Chapter 2 — Bowl of Rice Sees into People's Hearts

In her hand she carried a trash bag, but her eyes were always staring at the door. Seeing me, she immediately threw the trash bag into the bin. "Tinh Tinh, you're finally home." When she said this, her voice was not small. Next to them, two neighbors were walking in, their steps slowing down by half a beat. I nodded. "Mom, is something wrong?" Luu Que Phan sighed. "What's wrong with me these past two days? I eat out every day, aren't you afraid that others will laugh at you?" I said: "If I eat, what will others laugh at?" She frowned. "If there's rice at home and not eating, insisting on going out to spend money, isn't that making others say that a mother-in-law like you doesn't take good care of me?" I looked at her empty hands. "In the house today." Do you have any food for me?” The self-pity on her face immediately stiffened. The elevator door opens. The neighbor walked in first, but did not press the button to close the door. Luu Que Phan quickly reacted, his voice becoming softer. "Don't you know if I'm coming home early or late? Just give me an hour's notice and that's fine." I stepped into the elevator. "Every day I get off work at six o'clock, it takes forty minutes on the road, it's been like that for two years of marriage." The neighbor looked down at the phone, but the corner of his mouth moved slightly. Luu Que Phan's face changed. "Even so, you can't be angry over a piece of rice." I dialed the floor number. "I'm not angry." Before the elevator door closed, she added another sentence. "This child, there are too many things in my heart." I did not answer. Returning home, Tran Hao was sitting on the sofa watching TV. On the tea table, place a plate of washed grapes. Of the fruits I bought, there are only a few green ones left. He raised his head to look at me. "Mom stood downstairs waiting for you for half a day." I changed my shoes. "She might call you." "She's afraid you won't listen." "She hasn't called yet, how do you know you won't listen?" Tran Hao threw the remote on the coffee table. "Manh Tinh, do you have to be this thorny when you talk now?" I hung my bag on the hook at the door. "I'm only telling the truth." He stood up, blocking my path to the bedroom. What do you want?" I looked at him. "I want to eat." He stared at me, as if he had just heard an excessive request. "Then you have to notify me in advance." "You come to this house every day, do you have to register every day if you want to eat?" His lips moved. At this moment, Liu Que Phan also walked in. She held the door frame panting, as if she had suffered a great deal of frustration. "Hao Hao, stop it." Tran Hao's face darkened even more. "Mom, don't always be so patient." I suddenly burst out laughing. Liu Que Phan looked at me. "What are you laughing at?" I said: "One person said you were being picky, the other said mom was being patient. It sounds like you locked the kitchen and didn't let mom cook for three people." Liu Que Phan's face turned pale. "I didn't mean that." I nodded. "Then don't say that in the future." The living room was immediately quiet. The TV broadcasts the sound of advertising. A child laughed and called for his mother. I only heard it and felt it was jarring. Tran Hao lowered his voice. "Do you have to make the house so unsightly?" I walked around him. "The unsightly thing is not what you ate, but the person who knows you haven't eaten yet still says you don't understand." I went into the bedroom and closed the door. Outside the door, Liu Que Phan's sobbing sound was quickly heard. Tran Hao knocked on the door. "Manh Tinh, come here and apologize to mom." I hung up my coat and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Why do you have to apologize?" He stood outside the door and said: "She's old." I looked at the light under the door. "No matter how old she is, she still knows how to scoop herself a full bowl of rice." There was no sound outside. A few seconds later, Tran Hao suddenly kicked the door leg hard. A dull sound echoed in the room, my fingers slowly tightened. At this moment, the phone vibrated. That's a notification from the bank. The family's joint account just spent 3,800 yuan. The note says family living allowance. I stared at those four words for a long time. Then open the transfer history. The recipient of the money was Luu Que Phan.05That was not the first time that money was transferred. It's just that I've never thought deeper before. After we got married, we opened a joint account. Every month Tran Hao and I transfer five thousand yuan into it, house installments, electricity and water, management fees and daily food purchases are all deducted from that account. Tran Hao said that it would be clear. At that time, I clearly felt very good. But now, the word "clear" suddenly becomes extremely ironic. I sat by my bed, going through every expense in the last three months. Supermarket two hundred and sixty yuan. The price is one hundred and eighty yuan. Electricity and water three hundred and twenty yuan. There are also a few money transfers with very round numbers. Two thousand yuan. Three thousand yuan. One thousand five hundred yuan. The recipients were all Liu Que Phan. The notes are not the same. Money to buy food. Living expenses. Pre-social relationships. I opened one of them.