CH 98

Posted by:Chaitali Das (Chaitali’s Musings)7-9 minutes 16.06.2023

Zhu Lan carefully observed the eldest daughter. The eldest daughter resembled her grandmother’s appearance, which was also good. In the original’s memories, the grandmother had raised the eldest daughter for several years, and her temperament also followed her grandmother’s, being outwardly gentle but inwardly strong and assertive. Unfortunately, the grandmother passed away early, so she couldn’t raise her for many years. However, in the memories, even at a young age, she was very capable and helped the original person a lot.

Zhulan liked this eldest girl very much, she had filial eyes and was not jealous. Today Zhou Shuren took out the jade pendant as a token, and she carefully observed the children in the family.

The more the boss knew, the more confident he was in his heart, and Zhou Shuren was always educating him. So he looked more and more like the eldest son of the family.

The second child is the deepest and the shrewdest, even if they don’t tell him the truth, the second child has figured it out a little bit. But he didn’t show it on the surface.

After all, the third son was young and selfish, he didn’t like Rong Chuan in the first place, so his expression changed.

The fourth son was also very calm, this kid really doesn’t care at all about money.

The eldest daughter was not jealous but had been scrutinizing Rong Chuan all the time. This was checking for her sister!

In the bedroom, Zhou Shuren heard the sound, saw Zhulan dragging the eldest daughter in, and quickly closed his eyes. He didn’t plan to go out to make room for his wife. He didn’t drink much, but he was too tired after talking all morning.  He just wanted to lie down and not move.

Zhulan didn’t notice Zhou Shuren’s movements and motioned for the eldest daughter to sit down.

Xuemei glanced at her father who was resting, “Mother, father is resting, you have a rest after a long day, I’ll go out first.”

Zhulan stopped her, “It’s okay, your father is in a deep sleep, our mother-daughter chat won’t disturb him.”

Xuemei really wanted to chat with her mother for a while. But she didn’t get a chance to say even a few words today. She knew she had to leave when the ox cart came back, but she didn’t want to return to her in-law’s place.

Zhulan had already gone to the kang to look for the money box. This time, she realized how the original mother subsidized the daughter. She took out five taels of silver and put it in her purse and took out the two children’s clothes and put them together In front of the daughter, “You can use this money. The clothes were made by me last night. Make them bigger if they don’t fit, you can go back and change them for your child.”

Xuemei’s eyes turned red, “Mother, my family has already subsidized me a lot, and I can’t accept the money.”

If it wasn’t for subsidizing her, why bother to give the Jiang family a new year’s gift, didn’t they know that the Jiang family’s conflicts were all because of her? This year they gave more than in previous years, and my mother was thinking about her and the child to support her.    

Zhulan felt sore in her heart, “The money is not for you, but for my Wàisūn (1) and Wàisūnnǚ. (2) Both children lost weight when summer came.”

Xuemei’s nose tingled, making her want to cry. She wanted to say that there was still a hidden stash of silver coins that could be used for the child’s sake, but she couldn’t utter a word. The stash of ten taels of silver was gone, and this year her husband had to take the imperial examination again to become a Xiucai. The family couldn’t gather enough money, and her parents-in-law were planning to sell their land. Several sisters-in-law joined forces and caused a commotion for several days. Despite their desperate efforts, borrowing money from anyone became impossible. In their desperation, the eldest sister-in-law even threatened to hang herself with her child. Xuemei’s husband finally decided not to take the examination.

What could the parents-in-law do? They finally compromised. She was not reconciled. Her husband was talented and hardworking. She didn’t want to give up halfway. In the end, she not only took out the money at the bottom of the box but also pawned the dowry hairpin given by her mother to make up enough money. Unfortunately, her husband fell just short of passing the examination. If it hadn’t been for the family troubles affecting her husband, he would have definitely passed this year.

The husband failed the exam, the sisters-in-law looked down on their family more and more, and the parents-in-law also lost hope. After her husband failed the exam, the parents-in-law no longer protected their family. In previous years, the autumn harvest was harvested together. This year, most of the work fell on their family. The husband didn’t eat well, and he lost weight even more in the fall. The in-laws didn’t seem to notice it. If she hadn’t encouraged him to take the exam again, and if her husband didn’t want to earn back her dowry money, he would have given up already.

Zhu Lan saw her daughter crying, and her own eyes turned red. This girl had become noticeably thinner since July, with calluses on her hands. Her son-in-law had even lost so much weight that he seemed unrecognizable. Even though her second son had described the changes in the eldest daughter and her husband, seeing it with her own eyes was still more impactful. Zhu Lan embraced her daughter and said, “You’ve suffered. Why didn’t you say anything? Why did you take such a big risk?”

Xue Mei cried heavily. Even as someone who was strong-willed internally, she couldn’t bear the constant bullying she faced. She had never been mistreated in her parents’ home, but in her in-laws’ home, she truly felt wronged. It’s not like she and her husband were idle and only focused on studying. Her husband never neglected his work in the fields, and she also helped out. Pursuing further education was her parents-in-law’s idea, but somehow it had turned into a blame game between her and her husband. The thought of her children going hungry made her even more devastated.

Zhulan’s heart twitched. The more she integrated, the more she regarded the Zhou family’s children as her own. Yesterday, she heard the second child talk about the change in the eldest daughter. She made clothes for the two grandchildren overnight. The money was discussed with Zhou Shuren. Touching the eldest daughter’s thin body, her heart hurting even more, “Okay, don’t cry, seeing you cry like this breaks your mother’s heart.”

Xuemei had been afraid to visit her mother during winter because she worried about her mother’s frail health and didn’t want her to be concerned. But now that she saw her mother in good health, she allowed herself to cry. Choking back her sobs, she said, “I won’t cry anymore, Mother. Please don’t feel distressed.”

“Tell me and your mother about the changes in the Jiang family this year.”

Zhulan was startled, seeing Zhou Shuren sitting up, “Did we wake you up?”