Spring River Chasing the Moon

When Luo Youyou woke up and opened his eyes, it was already pitch black outside the window, with only a hint of moonlight shining faintly through the window.

Luo Youyou heard some noise downstairs and guessed that Yang Qian must have returned home. It was so late but she didn't wake her up to eat, nor did she care about how her day was. It seemed that she was thinking the same as before, too lazy to take care of her and let her fend for herself.

In her previous life, when Luo Youyou was a child, she didn’t have any entertainment activities. She just stayed at Xiaomei’s, or Luo Luo’s, house every day, and the two kids played house.

The two families were separated by only a wall. As long as Yang Qian shouted in her yard to come home for dinner, Luo Youyou could hear it.

But Yang Qian would never do that, and she warned Luo Youyou many times that if she didn't show up at the table on time, she would be left hungry and no food would be left for her.

In order to eat on time, Luo Youyou either doesn't go out every day or goes out for a short while.

But children sometimes really get so engrossed in playing that they go past mealtimes and miss their meals.

In his previous life, Luo Youyou didn't understand and felt that he had done something wrong. He was also afraid of contradicting Yang Qian, so he just starved silently and would not tell others how Yang Qian treated him.

This time, he would never be manipulated or bullied by Yang Qian again.

Luo Youyou became excited when she thought about her parents coming home tomorrow. She really missed her parents.

-

The next day, before dawn, Luo Youyou woke up early, got up, washed up, and prepared to go to the village entrance to pick up his father Luo Zhong.

Because he had developed the habit of living in the army, Luo Zhong always took the earliest bus when he went home on leave, so that he could see his wife and daughter earlier.

Luo Zhong was walking towards the village entrance in an anxious pace. He saw his daughter sitting at the door of the grocery store at the village entrance from a distance. The small figure was sitting on the bench, looking very well-behaved. He was a little surprised and ran towards his daughter.

Luo Youyou kept her eyes on the road sign at the entrance of the village, and finally saw a car parked near the bridge at the entrance of the village. The moment it stopped, dust flew up on the ground. In the gray mist, Luo Youyou saw several middle-aged men getting out of the car, one of whom was someone she was very familiar with.

Her eyes couldn't help but turn red. That was her young father, her father who was still full of vigor and vitality, and her father who had not been exploited by that selfish woman.

When Luo Youyou was hesitating, the figure ran towards her.

Luo Youyou finally believed what he saw, stood up, and trotted over, shouting, "Dad, Dad."

Luo Zhong saw his daughter running towards him and quickly ran over to catch her. But he was worried that she would fall while running, so he shouted to her, "Run slower."

Then he quickened his pace.

Luo Youyou returned to her father's arms again. She was excited and happy, but also scared, afraid that this was just a dream.

"Dad, I miss you so much." Luo Youyou hugged Luo Zhong tightly, thinking of the days and nights after her death. Her father seemed to have aged dozens of years overnight. This honest and taciturn man became more and more silent. He had no enthusiasm in facing anyone and seemed to live like a walking corpse every day. But he had to cheer up because he still had to take care of his collapsed wife and support the so-called "mother and father".

He could have had a better life, but because of Yang Qian's selfishness, his father couldn't even see his biological parents. He also kidnapped his father in the name of "love" to make money to support her and his uncle's family. He stood on the moral high ground and constantly exploited his family.

Thinking of this, Luo Youyou hugged Luo Zhong even tighter, fearing that all this would turn into an illusory bubble again.

Luo Zhong felt something was wrong and discovered that his daughter was a little different when he returned home this time.

Normally when he came home, his daughter would not hug him so actively, and she had never been as intimate as she was today.

Because I am not someone who likes over-intimateness, my daughter is often told by her mother that her personality is too similar to hers.

Could something have happened at home? Luo Zhong couldn't help but wonder.

Picking up Luo Youyou, Luo Zhong touched her little face with his forehead and said, "Let's go home first. Daddy brought you a lot of delicious food this time."

Luo Youyou turned her head and leaned on Luo Zhong's shoulder, thinking about how her father always brought back a lot of food every time he came home. He was reluctant to eat it himself and specially left it for her. But it all went into Yang Qian's hands, and then to her uncle's family, and into her cousin Luo Xin's stomach. She rarely had the chance to eat it.

That woman Yang Qian even called it "Kong Rong giving away his pears". Luo Youyou has now figured out that there is no need to give or not give. It is a family that relies on give and take and reciprocity. What Yang Qian did was unilateral deprivation and deception.

……

When Luo Youyou and Luo Zhong returned to the yard together, Yang Qian was busy drying sweet potatoes at the door, while chatting about village gossip with Grandma Luo Luo across the low wall in the middle.

"Hey, Ah Zhong is home."

It was Grandma Luo Luo who first discovered the figures of the two people, one big and one small.

Luo Zhong smiled and nodded at Grandma Luo Luo, then called out to Yang Qian, "Mom, I'm back."

Yang Qian paused, then quickly put away her awkward expression and turned around. "Ah Zhong is back. Why are you a little late today? Were you delayed on the way?"

As she spoke, she realized that Luo Zhong was holding Luo Youyou. She pretended to be concerned and said, "Youyou, your dad just came home and is tired. You are still letting your dad hold you. Come down quickly and let your dad rest."

As he said this, he grabbed the luggage bag from Luo Zhong's hand and prepared to take it directly to his room.

"Dad, I'm hungry. I want to eat something delicious."

Of course Luo Youyou couldn't let Yang Qian succeed again, so she touched her flat belly and said.

"I haven't eaten yet. I didn't eat last night either. I'm so hungry."

Luo Youyou is a little impressed with herself. She has become more and more accustomed to pretending to be aggrieved these days. She can speak without any hesitation and her acting skills are becoming more and more superb.

As expected, Luo Zhong immediately became anxious, "How can you not eat? Why didn't you eat last night?"

Then he turned to look at Yang Qian, "Mom? How could you let Youyou not eat?" There was a hint of blame and disbelief in his tone.

Yang Qian was so angry that she was about to die because of this naughty girl Luo Youyou. She had been trying to sabotage her these past two days, but she had no choice. Although Luo Zhong was a person who listened to her very much, he would become uncontrollable once he encountered Luo Youyou's affairs, so she couldn't escalate the conflict with him.

She just wanted Luo Zhong's vacation to be over quickly, so that when she and Luo You were alone together, it would not be easy for her to deal with the little girl.

At this time, Yang Qian didn't know that all her plans were about to fail.

"Oh my, your daughter is so disobedient every day. I couldn't find her when I got home yesterday. I looked for her all over the village but couldn't find her either. I don't know where she went to play. I was too tired and fell asleep. I don't know what time she came home." Yang Qian felt that as long as she pushed all the problems onto Luo Youyou, she could get herself off the hook.

But this time, it's not so easy to get away with it.

The first person who couldn't stand it was Luo Luo's grandmother. "Yes, Grandma, if you say that, I have to say something to you. Your granddaughter is still disobedient. Where can you find such a well-behaved granddaughter?"

"Yesterday, when you were praying to Buddha, you asked me to take care of Youyou for lunch. She helped me run around, picking and washing vegetables. In the afternoon, she played in the room with our Xiaomei for a while, and then she went home by herself."

"I was in the yard all afternoon yesterday, and your daughter stayed in her room the whole time until you came home."

"Why, you two were in the same house and didn't notice each other?"

"If you're busy and can't take care of me, you should have told me earlier and I would have asked Youyou to have dinner with me."

With every word Grandma Luo Luo said, Yang Qian's face turned redder. She didn't expect Grandma Luo Luo to directly refute her, and she was speechless.

Luo Youyou felt the time had come, and whispered to Luo Zhong in a wronged tone, "Grandma said that if I didn't get to the kitchen at dinner time, she wouldn't cook for me. Dad, I didn't dare go out before dinner last night, so I just slept in my room and didn't go out to play."

Luo Zhong couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that his mother treated her child like this. But Youyou was still a child and would never lie.

"Mom, Youyou needs nutrition right now. You can't not cook for her. Besides, Youyou's health has been worse than other children since she was born, so you can't do this. Besides, I usually give you all my salary, just so that Youyou and I can have something good to eat at home."

Luo Zhong was angry, but he still didn't say anything harsh to Yang Qian. He felt that after all, it was Yang Qian who had been helping him take care of the children. Even if she had no credit, she had worked hard.

After hearing this, Yang Qian started to throw a tantrum, "Oh my god, my life is so hard. I worked so hard to raise several children, and now I am old and have to take care of your children and still be despised."

Luo Zhong is always the weaker party when facing his mother, because Yang Qian knows how to take advantage of his soft spot and pokes him with every word.

"I'm not denying her meals. I'm teaching her that she should come home when it's time for dinner and not play outside without anyone noticing and making me look for her everywhere."

"I was at the temple all day yesterday. Why? Just because I wanted you kids to be okay. When I got home, I called her a few times but she didn't respond. I thought she'd gone out again. I looked for her for a long time but couldn't find her. I figured she'd had a blast out there. But she's in the village anyway, so she'll be home by the time the time comes. Nothing serious will happen, so I went to sleep."

"God knows what I am doing. As her grandmother, can't I educate her?"

Yang Qian sat on the doorstep and cried at the top of her lungs.

In this way, Luo Zhong had no way to continue to refute.

He could understand some of Yang Qian's methods of educating her children. After all, her mother had only received a few years of education, and many families educated their children in this way.

But he couldn't accept it either. After all, Luo Youyou was his only child. Since she was born, he had held her in his hands, doted on her and loved her, hoping that she would grow up happily and safely.

Now, he couldn't even get enough to eat at his grandmother's house. For the first time, Luo Zhong had a subtle change in his attitude towards his mother.

However, because the incident happened suddenly, it was not convenient to argue at the doorstep. Luo Zhong cleared his throat and said to Yang Qian, "Mom, okay, let's go into the house and get Youyou something to eat."

After saying that, he took back his luggage to take home, walked into the room without looking back, and headed towards the kitchen.