Chapter 422
Mrs. Liang's daughter's baby was over a hundred days old, so she invited the female relatives to her home to have some fun. This was her eldest daughter who had eloped.
Wang Jiazhi saw that she looked very similar to Mrs. Liang: tall, with a long face and a high nose bridge, her whole body seemed very long. She also spoke in the same "friendly and generous" way as her mother.
Wang Jiazhi was so annoyed, but she could only smile and be affectionate.
If she had gone back a few years, she would have thought that Mrs. Liang's daughter was a very good person. But after seeing her mother like that, she decided to forget it.
She could not forget the time when Mrs. Liang, relying on her status as Mrs. Yi's direct descendant, looked down on her openly and covertly. The fact that she looked down on Wang Jiazhi secretly was no longer important. She had been hit too hard by those scumbags and Old Wu. She didn't dare to expect anything from them who didn't even treat her as a human being.
Now he is trying to curry favor with her like this, and he is always slandering Mrs. Yi to curry favor with her. I don’t even know how he slandered himself for currying favor with Mrs. Yi in the first place. I can imagine that this must be unbearable to hear.
When the child was brought out, everyone praised the child for being beautiful, and Wang Jiazhi also echoed them.
I thought to myself, “It’s far worse than mine.”
The appearance of a 100-day-old baby can already be seen. Mrs. Liang’s “growth” gene is really strong, and her grandson also has long arms, legs and a long face.
Wang Jiazhi was annoyed by his long face. Kuang Yumin looked like a scallion or a noodle, but it was stretched out. Why had she been blind in the first place?
Those who talk about great principles lightly will surely betray you in battle; those who call everyone brothers will make their close friendships just ordinary.
That’s right, Mrs. Liang and Kuang Yumin, the two prominent figures, are both like this. They talk a lot but are very bad in private.
However, the nice words Kuang Yumin said were all for others, not even for her.
Even though he was in so much pain, he knocked on the door and told her to "eat" in an imperative tone.
Wang Jiazhi didn't know it, but she was lucky she didn't go out for the porridge. If she had, it would have only worsened her suffering. She was just anxious to answer the phone, and then she lost all hope. If she had known what was waiting for her, she would have been even more miserable.
There were exactly six seats, three on each side. That side was already occupied by Kuang Yumin, Ouyang, and Huang Lei. Lai Xiujin deliberately sat on the other side with Liang Runsheng, then deliberately sat in the third seat, leaving the seat next to Liang Runsheng empty. She even set out the dishes and left it for Wang Jiazhi. She just wanted Wang Jiazhi to feel even more disgusted. She had just been abused, and now she had to eat next to that scoundrel. Kuang Yumin acquiesced and went to knock on the door to call her.
"I firmly believe that if I don't like someone at first sight, no matter if they are good or bad, we are not compatible and there is no need to have a deep friendship or cooperation." Lao Yi told her.
She knew it was definitely not absolute, but now she also adhered to it.
She felt uncomfortable the first time she saw Lai Xiujin. Her squinting eyes and drooping brows made her look treacherous and awkward. But she thought, one shouldn't judge a person by appearances. Lai Xiujin was eloquent, and they were roommates. She realized how young and naive she really was.
Then I thought, aren't Lai Xiujin, Kuang Yumin, and Mrs. Liang all similarly "long"? Long faces, tall stature, narrow eyes, and more or less slanted eyes. Ouyang is fat, yes, but even among fat people, he has a long face, especially those slanted eyes, which are exactly like Lai Xiujin's. No wonder other fat people seem so friendly and honest, but Ouyang always feels awkward and uncomfortable, and I can't put my finger on what's wrong.
No wonder Lai Xiujing likes Kuang Yumin, and he and Ouyang are each other's backups. These three really look like a couple.
I must have been cursed by some demon, and I was madly in love with Kuang Yumin.
If I had understood this earlier, I wouldn't have suffered such a big loss.
"I'm stupid, I'm stupid anyway!" she said to herself.
Because socializing here was very boring, Wang Jiazhi began to withdraw again. Suddenly, she remembered these things, which gave her new discoveries and insights.
Mrs. Liang's daughter originally lived alone with her husband. Because she became pregnant, she was worried that she could not be taken care of properly outside, so she asked her husband and wife to return to her parents' home.
Wang Jiazhi was filled with emotion. A child with a mother is like a treasure, while a child without a mother is like a weed.
Reading about Ximen Qing in "Jin Ping Mei," a wealthy man, he had only one daughter for most of his life. Without her mother's protection, she lived worse off than a maidservant. Her father had so much money, yet his concubines lived better than his only legitimate daughter. She cried bitterly just to buy two handkerchiefs, and ultimately had to rely on her concubine for money to support her. After her father died, she was abandoned by her stepmother and resorted to stealing rice to buy sesame cakes. Unable to bear her husband's abuse, she hanged herself.
Ying Bojue's family was much poorer than theirs; Han Daoguo's family couldn't even afford a house, but with her mother around, her daughter was pampered and spoiled. When Ying Bojue's daughter fell ill, her mother, worried her in-laws wouldn't be able to care for her, insisted on bringing her home to care for her. When someone gave her two large crucian carp, she gave one as a gift and gave her a portion of the other to her daughter, eating the rest herself. Han Daoguo's daughter married a wealthy man from a distant land and had everything she wanted. Her father made her hairpins, and her mother made her shoes and clothes. Whenever she knew someone was traveling to Tokyo, she would ask them to send gifts for her daughter.
Wu Dalang deserved to be poisoned to death. Pan Jinlian abused her daughter so cruelly, but he just pretended to be deaf and dumb. He also blamed Pan Jinlian for poisoning his daughter and dared not stop her. Then he called Ximen Qing "Dad". He deserved it.
The Xiao family was represented by Sister Xiao today. She whispered to Wang Jiazhi, "Do you know anything about her?"
Wang Jiazhi was lost in thought when she suddenly got a start.
Sister Xiao talked about Sister Liao's situation and said, "She was beaten up, so pitiful. Actually, she didn't hit her mother-in-law, but they beat her instead. One of her eyes is black and blue. She can't go out now, and she's stuck at her in-laws' house, which makes her even more upset."
She was also surprised not to see Sister Liao when Sister Xiao got married last time. Although many social events tacitly excluded her, given her friendship with Sister Xiao, there was no reason not to invite her. She was simply dragged away by that table and then forgot about it.
"She called me a while ago."
"She also called me to tell me that the novel was no longer being serialized, the day after that incident."
My favorite novel was discontinued halfway through, and the next day I encountered such a despairing thing. Oh my God! Just thinking about it makes me feel like life is hopeless. Wang Jiazhi now feels so sympathetic to Sister Liao.
Sister Liao knew her husband's mistress was pregnant, already quite far along, and about to give birth. She kept it a secret from the entire family, young and old, and she knew nothing about it. When she argued with her in-laws, her mother-in-law said she couldn't have children herself, and she didn't allow the concubine to have one. Did she want her husband to have no children? I've never seen such a vicious wife.
Sister Liao was so angry that she was shaking all over. It was not her fault. Their relationship was so bad that it was impossible for them to have children.
Moreover, her mother-in-law proudly told her that this was not the first one. Another concubine had given birth to a son who was already one year old.
Sister Liao was so angry that she smashed things, but her mother-in-law insisted that she wanted to kill herself on purpose, saying that she had never seen such a vicious daughter-in-law.
Wang Jiazhi turned around and saw Mrs. Liao chatting and laughing with others as if nothing had happened.
Sister Xiao said, "Her mother went to her husband's house and apologized profusely. She almost knelt before her parents-in-law, saying that her daughter was ignorant and then went over to beat her up."
Then he whispered, "Her father knew her mother had borrowed so much money for her son's wedding. He cursed at Mrs. Liao and said he wouldn't pay it back for her and told her to figure it out herself. Mrs. Liao is having a hard time now. She deserves it!"
Wang Jiazhi recalled a line from a novel: People, like animals, are busy being born and dying.
When a child comes into this world, who knows what his fate will be when he grows up?
They were discussing their experiences with childbirth. Sister Xiao's son was already two years old. Everyone here had given birth, but Wang Jiazhi was the only one who couldn't say anything, and had nothing to say. She didn't understand the suffering they had endured; her own pregnancy and childbirth weren't that terrifying.
Mrs. Liao boasted about her experience of getting pregnant and giving birth to a son, as well as the story of her son's life from birth to adulthood. If you didn't know her, you would think she only had this one child.
As soon as Wang Jiazhi thought of this, Mrs. Liao immediately mentioned her daughter.
"As soon as I got pregnant I knew it was a son, unlike the two girls I had before. Boys are naughty and they are heavier when they are carried."
At this time, she noticed the expression on Mrs. Ma's face when she looked at her. She didn't know if she was too sensitive, but she felt that Mrs. Ma was pleased that she was the only one who couldn't get a word in, and she looked so proud.
"It's a big deal that you have a child," she thought to herself.
Most people can give birth to children. Aren't cats, dogs, and pigs even more amazing, with litters of more than a dozen? Why do some people think that being able to give birth is such a big deal?
Mrs. Liang smiled and said, "How are you? Good days are not far away."
She knew she couldn't forgive herself.
She just smiled and said nothing.
The rumor that he couldn't have children was probably spread by Mrs. Liang and her group. Mrs. Yi probably welcomed it. Now he's living with her, and some are even saying he can't have children even with someone else. There must be something wrong with him. Oh my God, this is too much!
The Golden Age was made into a movie. In the novel, all the grandchildren in the family are boys. The eldest, second, and fourth daughters all gave birth to sons. The movie was quietly changed so that all the grandchildren were daughters, with only the heroine giving birth to a son. The old man and his wife were surprised and said, "Grandson, there are good things after all."
The screenwriter wanted to show the heroine's exceptionality, and one of the points was, "Everyone else gave birth to daughters, so why is she the only one who can give birth to a son?" And the change was so drastic that the fourth daughter's child, a grandson, wouldn't take up any of their quota to continue the family line, so they still changed it to a daughter. Cheers!
In some novels, good guys only give birth to sons, and one is not enough, they have to give birth to two. Villains only give birth to daughters, and they give birth to four or five daughters endlessly.
Didn’t you know that the ancients said: Don’t be happy when a boy is born, and don’t be angry when a girl is born?
The decent characters are so favored that they only have two children, while the villains have four or five. Is it because the villains are favored by their husbands? If we ignore the fact that they are easy to conceive.
What modern people do is even more pedantic than what the ancients did.
Think about how Wu Zetian's mother was almost 40 when she married as a concubine, gave birth to three daughters but no sons, and was bullied by her two step-sons. She was so angry that she didn't expect her daughter to have such amazing achievements. She killed both step-sons and must have felt a great sense of revenge.
Mrs. Liang's home was magnificent, decorated almost entirely in European style. It was unclear who influenced her or Mrs. Yi, as their furnishings were very similar. The house was made of green bricks and tiles, with golden window frames. The area surrounding the house was covered in red cockscombs. This was the peak bloom season, with large, thronging flowers in full bloom. The flowers were enormous, each as large as an octavo novel, and so many of them together resembled oval clouds treading on a nine-tailed fox in a comic book. The whole house was filled with joy, like the courtyard of a wealthy landlord. However, these vibrant, rustic flowers looked oddly matched with such an elegant Western-style house.
During the meal, Wang Jiazhi sighed, "As expected of someone in charge of rice, their family is truly wealthy." The dishes were even better than those served at Mrs. Xiao's banquets, but she was truly afraid of losing face.
The Liang family's fortune was ruined because they didn't want to reveal it. After the previous life fell from power, everyone rushed to dig for money. Because their family was in charge of rice, they searched every corner of the house and dug deep into the ground. But they still found some hidden wealth and dug up all the ancestral graves.
Wang Jiazhi whispered to Sister Xiao about Sister Liao. Sister Xiao replied, "I don't know. I called, but the servants said she was asleep and couldn't answer. In the past, her family wouldn't have wanted anyone to see her. Could she be dead?"
"Forehead……"
Sister Xiao sighed and said, "It's really painful to see her like this, but who can help her?"
Wang Jiazhi recalled that when she was taking care of the wounded, some of them simply could not survive, and they could not die immediately. They were afraid of death but could not change anything. They groaned and wailed in pain, and when they died, everyone felt a sense of relief.
But Sister Liao is not to the point where she has to die. How could she get married and end up killing herself?
The fundamental reason why I couldn't survive was that I had no money. It was ridiculous for the daughter of a high-ranking official to die like this.
Wang Jiazhi shook her head to dispel her wild thoughts.
Sister Xiao looked at Mrs. Liao and whispered, "She's pitiful, too. But her sister has endured it all. It's fate to have parents and in-laws like this. What's the point in going crazy? Finding a way to survive is the right thing to do. If you keep going on like this, you'll only push yourself into a dead end."
Wang Jiazhi was unable to refute.
The last time I came here, I came with Mrs. Yi. Now things have changed. Mrs. Liang didn't ask the concubine to come out to meet the guests. She hid herself.
Why would Mrs. Yi be unwilling to accept this? He doesn't have any concubines, while other families have multiple concubines. Does that mean he doesn't have any clean ones outside? Old Wu still has the nerve to call him a pervert. I don't believe Old Wu is that clean. Those female spies would be ruined. He always embezzles bonuses. Greedy people don't want to suffer any loss. I don't know how many girls he has ruined.
Wang Jiazhi shook her head and said, "Don't think about it anymore. If you think about it anymore, you will get sick again."
After dinner, the young wives left first, leaving Mrs. Liang, Mrs. Liao and Mrs. Ma to hold a three-person meeting.
Mrs. Liang said, "Did you hear that? I tried to tell her why she wasn't pregnant yet, but she just played dumb. It seems like she's also worried about not being able to conceive."
Mrs. Liao said, "It's been over two years, and she still can't get pregnant. She must be very anxious. So many people can't get pregnant, why is she so lucky?"
Mrs. Ma said, "Without her children to rely on, no matter how much she tries to show off, it will all be in vain sooner or later. We'll see. She won't get a share of the family property, and all her plans will be in vain. She can't go back to her husband, and she's been kicked out of the house. Her reputation is ruined. Who will want her?"
Mrs. Liang smiled and said, "That's right. Maybe her anxiety is useless. Who knows who will be infertile? But in the end, she is the one who suffers. The concubine of the Zhu family was favored for more than ten years, but she just didn't have any children. She was kicked out of the house without a penny. If you want to say..."
As Wang Jiazhi expected, they were talking behind her back again.
When Wang Jiazhi returned home at noon, the kitten had just woken up from a nap. She had eaten bear paws and soft-shell crabs for dinner. She held the kitten in her arms and looked at the bear paws. The nails were so long and the hair was so thick, but it was only slightly bigger than her hand.
After taking a shower at night and going to bed, he hugged her from behind, always like this, which made it most convenient for her to touch the places he liked.
The house was filled with sweet osmanthus flowers, a fragrant aroma. She made some sweet osmanthus jam and spread it on bread and crackers like jam. It was a bit unconventional, but it was delicious.
He said, "Isn't it your birthday the day after tomorrow?"
Only then did she remember that the Mid-Autumn Festival was approaching.
"I don't celebrate my birthday. What's the point? I don't really celebrate birthdays anyway."
"Then let's just go through it briefly."
She didn't know if she was overthinking it. He meant that he didn't know how many more birthdays he could celebrate with her. She felt uncomfortable.
She didn't say anything else, and neither did he. They both fell asleep without knowing when.
The next morning, she woke up and said that she had dreamed of a bear, which must be because she had eaten bear paws yesterday.
The old woman laughed and said, "Didn't you say that if you dreamed of a bear, you would give birth to a son?"
The little girl said, "I have a younger brother to keep my elder sister company."
He smiled and said, "It's good to have her as the only one. Too many children makes a mother suffer. Our family doesn't care about that."
A-ma and he were childhood friends. Once, when Wang Jiazhi was away, she hinted that it would be nice to have a son. He said something similar.
The little girl was deeply shocked. Although she had lived in the city for so many years, she had heard those city people always say: "Too many sons brings hardship to a mother, too many daughters brings peace to a mother." They talked about how good daughters were, how they spoiled their daughters, and how harsh they were on their sons. In reality, they said one thing to your face and another behind your back. City people and country people were the same, and sons were still treasures, while daughters were weeds.
This was the first time the little girl had seen someone who kept their word. Especially for an official like Old Yi, who was so high up that he was willing to leave his family without a daughter, and even said that having more children would be a hardship. It was so heartbreaking.
The reason the little girl broke up with her ex-fiancé was largely because she felt their relationship wasn't romantic enough, especially since he told her that if she had more children, she would have more energy to work.
"What if I only had daughters?"
"Don't say such depressing things!"
In fact, people who keep saying they prefer sons don't necessarily treat daughters badly if they have one. People who keep saying they must treat sons and daughters equally may be extremely biased. It's just that it's irritating to the little girl.
My mother secretly told people that the little girl's good marriage was broken up by the two masters of the family.
It was a rare birthday that he didn't go to the government office, but there was nothing special about them, they just lazed in bed, chatted, and licked each other's fur. She found a picture he drew under her pillow. She had her hair tied up, a kitten on her back, and they opened the door a crack and peeked in like a kitten.
There is also a hydrangea necklace, with blue diamonds pieced together into small flowers, forming a large hydrangea, with a gold chain and stems and leaves.
"It's so beautiful. Was it custom-made?"
"yes."
This handicraft takes a long time to make.
There was nothing special about the rest of the event. Someone sent her a large bouquet of pink peonies, prepared her favorite dinner, and also brought her a cake.
She doesn't celebrate her birthday in a Western way, but she likes cake with white cream and several circles of strawberries on top. Without candles, she just eats it as an after-dinner dessert.
She thought back to a time long, long ago, when they were trapped in the house by heavy rain. They stayed there for ages. It seemed endless, and then they'd chat and then they couldn't help but want to... It was like they were possessed that day. Even God didn't want them to leave.
The sound of rain that night, the red kitten with roses, the necklace around the kitten's neck, and the cake. All gone, everything torn down and started over again. And the kitten in my belly at that time.
The kitten's birthday is just over a month away from hers, and this is her first birthday.
He also drew a picture of the kitten, with its mouth wide open and smiling happily, with its parents behind it.
He wrote below: Dear baby, it’s your first birthday, and mom and dad are celebrating with you.
A cake, a little smaller than hers. Her cake was a little too big.
There are three cats above and a candle lit.
"Blow it out, baby~"
The kitten obediently blew out the candle in one breath.
What surprised Wang Jiazhi the most was that when she went downstairs, there was a huge cat made of roses on the table, with the familiar cat gold necklace around its neck.
He smiled and said, "This necklace is very interesting. I asked someone to make a small one for each of you."
That day, she and the child wore the same kitten necklace around their necks.
Oh my god, the memories of the past are coming back. But how can I give these to the child?
She touched the kitten's head, as it was a debt she owed her in her previous life.
After the birthday, they would hold a "Zhuazhou" (grab the week) celebration. Wang Jiazhi had specially prepared several items on the bed, including brushes, inkstones, cosmetics, jewelry, and books. When the time came, the two of them would happily invite the kitten to grab the items.
"Baby, go get one."
"Be good, take whatever you like."
…
"Don't arrest your dad, you can't arrest your dad..."
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