Coming earlier than the New Year is He Ainiang’s birthday.
On the thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Chen Fu took Xianjin on a mule cart to a small village full of orange trees. The village was managed by an elderly couple. The layout of the village was simple. The old couple lived in a row house near the door. The main house and the west wing were empty. There were a few cages of tender yellow chickens in front of the bungalow, and behind the row house were lush orange trees.
Chen Fu calmly told Xianjin to go to the west wing and wait, while he brushed the hair around his ears in front of the bronze mirror, straightened his clothes, and walked towards the main room.
Xianjin entered the west wing, which was filled with furniture made of huanghuali wood, including a complete set of tables, chairs, stools, desks, chests of drawers, desks with raised heads, and six-legged incense tables. From the perspective of Xianjin, a second-generation nouveau riche, such a set of furniture would cost at least seven figures in modern times.
Especially the agarwood fig tree in the inner room that is used to hold the pomegranate blossoms that will bear hundreds of offspring is very carefully crafted.
Xianjin had mixed feelings - she was not an ordinary person, so how could she not see that this was the dowry prepared for her by her cheap father.
I don’t know when I started preparing.
Anyway, it's quite complete.
Xianjin wiped her eyes with the back of her hand—an eagle-like woman shed tears.
Xianjin fumbled around in the east and west, and after waiting for half a day but Chen Fu didn't come out, he tiptoed out to look.
Walking into the main room, through the dim window lattice, I vaguely saw Chen Fu sitting neatly dressed at a square table. There were two cups of tea on the table, one in front of him and the other in front of a small tablet.
"…Ai Niang, Xian Jin has become very successful. He is very capable and knows how to make money. He manages the store very well and keeps his employees in good working order."
Chen Fu's voice was so calm as he chattered on about family matters, as if He Ainiang was sitting right next to him, never leaving.
The eagle-like woman leaned against the wall quietly.
"She is so capable, definitely not like me." Chen Fu said with a smile.
Xianjin was at the foot of the wall, also laughing.
Dad, heredity is based on blood relationship, not on who you eat the most with.
Chen Fu laughed again, "You are also stupid and have never settled accounts clearly. You are delicate and want to sleep until noon - that girl must not be much like you."
Xianjin's back was pressed against the gray wall, and the corners of his mouth curled up unconsciously.
"That girl might look like her biological father."
Chen Fu's tone was filled with jealousy, "You said her biological father was very powerful, knowing half of what was in heaven and all of what was on earth. Xianjin is so successful, he is probably like him."
Xian Jin held his breath.
She was so damn curious about her biological father.
In this world, it is already amazing that she took her mother's surname.
Chen Fu snorted, "You say he's great, but I think no matter how great he is, he's still a coward, leaving his wife and children to suffer outside. Anyway, I, Chen Fu, would never do such a thing."
Xianjin pursed his lips.
That's true.
Nowadays, clan consciousness is so strong. A woman brought her young daughter out like a disaster victim, eating tree bark and sleeping in a cowshed. Can we only say that the father's clan may have fallen into decline? Or maybe it caused some disaster, so the woman in the family took the child out secretly?
No one knows what would have happened to He Ainiang if she hadn't met Chen Fu - a beautiful young woman living alone and unable to support herself usually doesn't end up well.
Chen Fu in the main hall seemed to be coaxing someone, and his tone softened, "Okay, okay, I won't say anything. Every time I talk about Xianjin's father, you always get angry. I won't say anything!"
After that, he muttered some more nonsense. Chen Fu looked at the sky, stopped talking with a feeling of being unsatisfied. He walked out and took Xianjin to the hilltop behind the mountain to kowtow and burn incense to He Ainiang.
Xianjin looked at the words "Wife of Chen Fu" engraved on the tombstone and kowtowed three times.
When he got back to the mule cart, Chen Fu was obviously in a low mood. He lowered his head and fiddled with the jade pendant outside his coat.
Xianjin racked his brains to think of a topic, "...Your yard is really beautiful."
Chen Fu was not interested anymore. "It was Ai Niang's idea to have a yard full of orange trees, but she didn't see any..."
The mood became even lower.
Xianjin: …..
The eagle-like woman is really incapable of such delicate work as comforting others...
Xianjin thought about it. After hearing what Chen Fu said just now, his stepfather wanted to speak out the words of his predecessor, so he tried to appease him and said something nice, "My mother is lucky to have met you. She met the wrong person before. I don't know what kind of person my real father is..."
Chen Fu raised his head in grief and indignation, "I am your father! How can there be any biological father? He is also your father!? You came to the Chen family when you were less than five years old! You were as thin as a kitten, and I raised you with my own hands! I have never cared so much about my two boys! Now that you are grown up, you call him your biological father!"
Xianjin: I’m sorry, her skill point may not be lit up in the area of emotional needs.
I wanted to flatter someone, but ended up flattering the horse's leg.
Xianjin, who had lost his qualification as a hexagonal warrior, could only bury his head and swallow his anger as he dealt with his cheap father's heavy punches.
On the way back to Jing County, Chen Fu sang praises of his own efforts and contributions by recalling the sickly, thin and short four-year-old Xianjin, and contrasting it with the current Xianjin who is as strong as an ox and as cunning as a fox.
In the end, the sadness had dissipated a lot.
All right.
Although the process was not right, the ending was good. Xian Jin could be regarded as a +1 merit for himself.
After returning to Jing County, the twelfth lunar month was rushing towards the New Year. People in the store went back to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year in twos and threes. Only Chen Fu and his daughter, the Star of Hope, the widowed Zhang Ma, the homeless Xiaosuo, and Lu Badan, who had a home but could not return and was forced to stay.
After being tortured for nearly a month, Lu Badan felt that he had a nervous breakdown. When he heard the leaves fluttering outside the window, he thought someone was going to hit him; when he heard the water of Wuxi gurgling, he thought someone was going to beat him.
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