Chapter 162: Chapter 91: The Commotion Over the Puppy

Seeing how unreasonable she was being, Juhua’s mother said with displeasure, “Second Sister-in-law, I’m not just siding with my daughter, but Juhua has never been this angry. It may just be a dog, but you can’t kick it for no reason. Laicai fell while chasing the dog, so you kicked it. If he gets into a fight with a person, are you going to go beat them up too? What is this, if not spoiling Laicai? All right, it’s the New Year celebration, so stop being angry and let’s eat. You’re not going to hold a grudge against my Juhua as well, are you?”

Ms. Zhang quickly tried to smooth things over, saying, “Let’s eat, let’s eat! Everyone, just drop it. Sister-in-law, you shouldn’t have kicked the dog. They’ve raised that little puppy for so long. If your kick had killed it, wouldn’t Juhua have been heartbroken?”

When Laicai saw that everyone was talking about him again, his head still bandaged, he started to cry once more. He ate as he wept, swallowing his tears down with his rice, looking for all the world like he had been terribly wronged.

Seeing how pitifully he was crying, Mrs. Wang went over to comfort him. Juhua’s mother sighed as she watched her own mother, thinking, ’Second Sister-in-law isn’t the only one who spoils Laicai.’

Zheng Changhe, who doted on his daughter most of all, was already furious but couldn’t say a word out of respect for Mrs. Wang. He thought in frustration, ’Why is it that every time the woman from the Lin family brings Laicai over, they have to cause some kind of trouble? That mother and son always manage to turn a perfectly good day into a complete mess.’

After this commotion, the atmosphere at the dinner table grew heavy.

Juhua carried the little Black Dog into the kitchen and set him down by the stove. She then scraped her leftovers into his bowl and placed it in front of him.

The little dog must have been kicked quite hard. It listlessly took a couple of bites, then stopped.

Qingmu came in and asked, “Not eating? What should we do? Is he really hurt?”

Juhua was still fuming, unable to speak for a long moment. After forcing herself to calm down, she said to Qingmu, “Go get some of the braised pork. Mix it into his rice and see if he’ll eat.” ’To think that after raising him for so long, he might die from a kick from that woman… It’s just…’

Juhua didn’t know what was wrong with her. She wasn’t usually a soft-hearted person, but seeing the little dog’s pitiful state after being kicked, she couldn’t stop tears from welling up in her eyes. The more she thought about it, the more furious she became. ’It’s all that brat Laicai’s fault,’ she thought. ’Just you wait, I’ll deal with you later.’

’Hmph. If I can’t even deal with a little brat like him, I might as well just give up and die,’ she thought furiously.

Qingmu was even angrier than Zheng Changhe. His sister had raised the dog for a long time, it was well-behaved, and it had been kicked for no reason at all. What kind of nonsense was that? If the woman from the Lin family weren’t an elder, and if their grandmother weren’t so fond of Laicai, he would have kicked them out already.

He turned and left, returning a moment later with several dishes. He put some of the food aside for the little Black Dog, then scooped a fresh bowl of rice and handed it to Juhua. “Here, eat some more. If you stay mad at Second Aunt, you could be mad forever. She’ll forget this ever happened in a little while. Just ignore her. She’s only staying for a couple of days anyway.”

Juhua washed her hands and sat down to eat again. The brother and sister sat in the kitchen, eating as they watched the little Black Dog. Fortunately, after a little while, the puppy seemed to have recovered and began to eat.

Juhua was overjoyed at the sight, and she and Qingmu exchanged a relieved smile.

Just then, Mrs. Wang walked in. She smiled kindly at Juhua and said, “Juhua, dear, are you still angry with your Second Aunt? Don’t be. She’s always been like that. If I let myself get angry with her, I’d have died from it long ago. Is the little dog alright now? Ah, that’s good. It would’ve been a real shame if it had died from that kick.”

Qingmu quickly stood up, invited his grandmother to sit, and grabbed a small stool for himself.

Mrs. Wang sat down beside Juhua.

Juhua smiled sheepishly at her grandmother. “Grandma, do you blame me? I just think Second Aunt is too lenient with Laicai. What will happen to him when he grows up? Laicai is actually very clever. If he were disciplined properly, he’d be no worse than Cousin Laixi. He might even be able to study and become a Scholar.”

The old woman was pleased to hear this. She sighed and said to the two of them, “Isn’t that what everyone says? But you know how she is. How can you expect her to discipline Laicai properly? I have a plan. When I get back, I’ll tell your second uncle to send the boy to school. We have to start disciplining Laicai properly from now on.”

Qingmu and Juhua were happy to hear this. ’That should keep Laicai busy,’ they thought. ’Even if they can’t discipline him, at least it will keep him from coming over to torment his relatives.’

Just as she said that, Laixi came in. He grinned as he helped himself to a bowl of rice, then said to Juhua, “Cousin Juhua, don’t be upset. If this dog dies, I’ll catch another one for you. Our village…”

Juhua cut him off with a chiding tone. “Cousin Laixi, what are you talking about? The dog is perfectly fine, he’s eating right now! He’s not going to die!”

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