CH 111

Xuemei coughed, “Mom, I don’t want to come back to live.”

Zhulan was stunned for a moment, frowning, “That’s not okay, it’s not that mother doesn’t love you, you and your husband live in your mother’s house right after you separated. It’s bad for your reputation and your family. If you are worrying about your children, they can stay, but you and your husband can’t.”

Xuemei blushed, she really didn’t mean to stay at her mother’s house, “Mother, I don’t mean to live at home. I heard from my aunt in the clan that a family in the clan has moved to the county, and the house is vacant for rent. Jiang Sheng and I discussed living in Zhoujia Village, which is not only convenient for copying books but also Jiang Sheng can often consult with Dad.”

Zhu Lan suddenly realized and said, “That’s right! She was talking all the way about how they should live their lives and make plans for Xuemei and her husband. The couple kept chuckling, and now I see they had already made up their minds. However, it’s not good for their daughter’s reputation to move to the maternal village right after getting married.”

Xuemei guessed what Mother was thinking, “Mother, we have enough reasons. Jiang Sheng will be taking guidance from Father to be a scholar, and we don’t have any land anymore. To stop people from talking about us we will say that we will come back to help when we plow in spring and harvest in autumn.”

Zhulan didn’t blindly agree and went out to find Zhou Shuren. Her understanding of ancient times was not as thorough as Zhou Shuren’s. When she went out, she saw Zhou Shuren’s stern face and saw his son-in-law bowing his head. Zhou Shuren already knew what his daughter was thinking, “What do you think?”

Zhou Shuren frowned. There was a child foster husband in the family. It was originally his proposal to separate the family. Now if the eldest son-in-law moved there to live in as well, people could think he was a overbearing Father-in-law. After thinking about it, “It is okay to live in the future, but it will have to wait after the spring plowing.”

At least when he was admitted as a scholar this year, the reason for asking him to teach will be more convincing, and Jiang Sheng’s family will live there so that no one will discuss it.

With a sudden realization, Jiang Sheng understood his father-in-law’s intention. His father-in-law was more knowledgeable than him, and passing the civil service examination would not be a problem. Knowing that his own thoughts were not thorough, he quickly said, “I have been too hasty and have troubled my father-in-law.”

So it was settled, but they still had to buy everything they needed to live in their new home. Boss Zhou first went to buy a carload of chopped firewood, and after unloading the car, he took Zhulan and Xuemei to the county.

In the county, they bought rice tanks, water tanks, jars, bowls, and chopsticks, and prepared all the seasonings, and finally fine grains.

Zhulan also paid for eggs, meat, radishes, and cabbage, and returned to Jiang’s house with a cart full of things.

Zhou Shuren took Jiang Sheng to buy second-hand tables, chairs, cupboards, buckets, and poles for carrying water in the village and tried to buy as many as possible to avoid being ridiculed.

Zhulan subsidized two hundred wens for her daughter, and Xuemei spent about one tael herself. Zhou Shuren subsidized another two hundred wens, resulting in a total of 1 tael and 400 wens spent on setting up their separate household.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren tried their best to provide everything for their daughter. They increasingly regarded the children as their own and wanted to do everything well, so as not to hurt the children.

This made the jealous eyes of the daughters-in-law of the Jiang family turn red. Whose daughters were not just splashed water when they marry, but look at Zhou Xuemei, they felt that they were just picked up by their parents. With the in-law family supporting him, they didn’t dare to be a monster or satirize Jiang Sheng anymore.

Do you want to talk about separating later? They really don’t regret it, the Zhou family wouldn’t help so much if they didn’t have a split family. But it was hard to put pressure on the Jiang family to let Jiang Sheng study, so it was not as comfortable as it was now.

Jiang Sheng stayed at home to light the fire and look after the house, and Xuemei went back to Zhou’s house.

In the future, Jiang Sheng will copy books at home, and Zhou Shuren was worried about taking the original book back to copy. Jiang Sheng copied the first two books, he and Rong Chuan copied the remaining two books, and Jiang Sheng took home a hand-copied copy.

In the future, the children at home will also read the hand-copied book and Zhou Shuren originally wanted to seal it up for safekeeping.

They had a good meal in the evening, and tomorrow the two children will return to live with Xuemei at home. After Xuemei’s idea didn’t work out, the children naturally had to be taken back, to avoid any objections from the sisters-in-law and try not to cause trouble to the parents.

Early the next morning, Zhulan packed things for the eldest daughter. The clothes of the family these days, the old quilt, kimchi and sausages made by Li Shi, and so on. Zhulan also caught a hen that laid eggs and finally stuffed two taels of silver coins for the eldest daughter.

Xuemei blushed as she returned home with her face flushed from indulging in food and drink at her maternal home. “Mom, I already feel guilty enough. Please don’t give me any more money,” she said.

Zhulan thought that as a mother, it was common to provide financial support for one’s children. She now understood the Yang family’s inclination to generously support her original family. If it weren’t for the concern that her son-in-law might become dependent, she would have wanted to give even more. “If you don’t take it, it’s as if you’re finding it insufficient,” she said.

Xuemei’s nose felt a tinge of sourness. “Mom, you know that’s not what I mean,” she said.

A smile appeared in Zhulan’s eyes. “I know, dear. This year, I will provide support for you. But once Jiang Sheng passes the civil service examination next year, I won’t need to support you anymore, right?” she said.

She thought to herself, “What a pity. Unless Jiang Sheng becomes a successful scholar in the civil service examination, we will still lack the financial means for support. Only the Imperial Court grants silver and subsidies to licentiates each year.”

So I still need Zhou Shuren’s help!

Xuemei had confidence in her husband, and knowing this was her mother’s kindness, she accepted the money, “Thank you, Mother.”

Zhulan didn’t personally accompany her eldest daughter’s family back home. She had the eldest and second child see them off instead. The grandchildren had developed a close bond, and both children cried uncontrollably. It left Zhulan with a mix of emotions as if she was missing not only her Wàisūn with a particularly sweet mouth, Jiang Du, but also several other children. Feeling tired and lacking enthusiasm, she returned home and lay down.

When Zhou Shuren came in with the book, he saw Zhulan’s eyes were empty, and sat down, “Get ready to pack up tomorrow, let’s go to Pingzhou.”

Zhulan was surprised, “Aren’t you waiting for the end of the first month?”

Zhou Shuren said: ” Don’t want to wait anymore, it’s hard to buy a shop after the first lunar month.”

Zhulan became a bit anxious. Renting a shop for a year would cost a significant amount of money, and one shop would be enough to sustain the whole family for a year. Having money sitting idle wouldn’t generate any income, but investing in a shop would allow the money to grow. “Let me make the arrangements. Shall we leave tomorrow?”

Zhou Shuren smiled, “I’m going to find the carriage and the motorcade first, and it will take a day or two to start.”

Zhulan no longer felt rushed. “Besides the two of us, who else do you plan on bringing with us on this trip?”

Zhou Shuren had already considered this in advance. “If I’m not around, the eldest will have to support the family, and he also needs to look after Li Shi. The second can make up for the eldest’s shortcomings. Changlian and Changzhi won’t come with us, and we can’t bring Rong Chuan either. Rong Chuan is not suited for such special circumstances. This time, we’ll only take Xuehan with us. It’s also a precaution in case our absence leads to Wang Ru harboring any intentions toward our daughter,”

Zhulan counted the time, from the travel to buying the shop, it will take about seven to eight days. Beat it hard, don’t let the monkey be the king when the tiger is not at home.1

Zhu Lan and Zhou Shuren were proactive individuals. The next morning, Zhou Shuren went to the county town and found a carriage and a caravan heading to Pingzhou. They planned to depart the day after tomorrow. Pingzhou was a transportation hub in the northern region and was known for its prosperity. The area was relatively safe, and they didn’t have to worry about security issues while traveling with the caravan.

At home, Zhulan took out food for eight days and counted out one hundred copper coins for emergency household use. Zhulan gave the money to Li Shi and the grain to Zhao Shi.

Li Shi has a considerable amount of money in her hands, and she wouldn’t cling to just one hundred wen. Additionally, everyone had their own New Year’s money, so even if there were any issues, they wouldn’t be in a difficult situation over money matters. Li Shi handled money indifferently, and even if she had it, she wouldn’t be affected by it. Zhao Shi had her own calculations in mind, using the provision of food as a means to control Li Shi. Li Shi tended to be overdramatic, and she must have that Zhao Shi had secretly been instructed by Zhulan to keep an eye on her. To ensure security, Zhulan has put an extra lock on Li Shi, so even when Zhulan was not at home, Li Shi wouldn’t dare to act recklessly.

T/N Finally!!!! Our ML and FL is going to another place together.