At night, when resting, Bai Xue finally confided in her husband, Ye He Ping, while lying on the bed in the West Room.
"What's going on with Lingzi? It's like she has a grudge against us; she was never by our side, and it's not like we could help it, right? The family conditions were poor in the previous years, and afterward, we thought mom was too old to stay alone in the village. That's why we didn't bring her back. She's not that young anymore, she's about to graduate from middle school, why can't she understand our situation?" Though there wasn't much blame in Bai Xue's words, they were full of her heartfelt troubles.
Ye He Ping patted his wife beside him, "It's hard for you. Lingzi is a stubborn child. Now she's grown up and has her own ideas, which makes it hard to manage. You have to start straightening a tree while it's young, and she didn't grow up with us. If she speaks with a wrong attitude, you should be more tolerant. After all, mother and daughter are different from outsiders."
Bai Xue laughed, "Look what you're saying, that's my daughter. Could I abuse her? Besides, why am I bitter? Now every family is in the same condition, and I think I'm better off than many others. When I came over with my husband, mom was afraid I couldn't adapt here and left Lingzi beside me; no other daughter-in-law got such a good thing."
Hearing the coquettish tone in his wife's voice, a smile appeared on Ye He Ping's serious face, "That's your only good point; you always see the bright side of everything. You don't know how many people envy me."
"Give me a break, you're just flattering me here." Bai Xue laughed, leaning into her husband's arms and sighing softly, "But about Lingzi, you saw it at the dinner table today. Mom strongly supports Lingzi and says she's good at studying. If we don't let Lingzi go to high school, won't mom be mad at us?"
"You also said that the rural education quality isn't good. She might not even be able to pass the exam. High school isn't something you can attend if you don't pass the exam." Ye He Ping didn't seem too concerned.
Bai Xue's heart sank, but her tone remained cheerful, "Right."
Her brows knitted tightly as her heart grew heavier. Although the rural education quality is poor, she is still ranked among the top ten in her year group, which should give her a good chance of getting into high school. If, by any chance, she fails, it would give Bai Xue a headache; the younger daughter's studies are only mediocre. If she can't pass, she will have to repeat a year. If the younger daughter has to repeat, wouldn't the older daughter be allowed to repeat too?
Such blatant favoritism; how would outsiders see it?
Bai Xue has always valued her reputation and would not allow such a big mistake to happen. Listening to her husband's snores from the bed behind her, Bai Xue couldn't sleep at all, tossing and turning until the second half of the night before she finally fell asleep.
Early the next day, as soon as the ward call in the courtyard sounded, Bai Xue got up early, made two servings of egg water, took one to her husband in the room, and gave one to her younger daughter.
"Qianqian, wake up first, drink the egg water." Bai Xue gently roused her younger daughter.
Yesterday, most of the scrambled eggs went into the stomach of the older daughter, and the younger daughter helped to pick them up by the side. Bai Xue felt distressed watching it, as she usually only made egg water for her husband. Today, she brought a portion for the younger daughter, feeling that the younger daughter didn't eat much yesterday.
Ye Qian was pushed awake by her mother. She rubbed her eyes before sitting up, "Mom, I don't want to drink it."
Egg water is made by boiling hot water, then pouring the beaten eggs like making soup, and adding some sugar to it before drinking.
It's nutritious, but it has a bit of a fishy taste.
Bai Xue knew why her daughter didn't like drinking it, and she whispered to encourage her, "Hold your breath and drink it in one gulp."
She was also afraid of waking up the two people in the East Room and kept glancing back anxiously. Just as Ye Qian took the egg water in her hand, Bai Xue turned around and saw her older daughter standing quietly at the East Room's door watching her.
The guilt combined with the sudden appearance startled her, causing her hand to push the bowl already handed to the younger daughter, spilling half of the egg water all over Ye Qian's lap.
The egg water was still a bit hot, and Ye Qian's scream came out immediately.
Her younger daughter was hurt, so Bai Xue could not care about the guilt of being caught by her older daughter. She hurriedly took the bowl and checked her daughter's chest, "How is it? Is it scalded bad? See, it's all mom's fault for not holding it steady."
"Mom, it hurts." Ye Qian's drowsiness completely disappeared, and she tugged hard at the white cotton pajamas stuck to her chest.
"You child, why didn't you hold it steady?" Bai Xue was both distressed and worried. She casually put the bowl on the table beside her, "Quickly take off your clothes and let me see if there's any blistering?"
By this time, Ye He Ping and Old Mrs. Ye, who were awakened by the commotion, had come out, but only Ye Ling stood quietly watching at the door.
Seeing his wife tugging at their daughter's clothes to check, Ye He Ping didn't approach, "What happened?"
"This child spilled the egg water on herself." Bai Xue quickly explained to her husband.
Old Mrs. Ye, who had just approached, upon hearing the mention of egg water and seeing half a bowl of it on the table, gave a light glance at Bai Xue and her daughter before turning around and going back inside, saying nothing.
Bai Xue was too concerned for her daughter to notice, but Ye He Ping, seeing his mother was angry, cleared his throat and said, "You should have placed Ye Qian's egg water on the table first and then taken it to Mom and Lingzi. Then, let Ye Qian drink it so she wouldn't get burned."
Ye Ling raised her eyebrow at this, surprised at her father's thoughtfulness. She looked over at him, and Ye He Ping avoided his daughter's gaze.
Ye Ling didn't let the opportunity slip, "Dad, no need, Grandma and I don't like egg water. You can have it yourselves."
Her words made Ye He Ping and Bai Xue even more embarrassed. Watching them squirm, even her mother's concerned voice for Ye Qian quieted down as Ye Ling turned around and went back inside.
It was quite a play to witness early in the morning, truly an auspicious start to the day...