Chapter 244: The Last Straw

Chapter 244: Chapter 244: The Last Straw

’Come back tomorrow?’

Zhang Weimin took another bite, finishing off the last half of the fried egg in his bowl. He chewed, swallowed, and then took a sip of the rich, fragrant chicken broth with a sigh. The taste of the noodles was just heavenly. ’Hmm,’ he thought, ’if the noodles are this good, maybe coming over a few more times wouldn’t be so bad...’

Watching Zhang Weimin eat, both Zhang Weihong and Fang Juxian snickered to themselves.

Zhang Weimin was indeed eating ferociously. He had started slurping away on his own while Guo Xiuying was arguing with Fang Juxian. Even though the noodles were hot, he had already finished nearly half the bowl. As he ate, he marveled at his little sister’s cooking skills. The noodles were seasoned perfectly, and she hadn’t been stingy with the oil for the fried eggs—unlike the bland, oil-less meals his own wife made.

He narrowed his eyes. ’I earn a decent salary,’ he thought, ’but just like Mom said, most of the money has gone into that bottomless pit of Xu Banxian’s. We hardly even see meat at home.’

Squinting, he shot a sideways glance at Guo Xiuying. Without a word of courtesy, he reached his chopsticks over and snatched both fried eggs from her bowl. Guo Xiuying stared at him, stunned. "You already have two! Why are you taking all of mine?"

"You don’t like greasy food anyway, so I’m just helping you out," Zhang Weimin snorted, sounding increasingly self-righteous. "From now on, you can eat whatever you want, but I’m going to eat meat. I’m going to eat greasy fried eggs like this. If you dare throw all our money at that bullshit Xu Banxian again, hmph, I’ll divorce you and personally send you back to your parents’ house. After that, you can go ruin whichever family you want, because I can’t afford a spendthrift wife like you anymore."

"Zhang Weimin!" Guo Xiuying’s eyes blazed with fury. She slammed her bowl down hard on the table, sending noodles and broth spilling everywhere. Forgetting everything else, she lunged to claw at Zhang Weimin, who quickly jumped back, clutching his own bowl—

Meanwhile, Zhang Tianci had already swallowed the noodles in his mouth and was waiting with his mouth wide open for Guo Xiuying to feed him more. But when he saw his bowl abandoned on the table, with much of the delicious noodles and broth spilled, he panicked. He opened his mouth and began to wail... WAHHH!

A gloating smile appeared on Fang Juxian’s face. Zhang Weihong shot her a glare. "Aren’t you going to go stop our sister-in-law? If this keeps up and you really piss Mom off, do you think you’ll ever be welcome here again?"

"It’s not our family making a scene," Fang Juxian grumbled, but she still reluctantly went over to hold Guo Xiuying back. "Our brother’s just talking big. He didn’t mean it, so why are you taking it so seriously? Look at you. You have a son now, what’s there to be afraid of? See? Your son is crying, why aren’t you comforting him?"

Guo Xiuying hesitated, then turned to look at Zhang Tianci. The sight left her dumbstruck. The boy was sobbing as he lay sprawled across the dining table. His noodle bowl was completely overturned, and though he was covered in noodles and broth, he paid it no mind, busily trying to slurp up the noodles and liquid directly from the tabletop...

"Oh, my Tianci!" Guo Xiuying collapsed onto the floor, slapping her thighs and wailing.

"What are you crying for? Hurry up and get the kid cleaned up!" Seeing his son’s state, Zhang Weimin’s eyes turned red with anxiety. It wasn’t warm out yet; if his son went home soaked like this, he was sure to catch a cold. Furious, he kicked Guo Xiuying. "You can’t even take care of our son properly. Tell me, what good are you?"

"This is your fault!" Guo Xiuying shrieked.

"Both of you, stop it. First, pick the child up and feed him. Then ask Mom if she has any clothes to wrap him in. Or would you rather he fall off the table?" Zhang Weihong said, looking with disgust at Zhang Tianci, who was still sprawled on the table, grabbing food with his grubby hands. Fighting back a wave of nausea, he waited a long moment before lowering his head to continue eating his own noodles.

Zhang Weihong’s words scared Guo Xiuying. She saw that her son’s position was indeed dangerous, so she ignored everything else and hurried over to pick him up. But Zhang Tianci wouldn’t have it. Eyeing the noodles on the table, he struggled and cried, showing unprecedented strength. Guo Xiuying almost lost her grip on him, getting noodles and broth all over her hands and clothes...

Guo Xiuying was at a loss. Seeing Zhang Weimin keeping his distance with his bowl, eating by himself, she could only try to coax Zhang Tianci. "Let’s not eat what’s on the table. Mommy still has noodles here. You can have them all." Only then did Zhang Tianci finally quiet down. Meanwhile, Zhang Weimin finished his own noodles and rubbed his stomach. He felt like he could still eat more. ’Asking Little Sis to cook another batch is probably out of the question,’ he thought. His eyes landed on Guo Xiuying’s bowl. He leaned over and, with one swipe of his chopsticks, transferred most of her noodles into his own bowl. Under Guo Xiuying’s furious gaze, he said brazenly, "The half-hour is almost up, so you won’t get to eat anyway. And our son can’t eat this much. I’m just helping out so it doesn’t go to waste, right?"

With that, before Guo Xiuying could react, he slurped the noodles into his mouth. He ate so fast he almost choked and started coughing violently.

"What about me? I’m hungry too! How can you be so selfish and only think of yourself?" Guo Xiuying looked at her son and didn’t dare lunge at him again. She rubbed her rumbling stomach as tears welled up in her eyes.

"There’s still some on the table. You can’t just throw out those noodles of yours, right? The table’s not dirty. You can just pick them up and eat them in a bit." Zhang Weimin’s words made Guo Xiuying’s eyes go wide. Fang Juxian, who was watching the show, almost burst out laughing. It was only when Zhang Weihong secretly pinched her that she managed to restrain herself, burying her face in her bowl, her shoulders shaking.

...

After seeing off the families of Zhang Weihong and Zhang Weimin, Wen Xiu and Zhang Minzhen locked the door and started walking toward the mountains. As they walked, Wen Xiu said scornfully, "You can bet they’ll be back tomorrow."

’Of course I can,’ Zhang Minzhen thought. ’It’d be strange if they gave up that easily.’

The thought of having to deal with those two families again tomorrow vexed Zhang Minzhen. She couldn’t say much in front of Wen Xiu, though. After all, no matter how awful her brothers were, they were still her mother’s sons. So, she said insincerely, "Mom, it was my fault for being so impulsive today. Thinking back, I really didn’t need to argue with them over an egg."

"Liar," Wen Xiu said, giving her a sideways glance. "That’s clearly not what you’re thinking."

"Mom—" Zhang Minzhen whined, tugging on Wen Xiu’s sleeve. "If you already knew, you could have just kept it to yourself. Why’d you have to call me out?"

"Heh, alright, don’t worry about it. Let them come tomorrow if they want. We just won’t see them. Starting tomorrow, we’ll have Nuannuan stay at her school for a few days, and we’ll just go live in the mountains with your dad and your brother for a while. They can come if they want; we’re done waiting on them. After a while, when they can’t find us, they’ll naturally give up."