Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

That night, during dinner, Old Mr. Di had a somber expression on his face.

After the meal, Di Yelei and Old Mr. Di had a long private conversation. Liu Sisi had no idea what they talked about.

From the looks of Di Yelei’s red eyes when he left the room, the conversation must not have been a pleasant one.

After lying down, Di Yelei, for the first time, did not embrace her as they fell asleep. Instead, he lay on his side facing away from her, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

“Did Dad tell you something? You look so uncomfortable.”

In the darkness, Liu Sisi whispered to her.

Di Yelei didn’t speak for a while. Suddenly, in the dark, there was the sound of rustling, and the flint lit a candle, illuminating Di Yelei’s back.

He paused for a moment before turning around to look at her: “You’ve known since early this morning, haven’t you?”

“Known what?”

Liu Sisi was curious too. She rarely saw Di Yelei talk to her with such a serious expression.

Di Yelei was silent, and after a long time, he finally whispered, “I found out… my mom was actually killed by Ms. Zhao.”

So Old Mr. Di had told him about it. No wonder both father and son looked off.

Liu Sisi thought about it carefully and said truthfully: “Well, actually, Mother-in-law was indirectly killed by Ms. Zhao. She is responsible, but she can’t be entirely blamed.”

Di Yelei was furious!

“You’re actually defending her!”

His eyes suddenly reddened, and his emotions seemed extremely agitated: “She killed my mom, and all these years she has pretended to be a good person and got married to my dad. And she expects me to respect her? Does she deserve it? Huh?”

He yelled furiously at Liu Sisi!

Liu Sisi didn’t get angry, knowing that he was venting his anger at Ms. Zhao.

She thought for a moment and then raised her head to ask, “Did Dad say what exactly happened when Mother-in-law died?”

Di Yelei glared at her, his teeth clenched to make a grinding sound, but he didn’t say anything.

Liu Sisi sighed and said, “I heard it from Ms. Xin, she said Ms. Zhao accidentally let it slip. At that time, Mother-in-law was pregnant with you and for some reason, they argued. Ms. Zhao pushed Mother-in-law from the eaves, causing her death because of massive hemorrhaging during childbirth…”

Di Yelei’s face muscles were constantly twitching. After a while, he closed his eyes and said, “At the time, she had just lost her husband and came to kneel in front of my mom wanting to marry into Di Family as a concubine…”

As he spoke, he bowed his head into his arms, his body trembling.

Liu Sisi sighed and silently hugged him, gently patting his shoulder, and silently accompanied him.

After a long time, his voice came out from the crook of his arm, “Before, I’ve vaguely heard people say that Ms. Zhao wasn’t a good person. My big brother broke off relations with my dad for her, but even then, he didn’t tell me the reason…”

That night, Di Yelei spoke incoherently, and Liu Sisi quietly listened.

The husband and wife held each other quietly, with their hearts, both hurt by family love, drawing closer. They comforted each other and didn’t know when they finally fell asleep.

The next day was the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first lunar month.

Before dawn, Liu Sisi had already gotten up. She took out the sticky rice ball dough that she had prepared in advance and started making the sticky rice balls, also known as Yuanxiao.

Since they had prepared in advance, the sticky rice balls were made quite large and plentiful.

While Liu Sisi was busy making sticky rice balls, Di Yelei returned with a large branch of poplar tree, placing it on both sides of the main entrance. He then took the large bowls of prepared wine, meat, and bean porridge and placed them in front of the entrance.

After the sticky rice balls were cooked, Di Yelei took out Dou Family’s plaque and offered a bowl of sticky rice balls directly in front of it. After burning incense and worshipping, he removed it.

When everyone sat down again, Di Yelei changed his usual silence and said softly.

“Today is the Lantern Festival, and we won’t talk about anything else. Let’s just have a good Reunion Festival. Tomorrow is the 16th day of the year, and according to the almanac, it is suitable for moving. I plan to move all the items into the backyard of the new tenant’s shop. As for you, Dad…”

Di Yelei paused: “If you are willing to let Third Child support you, Third Child swears that as long as he has a bite of food, he will never let you drink soup again. If you don’t trust Third Child and want to stay, Third Child will follow your wishes. Whether you come or go, Third Child will always listen to you, Dad.”

After saying this, he picked up the bamboo chopsticks and took the lead to put a sticky rice ball into his mouth.

Liu Sisi glanced at Di Yelei and then at Elderly Mr. Di before she started eating with her bowl and chopsticks.

Elderly Mr. Di’s hands were trembling, but he picked up a sticky rice ball with his chopsticks and slowly brought it to his lips without biting it.

“Over there, in the old house, even if I die… I won’t step foot in there again!”

After finishing speaking, Elderly Mr. Di finally put the sticky rice ball into his mouth and chewed vigorously.

Di Yelei paused momentarily as he consumed the sticky rice ball, and looked at his father; joy appeared in his eyes.

But he didn’t say anything more, and simply continued eating heartily.

Since it was the Lantern Festival, Di Yelei decided after some consideration that the whole family should go out for a stroll. Old Cheng drove the carriage, he and Zhang Peng rode horses, and they took the children and Elderly Mr. Di to the streets together.

Guihua, too, was sitting in the carriage with them.

In order to avoid suspicion, Elderly Mr. Di insisted on sitting up front with Old Cheng instead of in the carriage.

Today, naturally, they went to the county town.

Although they originally planned to visit the Lake of Forgetfulness, when considering the dangers they had encountered twice on Heilong Mountain, it made Liu Sisi a bit wary of the place. However, she realized that those on Heilong Mountain meant no harm and were instead trying to protect her.

After thinking it through, she still decided to continue to the county town to watch the lanterns.

Every year during the Lantern Festival, although all places had lanterns to admire, none were as lively as those in the county town.

The children were all dressed in new clothes, with YingEr clinging to Guihua all day. In their hands, they each held two lanterns, laughing and talking all the way.

Liu Sisi, holding Da Mao, chatted intermittently with Guihua.

The carriage galloped into the city gate and didn’t stop until they couldn’t move forward anymore.

“Today is the Lantern Festival, and there is no curfew for three days in a row. The colleagues who come here to stay overnight can get triple reward money. Let’s just have a good time for a day and go back when it’s daybreak.”

“Great! Today we can have fun for a whole day!”

All the children were excited.

Not to mention the children, even the adults were already captivated by the festive atmosphere all around.

In the middle of the main road, a wide fence had already been set up using red cloth strips. On the outer side of the fence, there was a sea of people, everyone crowded and happy.

Inside the fence, firecrackers kept blasting, the sound of gongs and drums urging people on, and the lion and dragon dance teams were dancing in a festive atmosphere filled with joy and noise.

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