“We only brought twenty copper coins today. Chunmei, you can take this money first.” Chen Erlan took out a tattered purse from her body and stuffed it into Xia Chunmei’s hand.
“You sold three acres of my land, which should be worth at least ten taels of silver, but you only gave us sisters twenty coins? The cheapest grain you can buy isn’t even three catties, enough for the four of us to eat for a few days.”
And you took all my blankets, clothes, and food to the Chen family. What about all that? You think we came empty-handed?
He kept saying he missed his daughter, but it's been half a year before he finally remembered to visit, and he came empty-handed, haha.
As soon as Xia Chunmei said this, everyone's eyes turned to something meaningful.
“Chunmei, you’ve misunderstood. We actually came here to take you to live in our Gengjia Village, so we didn’t bring anything with us,” Geng Dewang said.
Chen Erlan immediately chimed in, "Yes, your Uncle Geng is a very good person. He has already agreed to let me take you to live with him. From now on, our family will be complete. Chunmei, okay?"
"Fine, you son of a bitch!! Keep dreaming! What are you plotting? Do you think I'm blind, deaf, or stupid? Why should my Xia family's child go to the Geng family?" Xia Hongfen roared, "You slut, you piece of trash..."
Xia Hongfen hurled all sorts of nasty insults at her and even tried to hit her.
"Hongfen, don't be angry. Today is Chunmei's special day. Don't let the guests laugh at us." Qiu Shi pulled Xia Hongfen back.
In her anger, Xia Hongfen suddenly remembered that today was the day her fake niece's husband was to be betrothed.
That bitch Chen Erlan actually caused trouble at this critical moment, she's a real piece of work!
Xia Hongfen asked Chen Erlan about her ancestors for generations.
"When I first came to the village, I heard about the betrothal and all that. Chunmei, I've brought you unhappiness to such a joyous occasion." Chen Erlan said with deep remorse, her gaze falling on Baili Xiao. "This... doesn't seem to be the Fan family's son..."
Chen Erlan was unaware that Xia Chunmei had already broken off her engagement with the Fan family.
"That beast Fan Baowen, how could he be worthy of my Chunmei? I don't want to see that bastard again! I'll beat him to a pulp!" Xia Hongfen roared. "You're no better. Today is Chunmei's special day. I'm not going to let you get away with this. Get out of here and stop getting in my way!"
"Chen Erlan, I happen to have something to tell you. Come on, let's go to my house for a while." After saying that, Qiu pulled her towards her house.
“Aunt Qiu, I am Chunmei’s elder. Chunmei’s marriage is a very important matter…”
Upon hearing this, Xia Hongfen kicked him angrily: "What kind of elder are you! Chunmei isn't your daughter, what does she have to do with you? Get the hell out of here!"
Xia Chunmei said coldly, "You neither gave birth to me nor raised me. On the contrary, you sold my family's land and searched the house, taking away all the clothes and food. Our relationship can only be that of enemies! If you want to talk about feelings with me, you have to pay back what you owe us first!"
Gengjia Village is quite far from here. It's an ancient rural village where news travels slowly and people are rarely heard from. Xia Chunmei found it rather coincidental that Chen Erlan and Geng Dewang actually came here.
Chen Xiaoyu made a lot of money by organizing banquets. When Xia Chunmei heard about it, her maternal grandmother's family was very envious and made a scene at Chen Xiaoyu's house twice. Although they were eventually suppressed by Chen Shuitian's family, their wicked intentions were definitely not dead.
Chen Erlan was most likely brought in by her stepmother's family to live with them? Haha, who do they think they are stupid?
“Since our arrival has caused Chunmei some unhappiness, Erlan, let’s go to this aunt’s house first, and talk to Chunmei later.”
Hearing Geng Dewang's words, Chen Erlan gave up struggling and obediently followed him to the Qiu family's house.
After Chen Erlan left, the originally joyous and lively scene suddenly became somewhat awkward.
Xia Hongfen was afraid that everyone, especially Baili Xiao and others, would misunderstand Xia Chunmei and think that Xia Chunmei was too vicious, so she wouldn't let her mother into the house.
So he explained, "My Chunmei is a good girl. If it weren't for her, my other three nieces wouldn't be alive today."
That Chen Erlan wasn't her biological mother either. That woman wasn't a good person. Before my brother died, she moved all the family's belongings to her parents' house. Right after my brother's seven-day mourning period, she sold the land.
She left no money for the children, and sent all the food, clothes, and bedding in the house to her parents' home, without even thinking about how the children would get through the winter. My youngest niece was only a little over a year old at the time.
Speaking of these things, Xia Hongfen was in tears.
Baili Xiao already knew about these things, but now, after hearing Xia Hongfen's tearful account, he had a more direct understanding of Xia Chunmei's past hardships.
Su Xuedan had always thought that only wealthy families were complicated, but it turned out that the poor countryside was just as complicated.
At this moment, she felt a sense of sympathy for Xia Chunmei.
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