Chapter 446 Senior Brother
After taking a nap and sitting for a while, Song Chunxue could hear He Chuan chatting with Li Dazui in the courtyard.
She then realized that she hadn't asked her boss which month was their wedding date.
I'll meditate tonight; I've been neglecting it lately and haven't been in the right state of mind.
Anyway, the three children will be going back to school tomorrow, and Hongying's family will definitely be leaving.
I wonder if the eldest brother can manage to take care of Jiang Huan all by himself.
Now that the engagement has been arranged, the wedding date should be set as soon as possible.
Song Chunxue wondered if she should find a geomancer to choose an auspicious day to welcome the person into the house as soon as possible.
She was the one who helped Chen Feng get divorced, and she couldn't stand idly by when it came to remarrying.
Song Chunxue thought to herself, "How did they end up having so many children?"
She just wanted to go back to her practice of meditation as soon as possible.
No wonder people say that cultivators are somewhat cold-blooded; her thoughts now must sound heartless to others.
In the afternoon, Li Dazui stayed for half an hour, and after finding out the details, he went to the fields to work.
Song Chunxue spent another afternoon tidying up the old house, clearing away the weeds around the yard.
After dinner, Song Chunxue called the eldest brother over.
"Sanwa is going back to school tomorrow, Xiaoxu is going to school too, and your sister's family is going back as well. If we all leave, can you take good care of Jiang Huan?"
Song Chunxue asked gently, "When do you plan to marry the Xu family girl and when will you hold the wedding banquet?"
The eldest brother pondered for a moment, then tugged at his worn-out cuffs.
"I think the sooner the better. We won't hold a banquet. The Xu family isn't capable of hosting a wedding banquet anyway. I plan to bring her back by leading a donkey, with a red veil over her head, and set off two strings of firecrackers at the door."
"Will the Xu family agree?"
“They agreed. When they learned that I was going to give them four taels of silver, they were overjoyed and agreed to any conditions. They even planned to have Xu Dahong come back today to take care of Jiang Huan.”
At this point, the eldest brother sighed almost imperceptibly, a hint of pity flashing in his eyes.
"Although I don't want her to suffer, it's better to live a simple and peaceful life. Mother just arranged a marriage for our third child this year, and there are still marriages for our second and fourth children to come. I don't want to hold two weddings. I was thinking that after Xu Dahong gives birth to our child, we can invite Mother to celebrate the child's 100-day celebration. What do you think, Mother?"
Song Chunxue could tell that her boss was now considering things from all angles; his expression and tone were completely different.
Although he really wanted to marry the Xu family girl, he was not happy about divorcing Chen Feng.
If the banquet is held so early, the eldest son won't be able to laugh heartily.
Well, she felt she was a bit slow in her past life and never realized that her boss was actually quite kind to others.
She just wasn't very good to her own mother.
“Alright, let’s do it your way. Let your sister and Sanwa go back tomorrow, and Lao Si will go with them. The day after tomorrow, we’ll come back in a carriage to pick us up. Go find a geomancer to ask about the auspicious date,” Song Chunxue leaned forward, “and while you’re at it, ask Lao Si and Lao Er when they’re getting married.”
It would save a lot of trouble if the two of them could get married together.
In their eyes, whether the mother is present on the wedding day is not that important, but how lavish the banquet is and where it is held are more important.
"Okay, let's arrange it like this. Tomorrow, I'll trouble you to look after Jiang Huan, Mother. I'll go to the other side of the river to find Mr. Ren to calculate the auspicious date."
“Okay, let’s do it this way.” Song Chunxue stood up. “I’ll sleep in the old courtyard tonight. The kang is too crowded, and my back hurts a lot.”
Upon hearing this, Sanwa quickly said, "How long has it been since anyone lived in the old courtyard? Aren't you afraid to go alone, Mother? Mulan and I will go with you. Anyway, the west room has been cleaned up."
Originally, Song Chunxue was not afraid, believing that she was upright and a cultivator, and that no evil spirits would dare to approach her.
But she was afraid that she might see things she shouldn't see at night.
Even though she made it clear that those things wouldn't hurt her, she herself wouldn't believe she wasn't afraid if she saw a dead old man.
Song Chunxue nodded, "That's fine."
Jiang Huan didn't want to sleep with Jiang Hongying anymore and kept asking Mulan to hold him.
Jiang Huan, who had never competed with anyone for his mother's affections, probably felt that he was not as close to his aunt as her own biological daughter, and not as close as Mulan, who had no children.
Left with no other choice, Sanwa had to let Mulan carry Jiang Huan and sleep in the same room with them.
As darkness fell, they arrived at the old courtyard.
Song Chunxue bolted the door tightly from the inside, regretting that she hadn't brought a wolfhound back.
At least I can keep you company at night.
With the candlelight flickering, Song Chunxue lay down on her kang (heated brick bed) and could hear Jiang Huan crying and making a fuss coming from the west room.
She quietly looked at the cobwebs on the roof that hadn't been swept clean, and felt that the house, which hadn't been lived in for a long time, was unusually cold.
Even though it wasn't as cold as winter, I felt a chilling aura around my head.
She crawled out of bed, took out two talismans from her bundle, and pasted one in the central hall and the other behind the door.
Phew, suddenly I don't feel cold anymore.
She crawled into the thick quilt, wide awake. The room smelled faintly of dust, and the walls seemed darker than before.
Memories of the past, past lives and present lives, drifted by like fragments of a traditional opera, as if they were just yesterday.
After staring at the roof for half an hour, Jiang Huan stopped crying; he must have fallen asleep.
Someone's donkey seems to have forgotten to add hay, as it brays every now and then.
As Song Chunxue became more and more awake, she simply sat up and started reading.
My senior's travelogue was very interesting. When he encountered unfamiliar characters, he could guess their meanings. I ended up reading it for an hour without realizing it.
Her eyelids finally started to dry, so she closed the book and prepared to blow out the candle and go to sleep.
"Thump~"
A dull thud came from outside the courtyard.
Listening closely, it was very quiet; I guessed that a chunk of soil had fallen from the old earthen wall.
Song Chunxue pulled the blanket up a little.
"Knock knock knock".
Suddenly, she felt her body hair—no, even the roots of her hair—stand up.
It sounded like someone was knocking on her door.
Good heavens, I got goosebumps.
"Knock knock knock".
"Junior brother, are you asleep?"
Oh my god, her heart instantly settled back into her stomach.
That's my senior's voice.
Song Chunxue breathed a sigh of relief, threw off the covers, and got out of bed.
She couldn't sleep soundly in the room she hadn't slept in for a long time, so she slept fully clothed, without even taking off her clothes.
"Squeak~"
She opened the door and, still shaken, looked at the faint silver patterns embroidered on her clothes, illuminated by the candlelight. "Senior brother, why are you here so late?"
The Taoist priest entered the room with a whisk in his hand, exuding a cool and aloof aura.
“I often travel at night and find a suitable place to meditate and rest. When I pass by here, I want to come and see this courtyard so that those wandering ghosts won’t come in and take over the place. Who would have thought that I would see a light in the house? I calculated with my fingers that you are here, so I came.”
The Taoist priest took the cloth bag off his shoulder and looked around. "No tea?"
"I'll go boil some water." Song Chunxue stepped out of the house. "I was a little thirsty just now, and I didn't dare to go alone, but when my senior brother came, I felt like I was covered in golden light, and I wasn't afraid of any demons or monsters."
The Taoist priest got up and followed behind her. "What I'm afraid of is not being shameful enough. Let's brew some tea. I have something to tell you."
P.S.: My roommate is my classmate. I live in the countryside, and she lives in the provincial capital. It's a five-hour drive to her place. Yesterday, she took her child to the aquarium, and today she's back after a six-hour drive. I'll update as usual tomorrow.
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