Chapter 221: The Bed Collapsed
Chapter 221: Chapter 221: The Bed Collapsed
By the time Jiang Moli had put on her coat and opened the courtyard gate, she saw Lu Tingting being propped up by Song Ke on one side and Wu Meixia on the other.
Upon seeing her, Lu Tingting pushed Song Ke and Wu Meixia away and staggered toward her in a lunge.
Jiang Moli sidestepped in a flash.
Lu Tingting missed completely and face-planted onto the ground.
"Where’d she go? Where’d she go? Jiang Moli, where are you hiding? Come out!"
Watching Lu Tingting crawling on the ground like a dog, searching all over for her, Jiang Moli turned to Song Ke and Wu Meixia.
"How much did she drink?"
Song Ke quickly answered, "Not much, just two or three glasses."
"Beer?"
"S-spirits."
Feeling sheepish under Jiang Moli’s gaze, Song Ke quickly explained, "Tingting refused to go home and insisted on coming to find you, so we had no choice but to bring her here."
Wu Meixia added timidly, "It’s getting late. We should be heading back now."
"What’s the rush? Since you’re already here, come in and sit for a bit."
"There’s no need..."
Without taking no for an answer, Jiang Moli pulled them both inside.
It was late at night, and they had been drinking. Had she not known, it would have been one thing, but now that she did, she couldn’t just let them leave on their own.
Just then, An Hui, Lu Deyao, and Ma Hongmei also threw on some clothes and came out of the house.
"Tingting? What’s going on?"
"She drank too much."
Ma Hongmei and An Hui quickly helped Lu Tingting inside and got her settled.
Lu Deyao, meanwhile, finished getting dressed and personally walked Song Ke and Wu Meixia home.
One of them lived in the government agency’s family quarters, and the other in the post office’s. Neither was very far.
When Jiang Moli returned to the living room, Lu Tingting was being coaxed by An Hui to drink some honey water.
She sat down across from Lu Tingting.
Seeing her, Lu Tingting stopped drinking the water and started her drunken tirade, pointing at Jiang Moli. "Aren’t you so high and mighty at home? How come you turn into a scared turtle when you’re outside? You don’t even dare to make a peep when people bully you. You’re a disgrace to the Lu Family!"
An Hui and Ma Hongmei were completely baffled.
"What is Tingting talking about?"
Jiang Moli shrugged. "No idea."
She moved to sit beside Lu Tingting, trying to get more out of her. "Who bullied me? Go on, tell me."
Lu Tingting glared at her and let out a loud, drunken burp as soon as she opened her mouth.
"I ran into some people from your performance troupe while I was out eating. A few of those bitches were gathered together, talking trash about you. All you know is how to bully me. Go take them on!"
Amused, Jiang Moli patted her cheek. "My dear niece, are you worried about your Third Aunt?"
Lu Tingting huffily slapped her hand away. "I’m not worried about you! I’m just afraid you’ll embarrass Third Uncle and Grandma and Grandpa!"
Jiang Moli couldn’t be bothered to waste words on a drunkard. "Get up. I’m taking you home."
Lu Tingting turned and clung to An Hui’s arm. "I don’t want to go back! I’m sleeping with Grandma tonight!"
"If you sleep with Grandma, where will Grandpa sleep?"
Lu Tingting thought for a moment. "Grandpa can sleep with Grand-aunt."
A shocked Ma Hongmei gave her a light swat. "Don’t you dare talk such nonsense!"
Lu Tingting clutched the spot where she was hit, her eyes welling with aggrieved tears. "Grand-aunt, you hit me? Don’t you love me anymore? Are you just like Grandma, only loving Jiang Moli now? WAHHH, none of you love me anymore..."
Seeing her crying so pitifully, Ma Hongmei’s heart ached.
She had watched Lu Tingting grow up; the girl was no different from her own granddaughter.
She quickly used her somewhat rough fingers to wipe away the tears. "Don’t cry, don’t cry. Grand-aunt loves you the most."
Lu Tingting looked up with her tear-streaked face. "Then do you love me more, or Jiang Moli more?"
"I love you the most."
"That’s more like it."
Tired of listening to the drunkard’s antics, Jiang Moli got up and headed back to her room.
Seeing her leave, Lu Tingting also got up and swayed unsteadily after her.
"Hey, I have something to ask you. Where did you buy that gray woolen coat?"
Jiang Moli glanced at her. "Didn’t you say it was ugly?"
Lu Tingting pouted. "It’s not ugly. It’s pretty! It looks amazing on you!"
Seeing her flushed cheeks and her proud yet awkward expression, Jiang Moli found her surprisingly cute.
Jiang Moli reached out and pinched her cheek. "Be good. Go ask your Third Uncle. He’s the one who bought it."
The drunken Lu Tingting was much more docile than usual. She let her face be pinched without blowing up, merely mumbling:
"Third Uncle would never buy me clothes. He only has eyes for you, his wife! What about the sweater? The pink one."
"Your grandma knitted it."
Upon hearing this, Lu Tingting immediately looked at An Hui, who had just followed them into the room:
"You knitted a sweater for Third Aunt, but you didn’t knit one for me?!"
Looking at her granddaughter vying for attention, An Hui was exasperated. "I’ll knit it. I’ll start knitting one for you tomorrow."
"I want one just like Third Aunt’s! A pink one!"
Ma Hongmei, who had entered after them, stated frankly, "Your complexion isn’t as fair as your Third Aunt’s. Pink won’t look good on you."
Lu Tingting was so angry she rolled her eyes back and dramatically flopped onto Jiang Moli’s bed.
An Hui and Ma Hongmei tried calling out to her for a while, but couldn’t wake her up.
An Hui had no choice but to discuss it with Jiang Moli. "It’s so late, and it’s cold outside. Can you let Tingting just make do and sleep in your room for the night?"
Jiang Moli nudged Lu Tingting with her foot a few times. Seeing that she was sleeping like a log, she agreed.
So as not to disturb Jiang Moli’s rest, An Hui moved Lu Tingting to one side of the bed and helped take off her clothes, pants, shoes, and socks.
Ma Hongmei then brought a basin of hot water and helped wipe Lu Tingting’s face and hands clean.
After they finished, they tucked Lu Tingting in before heading back to their own rooms.
After washing up, Jiang Moli returned to her room, lay down on the other side of the bed, read for a while, then turned off the light and went to sleep.
「The next morning.」
Jiang Moli was jolted awake by a feeling of suffocation.
She opened her eyes to see one of Lu Tingting’s legs lying across her chest.
She lifted her foot and gave her a swift kick.
Lu Tingting went tumbling off the bed with a miserable shriek.
Ignoring whether she was dead or alive, Jiang Moli rolled over and went back to sleep.
Lu Tingting climbed up from the floor with a bird’s nest of hair on her head. Seeing Jiang Moli’s back turned to her, she stared in a daze for two seconds before leaping onto the bed.
"Get up! Was it you who kicked me off the bed just now?"
Jiang Moli lifted her leg and gave another shove.
Caught off guard, Lu Tingting took the kick right to her face.
"AH! Jiang Moli, you damn woman, you kicked my nose!"
"If you’re awake, then get the hell out. Bother me again and I’ll beat you to death."
"I won’t get out! Come and beat me, then! You think I’m afraid of you?!"
Jiang Moli raised her foot, intending to kick her off the bed again.
Having learned her lesson, Lu Tingting used her own body to pin down Jiang Moli’s leg.
Jiang Moli sat up and grabbed a handful of Lu Tingting’s hair.
Lu Tingting bared her teeth and bit down on Jiang Moli’s thigh.
And just like that, the aunt and niece started going at it on the bed.
CRASH! The bed collapsed.
「At the breakfast table.」
An Hui glanced at Jiang Moli sipping her congee delicately, then at her granddaughter devouring a meat bun, and said irritably:
"Causing such a ruckus first thing in the morning. You even broke the bed. Aren’t you afraid of becoming a laughingstock?"
Lu Deyao, ever the good-tempered one, said, "It’s just a broken bed leg. We can just find a carpenter to come and fix it."
Jiang Moli pointed at Lu Tingting. "She’s paying for the repairs."
Lu Tingting, one cheek puffed out, glared at her. "Why should I have to pay?"
"You’re the one who broke it. If you don’t pay to fix it, who will?"
"Who told you to kick me off the bed? If anyone’s paying, we should split it fifty-fifty!"
The bickering was giving An Hui a headache. She slapped the table and said, "Stop arguing! I’ll pay for the repairs. Now both of you just eat quietly. Finish up and get out of the house!"