TFWYH – Chapter 8 Comforting Mother and Child

After scolding that mother-in-law and daughter-in-law duo, Tang Wan finally came over to the mother and her two children. Ignoring their stunned expressions, she helped Mrs. Jiang and Ling Yue up.

Then she took out the candied hawthorns she had bought and handed them to Ling Yue and the still-shell-shocked Ling Chen!

Kids, after all—give them something sweet, and they stop crying!

Ling Chen stared at the candied hawthorn, teardrops still hanging from the corners of his eyes, but his little face was full of longing, instantly forgetting what had just happened.

Ling Yue, however, wasn’t as quick to let it go. She immediately burst into tears with a loud wail.

Tang Wan panicked a bit. She shook the candied hawthorn in front of Ling Yue for a long time before finally squeezing out a line: “It’s sweet… try it.”

“Big sister-in-law, big sister-in-law, they bullied Mom!” Ling Yue finally acted like a real child, sobbing uncontrollably.

Tang Wan panicked even more. She kept shaking the candied hawthorn in her hand, her brow furrowed tightly, and after a long pause she finally muttered, “I’m here. I’ll protect you!”

Ling Yue cried even harder!

Tang Wan: …
Kids are really hard to deal with!

By the time Ling Yue finished crying, half a ke (roughly 7 minutes) had passed.

The siblings were now sitting side by side, each holding a candied hawthorn and licking it happily.

Tang Wan helped Mrs. Jiang sit down nearby, shoved a candied hawthorn into her hand, and then began checking her injuries.

Mrs. Jiang: I didn’t expect I’d get one too!

“Wan Niang, I’m fine. Go check on Yu’er. I think I heard some noise from inside just now.”

“Okay!”

Tang Wan responded, but still insisted on checking her. Seeing that it was just some surface bruises, she then picked up the last candied hawthorn and entered the house.

Inside, Ling Yu had already heard the commotion outside and wanted to help, but with his leg injury, he couldn’t even walk out of the small room, let alone be of any help.

Just then, Tang Wan came in and saw Ling Yu lying on the ground.

Ling Yu glared at her fiercely like a little wolf cub cornered with nowhere to go—hostile, but his claws had been cut off, his fangs pulled out, and he had no intimidation left.

Tang Wan frowned slightly, walked over to him, and under his murderous stare, shoved the candied hawthorn into his hand. Then she picked him up and gently placed him back onto the bed.

As soon as he was back in bed, Ling Yu turned his head away and shut his eyes, clearly showing his disdain for her.

Tang Wan stared at his back thoughtfully, hesitated, and finally couldn’t help herself: “Do you know the UN Citizen Code of Conduct?”

Back when she was 0527, the first human she saw upon opening her eyes was Dr. X.

Dr. X created her, knew she had consciousness, and tirelessly taught her the laws and codes humans had to follow.

If Ling Yu were Dr. X, he’d definitely understand what she was talking about.

But… Ling Yu completely ignored her, as if she didn’t even exist.

Tang Wan tilted her head, eyes full of confusion.

She could feel that Ling Yu didn’t like her. That made her uncomfortable—her heart felt like it was being squeezed and twisted, not exactly painful, but unpleasant… oh, right, this was the emotion the doctor once described—distress.

Huh?

Was she capable of feeling distress?

This realization surprised Tang Wan. She felt both distressed and thrilled. The combination of emotions was intense—bittersweet, like an emotional rollercoaster.

She didn’t yet realize this was a lingering emotion from the original Tang Wan.

She could feel that she wanted to get closer to the man on the bed, but based on the original host’s experience, if she did, he would just give her that disgusted look again.

She didn’t want to see that expression.

Tang Wan hesitated for a moment, then followed the original host’s usual method of dealing with things and quietly retreated from the room.

After she left, Ling Yu slowly opened his eyes and stared curiously at the candied hawthorn in his hand.

Outside, Mrs. Jiang and her daughter had already begun preparing lunch.

As for the things Tang Wan brought back, the three of them didn’t dare touch them.

Tang Wan brought the rice, flour, and grains to Mrs. Jiang, handed out the new clothes to each of them, and finally held out a piece of meat to Mrs. Jiang, looking at her eagerly.

Her eyes clearly said three words: I want to eat!

The mother and her two children were stunned by all the things Tang Wan had brought back.

Ling Chen was still young, and kids his age didn’t hold grudges for long. Tang Wan hadn’t hit him these past few days; she’d even given him meat, bought him candied hawthorn, and drove away the mean grandma who bullied them. Now there were even new clothes.

His courage gradually grew, and he started to feel closer to Tang Wan.

“Thank you, big sister-in-law!” he ran up to her with the clothes, looked up at her with his rosy cheeks, and even had two little tufts of hair sticking up on his head.

Tang Wan rubbed her fingers, but couldn’t help herself—she reached out and smoothed down his two tufts: “You’re welcome!”

Ling Yue and Mrs. Jiang, however, looked a little uneasy.

Especially Mrs. Jiang, holding the new clothes with a distressed look: “Wan Niang, you didn’t have to spend all this money. Folks in our village don’t care about this stuff.”

“Mm!” Tang Wan responded, but clearly didn’t take it seriously—she had noticed that Mrs. Jiang actually really liked the clothes.

Tang Wan walked up to her and handed over the 50-some copper coins she had left: “This is what’s left!”

Mrs. Jiang’s eye twitched hard.

Wait—more than a tael of silver, and this is all that’s left?

Even Ling Yue felt the pinch. Her voice stuttered from the shock: “B-Big sister-in-law, y-you spent that much money out there?”

“Mm!” Tang Wan nodded, shoved the copper coins into Mrs. Jiang’s hand, and pulled out a white robe: “This is for your big brother. Go give it to him.”

Ling Yue: …

Oh right, if they all got something, of course her big brother would too!

And this robe looked much nicer than theirs.

Ling Yue didn’t feel like Tang Wan was playing favorites—she just felt bad about the money.

She took the clothes and said helplessly, “You bought a new outfit for my brother. Why don’t you go give it to him yourself?”

Tang Wan looked pitifully down at her fingers: “He doesn’t like me. He won’t accept it.”

Ling Yue: …

Are you really my sister-in-law?
You actually have self-awareness now?!

“Fine, I’ll go! No matter what, big sister-in-law, thank you.” Thank you for being kind to us. Thank you for changing.

“You’re welcome!” Tang Wan waved her hand, her eyes squinting from her wide smile.

Is this what family feels like?

It’s pretty nice!

She was in a great mood now!

Ling Yue left with the clothes, and Mrs. Jiang shook her head and followed her.

Forget it!

As long as the child is changing, that’s enough.

Actually, thinking about it, Tang Wan had cared about them when she first married in—it was just that her eldest son was so cold and harsh toward her. Over time, that chilled her heart.

Mrs. Jiang handed the copper coins back to Tang Wan: “This is money you earned. You should keep it. I usually take on some embroidery work, I have money.”

Tang Wan frowned and shoved the coins back into her hand: “Don’t do embroidery anymore!”

She knew how damaging embroidery was to the eyes in ancient times.

Mrs. Jiang’s eyes were already in bad shape. If she kept at it, they might be ruined completely.

Mrs. Jiang said helplessly, “How can I not? We need to make a living somehow!”

Tang Wan thought for a moment and said, “Then do something else!”

“But aside from embroidery, I don’t know anything else…” Mrs. Jiang said bitterly.