Han Xuehan was worried that her sister would be scolded if others were to find that she was speaking in such an unfilial manner about her mother. She couldn’t help but reprimand her younger sister, "Ruochen, I know that you are angry with our mother, but there are some things that you can and cannot say. How can you not listen to our mother? She is our elder and—"

Han Ruochen dumped the ladle in the pot and turned to look at her sister. She then coldly said to her sister, "Elder sister, I know that you don’t want any friction in the house, and I also understand that you are telling these things to me because you are afraid that the villagers will spit on me and I assure you that when I am outside, I will definitely not disrespect my mother but—" She sucked in a breath and continued, "But if you are hoping that I will respect my mother even at home, then I am sorry. Elder sister, I cannot do that."

Han Ruochen was not stupid. She would not do anything to disrespect her mother when she was under the scrutiny of others, but it was impossible for her to listen to everything that her mother asked her to do.

"She is our mother—"

"Of course I know that she is our mother." As she spoke, she picked up the towel on the counter and wiped her hands. "But has she ever done anything worth being called a mother? Just giving birth is not enough; one has to take care of her children, and when has our mother done anything for us? If anything, she has used us as betting chips whenever she wanted."

When Han Ruochen saw that her elder sister was still acting muddleheaded, she couldn’t help but turn harsh with her words. It seemed like after living in peace for a few days, her sister had forgotten the pain she went through at the hands of their mother.

"Have you forgotten what happened to big brother? It was Mom who made a rash promise to her distant cousin and made an engagement with the Xu family. She did not even consider whether Brother Hong would like Xu Yuanshu or not. When Brother Hong told our mother that he liked someone else instead of understanding his feelings and breaking the engagement, our mother insisted that he marry Xu Yuanshu and caused all kinds of trouble. She even arranged a job for Xu Yuanshu’s father in the village with the help of our father’s connections."

"And what about you? You only had a minor quarrel with Han Ziyan. It was not even worth mentioning; the dress that was the cause of the quarrel was yours to begin with, but Ziyan made a scene. Do you still remember what the price of your betrothal money was? Two hundred yuan. The ruined dress was also two hundred yuan. After you got married, Ziyan actually got a dress that was worth two hundred yuan. In our mother’s eyes, your life and future were worth two hundred yuan."

Han Ruochen sneered. Her elder sister might still be looking for excuses for their mother, but Han Ruochen could see through the actions of her mother with just one glance.

In Meng Yunhan’s eyes, the five Han siblings were not even as important as a single strand of hair of Han Ziyan.

Han Xuehan’s face turned pale when she heard Han Ruochen’s words. Her lips parted, but she couldn’t say a word. Her lips trembled, and even when she wanted to say something to defend her mother or herself, she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. So, her mother actually sold her off for two hundred yuan because she caused Han Ziyan to cry?

Han Ruochen snorted when she saw Han Xuehan’s face turning pale. She wanted to be kind toward her elder sister, but who asked Han Xuehan to be so stubborn? She wanted to be filial to a woman who didn’t even care about her in the slightest.

Picking up the lunchbox, she added, "Sister, it’s fine if you want to be kind, but there is a limit to your actions. Stop acting like a holy mother all the time because even if you treat mother with all your heart, in the end, she will only care about Han Ziyan."

Han Ruochen walked away without saying anything else. However, her words were enough to leave a deep mark in the heart of Han Xuehan.

When she arrived at the hospital, Han Ruochen was still brimming with anger, but there was no way for her to release this anger in her heart; she could only purse her lips and ignore Han Ziyan, who was sitting in the ward looking like she had been wronged.

"Sister, is there any porridge left at home?" When Han Ziyan smelt the scent of the chicken porridge, she could not help but swallow hard. She was really hungry. Yesterday she only ate some fried vegetables and leftover rice at home. After spending the night at the hospital, Han Ziyan was so hungry that her stomach was sticking to her back.

She did not believe that Han Ruochen would only cook for their father and wouldn’t leave anything for her and the rest of the family.

"Ziyan, what is the condition at home? At present, I am the only one supporting the entire family. I won’t say anything about your actions of not sharing the burden, but you cannot expect me to take care of the entire family alone, can you? It’s good enough that I could buy some chicken for Dad." Han Ruochen was still angry with Han Xuehan, and her tone was not good when talking with Han Ziyan. She fed the chicken porridge to Han Yichen and continued speaking, "I only cooked enough for Dad. How expensive is chicken? How can I cook for everyone at home?"

".." Han Ziyan was speechless. She pursed her lips and turned to look at her father with a wronged expression. Was Han Ruochen actually implying that she was only concerned about food and not their father?