When Wang Meilan learned from Li Dayong that her son, Zhao Jun, and Li Baoyu had gone hunting in the mountains with two dogs, her reaction was even more intense than Jin Xiaomei's. She immediately collapsed onto the floor.
Part of Wang Meilan's reaction was natural motherly love. But another part was that, unlike Jin Xiaomei, she only had one son, Zhao Jun. In her heart, he was more important than anything.
"Quick! Give me a hand." Seeing this, Li Dayong, who couldn't easily lend a hand himself, hurriedly had Jin Xiaomei help Wang Meilan up and sit her down on the edge of the kang.
"That little bastard, he…" Wang Meilan cursed Zhao Jun through her tears.
Once she started crying, Zhao Jun's two younger sisters, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, started crying too.
And when Zhao Hong cried, Li Xiaoqiao, who had been brought over by the Li family and was Zhao Hong's deskmate and best friend, was probably infected by the sorrowful atmosphere and started crying as well.
Li Xiaoqiao's crying made Jin Xiaomei think of her own eldest son, and tears streamed down her face uncontrollably.
In no time, the house was filled with the wails of five females—two adults and three girls—all crying at once. The racket gave Li Dayong and his son, Li Ruhai, a splitting headache.
Li Dayong wanted to shout at them to stop several times, but this was the Zhao family's house, and he addressed Wang Meilan as "Sister-in-law." It wouldn't be right for him to lose his temper, so he could only suppress his frustration and try to console them.
But it wasn't just one or two people crying in the room. As soon as he calmed one down, she would hear the others and start crying again.
Exasperated, Li Dayong grabbed Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, tucked one under each arm, and left the house. On his way out, he told Li Ruhai to bring Li Xiaoqiao out too.
The father and son took the three little girls home. Li Dayong told Li Ruhai to stay home and keep them occupied.
What do little girls know? They just saw their mothers crying and cried along. Now that they were at the Li family's house, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na quickly recovered and started playing with Li Xiaoqiao.
When Li Dayong returned to the Zhao house, he first pulled his wife aside and calmed her down, then had Jin Xiaomei go and console Wang Meilan.
But no matter what anyone said, Wang Meilan's tears wouldn't stop.
It wasn't that Wang Meilan was weak, but that she felt helpless. The mountains stretched on endlessly. With the two boys lost inside, it was simply impossible to find them.
Forget the few people from the Zhao and Li families; even if the entire village went into the mountains to search, finding Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu would be futile.
Wang Meilan cried, and Jin Xiaomei tried to console her, occasionally breaking down and crying along for a bit herself.
Li Dayong sat to one side, worried about his own son and at a complete loss with the two women.
Suddenly, a noise came from the courtyard outside, accompanied by a faint "HAH… HAH…" sound.
Li Dayong froze. Recognizing the sound of a panting dog, his spirits immediately lifted.
Just then, he heard someone shouting from outside, "Dad! Dad! Da Huang is back."
"Stop crying, stop crying." Li Dayong quickly nudged Jin Xiaomei a couple of times and then said to Wang Meilan, "Sister-in-law, I think those two Little Calves are about to return."
"What?" Wang Meilan's tears stopped instantly, and she followed Li Dayong out of the house.
In the courtyard, in front of the wooden doghouse by the western wall, a spotted dog was lapping up water from its bowl.
"Hua Xiao'er!" Wang Meilan called out. The spotted dog ran to her, wagging its tail, and rubbed its wet snout all over her arm.
Li Dayong looked down and saw that the spotted dog's belly was stuffed full. He was taken aback. "Well now, looks like those two boys actually caught something!"
After speaking, Li Dayong peeked toward his own house and saw that his family's yellow dog also had a perfectly round belly and was lying in front of its doghouse, licking its paws. He finally felt relieved.
"Everything's fine, Sister-in-law," Li Dayong said to Wang Meilan. "Those two Little Calves should be back any minute now."
"Mm." Now that she knew Zhao Jun was safe, Wang Meilan stopped crying. She raised her arm and used her sleeve to wipe the tears from her face.
"Well, Sister-in-law, we'll be heading back then," Jin Xiaomei said to Wang Meilan before pulling Li Dayong home.
As soon as the couple entered their courtyard, Jin Xiaomei hurried inside to start making dinner. It was already past five. Now that her eldest son was safe, the family's meal couldn't be delayed.
If it hadn't been for all the earlier commotion, dinner would have already been ready.
As for Li Dayong, he walked over to the woodpile in the courtyard. The pile was made of branches and twigs they had gathered from the mountains, which they had then trimmed and stacked neatly.
Li Dayong pursed his lips, pulled out a willow stick, and looked it over before tossing it aside. He then pulled out a pine stick, which felt just right in terms of thickness. He gripped it and swung it through the air a few times.
Hearing the sound of the stick cutting through the air, Li Dayong nodded in satisfaction. He glanced back at his front gate, then headed for the house with the stick in hand.
Just as Li Dayong reached the doorway, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na came out of the house, followed by Jin Xiaomei and Li Xiaoqiao.
He heard Jin Xiaomei call out, "Girls, your auntie's making dinner. Why don't you stay and eat here?"
"No, thank you," Zhao Hong replied, pulling her sister along as she continued to walk out.
In those days, life was hard for every family. Some struggled so much they didn't have enough food to eat, so everyone had a rule for their children.
No matter how much fun you were having at someone's house, as soon as they started cooking or set the table, you had to go home immediately.
Even though the two families were close, Zhao Hong was still young and had been told by her parents many times not to eat at other people's homes. That meant she absolutely couldn't.
"Uncle, we're heading home now." Upon seeing Li Dayong, Zhao Hong greeted him politely.
"Mm," Li Dayong nodded. He waved a hand at Jin Xiaomei, signaling for his wife and daughter to go back inside.
It wasn't that Li Dayong was being stingy and didn't want to feed the two girls.
It was because Li Dayong was filled with pent-up anger today and was determined to give Li Baoyu a sound thrashing. If the two girls stayed for dinner, how could he beat his son?
If he didn't beat his son, how would he vent the rage in his chest?
Seeing Li Dayong enter the house with the stick, Jin Xiaomei knew what he intended to do. But she didn't say a single word to stop him; after all, she was also furious at Li Baoyu for his recklessness.
It wasn't just Li Dayong; she also wanted to give her son a good beating. But as a mother trying to hit the now-adult Li Baoyu, she felt she lacked the strength.
When Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu reached their homes, they went their separate ways.
As soon as Zhao Jun entered his courtyard, he called out cautiously a couple of times. At that moment, he felt a faint excitement mixed with apprehension.
The moment the words left his mouth, he saw Wang Meilan jogging out to meet him, wiping her hands on her apron.
Zhao Jun dropped the burlap sack filled with wild boar meat on the ground. He looked at Wang Meilan and opened his mouth, but before he could call out "Mom," his eyes began to sting and his throat felt tight.
In his past life, he had lost his mother at twenty-one. From then on, whenever he faced hardship, the person he thought of was never anyone else—it was always Wang Meilan.
Reborn in this life and seeing his mother again, Zhao Jun's feelings were incredibly complex.
"Mom," Zhao Jun said softly, suppressing the surge of emotion in his heart.
SLAP!
SLAP!
SLAP!
But what greeted him were three Big Palms from Wang Meilan.
But a mother is a mother. No matter how angry Wang Meilan was, she couldn't bring herself to hit her son hard.
Surprisingly, none of the three Big Palms landed on Zhao Jun's face; they all hit the side of his head.
"You little bastard!" Wang Meilan's voice was shrill and tinged with tears. "If something had happened to you, how would I go on living!"
As she spoke, Wang Meilan started wiping her eyes again.
"Mom!" Zhao Jun couldn't hold it in any longer. He stepped forward, hugged Wang Meilan, and began to cry.
As mother and son wept in each other's arms, the sound of Li Baoyu's pained howls and Li Dayong's furious curses drifted over from the neighboring courtyard.