Chen Lishu smiled, "If I say it, it won't be effective. I have to keep it a secret."
No one pressed further. They picked up their chopsticks and started eating.
Seeing the candles extinguished, the two younger ones immediately frowned and cried out.
"You two little scamps, wise beyond your years." Gu Xingping sat beside the two children. In front of her was a plate of fish. She picked up her chopsticks, speared a small piece of fish, carefully checked for bones, and placed it into Xiaobai's bowl.
Xiaobai busily reached out his chubby little hands, grabbed it, and stuffed it into his mouth. Because it was so fragrant, he even narrowed his eyes in enjoyment.
His expression made everyone laugh.
Gu Xingping treated them equally, also giving her nephew Gu Yicheng a piece.
The fish, smaller than a fingernail, was quickly eaten by the two little ones, who immediately kicked their legs and eagerly urged their aunt.
Gu Xingping could only give them each another piece.
Just as the family was sitting down to eat, the telephone rang.
Chen Lishu got up to answer it.
"Mom, happy birthday," Rui Rui's childish voice came through the receiver.
She hadn't expected her son to remember her birthday.
"How are you at Grandpa and Grandma's? Have you been behaving?"
Rui Rui replied like a little adult, "Mom, I'm doing quite well here."
After chatting for a while, the elderly Mr. He and his wife also spoke with Chen Lishu before hanging up.
On the other end, Liu Yuemin picked out the remaining vegetable leaves. The edible ones were saved for their evening meal at home, while those that were truly unusable would be thrown into the garbage bins behind the market.
There were four wooden garbage bins, each two to three meters long. Merchants usually threw their daily waste there, and sanitation workers would clear it away periodically.
Even though it was cleaned quite promptly every day, in the summer heat, spoiled items piled together emitted a sour stench that could be smelled from a distance.
While Gu Xingmin was tidying things up, Liu Yuemin carried a bag of rotten vegetable leaves towards the back of the market.
As soon as she stepped out the back door, a wave of heat hit her, mixed with a nauseating, sour stench.
"I'm going to die, it's still so hot at this hour." Liu Yuemin looked up at the setting sun, which, as if unwilling to leave, still clung stubbornly to the sky, determined to radiate its last bit of heat.
Liu Yuemin couldn't be bothered to walk over. She casually tossed the bag in her hand. With a "smack," the bag hit the outer wall of a garbage bin and quickly fell to the ground with a "plop."
She couldn't be bothered to pick it up. As she turned to walk back, her peripheral vision caught something, and she immediately turned her head back.
She saw two people on the other side, by a garbage bin, bending over and diligently rummaging through it.
Liu Yuemin occasionally saw people rummaging through garbage bins when she threw her own, but these two people today truly surprised her.
"Chen Mancang?" she called out uncertainly.
Chen Mancang and Zhang Chunhua had found a "treasure trove" these past couple of days: the garbage dump behind the vegetable market.
Although the smell was unpleasant, they could find a lot of vegetables here. If they were lucky, they could even find a couple of dead fish and rotten fruit.
City people were too delicate; they'd call it spoiled after a slight smell. In reality, after trimming away the bad parts, the taste was wonderful.
This could save them a considerable amount of money at home.
Today, after collecting junk, the elderly couple came here again to pick up some vegetable leaves for their evening meal. Suddenly, they heard someone calling their names. Chen Mancang turned around in surprise, and upon clearly seeing it was the second daughter-in-law of the Gu family, his expression changed. He quickly turned, grabbing Zhang Chunhua, and prepared to leave.
Back in the village, he had been someone of status. He didn't want acquaintances to see him in his current state.
But though he wanted to hide, Liu Yuemin would not let him.
She blocked his path in a few quick steps, disregarding the foul smell around them, and said with feigned surprise, "Oh my goodness, it really is Uncle and Auntie. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me."
In relation to Chen Lishu, she also referred to Chen Mancang and his wife as Uncle and Auntie.
She had only seen them once when Old Mrs. Chen was still alive. Later, she heard from others that they had moved to the city. She hadn't expected them to change so much.
When they were in the village, Chen Mancang and Zhang Chunhua had no worries and were well-maintained. They looked younger than Chen Mantun and his wife, who were four or five years younger.
Unfortunately, they had an unfilial son who ultimately met such a disgraceful end.
With Chen Baozhu gone, the blow to Chen Mancang and his wife was immense. Their once black hair had turned mostly white, they were bone-thin, and their backs were hunched.
Their tattered clothes seemed to hang on their bodies.
Zhang Chunhua tugged at the corner of her mouth, "So it's niece-in-law. What a coincidence to meet you here."
Liu Yuemin replied, "I'm selling vegetables inside the market."
Zhang Chunhua tugged at her clothes, "Selling, selling vegetables is good."
She and Chen Mancang had come to the provincial capital in desperation. They were both advanced in age and had no skills, so no one was willing to employ them. They also had a grandson to raise. In the end, with no other options, they could only collect junk to make a living.
"Sigh, you had such good lives back then, and even built new houses. When my great-grandmother was alive, she helped you quite a bit. My third sister-in-law's family was bullied, and I mean, Uncle Mantun's family, yours and theirs, couldn't compare."
Chen Mancang and Zhang Chunhua's faces tightened.
Liu Yuemin continued to speak to herself, "Tsk tsk, truly, thirty years east and thirty years west. You still don't know, Uncle Mantun's family has completely changed from before. But their children are promising; no one in the surrounding villages can compare."
"It's already this late. Hurry up, let's go home and cook," Chen Mancang, unable to listen any longer, said with a dark expression before turning to leave.
Zhang Chunhua's expression wasn't much better, but their family's conditions were poor now. Liu Yuemin also said she sold vegetables. If she was willing to give them their leftover vegetable leaves daily, their family could save a lot of money.
Because of this thought, even though Liu Yuemin intended to mock them, she didn't want to fall out with her.
"Niece-in-law, we'll be going now."
Zhang Chunhua said this and then hurried after Chen Mancang.
"A tiger fallen in the plains is bullied by dogs. Now even a junior can mock me," Chen Mancang said indignantly, snorting heavily.
Zhang Chunhua replied, "Forget it, our current situation..."
"Forget it? Isn't it all your fault? Baozhu was a good child, what did you spoil him into? He ended up with that fate! And Mom, if you had stayed home, wouldn't my second brother have taken care of her? But you, the moment you saw him paralyzed, you immediately urged me to send him away!"
Zhang Chunhua retorted, "Are you blaming me for everything that's happened? Without Baozhu, what reason did I have to take care of anyone? Besides, didn't you also dislike Mom's smell when she soiled herself? If you didn't want to send her, no matter what I said would have been useless."