An unexpected thing happened: the Ninth Sister-in-law, with her explosive fighting power, scolded Old Lady Gu and Second Sister-in-law away with a single word.

This was something Gu An'an never expected.

"Don't think I'm helping you; I just can't stand it."

Ninth Sister-in-law would never admit that she was helping Gu An'an; she just felt bad after hearing Gu An'an's grievances.

Being a woman is hard enough, but to make matters worse, you have to put her through this.

On what grounds?

Who would say that men have affairs? They'd probably say, "What man isn't a womanizer?"

But for women, just one extra glance can lead to gossip and make it impossible for them to survive.

When she married into Jiangjia Village, it was arranged by her elder brother and sister-in-law. They chose a woman with tuberculosis for her. That woman clearly died of her own illness, but when everyone said she was a jinx to her husband, where were her brother and sister-in-law?

On the contrary, when her own son was about to get married, she remembered her as a widow. She was a person, not an object to be moved around!

Like her, Gu An'an's sense of her background made Ninth Sister-in-law unable to help but speak up for her.

She wasn't helping Gu An'an; she was just treating the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law of the Gu family as if they were her own brother and sister-in-law, and scolding them.

After saying this, Ninth Sister-in-law left in a hurry, seemingly unwilling to accept any thanks from Gu An'an.

Gu An'an: "..."

Aunt Li arrived a little late after finishing her chores at home, and just then she saw Ninth Sister-in-law cursing. She sighed and said, "Actually, she has it pretty tough too."

"I know." He's a pitiful person too. He has to be fierce to protect himself, otherwise he probably wouldn't have any peace.

Aunt Li breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing this. She knew that Gu An'an was actually a good person at heart, but she just hadn't thought things through back then.

It's not bad to be able to think positively and live a good life now.

"By the way, An'an, have you ever thought about finding someone else?"

Previously, Aunt Li had considered asking her daughter-in-law to help find another partner for Gu An'an.

Yesterday, her daughter-in-law came over to deliver New Year's goods and mentioned it briefly, but Aunt Li wasn't in a hurry to introduce it.

However, the fact that Old Lady Gu came to cause trouble today made her realize that this matter could be put on the agenda.

The Jiang family, the husband's family, is unreliable, and the Gu family, the wife's family, is also eyeing them covetously.

It's very difficult for Gu An'an to live a peaceful life.

It would be better to find a man to rely on, at least so that things wouldn't be as difficult as they are now, right?

At first, Gu An'an didn't understand Aunt Li's suggestion. "Looking for what?"

"What else could you possibly want, kid?" Aunt Li glared at him. "Find a man, of course. You can't raise these kids all by yourself, can you?"

Looking for a man?

Gu An'an had no such intention.

What can a man do for her? Can he have her babies?

If a man could have children, she would find one immediately.

Otherwise, she'd be out of her mind to date a man.

"I think I'm doing fine as I am now. I've raised Zhu'er and the others to adulthood, haven't I? By the way, Aunt Li, I'll have to trouble you to look after them for me. I need to go to town."

"What are you doing in town? Are you really going to get medicine for your mother?"

Gu An'an had no interest in dealing with those who sold their children.

"It's almost Chinese New Year, and I was thinking of preparing some more New Year's goods. I was originally planning to go into the city today, but this commotion has delayed me a bit."

Fortunately, we had a horse-drawn carriage at home, so going into town was very convenient, and we didn't have to worry about so much.

"Then go ahead, I'll keep an eye on things at home."

Jiang Laosan's four children are good-looking, well-behaved, and obedient. Who wouldn't love and adore them?

After giving Jiang Mingzhu some more instructions, Gu An'an led the carriage to the county town.

She didn't go out alone; Jiang Mingyi was already waiting outside.

The child seemed to be secretly practicing martial arts. Gu An'an pretended not to know and got into the carriage, letting Jiang Mingyi drive.

It's so cold outside, it's much more comfortable sitting inside.

However, thinking of the beads of sweat on the young man's forehead, Gu An'an became a little worried and took out a handkerchief to hand him over, saying, "Wipe your sweat so you don't catch a cold."

The handkerchief was actually embroidered by Zhu'er; she embroidered a small yellow flower.

Pearl's needlework wasn't very good; the embroidery wasn't neat.

But the little yellow flower had a certain pitiful stubbornness, which made Jiang Mingyi momentarily dazed before he hurriedly took the handkerchief and wiped his forehead haphazardly.

The hand had already been withdrawn.

He was a step too late to return the handkerchief.

"Pearl's birthday is coming up soon, what gift do you think we should get her?"

Jiang Mingyi thought for a moment, "Anything is fine?"

Gu An'an brought banknotes with her today, and she felt there shouldn't be any problems. "What are your thoughts?"

The sounds inside the carriage seemed to become indistinct through the thin curtain.

Jiang Mingyi thought for a moment before saying, "Zhu'er isn't good at needlework, but I've explained the musical score to her before, and she liked it. If I give her a zither, she might be very happy."

Music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

A must-have skill for talented women.

Although Gu An'an didn't want Jiang Mingzhu to develop into the most talented woman in the capital of Da Ye Dynasty, it wasn't impossible for her to learn to play the zither.

After all, she'd love to learn whenever she had the chance.

The five notes of the pentatonic scale (Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zheng, Yu) sound so beautiful.

"I think Pearl probably prefers cooking to playing the zither."

Suddenly, the curtain behind him was pulled open. Jiang Mingyi turned his head slightly and saw the head peeking out out of the corner of his eye. His eyes twitched.

The transformation from a sophisticated zither into a kitchen knife would startle anyone.

Moreover, this young man has always advocated the virtues of a gentleman.

This time, Gu An'an didn't pretend to be blind. "Yi'er, what do you mean by looking like that? Could it be that it's you, not Zhu'er, who wants to play the zither?"

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