The smoke in the outer room was so heavy that it almost made it hard to keep one’s eyes open. Lian Manman hurriedly stood on the threshold and took down the cotton door curtain. The north wind blew in the winter, and the thick smoke rushed eagerly into the courtyard; with less smoke in the outer room, Lian Manman could finally see the situation inside.
It was Lady Gu and Lady Chiang.
Lady Chiang occupied a small stove with a dicine pot on it; she was brewing dicine for Old Master Lian.
Lady Gu was squatting under the large stove, tending a fire; that was where the thick smoke was coming from. It wasn’t ti to cook yet; Lady Gu was simply boiling water.
The faces of both mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were blackened by smoke, their eyes red and teary from the irritation.
Lady Gu’s dostic skills had regressed, after all, she had spent the last few months in the county town, staying in the Song Family’s idle house with servants attending to her every need.
"With such thick smoke, why didn’t you open the door curtain?" Lian Manman asked.
"Oh, it’s Manman," Lady Chiang said with a forced smile as she let go of the handkerchief that covered her mouth and nose, "we were afraid that opening the curtain would let the cold in. The fire just started, so the smoke is a bit heavy, but it will be better soon."
Lady Gu sat on a small stool, also covering her mouth and nose with a handkerchief, keeping her head down and tending the fire without responding to Lian Manman.
The door to the east room swung open with a bang, and Lady Zhou’s head erged from inside.
"What on earth are you doing, filled with resentnt and wanting to set fire to the house, or burn us old folks to death, what’s the aning of this?" Lady Zhou exclaid angrily.
Lady Chiang quickly bowed her head, and Lady Gu also hurriedly stood up from the small stool.
"Mother, I wanted to boil so water for you and father to drink. Mother, please go back inside quickly and close the door tight. The water will be ready soon," Lady Gu said with a grin.
"Boil water for and your father?" Lady Zhou scoffed coldly, her gaze scrutinizing Lady Gu, "If you truly had filial piety, would Old Master be lying there unable to move on the kang? It’s almost ti to cook; who asked you to boil water? Do you think that firewood cos for free? Put out the fire at once!"
Lady Gu’s lips twitched as if she wanted to justify herself. In the end, she didn’t dare say a word and lowered her head to extinguish the fire in the stove.
Lady Zhou then turned her critical gaze to Lady Chiang, for whom she still retained so semblance of face.
"When the dicine is ready, bring it to your grandfather," Lady Zhou said.
"Yes," Lady Chiang hurriedly agreed.
"Manman, what are you doing here?" Lady Zhou turned to go back inside, then paused as if she had just noticed Lian Manman.
"Granny, I ca to see how you and grandfather were doing," Lian Manman replied.
"Then co in. What are you doing standing at the door, with all this smoke and wind?" After saying that, Lady Zhou turned and went back inside.
Both Lady Gu and Lady Chiang then turned their heads to look at Lian Manman.
For so reason, the tone of Lady Zhou’s words was always different from that of ordinary people. The words she just spoke, translated into the language of common folk, ant that she was telling Lian Manman to co inside quickly and not to stand in the doorway catching the wind. Previously, such consideration was only reserved for Lian Xiuxiu and the people of the main branch of the family. Thirty years on the east bank of the river, thirty more on the west; now Lady Gu had beco the one being scolded, while Lian Manman was enjoying Lady Zhou’s favor.
Lady Gu and Lady Chiang understood the look in Lian Manman’s eyes, but she didn’t care; she turned and went back into the yard to start moving items from the cart with Wu Lang and Xiao Qi.
Lian Manman was the primary hero this ti for managing to pay off the high-interest loan on ti and bringing Lian Shouren’s family back ho. Old Master Lian had fallen seriously ill, and Lady Zhou had been scared nearly half to death, no longer possessing as much strength as before.
That was how Lian Manman’s status ca to be highlighted.
Carrying so items, Lian Manman walked back into the outer room just in ti to see Lian Shouren, wrapped in a thick overcoat, standing at the door of the west room, complaining to Lady Gu.
"Why has the fire gone out?" Lian Shouren said as he stamped his feet against the cold, "The kang was just getting warm, and now you stop the fire."
It turned out that Lady Gu’s boiling of water was just an excuse, her real goal was to warm up the kang in the west room.
Lian Shouren’s family’s return this ti was different from the past. The once coddled treatnt was completely gone. Now that it was winter, the Lian Family did not have a habit of heating rooms with furnaces; their warmth depended entirely on heating the kang by burning fire in the big stove.
But lighting a fire was not a trivial matter. Apart from the three daily als, Lady Zhou did not allow fires to be lit at other tis. With two large stoves in the Upper Room to the east and west, the fire had to be started on the eastern side first, giving priority to warming the kang for Old Master and Lady Zhou.
The west room had been unoccupied for a long ti and was inherently cold. They had not received particular attention yesterday and must have frozen through the night; unable to withstand it, Lady Gu had personally co out to light the fire.
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