Old Lady Wang returned carrying a child and a cloth bag of rice noodles, and overheard them saying the child had no father or mother, which greatly saddened her. Her heart sank with the thought, "Oh no, has something happened to my son out there?"
Her legs went weak for a moment as the cloth bag slipped from her hands and fell to the ground. She rushed to their doorway and peeked inside, seeing the two women huddled over something on the desk. Wang Chunhua's eyes were reddened as if she had been crying inconsolably.
Old Lady Wang's voice trembled, "Has Yizhu sent a letter?"
"No," Li Mingwei replied, puzzled. She stood up and approached her, "Mother, what's wrong?"
"What were you two looking at just now? Why is sister-in-law crying?"
"Oh." Li Mingwei glanced at Wang Chunhua, who was wiping her tears, and guessed she had misunderstood something. She chuckled, "We were reading a story book. Sister was feeling sorry for the characters."
Old Lady Wang breathed a sigh of relief. She set the child down and handed him to Li Mingwei, "Alright, you two keep reading. I'll go cook some porridge and see if little Bingbing wants to eat."
She looked down and noticed the cloth bag filled with rice noodles was missing. She glanced around hurriedly.
Dong Lei picked up the bag from the ground, dusted it off, and said, "Here it is."
"Oh dear!" Old Lady Wang smacked her own forehead. She really was getting forgetful in her old age. She took the cloth bag from Dong Lei and patted his head, "Little Donglei is so thoughtful. Stay for lunch today, we're cooking braised pig's trotters!"
Dong Lei's eyes lit up as he exclaimed, "Great!"
Wang Chunhua took the child from Li Mingwei's arms and eyed her unimpressive son, "It's just pig's trotters, and look how eager he is."
She turned to Li Mingwei with a puzzled look, "Don't they serve meat at the school every day?"
They had paid the fees on the promise that the school would provide a meat dish daily, but she hadn't checked on that lately.
"Yes, but I don't eat at the school every day," Li Mingwei smiled. "Are you worried my mother-in-law has been withholding their food, sister?"
"No, not at all," Wang Chunhua glanced toward the kitchen and lowered her voice. "Your mother-in-law may be a bit stingy in other areas, but she treats the children well. She wouldn't go that far."
"Then what do you mean?"
"I just wanted to ask how much Little Donglei eats at school every day. He's been looking a bit thin lately."
But he ate about the same amount at home, so she worried that perhaps the school's food didn't agree with his appetite, causing him to eat less and not gain weight.
Li Mingwei made a circular shape with her hands, "About this big of a serving, one scoop of a meat dish, one scoop of a vegetable dish, plus rice. And they can have an extra bowl of soup after finishing."
Wang Chunhua's expression immediately soured, "He eats that much at school?"
Then why did he only eat one bowl of rice at home?
Li Mingwei bit her lip, "Well, this is probably..."
"Sister, it's just that children tend to eat more as they grow older, right?"
So he must have been eating less at home, which was why he looked thinner!
Wang Chunhua angrily handed the child back to Li Mingwei and stomped toward the kitchen.
"Sister, what are you doing?"
Was Little Donglei about to get beaten again?
"What else? I'm going to see how your mother-in-law cooks!"
Li Mingwei laughed softly. Her sister's cooking wasn't bad, but her mother-in-law's skills were better. Since Dong Lei had tasted the better food for lunch, it was only natural that he would eat less of her sister's cooking when he returned home and compared the two.
"Is Mrs. Liu here?"
Li Mingwei was about to return inside carrying the child when a familiar voice called out - it was a page boy from the Tong household delivering a message. She hurried out, "Yes, she is!"
Although the Liu family's gate was open, the page boy didn't enter until he saw her come out. He handed her the letter, "A message has arrived from the Capital City. Would you like me to escort you back? The master also needs to send a reply to the Capital."
"Sure, please come in and have a seat for a while."
"Alright!"
The page boy sat down in the hall while Li Mingwei poured him a cup of water. She then opened the letter.
Old Lady Wang and Wang Chunhua heard the commotion and came out, extinguishing the fire in the kitchen to crowd around her and peer at the letter. "Is it from Yizhu?"
"What did your brother-in-law write?"
Li Mingwei skimmed the letter, her face darkening slightly. She omitted the last part and simply said, "He says he has settled into the residence in the Capital City, and everything is fine. He's asking about the situation at home and how Mother and the child are doing."
Wang Chunhua pursed her lips, "He didn't ask how you were doing, did he?"
Li Mingwei gave her a helpless look. Of course he had asked, but she had omitted that part.
"Oh, oh, oh!" Wang Chunhua understood, nodding and chuckling. It must have been something improper to mention.
Old Lady Wang also smiled wryly, "Good, good, as long as he's doing well, we're all good."
"Alright, I'll go to my room and write him a reply."
"Yes, just tell him everything at home is fine and to focus on his studies."
Old Lady Wang saw Li Mingwei head inside and turned to the page boy, inviting him to stay for a meal before returning since it was still early, and he had a carriage anyway.
Li Mingwei returned to her room, prepared the paper and ink, and began grinding the ink stick. However, her gaze kept falling upon the final part of the letter, where Liu Yizhu had asked if she had a younger sister, saying it seemed her sister didn't like him very much. He didn't know what he had done to offend her.
Li Mingwei didn't need to think too hard to know he must be referring to Ah Xiu.
What did he mean by "didn't like him"?
Had he already noticed Ah Xiu's behavior? Was Ah Xiu constantly watching him or something?
She would have to send a letter to Ah Xiu, telling her to stay away from Liu Yizhu, or else her mother would surely notice something amiss.
When Ah Xiu received the letter, she felt a bit wronged. How dare her brother-in-law tattle on her? She should be the one complaining about him! She wanted to write back in her defense, but Young Miss had forbidden her from going to Ji'an Alley, so she didn't know where to send the letter. She could only bottle up her frustrations for now and wait until Young Miss returned before speaking out.
She must make sure Young Miss punished that wicked brother-in-law for tattling first!
Cai brought in some pastries from outside and noticed Ah Xiu's indignant expression. He immediately sat down beside her, "What's wrong? Who upset you?"
"None of your business!" Ah Xiu snapped.
"Alright, I won't pry." Cai sighed and offered her the pastries, "Here, eat these. I just bought them, and they're still warm."
Ah Xiu cradled the pastries, stuffing one into her mouth. Her mood improved slightly, and seeing no one else around, she explained in a wronged tone, "The other day, I went to the courtyard and happened to see your grandfather give Old Master some new books from the bookstore that had just arrived."
Li Yi had to take a look at every new book. Whenever the bookstore received new titles, the shopkeeper would send him a copy without fail.
"I thought your brother-in-law probably hadn't read them, so I bought some copies with good intentions to send to him." Ah Xiu unfolded the letter to show Cai. "But then he told Young Miss that I don't like him!"
"So what did you do to make your brother-in-law think you don't like him?" Cai asked suspiciously.
Ah Xiu grew angry, "You stupid Cai! You don't believe me!"
It was clearly her brother-in-law who spoke to the young lady first, which was why she had hit him.
Cai was stunned, "You hit your brother-in-law?"
"Just..." Ah Xiu pouted, "Just a light tap, that's all."
Recalling the usual force behind Ah Xiu's "taps" when she hit him, Cai highly doubted it had been a light tap at all.
