Chapter 19: Rice Water
What could Liu say? She could only get to work in silence. She hadn’t cooked in two years, but thankfully, all she had to do was boil a pot of porridge and stir-fry a large pan of vegetables. It was simple enough.
Bai Erzhu stuffed the sixty-wen coins into his pouch and was about to head to his room for a nap. Just as he stepped out of the old matriarch’s room, he saw Doctor Lu enter their courtyard, carrying a medicine box on his back and holding several packets of herbs.
He hurried out to greet him. "Well, if it isn’t Doctor Lu! What brings you here today?"
Doctor Lu couldn’t stand lazy, silver-tongued men like Bai Erzhu. He shot him a glance and replied coolly, "I’m here to deliver medicine for Zhao Lan’s injuries. You weren’t home earlier, so you might not be aware, but your mother knows."
Bai Erzhu grunted. "They’re not here. Their house collapsed, so they went to stay at Hu Changlin’s place."
Doctor Lu glanced at the collapsed ruin of a house in the corner of the courtyard and sighed inwardly. "I see. I’ll go to the Hu family’s place to give her the medicine."
Hearing this, Bai Erzhu quickly blocked his path. "What’s the medicine for? Isn’t she all better? Medicine’s no use for a broken bone, anyway. The Bai Family doesn’t have the money to pay for her treatment. You should just take these herbs back."
Doctor Lu said, "This medicine has already been paid for. It’s for young Zhi. Have you seen her? With all those injuries, if she doesn’t take her medicine and her condition worsens tonight, don’t blame me for whatever happens."
Bai Erzhu’s mind flashed back to what had happened years ago. His father and third brother had fallen from the roof. They were spitting up blood, but they were still conscious at the time.
Doctor Lu had prescribed medicine and told them to go to town to have it filled. But they thought it was too expensive and kept putting it off. Who would have thought that a delay of just a few days would be enough to leave them critically ill?
Bai Erzhu’s heart ached at the thought of the two taels of silver for the doctor’s fee, but under Doctor Lu’s reproachful, mocking gaze, he didn’t dare say the words on the tip of his tongue. ’If Bai Zhi and Zhao Lan also die because the Bai Family was too cheap to buy medicine, Mom and Eldest Sister-in-law will both end up in jail. How would the Bai family ever go on after that?’
Bai Erzhu shut his mouth and said nothing more. He turned and went back into the house.
Doctor Lu shook his head, picked up his medicine box, and headed for Hu Changlin’s home.
The Bai family finally sat down to eat. The old matriarch frowned at the bowl of porridge before her. ’Is this porridge? This is just rice water.’
She shot Liu a sideways glare. In the past, her eldest daughter-in-law had always made sure to scoop the thickest part of the porridge for her. That was why she, the family elder, had always pretended not to notice when Liu showed favoritism to her own children at the table.
Liu didn’t dare meet the old matriarch’s displeased gaze, pretending she hadn’t seen a thing or sensed any of her dissatisfaction.
Ms. Zhang came from the back kitchen to the main hall, carrying her bowl. SLAM! She slammed it down on the table. "Eldest Sister-in-law, is this supposed to be porridge or rice water?"
Liu laughed nervously. "Of course, of course it’s porridge. It’s just a little thin."
Ms. Zhang glared at Liu, dissatisfied. "’A little thin?’ Why don’t you help me find a single grain of rice in this bowl?"
Liu quickly said, "You can’t blame me. My bowl is the same as yours; I didn’t take a single grain more. There’s hardly any rice left in the jar, so of course we have to ration it. Otherwise, in a few days, we won’t even have rice water to drink."
So that was the reason. The old matriarch’s cold, severe gaze softened a bit. She waved her hand. "Forget it. Eat up. We have work to do tomorrow." She then turned to her two daughters-in-law. "From now on, after the food is cooked, portion it out first. Divide the porridge and vegetables for each person individually, so we can avoid situations like this."