Chapter 13 The Gambler
“You don’t need to worry about these things. From now on, you just need to take good care of Chengli. You don’t need to worry about anything else,” Zhou Lao Er said with a frown before Zhou Chengli could speak.
Zhou Chengli still relies on Zhou Lao Er to support his imperial examinations, so he naturally wouldn't refuse Zhou Lao Er's request and could only shake his head slightly at Zhao Yuzhi.
Even though Zhao Yuzhi was very patient, her expression changed. This was not what she expected. She thought that, given Song Yushu's personality, her father-in-law and husband would be very disgusted, but to her surprise, neither of them stood by her side.
Song Yushu was also surprised by Zhou Lao Er's words, thinking that this person actually had some brains. It seemed that her previous antics hadn't been in vain, as he had finally learned to be afraid.
Zhou Chengli took a few days off from the academy because of his marriage. Now that the group was living under the same roof and seeing each other all the time, the atmosphere was rather strange. Song Yushu simply went to town ahead of time to sell braised meat.
"Boss Wei, why haven't you come these past few days? I'm really craving your braised meat!"
"Yeah, I've come up empty-handed several times already. This time, cut me a lot more pig ears!"
"I'm so sorry, my family is busy with wedding preparations, so it's been delayed for a few days," Song Yushu quickly explained.
After finally seeing off a group of guests, Wei's mother arrived.
"Why are you selling braised meat so soon? Don't Zhou Lao Er and the others have any objections?"
"They can't wait for me to come out! They're all afraid I'll cause trouble with the bride!" Song Yushu joked, afraid that Wei's mother would overthink things.
"You really are something. It's my fault for spoiling you too much in the past. Now you're reaping the consequences," Wei's mother sighed.
"Isn't it great now? Nobody can bully me."
Because they hadn't come a few days ago, there were many more people buying braised food today, and the mother and daughter got busy again after exchanging only a few words.
"Boss Wei, give me two catties of pig's trotters and three catties of chicken feet!"
"Alright!" Song Yushu recognized the voice as that of the owner of Xu Family Tavern.
"Did you go back these past few days because of your stepson's wedding?" Xu San Niang asked in a low voice after the guests in front of her had left.
“Third Sister is well-informed. It’s my stepson who passed the imperial examination and got married,” Song Yushu said. He wasn’t surprised that Xu San Niang knew about this, after all, the tavern owner had a wide network of connections.
"Is it the daughter of that cripple Zhao?"
"That's right, what's wrong?" Song Yushu noticed her expression was off and realized something was wrong.
"How's your relationship? Sigh, there's no point in asking. But since your braised food really suits my taste, I'll give you a heads-up. That Zhou the Cripple has been going to the gambling den a lot lately, and I heard he's already racked up a lot of debt."
"You'd better watch yourself. Anyone who gets involved with gamblers never ends well."
"Okay, I understand. Thank you for reminding me, Third Sister. Consider this braised food a thank you gift." Song Yushu was very grateful for her reminder, otherwise he was afraid he would have a hard time getting away.
"You're a really good friend. Come visit my tavern sometime," Xu Sanniang said, pleased to befriend Song Yushu because of her generosity.
After seeing Xu San Niang off, Song Yushu was not as calm as she appeared. She knew that if Zhao the Cripple couldn't pay back the money he owed the gambling den, the Zhou family would inevitably be implicated, and she wouldn't be able to protect herself then.
It seems I need to divorce Zhou Lao Er as soon as possible, otherwise I'll be dragged into the Zhao family's mess and things will get really bad.
At this point, Song Yushu also felt a sense of urgency. After selling the braised meat, he started looking for a house in town. He couldn't keep living in the Wei family's house after the divorce.
The poultry at home are not yet ready to be sold, and we don't know when the gambling den will come knocking on our door.
Upon returning to the Zhou family home, Song Yushu did not see Zhao Yuzhi and Zhou Chengli, the couple.
“My older brother and the others went to the old house, but today my sister-in-law asked when my mother was going to town to sell braised meat,” Zhou Chengzhu reminded her.
"Just say it as usual, she'll find out sooner or later anyway," she said, "only she knows the recipe for the braising liquid, so she's not afraid that Zhao Yuzhi will find out anything."
These past two days, Zhou Chengli has been taking Zhao Yuzhi to the Zhou family's old residence, hoping that when he goes to the academy, the old lady can help Zhao Yuzhi and prevent her from being bullied by Song Yushu.
The people at the Zhou family's old residence were very enthusiastic in front of Zhou Chengli, but as soon as Zhou Chengli left, they began to find fault with Zhao Yuzhi.
There was nothing they could do; they couldn't bear the thought of being cheated out of twenty taels of betrothal money by the Zhao family, so only Zhou Chengli could ignore it.
Zhao Yuzhi also sensed that the Zhou family had a problem with her, and she secretly regretted asking for such a high dowry, but she could only endure it because of the Zhao family's situation.
Zhao Yuzhi never expected that just as she breathed a sigh of relief after marrying into the Zhou family, her own father would come and cause trouble.
Song Yushu didn't give Zhao the Cripple a friendly look when he visited, but Zhao the Cripple was really shameless.
"Your cooking skills are truly excellent, my dear in-laws. Yuzhi is indeed blessed to have married into this family," Zhao the Cripple said, rubbing his hands together as he sat down.
"Father, what brings you here?"
Song Yushu didn't respond. Now that Zhou Lao Er was working in town, Zhao Yuzhi had to take care of her father herself.
"Oh! Yuzhi, now that you're not in charge of the family, your younger siblings are really suffering..."
“Father, my second sister is already thirteen this year. She can take care of her younger brothers and sisters eventually. Now that I’m married, I really can’t take care of the Zhao family’s affairs anymore,” Zhao Yuzhi said, also in a dilemma. Although they were all in the same village, it was not right for her to run back to her parents’ home right after getting married.
“You don’t need to worry about it. I just want to borrow some money, otherwise your younger brothers and sisters will run out of food,” Zhao the Cripple had anticipated Zhao Yuzhi’s words, so he stopped pretending and directly asked for money.
"Father, Chengli and I have just gotten married, where would we get spare money? Why don't you go back first?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the room fell silent. Zhao Yuzhi felt embarrassed and quickly urged him to leave.
"Hmph! Just like a married daughter is like water spilled from a cup. My scholar son-in-law hasn't even said anything yet, and you're already trying to drive your own father away!" Zhao the Cripple sneered, then turned around and began to treat Zhou Chengli warmly again.
Zhou Chengli had never seen such a scene before. Considering that Zhao the Cripple was his father-in-law, he couldn't refuse, but he really didn't have any money.
"Fine, so your Zhou family looks down on me, making excuses to borrow a little money!"
Zhao the Cripple talked for a long time, but Zhao didn't pull out even half a copper coin, which made him angry.
"Father, we just finished the wedding, we really don't have any money to lend you!" Zhao Yuzhi said quickly, afraid that he would offend Zhou Chengli.
"Who are you kidding! You have no money but you still buy pigs and sheep to raise? Do you really think I'm easy to fool?" Zhao the Cripple wasn't buying it.
"I bought these pigs and sheep, do you have a problem with that?" Song Yushu told the two younger ones to go back inside before turning to deal with the situation.
“This is not a fair thing for you, my in-laws. Since you have the money to buy these things, surely you can lend me some money, right? If that doesn’t work, you can send me two goats as payment first,” Zhao the Cripple said, his eyes lighting up as he looked at Song Yushu, clearly thinking his idea was good.
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