When Changwu and Yuner came back, they saw Minglan sitting peacefully on the couch counting her belongings. Danju sat beside her, peeling oranges obediently and then stuffing the petals into her mouth one by one. Xiaotao and Luzhi sat opposite each other, looking at the account book, one reading aloud and the other making notes. Outside the window, the sky was clear and the water was beautiful.
The young couple's jaws dropped as they watched. Minglan calmly reported what happened: they packed up their things, the thieves came, they jumped into the water, the canal gang arrived, the thieves ran away, and they returned to the boat.
Simple and concise, with a clear summary; Minglan felt that she was becoming more and more like her brother Changbai.
The young couple felt very apologetic, so they turned their apology into motivation. They knew the seriousness of the matter, and if not handled properly, it would affect the family, so they acted quickly. After all, Yoona was Aunt Kang's daughter, so she was ruthless in her punishment and made sure all the maids were properly settled. No one would say a word that needed to be kept silent, and when they got ashore, everything was calm.
Changsong had received the news long ago and was waiting at the dock with a group of servants. The brothers were extremely affectionate when they met. Little Changdong was determined to ride a horse and pestered his brother to get into the carriage, but he finally succeeded. Yuner said a few words despite her sore lower back, and was then helped by a careful maid into a sedan chair covered with blue oilcloth and indigo red nylon. Minglan wanted to follow her in, but was helped into the next carriage by the maid. Once inside, she saw Pinlan waiting for her with a smile, holding an eight-treasure fruit box.
After not seeing each other for two years, Pinlan's face has become much more beautiful and her figure has become more mature. In the past two years, Mrs. Li has been controlling her more strictly, and the results are obvious. Her behavior is no longer as impetuous and lively as before, and she looks like a grown-up girl.
Pinlan had missed Minglan terribly for a long time. Knowing that Minglan was coming today, she scratched her heart like a cat for a long time and begged for a long time before she finally got her mother and sister-in-law to agree and ask her eldest brother to take her with him to pick her up.
The two little sisters have always gotten along well with each other. As soon as they met, they hugged each other and twisted their bodies. You twisted my face, I pinched your arm, and they laughed and made noises for a long time. They only calmed down when their mother, who was serving them outside, coughed loudly in displeasure.
"You silly girl, I miss you so much!" Pinlan clung to Minglan's arm, her face flushed with smiles. Minglan's hair was all messed up from being pulled, and she was trying to pull her hand out to tidy it up. She shook it vigorously and said, "Don't curse me to death!"
Pinlan bared her teeth viciously, pounced on him and started rubbing him. Minglan was not as skilled as him and surrendered with both hands.
"How's the eldest lady?" Minglan asked hurriedly after the two sisters had calmed down. Pinlan's face was gloomy. "She was getting better last month, but when the cold weather came, she became ill again. She's been groggy these past few days and can't even speak a complete sentence. The doctor said she's probably going to die in the next few days."
There was a moment of silence in the carriage. Minglan patted Pinlan's hand and comforted her for a long time. Then she asked about her grandmother. Pinlan forced a smile and said, "Thanks to the Second Old Lady, she often told me some funny stories from the old days, and my grandmother felt better. Sometimes when the Third Old Master came to cause trouble, the Second Old Lady would sit there, and the Third House would be quiet."
"How do you be honest?" Minglan asked excitedly.
Pinlan cleared her throat, slapped the table like a storyteller, and began to imitate the story in a vivid way.
The Third Old Master: Nephew, when the old man passed away, he left 50,000 taels of silver in the main house. It’s time to divide it up.
Sheng Wei: I haven’t heard about this...
Third Old Master: You kid, you want to deny it! How dare you be rude to your uncle? I still have the old man's notes here!
Old Madam Sheng: Oh, that's true. But that year, Uncle San wanted to redeem the top prostitute at Cuixianlou, so he paid the money in advance. The old man from the Cui family who handled it at the time should still have the records from that time. I'll just write a letter and get it later... What's the matter? You're so angry, and you still want to be rude to your sister-in-law?!
Third Old Master: ...
Old Lady Sheng: To be honest, when Third Uncle was short of money, he took out our share from the second house. I still have your IOU here. Now that we are old, it’s time to talk about when to pay it back.
The Third Old Master: The weather is nice today, everyone go home early and take some rest. Don’t forget to put away your clothes when it gets dark. Well, we’re leaving first.
Pinlan and Minglan laughed so hard that they fell over and trembled with joy while leaning over the desk.
Speaking of which, the third old master is really a wonderful person. Although he has never been a good person, he knows how to stop when he is ahead and change his attitude according to the situation. As a result, he has never completely fallen out with the first and second wives. He is content with getting some money and some benefits from them from time to time.
Sheng Wei is very smart. He knows that the key to doing business is to make money through harmony, so he never quarrels with his elders. How long can the third old master live? After he dies, Sheng Wei will be the eldest son of the eldest house and the patriarch of the clan. He can basically have the final say in the clan. If the third house cannot make itself better by then and causes chaos all day long, then the eldest house will not be so easy to deal with.
After traveling for over an hour, they were about to enter the town when Changsong stopped the carriage and rested briefly at the village entrance. The driver watered the horses and repaired the wheel ruts, while the maids and servants helped the grandmothers and the girls wash and urinate. After Minglan and Pinlan finished, they were quickly driven back to the carriage. As soon as they got in, Pinlan excitedly clung to the window, lifting a curtain to look in. Minglan asked curiously, "What are you looking at?"
"When I went downstairs just now, I saw an old acquaintance... Ah, here they come, come and see!" Pinlan waved back repeatedly. Minglan leaned over to look in confusion. Following Pinlan's direction, she saw several people standing under a big locust tree at the entrance of the village. Minglan let out a soft "Ah".
——It’s indeed an old acquaintance.
Sun Zhigao, dressed in a dishevel, squatted on the ground, holding his head and trembling. His long gown was already stained everywhere. Next to him stood a tall and strong woman, holding a big stick in her hand. Sun's mother pointed at her and cursed, "Where did you come from, woman? You are so domineering! He went out to have a pot of wine, and you dared to hit him?! Look at what you did to my son!"
The woman shouted loudly, "That's the one I'm going to hit!" Her expression was calm.
Mother Sun was furious and rushed over to hit the woman. The woman dodged and Mother Sun fell heavily to the ground, her legs in the air. The woman laughed heartily. Mother Sun simply lay on the ground and cursed: "You widow who is seeking death. Since you entered my house, you have been irritating the mother-in-law and hitting the husband every other day. How can you be a daughter-in-law like this in the world! You just watched your mother-in-law fall?"
The widow dropped the stick and said with a nonchalant smile, "Mother-in-law, I was a widow before, but now I'm married to your son. You keep calling me a widow all day long. Are you cursing your son?"
The villagers watching nearby all laughed and pointed.
The widow had a broad face and prominent front teeth, and she looked quite tough. In front of all the villagers, she shouted, "Although I am a widow remarrying, I also brought a sufficient dowry when I married into the family. The house we live in now, the land we cultivate, all of which I didn't pay for. Mother-in-law, it doesn't matter if you eat for free, but at least you can take care of your son. He is a scholar, and he should either study hard to pass the imperial examination or open a private school to earn some tuition. But he runs around all day, drinking and having fun with others, and then brings a bunch of friends to eat and have a feast, ignoring everything. If I don't pay attention to him, he will want to sell the house and land. Are you planning to find a new husband after squandering my dowry?"
The surrounding villagers all knew about the Sun family's affairs. They all laughed when they heard about it. Some people who were good at doing good things even made a few sarcastic remarks. When Sun's mother saw that no one helped her, she lay on the ground and cried loudly: "Listen everyone, this is not what a daughter-in-law should say. A daughter-in-law has always been expected to serve her mother-in-law and please her. How can you be so disobedient?! You even asked me to work so hard that I am exhausted. I don't want to live anymore, I don't want to live anymore..."
A few old men in the village couldn't stand it anymore and couldn't help but interrupt, jokingly saying, "Such a mean daughter-in-law, why not just divorce her? Why treat her mother-in-law like this?"
The widow's face darkened, she glared at him fiercely, and shrieked, "This is my second marriage. If anyone makes my life miserable, I will go to his house and die, setting it on fire or hanging myself. No one else will have a good life!"
The men immediately shut up. The widow looked at Sun's mother and taunted her loudly, "Mother-in-law, you still think you're some rich old lady. You have a large family and a dozen acres of land to support yourself. What old lady in the village doesn't help with some chores? I just asked you to look after the chickens and ducks in the backyard, and you're not even lifting a finger and you're still tired! If you want a good life, don't divorce your former wife! You divorced her and now you're trying to get her back. Don't be so shameless!"
When Sun's mother thought of the good days when Shulan was around, she choked with anger.
The widow continued, addressing the crowd around her: "Uncles, aunts, and grandma, you all don't know, but my mother-in-law is the most foolish. My husband married a wonderful wife long ago. She came with money, a house, fields, and servants as a dowry. That wife brought tea in the middle of the night and massaged my legs at midnight, practically treating me like the Queen Mother. But she still didn't like me. She bullied her all day and finally drove her away! She didn't like such a wonderful wife. She preferred a prostitute from a seedy place. That bitch coaxed her into treating her like her own daughter! Later, that prostitute not only cheated on my husband, but also gave birth to a bastard. Finally, she ran off with the adulterer and the money! Mother-in-law, why don't you change your old ways? As the saying goes, good medicine tastes bitter, and honest advice is unpleasant to the ears. Now that you don't like me, are you planning to find another sweet-talking prostitute to marry?"
Although the widow was tall and clumsy, she was very eloquent. After she finished speaking, the villagers who were watching burst into laughter. Some women almost laughed their bellies off. No one helped Sun's mother anymore. Sun's mother was so angry that she was shaking all over. She threw herself on Sun Zhigao, beating him and crying, "You watched me being bullied by my wife and didn't come out to do anything! I gave birth to you in vain!"
Sun Zhigao mustered up his courage and pointed at the widow, saying, "Filial piety is the most important virtue. How dare you anger your mother-in-law like this? You even dare to talk back at her. I dared to divorce even a woman from such a good family, so how could I not dare to divorce you?"
Sun's mother perked up and encouraged him, "That's right! Divorce her and find someone better!"
The widow laughed three times, then her face turned cold and she cursed loudly: "Finding a good one? Don't dream! Back then, you and your son lost everything and had nowhere to live. If I hadn't married you, you would have starved and frozen immediately! Your son is barren! All he does all day long is recite a few sour poems and pursue women. Do you really think you are Gan Luo and Pan An? If I hadn't remarried, who would follow you? You can't even give birth to a son, and you have to be adopted into the clan. I don't know if I can rely on you for the rest of my life! I can divorce you, but I wrote a clear document with the elders and the head of the village. I will take back all the house and land!"
Sun Zhigao's face flushed with anger, and he was filled with shame and indignation. His mother felt sorry for her son. Seeing the villagers around him laughing and joking, looking at her and her son with strange eyes, she felt embarrassed and annoyed and said, "You are such a shameless woman! Did you just tell people about this?"
The widow raised her head and said, "None of your concubines could give birth to a son before. That prostitute finally gave birth to one, but it was a bastard! And your previous wife remarried and has been giving birth to sons one after another! Let's make this clear first, so everyone can be witnesses. If you later accuse me of being childless and want to divorce me, I won't agree!"
It is said that Shulan seemed to want to avenge her past shame. After remarrying, her little universe exploded. In two years, she gave birth to two pairs of twins, three sons and one daughter. Now she is in confinement after giving birth. Her husband's family has grown from a small family in the clan to a prosperous one. Her parents-in-law no longer had some dissatisfaction with her remarriage, and they smiled as soon as they saw their daughter-in-law.
Sun's mother was furious. She picked up the big stick on the ground and hit the widow with all her strength. The widow dodged to the side, grabbed Sun's mother, pushed her away, snatched the stick, and swung it at Sun Zhigao again and again, cursing: "You coward! How dare you go out to drink and have sex? How dare you waste your money? You make friends with bad people. Why don't you stay home properly?"
Sun Zhigao was beaten so hard that he screamed and jumped on the ground to avoid the beating. The widow was invincible and twisted his ears, beating and scolding him. Sun's mother got up and wanted to save her son, but she couldn't push him away. The three of them immediately started fighting, and the surrounding villagers laughed at the joke.
Minglan looked at Sun Zhigao's shabby and confused appearance, and found that he no longer had the arrogance and talent he once had. Sun's mother's coarse cloth clothes reminded Minglan of the time when she had a hair full of gold hairpins and jade hairpins, silks and satins, sitting in the main hall of the Sheng family, and ridiculing Shulan in front of Li. The past was like smoke, and it was unbearable to look back.
Soon, the carriage was about to start. Changsong knew that it was the Sun mother and son who were making a fuss up ahead, and fearing that they would come over again, he took another route. Pinlan leaned on the window and watched reluctantly, not until they could no longer see her, then she lowered the curtain. She turned around and sat down, slowly picked up the teacup, took a sip, and let out a long breath.
Seeing her gloating expression, Minglan laughed and said, "Are you happy now?"
Pinlan shook her head in satisfaction, looking refreshed: "It relieves pain, cures illness, and prolongs life."
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