Chapter 956 Five More Years (Part 9) - A Joyous Event
Wang Ziheng's funeral was completed with extraordinary speed.
After attending Prince Heng's funeral, Lu Zhu'er was sent directly back to the Li family by Li San Niang. She also arranged for Lu Zhu'er to take leave from the academy, thinking that Lu Zhu'er should rest well at home during this period.
After a few days, Lu Zhu'er looked much better, and Li San Niang was finally relieved.
That's life; it's either welcoming new life or facing death.
As soon as Li San Niang got off the carriage after finishing her shift that day, she saw Lu Zhu'er standing at the entrance of the Li family's house, waiting for her to return.
"Mother!"
"Hey! Look, what is your sister Qiuxiang holding?"
Qiu Xiang held up the roast goose she was carrying and said to Lu Zhu'er with a smile, "Third Sister finished her shift early today and happened to find that the Liu family had two roast geese left."
That one was given to Fuling and sent straight home to her. We'll eat this one tonight!
Dewdrop walked over and took the roast goose from Qiuxiang's hand, saying to Li Sanniang, "Mother, what a coincidence! Sister Baoya and Aunt Wu have come, also bringing Liu family roast geese!"
Lao Shi drove the carriage to the back gate to park, and Li San Niang and the other two went into the gate. Sure enough, when they entered the courtyard, they saw Xiao Liu Lang leading a little girl who looked to be only two or three years old, playing with the family's dogs in the yard.
"aunt!"
"Hey! Go wash your hands with your older sister. Your aunt bought you Zhang's sugar cake, which you like."
"My aunt is so kind! I love my aunt the most!"
Dewdrop led Xiao Liulang and the young woman to wash their hands. Sister-in-law Li came out of the kitchen and took the sugar cake wrapped in oil paper from Li Sanniang's hand and the Liu family's roast goose that had returned to Qiuxiang's hand.
Standing at the kitchen door, Sister-in-law Li spoke very quickly to Li San Niang and Qiu Xiang: "Bao Ya is getting married, and Qiao Lan has come to deliver an invitation to our family."
Wu Qiaolan and her daughter Baoya had lived in the Li family's house for several years. As the Li family's sons grew older and Baoya had grown into a young woman, it became somewhat inconvenient for them to continue living under the same roof.
So, Li's mother took it upon herself to vacate two rooms in the house behind the Women's Assistance Association next door for them to live in.
Mr. Qin, who was a teacher at the Women's Aid Association at the time, also lived in the back. The three of them could keep each other company, which was quite nice.
Later, when Bao Ya reached a certain age, she took over some of the work from Li's mother and sister-in-law at the Women's Assistance Association and officially became a member of the association.
What happened next was infuriating and heartbreaking.
Because Bao Ya was literate and had a close relationship with the Li family, matchmakers came to her door when she came of age.
They said that the family was the Liu family, who made a living selling sweet soup on Tianshui Street in the south of Changshoufang.
The Liu family consisted of a widowed mother and her son, who made a living by running a small sweet soup shop on Sweetwater Street.
Since Bao Ya was raised by her widowed mother, the mother and daughter had no complaints about Liu Dalang's family, who also consisted of a mother and son.
Bao Ya said, "My mother only has me as her daughter. Even after I get married, I will still live with my mother."
The matchmaker's message was delivered, and the Liu family did not object. They even said some nice things: "That's great, it'll be more lively living together."
But in reality, Wu Qiaolan didn't intend to actually go to live with Baoya at the Liu family's house. She would stay at the Women's Assistance Association. She was willing to help Li's mother and sister-in-law with their work, not only for the sake of stability, but also because she was used to seeing the Li family every day.
When Bao Ya got married, Li's mother and sister-in-law went to see her off.
Li San Niang remembered that when her mother came back, she said to her, "Although it's a small shop, you can still do a small business and earn some money to support your family, which is good enough."
I think Liu Dalang is alright; as long as he treats Baoya well, that's fine.
Bao Ya had been living a relatively harmonious life for over a year, but things changed after she gave birth to a baby girl.
It was time for Liu Dalang and Granny Liu to stop pretending. They not only disliked that Bao Ya had given birth to a baby girl, but also wanted Bao Ya to work at the Women's Assistance Association and earn her own salary.
Bao Ya was shy, and she gave in at first, but one time when she got home early from work, she saw Granny Liu pinching the tender flesh of the child's thigh, making the child cry loudly.
Meanwhile, Granny Liu continued to curse, "You wretched girl, your mother is a money-loser, and you're a money-loser too!"
I'll strangle you! I'll strangle you, you worthless piece of trash!
Bao Ya went completely mad on the spot. She rushed over, grabbed Granny Liu's hair, and slapped her across the face.
She held the child with heartache, packed up her valuables, and ran out of the Liu family to find Wu Qiaolan at the Women's Aid Association.
The rest was much simpler. The Li family helped Wu Qiaolan and Baoya find a lawyer, who not only helped Baoya divorce Liu Dalang, but also had people take back Baoya's dowry chest and other belongings.
The little girl, whom Bao Ya called by her nickname Xiao Ya, also lived with Bao Ya.
Furthermore, Bao Ya directly gave the Liu family a sum of money and allowed Xiao Ya to take her surname.
The Liu family never liked that Xiaoya was a young girl, so they simply took the money and signed the papers. From then on, Xiaoya had no further connection with the Liu family, not even for a penny!
From then on, Bao Ya took Xiao Ya back to the Women's Helping-up Association and lived with Wu Qiaolan.
But Bao Ya is so young, how could Wu Qiaolan bear to let her raise the child alone?
But Bao Ya felt that she already had Xiao Ya, so why did she need to find a man to marry?
"Mother, you have me, and I have Xiaoya, isn't that good enough? Why do you need to find a man?"
Wu Qiaolan didn't say anything on the surface, but she complained to Li's mother behind her back: "Auntie, I'm not saying this, but if I hadn't met your family, how could I have taken good care of Da Bao in the village by myself?"
Can it also help Baoya learn to read and write?
How easy is it for a woman to raise a child alone?
How old is she? She'll spend the rest of her life like this; how can I, as her mother, not feel heartbroken?
What could Li's mother say? She could only say, "Don't pressure her. Let her think it through herself first."
When San Niang divorced, I felt sorry for her.
But she didn't want to remarry and only wanted to stay with Luzhu'er. I couldn't force her, could I?
How can we, as mothers, take care of our children for a lifetime?
The child made the choice themselves, so we'll help if we can.
Whether it was because Li's mother's advice had an effect, or because Wu Qiaolan had really come to terms with it, she never mentioned wanting Bao Ya to remarry again in front of her after that.
But fate can come so suddenly. When fate arrives, it's there, and you can't stop it.
Standing at the kitchen door, Li Sanniang overheard Li Dasao saying, "I overheard it, and this time it's not a marriage, it's a 'bride-in-law' arrangement. It's a man who used to come to our Women's Assistance Association looking for work."
His family was from the outer three cities. He had many brothers, and he was the fifth in his family. He was two years older than Bao Ya, but they had never been married.
He came to us himself, saying he adored Bao Ya and was willing to marry into her family and live with her and her mother.
Upon hearing this, Li San Niang nodded and went into the main hall with Qiu Xiang.
She had just finished her shift and was still wearing her official robes.
Therefore, as soon as she entered the door, Bao Ya and Wu Qiaolan, who were sitting in the main hall, immediately stood up.
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