The Daily Life of a Down-on-Hard-Life Medicine Girl Supporting Her Family

Chapter 91 Abuse
"I would rather go without meat than live without bamboo."

A row of bamboos was planted along the wall of the small courtyard, and everyone in the Xiao family felt that the whole courtyard had come alive.

They naturally didn't know the real reason for planting bamboo in the warm spring.

“Nuan Nuan, we also plant some bamboo in the yards of the houses in our village.”

“Okay, I’ll have Aunt Wu go to her parents’ house and dig some more.”

“No problem, you can have as many as you want.” Aunt Wu laughed, “Bamboo grows every year, there’s plenty.”

She didn't dig it up at her parents' house; she can't afford to offend her family!
But Chunnuan was not told any of this.

"Young lady, I want to go home and see my daughter today."

"Go ahead, go back after you finish feeding Yangyang, and spend more time with your daughter."

Chunnuan wanted to bring her child here, but she doesn't eat much.

However, some rules cannot be broken.

We can only give her two or three days off each month so she can go back and see her child more often.

Children also need their mothers' company.

When Wu returned home from the Xiao family's house, she saw her four-year-old daughter crying.

"Da Ya, what's wrong? What's wrong?"

Every parent loves their child dearly. Mrs. Wu stepped forward and hugged her daughter tightly, asking, "What's wrong?"

"My brother stole my cake. The cake Mom bought for me is gone, waah..."

Those were pastries that Madam Wu brought back when she came back to see her daughter last time. Gongzhong gave her a packet and kept a packet for Daya, telling her to eat some when she missed her mother, to eat them sparingly, and that her mother would bring her more when she came back next time.

Little Da Ya was reluctant to eat it, and would eat a small piece of cake for two days. Unexpectedly, it was stolen and eaten by Tie Dan from the eldest son's family today.

Tie Dan is five years older than Daya, so the little girl can't protect her food at all.

"You greedy girl, what's wrong with your brother eating a little cake? You're so selfish at such a young age, always eating by yourself. Let's see which family will want you in the future." Sister-in-law Cao was still cursing in the kitchen: "You're so greedy, you'll learn your lesson if you go hungry for a couple of meals."

Wu looked up and stared at Cao's sister-in-law in astonishment.

The Cao family told her to be their wet nurse and that they would raise Ya well. Is that how they raised her?

Stealing what isn't yours is ridiculous. Stealing food isn't considered greed, but guarding your food means you'll be starved. What kind of logic is that?

"Sister-in-law, Tiedan is the older brother, and he's so much older than Daya..."

“Wu Ermei, you’ve probably forgotten that you don’t have a son. In the future, you and Lao Er will have to rely on our Tie Dan for your old age, and your Daya will also have to rely on her brothers after she gets married. If you don’t treat our Tie Dan well now, it will be too late to rely on him in the future!”

Wu was so angry that her face turned ashen, but she bit her lip tightly and dared not utter a sound.

What do you mean she has to be good to Tiedan just because she doesn't have a son?
He stole and ate his own daughter's pastries, and now he expects to thank him?

She knew that her child would suffer a lot if she wasn't by his side.

Unexpectedly, even with me by her side, her grievances didn't lessen at all; she was too cowardly to dare to talk back.

Because she knew all too well that if she spoke back, her in-laws and husband would all scold her and say she was wrong.

Not having a son feels like losing a bone!
"Sister-in-law, these pastries are from my employer's house. Tie Dan has one bag and Daya has one bag..."

“Wu Ermei, you need to get this straight. Let alone a bag of pastries, everything the Cao family owns belongs to my Tiedan.”

Wu Ermei was so angry... Oh well, she only had limited time to come back and see the children, and sometimes she could only endure it, just so that the children could have a better life.

"Da Ya, come on, let Mommy give you a bath and wash your hair." Her daughter always came home disheveled; it was her fault!
She gave birth to her but couldn't be by her side, leaving her to suffer here at such a young age.

Ms. Wu knew in her heart that even if she stayed at home, life would not be easy for her and her daughter.

The mother-in-law couldn't stand seeing her daughter treated even slightly well; she constantly called her a "money-losing burden" and threatened to sell her off to another family as a maid...

Ms. Wu went to the kitchen to boil water for her daughter to wash up.

"You really don't know how to save firewood!" Sister-in-law Cao started scolding again upon seeing this.

“Sister-in-law, I work as a wet nurse for the landlord, and I hand over my monthly salary every month. That money can surely buy a little firewood, right?”

"What can you do with that little bit of money? Last month, your father-in-law was sick and the medicine cost more than an ounce..." The implication was that she was being criticized for not earning enough.

"When my father-in-law is sick and we buy flowers, shouldn't the money be split equally between our two families?"

"What do you mean? Does your second wife not eat or drink? Do you think raising your eldest daughter is easy? Washing and cleaning isn't tiring..."

Ms. Wu realized that she really couldn't talk her way out of anything and couldn't win an argument with her at all.

I had no choice but to keep my head down and tend the fire. Once the water was boiled, I scooped it out to bathe and wash my daughter's hair.

"Da Ya, what's going on?"

When I took off my daughter's clothes, I found that her arms and legs were covered in bruises.

"This was pinched by my aunt, this was twisted by my sister, this was hit by my grandma..."

Da Ya remembers the cause of each injury very clearly.

“And here, this is where Dad hit me.” Daya pointed to her bottom: “Dad slapped me with his palm, it hurt Daya.”

When Ms. Wu saw it, it was red and swollen, with clear imprints of five fingers.

Why did your father hit you?

"Dad said I was disobedient and wanted to compete with Brother Tiedan for cakes."

That beast! That's his own daughter, only four years old! How could he do that to her?
Tears streamed down Wu's face.

She thought that by becoming a wet nurse in the Xiao family and receiving one or two taels of silver a month to take back to the Cao family, the Cao family would truly treat her daughter well. But in reality, the whole family was abusing her daughter, Daya!

"Mother, can you not leave?" Daya turned around and hugged Wu Shi: "Mother will stay with Daya. With Mother by my side, Daya is not afraid."

In her limited memory, her mother was never beaten at home. Of course, her mother would be scolded by them, who would say that she only gave birth to a money-losing child.

"Mother, what does 'good-for-nothing' mean?"

Mrs. Wu hugged her daughter tightly. How could she explain this?
She couldn't possibly stay; he was her employer, for whom she had signed a contract. Besides, her employer had treated her so well; without this job, life would be even harder for her and her mother in the Cao family.

But her daughter really needed her.

Ms. Wu carefully bathed and washed her daughter's hair. When she washed the bruises, the child couldn't help but cry out in pain, which broke her heart.

After washing her hair, she dried the child's hair and used the two pieces of silk that the landlord had given her to tie Daya's hair into a beautiful bun.

"My daughter is such a good girl."

Looking at her daughter reminded her of Chunxin, who was about the same age. Chunxin was a pretty girl with delicate features, and her every word and action had been well-trained by the Third Madam. Her whole face was very pleasing.

But the daughter looked timid, her little face filled with worry.

It's her fault, she's incompetent, she couldn't take good care of her daughter!

(End of this chapter)