But in her telling, her son fishing out a chicken leg became an attempt to show Granny Zhuang his filial devotion.
Huang Ling was hemmed in by their overlapping accusations, unable to get a word out.
She knew these people had not come to reason with her. They were simply angry that her children had eaten the chicken legs, angry that she had not delivered all the best things on the table straight to their mouths for them to distribute.
Zhuang Chaoying had been sitting on the inner side of the square table the entire time, never once speaking up to shield Huang Ling.
Now his face was dark, his brows tightly knitted.
Only when the others finally stopped talking did he speak. He addressed Huang Ling.
"Ling, you're the eldest daughter-in-law." His voice was quiet, yet heavy with his conviction that he held the moral high ground. "You should honor your elders and treat the younger generation evenhandedly. Today is Mother's birthday banquet. Hiding the chicken legs for Jingcheng and Xiaoting was truly disgraceful."
Huang Ling stood there, numb all over.
She looked up at a roomful of hostile faces. Even her eldest son had his head lowered.
She pressed her lips tightly together. She could not understand why, after she had worked herself to the bone all afternoon and even bought the old hen herself, her children eating a chicken leg somehow seemed like an unforgivable, heinous crime.
At first, she had wanted to defend herself. Now she did not want to say anything.
Just as Huang Ling stood expressionless, letting the Old Zhuang family pick her apart, Zhou Cheng gave the door a heavy kick.
Clang!
The crash dragged every gaze toward him at once.
Zhou Cheng took his hands out of his pockets, walked straight past