "Who else if not you?" said Zhou Shi.

  He looked at Zhou's appearance and knew he was no longer suspicious of her, so he deliberately sneered twice.

  "Mother, I didn't ask you for eggs to eat." He said, his eyes glanced towards the west wing.

  Zhou patted her palm, and she was reminded by He's words. This morning, Zhang asked her for eggs to feed Lian Man'er. She didn't give any. Zhang had always been a honest person, never greedy or talk back. But after the incident with Lian Man'er, Zhang seemed to have changed a little, which made her very unhappy.

  That's right, Zhang was injured by Lian Muer, and everything he said and did had to be considered in terms of whether Lian Muer would like it or not. Zhang pitied Lian Muer and might even steal eggs for her.

  "I saw Fourth Aunt in the house, and Fifth Brother eating something secretly with several others, they were also letting each other come and go." Suddenly, Lian Si Lang poked his head out from behind He Shi's body.

  As soon as she heard this, it was just as she had suspected, and she became even more furious. Not listening to her and sneaking food was one thing, but now even the obedient ones were sneaking food too - how could this be tolerated? From now on, who would still take her, a mother-in-law, seriously?

  "Fourth aunt, come out!" Zhou Shi shouted towards the west wing.

  Zhang's face had already turned red.

  "He didn't steal eggs," Zhang said to Lian Shouxin.

  Lian Shouxin nodded, after all these years of marriage, he knew his wife's character.

  "Mother, she didn't steal eggs to eat." Lian Shouxin walked out of the door and explained to Zhou Shi.

  "Is your wife dead? I called her, she didn't come, and you're sent to argue with me. Now that you have a wife, you've forgotten about your mother, I've wasted my efforts raising you, you ungrateful beast." Madam Zhou scolded, pointing at Lian Shouxin's nose.

  Lian Man'er couldn't help but look down on him, Lian Shouxin was also a man in his thirties with children at home, and the Zhou family should have given him some face.

  Lian Shouxin was scolded until he almost couldn't lift his head up.

  Zhang was unable to, and had no choice but to walk out.

  "Mother, I didn't eat the eggs at home," said Zhang.

  "You didn't eat it, the dog did. I touched exactly five eggs, but only picked up four, and that one was stuffed into X's mouth!" Madam Zhou scolded.

  Zhou's scolding was harsh, and Zhang's face turned even redder than a red cloth. She was a person who attached great importance to dignity, and would never utter a single dirty word. Being scolded by Zhou in such a way made her feel ashamed, humiliated, and indignant, and she couldn't help but burst into tears.

  "You cry, you secretly ate the eggs and still have the face to cry! I know, in your heart you resent me because I didn't give you the eggs, so you came to steal them. Do you still want to save face? Your birth is just a lucky coincidence, but you still want to eat eggs. You don't even look at yourselves in the mirror and see if you have the good fortune or not!"

  Lian Man'er's head was almost smoking with anger, and Zhou Shi scolded her without distinguishing between right and wrong, scolding her own family members as if they were enemies.

  Zhang was also hurt by Zhou's words and couldn't help but defend herself.

  "Mother, the chickens we raise at home, every day it's not me or my sisters-in-law going out to dig wild vegetables to feed them. After Mianer was so seriously injured, you didn't spend a penny on her medical expenses, I had to pawn my own hairpin. We can't even give one egg from our own chickens, and Mianer is your own granddaughter, I am your daughter-in-law?"

  "Look, look, you're admitting it now. You've been stealing from us all along." Zhou's voice rose even higher, "We've raised him for so many years, and he pretended to be so honest, but actually, he's just a thief."

  Being scolded as a thief, Zhang felt his face was gone.

  "Mother, all these years, I've been in front of you, and if I did anything wrong, even moving a single blade of grass, I would come to you and tell you. You would say whether it was okay or not, and only then would I do it. Mother, when speaking, one must be guided by conscience...I couldn't bear the shame..." Zhang covered her mouth to suppress her sobbing.

  "Daughter, your daughter-in-law is not that kind of person." Lian Shouxin's face turned red as he defended Zhang Shi.

  This stirred up trouble, and Zhou pounced on Lian Shouzhong, slapping his face, head, and body with both palms.

  "I raised a good son, he married a wife and now I'm treated like an old, useless thing. He scolds me at the top of his lungs. My son doesn't help his own mother, but instead protects his wife... Today he even dares to secretly eat eggs and won't admit it, tomorrow he might as well tear me apart and eat me too..."

  "Isn't it just an egg? Can't you see that the child is being scolded?" The old man in the house finally couldn't bear to listen anymore and shouted loudly. He believed in men ruling outside and women ruling inside, so he left household matters to be mediated by Mrs. Zhou, only speaking up when he really couldn't stand it anymore.

  "One egg, that's also one cent. " Zhou said relentlessly, "Which of them can earn me one cent? It's not like I'm feeding and clothing them for nothing. This is theft, this is a thief, we can't even raise a thief in our own home."

  At this time, several children of the Lian family came out of the house and stood under the wing rooms on both sides. Only a few Gu Shi's seemed to have nothing to do with them, not even coming out of the house.

  "Mother, you didn't see it yourself, how can you be so sure it was stolen by someone? Can't it be that someone picked it up?" Lian Man'er walked to Zhang's side and said to Zhou. She still couldn't help but speak out.

  "The eggs were all picked by me, someone must have stolen some." Lian Xiuer walked out of the west room on the upper floor, "I saw it with my own eyes today, those few hens that laid eggs were all at home, someone must have taken advantage of my carelessness and stolen one. Who else in our family is so diligent and quick?"

  Lian Xiuer finished speaking and glared at Zhang Shi again. This was a clear indication that she thought Zhang Shi had stolen the eggs.

  "Xiu Er, why are you talking like this?" Zhang's face was full of surprise.

  "What I said is all true, you dare to do it, why don't you dare to admit it?" Lian Xiuer retorted.

  Lian Wan'er's gaze shifted between Zhang Shi and Lian Xiu'er, Lian Xiu'er seemed to be particularly at odds with Zhang Shi, had the two people borne a grudge against each other because of something?

  A little later there is another chapter