After speaking at length, Cheng Ruyi felt much less frustrated. However, she noticed that Zhou Yin's face was getting darker and darker, so she added, "Of course, I know that Mr. Zhou meant well, and I am very grateful!"
"Hmph! I only said one thing to you, and you, Madam Cheng, have launched into such a long rebuttal. With your sharp tongue and silver-tongued manner, how much of the demeanor should a virtuous and gentle woman resemble?"
Zhou Yin was genuinely angry. He had been sincerely trying to help the other person, but instead of appreciating it, the other person acted as if they wanted to learn from him. They were completely hopeless!
Here we go again. Whenever Cheng Ruyi's attitude is slightly assertive or proactive, the other party feels disrespected and offended. It's really strange.
Ruyi realized that the two of them would definitely need to be in contact for a long time in the future due to business matters, so they still needed to find a way of communication that they could both accept.
So she patiently explained, "Mr. Zhou, you are mistaken. I clearly wanted to reason with you. If you think any of my words are wrong, you are welcome to express your opinion, and we can discuss it together. How does this have anything to do with virtue and gentleness?"
That strange sense of incongruity resurfaced once again. Zhou Yin couldn't understand it. No woman had ever spoken to him like that before. Why couldn't she understand?
"Women are supposed to be gentle and submissive to men. Who is as aggressive as you? No man would like your attitude."
"Why should I need a man's affection? I'm already quite old, my grandson is over a year old, and I have no plans to find another son-in-law. Master Zhou, you don't need to worry about this."
Could it be that Zhou Yantang is planning to introduce her to someone this week? No wonder he keeps finding fault with her.
Zhou Yin nearly vomited blood after hearing this. Was that what he meant? He was furious!
He tried to calm himself down and continued from a different angle: "You don't need to remarry, but don't your two daughters need to as well? If their marriages are affected because of your reputation, won't you regret it?"
"My reputation? My reputation in the county is excellent, how could it implicate them? Besides, if they abandon my daughter because of some unfounded rumors, it proves they are not good people, and it's not a pity at all! If things don't work out, we can always find a son-in-law to marry into the family, just like I did back then, wouldn't that be better!"
In fact, she wouldn't think it was a big deal even if her two daughters never married, though of course she wouldn't dare say such a thing out loud.
"Nonsense! You were the only child in the family back then, and your father had no other choice but to take in a son-in-law. Now you clearly have a son who can inherit the family business, so how can your daughters still take in a son-in-law? Aren't you afraid that your daughters will complain about you in the future!"
"If they know the other person is scum and still insist on marrying him, I will respect their choice. However, they will need to bear the consequences themselves. Life always requires taking some detours and suffering some losses to gradually grow."
Cheng Ruyi never expected that she would end up discussing parenting with Zhou Yantang. Come to think of it, his children do seem to be approaching marriageable age, no wonder he is so worried. He seems to be a good father!
Zhou Yin: "......"
Suddenly, he felt so tired. How did this topic seem to be getting more and more out of control? He realized that he had been talking to a brick wall, and the focus had completely shifted off course!
He rubbed his forehead, exhausted, and said weakly, "Never mind, I'm tired. You can go back."
*
Cheng Ruyi thought about it at home for several days before she finally understood what Zhou Yin meant.
Her personality would indeed be considered cautious by modern standards, but it was different in ancient times. Here, if you put yourself on the same level as a man, you were already considered audacious. If you dared to talk back and argue, you would be categorized as a shrew.
Even if all she wanted was to communicate with the other person on an equal footing... it's really pathetic.
However, these are things she can't change, so there's no point in thinking about them too much. She might as well put them aside for now and think about happy things, like... how to spend money?
In the past few months, the Cheng family has not spent much money. On the contrary, they have earned a lot of money every month. After adding the more than 900 taels from Lingyun Pavilion, Ruyi's little treasury has exceeded 1,500 taels, jumping from hundreds to thousands of taels in one go, achieving a qualitative leap!
After working so hard for over a month, why not reward yourself?
So at dinner, she told her family that she planned to go on a three-day, two-night trip to the surrounding area with the whole family!
"Where did you say you wanted to go? The prefectural city... does that mean Qionglin, the prefectural city of Chongzhou?" Cheng Yan asked Ruyi blankly after hearing this, forgetting to eat his meal.
Cheng Ruyi saw everyone's stunned reaction and found it both amusing and a little sad. "Of course it's Qionglin! Are we going to go to another prefectural city? Two or three days won't be enough time!"
Cheng Yunping was the first to react. After hearing this, he immediately stood up excitedly, almost knocking over his bowl and chopsticks. "Mother! Is it true? Our whole family is going to the prefectural city? Can I go too?"
He had never left the county town since he was a child. He was very envious and longed for the heroes in the storybooks who roamed the world, robbing the rich and helping the poor. Although he did not know where the world was, he believed that it was not in Huaishan County. He believed that as long as he went out, he would definitely have a chance to find it!
Seeing Yunping's excited reaction, Cheng Ruyi smiled and nodded affirmatively, "Of course, our whole family will go!"
In her past life, Cheng Ruyi's greatest hobby, besides staying at home, was traveling. Every time she went out to see the different scenery of the world, her depression would be swept away, and she would feel that her heart would become much broader.
"I've already inquired. Going to the prefectural city by donkey cart takes too long and the journey is too bumpy. It's more suitable to go by boat, as it's safe, stable, spacious, and comfortable."
Starting from the dock in Huaishan County, travel upstream along the Jinshui River until you reach Dongming County, where it merges into the Sujiang River. Then turn west and continue for a short while until you reach the dock in the prefectural city. The entire journey takes about four hours, or half a day.
There are quite a few ships going to the prefectural city, but considering that the whole family is traveling, she chose the largest and safest passenger ship from the Gu Family Trading Company.
"The Gu family business has a passenger ship going to the prefectural city in three days. Father, you can take this opportunity to arrange things at the furniture shop. Aunt Cui, you also need to hand over your current tasks. Although we are only leaving for three days, we still need to be careful not to cause any problems."
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