Chapter 204: What a Sin
"Mom, you... you went next door to cause a scene?"
The neighbors were actually quite reasonable.
At the very least—as long as you didn’t bother them, they wouldn’t come looking for trouble.
"What do you mean, ’cause a scene’? It’s all because of you, you worthless wench! Why did you have to borrow money from them?" Mrs. Hao was filled with a rage she had nowhere to vent.
She had really gotten the short end of the stick today. She was so furious she could have died.
It wasn’t just her pride and her money that she’d lost.
Most importantly, she’d lost a front tooth.
Now she even whistled when she spoke!
How was she supposed to go out in public like this?
Cui Meihong was holding her child and didn’t dare talk back.
What if she accidentally hit Nannan’s face?
"You think the neighbors are so great? Hah. Are you grateful they lent you money? The moment you left, they came asking me for it."
Mrs. Hao kept her voice down as she cursed.
After all, only two walls separated the families, and they weren’t soundproof at all.
If that old bitch next door heard her, she’d probably storm right over!
Cui Meihong saw that her mother-in-law was on a roll with her cursing and showed no signs of stopping.
The child in her arms was getting scared, so she forced a smile. "—Mom, I’m going to take Nannan inside and put her down."
The moment she said this, Mrs. Hao grew even angrier.
Then she saw that the little girl’s face was smeared with some kind of green stuff.
"How much was this medicine? Give the rest of the money back to me."
"I spent two on it, so there are three left—"
"Give it to me, now. And give me the medicine, too."
Cui Meihong couldn’t quite understand her mother-in-law’s words.
Demanding money was one thing; that was just how her mother-in-law was.
But why take the ointment?
"Mom, the doctor said Nannan’s face needs this ointment for a while—or else she’ll have a scar."
"I told you to hand it over, so hand it over! Why are you spouting so much nonsense? And another thing, are you blind? Can’t you see how swollen my face is? Let me use this medicine—"
Seeing that she wasn’t moving, Mrs. Hao simply reached out and started searching her.
She then pulled the tube of ointment and the money out of Cui Meihong’s pocket.
Cui Meihong was stunned.
She grew frantic, especially when she saw her mother-in-law open the tube and squeeze out a huge glob.
"Mom, that’s for burns! It’s for Nannan! You can’t use it! For your face, I can boil a couple of eggs and roll them on it for you in a bit—"
She hadn’t been able to buy much in the first place.
The doctor had said the ointment was in limited supply. This was the last tube, and it would take some time to get more from the manufacturer.
At the time, she had secretly sighed at her own good luck.
That’s why this tube of ointment was so precious to her.
"Pah! What do you mean, I can’t use it? Isn’t it all medicine? Why can’t I use it? Or are you saying I’m not worthy of using it?"
"Mom, the doctor said this is the last tube of ointment. The hospital won’t have more for several days. Please let Nannan use this. Your face really doesn’t need it—"
When Mrs. Hao heard the words "doesn’t need it," she was so enraged she slapped her across the face.
"I’m not worthy of using it? Only that little brat is worthy, is that it? Today, I’ll show you—I’ll show you whether I’m worthy or not."
Furious, she squeezed out the entire tube of ointment and smeared it all over her own face.
When Cui Meihong saw her waste the ointment like that, squandering the entire tube, she almost fainted from anger.
She reached out to snatch it back.
This time, Mrs. Hao gave the empty tube back to her.
And wouldn’t you know it, after a whole day of pain, having this stuff smeared on her face—cool and soothing—actually felt quite nice.