Chapter 22: Chapter 22: Parental Responsibility

Lin Guodong looked at her with a cheerful smile. “Looks like you’ve really come to your senses. You used to be obsessed with wheedling money out of Mom, Dad, and me, but now you won’t even take it when I offer.”

He spoke as he pressed the money back into Lin Lan’s hand. “This money is to buy things for Little Douzi to eat. It’s not for you.”

Clutching the ten-yuan note, Lin Lan felt a warmth spread through her chest and a sting in her nose. “Big Brother, people have to grow up sometime. I can’t have Little Douzi feeling ashamed of his mother when he gets older!”

’With such wonderful parents and brothers, the original owner was still so stubborn and refused to have anything to do with them. She truly didn’t know how good she had it.’

’To be a mother and still make her parents worry… that was just plain unfilial.’

’Since I’ve taken over her body, I’ll be a good daughter to her parents in her stead and make sure they don’t have to worry anymore.’

Lin Guodong nodded. “Parents should shoulder their responsibilities.”

Wu Shufen walked to the kitchen doorway and looked at the brother and sister talking in the courtyard. “Come inside, wash your face and feet, and get to bed early. You have to catch an early bus back tomorrow morning.”

Lin Lan went inside. “Mom, you, Big Brother, and Second Brother rarely get to visit. Why not stay a couple more days?”

She wanted them to stay and relax for a few more days, but at the same time, she was afraid Wu Shufen and her brothers would discover that the person they doted on was a different person inside.

Wu Shufen sat down, holding Little Douzi. “Your brothers will go back first. I’ll stay here for a few days to help you feed the piglets. They’ve just been moved to a new sty, and I’m worried you won’t be able to raise them properly.”

Lin Lan nodded and looked at her. “Are Big Brother and the others in such a hurry to get back because the brigade’s rice seedlings aren’t all planted yet?”

Wu Shufen nodded. “They’re finished planting. Your dad and your brothers listened to Guocai and set up a pig farm. Those two young boars came from our family’s own stud hog.”

Lin Lan looked at them in surprise. She hadn’t expected them to be so open-minded as to start a pig farm now.

Lin Guoliang took over the conversation. “Our third brother works in the army’s cook squad. He was so good at raising pigs that he got promoted to an officer and even received an award.

At the end of last year, they started encouraging farmers to raise pigs and chickens, so he sent home the notes he’d taken on his pig-raising experience, along with the army’s manuals on animal husbandry, and told us to start a pig farm.

Dad used the allowance money he’s sent back over the past few years to buy breeding stock. Before the New Year, we got a plot of land approved at the foot of the mountain behind our house and built the pig farm.

We cut leaves from the mountain, bring them home, and mix them with rice bran and corn flour in specific ratios. After fermenting, it becomes pig feed.

We bought rice bran from the grain and oil station, and we also got bones from the slaughterhouse to grind into bone meal to mix in with the feed.

The burlap sacks are filled with rice bran for the pig feed. You raise those two pigs well, and you’ll be able to pay off your debt before the end of the year.”

Lin Guodong also looked at her and said, half-joking and half-serious, “Little Lan, Dad’s worried you’ll sell the pigs to pay off your debt, so he’s planning to have Mom stay here and watch you for a while. He also said that if you dare sell the pigs, he’ll disown you.”

Lin Lan’s nose tingled, and tears streamed down her face. “Mom, Big Brother, Second Brother, don’t worry. I’ll raise the pigs well. I won’t sell them.”

“Don’t cry, Mommy!” Seeing her cry, Little Douzi struggled down from Wu Shufen’s lap and threw himself into Lin Lan’s arms. “Grandma, Mommy’s been good. She even uses less oil when she stir-fries now. Little Douzi will cut grass for the piglets and catch bugs for the chicks to eat.”

Wu Shufen looked at her grandson, her heart warming. “Grandma knows your mom has been good.”

“My nephew is so smart.” Lin Guodong grinned, stepping forward to ruffle his fluffy hair. He picked him up, tossed him high in the air, and caught him, making Little Douzi burst into happy laughter.

Wu Shufen looked lovingly at her daughter. “I’ll stay and help you for a few days. When I leave, I’ll take Little Douzi home to play with Little Jun and the others.

Little kids need to play with other little kids. Running around outside is how they grow up strong. Also, are those ’orchid beans’ of yours really making money?”

“Mhm!” Lin Lan smiled and pulled the money from her pants pocket. “About a pound of dried fava beans swells to a little over two pounds after soaking. Three pounds of beans made twenty-three bags.

Rapeseed oil, sugar, and pepper are expensive. I sell them for twenty cents a bag, and after costs, the profit is a little over half.”

Seeing that she had really earned money, the mother and her two sons finally relaxed.

Lin Guodong laughed. “Not bad. In a month, you’ll be making more than someone with an iron rice bowl.”

Lin Guoliang shot him a glare. “Easy for you to say. What if she gets caught by the neighborhood patrol? They won’t just confiscate her things, she’ll be fined too.”

Wu Shufen nodded worriedly. “Exactly. A few years ago, if you got caught, they’d make you wear a sign and parade you through the streets, and they’d even send you to a reform-through-labor camp.”

Lin Guodong reassured Wu Shufen. “Mom, it’s fine. If she gets caught, she just gives them her stuff. She’ll still make more than she loses.”

He turned his head to look at Lin Lan. “Little Lan, when we go back, we’ll help you buy fava beans and rapeseed oil. They’re cheaper over in Shilian than they are here.”

The mountain folk are hardworking and there’s a lot of land in the mountains. Every family has opened up their own private plot there.

Every household grows rapeseed to press for oil, which they secretly sell to supplement their income, and also fava beans, peas, great northern beans, all sorts of beans.

Realizing the fava beans she had on hand wouldn’t last more than a few days, Lin Lan blushed and said to Lin Guoliang, “Second Brother, when you go back, could you help me get some fava beans, great northern beans, and red beans—a few dozen pounds of each—and another twenty pounds of rapeseed oil?

Once I sell all the fava beans I have at home, I’ll come back to get them and pay you guys back then. Also, could you help me make a few cracker molds, like the ones used for tofu, weave a carrying basket, and make a few thin bamboo mats? I have a use for them.”

Lin Guodong looked at the drawings Lin Lan made, committed them to memory, and nodded readily. “Alright. You don’t have to come get them. In a few days, I’ll come pick up Mom and Little Douzi and I’ll bring everything to you then.

Just remember, if you get caught by the patrol, give them your things. Pay the fine and you’ll be alright.”

Lin Lan nodded. “I know. You guys have to work in the fields and manage the pig farm at home. Don’t work yourselves too hard.”

Lin Guodong smiled and shook his head. “It’s not tiring. Your two sisters-in-law help out, and when Little Dong and Little Xia get home from school, they have to help cut grass for the pigs and clean the pigsty.”

Lin Guoliang, holding Little Douzi, chimed in, “Ever since you started misbehaving, Mom and Dad stopped spoiling Little Bin and Little Hong. Little Hong is only five, but she has to cut a whole back-basket of pig grass every day.”

Lin Lan lowered her head. “I’ve changed now.”

Wu Shufen nodded, relieved. “It’s good that you’ve changed! Guodong, you two have to go back tomorrow. Go on and get to sleep.”

“I’ll go make the beds for Big Brother and the others.” Lin Lan went to the side room, prepared the bed, and got her two brothers settled for the night.

She carried a ladleful of fava beans back to the kitchen and saw that Wu Shufen had already washed Little Douzi’s face and feet and put him to bed.

Lin Lan finished soaking the fava beans, washed up, and went into the bedroom. She saw Wu Shufen leaning against the headboard, gently patting Little Douzi, still waiting up for her.

Suppressing her nervousness, she got into bed. “Mom, it’s cool at night. You should lie down quickly so you don’t catch a cold.”

Wu Shufen glanced at her, shifted over, and lay down on her side next to her. She gently stroked her head and began to persuade her earnestly, “Little Lan, you really have to change. Your dad and I are getting old. We can’t look after you forever.

Your brothers have their own children to raise, which is a heavy burden. Your third brother will need to get married when he gets out of the army, and then there’s your fifth brother. If your dad and I only look after you, your brothers will feel disheartened.

And you have Little Douzi. You have to make him proud. Don’t wait until he grows up and resents you. It’ll be too late for regrets then.”

She still found it hard to believe that her daughter, who had been a mess for over a decade, had truly changed overnight.

But she didn’t know that while her daughter’s shell was still there, the person inside had been replaced.

Lin Lan felt her mother’s unease and worry, and nodded through her tears. “Mom, when you go back, please tell Dad that I’ve really changed. Just you wait. I’m going to earn money and be a good daughter to you both.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep