"Mom… what is this?"
When Riyana saw the eyeball, her face instantly turned pale.
The bowl of soup in her hand fell to the floor with a "smash," breaking into several pieces.
"You silly girl!"
Mom's expression immediately changed, anger appearing on her face. But she still grabbed the eyeball from the spoon, broke it open, and said, "Isn't it just a straw mushroom? How could that scare you?"
Mom threw the broken mushroom onto the table. Only then did Ethan finally see clearly that there really was a mushroom stem inside. It was just an unopened straw mushroom.
'A false alarm!'
"So it was a straw mushroom. Hahaha…", Riyana forced a smile, "I watched a horror movie last night, so I'm a little jumpy. Mom, I'm sorry! I'll get a rag right away…"
"No need. Drink your soup," Mom ladled another bowl of soup and put it in front of Riyana, "The soup won't taste good once it gets cold. I'll clean up."
"Okay… Okay…"
Riyana braced herself and drank the soup Mom had brought over.
After all, Mom's expression had already become extremely cold. If she refused again, no one knew what might happen.
While Riyana and Mom were facing off, Ethan had already quickly taken several pieces of ribs, put the meat he'd pulled off into his pocket, and piled the bones on the table, pretending that he'd eaten quite a lot.
He also grabbed a large handful of the stir-fried pig intestines with pickled mustard greens and stuffed them into his pocket.
This was just to prevent himself from being found out later for not eating and being forced to eat.
"Why are you drinking so slowly? The soup won't taste good once it gets cold," Mom said before suddenly reaching out to hold Riyana's soup bowl and forcing the soup into her mouth.
Riyana immediately choked and began coughing repeatedly, but Mom showed no concern for her daughter. Instead, she continued nagging, "At your age, you need to drink more soup. It's good for you."
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Riyana was forced to finish the soup before Mom finally let go.
She started coughing violently, and she even pulled a lot of black strands out of her mouth.
This time, Ethan finally saw clearly.
The stuff Riyana had pulled out of her mouth was definitely hair.
Because no seaweed could be that tough. Even after being pulled that hard, it wouldn't break. Some strands were caught between Riyana's teeth, and even when she pulled hard enough to stretch the hairs a little, they still didn't snap.
What kind of seaweed could be that tough?
"Good girl."
Mom smiled and praised her, seemingly no longer caring what her daughter did as long as she finished the soup.
Ethan nervously swallowed, then quickly picked up the napkin on the table and pretended to wipe his mouth, "I'm full. You two take your time eating."
"Ethan, you're full already?"
Hearing Ethan, Mom quickly turned her head, a trace of anger on her face.
But when she saw that the table in front of Ethan was covered with bones, and that a large portion of the stir-fried pig intestines with pickled mustard greens was also gone, she smiled again, "Is it good?"
"It's good!"
Ethan answered casually and quickened his pace toward his room.
Now that he'd already obtained the clues in the house, Ethan naturally didn't want to stay there any longer. Who knew what that strange mom might do.
He picked up his backpack and was about to escape, but when he turned his head, Mom had somehow appeared at the bedroom door again.
"Mom… ah, what's up?"
Ethan almost cried out.
Mom, meanwhile, waved the shiny fruit knife in her hand and said, "I just wanted to ask, do you want some apples?"
"No, no. I'm full. I can't eat anything else," Ethan quickly waved his hands and refused, "If I want some later, I'll get them myself."
"Okay. Remember to get some," Mom looked a little disappointed, but she didn't force him. She simply continued, "Don't go out this afternoon. Your dad will be back soon. We'll all get together as a family."
"But I still have to go to…"
Before Ethan could finish, Mom had already thoughtfully closed the door for him, as if she hadn't given him any chance to refuse.
When Ethan tried to open the door again, he found that his bedroom door had already been locked from the outside. He couldn't open it at all.
"Fuck!"
Ethan kicked the wall. He was afraid that kicking the door would make too much noise and attract that strange mom again.
But he could almost be certain now that there was definitely something wrong with the soup.
He just didn't know whether the meat… was also a problem.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Ethan quickly took a pair of pants from his wardrobe and threw the old pair straight downstairs.
In any case, he couldn't let Mom discover that he hadn't eaten the meat.
If a cleaner happened to sweep the pants away, that would be best. If not, he could find an opportunity to throw them away once he was able to go downstairs.
Woof!
Not long after Ethan threw the pants down, he suddenly heard a dog barking downstairs.
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