With a CREAK, the main gate was pulled open from the inside. When Zuo Daya saw her youngest daughter, who had left home to apprentice, standing at the entrance, the wrinkles on her face bloomed into a smile like a chrysanthemum.
"My girl, you're back!" Her voice was filled with unconcealed joy. "Hurry inside, you must be tired." The old woman reached out and took the bundle from her back.
"Yes, Mom. They were following me, asking for candy…" Yuan Si, afraid the children would follow her into the courtyard, quickly appealed to her mother for help.
"Candy? What candy? Don't you all cause trouble here. Go on, get out of here!" The old woman shooed away the few children waiting for a treat as if they were little chicks.
After Zuo Daya shut the courtyard gate, she pulled her daughter toward the house. "Don't pay any mind to those brats. Our food doesn't just fall from the sky. It's their shameless parents who push them to come out and beg." The old woman had a sharp tongue.
