Chapter 7 This son will surely achieve great things in the future.
Du's mother, filled with resentment, stabbed Meng Qing in the back, wishing she could skin her alive and eat her.
"Just you wait, one day you'll be begging me for help," she threatened.
"I know, let's just live with it for now, that's a matter for later. Whoever is happy first will be more at ease," Meng Qing admitted without hesitation.
Du's mother became even angrier upon hearing this.
"Take the money." Meng Qing smiled.
Enraged, Du's mother roared and ran away, yelling, "I must have been blind to let you in! What terrible thing have I done?!"
"What are you yelling about? Aren't you ashamed?" Mr. Du scolded angrily.
Du's mother fell silent.
Meng Qing crossed her arms and looked at Du Li, waiting for him to question her, but he remained silent, walked back into the house and picked up the wailing child.
Meng Qing sighed and kicked the threshold. Whether the dream was real or not, she had truly offended her in-laws. There was no other way; she would suffer if she didn't offend them, so she might as well get it over with first.
"It's still a bit chilly in the morning, come inside. You're still in your postpartum period," Du Li called from inside the house.
Meng Qing strode into the room, walked to the bed, plopped down heavily, leaned to the side, rested her head on the man's shoulder, and peeked at him with her eyelids raised high. "Are you mad at me?"
Du Li stiffened. He glanced at the wide-open door and said, "Sit down."
"I'm tired..."
"Do you regret marrying me?" he asked. "If you don't regret it, I won't blame you."
"Of course I don't regret it." Meng Qing raised her hand to touch her son's face and said, "Wangzhou is still very young, and we have a lot of time left. We need to save more money so that our son won't have to rely on others to go to school in the future."
Du Li was thinking about how to make money by farming, when he suddenly remembered Du Min's earlier suggestion. No way...
"Take the money!" Mother Du threw out seven strings of cash, scattering copper coins all over the ground.
The sound of the copper coin hitting the ground reached Du Li's ears, like a slap in the face. He clenched his fists and handed the child in his arms to Meng Qing, saying, "I'll go pick it up, you comfort the child."
Meng Qing followed Du Li to the door with the child in her arms. She saw Du Li squat down and pick up the copper coins one by one, his head drooping and his thin back bent like a bow.
She stared coldly at Du's mother and asked, "Are you happy to humiliate the son you gave birth to?"
Du's mother looked uncomfortable. She turned her face away and said stubbornly, "He's my own son, I can do whatever I want with him."
Meng Qing gritted her teeth, took two deep breaths, and gently patted the child, saying, "Be good, don't cry."
She put the child back on the inside of the bed, emptied the contents of the sewing basket, picked up the basket, went outside, and squatted down to pick up the copper coins.
"Qingniang, go inside." Du Li's eyes were red.
Meng Qing ignored him.
"Meng Qing, go back inside." Du Li pulled her away.
"I'll go with you, hurry up and pick them up." With only three days left until the end of her postpartum period, Meng Qing didn't care anymore.
"Who are you trying to impress with this?" Du's mother muttered with disgust.
Du Li looked up at her, her eyes as cold as water from a deep well. Du's mother was startled and she retorted in a bluffing manner, "What kind of nonsense is this? I am your mother."
Du Li lowered his eyes and squatted down to continue picking up the copper coins.
Mr. Du came out and stared at the two people squatting on the ground picking up money. He clicked his tongue impatiently and said, "What are you up to now? Don't you think the house is chaotic enough already?"
Du's mother ignored her and said to herself, "It's great to pick up money. If someone throws money at me, I'll rush to pick it up."
Du Mingli watched all this from behind his parents. He tossed the string of copper coins in his hand, snorted, and said, "Father, Mother, I'm going to my father-in-law's house to bring Jinshu back."
"Okay, go ahead, remember what I said," Du's father instructed.
Du Ming left home with a string of cash in his pocket. His father followed, carrying a hoe and a bag of beans, to work in the fields. After they both left, Du's mother couldn't stay any longer, so she took a basket and went to pick mulberry leaves.
Du Li and Meng Qing spent half an hour picking up copper coins scattered in the courtyard without looking up, collecting them from every nook and cranny and then stringing them together one by one.
"At least one liter of wine should be prepared for each table, and for ten tables, go and buy two dou of wine." Meng Qing wrote on the paper with her homemade charcoal pencil. "Huiming likes to drink Sanlejiang. Go to the shop run by the Western Regions merchants and buy it. You can find it there. Buy one liter, that's enough. The young monks will drink rice wine, buy one dou. For the remaining relatives, give them sake, buy five liters."
Du Li nodded to indicate that he had noted it down. "A banquet requires seven catties of mutton, ten catties of pork, and three basins of fish and shrimp. I'll go and inquire, and buy two fat sheep and one fat pig to bring back. The fish, shrimp, tofu, water celery, and purslane, etc., can be delivered by passing boats on the day of the banquet."
“Okay.” Meng Qing thought for a moment and said, “We need to buy silver carp, silver carp, and bighead carp for the fish, but not grass carp. We need to buy white shrimp, and they need to be fresh so we can cook them fresh.”
Finally, she added, "If you don't have enough money, just tell me and I'll add some more. Let's not talk about the things we planned before. Right now, we just want to celebrate Wangzhou's one-month birthday and give him a proper celebration. We won't have this kind of extravagance in the future."
"good."
Du Li immediately took the money and went to the ferry to wait for the boat.
After Du Li left, Meng Qing went to the kitchen to cook five eggs for herself. After eating her fill, she lay back in bed and cuddled her child to sleep.
When Du's mother returned from picking mulberry leaves, she saw chicken droppings all over the yard and eggshells lying in the swill bucket and started cursing again, "You know how to eat the eggs that come out of the chicken's asshole, but you don't know how to sweep up the droppings. You're too lazy to even clean up the maggots crawling all over you."
She was afraid that Meng Qing would hold a grudge if she heard it, so she only dared to curse in a low voice.
At noon, Du Li did not return, nor did Du Ming's family. Only the elderly couple and Meng Qing with a child were at home. When Du's mother called Du's father for lunch, Meng Qing did not wait for the food to be delivered; she opened the door and went out to eat.
When Du's father saw her, he thought of the eight strings of cash he had given away. The early rice harvest was gone as soon as it was planted, and he immediately lost his appetite.
"Dad, you didn't eat breakfast, and you're not going to eat lunch either? Don't starve yourself. Are you still angry? Didn't you tell me this morning to let this matter go? I did, so don't keep a long face." Meng Qing was one against two people and still had the mind to start a fight. She said bluntly, "Eat up. If you starve yourself, I'll be in big trouble."
Mr. Du was surprised that she was so shameless. It was one thing for her to come out and have a meal with them, but she also had the nerve to say such things.
"I'm worried about the money, I can't eat," he said stiffly, no longer pretending.
"When you received my dowry money, were you so happy that you ate three big bowls of rice in one sitting?" Meng Qing asked, amused. "My parents took out 120 strings of cash at once, but they didn't feel so bad that they couldn't eat or sleep. You are narrow-minded. This won't do. You need to be tempered and tempered."
Mr. Du's face fell again, and Mrs. Du slammed her chopsticks on the table.
Meng Qing pretended not to see it and sighed to herself, "You guys are so clever, raising a son to get married and still making money... I wonder if I can make that kind of money with my son in twenty years."
"That's enough!" Mr. Du couldn't take it anymore. "Is that how you talk to your elders?"
"I told you this morning, whether you want to live a good life or not is up to you two. You two, one with a dark face and the other with a gloomy face, are making me unhappy, so I can't help but overthink it," Meng Qing said helplessly.
Mr. Du stared at her, and he threatened maliciously, "Aren't you afraid of being divorced?"
"What's there to be afraid of? If I get divorced, I'll just establish a female household registration, and I'll still get fifty acres of land." Meng Qing wanted to laugh. He probably hadn't figured it out yet. She had now completely shed her identity as a merchant, and her descendants would no longer be affected by the merchant household registration.
Mr. Du was astonished, but then he couldn't help but feel admiration. He didn't know whether to lament the merchant's cunning or to admit that his second daughter-in-law was indeed a smart woman.
"I was just kidding. You've already had a child in our family. How could we, as your in-laws, do such a terrible thing?" Seeing that he couldn't threaten her, Mr. Du's attitude changed instantly. He picked up his bowl and ate his meal, no longer keeping a long face.
Du's mother couldn't eat. She would glance at Meng Qing from time to time. This man's thoughts were so deep that they were frightening. She felt increasingly disgusted with him. It was as if she had let a poisonous snake into the house.
After Meng Qing finished eating, she put down her chopsticks and said gently, "Mother, leave the task of feeding the silkworms to me this afternoon. You can go and plant the beans with peace of mind. But you still need to cook dinner. I can't touch cold water these days."
Mrs. Du was a little taken aback; she stared blankly at her.
“Okay.” Father Du agreed on behalf of his wife. He understood that his second daughter-in-law was trying to ease tensions. She wasn’t afraid of being divorced, but she also wanted to live a good life in the Du family.
Thus, the conflict that had erupted in the Du family was extinguished silently. The three women—father-in-law, daughter-in-law, and mother-in-law—tacitly covered up the embers that remained beneath the ashes.
When Du Li returned from buying wine, he noticed a drastic change in his parents' attitude and couldn't help but wonder. He asked Meng Qing what method she had used, and Meng Qing said it was because his parents were magnanimous, but he didn't believe it.
The next day, Du Ming returned with his wife and children, carrying large and small bags. No one knows how he coaxed Li Hongguo, but she stopped arguing and making a fuss after returning.
The Du family returned to a state of peace.
*
On March 29th, Du Li drove all the two sheep and one pig he had his eye on back home.
On the morning of March 30th, Du Laoding took Du Li to visit his clansmen and invited them to celebrate the baby's one-month birthday at their home.
In the afternoon, the cook from Pingwang Town brought cooking utensils and tables and chairs to Dujiawan.
Later that evening, the sounds of pigs and sheep being slaughtered echoed throughout the village.
After returning home in the evening, the seventeen villagers of Dujiawan gathered at Du Laoding's house to watch the commotion. Someone said, "Du Laoding, I was thinking that your youngest son was getting married, buying sheep and pigs, such a grand affair. Is your second grandson also a child prodigy? His one-month celebration is more exciting than your son's wedding. Or have you struck it rich?"
"My second grandson is so lucky. His maternal great-uncle is Master Konghui of Ruiguang Temple. Tomorrow, Master Konghui will arrange for his personal disciples to come and pray for our Wangzhou, along with twenty or thirty young novices. This is a privilege usually reserved for the sons of noble families." Old Du was beaming with pride, showing no sign of reluctance. He said with a smile, "If everyone is not busy tomorrow, please come and witness the ceremony. I, Old Du, am in my forties or fifties, and I have never seen anything like this before. You should all broaden your horizons."
"Oh! Master Konghui is your second daughter-in-law's uncle? Are they related?" a villager asked.
“Dear,” Du Laoding said confidently, “Come on over tomorrow, let’s have a drink.”
Regardless of whether they would come or not, these people readily agreed on the spot and left before the Du family finished their meal.
That evening, the cook stewed pig offal and some sheep offal. Du Laoding's eldest brother, third brother, and three cousins had eaten there and promised to spend half a day helping out.
The next morning, members of the Du family arrived early to sweep the floor, wash the tables and chairs, set up the offering table, and prepare the offerings...
Meng Qing put on her most expensive clothes and dressed Du Li from head to toe. After the couple got ready, they took care of the child, making sure he emptied his bowels and was well-fed so he wouldn't cry.
"Ah Li, a boat has arrived at the ferry crossing, go and greet it quickly," Uncle Du Li called out.
Meng Jiahua chartered ten boats, and all ten boats sailed towards the ferry in unison, which was seen by the people working near the canal.
At the ferry crossing, people disembark, the empty boat leaves, and the next boat arrives...
Villagers who were working in the fields rushed back, and more and more people gathered at the ferry crossing.
Standing between the two groups of people, listening to the villagers' chatter, Du Laoding suddenly had an absurd thought: the seven strings of cash were well spent.
Meng Qing, holding the child, greeted them outside the courtyard. She met the eyes of the parents in the crowd, and then they all looked at Du Laoding, who was talking warmly to Huiming. The three of them smiled at the same time.
"Senior Brother Huiming, thank you for your long journey." Meng Qing greeted Huiming warmly.
“Of course, Master has important business to attend to, so I’ll go in his place.” The two were quite familiar with each other, and Huiming directly took the child from him. He looked the child over carefully and said, “Benefactor Meng, your son will surely achieve great things in the future.”
Meng Qing's eyes lit up.
Du Laoding's eyes lit up as well, "Master Huiming, you're also an expert in physiognomy?"
"I wouldn't call myself an expert, I just know a little bit." Huiming glanced at the sky and said, "It's almost time, is the offering table set up?"
“It’s all set up, please follow me.” Du Li stepped forward to lead the way.
After everyone entered the room and sat down, and drank tea, the main hall was cleared out, leaving only Meng Qing kneeling on a prayer mat with her child in her arms, and Huiming standing behind the offering table with twenty-eight young monks chanting sutras.
The others crowded outside the door, silently peering in.
After praying for blessings, Huiming personally shaved Wangzhou's baby hair. Seeing that the child was not crying or making a fuss, but staring at him with a pair of bright black eyes, he took off the Buddhist beads wrapped around his wrist and put them on Wangzhou's head.
"Young benefactor, I am giving you these prayer beads to protect you as you grow up safely."
"Thank you for your kindness, Master." Meng Qing thanked Wang Zhou on his behalf. "A banquet has been prepared at home. Please come and take your seats, young masters."
At this moment, Du Min arrived with his six classmates. As soon as Du's father saw him, he hurriedly grabbed him and took him to see Huiming. "Master, this is my youngest son. He is currently studying at Chongwen Academy. Please take a look at him and see when he will pass the imperial examination."
"Father..." Du Min tried to stop him.
"Don't speak," Du's father scolded.
“I have met this benefactor before,” Huiming said.
"I have met the Master. I have accompanied Master Xie to listen to Master Yikong's lectures twice." Du Min greeted him.
"Master, look..."
Huiming shifted his gaze from Du Min's face and looked at Meng Qing, saying, "Let's begin the feast."
Mr. Du looked puzzled, then filled with fear.
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