"You bastard! How dare he..."
In the imperial study in the capital, the new emperor smashed a scalding hot teacup!
The palace maids and eunuchs below knelt on the ground, all trembling with fear.
His Majesty was furious, but they were afraid of dying.
Fortunately, His Majesty did not take his anger out on the emperor, and quickly summoned the Privy Councilor: "Go..."
The Privy Councilor left to carry out his orders, and the Imperial Study finally fell silent again.
Shenjia Village.
On the first day Zhao Yuzhu returned to the village, she ate and then disappeared without a trace, while the laughter of two or three women came from the village head's house.
The day after Zhao Yuzhu returned, she disappeared again after eating, and the sound of giggling came from Uncle Shen's house.
On the third day after Zhao Yuzhu returned, right after she finished eating, a number of women came!
Shen Qingyu was stunned when she saw many village women standing at the door!
"What are you doing...?"
When the women saw Shen Qingyu, they smiled somewhat reservedly: "Qingyu, I'm looking for your mother. We made an appointment to make clothes together today."
As they spoke, they each held up a basket containing scraps of cloth and needles and thread.
"Oh my! All the sisters-in-law are here? Come in, come in..." Zhao Yuzhu's enthusiastic voice rang out.
Shen Qingyu turned to look at Zhao Yuzhu and saw her smiling like a blooming chrysanthemum, her face full of smile lines.
"Oh dear! They knew we were coming, but they didn't even open the door! They had Qingyu open the door for us."
The one speaking was Uncle Shen's wife, and her voice was much louder than when she was talking to Shen Qingyu earlier!
"It's my fault, it's my fault! Come in quickly..."
Ms. Zhao Yuzhu cheerfully ushered everyone in, then went to the main room to bring out a few benches, inviting everyone to sit on the veranda in the courtyard.
So a group of women started doing needlework while chatting and laughing, and the courtyard suddenly became lively.
Shen Qingyu was stunned!
What is my mother trying to do?
Having a tea party with a bunch of women?
What's the point?
She didn't understand.
After listening for a while, I realized that they were only talking about trivial matters, things related to the fields and their homes.
They also talked about repairing houses and building sweet potato starch workshops, and their words were full of envy for Ms. Zhao Yuzhu.
"Your Qingyu is amazing! It hasn't been that long, and she's already built such a beautiful courtyard house!"
"Yes! She's so lucky; she found us spring water!"
"I heard that our village is the only one in the entire Hengshui town that still has water to irrigate the fields. In many places, the wells are almost dry, and people have to go more than ten miles to fetch water for drinking..."
"That's right. It hasn't rained for quite a while since the last rain, and I heard there are more and more refugees..."
A moment later, Xiao Taohua brought them melon seeds and tea. The women's words then turned to Xiao Taohua, teasing her: "You've turned misfortune into blessing. You lost your house, but now you live in a big brick house! And your children can still go to school!"
Xiao Taohua blushed deeply after being told this, and nervously looked towards Shen Qingyu's room upstairs.
"It's thanks to Qingyu's kind heart that I have a place to live and can raise my children..."
Most of the time, the aunties did the talking, while Ms. Zhao Yuzhu was responsible for providing the professional straight man.
"oh?"
"Oh dear..."
"I see..."
"Oh dear, that's really..."
Shen Qingyu sat in her room, feeling quite unfamiliar: the mother in her memory was always in a hurry, as if the money would be blown away by the wind if she ran too slowly.
She had never seen Ms. Zhao Yuzhu gossip like this before.
When it was time for dinner, all the aunties and grandmas had left, and Ms. Zhao Yuzhu went upstairs to find Shen Qingyu.
Shen Qingyu looked at her mother who had just entered with a half-smile: "Finished chatting?"
Zhao Yuzhu chuckled and lay down next to Shen Qingyu: "We're done chatting."
"happy?"
"happy."
Shen Qingyu sighed deliberately: "Sigh..."
Zhao Yuzhu glanced at her: "Why are you sighing like that?"
"When did my mother become so bored? She actually chattered away with a bunch of village women about such pointless nonsense?"
"And they chatted for half a day!"
This isn't like you at all!
Zhao Yuzhu: "..."
After not hearing a response from her mother for a while, Shen Qingyu turned her head in surprise and met Zhao Yuzhu's gaze.
My mother's face was calm yet serious: "I feel sorry for you."
"Why do you say that?" Shen Qingyu asked, surprised.
“I’ve been traveling around the village these past few days, getting to know you better. I feel so sorry for you.”
“I don’t care if that person wasn’t you before. But since you came here these past few months, you haven’t had anyone close to you… You have no friends.”
Shen Qingyu was taken aback: "...Is there a problem?"
Zhao Yuzhu shook her head: "Originally, there was no problem. But when I heard them say that you've basically not gone out to socialize with people these past few months except to earn money, I felt really sorry for you."
"..."
Shen Qingyu didn't understand: What's there to feel sorry about?
"People need friends, someone to talk to, someone to confide in, someone to share their joys and sorrows..."
Shen Qingyu felt annoyed and interrupted her, "I don't need it."
Zhao Yuzhu sighed, her eyes welling up with tears: "I know you don't need it. When we went out to do business since we were little, you either followed us to the shop or the stall, or we locked you up at home..."
"You're used to being alone, used to having no friends..."
Shen Qingyu sat up and looked at Zhao Yuzhu: "Mom, what did you go to all this trouble to come here for? Did you come to teach me how to make friends?"
Seeing her daughter's furrowed brows, Zhao Yuzhu knew she had touched a nerve and quickly tried to smooth things over: "It's my fault for being so talkative, I won't say it again. Mom was wrong..."
Shen Qingyu was surprised that Zhao Yuzhu took the initiative to apologize.
After a moment, Shen Qingyu lay back down, trying to calm herself down: "I'm used to this, and it's fine this way. Don't worry about me."
"Okay! Then I'll be my daughter's friend from now on, okay?"
"Hmm." Shen Qingyu's heart gradually calmed down again.
As soon as her hands warmed, her mother took her hand. It was warm and strong, but she seemed hesitant to use force, just holding it gently.
The room fell silent. After a moment, Shen Qingyu spoke up, "Mom? Are you genuinely happy chatting with them?"
Zhao Yuzhu hesitated for a moment: "Hmm. It's quite novel to suddenly slow down like this and listen to them talk about these things."
However, Zhao Yuzhu then seemed to remember something: "If you don't like this kind of noise, I won't invite them here in the future."
Shen Qingyu squeezed her mother's hand: "No need for that, just keep the noise down so as not to disturb the children's studies."
"No, we'll keep our voices very low," Zhao Yuzhu immediately replied.
The chairwoman of a prestigious listed group, a renowned strong woman, actually gave up everything to be with me in order to make up for what she owed me.
She came here to chat with the village woman... How could she have been so reluctant to waste her time like this before?
"Why are you rambling on? It's a waste of time making money!" — Chairman Zhao Yuzhu's favorite saying.
She had done her best for herself.
Feeling the warmth in her hand, Shen Qingyu smiled faintly.
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