Chapter 1151, Redemption 2
Zhang Huahan stayed in Wutong Garden for too long. When he returned to Old Lady Zhang's yard, the other girls in the Zhang family were already waiting impatiently.
Old Mrs. Zhang couldn't resist her granddaughter's coquettishness and had already put out the clothes and jewelry that Mr. Zhang brought back from the provincial capital. The girls in the Zhang family were gathered together to look at them.
Seeing Zhang Huahan coming back, Mrs. Zhang immediately asked with a smile, "Have you met your mother?"
Zhang Huahan lowered his eyes and replied, "I just sat in the outer hall."
Upon hearing this, the girls from the Zhang family all had a look of sarcasm on their faces, as if they had guessed it a long time ago.
Old Mrs. Zhang seemed to be hesitant to speak, and looked at Zhang Huahan with pity and heartache, but in the end it just turned into a sigh.
Zhang Huahan felt nothing about this, neither sad nor happy.
It was like this every time. Whenever she went to pay her respects to her mother, this would happen.
Her grandmother seemed to care about her, but if she was sincere, why would she expose her scars in public?
Whether her mother had seen her or not, she didn’t believe that her grandmother, who was in charge of the Zhang family’s backyard, would not know.
When Mrs. Zhang saw that Zhang Huahan had no reaction, she felt a little bored.
This girl inherited her mother's temperament after all, stubborn and indifferent. Although she seemed respectful on weekdays, she knew that this girl was not very close to anyone in the Zhang family.
Alas, although it is the blood of the Zhang family, it’s a pity that it cannot be raised well!
Old Mrs. Zhang calmed down and smiled, pointing to the things in the room. "These are all the latest materials and headwear your father brought back from the provincial capital. Your elder sisters are looking at them now. Go pick out the ones you like."
Hearing this, the girls of the Zhang family looked a little dissatisfied, especially the second, third and fourth girls who were older than Zhang Huahan.
The three of them looked at Zhang Huahan and stood in front of their favorite clothes and hats without moving, which implicitly showed which items they had already taken a fancy to.
Zhang Huahan took in everyone's expressions, but chose to ignore them and walked straight forward. She picked up whatever she liked without paying any attention to the angry glares from others.
When Zhang Huahan took away the only piece of Shu brocade, the second daughter of the Zhang family could no longer sit still and said, "Fifth sister, can you give me this piece of material? My mother has been taking me out a lot recently, and it's unacceptable for me to not have any presentable clothes."
Miss Zhang San also said, "And me, I also need to go out and visit guests frequently, so please don't fight with me for this set of headgear, Fifth Sister."
One of them was pressing the material, while the other was playing with the headgear, and they stood in front of Zhang Huahan with a slightly provocative look.
The second and third girls were not much younger than the eldest girl. After the eldest girl Zhang got engaged, the two of them also started discussing marriage. During this period, they often went out with their respective mothers.
Zhang Huahan looked at the two of them calmly. Without arguing with them, he turned to look at Old Lady Zhang.
Didn’t grandma always tell all the sisters that they should put her first in everything?
In this case, the grandmother should have scolded the second and third sisters for treating her like this.
When Old Lady Zhang saw Zhang Huahan looking at her, she felt upset and said inwardly, "This fifth girl is becoming more and more cunning. Is she supposed to make the decision for her?"
Not to mention that her heart was originally more inclined towards the second and third girls, she didn't want to care about the fifth girl's subtle coercive behavior.
She didn't want to get involved, but in front of so many people, as a grandmother, she had to be fair. Otherwise, if the person in Wutong Courtyard heard about it, who knows what would happen.
That person didn't like the fifth girl, but after all, the fifth girl was her daughter. In her words, she could bully her, but not others.
Because of these thoughts, Mrs. Zhang did not express her opinion immediately.
Miss Zhang thought Old Lady Zhang was in a dilemma, so she quickly stepped forward to smooth things over, saying with a smile, "Second sister, I have a piece of moon-white floral silk that will suit your complexion perfectly. You can go to my yard and get it later."
Having said that, he looked at Miss Zhang San again.
"Third sister, didn't you say last time that you liked my red coral headpiece? I have other ones I'm wearing, so I'll give that one to you."
"You two are both older sisters, so why don't you fight with the fifth sister for things?"
Hearing this, Miss Zhang Er and Miss Zhang San looked at each other and looked at Miss Zhang Da in some surprise.
Normally, the eldest sister never showed much affection for the fifth sister. What happened today that she actually stood up to help the fifth sister deal with them?
Although the two were somewhat reluctant, they still had to give face to their elder sister.
The head of the Zhang family is the eldest uncle, who dotes on the eldest sister the most. I don’t know how many good things he has given her in private, so they are not at a disadvantage.
But Miss Zhang Er was still a little reluctant.
Fine materials like Shu brocade are only available to high-ranking officials and nobles. The Zhang family is a merchant family, and even if they have money, they cannot buy a few pieces.
She has grown up so big, but she still doesn't have clothes made of Shu brocade.
Seeing that she was still holding Shu Jin, Miss Zhang San secretly pulled her. Then Miss Zhang Er glared at Zhang Huahan, turned around and sat on the chair.
When Zhang Huahan saw it, he didn't feel embarrassed at all and made the choice he wanted to make.
It’s not that she hadn’t been courteous before, but the result of her courtesy was that everyone accepted it as a matter of course, without thinking of her kindness at all. If that’s the case, why should she still try to please these people?
On the contrary, it was Old Lady Zhang who took Miss Zhang's hand with a loving look on her face, praising her for being like an elder sister, being sensible, and being a friendly sister. During this time, she also looked at Zhang Huahan meaningfully.
Zhang Huahan drooped her eyelids slightly. The elder sister is a friendly sister. Isn’t she, who doesn’t know how to give way to her elder sister, immature?
But, did my grandmother forget that it was she who asked her to choose first, and she just did as she was told?
The other sisters were allowed to look at the things first at the beginning, but she came later and chose first. After she really chose, they wanted her to give way to others. In that case, why should she choose first?
Every time she came to her grandmother's place, she felt very tired. Her grandmother always had something else to say. She wanted to show her importance to her in front of everyone, but secretly wanted her to give way to others.
After all the trouble, she is almost always the bad guy and the one who is wronged.
She only gradually realized these things when she grew up. Now that she knew them, how could she still be willing to compromise herself to please others?
As time went by, the only thing her grandmother cared about her was the favor she deserved.
Old Mrs. Zhang seemed to have lost interest. She chatted with the girls for a while and then asked them to leave.
Several girls left the yard together. When they walked out of the gate, Miss Zhang Er and Miss Zhang San blocked Zhang Huahan's way.
Zhang Huahan looked at the two of them calmly: "What advice do you two sisters have?"
Miss Zhang Er laughed at first, then showed sympathy: "Fifth sister, why do you have so many good things? You can't use them anyway!"
Miss Zhang San immediately took over the conversation: "Of course it's not necessary. Fifth sister will be coming of age next year and it's time to discuss marriage." As she spoke, she seemed to have thought of something and suddenly covered her mouth.
"Look at me, I'm such a loose-lipped person. Although my fifth sister can get married, there's no one to arrange it. My uncle is busy with my eldest sister's marriage, and my aunt is busy with..."
Listening to the two people's teasing, Zhang Huahan's expression didn't change, but his heart was still affected. He felt very uncomfortable: "Do you two sisters have anything else to say? If not, I'll leave first."
After saying that, he turned around and left without waiting for the two to respond.
After walking a long distance, Zhang Huahan's face showed a look of suppressed pain.
In the Zhang family, no one dared to bully her openly, but she was often subjected to verbal ridicule and neglect.
She thought she could face it all calmly, but now she realized that she didn't care as much as she thought.
Caiwei looked at her daughter with a worried look on her face.
Although what the second and third girls said was unpleasant to hear, it was the truth. The girl was already fourteen years old this year. In other families, she would have been able to find a husband at this age, but her girl seemed to have been forgotten by everyone.
Even the fourth daughter born out of wedlock was taken out for walks, but no one ever mentioned her daughter.
"Miss, next time you go to pay your respects to the Madam, would you like to talk to Aunt Anran about this?"
Zhang Huahan shook his head, said nothing, and returned to his yard in silence.
On the other side, Old Lady Zhang was also talking about Zhang Huahan with her trusted nanny.
Old Madam Zhang: "The fifth girl will be coming of age next year. Do you think the one from Wutong Courtyard really doesn't care about her anymore?"
Mammy thought for a moment and said, "I don't think so. No matter what, it's still my flesh and blood. How cruel would one have to be to really leave it alone?"
"The Fifth Miss went to pay her respects to the First Lady. From being chased away at first, to being allowed to pay her respects in the courtyard, and now to being allowed to sit in the room, all this clearly shows that the First Lady can't just turn a blind eye to the Fifth Miss. Her heart is being touched little by little by her."
Mrs. Zhang was silent for a moment, then sighed, "I hope it's as you say! Fifth Girl is still my granddaughter after all, and I sincerely hope she can find a good home."
This time, when his son went to the provincial capital to buy the eldest girl's dowry, he also found out that the biological brother of the girl from Wutongyuan was indeed going to be transferred to their Huai'an Province to serve as the governor.
Yan family
Old Mrs. Zhang felt very complicated when she thought about this in-law who she still felt was too high to marry into.
Thanks to the Yan family, the Zhang family did expand their family business, but this was only limited to Huai'an Province.
The son was able to marry the woman from Wutongyuan by using dishonorable means, so the Yan family was completely disgusted with the Zhang family and never acknowledged the existence of the Zhang family as a relative.
In addition, after the woman from Wutongyuan married into the Zhang family, she never had any contact with the Yan family, and the relationship between the two families became increasingly distant.
Therefore, they did not dare to talk about their relationship with the Yan family in any public place, and only dared to use the Yan family's reputation to expand their business on a small scale.
Although the eldest son appears to be very successful in recent years, he has actually been very cautious, fearing that he might offend the Yan family and bring disaster to the Zhang family. Even if there is a good business, he is reluctant to take it over.
Now that the biological brother of the woman from Wutongyuan is coming to Huai'an, she and her son finally see some hope.
As long as the person who treated her daughter was not really cruel, she would not believe that a mother would not plan for her own flesh and blood.
The most important thing for a girl is undoubtedly to get married. The man is so proud and strong-willed that he certainly doesn't want to see his daughter marry casually.
As long as she is willing to contact her brother and with the help of the governor, the fifth girl will definitely be able to marry into an official family, and the rank of her family will not be too low.
If the fifth girl is well, the Zhang family will naturally benefit from it. With the help of her relationship, the Zhang family will be able to slowly change its fortunes.
Happy New Year!
(End of this chapter)
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