Chapter 3
Old Mrs. Zhang looked at her second grandson, who was fair, tender and adorable in Mrs. Jiang's arms, and suddenly her conscience was awakened.
After all, he is the only bloodline left by the eldest son of the family, and like his father Jianwen, he has been smart since childhood. It is inevitable that Mrs. Zhang will be reminded of the sad things in her youth.
Jianwen is her first child and the eldest grandson of the Zhang family. Her father-in-law and the elders of the clan have high hopes for him.
My father-in-law and the elders of the clan said that if a child is raised by his biological mother, he will inevitably be spoiled and become an uneducated playboy.
So Jianwen stayed with her for three days, and then was taken to the eunuch's courtyard to be taken care of by a wet nurse.
My father-in-law is a conservative and strict person. He only allows the mother and son to be close to each other during the three festivals of the year.
The following year, she gave birth to her second son, Jianren. Since Jianren did not have to inherit the family property and title, she could raise him personally.
Raising a child is extremely demanding, and Jianren has been weak and sickly since childhood. She spent most of her time and energy taking care of Jianren, and gradually gave up the idea of bringing Jianwen home to raise him.
Later, when she had her little daughter Mingzhu, she didn't even have time to spare her motherly love to please Jianwen.
Although they were nominally mother and son, they actually gradually became strangers.
She admitted that she was a biased mother.
She also knew that she had given Jianren both of the special medicines that her eldest daughter-in-law brought back from her parents' home that day, causing Jianwen to die of illness at the age of just over 30. It was her fault.
Thinking of this, Mrs. Zhang sniffed and said with tears in her eyes, "My poor son, he finally had a son, but we haven't even seen each other. Xi'er is cute and smart. In the future, he will be a hundred times better than his irritating uncle."
After saying that, Old Lady Zhang poked Zhang Jianren hard several times with the end of her cane.
Zhang Jianren was poked so hard that he screamed.
"If you want your family to spend money to donate an official position for you, you are not allowed to make things difficult for your sister-in-law or sell your daughter. Just ask your father for it." Old Mrs. Zhang sighed, feeling extremely tired.
Zhang Jianren rubbed the pain on his shoulder and said, "Mother, you don't even hope for your son's recovery now. My father would kill me if he saw me. How could I dare to ask him for money?"
"Why does your father hate you so much? It's because you're such a loser. You're not good at either literature or martial arts. You only know how to spend your days drinking at brothels and losing money at gambling houses. You have a dozen concubines and maids in your courtyard, and you still don't think it's enough. You go out and have affairs with other women, making your wife cry day and night." This time, Mrs. Zhang was determined to discipline her youngest son. "If you can correct these bad habits, even if your father doesn't give you money to donate to an official position, I will donate my coffin to help you have a good future."
Zhang Jianren didn't really want to donate his official position. Being an official was too tiring. It would be better for him to travel around, eat delicious food, drink spicy drinks, and play with famous prostitutes in Jiangnan like he does now.
"I won't argue with you women. I always find ways to make money."
After saying that, he walked out without looking back.
Old Lady Zhang shouted at his back, "Your wife is pregnant, and Xuan'er fell down again. If you weren't at home taking care of them, where would you go to play?"
Zhang Jianren said this in a bad mood.
"I can go wherever I want to go, why do you have to control me?"
Old Mrs. Zhang was so angry that she felt dizzy and kept crying out, "What an injustice!"
"If Jianwen were still alive, I wouldn't care about him even if he died outside."
Zhang Xihua wanted to roll her eyes. If her cheap father was really alive, he would definitely be forced by Old Lady Zhang to clean up Zhang Jianren's mess every day.
Nowadays, the old in the Zhang family are too old, and the young are too young. It is worse than not having Zhang Jianren in the middle.
Zhang Xihua only hopes that she can grow up quickly, otherwise she won’t know when she will be killed by her bastard uncle Zhang Jianren.
*
After Zhang Jianren left home, Mrs. Jiang was busy every day. She had to help Mrs. Li take care of Zhang Xuanhua and take care of Mrs. Li's pregnancy. Fortunately, her own children were worry-free.
Zhang Xihua was a good girl every day, and her third sister Zhang Shining would pull the fourth girl from the second room, Zhang Yining, to her cradle to play with her as soon as she got home from school.
Little Zhang Shining has a pretty face and has completely inherited Mrs. Jiang's beauty, but she is a little too lively and active, with a chatterbox all the time. Except when she is eating snacks, she is a chatterbox at other times.
Little Zhang Yining was as pretty and charming as her biological mother, Concubine Liu, but she was a little too quiet. She liked to ask the maid to bring an embroidered cushion and let her sit next to the rocking bed and stare at Zhang Xihua.
That day, Mother Xue brought two bowls of sweet cheese to Zhang Shining and Zhang Yining, one bowl each.
Zhang Shining was eager to ride the new bamboo horse that Mrs. Jiang had bought for her. She wolfed down a bowl of sweet cheese in a few mouthfuls and wiped her mouth with her sleeve after finishing.
"Mother Xue, find my childhood sweetheart. I want to play with him."
Mother Xue agreed and told the maid to find her childhood sweetheart, while she went to find a new flowery jacket for Zhang Shining to change into.
"Third Miss, we should chew our food slowly and thoroughly, and wipe our mouths with a handkerchief after eating. We can't eat like peasants. Look at how well the Fourth Miss eats."
Zhang Yining blushed when she was praised, and continued to sit next to the rocking chair, holding the porcelain bowl and eating the sweet cheese in small bites.
The rocking bed was placed under the eaves of the corridor outside the main house.
Zhang Shining rode his bamboo horse around the yard, not forgetting to talk to Zhang Xihua in the rocking crib.
"Brother Xi, Mr. Zhuang in the school is very cruel. Today, I just took advantage of Mr. Zhuang's nap to pull out one of his whiskers to tie a grasshopper, and Mr. Zhuang punished me by making me copy the Thousand Character Classic ten times. Fortunately, my fourth sister was willing to help me with half of it. Brother Xi, grow up quickly. When you can write, you can help me with the other half."
Zhang Xihua: “…”
Zhang Shining began to chatter incessantly about her schooling. The little girl could list a hundred disadvantages of going to school. The more she talked, the more resentful she became. Later, she even stopped riding her childhood horse and stood next to the rocking cradle, poking Zhang Xihua's face and pouring out her grievances.
Zhang Yining sat aside and listened quietly. When he saw Zhang Xihua drooling because of Zhang Shining's poking, he picked up a handkerchief and wiped the saliva from the corner of Zhang Xihua's mouth.
Zhang Xihua was annoyed. She raised her two little hands to cover her ears, opened her little mouth and screamed "Ahhh", indicating that she didn't want to listen to Zhang Shining's nonsense.
Zhang Shining was stunned for a moment, then said to Mother Xue who came over to check, "Mother Xue, I thought Xi Ge'er didn't understand me, but not only did he understand, he also told me to cover my ears and not listen to Mr. Zhuang's lectures, and to point out Mr. Zhuang's mistakes if he said anything wrong."
Zhang Xihua: “?!”
That's not what she meant. This was completely Zhang Shining's own imagination.
Mother Xue: "Sister Shi, Brother Xi is young and doesn't understand these things."
"I'm going to tell my mother. Even my brother knows how hard it is for me to go to school. I never want to get up so early to go to the school to listen to Mr. Zhuang's lectures again."
Zhang Shining happily took Zhang Yining's little hand and ran into the house.
Zhang Xihua breathed a sigh of relief. Little Zhang Shining finally stopped chanting scriptures in her ear.
Zhang Shining still didn't like Mr. Zhuang's class. Mr. Zhuang was a great scholar of the time. He was the teacher of three generations of emperors before Emperor Hongde. He was well-educated and talented. Now, more than half of the officials in the Ming Dynasty were Mr. Zhuang's students and old friends.
The Zhang clan's school is indeed well-known. It offers nearly 30 courses in classics, history, philosophy, law, engineering, water conservancy, agriculture, etc. Not only are the courses diverse and complete, but each course also has a great scholar as the core teacher.
In addition to the children of the Zhang clan, children from other aristocratic families and noble families also came to study at the Zhang clan school.
There was even a special school for girls, which was exactly the one Zhang Shining didn't want to go to.
The main branch of the Zhang family, that is, the Yongjia Marquis Mansion, has few descendants, but there are many side branches, and there are also many outstanding figures among the side branches, which makes the Zhang family of the Yongjia Marquis Mansion seem to have a bad luck in literature.
Zhang Shining, who said he would go back and tell Mrs. Jiang that he didn't want to go to school, was now being chased by Mrs. Jiang holding a bamboo whip under the elm tree in the yard.
Zhang Yining followed Madam Jiang and advised, "Don't be angry, Auntie. Third Sister is just complaining. You still have to go to school with me tomorrow."
Zhang Shining quickly climbed up the tree, sat on a thick branch, dangling his legs, and said, "If you say you don't want to go to school, then you don't want to go! Even if you beat me to death, mother, I won't go to that crappy school!"
Mrs. Jiang knew her daughter was as stubborn as a cow, so she said, "Shi Jie'er, if you don't want to go to school, that's fine too. How about learning to help your mother with the household at home?"
For Zhang Shining, as long as she is not allowed to go to school, anything is fine.
After Zhang Shining agreed, he came down from the tree.
Madam Jiang really returned to her motherly demeanor. She asked Zhang Shining, who was sweating all over, to take a shower and change clothes. She then said to Zhang Yining, "Sister Yi, have dinner at your aunt's courtyard before you go back."
"Yes." Zhang Yining said some polite words again.
Mrs. Jiang looked at Zhang Yining's well-behaved appearance, and felt that her own sister Shi was like a demon star, extremely hateful.
The next day, although Zhang Shining did not have to go to school, Mrs. Jiang put the awakened Zhang Xihua into Zhang Shining's bed at dawn.
Zhang Xihua naturally knew what Mrs. Jiang meant. Mrs. Jiang wanted her daughter to understand that taking care of the affairs of the rear house at home was not much easier than going to school.
Zhang Xihua took a deep breath, then screamed "Ahhhhhh", and slapped Zhang Shining's face with her little hands.
Zhang Shining couldn't stand the little guy's noise, so he opened his sleepy eyes and pinched Zhang Xihua's rosy cheeks.
Zhang Shining sat up, held Zhang Xihua in her arms, looked up and asked Mrs. Jiang, who was standing in front of the bed and looking at her with a smile, what did this mean?
"From now on, you will help mother take care of your brother."
Mrs. Jiang was not worried that her daughter would find out that her brother was not a brother but a sister. Her daughter did not know the physical differences between boys and girls, and Mother Xue was always watching her daughter and Xi Ge'er get along.
Zhang Shining: "It's not difficult to take care of my brother."
"Then you should get up quickly, wash up, and feed your brother breakfast first." Mrs. Jiang said.
Zhang Xihua saw the meaningful smile on Mrs. Jiang's face, as well as the glances she exchanged with Mother Xue, and had a bad feeling.
Are they going to use her to devise another scheme to make Zhang Shining back down?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
