Then, as if recalling something painful, she said, "Unfortunately, my parents are no longer here."
"It's alright, Yan Yan, you still have us." Madam Xu said as she stepped forward with a look of tenderness.
Looking through Lin Shuyan's face, it was as if she saw her son whom she hadn't seen for over a decade.
“Yes, Yan Yan, don’t be sad, I will always be by your side,” Zhou Yingxuan said.
"Brother Xuan." Lin Shuyan looked at Zhou Yingxuan in disbelief, then blushed and ran away.
...
"Huahua, are you alright?" Aunt Liu asked as the crowd dispersed.
"Auntie, I'm fine. Let's go. Uncle Fu has been waiting outside for a long time." Jiang Hua shook her head and said.
After loading the prepared salt-baked chicken feet and spicy lemon chicken feet onto the oxcart, Jiang Hua asked, "Auntie, do you know anything about that young master they're talking about?"
"I know, I saw him last night after I got home. Judging from his clothes, the silk he was wearing was extremely expensive. I wonder where this young master came from," Aunt Liu said.
"I heard that Zhou Yingxuan and Lin Shuyan encountered that young master was injured when they went up the mountain yesterday, and they rescued him."
Jiang Hua nodded: "So, has that young master woken up now?"
"It's not that she woke up; she just needed to drink the ginseng soup. But that ginseng soup was truly miraculous," Aunt Liu murmured.
“Jiang Hua, I reckon a lot of people in the village will be targeting you and your son from now on.” Liu Tianming wasn’t interested in this person of unknown origin.
Instead, he recalled the look in Village Chief Xu's eyes when he looked at Jiang Hua and her family before he left.
"We don't need to associate with them, so there's no need to worry, as long as they don't cause trouble."
Jiang Hua said nonchalantly, "However, you've been implicated, and I bet those villagers hold a grudge against you."
"What's the big deal? But I have a feeling your cousin hates you so much. Could it be because of Zhou Yingxuan?" Liu Tianming blurted out.
"Ah!" Liu Tianming suddenly cried out, clutching his head in pain, "Mother, why did you hit me!"
"You silly son, don't you know what you should and shouldn't say?" Aunt Liu rolled her eyes at her son.
“I think Xiao Jiang is better than that Zhou Yingxuan!” Aunt Liu sided with Jiang Xingzhou this time: “At least Xiao Jiang is not indecisive.”
"Look at Zhou Yingxuan again. He's good-looking, but he's the one who's been messing with Lin Shuyan. Huahua is already married, and he's still trying to seduce her. What was he thinking before? Now he says he regrets it," Aunt Liu said angrily.
"You absolutely can't follow his example in the future, or I'll beat you to death!"
"Mother, didn't Zhou Yingxuan and Lin Shuyan have nothing going on?" Liu Tianming asked.
He grew up with Zhou Yingxuan. According to his parents, Zhou Yingxuan was adopted. His adoptive parents died five years ago, and now he is the only one left in the family.
"How do you know there's nothing wrong? If it weren't for Madam Xu refusing to let them go, the two of them would have been together long ago," Aunt Liu said.
"It's strange, but I have a feeling that Lin Shuyan is Xu's biological daughter. Why is the Xu family so good to her?" Liu Tianming asked, then belatedly looked at Jiang Hua.
"Jiang Hua, please don't mind, I just blurted it out." Liu Tianming said, scratching his head sheepishly.
"It's alright, I also want to know why." Jiang Hua looked at Aunt Liu, and Jiang Jingyi, who was sitting next to her, also looked over curiously.
Aunt Liu was speechless for a moment, as three pairs of eyes turned to her at the same time.
"Lin Shuyan's father was the youngest son of the Xu family. When the family was struggling to make ends meet, the daughter of a wealthy merchant with some money came to Qingshi Town and took a liking to him." Aunt Liu had no choice but to recount the events of that year.
"At that time, the wealthy merchant offered fifty taels of silver to let Lin Shuyan's father go back with him to marry his daughter."
"Madam Xu was unwilling at the time. She loved him dearly, but the Xu family was going through a tough time and was almost starving. Old Master Xu gritted his teeth and secretly sent Lin Shuyan's father away behind Madam Xu's back, letting him leave with a wealthy businessman."
"After the eldest Xu family found out, they made a fuss for a long time, but no one knew where the person had gone, so it was no use. Even after Old Master Xu passed away, the eldest Xu family still couldn't let it go."
"Being nice to Lin Shuyan now is probably an attempt to make up for what I owed her father back then," Aunt Liu sighed.
"So that's how it is. Aunt Xu can't treat Jiang Hua like that, after all, she's her own daughter." Liu Tianming nodded and asked again.
"You don't understand. Xu almost died when she gave birth to Huahua. She only got pregnant with Xu Yaozu after praying to the gods. I guess that's why she doesn't like Huahua," Aunt Liu said.
"I can't see it. Jiang Hua's older sister, Da Ya, wasn't she also treated cruelly by Madam Xu?"
"Xu Daya?" Jiang Hua felt a sense of both unfamiliarity and familiarity with the name.
"Alas, this girl has a hard life, but now that she's married, her husband's family has some money, so at least she won't have to worry about food and clothing anymore." When Aunt Liu heard about Xu Daya, her sigh was even heavier than before.
"What's wrong? Are you having a hard time?" Jiang Hua asked.
“You’re still young, so you probably don’t remember much. Less than two months after she got married, your sister was beaten half to death by her husband and mother-in-law. She ran away and came back, but Xu sent her back. We haven’t heard from her since,” Aunt Liu replied.
"However, in the last two years, I have occasionally heard Xu say that your sister has had a son and three daughters. She seems to have become more settled because of her son. She is now doing some small business in the county town."
"Three daughters and one son?" Jiang Hua's expression hardened.
"I heard that two others were aborted by their husbands' families," Aunt Liu added.
Jiang Hua immediately fell silent, looking at Aunt Liu and Liu Tianming, who seemed to have gotten used to it.
"It's a pity that my mother only gave birth to me; I don't even have any younger siblings," Liu Tianming said regretfully.
"Tsk, how old am I? Can I still have children?" Aunt Liu rolled her eyes at her son again: "After giving birth to you, I haven't been able to get pregnant again. I've seen so many doctors, but it's no use."
Jiang Hua glanced at Aunt Liu across from her. She called her "old" because of her seniority, but Aunt Liu was actually not even thirty-five years old. In this era, women usually got married and had children at the age of sixteen.
Aunt Liu probably didn't take good care of her body after giving birth to Liu Tianming. I can give her a check-up sometime when I have time.
They chatted and laughed all the way, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the market. Jiang Hua gave an extra ten coins for the oxcart fare, since Xu Wanli had brought his men and caused a disturbance, which had wasted a lot of time.
I set up my stall late today; it was almost noon by the time I finished.
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