The weather is hot and the Huang family can't afford ice now. The room is like a steamer and you will sweat if you stay there for a while.
At three quarters past noon, the Huang family gathered in Rongyang Hall.
Even the second concubine came, but she didn't sit at the table. She held a red lacquer tray and poured tea and water for each master.
Huang Zhengming still looked half dead, but Huang Shuhuai was smiling.
"Father, did you get any good news?" Huang Zhengming was an impatient and unscrupulous man. Seeing Huang Shuhuai stroking his beard and not saying anything, he asked anxiously.
Huang Shuhuai seemed to be waiting for this sentence. As soon as Huang Zhengming finished speaking, he started talking.
"I have accomplished something great. Our Huang family won't have to worry anymore."
Huang Dong went to see Huang Wanzhen in confusion, but Huang Wanzhen seemed like a different person recently. She just lowered her head to drink tea and did not look up to respond to her.
"Hurry up and tell me, hurry up and tell me." Huang Zhengming urged.
With his son's support, Huang Shuhuai didn't care about others. "Zheng Ruqing agreed to let his son marry our daughter."
Huang Zhengming asked foolishly, "Who is Zheng Ruqing?"
Huang Shuhuai's smile froze on his face. He silently glanced at the people in the hall, and every face was filled with confusion.
No! Erya knows!
He suddenly turned around to look for Huang Wanzhen, but saw the girl drinking tea slowly, looking as if it was none of her business.
"Ahem, Wanzhen, please tell me."
Huang Wanzhen asked with drooping eyelids: "What did you say?"
Huang Shuhuai: "Let's talk about the Zheng family."
Huang Wanzhen: "I don't want to talk about it. It makes me feel uncomfortable."
"Pa—" Huang Shuhuai slammed the table hard and ordered, "Speak!"
Huang Wanzhen feigned fear as she repeated, "The Zheng family of Dongjiao Lane is a family of scholars, educating their children and serving others."
"The Zheng family's patriarch, Zheng Wenliang, was a fourth-rank Imperial Academy student. His son, Zheng Ruqing, was a counselor in the Ministry of the Interior under the new government. His grandchildren, responding to the new government's call, attended modern schools."
"Even a concubine's daughter is enrolled in a girls' school, and her dowry is five thousand dollars! His daughter is sought after by thousands of families."
"His concubine daughters are ten thousand times better than the Huang family's legitimate daughters. They deserve to marry into high-ranking officials' families, but no one wants the Huang family's daughters!"
"Pa-pa-pa-pa-" Huang Shuhuai was so angry that he blew his beard and glared.
"What nonsense are you talking about!"
Huang Wanzhen: "I said I didn't want to tell you, but you forced me to tell you. Even if I told you, you didn't believe me."
Huang Shuhuai retorted: "When did I say I didn't believe it?"
Huang Wanzhen said with a look of grievance, "So Grandfather knows that you're lax in managing the household, indulgent towards your son, and unkind to your granddaughter! Remember to change."
Huang Shuhuai was furious, "Huang Zhong, use the family rules!"
"Plop—" Mrs. Huang fell to her knees, kowtowed repeatedly, "Grandpa, calm down. Wanzhen is still young. It's me, your mother, who has failed in my duty. If you want to hit someone, hit me."
Huang Wanzhen sneered and said, "Why should Huang Zhong listen to you? Have you forgotten that he is now eating the Dong family's food?"
"Beast! You are simply a beast!" Huang Zhengming pointed at Huang Wanzhen and cursed with trembling hands.
Huang Wanzhen looked at him coldly, "Yes! A beast comes from a beast's family. The Huang family is full of beasts!"
Huang Zhengming picked up the tea bowl and threw it at Huang Wanzhen.
"Ka-cha-"
Huang Wanzhen tilted her head and the tea bowl fell to the ground, breaking into pieces.
"The men of the Huang family are selfish and only care about their own enjoyment, not the lives of the women in their family."
"Grandpa is old and dad smokes opium. Whether you admit it or not, your bodies won't survive more than two years."
"The women in this family are all weak and incompetent. They don't even dare to resist you, the men who are breathing heavily every three steps. How can you dare to resist the wolves and tigers outside?"
"The fate has already been determined. Within two years, all the men in the Huang family will be dead, and the women will be sold into brothels."
"My great-grandfather is waiting for you down there. How are you going to explain this to him?"
"Puff——" a mouthful of blood spurted out of Huang Shuhuai's mouth.
"Dad——" Huang Zhengming's face was full of horror. He never thought that his tall father would fall down in front of him.
"Ah--" Huang Shuhuai fell silently, but Huang Zhengming, who was pressed under him, screamed.
Huang Wanzhen turned a happy event into a mess.
Of the three elders, two had fallen, and the remaining Huang Dongshi had no time to pay attention to her, but she had no time to rest.
"Second sister! How can you say such things? Do you want to piss off grandpa and dad to death?" Huang Wanshu accused.
Huang Wanzhen pointed to the door with a cold face, "You are not welcome in Furongju."
Huang Wanshu smiled bitterly, "I didn't know you would become like this. When you were a child, you were as cute as a ball of jade. It's my sister who neglected you."
Huang Wanzhen had long discovered that Huang Dongzhen and Huang Wanshu both had self-consuming personalities.
Whenever there is a problem in the outside world, I will think that it is my own problem. If I have a problem, it means that I am not good enough. If I am not good enough, I need to find a backbone.
Their backbone is the two men in the family.
Huang Wanzhen wanted to defeat those two men in front of them and tell them that it was better to rely on her than on those two men.
But the effect doesn’t look very good.
Huang Wanzhen: "Take care of yourself first. You can't even save yourself, and you still want to save me? Are you mentally ill?"
Huang Wanshu looked at her sadly, "You, don't be so harsh, I, I..."
Huang Wanzhen: "What do you mean by 'I'? Get out—"
Huang Wanshu's tears started to fall without warning. "I'm going to visit my grandfather and father. Come with me and apologize to them."
"If they forgive you, they can also absolve you of your punishment."
Huang Wanzhen: "Which eye of yours saw them punishing me? They were all dying, how could they even have the energy to think about me? I'm afraid they'd already been immersed in the fear of death and couldn't extricate themselves."
Hearing this, Huang Wanshu was horrified. "Don't talk nonsense. How could my grandfather and father die?"
Huang Wanzhen: "Why not die? Everyone dies."
"Didn't grandpa and grandma die early?"
"If they hadn't died, we would have had a place to go in the future, and wouldn't have been sold to a brothel like I said."
"But they died, and no one cared about us. We had no choice but to be sold."
Huang Wanshu suddenly covered her head and said, "I don't want to be sold."
Suddenly her mind turned, she put down her hands and asked, "Who wants to sell us out?"
Huang Wanzhen: "Great grandfather, Huang Meixue's grandfather."
"He is now the patriarch of the Huang family. After the death of my grandfather and father, there are no male descendants in our branch. The people in the clan will find ways to seize our property."
"Since ancient times, cannibalism has never been as simple as just seizing the family's wealth. They will also squeeze every last drop of blood from the women."
In the original text, Huang Dongshi was able to survive because of the benefit of her two daughters.
Huang Wanshu said in panic, "No way? Teacher Huang is a very good person, and her grandfather shouldn't be a bad person either."
Huang Wanzhen: "Then what are you afraid of?"
"You don't need to refute me. Ask yourself whether the other tribesmen will leave this mansion to you."
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