Lian Manman couldn’t help but sit up wrapped in her blanket, peering out into the courtyard through a pane of glazed window by the kang bed.
Outside the Upper Room East Room, a lantern was lit. Lady Gu, dressed in a thin gown, was bending over tremblingly beneath the window of the east room. With a chamber pot in one hand and a brush in the other, and a bucket of water by her side, it turned out she was scrubbing the chamber pot.
Lian Manman understood; this was Lady Zhou’s retaliation. Hadn’t Lady Gu set a trap to marry Lian Xiuxiu off to a septuagenarian? So Lady Zhou made it so that Lady Gu could no longer sleep beside her husband. Moreover, judging by this, sending Lady Gu out in the dead of night to scrub chamber pots, Lady Zhou was certainly set on tornting Lady Gu at night in the future.
Such tornt, how many could endure it.
"What’s the point," Lady Zhang sighed. "Didn’t she think of today when she was doing that? She hard Xiuxiu, and now your grandmother is determined to torture her to death."
Lady Gu prided herself on her intelligence, adept at scheming, and could always absolve herself of bla. But Lady Zhou was a domineering character, steadfast in whatever she decided, no matter if you were right or wrong, she did as she pleased, scolding or beating.
With such two people in a battle, it was really unknown who would lose and who would win in the end.
...
The mothers and daughters did not sleep well that night, and got up early the next morning. Breakfast was set in Lady Zhou’s room with Old Master Lian also present; Lady Gu had dark circles under her eyes and stood alongside Lady Chiang below the kang bed to serve.
Lady Zhou kept a stern face, summoning Lady Chiang to join them on the kang for the al. Of course, this was to further humiliate Lady Gu. Lady Chiang, with a flattering smile, insisted that she had duties elsewhere in the house and thus firmly refused to join the table.
After a few bites, Lady Zhou found another pretext to berate Lady Gu, but she was stopped by Lian Lanlan, preventing Lady Gu from suffering too much.
Lian Manman and the others took their seats at the table and went through the motions of eating a couple of bites before getting up from the table.
Then Lady Zhang talked about leaving.
With her face still set, Lady Zhou didn’t ask them to stay, but Lian Lanlan, with a smile, asked Lady Zhang and her daughters to stay a few more days and to leave with her when the ti ca.
Naturally, Lady Zhang did not agree.
"... With the coming and going, we’ve been out for several days, there are many things to attend to at ho, we must return," Lady Zhang said. "It’s been arranged; the carriage will co to pick us up shortly."
"If you want to go, then go. I won’t keep you any longer. Farmstead families can’t afford to be without soone at ho." Old Master Lian put down his bowl, filled his pipe with dry tobacco, and started puffing away. "This dry tobacco is pretty good, smokes well."
"Bring out the things for Old Fourth and others," Old Master Lian then told Lady Zhou.
With her face still stern, Lady Zhou seed very reluctant but still brought out a small bundle from the kang under Old Master Lian’s watchful eye and pushed it towards Lady Zhang.
"Having co all this way, here’s a little sothing for the children," Old Master Lian said.
Lady Zhang didn’t accept it and pushed the bundle back.
"We lack nothing at ho; we appreciate the sentint," Lady Zhang said.
The mothers and daughters then all stood up, paid their respects to Old Master Lian and Lady Zhou, and started walking outside.
Old Master Lian, Lady Chiang, Lian Lanlan, and Yin Suo all ca out to see them off. Lian Duo was sitting on the kang and at first didn’t move; after a word from Lady Gu, she was about to get down but was stopped by Lady Zhou. When Lady Gu herself went to see them off, she was also called back by Lady Zhou and instructed to do other things.
"This return, give my regards to the neighbors," Old Master Lian said as he saw the mothers and daughters out the door, "Tell them we are all doing quite well."
The mothers and daughters all nodded.
Old Master Lian then fell silent, his face heavy with worries.
"If soone asks about..." Old Master Lian started speaking again but stopped midway, seemingly unsure of how to continue.
Everyone fell into silence.
"Grandfather, there will always be comings and goings with Taicang, and Sister-in-law Xiu E’s family will have to go back in a few days," Lian Manman said, "When the ti cos, it’s not good if the sa matter is made to sound different..."
Another period of silence.
"A woman married off... Ah, your aunt married here, she’s of the Old Zheng Family now. When you go back, if people ask about ...this matter isn’t worth detailing..."
"Mhm," the mothers and daughters all nodded. They understood Old Master Lian’s aning. If no one asked, they wouldn’t ntion a word. If soone did ask, they would avoid talking about it if possible. If they had to talk, they would just brush over the matter, in essence, downplaying the event.
Lady Chiang went to help the mothers and daughters with their bags, and Lady He and the others had not yet co out from the house; only Old Master Lian was there.
"Grandfather, actually, going ho to farm isn’t bad," Lian Manman mused and softly added to Old Master Lian, "Thirty acres of land, raising a few pigs, a flock of chickens and ducks, we won’t starve or freeze. With eldest uncle having been an official for a few days, going back to find a position at an inn or so other job won’t be hard... Even an ordinary farmstead life is without major calamities."
"Yes, Grandfather, it’s ti to make a decision," Wu Lang also said.
Old Master Lian’s body shuddered, his face showing a complex mix of emotions as he looked at Lian Manman and Wu Lang.
"We’ve co this far...," after a long while, Old Master Lian let out a sigh, "When you go back, live your lives well. I’ll stay here and keep a close eye on them..."
The entire group saw the mothers and daughters out of the yard, and then they saw a carriage approach, but it was not Lu Bingwu’s carriage.
"People from the Song Family have co, could it be Huahua?" Lady He suggested.
The carriage stopped at the gate, and two sturdy nursemaids jumped down from the carriage; then, they helped another person down from inside the carriage.
Lian Manman was caught by surprise.
***...*****
Guess who got off the carriage.
Here’s one more update, it’s the 5th, and in two days the pink double bonus event will end, if you have any pink, it’s ti to take action O(∩_∩)O (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to co to Qidian (qidian) to vote for recomndation tickets, monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)
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