Chapter 91 - 91: Chen Family Wants to Split Up 1
At night, Yingbao entered her underground hideout.
The soybeans and wheat she had planted previously were almost ripe, and the cabbages had grown quite large.
The shepherd’s purse and chives were blooming as well.
These crops are difficult to harvest during winter. It truly is frustrating.
Previously, she had planted golden and silver fungi, which were also ripe. Yingbao simply harvested them and left them to dry on a bamboo rack.
She sprinkled a little Ganoderma juice over the mycelium, waiting for them to fruit.
For the next few days, Yingbao resumed her usual life. She went to school in the morning, tutored her younger brothers in the afternoon, read medical books herself, and cleaned up crops in the hideout at night.
Early one morning, she got up, cleaned herself up and went to feed the deer.
Meanwhile, Chunniang was cooking in the kitchen.
The dough kneaded last night had already fermented. Chunniang added some alkali in the water, dipped her hand in the alkaline water and started kneading the dough to steam buns.
When Yingbao returned from feeding the deer and washed her hands, she also started kneading the dough.
“Today we’re making date buns.” Chunniang bought two catties of dried dates from the county and a bag of brown sugar and osmanthus. They were perfect for making bun fillings.
“Date buns are delicious.” Yingbao smacked her lips. In her previous life, she had tasted her mother’s date buns once. The dried dates were pitted and wrapped with brown sugar in the dough and then steamed. It was fragrant and sweet.
At that time, their family was poor. Her mother only made them once a year during the New Year. That was the only time she got to taste them.
As the mother and daughter were kneading the dough, the neighbour, Aunt Wang, came in with a mysterious look on her face, “Chunniang, I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?” Chunniang placed the kneaded buns on a bamboo tray.
Aunt Wang took a seat on a bench, patted Yingbao’s head and said, “Chen
Laoshuan’s second son and daughter-in-law from West Village were beaten up
Chunniang and Yingbao immediately turned their heads to look at Aunt Wang, their eyes gleaming, “Really? What happened? Did they lose any limbs?”
Aunt Wang gave a sly smile, “Chen Changping’s head was broken, and his wife’s face was swollen like a pig’s head.”
“Serves them right!” Chunniang laughed, “Bad people deserve to be punished.”
Yingbao asked, “Do you know if the one who beat them was caught?” She had a sense of unease in her heart.
Aunt Wang laughed and said, “From what I hear, it doesn’t seem like they’ve been caught. This morning, I went to West Village and saw quite a commotion.” “What was the commotion?” Chunniang leaned in and asked.
Aunt Wang slapped her thigh, “Oh, you wouldn’t know, Chen Laoshuan’s sons and daughters-in-law are arguing about dividing the family property. Chen Dalang, the eldest, even came back from the county and wanted to fight with his younger brother.”
Chunniang pulled up a stool and sat down, curiously asking, “Tell me more.”
Yingbao also brought a bowl of brown sugar porridge to Aunt Wang, “Aunt Wang, please continue.”
Aunt Wang took a sip of the porridge and said, “According to their neighbours, when Chen Changping and his wife returned, they demanded money from their parents, specifically two hundred taels. My goodness, two hundred taels! We wouldn’t make that much in a lifetime.”
Chunniang and her daughter looked at Aunt Wang without batting an eye, waiting for her to continue.
“Guess what, the eldest brother Chen immediately turned against them. He said that the money he had earned over the years was spent on his younger brother’s education and now he had to repay his sister-in-law’s debts. If this continued, life would be unbearable. They might as well split the family.”
Aunt Wang took another sip of porridge and then said, “Since the eldest brother suggested splitting the family, the third son’s wife also demanded a separate living. Chen Changhai, the son-in-law of the third family, had gone to serve in the military. All they had at home was his wife and a five-year-old child.
That daughter-in-law was quite something. She immediately went home and brought back her family. They demanded that her parents-in-law also give them two hundred taels for the division of property. If the second brother could get two hundred taels, so should the third. They wouldn’t settle for less.”
Aunt Wang emptied the bowl of porridge, put down the bowl and laughed, “Now, the Feng Family took a rope to hang herself but was stopped. Chen Laoshuan was so angry that he smashed all the pots and plates in the house and was jumping around, demanding that his second son divorce his wife.” Yingbao blinked, deep in thought.
In her previous life, the Chen Family had never asked the second son to divorce his wife, and they had never split up.
Until Chen Changping passed the scholar examination and moved to the county, the two brothers of the Chen Family still helped him buy a house and courtyard in the county.
This was strange.
But it’s good that their family is in such a mess. It makes her wonder if Mrs. Han will still covet her, the human tool, in the future.
“Oh Chunniang, I came back specifically to tell you this. I need to go back and see what’s going on.” said Aunt Wang.
Aunt Wang stood up and touched Yingbao’s little head, “Dare to steal our little Fairy Child, tsk! May his entire family be cursed!”
After speaking, she swung her hips and left.
Yingbao straightened out her tousled hair and said to Mother Chun, “Mother, why don’t we go and join the fun?”
Chunniang smiled, “What’s there to see? It will just hold us up. Instead, let’s kill a chicken and celebrate at lunch.”
Naturally, slaughtering a chicken was off the table, as the hens at home were raised as layers. Losing even one would mean an egg less each day.
It was market day, so Chunniang handed two coins to her nephew, asking him to buy a lamb leg, a couple of pork strips, and an old goose.
At noon, layed out a table full of delicious dishes to treat her in-laws, sister-in-law, and nieces and nephews to a meal.
After eating, Sister Dani and Dani sat and chatted on Yingbao’s heated bed.
Sister Dani had an embroidery hoop in her hand, embroidering flowers, while Dani was knitting a belt. “Tomorrow, Brother Dacheng will be engaged. There will be many guests.”
Jiang Cheng’s engagement came as no surprise to Yingbao. He was almost sixteen, and if he didn’t settle his marriage soon, there was always a risk of conscription by the Imperial Court.
So, he must marry as soon as possible to have children and continue his lineage.
“Is it a girl from Chu family village?” Yingbao asked.
“Yes, the daughter of the village chief of Chujia village, called Chu Man.”
“Chu Man?” Yingbao looked up from her book.
Why was this different from her past life?
In her previous life, Brother Jiang Cheng’s wife wasn’t named this, nor was she the daughter of the village head of Chu Family village.
“Yes. Chu Man is the youngest daughter of the family. Her two elder brothers and one sister are already married.”
Shifting the topic to Big Dani, Dani said, “Mother said, after fixing Brother’s engagement, we’ll arrange Sister Dani’s too.”
Sister Dani’s face immediately turned red with embarrassment. She twisted
Dani’s arm. “Mind your own business.”
“Why?” Dani giggled and dodged. “I already saw my brother-in-law that day.”
“Stop talking!” Sister Dani toppled Dani on the bed and tickled her.
Dani laughed loudly and pulled Yingbao for cover.
Yingbao curiously asked, “Who is Sister going to get engaged to?” She had no idea that Sister Dani’s marriage had already been discussed.
“No telling!” Sister Dani covered Dani’s mouth.
Dani pulled away Sister Dani’s hand, turned her face to the side, and laughed,
“He is called Zhang Shaodong, the youngest grandson of the town’s doctor
Zhang. ”
Yingbao was taken aback.
This also seemed off.
In her previous life, Sister Dani’s husband was a young man from Liu Family village. His family wasn’t wealthy and certainly couldn’t be compared to Doctor Zhang’s family.
Pretending to be angry, Sister Dani slapped Dani and then ignored her, continuing her embroidery.
Once the sisters finished their playful banter, they continued chatting.
“Yingbao, today I saw Chen Zhao from West Village standing on Shigong Bridge staring at our school,” Dani’s love for gossip never died.
Yingbao wasn’t initially interested, but she was curious about Chen family’s split and the aftermath.
She wondered how Chen Zhao would cope without the shelter of the great Chen family.
“Should we go to West Village in the afternoon to check out the situation?” Yingbao looked at Sister Dani.
Dani shook her head: “No, grandmother doesn’t want me to take you around aimlessly. We might encounter some trouble.”
The shadow of the previous incident still lingered. Dani couldn’t forget what had happened.
That day, she was close to wetting her pants out of fear. It was a trauma for life.
Moreover, Huzi had lost a front tooth. He was still whistling while speaking..