Chapter 70
70
The Zhao family's children were often beaten for various trivial matters. They all covered their mouths after hearing the order, but they also looked out through the crack in the door restlessly.
Aunt Zhao and her daughter-in-law also held their breath and looked outside, and saw Cheng Yeran driving a horse-drawn carriage past their house and stopped next door.
"Mom, are they really the poor relatives who have come to seek refuge? Look at them driving a donkey cart with many boxes on it. There is also this handsome guy on the cart. If they were poor, could they afford to marry such a handsome husband?" Although the daughter-in-law is usually afraid of her mother-in-law, she looks down on her in her heart and always makes a fuss.
"They seem to have gone next door." The little granddaughter whispered in her grandmother's ear.
"Gone next door?" Just now, when Aunt Zhao saw Cheng Yeran's face, she hurried back to close the door without even looking carefully at who he brought or how many boxes he had.
Aunt Zhao also leaned over to look out through the crack in the door. Sure enough, they went to the next door. "Could he be the guy next door? Or is he driving a cart for someone else? I heard that he became a lazy man after his parents died and sold all the fields and houses at home. I haven't heard of him holding a wedding banquet recently. He has squandered all his money. How could he afford to marry such a beautiful girl?"
When they arrived at the gate of the courtyard, Cheng Yeran jumped out of the car and held out his hand to help Shen Yuntang get out of the car. "This courtyard is well-maintained. When we came to see the courtyard before, the gate was broken. Manager Wang is really nice. He even replaced the gate for us."
He handed the key to Shen Yuntang, "It's our first day of moving, let's make it more ceremonial. You open the door."
Shen Yuntang thought about moving in his previous life. After arriving at their new home in the county, the Xia family stood happily at the door, looking forward to the future. The mother-in-law talked about who would live in this yard and what to plant in that yard. The father-in-law said that he would be an old man in the future and wanted a few maids to serve him. His brothers and sisters-in-law also talked about how to plan their own yards. Only he was like an outsider, being ordered to move luggage. No one cared about his feelings and thoughts. He never felt that the Xia family was home when he lived there.
But now it is different. Cheng Yeran attaches great importance to him and regards him as the master of this family. Without anyone telling him, he naturally regards Cheng Yeran's home as his own home and himself as the master of this home.
The door lock was also new and felt very heavy. He inserted the key into the keyhole and felt like he was restarting his life. He wanted to let the past go. He wanted to live a different way in this life, live well, and live to old age.
After the door was opened, the yard looked brand new. Before that, they had discussed whether to grow vegetables or lay lawns, but Boss Wang laid stone bricks for them, and the house looked like it had been rebuilt.
This house looked better than the houses in their village, and it even had a swing. When the shopkeeper Wang heard about it that day, he specially built a swing for them.
After entering the gate of this house, there is a yard, which is surrounded by houses on three sides. One side of the house is a warehouse and firewood room, the front is the main house, and on the side are two small side rooms and a kitchen.
Shen Yuntang went to see the side rooms first. The two rooms were about the same size, and there were beds in each, but no bedding or daily necessities.
Shopkeeper Wang didn't know whether they would bring their own or buy them now, so he didn't make any decisions on his own. However, there was only one bed in the two rooms, so Fourth Brother would definitely have to stay in one alone.
He looked at Yuan Bao and Wild Dog, "Can you two share a room?"
"Okay, that's great." Yuanbao was extremely happy, and the wild dog's little face was also red.
Their home in the village was so dilapidated that it was almost like a barn. It leaked when it rained and leaked when it was windy. This house was made of bricks and the bed was bigger than before and it was newly made. How could he not be satisfied? He scratched his head and said, "I am embarrassed to put my tattered quilt on this bed because I am afraid it will get dirty."
The quilt in Yuanbao's house was almost rotten from sleeping alone, it was like a doghouse, but luckily he had gotten used to it. Wild Dog used to be a beggar and would not despise him. The two of them used to sleep together at home, but when they moved out and lived with their brother and sister-in-law, they felt a little shabby.
"Your sister-in-law made a quilt for you." Cheng Yeran's tone was full of jealousy when he spoke. It snowed heavily in the winter, and fewer people sold dried tofu, so they had more free time. Shen Yuntang was learning to write and making clothes at home. Making two long gowns for him was not enough, and he also made him a single-room backpack for books. It was made according to the style of the TV series he showed Shen Yuntang, combined with ancient style, and it felt fashionable when he carried it.
Shen Yuntang has a strong learning ability. When watching TV dramas, he would learn Chinese characters through subtitles. He learned more than a thousand Chinese characters in one winter. However, he still did not understand many things and lifestyles of their era. It was like modern people looking at aliens. They seemed to understand their existence, but did not understand their way of speaking and social rules.
While making clothes and learning Chinese characters, he also made two quilts.
One bed was for them to cover themselves with. Although the light quilt that Cheng Yeran bought was also good, warm, soft and thin, he said that the quilt was not as comfortable as a cotton one.
Cheng Yeran felt sorry for him and was afraid that he would be tired, but he was so energetic that he not only made bedding for them, but also made a quilt for Yuanbao and the wild dog.
When Cheng Yeran saw him making the second quilt, he thought he was making a replacement quilt. When he heard it was Yuanbao's quilt, he lay on his legs and said aggrievedly, "I thought it was only for me, but I didn't expect it to be for others too."
Shen Yuntang knew that he was acting like a child again, so he pushed him aside and said, "Don't get in the way. Your cousin is a child, and now he has picked up another child. There is no one to take care of him, so I will pay more attention to him."
Cheng Yeran even teased him, "Eldest sister-in-law is like a mother? You want children so badly, so you can use these two to practice."
Shen Yuntang rolled his eyes at him speechlessly, "Look at you, you don't look like a father at all. It's a good thing you didn't have a child, otherwise even if you did, you would have treated the child like a toy and played with him to death."
"I'm not that kind of person. Let's practice with these two kids first." Although Cheng Yeran said this, he was still jealous. Shen Yuntang had divided his energy with others. Now when he gave the quilt to Yuanbao and the others, he still felt uncomfortable. He always had the urge to possess all of Shen Yuntang.
But when he saw Yuanbao's eyes turn red after he took the quilt, and he looked like he was about to cry, he rubbed Yuanbao's head again and said, "Why are you crying? A real man sheds blood, not tears."
Shen Yuntang thought about how many times he had cried before, and turned speechlessly into the main house, not wanting to expose him in front of the child.
The main house is relatively spacious, with one bedroom and one living room. There is a large round table outside where the family can eat, and there is a bed and a dressing mirror inside.
Shen Yuntang walked in and saw the dressing table, which he had never used before getting married.
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He did have a dressing table after he married Xia Xiaowu, but he had no head ornaments or jewelry to put in it. Later, the prefect's daughter gave him a lot of jewelry, but she took it away after he died. She thought it was unlucky for him to wear it, so she asked someone to sell it for money.
From that time on, he knew that others gave him things for free for no reason because they wanted to get something more valuable from him.
Seeing him staring at the dressing table in a daze, Cheng Yeran came over and hugged him from behind, "I specially asked Shopkeeper Wang to help buy it for me. How about it? Do you like this style? If the house wasn't so small, I would like to buy a bigger one."
In the past, Cheng Yeran would hug him, but now when he looked in the mirror, he realized that Cheng Yeran was so tall that he could hold him completely in his arms, while he looked so small.
Normally, he is the one who makes decisions at home and outside. There are many things that Cheng Yeran cannot do well, but he can do them. He always thought that he was the same as Cheng Yeran, but now he finds himself so weak.
"This house is big enough, even bigger than our home." Shen Yuntang moved uncomfortably. "The door is not even closed. Let me go. I haven't packed my luggage yet. Stop being so annoying."
"You can now wear the hairpins I bought for you. When I bought them for you, I imagined that they would look great on you." Cheng Yeran followed him out eagerly, moved their boxes into the house, took out a cloth bag from the boxes, and poured the pancake-like silver hairpins onto the table with a clatter.
Shen Yuntang put them back with a gloomy face, and only took out two plain silver hairpins and placed them in the drawer of the dressing table. He disliked them because they were ugly and didn't want to wear them. "Don't show off your wealth. It will easily attract thieves."
"You're right." Cheng Yeran didn't think he didn't wear it because he was ugly. He felt that he thought about things very comprehensively.
After the room was decorated, Cheng Yeran suggested going out to eat today. The house didn't have the pots and pans ready, so they could go get them tomorrow and then cook at home.
There is no need to go up the mountain to chop firewood here. People can just buy firewood and go out to buy vegetables. This will allow Chen Hui and Shen Yuntang to have a lot more free time.
Just as they were about to go out, they heard a knock on the door and a loud-voiced older woman called out from outside, "I'm from next door. You guys just moved in, right? I'm here to bring you something."
"That voice sounds enthusiastic." Cheng Yeran thought of the shadow of Aunt Li. Now that there was a new neighbor, he was more excited than anyone else and asked Yuanbao to open the door.
The person who came was Aunt Liu, a neighbor who lived on the right. Her family sold buns, but they didn’t sell them at home. Instead, they steamed them and pushed them outside to the street to sell.
She held a plate of buns in her hands. After the door opened, she counted the people in the yard and said, "There are exactly five of us. Take one each. Try my cooking. It's a little cold now. These are the leftovers from today's sale. They are clean even though they are leftovers."
Shen Yuntang walked over to thank him, "We just moved here and haven't prepared anything yet. My family sells dried tofu, I'll send some over for you to try someday."
"Whatever you want as a gift, I will just buy it with my money. From now on, you take care of my business and I will take care of yours. No one should take advantage of anyone else and make everyone feel unhappy. But I will come to help you if you need anything. You guys go ahead and do your work. I'm going back now." Sister Liu was a warm-hearted person and spoke directly. She said whatever she wanted to say and left after putting down the buns.
Just after Sister Liu left, another man named Feng Fulang who lived next door came. Feng Fulang was a fat guy with a silly smile. He said his family was a butcher and sent some cooked offal over. "My husband killed the pig yesterday. It's fresh. I washed it and braised it overnight. You can eat it without worry."
Before he even left the house, he already had two more foods in his hands. Shen Yuntang turned to look at Cheng Yeran, "Now that we have rice and vegetables, are you still going out?"
"This is not enough. Let's have it as a midnight snack when we get back." Cheng Yeran said this only to realize that he had spoken too early, because soon the neighbors on this street came over with gifts and gathered for a table. A winemaker also brought over some wine.
"The people here are quite welcoming." Yuanbao had never met such welcoming neighbors in the village. He didn't expect that people in the county town were so nice.
"They send things here not only to build good relations, but also to be curious about what we do, and come to find out. Secondly, they tell us what they do, so that if we need anything in the future, we can buy it directly from them, which can be regarded as a kind of publicity." Cheng Yeran looked at the table full of food, "No need to go out today, let's eat here."
Aunt Zhao from next door saw people in the alley going into the next door to deliver things, and she felt itchy in her heart. What on earth does Cheng Yeran do? Is he the coachman? Did the host let him stay overnight because it was getting late? He couldn't possibly afford such a big house, but just now there were two children and a handsome boy in the car, as well as a man who lowered his head and whose appearance could not be seen clearly, who entered the yard. There was no one who looked like the head of the family. Could it be that Cheng Yeran had become rich? Can everyone afford to live in a house in the county town?
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