The first update, requesting support with likes.
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Old Master Lian showed a satisfied expression.
Lady Gu glanced at Lady Zhou again, noticing that Lady Zhou shot a look at Lian Lanlan but without any real anger in her eyes. Then, with a twisted expression, Lady Zhou didn’t overtly dismiss Lian Lanlan’s words. Lady Gu gave a nod of agreent and motioned for Lady Chiang to go outside with her.
Lian Lanlan actually spoke to them? Shouldn’t she be like Lady Zhou and Lian Xiuxiu, cold and distant toward them?
Lian Manman couldn’t help but see Lian Lanlan in a new light. This was the fad Lian Lanlan, the one known for being the best at dealing with people.
"How co only a few of you are here? Why didn’t Old Three and Old Fourth co?" Lady Zhou asked sternly.
"My Third Uncle is working in the mountains and said he couldn’t get ti off," Wu Lang replied for Lady Zhang, "In our family, my father originally planned to co, but these past few days the County Yan sent people to asure the land, and insisted that my father must be there. My brother Xiao Qi and I took a few days off from school to co here with our mother and sister, to visit our grandfather and grandmother and to give support to my aunt."
When Wu Lang spoke, Lady Zhang remained silent, seating herself with a stoic expression.
The sa words, when spoken by Wu Lang, carried a different weight compared to if Lady Zhang had said them. Lady Zhou did not favor Lady Zhang, finding fault in anything she said. But Wu Lang was a direct grandson of the Lian Family and despite his young age, now that he was here, he could protect his mother and his siblings from the elents.
Lady Zhou cursed Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang, often with a loose tongue, and she even cursed Lian Zhizhi and Lian Manman, but she had never said anything, either to their face or behind their back, about Wu Lang and Xiao Qi.
But don’t think that it’s because Lady Zhou particularly doted on Wu Lang and Xiao Qi.
No matter how domineering Lady Zhou was, the deeply ingrained belief in male superiority was etched into her mindset. Her son was her flesh and blood, whom she could boldly control and actually manage to, but it was different for a grandson. This is also why she treated daughters-in-law and granddaughters-in-law differently.
Simply put, this was Lady Zhou’s survival wisdom.
A woman, in an environnt where n are revered over won, leveraging selfish, cunning survival tactics. To Old Master Lian, she was the lifelong wife who deserved respect. In front of her sons, she was the hardworking, eminently benevolent mother whom her sons had to obey.
And in front of the male grandchildren in the family, she beca a loving grandmother. Naturally, this affection was relative, compared to how Lady Zhou treated others, her deanor toward her grandsons and their wives really could be considered loving. The grandsons were naturally expected to reciprocate with filial piety toward such a loving grandmother.
Lady Zhou was very angry that Lian Shouli and Lian Shouxin did not co. She was all prepared to give Lady Zhang a fierce scolding the mont she opened her mouth. But it was Wu Lang who replied to her, and his words were so reasonable that it stopped her impending tirade in its tracks.
Looking at Lady Zhou’s constipated expression, Lian Manman lowered her head to prevent others from seeing the corners of her lips involuntarily turning up.
"The County Yan is asuring land again? When did this start?" Old Master Lian asked Wu Lang with concern, "Can your father manage all by himself at ho?"
Wu Lang then talked about the land asurent with Old Master Lian.
"...Father is indeed a bit too busy by himself. He ntioned that he’ll see if he can ask Third Uncle Wu and Brother Jiaxing over to give a hand," Wu Lang said.
"Yes, with the two of them there, you guys will have so support.... It was a good match indeed." Old Master Lian nodded.
Lady Zhou, having held back for a while, finally couldn’t suppress herself any longer.
Lian Shouxin didn’t co, but he had a valid reason, and even Wu Lang had asked for leave. Looking at Old Master Lian’s reaction, if she wanted to scold Lian Shouxin’s family, it seed Old Master Lian himself would stand in her way. What about Lian Shouli, then?
"That ungrateful creature, Old Three," Lady Zhou cursed fiercely, "What do you an he couldn’t get ti off from work, trying to fool into thinking I’m senile? He just doesn’t want to co, reluctant to miss a day’s work, reluctant to forego that day’s wages! And his wife? They only have Xiuxiu, their one and only younger sister, and this matter of her marriage is a major event. Those two heartless wretches, completely devoid of human decency. In their eyes, there are none of us old ones left, surely at ho they’re cursing us to death, not fearing retribution, exactly like a couple inviting their own extinction..."
"Inviting their own extinction" is a curse tenant farrs use for families without sons. Though without a single dirty word, it’s one of the most malicious curses. A mother cursing her own son with such words...
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