I'm dressed up as the timid eldest daughter, and the whole family has to listen to me!

Chapter 282 At such a young age, he's already addicted to gambling.

Su Shiyan was overjoyed and excited to see Lianhua arrive, but seeing that she seemed to have been wronged, he felt uneasy and restless.

Now that Su Shiyan asked Lianhua what had happened, Lianhua was unwilling to tell him, which made Su Shiyan feel even worse. He also heard that Lianhua hadn't even eaten and was about to rush to Luojia Village. How could he let Lianhua go back alone in the middle of the night?

So Su Shiyan placed his bowl of poached eggs in front of Lianhua and stared at her, saying:

"No matter what, eat this egg first. You've walked such a long way, you must be exhausted. Let's not talk about anything else for now, eating is the most important thing."

Seeing this, Wang Guihua quickly got up and served Lianhua a bowl of porridge.

"Yes, Lianhua, just listen to Shi Yan. Food is the most important thing for people. How can you go on an empty stomach? Drink this porridge while it's hot to warm yourself up."

Seeing how sincerely Wang Guihua treated her, Lianhua felt a warmth in her heart. She thought to herself that if she were to marry into the family, she would definitely treat Wang Guihua, her mother-in-law, well.

Thinking this, Lianhua, with red eyes, accepted the porridge Wang Guihua offered and nodded.

"Thank you, Aunt Guihua. We're so sorry to bother you so late."

Wang Guihua smiled.

"Good child, there's no hurdle you can't overcome. Now that you're about to marry into our family, you can talk to Su Shiyan about anything. We're all family here."

Lianhua kept her head down, burying her face in the bowl, and ate the porridge in small sips. Tears fell into the bowl, and she didn't dare to look up at Wang Guihua's eyes, afraid that if she looked up and met Wang Guihua's concerned eyes, she would be unable to stop crying...

Su Shiyan looked at Lianhua's trembling shoulders and sighed helplessly. He knew that Lianhua was feeling sad and was silently shedding tears, but he couldn't say anything more at the moment. After all, Lianhua wouldn't tell him the story, and he shouldn't make any assumptions. So he just made sure Lianhua filled her stomach first, and then they could talk about these unpleasant things.

So Su Shiyan quickly picked up a piece of cured meat and placed it in the lotus-shaped bowl, saying softly:

"Lotus, try this cured meat my older sister cooked, it's delicious. Eat slowly, there's plenty here."

Lotus didn't even raise her head, just kept nodding and responding with "uh-huh".

Su Shiyan felt sorry for Lianhua seeing her like this, so he didn't eat much himself, focusing instead on feeding her, afraid that she would be too shy to take food and go hungry that night.

After seeing that Lianhua had finished the entire bowl of porridge, Su Shiyan handed her a steamed bun.

"Lotus, have another steamed bun. There's still plenty of food left."

Lianhua nudged Su Shiyan's hand a little shyly.

"No need, Brother Shiyan, I'm already full. You can keep the steamed buns."

Seeing this, Su Shiyan quickly stuffed the steamed bun back into Lianhua's hand and said:

"No, you have to eat this steamed bun. You're too thin and need to eat more to make up for it."

Seeing that she couldn't persuade Su Shiyan otherwise, Lianhua had no choice but to take the steamed bun and start eating again. In fact, Lianhua had been busy from morning till night all day and hadn't had time to eat at all. She had finally made it to evening and was hoping to have a meal with her parents and younger brother, but Aunt Luo kept nagging her and kicked her out of the house again...

Lotus was still hungry after finishing that bowl of porridge, but she felt embarrassed to eat too much at Su Shiyan's house, afraid that people would think she was ill-mannered, eating like a starving ghost at someone else's home.

But Su Shiyan told Lianhua to eat more, and Lianhua felt a warmth in her heart. She had hope for the future. As long as she could marry Su Shiyan in the future, she could live a good life. As long as she left Luo Family Village, she could survive...

After Lianhua finally finished eating a large steamed bun, Su Shiyan put down his chopsticks and looked at Lianhua nervously, asking:

"Lotus, are you full now?"

Lianhua smiled at Su Shiyan and nodded slightly.

"Thank you, Brother Shi Yan. I'm full now."

What Lianhua didn't say was that she hadn't had a proper meal in many days. Ever since her marriage to Su Shiyan was arranged, Aunt Luo had worried that if Lianhua left, there would be no one to help with the chores around the house. So she treated Lianhua like a free ox or horse.

Lianhua was busy every day, and when it was time to eat, her father would say that she was a money-losing girl and that it would be a waste for her to eat now, since she would still have to get married in the future and would be someone else's maid.

At first, Lianhua could endure it, pretending not to hear, and just kept eating. Later, her father complained that she ate too much and did too little. In short, he found fault with her in every way, not letting her have a peaceful meal.

Even today, Fu Bao has gambled away money and owes some cash. When he came back to ask Aunt Luo for money to pay it back, Aunt Luo scolded him and cried and wailed that she had no money and that Fu Bao was trying to force her to her death.

Not satisfied with just scolding Fu Bao, she turned around and started yelling at Lianhua, who was cooking over a fire. She cursed Lianhua with all sorts of vulgar language, from excrement to urine, from father to mother, forcing her to leave the house. Before leaving, she dumped a whole bucket of swill from the kitchen onto Lianhua.

Lotus was so aggrieved that she wanted to see Su Shiyan. She only wanted to see Su Shiyan tonight, even if she died tomorrow, it would be worth it.

Su Shiyan was worried that there were outsiders around, making Lianhua feel awkward and hesitant to speak freely. So he first saw Erzhuzi and the others off before sitting down next to Lianhua, taking her hand, and asking with concern:

"Lotus Girl, tell me the truth, has your younger brother bullied you again?"

When Lianhua saw Su Shiyan holding his hand, and looked up to meet Su Shiyan's concerned, prickly eyes, his nose tingled, and tears welled up in his eyes.

"Brother Shiyan, it's... Waaah... My brother has gambling debts, and my mother took it out on me. She beat and scolded me for a whole hour. I couldn't take it anymore, waaah... I couldn't take it anymore, so I thought I'd come see you. Just seeing you makes me feel at peace..."

Seeing Lianhua's pitiful state, Su Shiyan clenched his fists, inwardly cursing Fu Bao for being such a good-for-nothing, getting addicted to gambling at such a young age, and dragging Lianhua down with him and suffering the same scolding.

Seeing Lianhua crying so hard, Su Shiyan felt a pang of sadness himself. He immediately went over and hugged Lianhua tightly, patting her back to comfort her.

"Lotus, don't be afraid. Tomorrow I'll go back to Luo Family Village with you and give your good-for-nothing brother a good talking to, so your parents won't always take their anger out on you!"