Chapter 25: Self-righteous Chu Junyi
As Chu Ci's voice played, and Fan Qianxi and her three sisters worked in perfect harmony, dishes of exceptional beauty, aroma, and flavor emerged from the pot one after another. The aroma of food and rice filled the entire courtyard and drifted far into the distance.
Almost all the children in the village were attracted to the dish. "What a nice smell! It's the same dried fish and salted fish, why is the dish made by the noble man so fragrant?"
Little did they understand that creating a delicious dish required not only human effort, but also material and financial resources, which were exactly what the poor farmers of that era lacked.
Even Chu Ci, if it weren't for the space that brought the spices of her past life to this life, her life wouldn't be so leisurely.
But Chu Ling'er turned a blind eye to all of this. She could see the delicious dishes but couldn't eat them.
Chu Ling'er's discontent surged again, and she cursed out loud without realizing it. "Bitch, bitch. Using the Fan family's money to gain favor again. He's still called the most talented scholar in the capital, but Fan Jingrui is just an idiot, an idiot."
After venting his anger, he realized what he had done. He looked around fearfully, fearing that the Chu couple and the five Chu brothers would be dissatisfied with him.
However, the Chu family was even more cold-blooded than she had imagined. Chu Xiaxiong didn't even open his eyes. Chu Junyi only said lightly: "Stupidity makes it easy to use. Chu Ci did a good job in this regard. Ling'er, you are still too kind."
"Yes, Ling'er was wrong." Chu Ling'er apologized quickly. Ever since her last defeat against Chu Ci, when her sister-in-law and her nephew had practically become Chu Ci's followers, the eldest brother of the Chu family seemed like a completely different person. No one knew why he was angry, nor what he was thinking.
Chu Junyi also neither supported nor opposed the action against Chu Ci, as if it had nothing to do with him. This made Chu Ci very uneasy and uneasy.
"If you make a mistake, you will be punished. The food sent by the Fan family is for your parents. You can't eat it today." Chu Junyi's tone was light, but his words were full of unquestionable force.
It was so thick that Chu Linger didn't dare to refute it, "Yes."
The second oldest brother, Chu Junhan, hated to see Chu Ling'er being wronged, but before he could open his mouth, the third and fourth brothers joined forces to stop him. "Brother, the rain has stopped. It won't come back anytime soon. Should we go find out when the envoy plans to leave again?"
The third brother finished speaking and winked at the fourth brother desperately. Seeing this, the fourth brother quickly said, "Yes, yes, this way we can make preparations early."
This scene was so incoherent that Chu Yuhao, who came back to deliver food, was very puzzled.
Children are very sensitive. When they came back, they told everyone what they had heard. They asked curiously, "Mom, doesn't Dad like Aunt the most? And Uncle, they've all become so strange?"
Zhang Ying also couldn't figure out what the Chu family could do in their current situation. Although she couldn't figure it out, Zhang Ying didn't want those people in the Chu family to make a fool of themselves and their son.
Therefore, that night Chu Ci knew that the Chu family was restless again.
If Chu Ci knew about it, would he be so foolish as to hide it? Naturally, now not only Chu Ci knew about it, but everyone in the Fan family knew about it. Even Qian Chuanzi and his brothers knew about it.
If the prisoners are restless, it is their dereliction of duty!
A hailstorm brought a sharp drop in temperature. The nights felt like winter. Unable to endure the cold, the Chu family wanted to trade their belongings for winter clothes and quilts. They even considered following the example of the Fan family and buying a donkey cart in the village.
Unfortunately, the plan was very good, but the Qian Chuanzi brothers simply didn't accept it!
Only after leaving the village did they symbolically throw them some clothes, but the cotton-padded jackets were tattered and the quilts were old. The donkey cart was nowhere to be seen.
Not only that, the salary has also dropped rapidly. Before, I at least had some bran dumplings to fill my stomach, but now I only have three a day, which is enough to keep me from starving.
The most uncomfortable and torturous thing was that the officials' supervision of their family was extremely harsh. They had to eat, sleep, and even go to the toilet under their supervision.
A few grown men lost face and could barely cope.
Chu's mother and Chu Ling'er were tortured, nearly on the verge of collapse. Although Qian Chuanzi wouldn't actually watch a woman poop, he was only separated by a wall, and he would occasionally yell at them, and they had to respond. If they didn't, he had plenty of ways to make them feel humiliated and angry.
Chu Ling'er was tortured to the point of being insane. "Kill them! I want the Second Prince to kill them."
Listening to Chu Ling'er's rambling curses, Chu Junyi sneered. "You call the Fan family idiots, but I think you're the one. If the Second Prince really cared about you, would he have exiled you? Even if he did, is it that difficult for the Second Prince to take care of someone?"
Chu Ling'er was truly panicked at this point. "No, no, the Second Prince...his situation is also very difficult. Even when our house was robbed, the Emperor suspected the Second Prince."
Chu Ling'er lied casually, but Chu Junyi really suspected the second prince.
He was not Li Yanran, unfamiliar with the affairs of the imperial court. Although the Crown Prince had fallen, the Empress remained firmly in the imperial harem. Furthermore, the Empress had raised not only the Crown Prince but also the Fifth Prince.
However, the Fifth Prince was ignored by everyone.
But Chu Junyi didn't believe that the Fifth Prince would really do nothing.
Therefore, the series of thefts in the capital that day might have really been the work of the Second Prince. It was just that an accident occurred midway and someone intercepted the theft.
Chu Junyi thought he had figured everything out, but when he looked at Chu Linger again, he only felt contempt. "Idiot!"
"Brother, you..." Chu Ling'er felt more and more aggrieved. Why did her father's attitude change? Her mother wanted to use her, and now even her brother looked at her with hatred?
So how long will it take for the second, third, and fourth brothers to change, and what should she do then?
Chu Ling'er was furious and anxious. Furthermore, she hadn't had enough to eat or wear during this period. She was extremely nervous every day, and her small body couldn't handle it. She fainted.
"Ling'er—" Chu Junhan was anxious, "Brother, you're going too far."
Facing his brother's accusations, Chu Junyi didn't care. "Even if I went too far, what can you do to me?"
That attitude was as bad as it could be, but Chu Junhan was the most "gentlemanly" person, so he was really helpless. He could only turn to his parents for help. "Dad, Mom, are you just going to watch this?"
Chu Xiaxiong's attitude was also very straightforward. "How about beating your eldest brother to death, a life for a life?"
"No, Dad, you know that's not what I meant." Chu Junhan never thought that his father's temperament would become like this, so reckless.
He took several deep breaths before suppressing the anger in his heart. "We can put Big Brother's matter aside for now, but can you please find a doctor for Ling'er?"
When Chu Junhan made this request, not only Chu Xiaxiong, but even the naughty kid Chu Junjie looked at him like a fool. "Second brother, are you stupid? Those officials are now eager for our death."
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