Chapter 7: Tipping Over the Table

Chapter 7: Tipping Over the Table

Su An returned to the Su family, but not because she loved them so much.

She admitted that she came back to stir up trouble for the Su family. But she didn’t have the ability to rebel just yet, so she needed to lie low for now.

Ever since her outburst at the dinner table, Ji Qingqing had started giving special treatment to her own family, keeping the best dishes off the table. The three of them would secretly stew food to eat in hiding.

One morning, Su An came back from outside and, seeing Su Lei’s glossy, oil-streaked lips, she pretty much understood what was going on. She went into the kitchen and, sure enough, there was a stew on the coal stove.

Without any hesitation, Su An took it back to her room, locked the door, lifted the lid, and saw that there was still more than half a pot of pork rib and mushroom soup left.

It was probably left there on purpose. There were still quite a few ribs, and a layer of golden oil floated on the surface of the soup, giving off a rich, savory aroma.

Su An didn’t bother with a bowl and directly used the spoon inside to scoop and eat.

Having run hungry in the park, she finished off the half pot of pork rib and mushroom soup in no time.

She tossed the pot back into the kitchen, returned to her room, and promptly fell asleep.

After sleeping for an hour, she heard the sounds outside and figured it was time to set the table for a meal.

Su An opened the door and walked out, sitting at the table. Ji Qingqing’s face darkened.

With a sarcastic tone, she said, “Su An, you’re home today? I’ve been helping your aunt make pickles all morning and rushed back to cook. I didn’t have time to make any proper dishes. If I had known you were home, I wouldn’t have rushed to stir-fry some spicy cabbage.”

Su Jianjun gave her a cold look. “Which family’s grown-up daughter is always idle like this? From this afternoon onwards, you’re to stay at home and not go anywhere. Later, let your mom get some cartons for you to glue. Earning even a penny is still a penny.”

“I don’t have time for that. Let whoever wants to glue do it,” Su An said, quickly picking some spicy cabbage with her chopsticks to go with her rice.

Seeing that Su An was completely unresponsive, Su Jianjun became furious and swung a chopstick at her head.

“If you don’t glue cartons, don’t eat then!”

Su An dodged, stood up, and quickly shoveled the rice from her bowl into her mouth.

Su Jianjun stood up and snatched the bowl from her. Su An flung her chopsticks and, with a swoosh, knocked over the dining table.

“If I can’t eat, neither will you!” she said. “Who would want to eat this rotten cabbage anyway?”

“Ahhhh!” Ji Qingqing stepped back, looking at the mess, and started cursing.

“Su An, your father worked all morning and hasn’t eaten yet, and you flipped the table! You’ll be struck by lightning! If you have any grudge against me, come at me! Don’t ruin your father!”

Hearing Ji Qingqing’s dramatic and exaggerated words, Su Jianjun lowered his head and picked up a stool.

“I’ll beat you senseless, you ungrateful brat!”

Seeing this, Su An turned and ran.

After all, she had just eaten half a pot of pork rib and mushroom soup and wasn’t hungry anyway.

After leaving the alley, she went to the bank to open a savings account and deposited the gift money she had taken from Xiao Jiliang. It totaled 468 yuan; she deposited 400 yuan and kept 68 yuan with her.

Can you believe that when I got married, I didn’t have a dime to my name? Meanwhile, her brother, who worked in the coal mines, had to send 50 yuan home every month to support his sister and pay for her education.

After securing the savings passbook, she left. Then, she boarded the bus to Wuzhen.

Su An and Su Ping were siblings from the same mother. When Su Jianjun was sent to the countryside, unable to bear the hard life, he married Wang Xiao Cui, the daughter of Captain Wang Zhenguo.

Thanks to Wang Zhenguo's help, Su Jianjun was able to survive the years of scarcity and hunger, waiting until the national college entrance examinations were reinstated.

After the exams, like most people, he abandoned his wife and children and returned to the city.

Unwilling to accept this, Wang Xiaocui took her two children and went looking for him.

She arrived just in time to witness Ji Qingqing and Su Jianjun sharing a tender and affectionate moment.

Ji Qingqing was an old acquaintance of Su Jianjun; they had grown up on the same street.

During the earlier wave of sent-down youth, when young people were forced to move to rural areas for re-education, Ji Qingqing, in order to avoid being sent down, had gritted her teeth and married Director Guan Chundong, who was more than a decade older and worked at the ceramics factory.

A few years ago, Director Guan passed away in an accident, leaving Ji Qingqing and her twelve-year-old daughter Guan Jiao. She was forced out of her late husband's home by his sons' wives and returned to her family home.

Back at her family home, she faced hostility from her brother and sister-in-law. Just when life was becoming unbearable, Su Jianjun returned to the city.

Their reunion, combined with Ji Qingqing's advances, reignited their old feelings, leading to a passionate but secretive affair.

Wang Xiaocui, a rural woman, arrived in the city with two small children, unfamiliar with the place. After enduring two months with the Su family, she was emotionally and physically drained, and eventually returned to the countryside.

Compared to Ji Qingqing, who had a job at the ceramics factory, Wang Xiaocui, a jobless rural woman, couldn't measure up in Lin Zhaodi's eyes.

No matter how hard Wang Xiaocui tried to win her favor, Lin Zhaodi remained cold and critical, treating her with open disdain.

Ji Qingqing openly moved into the household and publicly displayed her affection for Su Jianjun right in front of Wang Xiaocui.

Ultimately, Wang Xiaocui managed to secure a promise from the Su family to care for her children before signing the divorce papers and returning to the countryside alone.

At that time, Su Ping was already 15, and Su An was 13. Wang Xiaocui didn't want to leave her children behind, but there was no way she could take them with her.

The Su family wouldn't let two children, who were about to grow up and earn money and bride prices, leave with her.

Moreover, both Su Ping and Su An were still in school, and Lin Zhaodi and Su Jianjun treated the children decently enough.

Considering the disparities between life in the countryside and the city, and thinking about the future prospects of her children, Wang Xiaocui decided to leave Su Ping and Su An with the Su family.

However, she didn't foresee that everything would change once Ji Qingqing entered the household pregnant. After giving birth to Su Lei, Su Ping and Su An became even less valued.

As soon as Su Ping graduated from junior high, he was sent to work in a mine in Wuzhen. He sent 50 yuan of his 60-yuan monthly salary back home to support his sister and pay for her education.

Unbeknownst to Su Ping, the money he sent home was never used to support his sister, and Su An's school spot was taken by Su Jiao.

Afterward, Su Jianjun and Ji Qingqing used various excuses—saving for Su Ping's future bride price, family emergencies, and their own ailments—to exploit Su Ping.

Later, when Su Lei was diagnosed with uremia, the entire Su family morally coerced Su Ping into donating a kidney. After the surgery, before he had even fully recovered, Su Ping was sent back to the mine to work, with the reason being to repay the family's massive debts.

In this way, Su Ping, who had been as strong as an ox, died in the mine before he was thirty.

Ironically, the Su family profited from Su Ping's death, using the compensation to build a two-story house and live comfortably, while he died penniless and broken.