Although she didn't drink the pesticide directly, 1605 was a highly toxic pesticide. Even taking a sip of the water used to rinse the bottle was enough to make someone suffer.
Lin Lan only felt dizzy and had ringing in her ears, feeling constantly nauseous. She prayed that her liver, kidneys, nerves, or anything else hadn't been poisoned and damaged.
After lying down for a long time, she felt less uncomfortable and wanted to get up and move around.
The room was narrow and dark. She almost tripped when she got off the bed. Seeing that the torn straw curtain blocked the room, making it dark and unventilated, she yanked it down.
Xiaowang on the kang thought she was going to lose her temper again and shrank into the corner in fear.
Lin Lan strolled two steps, feeling a tightness in her chest and shortness of breath. She wanted to drink some water, only to remember that the earthen jar and bowls had all been smashed by the original owner.
She wanted to go to the main room to pour some water to drink, but her whole body lacked strength, so she had to go back and sit on the kang.
At this time, Erwang returned. He placed a leaf-wrapped package on the kang, which contained a few pieces of burnt fish and two cicada nymphs.
Erwang smiled playfully. "Niang, Sanwang ate all the fish. I couldn't bear to eat it, so I saved it for you."
Lin Lan knew perfectly well what was going on. She glanced at him. "Erwang, your die is not at home, and it's not easy for us to get by. Eating more or less doesn't matter, but you can't lie and play tricks with niang."
Erwang smiled and said, "Niang, don't worry, I never lie to you."
Lin Lan then asked him to go pour her a bowl of water to drink.
Soon, Erwang sneaked back with the water and whispered, "Niang, it's terrible, yeye and mama are hiding in the room having a meeting to deal with you."
Earlier, Lin Lan had vaguely heard voices coming from the main house, mixed with the old lady's scolding, and guessed they were discussing how to deal with the original owner.
She took the bowl and found the rim was sticky, immediately feeling a bit nauseous. When she brought it to her mouth, she smelled a strange odor coming from the water, making her even less inclined to drink it.
Logically speaking, there was rarely any oil or fat in the family's meals. Even without dish soap, this bowl shouldn't be this dirty.
She endured the nausea and took a sip, thinking to herself that when she took charge of the household in the future, she must clean everything up spotlessly and absolutely could not allow such filth.
"Did your mama say she wants to drive me back to my niangjia?"
Erwang asked in surprise, "Niang, how did you know?"
They couldn't hear what was being said from here.
Lin Lan snorted. "I guessed as much."
Erwang looked at her, thinking that in the next moment his niang would roll up her sleeves, howl, and charge over to smash everything to pieces. He subconsciously dodged to the side to avoid being caught in the crossfire.
Who knew that Lin Lan didn't move. She put down the bowl and asked, "Where is Sanwang?"
"He slacked off after cutting grass and went swimming in the river again. Niang, when he comes back, I'll teach him a lesson for you." Erwang put on the airs of an older brother.
Lin Lan glanced at him. "Go to the main room and listen to what they are saying, then come back and tell me."
Erwang immediately went out. Xiaowang in the corner crawled forward. "... drive to Lin family, split the family."
Lin Lan looked at him curiously, only then remembering that although Xiaowang had amblyopia, his hearing was better than ordinary people's. It was just that later, as the original owner became increasingly twisted, taking her anger out on him and despising him, he became severely autistic.
At this time, he was still considered a normal child, just a bit late in speaking.
Because the other children called him a little blind boy and a little fool, he became even less inclined to speak. With no one to protect him, he naturally became increasingly withdrawn.
Lin Lan waved at him. Xiaowang didn't react, so she had to say, "Xiaowang, come here."
Xiaowang crawled to her side.
Lin Lan coaxed him softly, "What did you hear them say? Tell niang properly."
At first, Xiaowang could only say a few words and phrases, but under Lin Lan's guidance, he slowly managed to speak complete sentences.
Through Xiaowang's fragmented vocabulary, Lin Lan managed to guess most of it.
After a while, Erwang came back to report, further confirming Lin Lan's guess.
Sure enough, the old lady first said she wanted her son to come back and divorce his wife, and she had already sent a telegram to Han Qingsong. Old Man Han, however, disagreed, feeling that they couldn't be so heartless to their in-laws of many years; it wouldn't look good and would be shameful. Then he said he supported splitting the family. It seemed that dage and dasao's family agreed to split the family; after all, the fuqi were the main labor force in the family and did the most tiring work. But erge and ersao disagreed, probably because they wanted to spend Han Qingsong's money while also making dage and dasao do more work so they could relax.
"My mama's intention is that she will keep my die's allowance and not give a single wen to niang, and she even wants niang to take us and split off. She said apart from grain rations, there's nothing else, and we'll have to earn work points to eat in the future." Erwang said indignantly, "Niang, how can they be so black-hearted? They take die's allowance and don't give it to you, and they still want us to earn work points to eat ourselves. Dabo and erbo are both earning work points at home, why don't they go out and earn money to spend?"
Lin Lan signaled him to stay calm. "We'll talk about it in a few days when your die comes back."
Erwang looked at her in surprise. His niang actually wasn't going to make a fuss? Mama and the others all said they were going to drive her out, why wasn't she going to fight?
"Niang, they want to drive us out!"
Lin Lan: "I know, I won't let them succeed."
Splitting the family was fine, but it had to be done properly. How could they keep the money earned by the third branch but drive out the third branch's laopo and children?
In their dreams!
Erwang stared at Lin Lan as if he didn't recognize her.
Lin Lan, however, patted Xiaowang, smiled approvingly, and praised him, "Xiaowang is so awesome! What you said just now is almost the same as what your brother said."
Niang was praising him!
Praising him just like she praised his sister and brother!
Xiaowang tilted his head up and stared at her with wide eyes, trying hard to see his niang's face clearly.
Seeing the child so excited that he looked like he was going to faint, Lin Lan quickly patted his head again. He seemed to like her touch very much, rubbing his furry head against her palm like a sunflower seeking the sun.
Inexplicably, Lin Lan had a sense of déjà vu of petting a cat, which scared her into quickly pulling her hand back.
Xiaowang sensed his niang's disgust, and the light in his eyes dimmed again as his whole body shrank back.
Lin Lan inexplicably felt a sour ache in her heart. Actually unable to bear it, she smiled, cupped his little face, and turned him toward the window, signaling him to go there and eavesdrop.
Xiaowang thought his niang was playing a game with him, and he was so happy that his eyes seemed to catch fire.
He quickly crawled off the kang. Although his eyesight was poor, he was very familiar with his surroundings and didn't bump into anything. He stepped on a small wooden stump stool to eavesdrop from the window.
Erwang was dumbfounded. What was wrong with his niang?
Although he found it strange, he didn't want to fall behind, so he ran out to eavesdrop again.
Just now, his niang actually praised the little fool and didn't praise him for speaking well. He couldn't fall behind.
Lin Lan held Xiaowang and listened for a while, and even someone as zen as her started to feel angry. Han-laotaitai was really something. It was wrong for the original owner to easily make a fuss and threaten suicide, but the old lady wasn't much better. If she didn't rely on being an elder whom the children in the family respected, she would probably be on par with the original owner.
Not to mention anything else, just take the money Han Qingsong earned. The old lady only spent it on her youngest son and youngest daughter. They were clearly the children of poor and lower-middle peasants, but she insisted on treating them like the young master and young miss of a landlord's family, either eating at restaurants or buying this and that. Yet the children in the family couldn't go to school at such a young age and had to go cut grass, pick up manure, and follow the adults to the fields to earn work points. Each one was dark and thin. Even she, who didn't like children, felt uncomfortable seeing this.
No matter how bad the original owner was, could she not feel heartache for her own children? Of course she wanted money to improve her children's lives.
She immediately had an idea, leaned close to Xiaowang's ear, and whispered a few words. "Remembered?"
Xiaowang nodded. "Niang, re-mem-bered."
Lin Lan carried him down. "Go when they leave." She casually took out the thumb-thick wooden stick from the base of the wall.
Seeing this, Xiaowang was so scared that he immediately hid in the corner, thinking his niang was going to hit him again.
Lin Lan hurriedly said, "Xiaowang, niang is giving this to you as a walking stick. If you hold it while walking, you won't bump into things."
Xiaowang's eyesight was poor, and staying cooped up in the room all day was not a solution. She couldn't keep an eye on him every moment in the future, so she definitely had to train his ability to walk on his own.
If she had money, she would first take Xiaowang to get his eyes checked and treated early; maybe it could be cured to some extent.
Only then did Xiaowang smile. "Niang, okay." He gripped the wooden stick and fumbled his way out.
Lin Lan called Erwang back again and gave him a few instructions.
Erwang hesitated. "Niang, it's pasted right at the head of my mama's kang. Won't she notice if I take it?"
Lin Lan said, "After we split the family, don't you want to follow niang? Do you want to follow your mama?"
Erwang immediately shook his head. "Of course I'll follow niang. My dage will definitely follow mama and not want niang, but I'm not like that."
Lin Lan said, "Your dage won't abandon niang either. Your dage is a man; after splitting the family, he'll know even better to protect niang and you all. Go on."
After the meeting in the main house ended, when the men went out and the women were cooking at home, Erwang and Xiaowang went to the main house according to Lin Lan's instructions.
Han-ersao and the old lady went to the vegetable garden, and Han-dasao was cooking. There were many children in the family, and as long as they were watched so they didn't bump or fall, it was fine, so she didn't manage them much.
Soon, Erwang returned to the east wing with an item and handed it to Lin Lan. "Niang!"
This was Lin Lan and Han Qingsong's marriage certificate. It looked very much like a primary school student's certificate of merit, with a one-inch bareheaded photo of the two of them pasted on it.
The Lin Lan in the photo was youthful and pretty, her gaze somewhat shy yet somewhat bold. The Han Qingsong next to her was in military uniform, sitting upright and looking handsome. They could be considered a good match.
It was just that there were a few small holes in Lin Lan's photo, looking as if they had been pricked by a needle.
Originally, it would have been fine for each couple to keep their own marriage certificate, but Han-laotaitai insisted on pasting all her sons' marriage certificates in her own room, saying they looked like paintings and were pretty.
Looking at it this way, it seemed more like she was imitating Rong Momo.
Lin Lan rolled up the marriage certificate and smiled. "Erwang, niang promises you, after we split the family, niang will definitely lead you all to live a good life, letting you eat white flour, eat meat, eat candy, and go to school!"
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