Inside, when He Wen heard someone calling for him, he discovered that it was Sister Zhang. He wasn’t angry anymore and hurriedly ran to open the door.
The door wasn’t actually locked because it was already broken. It just appeared intact after Fu Yuling “fixed” it.
The door creaked as it opened, and He Wen saw Sister Zhang. He sweetly called “Auntie.”
Sister Zhang sighed and didn’t enter. “Is your mother at home?”
Upon hearing the word mother, He Wen hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded.
“If your mother is home, then I won’t come in. Auntie brought some taro for you all. Remember to eat it.”
“Also, if your mother hits you again, come find me. Auntie will help you.”
When it came to Fu Yuling, disgust could be seen in Sister Zhang’s eyes.
She did nothing all day long, was lazy, and not only that, she even beat her children.
The laws nowadays were very imperfect, and the villagers here didn’t know that beating children was illegal.
That’s why despite Sister Zhang’s strong dislike for Fu Yuling, she still considered her the biological mother of the four children. To avoid conflict, Sister Zhang generally treated Fu Yuling as if she didn’t exist, turning a blind eye.
Today she saw that the two children didn’t come to work and came to check on them. She found that they looked healthier than before, so she felt relieved.
He Wen nodded in agreement, and Sister Zhang closed the door and left.
“What are you still looking at? Go and do whatever you need to do.”
Sister Zhang shouted at the gossiping crowd, and the onlookers scattered.
Originally, they didn’t have much interest in coming to watch. They just heard that Fu Yuling’s family had a bicycle and wanted to come and see what was going on.
They thought that with so many people, Fu Yuling wouldn’t dare to do anything to them.
Who knew that they would encounter Sister Zhang bringing gifts to this family? Some people secretly resented it. Why did Fu Yuling’s family always receive gifts every time? Just because of those few children?
Because of this incident, many people started sending their own children to work in the fields.
The village chief disagreed, but these people had no choice, so it ended without a resolution.
Fu Yuling was unaware of everything happening outside. After looking at the food she had prepared and feeling that nothing was missing, she walked out of the kitchen.
At first glance, she saw He Wen squatting on the ground counting something. She walked over slowly towards him. It turned out to be a pile of taro.
“One, two, three…”
He Wen stopped at twenty and furrowed his brows. Fu Yuling saw this and started counting from one again.
“Twenty…”
“Twenty-one.”
Fu Yuling suddenly spoke up, and He Wen instinctively continued.
“Twenty-two, twenty-three!!!”
His voice became louder, and he was overjoyed.
“Twenty-three in total.”
He put the taros into the basket one by one and counted them again aloud. Children have good memories, and soon he was able to generalize. In no time, he counted up to ninety-nine.
“The last one is one hundred! That’s ten groups of ten.”
Fu Yuling took out ten taro and placed them in front of him. Then she drew nine circles with a stick on the side to make it easier for him to understand.
While teaching He Wen, He Xuan pulled He An over.
He held He An’s hand and pointed to the taro, saying, “Duck eggs.”
He An widened his eyes and imitated He Wen by squatting on the ground and babbling, “Egg… egg…”
Although his voice was soft, Fu Yuling still heard it.
The next moment, she excitedly pointed at the taro and asked, “An An, what is this?”
“Egg… egg…”
The little mouth clearly uttered two words. Once he could speak, he kept on talking and saying “egg” whenever he saw something.
He kept saying it until he saw a cat and also called it “egg.” The cat disdainfully turned its butt to him, and Fu Yuling and He Wen couldn’t help but laugh.
Even though I agree with Sister Zhang’s disdain over beating children, I noticed no one has ever referred to the father.
Like, did everyone forget him? Cause he abandoned his family and no one has tried to take care of his children.