Chapter 379 - Chapter 379: The Feeling of an Electric Shock
Chapter 379: The Feeling of an Electric Shock
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Why don’t you give that plot of land to our youngest son already?” Mr. Li suggested. “Then his wife will stop bothering us.”
“No! That plot of land is for Li Shi,” Mrs. Li said, choking with sobs.
“But Li Shi is dead,” Mr. Li said lowly.
Mrs. Li started to cry. “It’s all my fault. If we had treated Li Shi better, he wouldn’t have died. Oh, my little Li Shi. He couldn’t have died. Didn’t the villages see him in town once? Let’s go there and look for him.”
She sobbed as she spoke. She seemed to have thought of something and started to cry even more sadly. “Li Shi must hate us if he’s alive but refuses to return. It’s all your mother’s fault, Li Shi. If it weren’t for me, would we end up like
Mr. Li did not know what to say to his wife. He could only say, “You’re not in good health. You can’t get angry and can’t cry. The doctor said that your eyes
are… ”
Mrs. Li started coughing again. “It’s good if I die. Then I can see Li Shi again. I know he’ll forgive me.” Her eyes were red and full of tears as she spoke.
The thatched house the couple lived in was old and often leaked from the roof. The couple was also wearing thin clothes during the frigid weather.
Li Shi heard his parents’ conversation when he entered the house. He felt bitterness in his heart as tears flowed from his eyes uncontrollably. Deep down in his heart, he yearned for familial and parental love.
However, he dared not think of such things because of his past experiences. He felt terrible when he saw his parents in such a state.
Li Zheng sighed and walked in. “Li Shi didn’t die. He’s back to see you guys.”
Li Shi’s parents thought they were hallucinating when they heard what Li Zheng said. The couple was astonished.
Li Shi adjusted his emotions and walked in. The moment Mr. Li saw Li Shi, his entire body trembled. “L-Li Shi?!”
Mr. Li was so excited that his hands trembled as he tried to touch Li Shi. However, Li Shi dodged his father’s hand out of a conditioned reflex.
Mr. Li recalled the past when he saw his second son’s expression. He pulled his hand back, and his eyes hurt. Still, he could not blame his second son and was happy that Li Shi was willing to return.
Mrs. Li was even more excited but could hardly see. Her eyes were blurry because she kept crying. She could only reach out to touch Li Shi excitedly.
Li Shi could not help but want to step back, but seeing his mother’s state, he forced himself to stand still and let her touch him. Still, his body trembled slightly. It was an instinctive reaction of his body because of the past.
‘IL-Li Shi, my second son. Sob, sob. I’ve let you down, my son.” Mrs. Li slapped herself.
Li Shi raised his hand to stop his mother. After hesitating for a while, he said, “Mother, stop. I don’t blame you.”
Li Shi remembered some things from childhood when he walked over from Li Zheng’s house. He understood them.
Tears gushed from Mrs. Li’s eyes again when she heard Li Shi calling her “mother.” Then she anxiously asked Li Shi to sit on the bed. Since the couple lived in a thatched house built by only two people, they had no brick bed but a wooden one.
Li Shi felt terrible, looking at the environment his parents living environment.
That night, Mr. and Mrs. Li were so excited that they pulled Li Shi aside and talked his ear off. Li Shi did not speak much but listened attentively.
Meanwhile, Su Binglan was unaware of what Li Shi was up to since she was in Su Teng Village. She taught Qiu He and the others how to make home-cooked food until midnight. Of course, she had to make a lot of food on the spot when teaching them how to cook.
They could not finish the food they had made, so Su Binglan could only take some to the main hall. Her parents were still awake, packing the rapeseed she had collected while Su Wenzhe and the others helped.
“Father, Mother, why aren’t you guys asleep yet?” Su Binglan asked.
Shen Qiuhua was busy putting the rapeseed in the tank into a sack and said,
“We need to pack the rapeseed. Your father and I will drive the oxcart to Northern Song Village for oil tomorrow morning.”
Su Binglan was unfamiliar with Northern Song Village and asked, “Where is it?”
“It’s very far, several villages away. Walking usually takes more than an hour but less with an oxcart.”
Su Binglan guessed it would still take an hour to get to Northern Song Village by oxcart. It was very far, after all.
“Is there no other place around us to get oil?”
Su Fengmao shook his head. “No, only Northern Song Village has a family that supplies oil. Only some people can do this kind of work. It also requires some mechanical things.”
After some thought, Su Wenxiu said, “By the way, when I was away for a long time, I heard that the Gongsun family built the machinery used to pump oil. They used to sell them, but there’s no one left in the Gongsun family, and this thing has probably gotten lost.”
Su Wenxiu looked regretful as he spoke.
Su Wenwu added, “The Gongsun family specialized in mechanisms, but the higher-ups exterminated them. It was a tragic event where everyone got killed.”
Shen Qiuhua patted Su Wenwu’s head. “Why are you talking about this so late at night?”
“I only heard stories. I don’t know the details.”
“We commoners should just live good lives,” Shen Qiuhua said thoughtfully, “Don’t bother about other things or ask about them.”
Su Fengmao agreed, “Your mother is right. It’s so dangerous out there. Didn’t you hear from the people who come and buy our tofu products? They sav it’s chaotic in the north and south. Only Dingzhou is relatively stable.”
Su Binglan could not help but look at Luo Jin’an when she heard that. However, she did not expect him to look back at her. The two locked eyes, and Su Binglan felt like she had gotten electrocuted. The electric current seemed to pass through her eyes to the tip of her heart.
Luo Jin’an looked conflicted because he remembered his wife talking about mechanisms before. He had once guessed she was related to the Gongsun family. Later, he realized he was mistaken.
Su Binglan thought of something, ‘It turns out the Gongsun family specializes in mechanisms. No wonder Jin’an got agitated and wildly coughed when I mentioned the art of engineering.’
It was strange that she remembered everything she had said to her husband.
Su Binglan looked at everyone and said, “It’s already late, so don’t work too hard. I’ve made a lot of dishes. Let’s have them for supper.”
Su Wenwu had just placed a sack of rapeseed on the back of the oxcart, and when he heard those words, he suddenly became energetic. “No wonder it smelled so good just now. I thought it might be because I was hungry, but you’ve made food..”