Chapter 46
Summer.
No wind.
The sunlight was scorching.
Jiang Mianmian had been lounging and playing in the wooden tub under a large tree for a long while.
She played with her own feet, then played with Xiao Hei for a bit, watching Xiao Hei holding a large leaf and walking around, which made her giggle.
Then she observed her Elder Sister.
Her Elder brother was nowhere to be seen again.
Mom had also left.
Only Elder Sister was at home.
She wanted to see if drinking the spirit spring water had any effect on Elder Sister.
It seemed there was.
After Elder Sister fed her the rice porridge, she also had a meal.
Elder Sister was an invalid, so the food left for her today was quite thick.
But after eating, Elder Sister started searching everywhere for more food.
Jiang Mianmian saw Elder Sister first drooling at the birds on the tree, then she took off her embroidered shoes, climbed up the tree. She couldn't catch any birds, but picked a few leaves and jumped down.
"These leaves are thicker, they smell like they could be eaten," Jiang Yu muttered to herself.
She washed the leaves, then started chewing on them like a bamboo rat. Jiang Mianmian watched as the leaves rapidly shrank and disappeared...
Elder Sister's cheeks moved up and down.
Jiang Mianmian looked up at the sky helplessly.
This spirit spring water wasn't omnipotent...
It probably just boosted the skills they already possessed.
She was a baby, her senses were still developing, so drinking the spirit spring water greatly enhanced her senses.
But essentially she was still a baby, not suddenly grown up against the natural order.
As for Elder Sister though... seeing her round face scrunched up from chewing the leaves, yet she persisted in eating another leaf.
Wasn't she afraid they might be poisonous?
"Munch munch, munch munch."
"Munch munch, munch munch..."
Actually, watching the leaves disappear and listening to that sound was quite relaxing.
Elder Sister eating leaves was so adorable...
If Elder Sister lived in modern times, she could become an internet celebrity just by eating leaves, and never go hungry.
Jiang Mianmian watched Elder Sister enviously, bent over her own little feet and tried to bite them. They tasted a bit salty, so she spat it out in disgust.
Just as she was bored and hopeless, she seemed to smell Mom's scent.
"Wah wah wah!"
"Wah wah wah!"
Jiang Mianmian started calling out.
Jiang Yu saw what looked like Mom's figure in the distance at the village entrance.
Then looking at the wah-ing baby sister, it was simply amazing.
They say infants can sense their own mothers, from so far away, the baby sister knew Mom was coming back?
She reached out and patted the baby's bottom.
"Oh, wet." She'd peed.
Jiang Yu was a bit startled.
Jiang Yu had just finished changing the baby's diaper when Mom arrived at the doorway.
Mom seemed to be panting, her face flushed red.
Jiang Mianmian sniffed hard too.
Last time Mom killed such a huge python, she came back calm as ever, what did she do this time to be in such a hurry?
It didn't seem like there were any strange smells.
Wait, there was a faint smell of human blood?
No, it seemed like the smell of a child, did Mom have another child with her outside?
"Ah ah, ah ah!" (Hold me, hold me.) Jiang Mianmian waved her clenched fists.
Qin Luoxia washed up a bit, then picked up her daughter.
She lifted her clothes and breastfed her.
As Jiang Mianmian drank the milk contentedly, she felt something strange - Mom's heartbeat was much faster than usual.
Suddenly Mom buried her head against her body. Jiang Mianmian thought, Mom must really miss me since she's been away so long, she won't mind the smell of another child on her.
Qin Luoxia cried as she held her child.
She was very afraid.
She had done something bad.
A very bad thing.
She had originally planned to kill that child.
But when she got close, she couldn't bring herself to do it.
That one word "Mom", she couldn't bring herself to do it.
She thought about it for a long time, but couldn't bring herself to do it.
She only ripped off a piece of cloth from the chubby child's clothes, used it to wipe the child's nosebleed.
She brought that piece of cloth back with her.
That chubby child happily went off to play with his friends, still getting beaten.
She walked away with her basket.
She could hear the children's laughter echoing from the alley.
She returned to that earthen kiln.
Faint cries could occasionally be heard coming from inside the earthen kiln.
She lit a fire.
The earthen kiln was the root of all evil.
The idiot didn't understand anything, as long as his parents died, he would only have a long life of suffering ahead.
In this world, death is easier than living.
Qin Luoxia cried at her own weakness, cried for her child, and cried for herself.
But she was also a mother now, she couldn't cry.
She used to hate it intensely whenever her own mother cried.
Whenever her mother cried, she felt like dying together.
Don't cry, crying doesn't solve any problems.
So now that she was a mother, she absolutely couldn't cry, couldn't.
She had to smile, let the child see a smiling mother, don't let the child worry.
This world wasn't that bad.
Smile.
You still have Mom and Dad.
Don't be afraid.
Mom's tears fell silently, soaking Jiang Mianmian's swaddle.
Jiang Mianmian felt something was off only when her arm got wet.
She opened her mouth, pushed Mom away, and looked up at her.
But she saw a broad smile on Mom's round face, her eyes red and moist, thick brows arched.
"Did you eat enough, child? From now on, Mom will take you everywhere, Mom will never lose you again, and you'll never mistake Mom for someone else," Qin Luoxia said tremblingly in a gentle voice.
Jiang Mianmian waved her arms, reaching out to touch Mom's face, wiping it hard.
Mom had cried.
Jiang Mianmian's tears welled up instantly.
She couldn't stand seeing people cry.
When doing internships at the hospital, whenever she saw patients or their families cry, her eyes would quickly redden, and she had been reprimanded by her superiors a few times.
They said medical staff who cried at the drop of a hat would scare the patients, making them think they were going to die.
Even if it wasn't someone close crying, she couldn't help but tear up.
Let alone her own mother.
She wanted to shout, Mom, don't cry, don't cry.
But she was too upset to speak.
"Wah wah wah."
"Ah ah ah."
"Boo boo boo."
"Mom, Mom, Mom." Jiang Mianmian struggled to make those sounds.
Her hands wiped hard at Mom's face.
Qin Luoxia was overjoyed.
Her child could call her Mom now.
She could no longer hold back, even as tears streamed down, she smiled radiantly.
"Mom is here, Mom will always be here, don't be afraid, don't be scared."
...