Chapter 1480 - 1484: Mommy Dragged You Down

At that moment, the woman quietly eating in the corner heard those words, and the chopsticks in her hand clattered to the floor. The chubby girl sitting beside her bent down to pick them up, wiped them on her clothes, handed them back to the woman, and said, "Sister Chen, your chopsticks, I’ve cleaned them."

"Th-thank you." Sister Chen took the chopsticks from the chubby girl and thanked her in a rush.

"Sister Chen, why are they targeting this Sister Xia?" The chubby girl asked Sister Chen with a puzzled face. "This Sister Xia is so pitiful. She just arrived today and the steward ordered her into the sheep pen to work, no food, no water. Later Sister Xia fainted, and the steward just gave her the filthy water from the tank to drink. I wanted to go help, but I didn’t dare."

As Sister Chen listened, tears streamed down uncontrollably, and in her heart she felt endlessly apologetic toward Xia Qingqian.

"Sister Chen, why are you crying? Is it because you think they’re all going way too far?" The chubby girl asked Sister Chen, mumbling around a mouthful of rice.

"Fatty, hurry and eat." After saying that, Sister Chen secretly hid the two steamed buns from her tray, her eyes fixed on Xia Qingqian in the distance, who was being criticized by everyone. That figure was so thin...

"Xiao Fen, it’s okay. I’m not hungry anyway." Xia Qingqian quickly caught hold of the furious Xiao Fen and shook her head.

"Hear that? She said she’s not hungry!" someone jeered.

Xia Qingqian ignored them and instead looked at Xiao Fen, saying, "Xiao Fen, I’m going to tidy up the storeroom. I want to get some rest."

Xiao Fen had wanted to leave with Xia Qingqian, but the steward came over and yanked Xiao Fen back down into her seat. "Eat your food! Why are you sticking your nose into everything!"

All Xiao Fen could do was watch as Xia Qingqian faded from her line of sight. She shot the steward a fierce glare, then lowered her head and shoveled rice into her mouth.

Xia Qingqian returned to the storeroom. The moment she opened the door, a pungent moldy stench hit her. The room was full of dust and cobwebs; it was obvious no one had cleaned it for a long time.

Cleaning a room wasn’t something she couldn’t handle, but now that she was pregnant, doing this kind of work did make her clumsy and slow.

By the time she finished, it was already deep into the night. The whole ranch was silent, only now and then broken by a few calls from the livestock.

There was only one lamp in the storeroom—not particularly bright—but it was enough to see everything inside.

After a bout of tidying, she had swept the storeroom completely clean, no more bad smells, and it looked neat and orderly.

Once she finished, Xia Qingqian felt her stomach rumbling with hunger. Her lips were shriveled and parched, badly lacking moisture. She swallowed hard, forcing some saliva out to moisten her cracked lips.

Looking at the storeroom she had cleaned until it looked brand new, she gave a faint, knowing smile, placed her small hand on her belly, and murmured softly, "Baby, from now on I’ll have to wrong you by letting you live here with Mommy. Mommy is useless, I’ve dragged you down with me."

"Knock, knock, knock——"

Three knocks sounded at the door. Xia Qingqian came back to herself, wiped away the tears on her cheeks, and went to open it. In the doorway stood a woman whose face she recognized.

"Excuse me, are you Sister Chen?" Xia Qingqian searched her memory as she asked.

"Miss Xia, you still remember me?" Sister Chen’s eyes grew red as she spoke. She shoved a bag into Xia Qingqian’s hands and said, "Miss Xia, I saw you haven’t eaten yet. There are two steamed buns in here, hurry and eat them."

Looking at the buns in her hands, the tears that had been hanging in Xia Qingqian’s eyes finally spilled over. This was the first bit of warmth she’d received since coming here. Choking up, she said, "Sister Chen, thank you!"