CHAPTER 147: CHAPTER 147: THE FIRST TO BE ABANDONED

After the car started, Lyu Dacheng looked at the Third Brother still standing at the factory gate, feeling somewhat sympathetic.

Their mother was indeed formidable; besides not letting them go hungry, she also managed to calculate against the Third Sister-in-law. Just watch, Yao Hui will have it coming.

*

Meanwhile, the He Family was not at peace either.

After Mother He and the Second Sister-in-law He arrived at the security department of the Mechanical Factory, they found out that He Jinxuan had just left work and returned to the family quarters.

When the two arrived at the family quarters, He Jinxuan and the two children had just finished eating.

The Second Sister-in-law He exclaimed, "Jinxuan, we’re exhausted. Do you have anything to eat? Mom and I haven’t had lunch yet?"

He Jinxuan directly brought over the steamed buns that Xinyan had made earlier: "Make do with these; there’s nothing else at home."

The Second Sister-in-law He, Gao Yumei, expressed disbelief: "Jinxuan, we came to see you, and you just give us this to eat?"

He Jinxuan replied indifferently, "You choose to come see me during mealtime, you really know how to pick your timing. Besides, you come to see me empty-handed?"

Mother He, Zhang Guizhi, felt a bit embarrassed. Originally, she planned to buy some pastries because she hadn’t helped take care of the two children and needed to make up for it, but the Second Sister-in-law stopped her: "Mom, Jinxuan earns a high salary, supporting two kids isn’t hard for her. Unlike us, even together our salaries don’t add up to what Jinxuan makes."

She forcibly stopped her from buying and even said: "Mom, Jinxuan is filial and won’t mind these things."

Now hearing what the third son said, Mother He’s embarrassment was evident.

The Second Sister-in-law He, Gao Yumei, explained with a smile: "There was something urgent at work, so I couldn’t take the morning off. We rushed over here the minute we finished, so we didn’t have time to buy anything for the two kids."

Saying this, she pulled out a dollar from her pocket: "Here, take this money, and buy the kids something to eat later."

He Jinxuan was surprised that the usually stingy Second Sister-in-law could be so generous as to take out a dollar, and couldn’t help but question it in her mind.

Ye Silai and Ye Siyan did not have a great impression of this maternal aunt, so after greeting her, they pulled their brother out into the yard.

He knew the He Family didn’t like them, so he didn’t want to be around them.

He Jinxuan glanced at her mom: "Mom, is there something you want this time?"

Mother He looked at this son who wasn’t very close to her: "Nothing much; your dad was worried about your leg injury and asked me to come see you."

He Jinxuan nodded: "My leg is fine now. I just got out of the hospital and worked for a few days. You don’t need to worry."

He finished speaking and looked at the watch on his wrist: "I can chat with you for another twenty minutes. Then I must get back to work."

Back then, there were many children in the family. He had two older brothers above and a younger sister and brother below, which made him the least favored being stuck in the middle.

When he was six, the country faced a massive drought-induced crop failure, resulting in famine. Coincidentally, his little brother was born that year. Their grandmother, still alive then, made the decision to abandon him first, to allow the little grandson and the entire household to survive.

At that time, Big Brother was twelve and Second Brother was ten, already able to help with household chores, so the family couldn’t bear to part with them. The sister was only three that year, the only girl in the family, and they couldn’t bear to let go of her either. The little brother was just born and still in need of care, leaving him, at six, as the most dispensable member of the family.

So their grandmother found a family through an acquaintance, and arranged for him to become a live-in adopted son-in-law there, in exchange for ten yuan and a hundred pounds of coarse grain.