Chapter 8

When Wang Meilan learned from Li Dayong that her son Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu had taken two dogs into the mountains to hunt, her reaction was even more intense than Jin Xiaomei's, and she immediately collapsed on the ground.

Wang Meilan's reaction was partly due to her maternal love. Another reason was that, unlike Jin Xiaomei, she only had Zhao Jun as her son, and he was more important to her than anything else.

"Quick! Give a hand." Seeing this, Li Dayong, who couldn't reach out himself, hurriedly asked Jin Xiaomei to help lift Wang Meilan up and support her to sit by the kang (a traditional Chinese bed).

"That rascal, he..." Wang Meilan cried and scolded Zhao Jun.

Her crying made Zhao Jun's two sisters, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, start crying as well.

When Zhao Hong cried, Li Xiaoxiao, who was Zhao Hong's classmate and best friend, possibly influenced by the sad atmosphere, also started crying.

Li Xiaoxiao's crying made Jin Xiaomei suddenly think of her eldest son, and she couldn't help but shed tears.

For a moment, the five women in the room—two adults and three children—cried together, making Li Dayong and Li Ruhai, father and son, feel as if their heads were about to explode.

Li Dayong tried several times to stop the crying, but this was in the Zhao family's house, and he called Wang Meilan "sister-in-law," so he couldn't get angry. He could only suppress his anger and try to persuade them.

However, in the room, it wasn't just one or two people crying. Just as he had calmed one person, another would start crying, and the first one would follow.

Finally, out of desperation, Li Dayong carried Zhao Hong and Zhao Na out of the room, one in each arm. As he left, he called Li Ruhai to bring Li Xiaoxiao out as well.

The father and son took the three little girls home, and Li Dayong asked Li Ruhai to play with them at home.

The little girls didn't understand much; they just saw their mothers crying and followed suit. Once they were at the Li family's house, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na quickly calmed down and started playing with Li Xiaoxiao.

When Li Dayong returned to the Zhao family's house, he first pulled his wife aside to calm her down, then asked Jin Xiaomei to go and comfort Wang Meilan.

No matter how much they tried to persuade her, Wang Meilan's tears wouldn't stop.

It wasn't that Wang Meilan was weak, but rather that she felt helpless. The vast mountains stretched endlessly, and with the two children in there, there was no place to search.

Even if the entire village went into the mountains, it would be impossible to find Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu.

Wang Meilan cried, and Jin Xiaomei tried to comfort her, occasionally joining in the crying.

Li Dayong sat on the side, worried about his own son and helpless with the two women.

Suddenly, a sound came from outside the house, along with faint "huffing" sounds.

Li Dayong was startled, recognizing the sound of a dog panting, and immediately felt a surge of hope.

At that moment, he heard someone outside shouting, "Dad! Dad! Da Huang is back!"

"Stop crying, stop crying." Li Dayong quickly patted Jin Xiaomei a few times and said to Wang Meilan, "Sister-in-law, those two rascals seem to be coming back."

"What?" Wang Meilan instantly stopped crying and followed Li Dayong out of the room.

Outside, at the corner of the west wall, in front of the wooden doghouse, a spotted dog was lapping water from a bowl.

"Xiao Hua!" Wang Meilan called, and the spotted dog wagged its tail, running to her and rubbing its wet nose against her arm.

Li Dayong looked down and saw that the spotted dog's belly was round, and he was surprised, "Wow, those two rascals really caught something!"

He then looked at his own yellow dog, which was also round-bellied and lying in front of its doghouse, licking its paws, and felt relieved.

"It's okay, sister-in-law," Li Dayong said to Wang Meilan, "Those two rascals should be back soon."

"Okay." Knowing that Zhao Jun was fine, Wang Meilan stopped crying and wiped the tears from her face with her sleeve.

"Then, sister-in-law, we'll go back." Jin Xiaomei said to Wang Meilan and pulled Li Dayong back home.

As soon as they entered the yard, Jin Xiaomei ran into the house to start cooking. It was already past five, and since their eldest son was fine, they couldn't delay their meal.

If it weren't for the earlier commotion, the meal would have been ready by now.

Li Dayong, on the other hand, walked to the woodpile in the yard, which was made of branches and twigs they had collected from the mountains and neatly stacked.

Li Dayong pursed his lips, picked up a willow stick, looked at it, and then threw it aside. He then picked up a pine stick, which felt just right in his hand, and swung it a few times in the air.

Hearing the sound of the stick cutting through the air, Li Dayong nodded in satisfaction, glanced at his front door, and was about to go into the house.

Just as Li Dayong reached the door, he saw Zhao Hong and Zhao Na coming out of the house, followed by Jin Xiaomei and Li Xiaoxiao.

Jin Xiaomei called out, "Girls, I'm cooking. You can stay and eat here."

"No, no," Zhao Hong replied, pulling her sister and continuing to walk out.

In those days, every household was struggling, and some families didn't even have enough food. So, everyone had a rule for their children: no matter where they played, they had to go home immediately when the host started cooking or set the table.

Although the two families were close, Zhao Hong, being young, had been repeatedly told by her parents not to eat at other people's houses, so she couldn't.

"Uncle, we're going back," Zhao Hong politely said to Li Dayong.

"Okay," Li Dayong nodded and waved to Jin Xiaomei, signaling for her to go back into the house.

It wasn't that Li Dayong was stingy and didn't want to keep the girls for dinner. He was just determined to give Li Baoyu a good beating, and if the girls were there, he wouldn't be able to do it.

Without beating his son, how could he vent his anger?

Seeing Li Dayong holding the stick and entering the house, Jin Xiaomei knew what he intended to do, but she didn't say a word to stop him. After all, she also resented Li Baoyu's recklessness.

Not just Li Dayong, but she herself also wanted to beat her son. However, as a mother, she felt powerless to hit her grown son.

When Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu returned to their respective homes, they each went to their own house.

As Zhao Jun entered the yard, he cautiously called out a few times. At that moment, he felt a mix of excitement and unease.

As soon as Zhao Jun spoke, Wang Meilan, wiping her hands on her apron, ran out to meet him.

Zhao Jun dropped the sack containing the wild boar meat on the ground, looked at Wang Meilan, and opened his mouth to call out "Mom," but his eyes started to sting and his throat felt dry.

In his previous life, he lost his mother at the age of twenty-one, and ever since, whenever he faced difficulties, he thought of Wang Meilan.

Reborn, and seeing his mother again, Zhao Jun's emotions were incredibly complex.

"Mom." Zhao Jun suppressed his excitement and softly called out.

"Slap!"

"Slap!"

"Slap!"

But what greeted him were three slaps from Wang Meilan.

However, a mother is a mother, and no matter how angry Wang Meilan was, she couldn't hit her son too hard.

None of the three slaps landed on Zhao Jun's face; they all hit his head.

"Rascal!" Wang Meilan's voice was sharp and tearful, "If something happened to you, how could I live?"

Saying this, Wang Meilan started to cry.

"Mom!" Zhao Jun couldn't hold back any longer and rushed forward to hug Wang Meilan, crying.

As the mother and son hugged and cried, the sound of Li Baoyu's wailing and Li Dayong's angry scolding came from the neighboring yard.