CH 14

Upon seeing them, Xu Xiuhua made sarcastic remarks, “Oh, Yuan Ge’er, you still remember this family?”  

Qiao Yuan was still angry and snorted heavily at her without greeting her, then headed straight to the east wing where Qiao Wangshi lived. Xu Xiuhua stomped her feet in anger. She was used to being domineering in front of Qiao Yuan, and when he dared to treat her like this, she immediately wanted to step forward and teach him a lesson.  

Yu Dameng quickly reacted and protected Qiao Yuan behind him. He turned around and glared fiercely at her. Xu Xiuhua immediately fell silent and dared not move.  

Qiao Yuan hid behind Yu Dameng and stuck his head out, making a face at her in provocation. Although he wasn’t afraid of Xu Xiuhua, he enjoyed the feeling of having someone protect him. He felt much better and then held Yu Dameng’s hand again, “Let’s ignore her, I’ll take you to meet my grandma.” 

Yu Dameng nodded. 

Xu Xiuhua was fuming with anger but could only keep it to herself. She remembered the words of her family head, that the eldest son of the Yu family would take the imperial examination next March and had a good chance of becoming a scholar. At that time, she would have to rely on that little wretch Qiao Yuan to build connections in the future. 

Qiao Wangshi heard the noise and came out of the house, her voice trembling, “Yuan Ge’er.”  

Qiao Yuan saw her bent back, white hair, and patched clothes. Although she wasn’t his real grandma, he couldn’t help feeling sad for her. He quickly went over to support her, “Grandma.” 

Yu Dameng awkwardly followed suit and called out to her. 

Qiao Wangshi nodded and looked at Qiao Yuan, then looked at Yu Dameng, repeatedly saying “good, good” a few times. 

Qiao Yuan asked Yu Dameng to take out the clothes he bought for Qiao Wangshi. 

Qiao Wangshi looked worried and said, “Why did you buy such expensive clothes? How can I wear them?” 

She was afraid that Qiao Yuan’s behavior would make Lin Cuifen dislike him. After all, no husband’s family likes it when the children married into their family are always thinking about their natal family.  

Qiao Yuan knew her concerns and quickly said, “Grandma, it’s all because Dameng asked me to take good care of you.”  

Qiao Wangshi looked at Yu Dameng and felt even more satisfied. He was strong and sturdy, and appeared loyal and filial, someone who could be trusted. She didn’t regret putting aside her pride to arrange this marriage for Qiao Yuan. This was also a way to make up for her second son and daughter-in-law who had passed away early.  

She gently asked Yu Dameng a few casual questions, and then hesitated to speak to Qiao Yuan.  

Qiao Yuan knew that Qiao Wangshi had something private to discuss with him, so he asked Yu Dameng to wait outside. 

When Qiao Wangshi saw that Yu Dameng was listening to Qiao Yuan’s words, she felt a little more relieved. As soon as Yu Dameng left, she hurriedly asked, “Does he treat you well?”  

Qiao Yuan carefully recalled every detail of his time with Yu Dameng in the past few days and felt that there was nothing bad about it. In order to reassure Qiao Wangshi, he picked a few things to tell her. When Qiao Wangshi heard it, she smiled and said, “He is someone who knows how to take care of people.”  

She then asked how the people in the Yu family treated him, and Qiao Yuan answered each question one by one. 

As Qiao Yuan and Qiao Wangshi were chatting inside, Yu Dameng was interrupted by an unexpected guest at the door.  

It was Qiao Yuan’s cousin Qiao Yingying.  

Qiao Yuan’s uncle, Qiao Guangzhi, used to work in the county as a shop assistant. After his father passed away, he also found a job at the dock, which was better than working in the fields.  

He had two sons and a daughter with Xu Xiuhua, and Qiao Yingying was the middle child. She had an unreliable older brother and a spoiled younger brother. In Qiao Yuan’s opinion, if it weren’t for the original owner taking the brunt of the family’s troubles, those troubles would have fallen on her. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize this. 

She boasts that she will become the wife of a scholar in the future, so she imitates the dress and demeanor of the wives and ladies of scholars in the county. However, she had not seen much of the world and has instead become a poor imitation. Once, she heard Zhang Wensheng talk about the low status of craftsmen in the previous dynasty, so when she heard that Qiao Yuan had married a blacksmith from the Yu family, she felt extremely contemptuous and happy.  

But when she saw Yu Dameng today, he was not the rough and dirty appearance she had imagined. Instead, he was very upright, handsome, and tall, with a physique that made unmarried young girls blush at first sight.  

However, in her heart, how could that stinky blacksmith Yu Dameng compare to her cultured brother Wensheng? He was gentle and courteous, a true gentleman. Thinking of this made her feel refreshed. Her gaze towards Yu Dameng was full of disdain, and her tone of voice was uncomfortable to listen to. “So you’re Yuan Ge’er’s husband?”  

Yu Dameng knew that she was Yuan Ge’er’s cousin, but he felt that she was no different from Xu Xiuhua, both of whom bullied his family’s Yuan Ge’er, so he completely ignored her.  

Ever since Qiao Yingying was betrothed to Zhang Wensheng, she had always been held in high regard wherever she went. She had never experienced such disdain, especially from a craftsman. She was immediately infuriated and pointed at Yu Daming, “You’re just a blacksmith!”  

“Do you really believe that Qiao Yuan hanged himself because of the dowry? Let me tell you, he just didn’t want to marry you. He found you crude and vulgar, and he prefers a gentleman scholar who is courteous and polite. Zhang Wensheng, you know him, right? He’s younger than your eldest brother and has the same age as your second brother. Qiao Yuan’s heart belongs to him!” 

Thinking of this, Qiao Yingying felt a twinge of satisfaction and a smile appeared on her lips. “But Brother Wensheng likes me, so we called off the betrothal with Qiao Yuan and got engaged. So we’ll be the ones getting married!” 

Yu Dameng’s eyes widened. He knew that Yuan Ge’er had hung himself because he didn’t want to marry him, but he had never heard of Zhang Wensheng’s involvement before. No wonder Yuan Ge’er didn’t want to be his husband, he had someone he liked.  

After returning from the border, he occasionally saw Zhang Wensheng, who was highly praised in the village. He knew that he was a well-educated and polite scholar, who seemed to be better than him, a blacksmith who was always dirty and messy.  

Qiao Yingying noticed that his expression changed and guessed that her words had struck a nerve. She continued to pile on, “Look at yourself, and then look at Brother Wensheng. You two are like night and day. Yuan Ge’er will never be able to wholeheartedly live a good life with you… ”  

Qiao Yuan and Qiao Wangshi heard the commotion outside and stopped talking. Qiao Yuan went out to see what was happening and saw Yu Dameng standing there with his head down, being scolded by Qiao Yingying like a wilted eggplant. Qiao Yuan was immediately furious and rushed forward to pull Yu Dameng behind him, then angrily questioned Qiao Yingying, “What are you doing?!”  

Qiao Yingying was taken aback by his sudden outburst, but she thought that this was the soft-hearted Qiao Yuan, so there was nothing to be afraid of. She sneered and replied, “I’m just talking to your blacksmith husband.”  

Qiao Yuan heard the disdain in her tone and became even more venomous, “Cousin, as an unmarried girl, it’s not appropriate for you to be speaking to my husband like that. Isn’t that against propriety? And if this gets out…” 

“You dare!” Qiao Yingying was scared for a moment. Her reputation must not have no flaws, otherwise Zhang Wensheng would definitely not marry her, and then how could she become a scholar’s wife in the future!  

Qiao Yuan sneered and threatened her, “If you dare to insult my husband again, you’ll see if I dare to do something about it.” 

Qiao Yingying glanced at Yu Dameng, who was looking down and dejected, and thought that since her goal had been achieved, it didn’t matter to argue with him here. Qiao Yuan would definitely be beaten up by Yu Dameng when he got home, and maybe even be divorced and sent back home tomorrow. Then she would be the one holding all the cards and he wouldn’t dare to be so arrogant anymore. With this in mind, she left, tossing her head and walking away with her nose in the air. 

Qiao Yuan was extremely angry. If Qiao Yingying wasn’t a woman, he would have wanted to physically teach her a lesson. As expected, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Xu Xiuhua couldn’t produce any good things!  

Qiao Wangshi had already guessed what happened and urged Qiao Yuan and Yu Dameng to hurry home. After a few more brief words, Qiao Yuan and Yu Dameng left together.  

As they walked out of the alleyway of the Qiao family, Qiao Yuan saw that there was no one else around and twisted Yu Dameng’s arm hard, complaining, “How can someone as big as you be bullied by her? Did you grow up in vain? Did I feed you all those meat for nothing?” 

Yu Dameng looked at Qiao Yuan with a sense of grievance, then continued walking forward with his head down without saying a word.  

Qiao Yuan sensed that something was wrong and chased after him, asking, “What’s wrong with you? What did she say to you?”  

Yu Dameng still kept his head down and remained silent.  

Did she hurt his self-esteem? Qiao Yuan thought about it and softened his tone. “Don’t listen to her nonsense! What’s wrong with being a blacksmith? That’s an outdated concept from the past. Our Da Chu Dynasty values craftsmen and believes in equality for all, did you know that?” 

“Besides, who is she to look down on us? The house she’s living in now was built by my father back then!” Speaking of this, Qiao Yuan was a little angry. He was not very clear about the laws of Da Chu Dynasty and did not know if the eldest son had inheritance rights here. He would have to wait until Yu Xiangxue returned in a few days to ask him.  

He was not interested in the family inheritance left by his biological parents. It’s just that Qiao Guangzhi and Xu Xiuhua didn’t treat the original owner well. He also believed that his biological parents, who are watching from heaven, would not want them to benefit from this inheritance. If he can obtain the family property, he would donate all of it to those in need, in order to accumulate merit for the original owner and pray for a smooth and peaceful next life.  

Qiao Yuan chattered all the way to Yu Dameng, but his expression did not seem to improve because of it. 

Qiao Yuan was getting angry with him. Was what Qiao Yingying said so important? She only said a few words, but Yu Dameng took it to heart. Qiao Yuan had been talking non-stop, but he didn’t see him taking it in.  

Qiao Yuan was too angry and didn’t want to pay attention to him anymore.  

After returning home, both of them had cold faces. Lin Cuifen guessed that they had a quarrel, but as a mother-in-law, she didn’t want to interfere in their argument, so she pretended not to know.  

After a dull lunch, Lin Cuifen urged Qiao Yuan to rest in their room, saying that he needed to recover from his injury and shouldn’t do any work. 

Qiao Yuan glanced at Yu Dameng, who was still lost in thought, and went back to their room with a huff. 

Lin Cuifen saw her silly son still sitting there motionless, and kicked his leg, saying, “Hurry up and coax him!”  

Yu Dameng looked at the door that Qiao Yuan had just slammed shut and stood up, pursing his lips. “I’ll go to Carpenter Li’s place to get the lounge chair for Yuan Ge’er.” 

Lin Cuifen sighed, “This silly son of mine.”  

Well, she wouldn’t worry about them anymore. Let the newlyweds work it out themselves. Which couple hasn’t gone through this? 

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